TuxedoTranslations

Chapter 2

“Technology changes life, technology creates the future. Blue Sky Technology is one of the world’s top 50 companies…”

The digital screen in the elevator replayed the company’s history on loop.

The elevator ascended slowly, with the ventilation blowing cool air, dispersing the summer heat.

It had been two months since Zhuang Yanyu started working at Blue Sky Technology, and today he finally encountered Wen Chenxi.

The person had been chosen for him, but whether they could become friends depended on his own efforts.

After all, friendship needed to be cultivated; the relationships he had in his past life were with others, not with him.

No wonder the elevator was empty. People must have seen Wen Chenxi inside and didn’t dare to enter.

Dreams of marrying into wealth were just empty talk.

“Which floor?”

Wen Chenxi suddenly asked, his gaze shifting to meet Zhuang Yanyu’s.

Zhuang Yanyu was still contemplating—should he start introducing himself now that they’d finally met?

Wen Chenxi noticed the young man appeared almost startled, standing perfectly still.

The young man was strikingly handsome, with delicate features like a masterpiece, almost flawless. His dazed expression reminded Wen Chenxi of his friend’s cat, which would freeze when seeing a stranger, quietly observing with bright, curious eyes as if filled with unspoken thoughts held back by some hidden reason.

Wen Chenxi glanced at the young employee before him, a faint smile tugging at his lips.

He wasn’t usually the helpful type, but he felt an odd reluctance to let the young man risk being late and scolded by his supervisor.

Wen Chenxi glanced at his watch and, in a rare display of initiative, spoke again, “You’re about to be late.”

That brought Zhuang Yanyu back to reality. “What?”

Just then, with a “ding,” the elevator arrived at the top floor.

The top floor was the president’s office, and somehow, he’d ended up here by accident.

Zhuang Yanyu: “…”

The Blue Sky Technology building had 33 floors.

The company had a long history; when skyscrapers were still scarce in City A, Blue Sky Technology already owned this building. Compared to the modern towers rising over a hundred stories, this building was considered old, which explained the limited number of elevators.

But reportedly, the company was constructing a new, high-tech building, and everyone was eagerly awaiting the move.

Outside the elevator.

Assistant Lin, the president’s special assistant, happened to pass by the elevator. Seeing it stop on this floor, he paused to wait.

At this hour, the only person likely to reach the top floor was Wen Chenxi.

Assistant Lin held several documents in his hand, all intended for the president’s office.

As the elevator doors opened, Assistant Lin said briskly, “Mr. Wen, the proposal for the new project from the R&D department has been…”

Halfway through his sentence, he stopped abruptly.

Assistant Lin looked at the two people in the elevator. One was definitely his boss, Wen Chenxi, but the other was…?

Wen Chenxi, seeing that they had arrived at the top floor, glanced at the young employee again.

The other man seemed a bit flustered, staring blankly at the elevator buttons, looking slightly frustrated.

Wen Chenxi’s lips curved faintly.

Assistant Lin: “And this is…?”

Zhuang Yanyu: “Sorry, I took the wrong floor.”

He quickly pressed the button for the 16th floor.

Assistant Lin: “?”

Wrong floor, and you end up on the top floor?

But the elevator doors had already closed, blocking Assistant Lin’s view.

Wen Chenxi took the documents from Assistant Lin’s hand, noticing that the assistant was still staring at the elevator. He asked, “Still looking at something?”

Assistant Lin quickly looked away, following Wen Chenxi, and said, “No, I was just surprised.”

Surprised that someone dared to ride the same elevator as the big boss.

Wen Chenxi thought of the young employee from a moment ago, glancing back to see the elevator descend to the “16th” floor and then stop.

So, that young man was from the 16th floor.

Wen Chenxi adjusted his glasses and asked casually, “The 16th floor is the service center, right?”

Assistant Lin replied, “Yes.”

Thinking Wen Chenxi might be suspicious of the employee’s intentions, he asked, “Shall we look into that employee?”

Wen Chenxi replied calmly, “Why check on him for no reason?”

Assistant Lin, embarrassed, said, “Understood.”

Once in the office, Assistant Lin organized the important files and set aside the less urgent ones before quietly leaving the room.

Just as he reached the door, he heard Wen Chenxi’s voice from behind: “If you want to look into him, go ahead.”

Assistant Lin: “…”

Meanwhile, Zhuang Yanyu had returned to the 16th floor, feeling a bit down.

So, it turned out getting to know a future buddy wasn’t easy at all.

“Hmm? Xiao Zhuang, you’re actually late today?”

“It really is Xiao Zhuang! I just felt like something was off in the tech services department, and now I know why—you weren’t here yet.”

“Did something happen today, Xiao Zhuang? This is the first time I’ve seen you arrive this late.”

