The weekend passed too quickly. Ruan Cunyun’s anxiety finally peaked on Sunday evening, he really didn’t want to face the fact that he had to go to work the next day.
But time doesn’t favor corporate slaves. When Ruan Cunyun was awakened by the alarm on Monday morning, he just wanted to forever nest on his pillows and quilt.
Damn, but what use does it have? He still has to go to work.
After a week of experiencing the corporate slaves life first hand, Ruan Cunyun realized that what he loathed actually isn’t the work itself, but rather having to communicate with his colleagues for work.
Compared to lively lunch and casual conversations during break time, Ruan Cunyun prefers the tense working hours so he could peacefully write codes by himself.
At least during the working hours, no one asks him to chat about TV dramas or invite him to go bowling.
Why is there no job in this world that can be done completely by solely a single person?
The clock hand has pointed to 12 o’clock, the lunch time for the group of balding people1 Programmers have the stereotype of getting bald (because of being overworked and code problems) has arrived.
Ruan Cunyun locked the computer screen, and mobilized the cells in his whole body to work hard to chat with his colleagues as they went together.
After the tiring lunch, Ruan Cunyun sat back at his desk feeling as if he had returned to his safehouse.
If he wasn’t mistaken, there should be a Manga update on Monday noon!
Ruan Cunyun happily took out his phone, wanting to read the update during the lunch break.
“Xiao Ruan!”
A sudden voice rang out, scaring Ruan Cunyun to flip his phone onto the table.
Zhu Han stood not far away and asked, “Do you want to play badminton?”
Zhu Han swung the badminton racket in his hand, there were also two other male colleagues holding one on each of their hands.
“We want to play doubles, but there’s only three of us, we lack one person!”
What the hell? At noon, playing badminton?
Ruan Cunyun felt like he had just heard some sort of fairy tale.
Under the expectant gazes of the three, Ruan Cunyun politely smiled, “I’m not that good at badminton……”
The male colleague enthusiastically said, “It’s fine, I’ll teach you until you can. It’s really easy.”
Zhu Han also said, “You also played bowling very well last time. Your body coordination is so good, you would definitely be able to learn fast.”
The last male colleague was a bit shy, “Actually it’s because the colleague we usually went to play with fell sick, there’s also no one else in the office, so…..”
Ruan Cunyun looked around him, and sure enough, he was really the only one there. The others have gone somewhere after they finished their meal.
…Suuurrrrreeeeee.
Ruan Cunyun suddenly remembered his sport-loving youth persona. Fuck, his persona almost collaped!
So he put out a smile and took the badminton racket from Zhu Han’s hand, casually saying, “My plays really aren’t that good. Seniors, please be lenient to me.”
The other three smilingly patted his shoulder, saying, “You’re too humble, Xiao Ruan!”
Qin Fanglu had just finished a morning meeting. He lightly pinched his brow, sitting in the car as he rested.
Unintentionally, he saw four of his employees holding badminton rackets, they were chatting and laughing as they walked towards the badminton court.
The new recruit who wrote the meeting records really well last time, Ruan Cunyun, was also among them.
The boy’s skin is very fair, seemingly bright under the sunlight, forming a sharp contrast with the three tanned men beside him, making him very conspicuous.
His skin is so white, he likes sports but didn’t get tanned?
Usually it’s pretty hard to tell, but now that Ruan Cunyun was walking together with three men as big as a horse, Qin Fanglu could tell clearly that this child isn’t really tall. His limbs are also very thin, like a tender and soft jade bamboo shoot in the forest.
Qin Fanglu recalled the first time he saw this new recruit in the office. His height only reached Qin Fanglu’s chin, his figure was also thinner than himself.
Maybe Ruan Cunyun could go play basketball more, Qin Fanglu thought.
Four people walked to the court, waving their rackets and started to play.
Ruan Cunyun had only played badminton with his parents when he was a child, he was really a novice at it.
He dropped a few balls before gradually getting a grasp at it.
Zhu Han praised, “I knew you are indeed a sports master!”
Ruan Cunyun smiled on the surface, but his heart was filled with curses.
He thought, ‘The sun is so scorching, playing ball games is so tiring, I just really want to collapse and lay limp now.’
Qin Fanglu in the distance, was lazily leaning in the car, watching the employees high-spiritedly waving their rackets under the sunlight for a while.
He thought to himself, ‘Truly deserving of normies, they sure have a lot of energy, I just really want to collapse and lay limp now.’
***
Facts have proven that lying is wrong. Ruan Cunyun was thoroughly defeated by the “sporty normie” persona.
He thought that being brought to play badminton a whole afternoon was enough, but he didn’t expect that their usual teammate for sports had taken a week off for sick leave.
