Chapter 31: Shaped into a Contrarian by Reality

Chapter 31: Shaped into a Contrarian by Reality

After a lot of busy work, about an hour later, the two of them walked out side by side from the Q Music headquarters.

Looking back, the grand and magnificent complex of buildings still stood under the setting sun.

Golden light fell, reflecting the shimmering waves of the nearby Haijiao Bay.

The two looked at each other and smiled.

Chen Feng waved his hand, holding a contract consisting of three sheets of paper.

The contract was light, but somehow felt heavy.

Chen Feng knew that for him, this had opened the door to wealth, but that was all. For Zhong Lei, however, it meant she had officially stepped onto the path leading straight to the top of the charts in a thousand years.

“Do you think our song will become popular?”

While waiting for the car, Zhong Lei asked casually.

Chen Feng wondered, “Why are you feeling uncertain now that everything’s settled?”

Zhong Lei shook her head. “It’s not about uncertainty. I just suddenly really wanted to hear your blind confidence.”

“Alright, believe me. It will definitely be a hit, okay?”

The two had originally planned to stay in Yucheng for three days and two nights, but they didn’t expect to finish their business on the second day.

They checked out of the hotel, changed their flight tickets, and rushed back to Hanzhou that very night, covered in dust.

After getting home, Chen Feng finally felt at ease.

The nightly rate of 488 in Yucheng was really too expensive. Even though Chen Feng wasn’t as short on money now, his heart still panicked.

He was afraid of being poor.

Early the next morning, Chen Feng got up, washed up, and went out for a morning run.

The matter of “Dullness” was settled. All he had to wait for now was its official release next week to see the results.

His next focus was to finalize the two songs “Night Has Grown Deep” and “Monotony” as soon as possible. He absolutely couldn’t let Zhong Lei write them herself.

Anyway, the forced sick leave from the company was for three days. There were still two days left, so Chen Feng planned to go out and lay low, not returning home.

He wanted to avoid Zhong Lei. By the way, he would pretend to go out to gather inspiration. When he returned, he would directly present the new songs, not giving her any chance to come looking to talk with him.

What if Zhong Lei suddenly knocked on his door and said, “I’ve started writing songs too. Listen to this melody I have here.”

Wouldn’t that be a huge disaster?

With no other good place to go and home not being convenient, he simply found an internet cafe near Weston Apartments and booked a private room.

For the next two days, apart from going out to a hotel to sleep, he planned to practically live in the internet cafe.

He intended to continue brushing up on basic knowledge related to creation, especially techniques for electronic music arrangement.

Having more skills was never a burden; it was always good to master more knowledge.

Unexpectedly, that night a little past nine, when Chen Feng got up, left the private room, and prepared to head to the hotel, he ran into several familiar faces walking down the internet cafe hallway.

By the time he thought of hiding, it was already too late.

“Huh? Chen Feng, didn’t you take sick leave?”

A bespectacled young man in his late twenties in the middle looked at him with a playful expression. “Still thinking about coming to the internet cafe to play games even when you’re sick. Truly, a light wound won’t keep you off the front lines.”

Chen Feng frowned.

What bad luck, bumping into this guy.

This bespectacled young man was named Zhou Yunbo, a colleague of Chen Feng’s at the company Kelai Apartment.

The two had never gotten along well, always looking at each other unfavorably.

The several people following Zhou Yunbo were also his friends.

Since they met at the internet cafe, Zhou Yunbo was bound to gossip and report him at the company later.

“None of your business.”

Since they already had a feud, Chen Feng didn’t bother wasting words. He cursed and squeezed past from the side, walking away without looking back.

After going out the door, he shrugged and spat twice on the ground beside him. “Bad juju.”

Early the next morning, he was called to the company by his direct supervisor, Lin De.

“Weren’t you on sick leave? How did Zhou Yunbo run into you at the internet cafe last night?”

In the office of the High-Tech Zone regional manager, Lin De said with a gloomy face, full of anger.

The air pressure in the office seemed very low.

Zhou Yunbo was Lin De’s trusted aide to begin with; these two were basically birds of a feather. Chen Feng was not the least bit surprised by his current situation.

After being at this company for over half a year, Chen Feng had long since figured these things out.

