Chen Xiao Zheng's office was just next to the manager's office, and Zheng Wei sat at her desk facing the door. She could often hear the sound of him opening or closing the door, his footsteps were light, but she could hear every step clearly, sometimes getting closer and closer, and sometimes slowly moving away. Occasionally he came to find Zhou Qu to report on work, or when they met in the elevator, Zheng Wei would smile, and he would nod slightly.

  The young girls in the office are all particularly fascinated by him, even though he is not a very pleasant person to get along with most of the time. Whatever is related to him, they are always particularly enthusiastic, and even small office supplies have to be deliberately sent back and forth several times.

  Zheng Wei tried to avoid any opportunity to be alone with him, but as a manager's assistant and secretary, it was inevitable that they would come into contact at work. She remembered the first time she knocked on his office door, handing over a document for Zhou Qu's signature. He said "come in", but her hand hesitated, refusing to listen to her commands.

  "She said: 'Assistant Chen, Manager Zhou asked me to hand this document over to you for review. If there's no problem, please sign it and I'll submit it to the Technical Development Department.'"

  He sat in his seat, fiddling with the pen in his hand, silently staring at her. She remembered what those little back-office workers had said, Assistant Chen was particularly charming when he fell silent, especially with those eyes that made people's hearts flutter. In fact, she knew that his not speaking wasn't as cool as they said, but rather because he was naturally not good at interacting with people, especially disliked talking to strangers, so he spoke sparingly and valued his words like gold. If in all these years he still hadn't changed this habit, then she found it hard to understand how someone with such a personality could quickly climb to his current position in the complex web of relationships within Zhongjian.

  His eye sockets were slightly deep, and the color of his eyes was a very dark brown, similar to ink black. Zheng Wei used to love this pair of eyes the most, although they always seemed too cold, but she had seen them gentle and smiling before. When his smile appeared in his eyes, the corners of his eyes would slightly lift up, and at that time he would say, "Wei Wei, don't mess around." In his arms, she always felt like she would melt into a spring water in the next moment.

  But now, Zheng Wei avoided his eyes in his silent gaze, and spread out a black A4 file folder in front of him. If he paid attention, he would find the fingerprints of her sweaty fingers on the matte hard plastic surface of the black file folder. And he just bowed his head and seriously flipped through the contents of the file, while Zheng Wei couldn't control her eyes lingering between his ring finger and middle finger, she felt sad for her fear at that time, even her breathing was humble.

  Those hands were still thin and pale, except for the black pen they held, empty of everything else.

  He finished reading the last page and signed his name in the column for handling signatures, "You tell Manager Zhou on my behalf that I will urge the technical development department to handle it according to his requirements as much as possible."

  "Alright, don't worry." She nodded and closed the folder, turning to leave. At the door, she heard him suddenly say, "Wait a minute."

  Her back figure was stiff there, suddenly lost the courage to turn back, only heard her own heartbeat, each one was flustered and at a loss.

  After a while, she heard someone behind her say, "Secretary Zheng, you forgot your signature pen."

  She smiled and said, "Assistant Chen, you're mistaken, I didn't bring a pen when I came."

  Later, she thought that when she opened the door, it was still too abrupt. Maybe if she took a few more deep breaths, she could walk away from him with a more composed back. However, at that time, there was no other choice, and she couldn't stay where she was because she was afraid that in the next second, her disobedient tears would fall.

  In any workplace, there are always blossoming office romances, some people see them as a treasure, while others view them as poison. Zheng Wei couldn't understand why the two people who sat across from each other for eight hours a day would still have feelings for each other after their love had withered away. Perhaps some people could pretend it never happened and even enjoy the ambiguous undercurrents, but she clearly couldn't do that, so she always thought office romances were the most foolish thing. Yet God continued to play tricks on her.

  To hell with the romantic plot of soap operas. It's an indescribable sense of loss and awkwardness that no one who hasn't been in it will ever understand. The person who once walked through their youthful years with you, the person who shared the most intimate joys in the world, suddenly appears in front of you with a straight face, those trembling hugs and touches turned into handshakes, the lips that once spoke vows for a lifetime, also passionately kissed, now say "hello, Secretary Zheng" with a polite smile.

  A heart that had been settled for three years was once again left with no place to rest. Every day, as she effortlessly raised the corners of her mouth in front of him, that dull and rusty saw slowly ground away at her heart. Sometimes she wished it were a sharp blade, just like his last words when he left: "Cutting through the pain, leaving nothing behind." That would be a kind of mercy.

  In "The Little Mermaid", the mermaid princess who had transformed into human form for love felt every step on land as painful as a knife cut. Her pain was not only because she had lost her original self, but also because of too many grievances and injustices that could not be expressed.

