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墨書 Inktalez
Zhong Kui's Diary
On the morning of the third day, I arrived at the front desk of Rui Company on time to check in. Peng Xin smiled and guided me through the process, leading me to the door of a large office.
The structure of Rui Company is arranged in a square shape, with a large open area in the center divided into various workspaces by partitions. Each workspace consists of a desk, a chair, and a computer, while the outer perimeter contains various offices. It seems that this layout is quite popular these days.
The large office door was slightly ajar, with a stainless steel nameplate hanging on it that read Marketing Brand Department. Peng Xin knocked on the door and pushed it open directly.
Inside sat five or six people, among them Xiao Lin, who was sitting in the corner. Upon seeing me and the front desk staff enter, she smiled and said, "You’re here?"
The front desk staff smiled back at Xiao Lin and said, "Ms. Xiao, I’ve brought Zhong Zhengnan here. If there’s nothing else, I’ll take my leave."
Xiao Lin nodded and thanked her before she turned to leave.
"Let me introduce everyone; this is our new designer—Zhong Zhengnan," Xiao Lin said with a smile to her colleagues.
"Hello everyone," I greeted them with a smile.
"Welcome to our new colleague! We’re having a department dinner tonight; as usual, it’s fifty per person, and I’ll cover the rest," Xiao Lin said cheerfully.
The group cheered; it seemed they often held such gatherings.
"Let’s have everyone introduce themselves briefly. Yongqi, you go first," Xiao Lin said once the crowd quieted down a bit.
"My name is Liao Yongqi; I’m from the graphic design team. Nice to meet you," said a short-haired girl wearing glasses, nodding at me. Her tone was neither particularly warm nor cold—just ordinary.
"Hello," I replied with a smile.
"I’m Zhao Donghai; Zhao from Zhao Zilong and Donghai meaning 'Eastern Sea' as in 'Fortune as Vast as the Eastern Sea.' I’m from the copywriting team and happy to work with you!" This was a clean-cut young man who was tall and had a sunny smile.
"Hello, nice to meet you," I said with a smile.
"I’m Zhu Qi; Zhu from Zhu Yuanzhang. Since I’m the seventh in my family line and my dad is somewhat lazy, he named me after the number seven. I’m also from the copywriting team; nice to meet you." The girl before me had striking features that could rival Aijia Yu's—definitely one of those captivating beauties.
"The name Seven is pretty nice," I chuckled lightly.
"My name is Zhang Rui, from the planning team." The person speaking was a man about my age, and like Liao Yongqi, his face showed no signs of emotion.
"Hello!"
"I'm Chen Shan, but you can call me Brother Chicken. I'm also from the planning team. Haha, since your name has a 'Nan' in it, I'll just call you Zheng Nan from now on!" The last speaker was a boy with a buzz cut; perhaps because of his hairstyle, he looked particularly energetic.
"Hello, Brother Chicken!" I replied with a smile.
"The workflow will be sent to you on the computer later. That over there is your seat," Xiao Lin said, pointing to a desk facing the wall. "If you need any office supplies, you can ask Qi Yao. Our department doesn't have a dedicated clerk; everything is managed by Qi. You should familiarize yourself with the software on the computer first. Yongqi, please give Zheng Nan some company materials. Alright, everyone, let's get to work."
Following Xiao Lin's directions, I sat down at my desk and opened the computer. While waiting for it to boot up, I started looking around.
The layout of the office resembled a grid, divided into four areas: the Planning Team, the Copywriting Team, and the Design Team each occupied one area with two desks facing each other. This meant that I sat across from Liao Yongqi, Zhao Donghai faced Zhu Qi, and Zhang Rui faced Chen Shan. The remaining area was naturally occupied by Director Xiao Lin's desk. Against the wall were three large filing cabinets for storing documents and miscellaneous items.
Zhu Qi handed me some office supplies and asked for my QQ number and phone number. After I logged into QQ, Zhu Qi added me as a friend and invited me into a group chat—Rui Company Marketing Brand Group.
Soon after, several friend requests came in; upon checking, they were all from people in the Marketing Department. I added them one by one.
Next, Liao Yongqi sent me some promotional materials, followed by Xiao Lin sending me a workflow chart. I only glanced at these casually; after all, I was just here to catch ghosts and might solve the problem tonight and leave tomorrow.
From what I've seen so far, none of the people I've interacted with seem suspicious; they all appear quite open and honest.
Right! After drinking, people tend to speak their minds. During dinner tonight, I'll focus on getting information from someone who talks too much—perhaps Chen Shan or Zhao Donghai would be good targets.
For now, I spent my time online reading Cao Dama Zi's "Zhong Kui's Diary," which has over 800,000 words—plenty to digest.
Time flew by quickly; I had only read halfway when it was time to get off work. Zhu Qi had already made reservations at Lotus Leaf Family in Yuhua District—a newly opened restaurant known for its signature dish of lotus leaf chicken made from a family recipe.