As he passed by his coworkers’ desks, everyone was surprised to see Zhuang Yanyu.

It wasn’t that they were making a big deal over nothing; it was just that since his first day at the company, Zhuang Yanyu had always arrived exactly 20 minutes early, rain or shine, to clock in on time.

At first, no one noticed until last month when the attendance records were posted, and everyone was shocked to see that Zhuang Yanyu was almost obsessively punctual. His clock-in time was always 08:40:00, without even a second of deviation!

Seeing everyone’s curiosity, Zhou Quan laughed and explained on behalf of Zhuang Yanyu, “He came early today too but realized he forgot something and had to go back and get it.”

Zhuang Yanyu nodded and gave his colleagues a polite smile.

Zhou Quan exaggeratedly exclaimed, “Please, stop smiling—look, all the girls across the way are staring at you!”

Puzzled, Zhuang Yanyu asked, “What?”

He instinctively looked across the hall, only to meet the gazes of several young women who were sneaking glances his way.

When the girls noticed him looking back, some shyly looked away, while others waved at him boldly.

The guys in the tech services department all noticed this and felt a pang of jealousy.

The entire 16th floor was designated as the company’s service center, which had only two departments: customer service and tech services, with their doors facing each other.

Since tech services handled technical support and repairs for the company’s extensive customer base, it had been separated from the rest of the technical department and placed here in the service center.

It was well-positioned, connecting with engineering and support at the top level, new product R&D in the middle, and finally, direct customer tech support, making it very flexible.

But most importantly, the customer service department across the hall was filled with pretty, cute, and gentle ladies!

If only they’d look at more than just Xiao Zhuang.

“Ever since Xiao Zhuang joined, the girls in customer service have been watching him nonstop.”

“Jealous, are we? Even before Xiao Zhuang arrived, the girls never looked at you!”

“As if you’re not jealous! We’re all single here; let’s not take it out on each other.”

The department supervisor overheard them and chuckled, “I think it’s great—since Xiao Zhuang joined our department, everyone’s been more conscious of cleanliness.”

At that, the tech guys exchanged looks, knowing exactly what he meant.

They couldn’t help it; Zhuang Yanyu was handsome, fair-skinned, and impeccably neat.

Before he joined, the guys in the department hardly cared about their appearance. They weren’t unkempt, but they were homebodies who went from office to home without much thought for grooming.

With the arrival of Zhuang Yanyu, it was like a pure white lotus blossoming in muddy waters. The contrast was brutal!

Previously, they didn’t feel particularly sloppy, but now they couldn’t shake the feeling. They all wore the same T-shirts and casual pants, but on him, it looked like youthful college attire; on them, it screamed “panda-eyed gamer.”

It became clear that he looked that good because he had great skin, a nice build, and a handsome face.

So, they started buying skincare products, using face wash, going to bed earlier, and gradually improving their appearance.

The supervisor was pleased with this positive competition. Looking at Zhuang Yanyu with a fatherly smile, he said, “Xiao Zhuang, the engineering department asked to borrow some people for adjustments today. Go with Zhou Quan, and you can learn some things.”

“Okay.”

It was his first time being borrowed by another department, so Zhou Quan, acting like an older brother, led him along and explained, “Our tech services department only deals with troubleshooting for existing products until a new product is launched. But our company’s products are generally high-quality, so we rarely have issues. When we’re not working on new products, tech services is a pretty relaxed job, so engineering and R&D often call us over to help.”

Zhuang Yanyu nodded, “I know.”

Zhou Quan continued, “But when a new product launches, we get busy too. Most upgrade requests, upgrade reports, and active test reports require us to work with engineering and R&D. We also handle manuals, like installation and maintenance guides. You’re still new here, and your tasks were a bit scattered during your first month. Now that you’re officially part of the team and things are slow, if you run into anything you don’t understand, don’t hesitate to ask me or the others.”

“Thank you,” Zhuang Yanyu replied.

“No need to thank me! We’re all in this together, and I’m just the senior around here.”

When they arrived at the engineering department, everyone was extremely busy, paying little attention to the two newcomers.

Tech services generally disliked helping here because the work was hard, and there was no extra pay. They’d rather stay in their own department and take it easy.

Zhou Quan was already familiar with the situation. “And this is just online adjustments—when it comes to on-site installations, it’s even busier.”

He led Zhuang Yanyu straight to the engineering department supervisor and explained their purpose for being there.

The supervisor clapped his hands, “Perfect timing! We have a test going on, collecting bug data. You two can run more tests.”

Zhuang Yanyu was quickly assigned a task: a system test.

This system was similar to an ecosystem; it ran very smoothly, with no apparent issues. However, the tech team had keenly noticed that with each run, the system’s memory usage would gradually expand. This didn’t seem problematic on the surface, but it was actually a huge hidden risk. Once the memory exceeded the system’s capacity, it would start to lag, freeze, and encounter various issues.