This was precisely the reason he had no chance for promotion.

With a top boss pressing down on him like this, no one could get promoted.

Chen Feng didn’t plan to foolishly hang himself on this particular tree.

Long before he started dreaming, he had never stopped sending out resumes to other places, wanting to change jobs.

He had also interviewed many times, but the results weren’t ideal. The advantage of Kelai Apartment’s employee housing benefits was too great, making him hesitate to take the initiative to resign.

“I went to the internet cafe to look up how to recover from illness faster.”

Usually, Chen Feng was a very honest person, but in this company, he could talk nonsense and lie without changing his expression or his heartbeat.

Even if the lie was ridiculous and no normal person would believe it, it didn’t matter.

Lin De slapped the table. “Nonsense! You definitely went to play games! This isn’t taking sick leave; it’s called absent without reason!”

Chen Feng spread his fingers. “Manager Lin, I still have seven days of annual leave this year, and I haven’t used a single one. Also, you say I was playing games. Did you see it with your own eyes? Did Zhou Yunbo take a video?”

He was determined to deny it to the death.

Lin De couldn’t do much about him either.

“What about the cash rent you collected from the tenant the other day? Why hasn’t it entered the company account yet?”

One plan failing, he tried another. Lin De switched to attacking from a different angle.

Chen Feng wasn’t panicked.

The fifty thousand was split 70-30 between him and Zhong Lei. Now he still had over thirty thousand well and good in his bank card.

“Before I went to the internet cafe yesterday, I went to an ATM to deposit the cash into my card. I transferred the money last night; it should arrive by noon today at the latest. According to company rules, this isn’t overdue, is it?”

The work environment was so treacherous, yet Chen Feng could live comfortably, definitely not relying on luck.

As an instant veteran, Chen Feng naturally made these preparations thoroughly and meticulously.

Seeing there was little he could do, Lin De simply waved his hand. “Fine, you can go out now. You’d better take your work seriously from now on. I’ve been watching your state these past one or two months.”

Chen Feng retorted, “Has any tenant complained about me?”

The implication was, I haven’t received any complaints, so what are you blabbering about?

Lin De: …

“Get out!”

Chen Feng shrugged. “I’m still on vacation today, Manager Lin. If there’s nothing else, I’ll head back now.”

“You…”

Lin De’s finger hung in the air, but Chen Feng had already left.

This contrarian really gave no face at all, unwilling to suffer any loss verbally.

A few minutes later, Zhou Yunbo poked his head into Lin De’s office.

“Boss, what did he say?”

Lin De glared at Zhou Yunbo with displeasure. “Bring me less gossip and unsubstantiated reports next time. If you really want to get him, you’d better catch him with solid evidence. Get out!”

Zhou Yunbo felt especially wronged. “When I ran into him, he was already logging off. There was nothing I could do.”

Lin De nodded. “Forget it, that bastard. I’ll think it over carefully. I don’t believe I can’t handle him.”

As Chen Feng passed through the company’s main office area, someone called him from behind.

“Brother Feng, what did Fatty Lin call you to his office for just now?”

The person was named Tang Shuang, a quite cute and sweet-looking girl who joined the company around the same time as Chen Feng.

Maybe because they were close in age or joined around the same time, Tang Shuang liked greeting Chen Feng very much.

Chen Feng strongly suspected that Zhou Yunbo hated him so much, nine times out of ten, because of Tang Shuang.

Even though nothing was going on between them, petty people were prone to jealousy.

They say a beautiful woman brings trouble; the ancients really didn’t lie.

Chen Feng curled his lip. “Nothing much. I just discussed life philosophy with Fatty Lin.”

“Heehee, Brother Feng, you’re so funny.” Tang Shuang blinked. “Are you free tonight? I really want to watch ‘Iron Man 3,’ but I’m a bit scared to go alone.”

Chen Feng resolutely shook his head. “No, I have things to do.”

He really did have things to do.

Tonight, he had to show off “Night Has Grown Deep” and “Monotony” to Zhong Lei.

Now that the situation at the company was getting tougher and tougher, he might have to roll up his bedding and leave at any time.

Strengthening himself quickly and becoming rich was the serious business.