  Ruan Ruan comforted her, "If you have no choice, then just look forward. No matter why he comes back, don't mind him, you just need to know what you want."

  "What do I want? All I want is peace." Yet she loved him for a day and could never be peaceful again.

  So she kept asking, "Why are we all like this, knowing it's not worth it, yet still holding onto hope."

  Even clever Ruan Ruan couldn't answer her.

  It was during those lonely days, at the most hopeless times, that she still chose to remember the sweetness of the past and forget the sorrow that came later. She kept trying to put herself in his shoes, to understand his decisions, respect his choices, and occasionally hate him because she still loved him.

  How could she not love, emotions are not water gates, open and close at will. In that relationship, she gave herself away, without leaving any room for maneuver. And he left her suddenly when she was happiest, no quarrel, no cold war, no chance to buffer, let the passion dissipate, like a song, sang to the most exciting place, stopped abruptly.

  That's right, she loves Chen Xiao Zheng, loved him before and still does. However, he is right, people should love themselves first, some bitterness, having experienced it once is enough.

  So she went back to the company, still treating each other indifferently, except for that time at the welcome dinner when he hesitated and lost his composure for a moment. Later on, he continued to maintain a normal relationship with her, even smiling with a sense of distance, as if they were just ordinary colleagues, and everything that had happened before was just her imagination. She secretly pitied herself for being overly sentimental, he had already said that no one needed to wait for the other, Zhongjian is the most powerful construction group company in China, he came back and was assigned to the second division, it was just a small coincidence in the inevitable, she actually thought he came for her.

  Actually, the three years had left their mark on Chen Xiao Zheng. Perhaps his introverted and aloof nature still existed, but he was now more worldly and tactful than before. In a meeting at the office, he disagreed with Deputy Manager Zhang, who was known for his short temper. Zhang became enraged and spoke out of turn, even scolding Zhou Qu. Chen Xiao Zheng used to have a quick temper himself, but this time he just smiled it off, knowing he was right but choosing not to insist. She had also seen him receive a visit from Feng De Sheng, the manager of Rui Tong, who was greedy, lecherous and valued relationships above all else - traits that Chen Xiao Zheng despised. Yet, despite his obvious disdain and disgust, he remained polite and courteous on the surface.

  People will naturally grow up, and the little girl who used to be tomboyish is now a dignified secretary wearing a skirt. So, it's not surprising that Chen Xiao Zheng has learned to put on a mask in her dealings with people. What's chilling is when she handed a cup of tea to Feng De Sheng, the old man smiled and touched her hand, saying "Indeed, you're not from around here, Little Zheng, your skin is even better than our local girls."

  Zheng Wei felt both embarrassed and angry, immediately pulling her hand back, the teacup fell to the ground, hot water splashing everywhere. She suppressed the urge to loudly scold him, gritting her teeth as she said, "Manager Feng, I respect you as a superior and a leader, we're all colleagues, why must you do something so unbecoming?"

  Feng Desheng did not expect that his little secretary would be so fierce about this matter, and in front of Chen Xiaozheng, he immediately felt embarrassed, and spoke sarcastically, "Just kidding, little girl's temper is quite big, can only your leader touch? You wouldn't know, would you? When I was a project manager, Zhou Qu was just a small technician, let alone me not doing anything, even if I taught you some rules, Zhou Qu wouldn't dare say anything."

  Zheng Wei's blood rushed to her head, and tears welled up in her eyes. She involuntarily glanced at Chen Xiao Zheng, who lowered his head, his expression indifferent, as if everything that had just happened was none of his concern. Zheng Wei suddenly felt like she was falling into an ice cellar, and the fierce anger that had been burning inside her was instantly extinguished. Tears could no longer flow from her eyes, only a cold smile remained. She clenched her fists tightly in her sleeves, suppressing everything, saying nothing as she stormed out of the room. As she left, she still heard Feng De Sheng say to Chen Xiao Zheng, "I told Zhou Qu that this little girl's temper was unbearable, just like his when he was younger."

  That day, Zhou Qu came back from going out and saw that her eyes were red and puffy, with a dazed expression. He asked in a sentence, "What's wrong, who made you angry?"

  Zheng Wei took a mirror and glanced at her own eyes, smiling and saying, "Nothing, I just thought of the Korean drama I watched last night. Koreans eat kimchi often, but they also have leukemia often, how pitiful."

  Zhou Qu shook his head and smiled wryly, "Generation gap, indeed a generation gap."

  He walked into the inner office, and her smile fell. Who is the person in the mirror who wants to cry but has no tears? Haha, the proud and powerful Jade-Faced Little Flying Dragon from back then, after struggling in the evil society for a few years, finally became a mud carp.

  The next day, Chen Xiao Zheng's internal phone call reached Zheng Wei's office, "Secretary Zheng, I'm in a hurry to go to the XX project department's engineering files last year. Why is there no one in the file room?"

