The year ended, and Shang Zhitao's efficiency project moved into full execution. She reported the implementation plan to Luan Nian over the phone. He had no objections. Before hanging up, he asked, "Any jewelry you like?"
Shang Zhitao paused. "I don't really know much about jewelry." Then she added, "Don't buy me things. I don't lack anything." She had never cared much for material things, and being young, she looked good in almost anything. A fresh, clean girl standing there with the breeze on her face needed no jewelry or handbag to improve on that.
Luan Nian made a small sound of acknowledgment and hung up.
Shang Zhitao's efficiency model had been running for four months when Luan Nian asked her to pull all the core data. He wanted to see the results.
She had already run the numbers in advance. All that was left was analysis.
Improving efficiency on market-related projects was genuinely difficult work. It meant changing the company's old habits, getting everyone to operate under the new model, making people understand why the change mattered, and solving whatever problems came up along the way. Shang Zhitao spent every day studying process optimization, and during that stretch she called Zhang Lei constantly to ask about solutions.
At first, day or night, her phone never stopped ringing. Sales, planning, creative, technical, even people in the marketing department itself didn't understand what was going on. Shang Zhitao was worn down by it, and it showed even when she was with Luan Nian. More than once, right in the middle of something intimate, the phone would ring.
Luan Nian felt like smashing her phone.
Shang Zhitao was baffled too. "Nobody knows how to do it or why we're doing it this way. What am I supposed to do?"
"What's Tracy for?" Luan Nian asked. When she didn't respond, he went on, "You think running a business project just means running a business project? A cross-departmental project this big and you don't think Tracy's team should be organizing training and testing?"
"Training?"
"What else? Did we fire the whole training department and I missed it?"
"Oh. Right."
Only then did Shang Zhitao remember the company had this whole invisible department. She contacted Tracy that same day and laid out what she needed. Tracy moved fast, having the training department run a needs assessment, develop courses, write test questions, and monitor progress continuously. It worked. Shang Zhitao's phone finally went quiet.
Once the problem was solved and she could finally relax with Luan Nian again without interruption, he said to her seriously, "Shang Zhitao, you're not thinking at a high enough level."
He never softened things. He could have said that she'd do better if she did this or that, but that wasn't how he spoke.
She was used to it by now. She sat up straight to listen to him lecture her. Luan Nian was amused by how seriously she took it, but he kept going. "You need to think from a higher vantage point. You need multiple ways to solve a problem, and you should understand the function of every department in this company, down to the cleaning staff, and what they can do for you. Don't stay stuck in your own little corner."
Shang Zhitao thought he was right. She took it to heart, and set about seriously studying the functions of every department in the company, even the internal politics. Somewhere in the middle of all that studying, an idea took hold. She wanted to move to the planning department.
She got someone to send her the job description for a planning department position and studied it closely. That was when she discovered how high the bar was. One line in particular, overseas work experience preferred, shut the door on her.
One day she ran into Tracy in the break room and asked her seriously, "Tracy, can I ask you something? When HR says a certain kind of experience is preferred for a role, does that mean someone without it has no chance at all?"
"If they're exceptionally strong in some other area, it's not necessarily a dead end. It's not absolute." Tracy asked back, "Are you thinking of changing jobs?"
"No." Shang Zhitao waved a hand, then nodded. "Yes."
"Looking for opportunities outside the company, or?"
"I want to go to the planning department."
Tracy nodded. "I don't think that would be hard, it's just an internal transfer. But the new head of planning just took over, and the department's headcount is still locked. You might want to wait and see."
"Okay. Thanks, Tracy."
Shang Zhitao told Lumi about the idea, and Lumi supported her, naturally. In Lumi's words, "You've already done every job marketing has to offer. There's nothing left worth doing there. Planning's a good move. But it's not easy to get into. Luke used to run it, and we still don't know what this new guy Dony is about."
"Should I wait a bit longer?"
"Wait a bit longer."
Shang Zhitao listened to her without argument. She knew Lumi could be trusted. Lumi acted careless, but she read people and situations accurately. If she said wait, then it really meant wait. Dony had been placed there directly by the board. Young and capable, with a resume that seemed to match Luan Nian's, and a solid background besides. Management was about balance. No one person could be allowed to dominate.
