Zhang Ziwen nodded and sat in his designated seat. This would be his new workspace from now on. He glanced at the slightly messy office items on the desk—the semi-new, semi-old computer—and let out a soft sigh of relief.
After Zhang Ziwen finished organizing his desk, Li Yan took him on a tour of the 25th floor, helping him familiarize himself with the layout of each department. For those departments where the heads were present, Li Yan gave a brief introduction. For those absent, introductions would be saved for another opportunity.
The department heads, seeing the guy handling internal affairs, all unconsciously showed strange expressions. No need to guess, they probably thought it was a dead-end job. Zhang Ziwen was unfazed, used to such reactions. Instead, he made sure to memorize the names of each department head and got a rough sense of their temperaments. Years of military life had instilled in him this habit of analyzing opponents and delivering the final blow. He just tweaked his approach a bit, aiming not to destroy but to find common ground.
It took quite a bit of time to visit each department and get acquainted with the basics. Back in his office, Zhang Ziwen turned on his computer and checked if the system was running smoothly. After scanning for viruses and cleaning them up, Li Yan became interested in his skilled handling.
"Um, that guy, Zhang Wen."
"Zhang Ziwen."
"Yeah, Zhang Ziwen. You seem pretty good with computers. Can you check if mine's infected? It keeps crashing whenever I open the browser these days."
"Let me take a look." Zhang Ziwen walked over to her desk and turned on her computer.
First, he checked for viruses. Dozens of unidentified viruses were hidden in the C drive, all linked to the browser. He cleared the browser history first, then opened IE. Dozens of website directories were still there. He clicked on one, and the screen flickered madly, spawning numerous windows. The number in the taskbar instantly shot up to 108.
"Yeah, just like this," Li Yan leaned in and exclaimed, "I can't delete these at all. Every time I try, the number increases."
Zhang Ziwen caught a whiff of perfume emanating from her, unfamiliar with the brand but strong and fragrant. He wrinkled his nose and swiftly moved his fingers on the keyboard, popping up a window without changing the number.
"Good lord," Li Yan hadn't finished her sentence when the screen froze and the sound below stopped abruptly. Both of them were stunned, and the office fell into silence. The air seemed to freeze, only their increasingly rapid heartbeats audible.
The screen that popped up unexpectedly showed modern * content. They saw an actress in an exaggerated pose, seductively sitting astride a man, with their intimate parts clearly visible—too clear, vivid in every detail, provocative, enticing, practically criminal-grade adult images.
"Quick, close it!" Li Yan reacted first, exclaiming in distress.
Zhang Ziwen, typically slow to react to such images at his age, felt an inexplicable urge to continue watching. The temptation was too strong.
Startled by Li Yan's cry, Zhang Ziwen cursed inwardly. Damn, how did this happen? He scrambled to act, but not only couldn't he close the window, more windows popped up one after another like a slideshow. One after another, 30 or more provocative images appeared in an orderly and rhythmic manner, each incredibly clear. The countdown of 108 kept ticking down.
Seeing the situation worsening, Zhang Ziwen quickly bent down and forcefully pressed the power button under the desk. The screen went black in a flash, and Zhang Ziwen breathed a sigh of relief. Luckily, he acted fast enough. If it had continued, all 108 images would have been seen.
The office was as silent as death. The two of them looked at each other, feeling extremely awkward. Inadvertently, this young man and woman had just received an impromptu lesson in anatomy. Li Yan's charming face remained flushed for a long time, her lips moving as if she wanted to say something but didn't know how, appearing as if her privacy had been intruded upon.
Zhang Ziwen observed her expression, guessing she wanted to explain something. He couldn't help but find it amusing—what was there to explain? It was obvious this computer had been infected from her casual browsing of adult websites. He couldn't believe this girl had this kind of hobby. Today's events were both amusing and absurd to Zhang Ziwen.
The office felt a bit dull now that the * images were gone. Zhang Ziwen's mind cleared up a bit. If he continued to act clueless, it might be hard to explain. So, with some nerve, he broke the awkward silence and asked Li Yan if there were any important files on her computer. He also requested software from her; besides reinstalling the system, he couldn't think of any other solution.