  "She said, 'The people in the archives room are all at headquarters for training today. Assistant Chen, please wait a moment, I have the key here and will go open the door for you.'"

  She hastily ran up to the seventh floor to open the file room for him, according to his specified file number, and finally found what he wanted in a row of file cabinets.

  "What you want is here. Assistant Chen, would you mind coming over to sign for me on the file borrowing certificate?" She walked towards the archivist's desk, he stood at the end of the narrow aisle between the filing cabinets waiting, when she reached him, she lowered her head and said, "Trouble you to lend it."

  She waited for several seconds before realizing he didn't move at all.

  To meet the long-term preservation needs of paper documents, the lighting in the archive room is always dim, even when the sun is shining brightly outside. The airtight curtains and temperature and humidity controllers still make this corner, hidden in one corner of the office building, appear cool and deserted, with a hint of musty smell. Zheng Wei took a deep breath, suddenly feeling that she had been guarding her memories for so long, just like being infected with this atmosphere. She looked up at Chen Xiao Zheng, backlit, unable to discern his facial features, only feeling unfamiliar.

  "I've borrowed it." She hugged the thick file box in front of her chest and repeated again.

  This time, she was certain that he hadn't heard her, but rather had no intention of letting her pass. The two stood in silence for a moment, the ticking of the clock making her inexplicably anxious, and she couldn't care less about his position being above hers. With a determined heart, she forcibly squeezed past him, causing his shoulder to sway slightly, and he used one hand to prop himself against the file cabinet, blocking her path.

  "I won't let him go." He said abruptly and hastily.

  Zheng smiled.

  "I will absolutely not let him go." He repeated again, the forced calmness in his tone making her almost mistake the person standing in front of her for the boy who had awkwardly apologized after their fight back then.

  She slowly took her hand off his on the cabinet and said, "Assistant Chen, come over here and sign."

  Until he had completed all the formalities, she closed the door of the records room and left, and the two never spoke again.

  After a few days, his paper shredder frequently malfunctioned. Zheng Wei went to take a look several times and also called someone to come and repair it, but it was still intermittent. He finally became impatient and gave her another call, "Secretary Zheng, you'd better come over and take a look, what's wrong with it this time."

  Zheng Wei said, "Didn't I ask someone to take a look yesterday and it's already usable now?"

  He said, "But I just can't use it now. If you think it's still usable, why don't you help me shred these documents?"

  Zheng Wei hung up the phone and called over a bored little intern, who heard that she was going to do chores for Chen Xiao Zheng and nodded in agreement without saying a word. In just a few minutes, Zheng Wei saw her walking out of the neighboring office with a sullen expression.

  "Broken?" Zheng Wei asked.

  Xiao Houqin made a ghostly face, pointing vaguely at Chen Xiaozheng's office. "I'm like I've eaten explosives! I happened to run into the muzzle. He said these are all confidential bidding documents, Zheng Jie, you'd better go."

  "I'm busy here, can you help me get it over there and just tell him I took care of it on my shredder."

  Xiao Houqin escaped from the fire line for the second time, and before Zheng Wei could speak, he begged, "Sister Zheng, don't bother me anymore. Even if I'm a handsome guy, being scolded twice is enough!"

  Zheng Wei comforted and sent away the wronged little girl, just as she was about to go over, Chen Xiao Zheng walked up with a stack of discarded documents. He heavily placed them on her office desk, "Are you so busy? Do you understand that some materials can't be casually handed over to others?"

  His tone was not polite, and he saw Zheng Wei's face change color. He thought she would lose her temper, but unexpectedly she just cooled down, picked up the label book he put on the table, "I know, I was busy for a moment earlier and didn't think of this layer. Sorry, it won't happen again next time."

  He suddenly felt a bit bewildered, as if he had just discovered that the person in front of him was someone he didn't know.

  "Are you still angry?" He put his hand on the contract.

  "How is this possible, Assistant Chen."

  He frowned, "Don't call me Assistant Chen again."

  Zheng Wei said, "Wait until your appointment comes down, I will naturally call you Vice Manager Chen."

  Proud Chen Xiaozheng finally had a look of defeat and despair on his face, he closed his eyes briefly, and said in a low voice, "Weiwei, don't be like this..." The tone was almost pleading.

  Three years had passed when she finally heard the familiar voice calling out that name again, as if in a dream.

  "What else can we do, Chen Xiao Zheng?"

  They can only be like this.

  Zhou Qu opened the door of the inner office and walked out, looking at the two people in front of him with some surprise. "What's wrong, what's going on?"

  Zheng Wei let out a sigh of relief, "It's nothing, boss. I'm just discussing with Assistant Chen how to handle these invalid bidding documents."