Chapter 49
Tan Ning took two deep breaths.
He passed the online interview with Mu’an Biotech during winter break and added the HR contact on WeChat. Today, the HR had asked him to come into the office.
It was a two-month short-term internship, and they assumed he was just there to get a certificate, so they didn’t make much fuss. After receiving his message, the HR came to the front desk to meet him. Seeing Tan Ning with long hair, the HR blinked in surprise, frowning slightly before saying, “Are you Tan Ning? The Legal Department is upstairs; your workstation might not be ready yet.”
“Alright.”
If he didn’t introduce himself, people would probably never guess that he was a law student with top grades and annual scholarships. He looked more like a rebellious student who skipped classes. The HR kept checking his ID information repeatedly, confirming that he was indeed there for the legal internship.
“Why not go to a law firm or court?”
Tan Ning replied, “I’m more interested in legal advisory work.”
“The workload isn’t too heavy. Considering you’ll still have classes and might need time off, we’ll assign you to contract management. The daily tasks are mostly scanning and categorizing, nothing too complex.”
“Thank you.”
“This is our legal manager; you can call her Manager Liu.”
After a slight pause, Tan Ning greeted her, “Hello, Manager Liu.”
Manager Liu looked up at him.
Usually, interns or young employees would greet her with enthusiasm and respect, but this kid was different. His expression was calm, only giving a slight nod, his gaze frequently drifting around the office as if he barely noticed her.
Manager Liu felt a bit slighted and said, “Tan Ning, you can sit at the workstation in the far north corner. There’s a stack of files on the desk—old contracts from five years ago that the audit team recently pulled out. They still need to be archived, so please help by scanning them.”
Starting with such a heavy load of work—a stack of contracts about half a meter high—it was an obvious test of his endurance. Anyone else might have sensed that Manager Liu was asserting her authority, but Tan Ning, oblivious to office politics, didn’t notice at all.
He simply said, “Okay.”
He set down his backpack, stood at his workstation, thought through the work process for half a minute, and quickly got into it. He carefully removed the staples, fed the contracts one by one into the scanner, renamed, and saved each file in a repetitive cycle.
He didn’t chat with other colleagues, nor did he idle or zone out. When the scanner went idle, he silently reviewed the contracts.
Manager Liu had just returned from the R&D department and, as soon as she sat down, was startled by the sight of Tan Ning suddenly appearing beside her. Clutching her chest, she exclaimed, “Why do you walk without making a sound?”
Tan Ning looked down at his shoes.
“What is it?” Manager Liu asked, sounding impatient.
“I finished scanning, Manager Liu.”
Manager Liu was surprised. “You scanned all one hundred-plus documents?”
Tan Ning nodded. “What should I do next?”
She followed him to the computer to check, intending to tell him not to rush, only to find that he had carefully organized the contracts by year and type.
Despite his blank expression, he was efficient and intelligent in his work.
Previous legal interns had only been there to collect certificates, dragging out tasks that should’ve taken a day for a week. Very few were as proactive and hardworking as Tan Ning.
She thought to herself: Is a law student from A University really that desperate for an internship certificate?
“Tang Tang, help Tan Ning with filing the contracts.” Manager Liu called over her assistant.
When Fang Jin arrived in the legal department with the annual plan, Manager Liu was on the phone with a friend. Seeing Fang Jin, she immediately hung up, sat up straight, and greeted her with a smile, “President Fang, what brings you here?”
“The R&D department said they’ve contacted the distributor. Has the contract been prepared?”
Manager Liu was stunned. “R&D didn’t inform me. I’ll draft the contract tomorrow.”
“Here are a few key points I noted down for you.” Fang Jin handed over the document, but before Manager Liu could take it, she caught sight of a familiar figure out of the corner of her eye.
It was Tan Ning.
He saw her too and immediately slowed his pace.
Fang Jin looked him over from head to toe.
Summoning his courage, Tan Ning raised his head to meet her gaze but quickly looked away, intimidated by the icy look in her eyes.
Manager Liu introduced, “President Fang, this is our new intern in the legal department. His last name is Tan, as in ‘conversation.’”
“Good day, President Fang,” Tan Ning said.
Fang Jin didn’t respond, treating him as if he were a stranger. She turned and flipped through the document in her hands. “For the key points: the distributor must provide a performance bond, no regional price undercutting, and also, no exclusive distribution rights this time. Let’s bring on a few more distributors.”
“Got it, then I’ll—” Manager Liu began but trailed off when she saw Fang Jin turn the document and place it in Tan Ning’s hands.
His breath quickened, and his fingertips trembled with anxiety.
Fang Jin said, “You draft the contract.”
All eyes in the office turned to this slender, tall boy.
Manager Liu tried to mediate, “President Fang, he hasn’t graduated yet; he may not be experienced enough.”
“It’s not too difficult a task,” Fang Jin remarked, giving Tan Ning a sharp glance.
In a voice tinged with barely contained excitement, he replied, “I’ll complete the task. Thank you, President Fang.”
Manager Liu almost thought she was seeing things. Since this morning, she hadn’t seen a hint of expression on the boy’s face, but the moment Fang Jin arrived, he was both nervous and thrilled.
After Fang Jin left, Tan Ning sat at his corner workstation, fully focused on drafting the contract.
Of course, he wasn’t skilled at it. Law school knowledge turned out to be rather useless for real-world tasks, and he found himself clueless about the basics of contract formatting. After ten minutes of helplessness, he gradually started to make progress.
