Passerby

Another ordinary workday had dawned.

In the office, employees were absorbed in their tasks, the rhythmic clatter of keyboards occasionally interrupted by the shrill ring of a phone.

Suddenly, Zhou Zhuofei’s internal line rang. Without so much as glancing up, she reached out and picked up the receiver with unerring precision.

A moment later, Manager Ye Ru’s voice came through, crisp in her ear: “Zhou, come here for a moment.”

“Alright.”

Zhou Zhuofei immediately set aside her work, habitually pressed the shortcut key to put her computer to sleep, and, notebook in hand, made her way to the manager’s office at the end of the corridor.

Inside sat a woman in her early thirties, lightly made up and smartly dressed in professional attire. When she saw Zhou Zhuofei enter, she waved her over with a natural ease.

“Have a seat. I have something for you to handle.”

Ye Ru was the manager of Universe Group’s Administration Division II, and Zhou Zhuofei’s direct superior. Three years ago, Zhou Zhuofei had joined Universe Group through campus recruitment, and Ye Ru had been one of her interviewers. Ever since then, she had worked under Ye Ru’s guidance.

Their relationship was quite good, so their conversations outside of work tended to be relaxed and informal.

“Sister Ye, what’s up?” Zhou Zhuofei asked.

Ye Ru handed her a folder. “We’ll have an intern coming in tomorrow. I want you to mentor him.”

“An intern?” Zhou Zhuofei was a little surprised. Their department hadn’t opened any intern positions recently, and it wasn’t the prime season for internships either.

Which meant this intern wasn’t recruited through official channels.

To put it bluntly, he’d gotten in through connections.

Universe Group was a powerhouse, with operations spread across the nation and a reputation for excellent benefits. The work environment was superb, the perks were generous, and the career prospects promising. All of this meant that, every recruitment season, HR was flooded with resumes, more than they could possibly count.

Even intern slots were highly coveted, and it wasn’t uncommon for staff to pull strings to get their children or relatives into the company, just to embellish their resumes.

Zhou Zhuofei opened the folder for a glance and saw the intern’s resume. The ID photo showed a rather handsome young man wearing a bright, confident smile.

Her gaze shifted to the name: Zhan Zilang. Then she noted his major and graduation date, which confirmed her suspicions—he’d graduated over a year ago, so he clearly wasn’t here for an internship certificate.

After reading the resume, she asked, “Is he a new full-time hire?”

“Hard to say. He’ll probably stick around for a month, or maybe he’ll get bored after a week and stop coming.”

Zhou Zhuofei joked, “So I’m here to accompany the crown prince on his studies?”

Since Ye Ru only smiled at this and offered no objection, Zhou Zhuofei asked her next question: “Why would the crown prince come to our department?”

After all, his major wasn’t relevant, and the administration department had little say in company matters—always busy, often thankless. If he truly had strong connections, he could have gone elsewhere; administration was hardly the most desirable destination.

Ye Ru replied simply, “Don’t overthink it. It’s a leadership decision, so let’s just do as we’re told. Take care of him for a month and send him on his way.”

Clearly, there were more complicated reasons at play.

As a junior staff member, Zhou Zhuofei only ever heard rumors of internal company politics; she had never been directly involved. Partly because her rank was too low, partly because the administration department’s role was support and service, never competition.

Besides, they had to interact with every department and always maintained neutrality. No one wanted to offend them, but good fortune rarely came their way, either.

Zhou Zhuofei didn’t waste words. “Understood. I’ll make the arrangements.”

Her official title was Administrative Officer in Division II of the Administration Department, and she was a graduate of a regular university in K City, where Universe’s headquarters was based.

She’d received an offer from Universe through campus recruitment and decided to stay in K City, joining the ranks of countless young workers far from home.

That campus recruitment event had involved several universities. Universe was a hot pick, and nearly everyone Zhou Zhuofei knew had sent in a resume.

According to her roommate, she was the only one in their department to receive an interview invite—maybe even the only one in the entire school.

Everyone around her was invested in the outcome of her interview, but Zhou Zhuofei herself remained calm.

Her roommates admired her composure and ability to handle pressure, but only she knew the truth: it wasn’t composure, but rather certainty about the result.

The moment she received the call, she’d already foreseen her future—she would pass the interview and join Universe.

It all stemmed from a dream she’d had months earlier.

In that dream, she’d watched a story unfold as an outsider.

Most people forget their dreams, but Zhou Zhuofei remembered every detail with perfect clarity.

According to the dream, their world was based on a romance novel, and the story’s heroine would become her future neighbor. Like every romance heroine, she would experience a series of improbable, romantic encounters and ultimately marry the hero, living happily ever after.

