บท 23: Work Hour

'Should I go? Lord, save me!' Shi Lian walks silently as she reaches closer to Ruxi's cabin. She clicks to open the door and walks inside.

"Welcome back! You came pretty fast" Ruxi says in a mocking tone. She is sitting on her desk with piles of documents besides her. Those piles of documents weren't there before.

"I am sorry for disrespecting you. I should have informed first and then go outside" Shi Lian apologizes, bowing continuously.

"Where did you go? And for what?" Ruxi questions.

"To discuss something with father….I mean with the Chairman" she answers politely.

Ruxi stops herself to ask more questions because she doesn't want to sound like a police officer or a reporter.

"Anyway, since you were disrespect to me before as a punishment, you need to analyze these documents today itself" she points to the pile of documents besides her.

They were like hundreds of them which is difficult to be done. Shi Lian nods and did not say anything or complain about it further.

"Good, now start working" Ruxi orders her and make herself with other works. She is curious and amused that Shi Lian did not complain about it like any other member. 'She is something…..Doing this in one go is not possible. How will she do this? I am looking forward to it' Ruxi thinks staring at her from across. She stops staring and continues to work on the spreadsheet.

It's been 6 hours and Shi Lian is still working without taking any break. Ruxi called to take a break but she refused.

She is determined to finish all these and prove herself. 'Only eighty documents are left. I can finish this in another 4 hours or so' she thinks and feels more confident about it.

"Shi Lian, will you manage to finish it today itself?" Ruxi asks from the other side.

"Yes, I can," she says without taking her eyes off the monitor.

'Will she really?' Ruxi is not sure about the completion but seeing Shi Lian's determination towards her work is something to be admired.

She remembers when she was also like her, determined and stubborn. When she started working in this company, she was dedicated to her work and did excellent than her colleague. The same thing she sees in Shi Lian, which makes her nostalgic.

"Shi Lian, it's closing time now" Ruxi informs her.

One hour has passed and Shi Lian is still engrossed in her work.

"Only forty documents are left. I can finish it in the next hour or so" Shi Lian says as she types on the keyboard like a maniac.

Originally, Ruxi never planned to give Shi Lian a hard time; but Shi Lian's behavior was not professional so she had to do something to make her understand, or in other words, teach her a lesson. She knows it not impossible to analyze these stacks of documents in one go and she thought that she would give up after a fifty or so but she is proved wrong.

"Shi Lian, you can do it tomorrow. You can go now" Ruxi tells her but stubborn Shi Lia will not give up, "I can't back up now when I reached this far. I'll complete it today itself." Shi Lian is radiating with courage, determination, and hard work, which Ruxi cannot ignore.

"Alright then" she sighs, "but if Chairman sees you overworking, I am not going to held responsible for it."

"It won't be a problem."

Ruxi cannot keep her mind at ease, she is regretting now or giving this stubborn girl punishment which she seems to be enjoying.

'The Chairman will definitely scold me if he sees her daughter overworking on her second day! In the end, all the blame will be going to come to me. She is so stubborn…..just like her father…..what should I do now to persuade her?' she ruminates.

'Idea!'

"Shi Lian you can take these documents with you at home and do it there with much convenience" she is just trying to make a reasonable sentence, "According to the company's rule, no one is allowed to stay late except when we are given orders" she lies.

"Oh, I can ask father to give me extra time," She Lian says without paying any attention to Ruxi.

'No, you can't!'

"It's my order! You have to follow it! Now pack your stuff" Ruxi pretends to order her in a serious tone.

Shi Lian looks up to her and sighs by saying, "As you say."

Shi Lian packs her things in a hurry because she wants to reach home fast and complete it the day ends like she expected it to be.

Ruxi feels relieves now that Shi Lian has agreed to go home so that she can go too. Although the work of the company is humongous, she did not like to stay late inside the company; she prefers to do work at her safe place, her apartment where she lives alone with her pet dog.

For the past two months, Ruxi has been working her ass off because of the sudden profit loss of the company. She barely slept in these days but she is always cheered up no matter how bad the situation is. Her image as a strong and intimidating president is what she cares about most.

According to her thinking, if she loses hope and thinks negatively, her staff would be demotivated as well. So for the sake of others and the company, she always has to have her composure. About her love life, she is still single but desperately wants to get married.

Due to her career, she never got much time to explore her love or go dating and the other reason (main) is that her standards are too high. When she had a stable job, she thought of finding her better half but the type of guy she wants has to be perfect. He should be tall, has to be all-rounder, rich and handsome; is it possible to get all these qualities in one single piece? Who knows.

But lately, she understood that love does not have anything to do with face, fame, or money; maybe she needs to wait a little more to find her soulmate.

"I'm off then" Shi Lian announces, all set to go.

"See you tomorrow. "

Shi Lian takes out her phone from her purse, opening the screen she looks at the time and feel she could have done the rest of the work in one hour. 'I should check on father' she thinks and goes in the direction to the Chairman's office.

On her way, she is surprised to see her father and Zhang Hao.

She walks fast to them and asks, "Any urgent meeting?" she hopes the answer would be no because it would be a bad influence on his health if he works overtime.

"No Shi, we are heading home", says Mo Zheng Yuan with a smile, "I know you will be coming to fetch me so I thought to give a surprise today by coming first."

Shi Lian chuckles, "I would love to have these surprises every day."

"Let's get going then," he says in an amiable tone after a long time.

Zhang Hao feels at ease to see him happy and relaxed; he cares for him to the utmost and he tries to say something to make him laugh or smile to the very least, but due to all this pressure he almost forgot how to smile. 'It's good to see him happy like this. Thank you Young Miss'.

***********

The next day, Shi Lian submit all the documents to Ruxi. Ruxi is impressed by her work and praises her a little.

"Keep working hard. You can do it"

"Yes,"

After the lunch break, Shi Lian is doing her work alone as Ruxi had to go to an emergency meeting. Shi Lian wanted to go but it's unreasonable for her to be there. She is not even a staff member yet. She sighs and starts working on her sketches again.

Ruxi had given her a task to draw sketches with the given theme and season. She already drew 4 out of 7, just 3 left. Shi Lian loves to design and sketch; in her free time, she would always sketch. She also has numerous notebooks of her creation. Designing clothes is something refreshing for her, no matter how much she needs to, she will never feel tired of it, it's how much she loves fashion designing.

"Finally finished!" she stretches her hand behind her head after she completes her work. It's been more than thirty minutes, still, Ruxi has not come yet.

Name of the devil, here she comes!

The door bangs open and Ruxi comes inside in haste. "Shi Lian! Comewithme…right now!" she manages to say it all somehow.

She must be running all the way from the office that's why she is breathing hard like this. "Um..where?" she asks, giving a hand to Ruxi to stand.

"Just come!" before she could finish her sentence, she grabs Shi Lian's wrist and drags her to the meeting with her.

In a second, they reach the meeting room; Ruxi is out of power now, she will fall any sooner by the looks of her. Ruxi manages to stand to her feet and opens the door with Shi Lian behind her who does not have any idea of what is going on.

"Chairman! She is here!" Ruxi tells Zheng Yuan, who is sitting far across the meeting table.