He worked through lunch, and it wasn’t until Tang Tang, Manager Liu’s assistant, reminded him, “Tan Ning, want to order takeout with us?”
He shook his head, politely declined, and went downstairs to a convenience store for a rice ball and milk. When Lin Song’an called, he was still trying to figure out the difference between exclusive and non-exclusive distribution contracts, and he answered with, “The distributor—”
Lin Song’an chuckled. “Already talking about distributors? I thought poor Ning Ning would be sweeping floors at the mercy of my mother.”
“Hmph.”
“How’s the internship? I remember my mom’s legal department is small; is it busy?”
“No,” Tan Ning said, with a hint of pride in his voice. “Lin Song’an, your mom assigned me a task. She asked me to draft a contract, a real one.”
“She put you on contract drafting right off the bat? That sounds like a trial by fire!”
“Is it?” He chewed his straw, thinking. “Oh, maybe it is. But I’m happy about it.”
Lin Song’an paused, then said, “You little dummy.”
How could he be happy about that?
In reality, Tan Ning didn’t need to face any of this, as if being a beta was his own fault, making him try his best to please Fang Jin to earn her approval.
Even though the fault lay with Fang Jin’s bias and Lin Yexun’s betrayal.
But Tan Ning never complained.
Fully embracing his new job role, he replied coldly, “Alright, I’m going back to the office. Don’t call me this afternoon.”
Lin Song’an was promptly brushed off.
In the evening, Tang Tang checked the time as she packed her bag: 6:23 PM.
Manager Liu had just left, and she was about to slip out when she noticed the intern, sitting firmly at his desk.
She thought this boy was strange—quiet, didn’t greet anyone or interact much. But he didn’t seem reclusive either; he had nice long hair and worked with enthusiasm. Just odd.
“Tan Ning, time to go.”
“I’ll stay a bit longer.” He shifted his gaze from the document to her briefly, politely adding, “Goodbye.”
“…Goodbye.”
Tang Tang turned to leave but nearly screamed when she reached the door.
Fang Jin was standing there, half-hidden in the darkness.
Everyone in the company feared Fang Jin, and Tang Tang’s heart leapt to her throat. She swallowed nervously and stammered, “P-President Fang.”
Fang Jin nodded. “Go on, you’re off.”
Tang Tang darted away.
Fang Jin stood at the door for a while, watching Tan Ning as he sat at his workstation in the corner, staring intently at his computer screen.
In this light, he still looked like a student.
Serious, at least.
When almost everyone had left, around 7 PM, Lin Song’an walked in with a dinner bag.
Seeing him, Tan Ning immediately frowned and gestured him away. “Who told you to come here? What if your mom sees you? Go, go!”
“She won’t. I waited until she left before coming up.”
Tan Ning relaxed a bit.
Lin Song’an pulled up a chair next to him. “You haven’t had dinner, have you?”
Now he realized he was hungry.
“This place has great Sichuan food. I used to eat there all the time. I picked up a few dishes, thought we’d eat together. I’ve had enough bland food while I was healing—if I see another green vegetable dish, I’ll scream. I need something more hearty.”
Tan Ning smiled at him.
He took Lin Song’an’s hand and inspected it. “Did you change the dressing?”
“Yes, it’s starting to scab.”
They squeezed together as Lin Song’an piled food onto Tan Ning’s plate. Preoccupied with his contract work, soon his bowl was overflowing. Lin Song’an finally warned him, “Little cat Tan if you don’t eat, I’ll shut off your computer.”
Tan Ning immediately took a few bites.
But he was distracted again in no time.
Lin Song’an coughed, so he picked up a piece of meat and muttered, “What should the bond amount be?”
He was never this focused in bed.
Lin Song’an couldn’t help thinking: Does he want to marry me or my mom?
Finally, after cajoling and coaxing, he got Tan Ning to finish dinner. As soon as Lin Song’an tidied up, Tan Ning dove back into work. Unwilling to be ignored, Lin Song’an leaned over, grabbing both arms of his chair and pulled him close. “Don’t overwork yourself, Ning Ning. My mom just wants an excuse to pick on you. No matter how perfect you are, she’ll still find fault.”
“Then I’ll try to give her fewer reasons to.”
His eyes were bright, his tone earnest, almost making Lin Song’an’s heart ache.
Lin Song’an leaned in and kissed him.
“Why are you so obedient, darling?”
Blushing, Tan Ning pushed him. “Don’t call me that.”
“Why not?”
“Only when—” He bit his lip, realizing he’d fallen into Lin Song’an’s trap again.
Lin Song’an pressed his forehead to his, smiling. “Only when what? Only when can I call you ‘darling’?”
Annoyed, Tan Ning was about to push him away, but a glimpse toward the door made him jump up.
He put his hands behind his back, stepping away to the wall.
As if he’d been caught red-handed.
Lin Song’an looked over. It was Fang Jin.
Without waiting for him to explain, she turned and walked away.
Tan Ning’s eyes filled with panic as he watched her go.
In frustration, he took it out on Lin Song’an, punching him hard on the shoulder. “This is all your fault! I told you not to come, and you just had to. Now she saw us! No matter how well I do tomorrow, it’s all ruined!”
“I—”
Tan Ning, cheeks puffed with anger, shoved him toward the door. “You’re so annoying! I don’t want to talk to you for the rest of the week!”
Lin Song’an sighed inwardly.
He’d blown it, and now there’d be no making up for it.