Zhou Quan casually asked, “What’s causing the increased memory usage? Is it storing cached garbage files? Does it have an automatic clear command installed?”

“It does, but this isn’t about cache files. We haven’t pinpointed the cause yet. We need more simulations to analyze it.”

“Okay, I’ll run more tests and see.”

Zhuang Yanyu and Zhou Quan each sat down at servers dedicated to engineering testing. This was a pre-production system that required extensive testing and could not be taken outside the company—or even this department.

Before starting the simulation, Zhou Quan reminded Zhuang Yanyu, “Xiao Zhuang, if there’s anything in the BaN code you don’t understand, just ask me. Don’t be shy; it’s your first time, and I’ve got your back.”

Zhuang Yanyu: “Got it.”

As the tests began, Zhou Quan noticed how intently Zhuang Yanyu was focusing, without even blinking. Unsure if he actually understood or was too shy to ask, Zhou Quan whispered, “There’s no one else here, just me. If you don’t understand something, really, don’t be embarrassed.”

Zhuang Yanyu: “Alright.”

After the first simulation ended, Zhou Quan didn’t notice anything unusual—it was just collecting standard simulation data. But as he prepared for the second round, Zhuang Yanyu pointed out three additional bugs.

Zhou Quan: “??”

Zhou Quan: “Are there bugs in those spots?”

He was skeptical; he hadn’t noticed anything yet, and Xiao Zhuang had only started this month. How could he tell?

Following the second simulation, Zhou Quan checked the areas Zhuang Yanyu had identified and indeed found a minor issue.

Meanwhile, Zhuang Yanyu had already begun scripting solutions for the fixes and system upgrades.

Zhou Quan: “…??”

After the third simulation, Zhuang Yanyu had modified all the bugs in the backed-up system files and spent another two hours upgrading the system, streamlining the initial command sequences for smoother performance.

Zhou Quan: “…”

Holy crap.

Zhou Quan was in disbelief, “Are you serious, Xiao Zhuang? You’ve been hiding your skills! But… can this work?”

He suddenly felt embarrassed about his earlier offer to help if Xiao Zhuang didn’t understand something.

Reloading the new system, Zhuang Yanyu began the simulation, “All systems need testing to see if it works. Let’s find out.”

Zhou Quan watched the upgraded simulation data, more amazed with each passing moment.

The smoothness! The speed!

The engineering supervisor looked at Zhuang Yanyu with admiration, “Good kid, you’ve got skills!”

Bear in mind, they’d been testing and tweaking this system for over a week since discovering the issue.

During this time, people from the tech services team had been coming daily to assist, though they only gathered testing data, which was then handed over to engineers and other tech staff for debugging and adjustments. Tech services focused more on “service,” while the engineering team handled technical expertise. And now, here was a guy from “services” who had not only fixed the system but had rewritten the first half of the code!

Thus, for the rest of the afternoon, as the new system ran over a hundred flawless simulations, the supervisor’s interest grew. “You’re Xiao Zhuang, right? Any interest in joining our engineering team? Our department offers better pay and benefits than tech services.”

Zhou Quan, who’d been watching all of this in awe, nudged Zhuang Yanyu, urging him to agree excitedly.

This was the engineering department of the R&D center, filled with top technical talent!

But to everyone’s surprise, Zhuang Yanyu didn’t accept; he declined outright.

The supervisor was taken aback, “You don’t want to join?”

Zhuang Yanyu replied, “No.”

Curious, the supervisor asked, “Can I ask why?”

Zhuang Yanyu replied, “This department is too busy.”

Supervisor: “Huh?”

Isn’t being busy a good thing?

Busy meant the company was doing well, employees earned good salaries, and bonuses for tech experts were high!

But Zhuang Yanyu shook his head.

Being busy would mean he’d have no chance to get to know his future best friend.

Being busy would mean no time to go to work and leave together with his buddy, to travel or grab drinks.

He was here to take it easy, not to work overtime indefinitely.

Most importantly, his friendship with Wen Chenxi was still at 0%.

He looked down and saw a message in the group chat:

“[The executives’ elevator has been fixed. Everyone can leave work peacefully now without running into upper management!]”

The group erupted in cheers, with everyone celebrating that they wouldn’t need to stay late pretending to work tonight.

Zhuang Yanyu pressed his lips together, not joining in the excitement—because he was different from the others.

He had lost his one chance to meet his future friend.

Life really was hard.

—

Author’s Note:

PS—

Wen Chenxi: He’s exactly my type. (Love at first sight biu~)

Zhuang Yanyu: It’s so hard to make friends. (If it doesn’t work out, forget it JPG)

Wen Chenxi, with an outstretched hand: No, try again!

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