June in Hai City was always accompanied by the chirping of cicadas. A rainstorm the previous night had granted the city a moment of tranquility, but by the next morning, as the rain subsided, the earsplitting noise returned.

Jiang Xu woke up a bit late. Rushing to work, he pedaled his bicycle as fast as the wind, disappearing from sight in a whoosh, leaving the congested cars on the road far behind. His white shirt stretched taut behind him, billowing in the wind.

Fifteen minutes until he had to clock in for work, and three days left for this month's perfect attendance bonus.

Seeing that time was running out, just as Jiang Xu was about to speed up, the phone in his pants pocket rang, buzzing incessantly and making his thigh go numb. He had to free a hand to search for his phone, but in that split second of distraction, a black car suddenly appeared from around the corner, and the two collided with a bang—

"Screech—"

The other driver reacted and slammed on the brakes. Jiang Xu, quick-witted, swerved to the side but was still sent tumbling, man and bike, seeing stars. The bicycle wheel was bent by more than half.

"Fuck!"

Jiang Xu rolled half a turn on the ground, completely dazed from the fall. His vision spun, and a fiery pain stung his elbow. It took him a good while to realize what had happened. However, just as he was about to get up, what entered his line of sight was the BMW logo on the front of the black car, and a conspicuously dented area on the hood.

"Fuuck..."

His voice instantly dropped three octaves.

There was no fucking way he could afford to pay for that.

Before he could even process it, Jiang Xu subconsciously lay back down. After some thought, he shamelessly hugged his knees and started crying out in pain, hoping to scare the person away: "Ouch... Ouch, my leg... Is it broken... My hand... You can't run away, this isn't over unless you pay me a hundred and eighty thousand..."

But in his heart, he was thinking: 'Hurry up and run, hurry up and run, save me the trouble of getting the traffic police involved.'

Jiang Xu grew up in the city streets. In school, he smoked, drank, and fought—he did it all, already a locally famous punk and school tyrant. A trace of his old hooligan ways remained deep in his bones. What was faking an accident?

He was wearing a short-sleeved shirt in the summer, and the bloody scrape on his elbow was glaringly obvious, looking quite frightening. Yet, after lying on the ground wailing with great theatricality for a long time, no one paid him any mind. The black BMW just sat quietly by the roadside, as if it were driverless.

Jiang Xu's throat was raw from shouting. He finally stopped. Just as he was hesitating whether to get up and take a look, he heard a soft click. The car window slowly rolled down, the reflection of the trees on it receding, revealing a face wearing sunglasses.

Through the half-open window, he could see the car's owner was dressed in a well-tailored suit, like an elite from high society. He had a high nose bridge, thin lips, and a fair complexion, exuding a cold aura that kept strangers at a distance. The person reached up, took off his sunglasses, and looked Jiang Xu up and down, then, after a long moment, chuckled.

"Jiang Xu,"

The man said with a half-smile, looking down on him. Each word was filled with ridicule and a bit of wonder,

"without me, how did you end up in such a miserable state?"

Jiang Xu: ...

My life is over. What kind of shitty luck is it to run a scam on your ex?

Jiang Xu lay on the ground, stunned for a moment. When he came to his senses, he quickly got up. He was afraid that if he were half a step slower, the petty Gu Qingzhou would slam on the gas and run him over.

The front wheel of his little two-wheeler was already bent out of shape. Jiang Xu righted it and saw that it could still barely hold steady. Only then did he turn his gaze back to the car window. The direct sunlight made it hard for him to open his eyes, but that face was as familiar as he remembered.

Jiang Xu gripped the handlebars, silent for a moment, then also chuckled, saying nonchalantly, "Yo, Gu Qingzhou? Didn't you go to Z City? What brings you back to this shithole?"