Reinstalling the system took some time. The two of them sat in front of the desk without saying a word, both staring at the lifeless computer screen. Neither of them had any interest in the progress bar on the computer. They seemed lost in their own thoughts.
"Zhang Ziwen." A voice from outside the door broke the awkward silence between the man and woman.
Zhang Ziwen looked up and saw Xu Ying standing at the office door. His first thought was, "Perfect timing." He stood up and walked over, smiling, "Need something?"
"No, it's lunchtime. I came to invite you to lunch," Xu Ying's face blushed slightly unnoticed.
Zhang Ziwen glanced at his watch. Indeed, it was past twelve. The morning had gone by quickly. He turned to Li Yan with a questioning look, asking if he could go.
Li Yan had already returned to normal by now. She stood up and said, "Go ahead. Lunch break is one hour. Just make sure to be back in the office by 1 o'clock."
After saying that, she glanced at Xu Ying with a flirtatious look, puzzled as to how Xu Ying knew him.
The cafeteria was on the sixth floor, spacious and bright, with rows of tables and chairs neatly arranged in the hall. The aroma of food wafted through the entire dining area. Most of the New Australia Group's employees dined here, and by now, quite a few of them had gathered, though it wasn't overly noisy.
To Zhang Ziwen, entering here felt like a novice. He looked completely lost as he entered the cafeteria, but fortunately, Xu Ying was there to lead him. She took care of everything, bustling around without needing his help. She fetched plates and spoons for him, all prepared in advance. She then led him to the buffet table where dozens of dishes were laid out. He just followed Xu Ying with his plate in hand, pointing at what he wanted to eat. The chef scooped the dishes onto his plate as Xu Ying swiped her card ahead of him. She did it so naturally, and Zhang Ziwen took it all in stride, as if it were perfectly normal.
They picked a vacant table by the window and sat facing each other. Zhang Ziwen thanked her and asked where he could get one of those dining cards. Xu Ying was quite straightforward and handed him her card, telling him there was still over 200 yuan left on it for him to use first, and she would sort it out later for him.
Zhang Ziwen took the dining card and tried to pay her from his wallet, but Xu Ying playfully refused. Eventually, after Zhang Ziwen insisted, she accepted 200 yuan. With just a few tens of yuan left on the card, Zhang Ziwen decided to treat her. Her refusal made Zhang Ziwen feel a sense of camaraderie. "This girl is really something," he thought to himself.
Less than 10 minutes later, Zhang Ziwen's plate was spotlessly clean, a habit he brought back from his military days—eating swiftly and efficiently, leaving no grain of rice wasted.
Xu Ying's eyes widened at Zhang Ziwen's eating habits, as if she had seen an alien. Despite his otherwise refined appearance, his manner of eating was surprisingly messy. Her own plate was barely touched, yet his was already empty.
Seeing Xu Ying's astonished expression, Zhang Ziwen realized he had eaten a bit too quickly. He smiled apologetically at her, stood up, and walked over to the nearby automatic beverage dispenser. He swiped it for two glasses of juice, returned to their table, and handed one to Xu Ying. Zhang Ziwen's gentlemanly demeanor instantly overshadowed his earlier uncouth eating habits, earning him a sweet smile from Xu Ying.
After confirming smoking was allowed in the cafeteria, Zhang Ziwen took out a pack of cigarettes, lit one, and took a deep drag. He blew out two or three beautiful smoke rings, then leaned comfortably back in his chair, savoring the post-meal smoke with utmost satisfaction. As he exhaled another ring, his lips formed a perfect "o" shape, unable to close.
Through the lingering smoke rings, a graceful figure and a stunningly beautiful face appeared at the opposite end of the restaurant, entering through the main door. Though still far away, Zhang Ziwen instantly recognized the young and beautiful woman in the perfectly fitted pale white suit—her elegance and beauty still captivating.
"No way, is the world really this small?" Zhang Ziwen sighed inwardly. He never expected to encounter the woman who had annoyed him so much in this place.