Chapter 20
"Let go! Don't pull my clothes! Ah—I don't want to go! I don't want to go!"
I clung tightly to the stair railing, trying to use this sturdy anchor point to battle against Shangguan's brute strength.
"Let go!"
"No! I won't let go! I want to sleep!"
Shangguan kicked the railing, and it shook violently. Frightened, I quickly released my grip, terrified that in the next moment he would tear down the entire staircase.
The moment I let go, he immediately hoisted me onto his shoulder like a sack of grain, then tossed me into the car despite my startled cries.
"I don't want to go! Let me back! I want to sleep!"
I crawled on all fours toward the door, but he grabbed my leg and yanked me back onto the seat. Then he domineeringly strapped me in with the seatbelt, restricting my freedom while threatening, "Shut up! If you keep squirming, I'll tie you up with a rope!"
"I want to sleep!" I whined, turning my head to point at my panda-like dark circles, showing him just how desperately I needed rest.
"You can sleep tomorrow too."
"Tomorrow I still have...呃, tomorrow I need to sleep too. I can't recover if I sleep for two days straight!"
"Serves you right! Who told you to stay up late every day? If you're lacking sleep, then work fewer overtime hours." He remained unmoved, steadily starting the car and driving out through the gate.
"Hey hey, as the company boss, seeing such a dedicated employee, even if you don't reward me, you don't have to be so harsh either." If it weren't for your damn "plan" idea, I'd still be enjoying my carefree life. Why would I be suffering like this? My cold isn't even better yet!
"Who do you think you are, some rare talent? Even if you didn't sleep for twenty-four hours a day, you wouldn't bring much extra profit to the company."
He mercilessly deployed his viper-tongue tactics, and before I could counterattack, he continued, "And look at yourself—shriveled like dried radish. If you don't get some sun soon, you're going to mold!"
"I'm not going to play golf, so even if I go, won't I just be sitting in a chair the whole time? You think this is a soccer match, bringing a substitute player?"
Being dragged out of a wonderful dream and forcibly taken to the car, my frustration was more than just a little.
"Oh, impressive, are we? After researching for a few days, you finally know there's such a thing as substitutes in soccer. But at least substitutes can kick a few balls. You? But don't even think about sitting this one out. Today, wherever I go, you go. If you dare hide somewhere and sleep, tomorrow I'll just come dig you out again!"
I glared at him resentfully, weighing the difference between us. Strength? No match. Arguing? Still no match. Though furious, I had no choice but to find a comfortable position, close my eyes, and give him a "out of sight, out of mind" treatment!
Actually, I knew Shangguan meant well. He wanted me to get some sun and move around. For the past week or so, to finish that project proposal, I had been pushing myself a bit too hard, staying up past midnight every day. But what else could I do? The deadline was approaching.
Actually, I didn't need to work this hard in the first place. After all, this was just a plan, and Shangguan had said the purpose was merely a test—to see our thinking process. So we just needed to work out the general direction. As for the details... if it was adopted, I assumed they would add more people to help refine it.
But Yang Xin, who had previously claimed to be good with details, not only didn't help with the overall direction, but on the details front as well, she only talked the talk without walking the walk. She would just say whatever came to mind, jumping from one thing to another, then have me research materials and evaluate feasibility.
And what made my head hurt even more was that the extra documents that had disappeared when I took over the proposal had now reappeared on my desk.
I was a bit annoyed about this too. I was already swamped with the proposal, and now I had to divert part of my energy to deal with these unimportant but extremely tedious tasks. Was it really true that nice guys finish last? Even old Chen, the nice guy, was leaving documents on my desk!
I knew December was always busier than usual for the company—after all, a new year was coming. But this was a bit too much. Still, since the papers had piled up, I couldn't just leave them there forever; I had to find time to handle them. So my already scarce rest time became even scarcer. Even during lunch, I had to bring documents with me.
Of course, I could push these papers back or report to the manager, but I really didn't want to stir up that trouble. I knew that once I did, I'd probably get sucked into the so-called office politics. So I just accepted my fate and endured the extra workload.