Hai City used to be a small city; its economy had only caught up in recent years. Back then, Gu Qingzhou and Jiang Xu were high school classmates. One had top-notch grades, the other's were rotten to the core. Yet, by their teacher's arrangement, they became deskmates. Both had foul tempers and neither would yield to the other, so they fought quite a bit. Later, somehow, they muddle-headedly became a couple, then muddle-headedly broke up, going their separate ways after the college entrance exams.

Gu Qingzhou had good grades and got into a top-tier university in Z City. Jiang Xu, the scoundrel, got into a pretty serious fight with punks from another school before the exams. Coupled with his long list of prior offenses, he was directly advised to withdraw from school. Later, his family pulled some strings to get him into another high school to repeat a year. He barely scraped by with a university diploma and was currently working as an interior designer at some company.

The current scene was slightly awkward, because the main reason the two had broken up back then was that Jiang Xu despised Gu Qingzhou for being poor...

And now, the guy was driving a luxury car, while he was pedaling a bicycle.

They say when exes meet again, it's either with red eyes or a red face. For Jiang Xu, it was with blood. His city-wall-thick skin finally couldn't take it anymore. Just as he was pondering what to do, he suddenly heard the sound of the car starting. He subconsciously moved aside, only to see the black car reverse a short distance, adjust its direction, and drive away, brushing past him.

Through the car window, he couldn't see the situation inside. The lush green shadows of the trees slid smoothly over the spotless roof and then vanished from his sight. Thus, the polite words Jiang Xu had prepared were stuck in his throat and swallowed back down.

What the hell, he thought.

His black phone lay quietly on the scorching pavement, its screen shattered into a spiderweb, like a broken mirror that one dared not touch. Yet, someone kept calling, making it vibrate slightly.

Jiang Xu didn't pick it up immediately. He dusted himself off, lit a cigarette, and only then picked up the phone from the ground. He glanced at the caller ID and answered amidst the swirling smoke, his voice habitually lazy, "Hello?"

The other end of the line was a bit noisy. It quieted down after a moment, and then his best friend Li Si'ao's anxious, urgent voice rang out, sounding like an exploding firecracker: "Bro! Big bro! Old Luo is stepping down today, and a new leader is coming from upstairs. You're late on the very first day, aren't you just asking for trouble?!"

Jiang Xu subconsciously glanced at the time and realized the fifteen minutes had already passed. He slicked his sweat-damp bangs back, a bit of ash falling from his cigarette. "I'm already late, what can I do... You won't even believe me if I told you, I just ran into Gu Qingzhou."

The last three words sounded a bit distorted, just a blurry mumble. Li Si'ao didn't catch it. "Who?"

Jiang Xu exhaled a puff of smoke and used a more easily understood term: "My ex. He's doing really well now, drives a BMW."

Li Si'ao didn't hear the name Gu Qingzhou clearly, let alone know that Gu Qingzhou was a man. He just vaguely sensed a hint of pride in Jiang Xu's tone. Is flexing about your ex a trend now?

"Your ex drives a BMW, not your current partner. What are you so proud of?" Li Si'ao said, then lowered his voice to gossip, "Hiss... so you have an ex. Driving a BMW, so loaded. Why'd you guys break up? Did he dump you? How could he bear to dump someone so handsome?"

The three consecutive questions exposed his gossip-loving heart.

He wasn't far from the company entrance. Jiang Xu kicked the front wheel straight in a few tries, found a random place to lock his bike, and then leisurely walked towards the company. Hearing Li Si'ao's words, he clicked his tongue. "He drives a BMW now, doesn't mean he drove one before."

Li Si'ao instantly saw the truth: "Oh, so you were materialistic and dumped him. Now you see he's successful, you must be regretting it until your guts turn green."

Anyone who knew Jiang Xu knew he was a stingy penny-pincher who loved money more than life. A person like that was too pragmatic. He was barely tolerable as a friend, but being his partner would be true suffering.

The company was located in a central office building, but because the nearby commercial district had only recently been developed, it couldn't be called bustling. While waiting for the elevator, Jiang Xu lowered his head and stubbed out his cigarette, saying half-jokingly, "More than green with regret, they've turned purple. Ah Sao, we're all adults here. We can't live on that 'love is enough' crap."

