Chapter 74: Together with the Salary Card
Chi Wang’s heart pounded like a drum.
The crowd erupted in astonishment. This wasn’t a small amount—was the company really this generous???
Most of Dongyue’s old employees had been laid off, leaving only a few honest ones. They knew some inside information, but who dared to speak up? They could only listen to the incredulous whispers of the new employees.
“I knew Dongyue had money, but I didn’t know it had this much. Wasn’t it still a small company last year? Did they change bosses this year to become so lavish?”
“Really envious. How do you even spend that much money? Who got number 9?”
“If I won the first prize, I wouldn’t keep working. I’d quit right away.”
“You’re so unambitious. Quitting over 1.8 million yuan? It’s just an annual meeting prize. As the company grows, the annual rewards will only get bigger.”
“1.8 million is okay, not excessively high. My classmate’s big tech company had a first prize of a large flat apartment at their annual meeting, worth at least tens of millions.”
“This money is well spent. Company cohesion has increased. I’m staying at Dongyue from now on. Maybe I can become a veteran and even get some shares.”
Sister Yang was also shocked. She knew it was a significant amount—she had overheard during her report to the boss that they were increasing the first prize—but she hadn’t expected it to be 1.8 million!!
She felt uneasy and tormented. If Chi Wang had agreed to swap with her, the prize would be hers.
She knew she was being greedy, but with this much, she wouldn’t have to work for at least ten years. How could she not be tempted? After all, for Chi Wang, it was just a small gesture to please him. If he didn’t get it this time, there would be another chance. What harm if she took it this time?
If Chi Wang hadn’t come, the company’s annual draw would have proceeded as usual, and she wouldn’t have been able to manipulate anything.
But Chi Wang decided to come—he had to come! The company’s draw method changed to a manual one; Secretary He said it would be more engaging.
Whether it was more engaging, Sister Yang didn’t know. She only knew that with a manual draw, she had a chance.
If Chi Wang had swapped with her, in front of everyone, the company couldn’t possibly go back on it. She wasn’t afraid of offending the company; she could take the prize and quit, go back home, and take it easy.
But Sister Yang hadn’t expected that the usually sweet-talking, sunny, and cheerful Chi Wang would be so stubborn in this situation, refusing to swap numbers no matter what.
Now she felt as if she’d lost a huge sum of money; her whole heart felt empty.
Chi Wang, still in shock, slowly stood up. He was still somewhat incredulous and asked the driver, “Is it really 1.8 million yuan?”
The driver nodded. “Yes, 1.8 million yuan, that’s correct.”
Chi Wang thought: Am I really this lucky?
Out of the corner of his eye, he glimpsed Sister Yang’s face. Although she also looked shocked, her astonishment seemed different from his. His suspicion deepened, but he set it aside for the moment.
Holding the ball, he went up on stage and asked the boss for confirmation: “What’s the prize for the first place?”
The boss smiled kindly at him and said, “1.8 million yuan in cash—a big stack. If it’s inconvenient for you, I can have my driver send it to you later.”
Chi Wang hurriedly said, “No need, no need, it’s convenient for me.”
Secretary He came over and handed Chi Wang a plaque printed with “First Prize: 1.8 million yuan,” and then pushed out a small cart piled high with neatly stacked banknotes.
The entire venue buzzed with excitement—that was real cash!
“Who is that? Never seen him before!”
“Seems like a part-timer? Doesn’t our company have four or five part-time employees?”
“Whoa, a part-timer won the first prize?? That’s insanely lucky!”
“So handsome, oh my god.”
“What’s the use of being handsome? I saw he has a bit of a belly. So young and doesn’t manage his physique. In a few years, he’ll become a middle-aged uncle.”
The hotel had the heating on full blast. As soon as he came in, Chi Wang had half-unzipped his down jacket, and when he went on stage, he hadn’t zipped it up, slightly revealing his figure. Sharp-eyed people noticed and thought he had a small belly.
But many didn’t care about that. A bit of a belly—who doesn’t have one? A good-looking face is enough.
The boss and Chi Wang held up the plaque together and took a photo in front of the cart full of cash. The boss also said some encouraging words to Chi Wang, as if unaware that Chi Wang was just a part-timer.
The money would be kept by the boss for now, and Chi Wang could collect it after the annual meeting.
Chi Wang had no objections to this.