Every noon, after Ruan Cunyun came back from eating lunch outside, he would see three enthusiastic smiling faces and whisper devilish words, “Xiao Ruan, wanna play?”
Ruan Cunyun really wants to kick himself in the ass. Why did he just copy Xu Feifei’s suggestion then? How foolish of him to say he likes sports!
“Shopping normie” and “Bar normie” are obviously better! At least you don’t have to sweat so crazily in the scorching heat!
Ruan Cunyun struggled to play for three days, from initially still having the strength to fake a smile, to finally not even being able to lift his hand.
On the evening of the third day, after returning home, Ruan Cunyun completely collapsed and lay motionless on the sofa. His entire body felt as if it had fallen apart.
These three days were enough to cover the amount of exercise in an acute otaku’s two lifetimes.
He called Xu Feifei as he still lay paralyzed on the sofa, not even bothering to hold his phone, placing it directly on the coffee table and letting the speakers on.
Ruan Cunyun seemed as if he was on the brink of death, “I want to die…….”
As usual, Xu Feifei’s side was filled with the chaotic sounds of fighting, “Aaaaahhhhhhh pig teammate, why are you giving heads2Means causing teammate or himself to die on the hands of the enemies away! The enemy only had little blood left yet it could still restrain you—— Shit, I died!!”
Ruan Cunyun, “Hello, welcome to heaven.”
Xu Feifei took a breath, “Hello, Is there anything I can help you with?”
Ruan Cunyun gnashed his teeth, “I really want to ruin my persona now!”
After listening to Ruan Cunyun’s tragic experience of playing badminton for three consecutive days until he now could only lay paralysed, Xu Feifei laughed so much he fell down his chair.
“Isn’t it smashing rock onto one’s own feet, digging a pit to bury oneself, stabbing oneself in the back……. HAHAHAHAHAH!”
Xu Feifei consoled him with his barely left sympathy, “If we see it from a different angle, you have gained three days of healthy life, isn’t that good?”
Ruan Cunyun put emphasis on his words, “Not. Good. I just want to be an otaku worker who works peacefully, is that so difficult?”
In fact, the most tiring part of playing badminton wasn’t the arms or legs, but his heart.
Pretending to be someone else, pretending to be someone with a completely different character is really exhausting. Those things are entirely not him. He could still act for just one day, but if he has to act everyday?
Ruan Cunyun was really exhausted both physically and mentally. Excessive socializing just makes him want to avoid people after that.
Xu Feifei sincerely said, “Then you take a few days of rest first. Just tell them that the intensity of the exercise was too high and you are tired. Normal people would definitely understand!”
“Okay.” Ruan Cunyun closed his eyes and nodded, “I also don’t even want to have lunch with my colleagues.”
Xu Feifei held his chin in his hands, “You can order takeout or bring your own meals. There are actually quite a number of people in my company who bring their own bento. As long as your company has a lounge, it should be fine.”
Ruan Cunyun thought it over. If he were to order takeout, would his colleagues wonder why he wants to eat alone? What if they think he is a recluse?
Bringing bento to eat by oneself is more reasonable. After all, the bento is naturally only for one serving.
Before hanging up, Xu Feifei was unusually serious as he was saying, “Don’t tire yourself too much. How important could the relationship between colleagues be? It’s all fine as long as your work quality is OK. If they bother your living habits too much, you can just let it go3摆烂 here means to just letting it go badly because there’s simply nothing that could be done.! Just ignore them! Hmph!”
Ruan Cunyun was amused by that last ‘Hmph,’ “To put it bluntly, it was all because I initially set up a normie fake persona thinking I could bluff my way out. But my colleagues are real original normies. Now I have ridden on the tiger’s back and couldn’t get off easily, it’s actually just reaping what I sow. I will adjust myself slowly, it will be fine after a while la. Thank you, son.”
Xu Feifei was straightforward but careless4神经大条 actually refers to someone who is so outspoken and honest but a bit careless, they might unintentionally hurt someone , and as expected, the last sentence had completely attracted his attention, “Didn’t we agree that you are my son!”
The next morning, Ruan Cunyun woke up half an hour earlier than usual and made himself a simple lunch bento.
Unlike the acute otakus depicted in mangas who could only cook instant noodles, Ruan Cunyun could still cook a few simple home-cooked dishes with no problem.
Scrambled eggs with tomatoes5like this
, stir-fried beans with shrimps6this
, and sauteed white cabbage7this
, piping hot dishes filled up the lunch box. The red, yellow, and green colors are bright and pleasing to the eyes. Although simple, it looks very appetizing.
As soon as Ruan Cunyun arrived at the company, he put the lunch box in the refrigerator. Looking at the Lotso8Yea that one from toy story lunch box he urgently bought from the convenience store, his mood improved a bit.
Xu Feifei was right, he has to maintain his living habits.
