1 Year of Beginning

Ring! Ring! Ring!

"Who is it?"

Groaning, Feng Mian raised her head and picked up her phone that she put on the small table near her bed. Her small arms clicked the answer button as she heard the sudden voice rang through the phone into her small room.

"FENG MIAN! WHEN WILL YOU ARRIVE IN THE COMPANY? IT'S ALMOST THE TIME FOR MEETING!"

"Yu Yan?" Feng Mian jumped off from her bed, nearly tripping on the stuffs lying on the floor in the process. She glanced up to the clock as she nearly cursed loudly. It was already half past seven, meaning that she only had an hour and half before the meeting started.

Previously, she promised Yu Yan that she would arrive earlier in order to let them discuss the material before meeting. Unfortunately, her mother was admitted into hospital last night, so she had no choice but to accompany her. It was only early this morning that the doctor told her that her mother's condition had stabilized, so she didn't need to worry.

Feng Mian felt that she had only lied down on the bed when her phone rang, reminding her that she needed to wake up.

'I must have slept through my alarm.'

Taking her clothes, Feng Mian ran to the bathroom and took the fastest bath possible before she brushed her hair. She had long black hair that looked beautiful but unfortunately often unattended. Her height was around 5'2 feet, a normal height for women in this country.

After she had finished adorning her work clothes, Feng Mian hurriedly ran to the lift. She bumped into a middle aged woman who was also her neighbor.

"Ah, Feng Mian, you oversleep again?" the woman asked kindly.

Feng Mian smiled bitterly. Due to the shortage of money back then, she had to go to university while working part time. Thanks to that, she often slept late and overslept in the morning. Her neighbor in this motel already knew about her bad sleeping habits.

"Yes."

"Tsk, tsk, you're still young, so you have to take care of your health better. Go to sleep in time next time."

"I'll do that later, Madam Su," Feng Mian replied as she dashed out again.

Seeing the energetic girl, Madam Su shook her head. That little lass truly didn't act like a girl at all. If one didn't know better, they might even think of her as a brat in her teenage age.

Feng Mian didn't have a car on her own, so she had no choice but to fetch a ride using public transportation. Not that she didn't want to have one, but she hadn't had the chance to learn how to drive. So unless she wished to bring herself to hospital, it would be better for her if she didn't drive at all.

Drap! Drap! Drap!

"I have arrived."

Feng Mian's breath had turned ragged. Physical ability was definitely not her forte. Internally, she yelled to herself. She was only 23 years old, yet she felt as if she was getting much older when she thought of how worse she was in running. Back then, she didn't have any problem even if she had to run to the company because she was sleeping late.

Sweeping her card for her attendance, Feng Mian hurriedly made her way to her desk. She saw Yu Yan was looking at her with a death glare, but she could only smile sheepishly. It was still a quarter before nine, but they didn't have much time to review the material for the presentation this way.

"Did you stay up to study again?"

Feng Mian put on puppy eyes. "Yan'er, you know that I have already graduated last summer. I don't need to sleep late anymore."

Yu Yan snorted. For the past few months, Feng Mian wasn't late at all, so she thought that her best friend had finally fixed her horrible sleeping schedule. Unfortunately, she ruined it today simply because she didn't manage to arrive in time.

"I'll listen to your reason later. We need to present this proposal. Have you memorized the color palate?"

"Yes!"

The company where Feng Mian worked was a sweet company that focused on candies and caramel. However, Feng Mian and her coworkers were not working on the sweet directly. They were working on the boxes used to wrap the sweets and the decoration used for the wrapping.

Yes.

Feng Mian is a designer, a low rank ordinary employee in this company. Even though she was unremarkable, she still had a decent job and decent pay here, so she loved her work. Majored in arts, she was one of the few people who managed to get a job related to her major.

Though, she is just an unknown artist.

Counting this year, Feng Mian had worked here for three years. She started working for her internship in her third year and since then, she had been staying here. Back then, she just worked for her credits, but now she worked to earn her salary, which was just slightly above the minimum standard in this country.

"Alright. You can leave the design of the box to me, just remember that you need to give your reason for the color palate. This is almost New Year, so you need to make sure that the color is suitable."

Feng Mian gave a bitter smile. "Try not to overdo it. You know how much our president hate when we speak out of our bounds."

Yu Yan froze for a moment when he recalled their company president. They didn't usually need to attend the meeting the president had because of their low position, but he usually watched because of the project. Thinking about this, Yu Yan shivered a bit.

"Xiao Mian, if I get misspoke please try to cover me as best as possible."

"I'll only go to the degree where I won't threaten my job."

"Fine." Yu Yan sighed in exasperation. She was the manager of their designing team. There were several other members too, who had been looking in their direction with hopeful gazes. They didn't want to end up jobless because of a failed meeting.

Feng Mian heaved a sigh. Her body felt heavy because of her lack of sleep, but she needed this job to support her small family. No matter how hard it was, she needed to make sure that she could do it.

Yu Yan glanced at the time. "It's already the time for the meeting. Let's go."

"Ok."