After Chi Wang stepped down, the boss continued the draw, pulling out the remaining prizes. Many people couldn’t help but discuss:
“The first prize is so much, but the second and third prizes and that special prize are much less.”
“Still not bad. The company’s scale isn’t that big; there are only about a hundred employees.”
“The first prize is just a gimmick to show that the company is generous and not stingy. The rest doesn’t matter.”
“Ah, I need to go rub some of that first-prize luck.”
Many people had that idea, so as soon as Chi Wang came down, quite a few people came over to congratulate him.
Chi Wang maintained a happy yet modest demeanor, thanking each person one by one. Some wanted to share in his good fortune, and Chi Wang obliged them all.
There were also quite a few who were jealous and sour about Chi Wang. Those people wouldn’t come up to him, so among the crowd congratulating him, Sister Yang, who sat motionless, stood out prominently.
The annual meeting continued. Even though people came to congratulate Chi Wang, it wasn’t many. The boss was still giving his long speech on stage, so everyone soon returned to their seats.
Only then did Chi Wang have time to look at Sister Yang. The waiters had begun serving dishes. Sister Yang silently ate, not speaking to Chi Wang.
Chi Wang took the initiative, wearing an innocent smile. “Sister, I didn’t expect to be so lucky to win the grand prize. I’ll send you a red envelope later to spread the joy.”
Sister Yang forced a smile. “Yes, you’re really lucky.”
Toward the end, her tone turned a bit sarcastic.
Chi Wang pretended not to notice and cheerfully said, “Actually, my luck has always been pretty bad. Seems like my luck has turned around now—after extreme hardship comes happiness.”1
Sister Yang: “Haha…”
Chi Wang, perhaps a bit provokingly, said, “Actually, I feel I don’t deserve it. After all, I’m just a part-timer, not really a full-fledged employee of Dongyue.”
Sister Yang’s expression became unpleasant. She almost blurted something out but swallowed her words at the last moment.
Since she hadn’t managed to swap numbers with Chi Wang, she couldn’t reveal the manipulation behind the scenes. She needed this job and couldn’t afford to lose both the sesame seed and the watermelon.2
Forcing a smile, Sister Yang said, “Why wouldn’t you count? Whether part-time or full-time, we’re all working for the company. Since we’re working for the company, of course we’re eligible for prizes.”
Chi Wang looked at her face and said, “Speaking of which, you kept wanting to swap numbers with me, almost as if you were sure I’d win.”
His tone was still gentle, but his gaze toward Sister Yang had become sharper and more scrutinizing.
Sister Yang mustered a smile. “How would I know? I just like the number 9. Luckily, you didn’t swap with me; otherwise, I would’ve missed out on 1.8 million.”
As she said this, her heart was bleeding. That was 1.8 million yuan! If only she had been thicker-skinned. At her previous company, her colleagues might have forced the swap.
Youngsters are thin-skinned; they can’t handle these tactics.
Chi Wang could tell she wasn’t sincere and noticed the slight regret and irritation on her face—something was off.
It felt like there was manipulation behind the scenes, and Sister Yang knew about it, which was why she stuck close to him, trying to buy his number.
Aside from that, there was no other possibility.
But how could such a big prize be rigged in his favor?
Chi Wang couldn’t figure it out no matter how he thought about it.
He was still too young, completely unaware of what the wealthy could achieve with money. Acquiring a company was like child’s play. Xie Sicheng was genuinely interested in developing Dongyue; the boss was a professional manager he had specially hired, so Dongyue was indeed steadily improving now.
The boss finally finished his speech, and all the dishes were served. The atmosphere had completely heated up.
Among the hundred or so people, Chi Wang had made an appearance. Even though he didn’t want to, he became the focus of attention. Some bold girls came to ask if he was single. Chi Wang replied with one sentence: “I have a child.” And they were scared off.
Sister Yang was extremely sour, silently got up, and changed seats to sit next to colleagues she was familiar with.
Chi Wang finally managed to get away from these colleagues he’d never met before and found an excuse to leave early.
Knowing that the driver hadn’t had much to eat, Chi Wang enticed him, “When we get back, I’ll send you a big red envelope, and you can go have a feast.”
The driver smiled honestly and prepared to take Chi Wang back.
Chi Wang first went to collect his prize. A secretary directly packed the heavy stack of cash into a medium-sized nylon bag and handed it to the driver.
