No Ghosting Allowed

In the gentle tapping sounds of the soft keyboard, Zhou Qingbo slept for a long time.

Perhaps the continuous flipping of papers near his ear in the real world brought back memories from his high school days. At that time, he attended an ordinary high school like everyone else, receiving a meager allowance of 150 yuan and forever trying to finish unending test papers, facing the frustration of scoring only 75 in physics.

During the lively and hot summer breaks, the scorching sunlight poured in from the windows, and basketballs flew over his classmates’ heads and landed in the trash cans.

A bottle of cold cola with water droplets was placed on the desk, wetting several blank chemistry papers. Zhou Qingbo sat in the corner of the classroom, feeling sleepy and tired as he stared out of the window before the evening self-study session.

Then he fell asleep in his dreams and woke up in reality.

The carefree and free dream had a healing effect. Zhou Qingbo felt as if he slept soundly, even though his body was a bit stiff from the long rest. Nevertheless, his brain remained in a lazy and mellow state.

The setting sun outside was turning darker, and the window blinds were fully opened, allowing the large orange-red clouds to spread across the sky, creating a hot scene.

Zhou Qingbo half-closed his eyes and moved slightly to the side to avoid the chilly air conditioning breeze, burying half of his face in the suit jacket.

His groggy state after waking up made his brain operate sluggishly. Zhou Qingbo tugged at the collar of the suit for a while before realizing that it wasn’t his own.

The crisp suit jacket had a faint scent of perfume, a mix of white tea and cedarwood notes. It was a light and elusive fragrance that could only be detected up close. Zhou Qingbo didn’t mind this fragrance, so he comfortably snuggled a little longer in this warmth before lazily opening his eyes.

Except for Pei You, everyone else in the office had already left at some point. They had left behind a stack of white certificates and documents on the desk, as well as a pile of scattered coffee cups.

Pei You was still seated with his back turned to Zhou Qingbo, facing a blurry spreadsheet on his computer, busy with his work.

He was wearing a crisp white shirt, which looked a bit thin in the air-conditioned room. Zhou Qingbo blinked his eyes and integrated the two pieces of information into a complete conclusion.

“My jacket is on me,” Zhou Qingbo thought.

The soft tapping of the keyboard made a regular and gentle sound, even in this quiet environment, it wasn’t too noisy.

The color of the sunset grew deeper, and the orange-red halo extended from the window sill to Pei You’s feet, then quietly climbed up his pant legs, leaving a faint and illusory hue on his shirt.

Zhou Qingbo watched Pei You’s figure and suddenly understood why Ge Xing had been so insistent on introducing him.

“Pei You,” Zhou Qingbo called out.

As he had slept for more than two hours, his throat felt a bit dry. However, Pei You wasn’t startled by his sudden voice and casually pushed the computer away, turning his head to look at him.

“Are you awake?” Pei You asked.

Pei You reached into a few plastic bags beside him, pulled out an unopened coffee cup, and handed it to Zhou Qingbo.

“They ordered takeout in the afternoon and brought your portion as well,” Pei You said. “It’s been over an hour, so it’s not hot anymore, but it should still be drinkable.”

Zhou Qingbo sat in the chair for more than two hours, and his back and waist had become stiff, causing a creaking sound whenever he moved.

The suit jacket slipped off his shoulder, but Zhou Qingbo caught it in mid-air and hugged it to his chest.

He leaned forward and took the cool coffee cup, removed the lid, and took a sip, realizing that it was his usual order.

“Hey,” Zhou Qingbo took a sip of coffee to moisten his throat and couldn’t help but sigh, “If I had a sister, I would definitely marry her off to you.”

Pei You was confused by his random remark and couldn’t help but laugh, “Are you half asleep?”

“No, I’m wide awake,” Zhou Qingbo said, adjusting his sitting position with some difficulty and stretching his numb left leg. He smiled and continued, “I really mean it.”

“Forget it,” Pei You rarely made a joke with him, “You know my preferences, don’t push your sister into the fire pit.”

Zhou Qingbo just made a casual remark and didn’t take it seriously. He smiled at Pei You’s response and got up from the chair, stretching in place.

“What about the others?” Zhou Qingbo asked, “Why is it just you left?”

“They went out for dinner,” Pei You said.

“Why aren’t you going with them?” Zhou Qingbo inquired.

“No rush, I’ll go after finishing this draft,” Pei You replied. “What about you? It’s already after work hours, are you leaving?”

Zhou Qingbo’s arrival and departure time were always precise. If Zhou Cangshan didn’t have any special requirements, Zhou Qingbo would never arrive a second earlier in the morning or stay a second later in the evening, displaying a bit of a “new-age anti-overtime” attitude.

Pei You had no idea what Zhou Qingbo did after work, but he knew that as soon as work hours ended, Zhou Qingbo disappeared like a dragon into the sea, leaving no trace.

Zhou Qingbo had slept for half an afternoon, and his mind was still a bit hazy. It was only after Pei You reminded him that he suddenly remembered something. “Oops,” he exclaimed, quickly searching for his phone all over himself.

Before he could finish searching his pockets, he saw Pei You standing up from his desk, handing something to him.

“Your phone fell out when you were sleeping,” Pei You said, “So, I put it beside you.”

That scene seemed somewhat familiar, but Zhou Qingbo didn’t have time to think about it now because the time on his phone’s screen showed that it was already 6:15. He had an appointment at 7:30, and he was almost running late.