At lunchtime, Xiao Mei called out to Ruan Cunyun to eat out together. Ruan Cunyun smiled apologetically and said, “Sorry, Xiao Mei Jie. I brought my own food, so I won’t go out to eat.”
Ruan Cunyun was actually panicking internally. Would Xiao Mei feel that he is unsociable? Would Xiao Mei distance herself from him from now on?
Unexpectedly for him, Xiao Mei got starry-eyed, “Wow, did you cook it yourself? Or was it your girlfriend? How joyful! I also want to bring my own food, it’s more cost-effective and healthy! But I can’t cook, my boyfriend is also really busy…… Ai, wait until I master the art of cooking, I will also bring my own bento!”
They naturally said ‘see you later after lunch’ to Ruan Cunyun and left the office with smiles.
Ruan Cunyun sat quietly in his seat for a while, realizing that this seems to be much simpler than he had imagined.
The office gradually became empty and Ruan Cunyun’s whole body relaxed. His footsteps turned light and relaxed as if he were at home.
He took out his lunch from the refrigerator, put it in the microwave for five minutes, and then took out the fragrant and appetizing homely lunch box.
Everything is ready, just lacking a good quiet place!
Ruan Cunyun’s step was light and springy as he walked in the company with his lunch box and eating utensils.
There is an open sofa near the entrance, usually there are many people there drinking coffee, eating salads, chatting, and so on. It could be said to be a leisure space.
Currently there are groups of twos or threes in the leisure space, Ruan Cunyun hesitated for a moment at the side, but finally decided to not go over there.
One reason is that this place is too close to the entrance, there would be many people passing by and thus sitting there eating gave him an indescribable feeling of being an exhibition. Another reason is that Ruan Cunyun wanted to read Manga, it’s easy for his screen to be seen with so many people here.
Ruan Cunyun suddenly realized that he didn’t even seem to have explored the whole company, so he strolled deep into the company floors alone with his lunch box. Just consider it as exploring the map, it’s pretty relaxing.
Next to the spacious and bright office is the conference room, and next to it is the conference hall that connects the two floors of the building. At the end, there is an inconspicuous corridor.
Ruan Cunyun walked inside and saw a lounge with an open door by the corridor.
Inside, there are thick blankets with warm colors, a set of fabric sofas, and a tall wooden table. The atmosphere cozy and warm
Most importantly, there is no one inside! Empty, quiet and safe, very suitable for a lonesome socially anxious person like himself.
Ruan Cunyun’s eyes lit up, he then sat on the sofa and opened his lunch box.
Hmm, the sofa is so soft!
Watching while eating is simply the most enjoyable thing in this world. Ruan Cunyun’s fidgety state these past few days has finally calmed down at this moment.
Probably because the lounge is quite far from the office and also very remote, no one has come over beside him.
But this is exactly what Ruan Cunyun wants. He really didn’t expect there to be such a suitable lounge for him, so awesome!
Indeed, solitude is really the best!
After finishing his meal, Ruan Cunyun tidied up his lunch box and leaned against the sofa, wanting to play on his phone for a while.
However, probably because he had recently consumed too much energy, Ruan Cunyun’s head tilted little by little and he unknowingly fell asleep.
The phone screen gradually dimmed, the screen was still displaying Ruan Cunyun and Xu Feifei’s chat page——
Cun: [Unexpectedly, there is such a comfortable lounge in our company. This socially anxious is wild with joy! (Image)]
Feiry Handsome: [Fuck, it looks so spacious. So awesome ah, I’m impressed!! (Little dog roars)]
Cun: [Hehe]
The phone screen then went completely dark, automatically locking.
***
Qin Fanglu loosened his tie as he walked down a familiar path.
The shareholders were all so difficult to deal with, he really needed to rest now.
But he paused as soon as he arrived at the lounge’s entrance.
On the edge of the sofa was a small figure curling up, his slender calves peacefully hanging almost touching the ground, seemingly trying to maintain a proper sitting posture yet half of his body had softened up, leaning against the sofa armrest.
He was still hugging his phone as it was almost toppling over.
Qin Fanglu paused for a few seconds, silently digesting the scene in front of him.
He softly opened the lounge door again and turned back, once again verifying the sign on the door.
[Chief of Technology Department Lounge, do not enter unless permitted]
The author has something to say:
Which little fool delivered himself to the door
Translator’s note:
Hi, sorry the update will be a bit sporadic from now on. Chinese New Year is approaching and there are a lot of things to do.
Also, I changed “life-fulfilled people” to normies, and Ruan Cunyun’s username from “@Mr.BALLS my D cure” to “@BALLS my LimpD cure”. (And please just ignore that usernames don’t allow spaces)
Sam Williams On TYMIMA Chapter 152