Chapter 92: Respective Single Lives

Chapter 92: Their Single Lives

After Su Lichen sent out the ID card, he messaged Xu Moxing the tracking number, not as cash-on-delivery—he paid the postage himself.

After that, he didn't contact Xu Moxing again. His life now wasn't good, but it wasn't bad either.

Wake up, wash up, grab breakfast on the way to work, and start the workday.

The company was still the same.

Zhou Ping still had that same attitude, and Zhou Chengzhi still had that same fence-sitting approach.

The Indian client's payment had been outstanding for almost a year; they couldn't collect it and the client stopped cooperating. At the meeting, Zhou Chengzhi placed the blame on Su Lichen.

"Xiao Su, you handled the Indian client poorly. Since the payment wasn't recovered, you need to bring in a bigger client to make up for this loss."

"President Zhou, this wasn't my client to begin with. From contract signing, to shipping the first batch, to releasing the second batch without even collecting the final payment—and the second batch didn't even have a deposit—none of this went through my hands. Moreover, when you and Zhou Ping asked me to help earlier, I said I could only try my best, and there was a high chance it couldn't be recovered. You also said trying my best was enough. So why do I have to make up for this loss now?"

Zhou Chengzhi's smile stiffened for a moment, his authority having been challenged in front of everyone.

With all the sales staff present, Zhou Chengzhi, as the boss, usually reprimanded employees in public, expecting them not to dare to contradict him. He hadn't expected Su Lichen, usually so tactful, to do something like this.

Zhou Ping stepped in then.

"Brother Su, no matter how good your performance is, you still need to respect your superiors, right? If your attitude is poor, strong abilities are worthless."

Su Lichen wasn't angry at all; instead, he smiled as he looked at Zhou Ping.

"Thanks for acknowledging my strong abilities. You should work harder too. It's fine that I'm always asked to help you, but it's not good for you to keep wasting President Zhou's efforts."

A few new sales hires exchanged glances, saying it all without words.

They all knew Zhou Ping was the boss's relative, but the newer employees hadn't yet fully realized how biased the boss was.

Some people always believed that if they were top performers and became the company's sales champion, they could not only do whatever they wanted in the company but at least earn some respect from the boss. But that wasn't how it worked. Life wasn't a wish-fulfillment story. In reality, some bosses cared not only about company profits but also about personal authority, control, and security.

Some bosses would rather earn less than admit, "My success depends on you."

A company's scale and the boss's magnanimity were never proportional.

A company might grow large by riding a trend, monopolizing resources, or benefiting from the times—but not necessarily because the boss was magnanimous. And Zhou Chengzhi wasn't a man of vision.

Previously, Su Lichen wouldn't bother with verbal victories. As long as he got the money he deserved, he was fine. But now, with his romantic life in turmoil, he was in a bad mood. Since they were in his crosshairs, he couldn't help but fire back.

When you're in a bad mood, it's hard not to take it out on others.

Zhou Chengzhi silently held a grudge against Su Lichen, but he still had no choice but to assign him a difficult and demanding major client.

High difficulty, tight deadline—he knew no one else could handle it except Su Lichen.

Zhou Ping, ever the show-off, volunteered at the meeting: "President Zhou, I think I can give it a try."

Zhou Chengzhi knew Zhou Ping wasn't up to it. Other clients aside from this one, but this one Zhou Ping definitely couldn't handle.

Besides, after the Indian client incident, although Zhou Chengzhi verbally blamed Su Lichen, he knew in his heart whose fault it was.

How could he possibly entrust such a major client to Zhou Ping?

Zhou Chengzhi glanced at him, then at Su Lichen. The meaning was clear—Zhou Ping can't do it, you handle it.

Su Lichen understood Zhou Chengzhi's intention and spoke up before being asked.

"Since President Zhou trusts me, I'll take it."

Consider it as compensation for openly challenging Zhou Chengzhi earlier.

Su Lichen knew that Zhou Chengzhi liked Zhou Ping to clash with him, forcing others to choose sides, preventing the subordinates from uniting as a group, while also hoping for small factions to keep each other in check.

Zhou Chengzhi didn't like colleagues getting along harmoniously—it made management harder.

As for Su Lichen taking this client, it wasn't because he wanted to—it was because he knew Zhou Ping would mess it up, and then he'd have to clean up the mess anyway. Rather than let that happen, he'd do it himself.

He worked an extra hour and put together the framework for the proposal.

When he shut down his computer, the office was empty and quiet. He stood up and looked out the window; the city lights were bright outside, but he felt very lonely.

He packed up, turned off the lights, and locked up.

After breaking up with Xu Moxing, he had lived alone for quite a while. And Su Lichen was an only child; he had never felt lonely before.

He could live alone, but after separating from Xu Moxing this time, he often felt lonely because of his surroundings, a particular scene, or a specific image.

Maybe before, he always thought he could win Xu Moxing back. But this time, he had fully realized that he couldn't.

Su Lichen entered his home carrying takeout he'd bought on the way. He turned on the light, and the brightness flooded in, making him squint.

"So quiet, so lonely."

That was the only thought in his mind.

Su Lichen wasn't in the habit of talking to himself. The room was silent. He ate his meal in silence, then quietly cleaned up the takeout container.

When he came home today, he really wanted to talk to Xu Moxing right away.

He wanted to complain about his stupid boss and his stupid colleague. He remembered that when he had complained to Xu Moxing before, Xu Moxing had also gotten upset and eventually said, "If you're unhappy, quit. I can support you for a while."

But he couldn't do that anymore. He opened his phone, his fingers automatically opened the chat with Xu Moxing, tapping on the text input field, but then he canceled and exited the chat.

This was something he did every day for the past month.

The sweet memories kept reminding him of the wonderful partner he had lost, and the past happiness made him suffer.

The person he kept thinking about, on the other hand, was quite calm.

Xu Moxing's most difficult phase had long passed. He rarely thought about Su Lichen now.

So, as long as Su Lichen didn't show up, he could live peacefully and easily.

Busy with work during the day, busy with life after work. Life was enjoyable; work was mostly smooth sailing. He really liked his current situation.

Occasionally, when he lacked sleep and was easily irritable, he would find himself unconsciously recalling Su Lichen's refusal to communicate and his complaints about him to his close friends.

Past hurts still make him sad and upset, but they are fleeting.

Once he's well-rested and in a good mood, he can immediately comfort himself—it's all in the past, look ahead!

On weekends, he likes to stay in bed. His body clock still wakes him up around eight, but he just loves lying there, won't get out of bed.

Only when his stomach is growling unbearably does he finally get up to cook some noodles, then curl up on the sofa with the pot, eating while watching videos. Even though he's the only one in the room, it never feels quiet.

That's because Xu Moxing often talks to himself, and the sound of his videos playing out loud fills the room. He truly enjoys his alone time.

Xu Moxing posts in his Moments every day, set to 'Only Me,' documenting his life.

Whether he makes the noodles too salty or gets them just right, he documents it all. Sometimes he rants about his coworkers, and every week he shares a song he's been obsessed with, so whenever he wants to listen again, he can just find it in his Moments.

Weekends are Xu Moxing's cleaning time. After finishing his noodles, he starts tidying up while humming a tune.

His phone is nearby, and a notification pops up.

Happy Little Horse: "Xingxing, I have three days off for Qingming Festival. I want to travel to Shenzhen—can I crash at your place? How about we finally meet in person? We've known each other for so long and never met. What do you think?"