Chapter 108: Su’s Dilemma

Chapter 108: Su Lichen's Dilemma

Su Lichen had been thinking about quitting since last year and had even kept an eye out for new jobs, but in the current environment, the companies hiring were getting more and more outrageous.

The job market is so messed up these days.

In the past, a person used to just do what was in their job description. Now you also have to handle stuff from upstream and downstream—they call it "training you," but the pay is actually lower than what that one job used to pay.

Su Lichen casually scrolled through the recruitment platform. Internships now pay less than when he first graduated, and the benefits were even crappier. But compared to eight years ago, prices have gone up a ton—not just a little bit.

You could tell just from breakfast. Back then a bun in Deep City cost fifty cents; now it's two-fifty, and the filling isn't as generous as it used to be.

He scrolled a little more, then closed the recruitment app.

"The economy is bad" is a very convenient excuse. It makes workers too scared to quit, even if they're doing three or four people's work.

It also let bosses squeeze workers however they wanted, because there are so many unemployed people—supply and demand, people's value just keeps dropping. No matter how little you pay or how much you squeeze, someone will take it.

The past few days, besides going back and forth with his boss, he'd also been thinking about quitting.

One evening he came home from work, and Little Tabby heard the door and ran out.

"Meow~"

"Little Tabby, did you eat?"

"Meow…"

He crouched down to pet her, then got up and went to the table to eat his takeout.

Little Tabby was the tabby from the two cats Xu Moxing had rescued. Su Lichen named her after picking her up from the vet.

Since he decided to keep her, he did his research. He quickly bought wire mesh to screen the windows and balcony, afraid that Little Tabby might have an accident.

Dairy Cow had already died. He wanted to make sure Little Tabby would only have one ending—dying of old age when her time was up.

After eating, Su Lichen went to the balcony to look at the succulents Xu Moxing had left. He was doing fine with them now, but he'd almost killed them at first.

He thought succulents were simple—just water them and they'd live. He didn't know they hated overwatering but could handle drought.

He watered them every day, then noticed something off and quickly looked it up. Thankfully he didn't kill them, or there would be even fewer reminders of Xu Moxing around.

Little Tabby followed him everywhere. She was at that lively, playful age. Su Lichen played with her for a bit, then went to take a shower.

He lay in bed hugging Xu Moxing's pillow, his mind churning: "Leave or stay?"

If he left, could he take his clients? Could he make it work at a new company?

If he stayed and went along with this underhanded pay cut, would it happen again later?

Knowing Zhou Chengzhi as long as he had, if he stayed, Zhou would keep squeezing him and pushing his boundaries.

Su Lichen had sensed Zhou's increasingly obvious intentions since last year and had been preparing to quit.

After all, if Su left, all his clients would revert to the company, and they'd stop paying him commissions.

Plus, Zhou Chengzhi thought business was tough these days. Paying Su his due commissions felt like it was killing him. The bad economy meant few new clients anyway. Keeping Su and paying him that much every month was worse than driving him off—then all the money would go into Zhou Chengzhi's pocket.

In short, Zhou Chengzhi wanted to bite the hand that fed him. Too bad he underestimated Su Lichen and overestimated himself.

Zhou Chengzhi wasn't the master, and Su Lichen wasn't the mule. They were just partners.

Su Lichen remembered that morning during their last negotiation. Zhou had clearly lost patience and just blurted out, "If you don't accept it, there's nothing I can do. The company isn't targeting you. It's the same for everyone."

Su Lichen nodded immediately. "Since you put it that way, Mr. Zhou, let's both compromise, okay? I'll agree to the commission cut, but this came out of nowhere. Start the cut in September. June, July, and August we keep the original deal. How about that?"

Zhou Chengzhi's eyes shifted, and he agreed.

Those were the slow months, business was already bad anyway. No big deal.

Su Lichen was about to get busy. He needed to collect the remaining payments in those two months, settle up, and go.

He'd maximize his own interests while rushing to register his own company.

He had decided: wherever he went, he'd still be working for someone else. Better to start his own business. It'd be tiring, but at least he'd call the shots.

When he chose to go into sales, he'd already thought about starting his own business.

For an ordinary person, unless you're at the top of your technical game, sales is one of the easiest ways to succeed as an entrepreneur—because it's one of the fastest ways to build connections and stack up money.

He hadn't planned on starting a business before thirty. He was still young. He'd wanted to take it steady and start around thirty-five.

But working for another company wasn't appealing either. He might as well just start his own.

Once Su Lichen made his decision, he started going to more business dinners and coming home later and later.

Little Tabby had an automatic feeder and an automatic litter box, so Su Lichen wasn't worried, but he felt a little guilty for spending less time with her.

In July, Su Lichen came home smelling like alcohol. As soon as Little Tabby heard the noise, she ran to the door and meowed.

"Little Tabby, you stayed home alone again today? Did you eat and sleep okay?"

Su Lichen crouched down and petted her.

Little Tabby kept raising her rear. Su Lichen didn't get what she meant and patted her butt.

"Alright, cut it out. No time to play. I need to shower and sleep. I've got to be out early again tomorrow."

It wasn't until he was woken up in the middle of the night by Little Tabby's yowling that he realized she was in heat.

To Su Lichen, the sound of a cat in heat was clearly one of pain—over and over, a frantic, desperate cry.

Fighting off sleep, he immediately looked it up online: what to do when a female cat is in heat?

He just had to wait until the heat was over, then get her spayed…

Su Lichen was also in a critical period for his career. He was incredibly busy lately. He thought about asking a friend to help watch the cat.

He tried to distract Little Tabby with a wand toy, and the next day, he asked a friend to stop by after work to check on her.

While driving, he got a call from his friend.

"Licheng, no good. As soon as I opened the door, your cat hissed at me and wouldn't let me in. She even swiped at me. I was afraid if I opened the door too wide, she'd run out. Now I can't even get in, so I locked it again."

"Forget it. If she gets stressed, it'll be worse. She's still in heat—don't provoke her."

Su Lichen exchanged a few pleasantries with his friend and hung up. He figured he'd just get home a little later. Little Tabby would have to stay home alone. Let her yowl. There was nothing he could do for now.