There were a couple of times Shang Zhitao wanted to ask Luan Nian for advice, but she held back each time. She didn't want to ask. She wanted to manage it on her own.
Shang Zhitao had become considerably more capable by now.
She was in charge of budget process management and vendor management for the marketing department, which looked like a plum assignment to outsiders. Only someone who had actually done the work knew how exhausting both jobs really were. In budget management, every department with expenses to report treated her like the enemy. When she questioned discrepancies, they came up with excuses of every kind, but the moment internal audit came calling, their story was always the same: marketing signed off on it.
Vendor management was worse. With so many vendors, every round of bidding nearly ran her into the ground.
Worn down by work day after day, she finally reached her limit. One Friday night, at Luan Nian's place, she brought it up with him.
The circumstances of that conversation were a little absurd.
By then Luke was six months old, and after coming to Luan Nian's house every weekend, the dog clearly considered himself on familiar terms with the place. Each time he arrived, he'd patrol upstairs and down, sniffing here and there, checking for other dogs in the house. He was in the middle of that awkward growing phase, with a small monkey-like face, one ear standing up and the other still flopping half raised. Luan Nian never missed a chance to mock him. "I've never seen such an ugly dog!"
Luke would tilt his head one way, then the other, until it finally seemed to land: you're calling me ugly? I'm not ugly! I'm the best-looking dog around! He'd launch himself straight at Luan Nian, licking his face and pawing at him.
Every time this happened, Luan Nian would shout, annoyed, "Shang Zhitao! Control your stinking dog!" His disgust was written all over his face as he pinned Luke's throat with one hand. "Get off!"
Shang Zhitao would run over to pull them apart and scoop Luke up, watching Luan Nian brush the fur off himself while grumbling at the dog. "Ugly, sheds everywhere, good for nothing."
That would set Luke off barking in her arms, baring his teeth and straining toward Luan Nian, ready to settle the score.
The noise gave Shang Zhitao a headache. She patted Luke's head. "No barking!" Then she glared at Luan Nian. "Don't pick on Luke!"
The day she wanted to talk to him about work, Luan Nian had just finished another round with Luke. Man and dog were still glaring at each other, neither willing to back down. Luan Nian was covered in dog hair, and Luke, still worked up, had gone and peed in the corner of the living room.
Shang Zhitao said, "I want to talk to you about Luke."
"Go talk to your Luke first!" Luan Nian eyed the dog's smug little face and considered braising him.
"I meant work. I can't exactly discuss work with Luke."
"I thought your Luke could do anything!"
Luan Nian shot the dog one more disdainful look before turning to her. "What is it, Flora." Calling her Flora meant it was time to talk business.
"I can't keep up. I want to hire someone. I asked Tracy, and she said since you're currently overseeing marketing, you'd need to approve the headcount." Shang Zhitao carefully laid out her workload and her colleagues' for him, presenting the facts and reasoning through them before landing on her conclusion. "I can't keep up, and no one else has the bandwidth to help. I need an assistant."
"Fine. I'll give you two outsourced headcounts."
"Really?" She hadn't expected it to be this easy. She'd assumed Luan Nian would ask more questions, like what she planned to do with an outsourced hire, and she'd prepared answers. But he didn't ask.
"Have I ever lied to you?"
"No."
"Then contact HR Monday and post the positions."
"Thank you."
Two outsourced hires, then maybe one or two permanent hires, then a small team. Slowly, she'd become a manager. Barring any surprises, that was how a career blueprint unfolded. Shang Zhitao felt she'd stumbled her way to this point, and now she had the chance to lead a person or two of her own. It struck her that work, most of the time, didn't lie to you. Everything she'd put in was worth it.
Pleased with herself, she rested her head on Luan Nian's lap, legs propped over the back of the couch, indulging herself beside him. He ran his fingers through her hair, smoothing it, rare tenderness from him. Shang Zhitao pushed her luck a little. "Slower, slower. Softer, softer. Yes, just like that." She fell asleep.
Luan Nian checked the time, looked at her sleeping, then looked over at Luke, who was gnawing contentedly on a ball. Finally he pinched her cheek hard. "Get up. Your idiot dog still needs walking."