Looking at the secretary’s face, that familiar feeling surged again. He felt he had seen him somewhere before.
Unable to recall immediately, he didn’t dwell on it. Some people just had common faces. Although this secretary wasn’t exactly ordinary-looking, his delicate and refined features made it easy to mistake him for someone else.
With such a large bag of cash, the driver casually carried it as they left.
Chi Wang was quite nervous, looking around, afraid that someone would know he was carrying so much cash.
Chi Wang: Sweating profusely.
He still couldn’t quite believe it. This was 1.8 million yuan—not a small amount. Even though it wasn’t in his hands, Chi Wang felt that everyone who came near him was suspicious, as if they might turn into a Mohican robber3 in the next second and snatch his money.
Suffering from a temporary persecution delusion, Chi Wang shrank his neck, looking sneaky and suspicious.
Only after the driver put the bag into the trunk did Chi Wang breathe a sigh of relief, his whole body relaxing.
As he got into the car, a thought suddenly flashed through his mind. He froze—he finally remembered where he’d seen that secretary.
It was at Haisheng! He’d seen that secretary at Haisheng! In the assistant’s office at Haisheng!
Chi Wang was in the prime of his memory capacity. Even if he had only glanced at the office where Haisheng employees worked, he could unconsciously remember people’s appearances.
Once he connected the secretary to someone from Xie Sicheng’s side, the doubts in his heart were resolved.
Why was he, someone with such bad luck, able to win the prize? Clearly, it was manufactured good fortune!!!!
He only realized now. After so many years, couldn’t he have a little confidence in his own unluckiness!
Chi Wang was shocked by his own guess. Amid the shock, an indescribable emotion swirled in his heart.
His fingers touched the phone in his pocket. Taking it out, his mind still foggy, he called Xie Sicheng and said, “I won the prize!”
Xie seemed genuinely surprised and replied, “Which prize? The first prize?”
Chi Wang: “…”
Oscar-worthy actor.
Chi Wang said, “Yes! The first prize! I’m dumbfounded—the first prize is actually 1.8 million yuan!!! Oh my god!”
Xie said, “Congratulations.”
Chi Wang said puzzledly, “But isn’t this prize a bit too big? Do companies normally have such large lottery prizes at their annual meetings?”
“…” Xie said, “For large companies, cash rewards are often substantial. Last year, a real estate company’s annual first prize was a villa worth 13 million yuan; a biotech company’s annual prize was 6.66 million yuan in cash; the Xie family’s main company gave out a total of 30 million yuan in employee rewards at their annual meeting.”
Chi Wang: “…Oh.”
He was becoming numb to these amounts.
However, Chi Wang couldn’t understand why Xie had rigged the prize for him. In today’s society, people usually take credit for their good deeds, but Xie was doing the opposite—doing good without leaving his name.
Chi Wang wanted to ask directly but felt a bit embarrassed. His fingers couldn’t help making small movements, picking at his pants, pulling out a loose thread, then pushing it back in. In the end, he didn’t say it aloud. His tone lowered a bit as he said, “When I get back… I’ll share the money with you.”
Xie asked, “How much will you share?”
Chi Wang, a bit annoyed that he didn’t remember, raised his voice abruptly, “Of course, I’ll give you 900,000 yuan! I said I’d share half with you if I won.”
Xie said, “No need to share. I want to give it all to you.”
Chi Wang said, “No, we agreed.”
Xie changed his tune, “Okay, we can split it. After you give it to me, I’ll give it back to you.”
Chi Wang: “…”
What’s the point of giving it back and forth?
Xie paused, his voice softened a bit, the breath flowing between his lips and teeth, carrying a mesmerizing tenderness. “Together with the salary card.”
Chi Wang: “…”
Chi Wang: “???”
What?
Footnotes
- “After extreme hardship comes happiness” (F?u jí tài lái): A Chinese proverb meaning “When things reach an extreme, they can only move in the opposite direction,” implying that after bad times, good times will come.
- “Can’t afford to lose both the sesame seed and the watermelon” (zh? má hé x? gu? d?u di? le): A Chinese saying meaning losing both small and big gains; making a small mistake and losing everything.
- “Mohican robber” (Mò x? g?n qiáng dào): A playful term possibly referring to a fierce-looking robber with a Mohawk hairstyle, used humorously to describe someone who looks like a robber.