"Shut up, don't call me by my nickname," Li Si'ao said. "Old Luo is here, can't talk, hanging up."

The Hai City branch was newly established and its performance had never been great. The original manager, Old Luo, was taking early retirement for health reasons, so headquarters had transferred someone over to take his place. Anyone with a brain wouldn't choose today to cause trouble.

Li Si'ao silently mourned for Jiang Xu for three seconds.

Old Luo was a bald, middle-aged man who was always smiling and extremely easy to talk to. This had led to a lazy atmosphere in the office, and the employees had zero workplace competitiveness. While others were like tigers and wolves fighting for dominance, this place was a huddle of rabbits. His "early" retirement this time was probably not without other reasons.

Through the glass window of the corridor, the employees saw Old Luo leading a man in a suit inside from afar. His face was obscured by the blinds, so they all bowed their heads, pretending to be busy. They only looked up when they heard the footsteps approach.

The position of manager wasn't huge, but it wasn't small either. It would take at least a few years of experience to get there. Everyone had assumed the new leader would be a middle-aged gentleman like Old Luo, but who would have thought he was so young. He had a tall and slender figure and a handsome face, though he looked a bit cold and unapproachable.

At such an age and in such a position, it was no exaggeration to call him a young achiever.

The female employees' hearts fluttered with anticipation, but they were more anxious. This man looked like someone who wouldn't tolerate any nonsense. It would probably be difficult to slack off in the future.

Old Luo met everyone's gazes and, smiling as usual, said, "Let me introduce you all. This is Manager Gu, newly transferred from headquarters. After I leave, he will be leading everyone. You must all cooperate with him to achieve even greater success."

The man's emotionless expression was a stark contrast to Old Luo's cheerful chatter. After everyone gave a very polite round of applause, he gave a concise self-introduction, his voice cool and deep: "My surname is Gu. Gu Qingzhou. I hope we can all get along well in the days to come."

As he spoke, his gaze swept over everyone in the office, finally pausing for a few seconds on an empty desk.

Old Luo had been watching him. Seeing this, he asked someone nearby, "Where's Xiao Jiang?"

Li Si'ao quickly helped cover for him: "Um, he went to the restroom, he'll be back in a..."

Before he could finish, Jiang Xu happened to walk in from outside, and by a stroke of terrible luck, ran right into Old Luo and the others. For a moment, they all stared at each other.

Jiang Xu hadn't expected to see Gu Qingzhou here. His mind went blank. He glanced around and subconsciously looked at Li Si'ao, who only silently mouthed three words: "To the restroom—"

Old Luo didn't notice anything unusual, only the glaring bloody scrape on Jiang Xu's elbow. He pointed at it, "Xiao Jiang, you... how did you do that?"

Jiang Xu subconsciously glanced at Li Si'ao, then casually patted his pants and said calmly, "Oh, I just slipped and fell in the restroom."

Li Si'ao rolled his eyes from his desk. And you didn't get covered in crap, I suppose.

Old Luo pointed at Gu Qingzhou, cheerfully dropping a sentence that was no less than a thunderbolt from a clear sky for Jiang Xu: "This is the new Manager Gu. Get acquainted. So young, yet so hasty. Be more careful when you walk next time. Alright, hurry back to work. Don't you see what time it is?"

Then he turned to Gu Qingzhou and said in a low voice, "Manager Gu, the office has been cleaned up. Shall I show you over?"

From beginning to end, Gu Qingzhou didn't spare Jiang Xu a single glance. Hearing this, he nodded slightly, his polite demeanor giving him an air of uncommon refinement.

However, as Jiang Xu watched their departing backs, only one glaring sentence remained in his mind—

My dear mother... this is very likely to affect my career.

The author has something to say:

This is a gong-centric novel. Thank you everyone for paying attention to the gong/shou roles in the synopsis.