Bleary eyed, Shang Zhitao swayed to her feet, clipped the leash on Luke, and took him out. Late at night the neighborhood was quiet, the landscaping well kept, and Luke, apparently something of a snob, sniffed this bit of grass and that tree at his leisure. Shang Zhitao enjoyed the gentle night air. She heard footsteps behind her and turned to find Luan Nian there. "Why'd you come out?"
"Getting some air." Luan Nian stood beside her, looking down at the dog digging a hole in the ground. "What's he doing that for?"
"No idea. He's been doing it for days."
"He's probably an idiot." Luan Nian mocked him again, and Luke, as if he understood, lifted his head, dirt still on his nose, and charged straight at him. Luan Nian took off running. "Get away! Stupid dog!" Luke ignored him and gave chase.
One running, one chasing, they circled the neighborhood twice before heading back. That thoroughly wore Luke out. The moment they got inside he devoured his food, drank half a bowl of water, and dropped straight to sleep.
Shang Zhitao stared, wide eyed. Normally Luke barely touched his food, and she had to coax him with the bowl in her hands every time, telling him he wouldn't grow up if he didn't eat. Luan Nian had seen this happen twice and teased her for not knowing how to handle a dog. She couldn't understand how something that had troubled her for so long got solved by two laps around the block with Luan Nian. She trailed after him as he headed for the shower. "What happened? Did you spark some competitive drive in him? Does he want to grow up fast so he can beat you?"
Luan Nian pulled off his T-shirt and tossed it at her. "Wash this."
"Why should I?"
"Either you wash the shirt or I wash you. Your choice." At that, she grabbed the shirt and ran. She didn't like the bathroom. It was a different kind of happiness in there, but it could feel suffocating too. Too much heat. Luan Nian called after her, "Not one dog hair on it!"
Watching her flee out of sight, he couldn't help laughing.
Luke slept like the dead. Even with all the noise Shang Zhitao made, he never bothered coming to check. Undisturbed, Luan Nian finally relaxed completely, his fingers tracing circles on her shoulder. "Next time I'll walk the dog with you." He'd found the trick to it now. If he'd known sooner that a couple of laps with the dumb dog bought him a quiet night, he'd have done it ages ago.
"Sounds good. I'm just relieved Luke's eating more." Shang Zhitao missed his meaning entirely, her mind still on the dog's appetite.
"How are you going to thank me?" Luan Nian's hand slid into her pajamas, his lips at her ear, teeth catching her earlobe as he murmured, "Want to take Luke up the mountain tomorrow?"
The mountain sounded good. Somewhere empty where Luke could run wild and be happy. Her attention was fixed on his fingertips, and she mumbled her agreement, burying her face in the pillow, her hand covering his. Between ragged breaths she breathed out a yes. Something in Luan Nian softened. He pulled her close, chest against her back, and set about pleasing her in earnest.
The next day they really did take Luke up the mountain, to the bar. Luan Nian's bar had finished its renovation and was about to open. Before it was done, Shang Zhitao couldn't picture what it would look like. Once she saw the finished space, she understood just how sharp his taste was. Unlike the bars crowding the busy parts of the city, his carried an air of elegance and art.
Shang Zhitao finally understood how Luan Nian meant to make money off this place: a private club and salon.
Luke ran back and forth through the bar, seeming to love it. Luan Nian asked her, "What do you think?"
"It's beautiful."
"Once the glassware arrives, you'll be the first customer here. The first drink from the bartender."
"You've already hired a bartender?"
Luan Nian raised an eyebrow.
"You know how to mix drinks?" She was surprised. She'd always known he understood how to live well, but she hadn't realized it went as far as bartending.
"I know a little." Luan Nian pulled two bottles of mineral water from the trunk and handed her one. "No cocktails today. Just a specially mixed water."
"What's this special water called?" she asked.
"Of One Mind." Luan Nian took a sip, then said to her, "Wanting to go to planning is a good thing. People should move up. But the new head of planning has a complicated background. If you go there and someone pressures you to pick a side, will you? If you take a side, you might end up against me. If you don't, you'll get pushed out eventually."
"So?"
"So drink this water, and stay of one mind with me."