As we walked downstairs from the company building, seven of us—four men and three women—split into two cars headed for Lotus Leaf Family. Just as we were about to enter the restaurant, three young men staggered over from the side.
The three youths looked about seventeen or eighteen years old and dressed accordingly for their age: one had wild dyed blonde hair resembling a Golden Lion; another wore a cropped wool vest that exposed his midriff with "Loved" written across it in large letters along with an English translation; the third was clad entirely in denim with various jangling chains adorning him.
Before we got close enough to hear them speak, a strong smell of alcohol hit us. It was clear that these were three drunken troublemakers leaning on each other for support.
"Yo Xie! Beautiful girl!" The 'Golden Lion' immediately spotted Zhu Qi, which was no surprise since Zhu Qi was indeed a stunning beauty. With her youthful energy, she drew attention wherever she went.
"Wow, she really is a beauty!" both 'Tank Top' and 'Cowboy' exclaimed as they stared at Zhu Qi.
'Tank Top' released the hand he had resting on 'Cowboy's' shoulder, stretched out his tank top, and slurred, "Beautiful... beauty, could you... could you sign... sign your name for me? Just sign it behind 'Loved.'"
Zhu Qi frowned and said, "I don't know you!"
'Tank Top' chuckled awkwardly, "First time meeting... second time familiar, third... third or fourth time... old friends! After playing with me a few times... you'll get to know me!"
Before he finished speaking, he reached out to grab Zhu Qi. She turned pale and screamed, "No!"
I was about to rush forward but then remembered I was an undercover agent and couldn't act too boldly. I moved slightly but stopped, scratching my scalp to cover up the motion.
Instead, Zhao Donghai rushed over and positioned himself in front of Zhu Qi, sternly shouting, "What do you want?"
"What do we want? What do we want from you?" 'Cowboy' laughed heartily. "Get lost! Even if it's a hero saving a beauty, it’s not your turn."
With that, 'Cowboy' casually tried to shove Zhao Donghai aside.
Just as I was about to intervene, something surprising happened: Zhao Donghai grabbed 'Cowboy's' wrist and twisted it forcefully. 'Cowboy' immediately cried out in pain, kneeling on the ground and wailing, "It hurts! It really hurts! Let go of me! I swear I'll kill you... Ouch! Hey man, let go..."
'Tank Top' and 'Golden Lion' exchanged glances and rushed in with fists flying. Zhao Donghai quickly released 'Cowboy's' hand and shouted twice before landing a punch on 'Golden Lion's' chest and kicking 'Tank Top' in the stomach. Both fell to the ground in agony.
The whole situation unfolded so suddenly that it wasn't until the three were down that Xiao Lin reacted, shouting loudly, "Call the police! Quick, call the police!"
Zhu Qi looked at Zhao Donghai with gratitude, her eyes sparkling with various emotions.
"Ms. Xiao, there's no need to call the police; we just taught them a lesson. If we call the police now, it would only escalate things. Let's head inside; we don’t need to worry about this anymore," Zhao Donghai quickly stopped Xiao Lin and gestured for us to enter.
"I'll go buy a pack of cigarettes; you all go ahead," I said with a smile as I walked toward the nearby convenience store.
"Our reserved room is in Huangshan Hall," Zhu Qi suddenly remembered something and called out to me.
"En." I didn't look back.
As I reached the convenience store entrance and watched Xiao Lin and the others go inside, I lit a cigarette and called Fatty. To be honest, buying cigarettes was just an excuse; my real intention was to investigate these three thugs.
I wasn't usually this bored, but when I saw those three thugs confront Zhao Donghai earlier, I noticed something odd. They were clearly pretending to be drunk; during the fight, their stances were extremely solid, indicating that they all had several years of martial arts training.
On the other hand, Zhao Donghai, despite his imposing presence, was nothing more than a showpiece. Any one of those three could easily take him down, yet strangely, it was Zhao Donghai who managed to knock all three of them to the ground. To put it in trendy terms, that just didn't make sense.
Could it be that these three had ulterior motives?
I entered Rui Company to find the person behind the scenes, and I couldn't overlook any doubts. Therefore, I needed to get to the bottom of what was going on with these three.
After lying on the ground for a while, the one called Golden Lion got up with a grunt. Then the one in a tank top seemed to say something, prompting Golden Lion to act as if he was seriously injured. The three of them helped each other up and walked toward an alley.
I followed them at a leisurely pace. After walking for a bit, they turned into an unfinished building. It seemed they realized someone was following them because once they entered the construction site, they quickened their pace. They turned left at a corner ahead and vanished from sight.
Damn, trying to run? I quickly dashed over. Just as I reached the corner, a sharp gust of wind rushed towards me, and a fist suddenly loomed large in front of my eyes.
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