“Thanks,” Zhou Qingbo grabbed his phone, quickly spun around the room like a gust of wind, and rushed, saying, “I really have to go. I’ll treat you to coffee tomorrow.”

“Wait,” Pei You called out to him, “the jacket.”

Only then did Zhou Qingbo realize that he was still holding onto Pei You’s jacket. He smiled apologetically, handing the jacket back to Pei You.

“I really need to go. It’s getting late,” Zhou Qingbo said, “I’ll bring you chestnut cake tomorrow.”

As soon as he finished speaking, he darted out of the office, quickly heading towards the elevator.

Pei You watched him leave and couldn’t help shaking his head with a wry smile, putting the jacket back on. He pondered how to tell Zhou Qingbo that he didn’t actually like chestnut cake that much.

After thinking for a while, he couldn’t come up with a good way to say it, so he simply decided not to mention it. After all, he didn’t dislike eating cake.

The office was now empty, with only Pei You left. He checked his draft one last time, then glanced at the time, shut down the computer, locked the office door, and took the documents to Zhou Cangshan’s office.

Despite being biological brothers, Zhou Cangshan and Zhou Qingbo had completely different personalities. One was punctual, while the other was a workaholic.

When Pei You went upstairs, Zhou Cangshan’s office door was wide open as the head of the sales department had just left.

“Mr. Pei,” Zhou Cangshan greeted him politely as he entered the office. “Is there something you need?”

“I wanted to ask about Dongjiang Company,” Pei You placed the documents on Zhou Cangshan’s desk and said, “They haven’t submitted their financial data yet. My team members have reminded them, but there’s been no result. Zhou, could you help in urging them?”

Zhou Cangshan paused for a moment, took the documents, and flipped through a couple of pages. He seemed a bit hesitant, pinching the bridge of his nose.

“Please have a seat first,” Zhou Cangshan gestured for Pei You to sit down and hesitated for a moment, seemingly trying to find the right words.

“In fact, this company… is a bit special,” Zhou Cangshan said. “The legal representative of Dongjiang Company is the son of one of my father’s comrades.”

In his younger years, Zhou Jianguo served in the Shaan-Gan Line, and the emotions during that era were pure and straightforward, with memories that could last a lifetime.

Dongjiang Company’s former CEO, Liu Jiancheng, was a comrade-in-arms with Zhou Jianguo during their military service. Both of them served in the same squad, went through training together during the day, stood guard together at night, and endured the wind and sand for several years.

After their military service ended, Liu Jiancheng didn’t find a well-arranged job and instead started a business. Unfortunately, his career didn’t go as well as Zhou Jianguo’s, and his company always hovered around the lower end of the industry, considered a local enterprise at best.

“Nowadays, with the rapidly changing market economy, a few years ago, their company couldn’t keep up with the development and was on the verge of bankruptcy. So, they sought help from my father to save their company,” Zhou Cangshan explained. “During their time in the military, there was an incident where they went out for disaster relief, and my father almost fell into the flood. It was Liu Uncle who saved him— he saved my father’s life, so we couldn’t just ignore him.”

Like Zhou Jianguo, Zhou Cangshan had a deep sense of comradeship from his time in the military, so when Liu Jiancheng came to ask for help, Zhou Cangshan decided to fully acquire Dongjiang Company with their resources. At that time, Qingshan was newly independent, and its financial operations were more convenient than those of Zhou Jianguo’s group. So Zhou Cangshan easily transferred Dongjiang Company under Qingshan’s name and kept it for himself.

Liu Jiancheng was a kind-hearted person with a good character, and Zhou Cangshan treated it as returning a favor on behalf of his father. He never paid much attention to Dongjiang Company.

However, five years ago, Liu Jiancheng passed away due to illness, and before his death, he transferred the company to his own son, Liu Xin. Since then, things had started to go awry.

“Although the controlling rights of Dongjiang are in Qingshan’s hands, we didn’t rearrange the management team due to his father’s face,” Zhou Cangshan said. “But in recent years, their annual reports have been a complete mess. I’ve been wanting to find an opportunity to investigate the situation at Dongjiang.”

Pei You understood what Zhou Cangshan meant. After pondering for a moment, he said, “Actually, it’s not impossible. I’ll go back and talk to the firm. When you’re available here, I can come over and do the internal audit.”

Dongjiang was a company fully controlled by Qingshan. If their accounts were in disarray, it could affect Qingshan’s future listing, and Pei You couldn’t ignore such a big bomb.

“That would be great,” Zhou Cangshan sighed with relief, saying, “Let me check and get back to you as soon as possible. How many people do you need to go this time?”

Dongjiang was not a large company, and it didn’t require a whole team. Pei You calculated the workload and replied, “I can handle it alone.”

“Alright,” Zhou Cangshan said, “I’ll arrange it as soon as possible. I’ll try to get you there within this week.”

“Sounds good,” Pei You nodded and then checked the time, saying, “If there’s nothing else, I won’t disturb you any longer. I have something to attend to tonight, so I need to leave early.”

“Don’t you want to stay for dinner?” Zhou Cangshan invited, “We can also discuss Dongjiang’s affairs.”

“Not tonight,” Pei You politely declined, “I have plans with someone tonight. I need to take care of a personal matter.”