Zhou Zhuofei herself appeared in the story, but her role was negligible—little more than a walk-on part.

Her one and only mention in the plot occurred when she recognized the heroine, arm in arm with the hero, as her neighbor who had moved out six months earlier. She had a single line in that scene.

Incidentally, the story’s hero would be her future boss, Universe Group’s CEO, Ling Yu—a handsome and wealthy young executive.

At first, Zhou Zhuofei didn’t believe the dream; she thought she’d simply read too many novels and her imagination had run wild.

But when she researched Universe Group, something seemed off: the current CEO wasn’t Ling Yu.

After digging deeper, she learned that Ling Yu was the son of the current CEO—something she never would have known otherwise.

And dreams never conjure up information beyond what a person knows, so Zhou Zhuofei hesitated.

But she had no way of verifying it—no means to investigate, and the dream had contained so little about her own life.

All she knew was that she’d work at Universe, occasionally glimpse the heroine after work, but her actual job and future remained a mystery.

So she could only wait and see whether the dream would come true, whether she would actually become an employee at Universe.

Time passed, and she set the dream aside. Senior year was demanding, and she had no time for idle speculation.

Then, two days before campus recruitment, news broke on the university forum that Universe Group would be participating—something they’d never done before.

That brought the dream back to mind. Real or not, she decided to apply.

If she failed, it would mean she’d simply been stressed and had a strange dream. But if she succeeded…

Wouldn’t working at Universe be wonderful?

Did it even matter if she was just a walk-on in someone else’s story?

For an ordinary girl like her, the priority was to find a job that paid the bills, gain independence from her parents, and stand on her own. Working at Universe was the best possible choice.

And with her experience reading so many novels, being a bystander was no bad thing.

Everyone knows that being a protagonist means a life fraught with drama; even the most unlikely accidents would befall her.

Like discovering the online troll she’d been arguing with was actually her boss, or running into her ex, impeccably dressed, while she herself was out buying breakfast in a mess.

Such twists might seem exciting to readers, but for the protagonist, they’d be a nightmare.

Frankly, Zhou Zhuofei didn’t want that kind of life, nor could she ever be the kind of heroine who remains kind and unflappable in any situation.

So she quickly prepared herself mentally and submitted her resume.

Everything unfolded as in her dream: she passed the interview and became the only graduate from her class to join Universe.

Everyone congratulated her and envied her; even her advisor called to ask her to share interview tips in the class group.

But she had no real tips to offer—what she’d said in the interview she’d only learned from posts her classmates had shared.

She couldn’t explain the real reason, so she just repeated some common advice. Fortunately, the Universe offer gave her words extra weight and she passed muster.

After joining the company, she began an unremarkable professional life.

Though there were challenges at first, she was lucky to have a good manager in Ye Ru, and her best friend had also stayed in K City. They could meet up to encourage each other and provide emotional support, so Zhou Zhuofei managed to navigate the transition from student to working adult.

Now, she was thoroughly accustomed to the routine of working by day and living her life by night.

As for the story of the hero and heroine, it hadn’t yet begun, and she had no idea when the plot would start. After all, she was only a bystander.

Zhou Zhuofei returned to her desk and prepared a simple schedule for mentoring the incoming intern.

With Universe’s low turnover rate, the administration department hadn’t had a newcomer in years. She was, in fact, the most junior member of the entire department.

So having a newcomer wasn’t a bad thing. After being called “Little Zhou” for three years, she could finally experience what it was like to mentor a junior.

Once her work was in order, Zhou Zhuofei picked up the reports that needed signing and headed downstairs.

At the elevator, she pressed the button for a descending car just as one was about to arrive.

A few seconds later, with a soft “ding,” the doors slid open.

Inside stood two young men in suits. The one in front was strikingly handsome but unsmiling, his features cold and stern, radiating an undeniable authority. The man beside him seemed more relaxed, with a gentle demeanor and a kind smile that flickered across his face as he saw Zhou Zhuofei.

At the sight of them, Zhou Zhuofei reflexively greeted them, “Hello, President Ling. Hello, Secretary Xiao.”

The man before her was none other than her boss, the CEO of Universe Group—Ling Yu.

There might not be another CEO in the world as young and handsome as Ling Yu.

After greeting them, Zhou Zhuofei prepared to step aside and wait for another elevator.

Universe hadn’t bothered with the “executive only” elevators so common in novels, but when possible, ordinary employees still avoided riding with the boss, preferring to wait for another car.

Just as she was about to step away, Ling Yu’s secretary called out, “Zhou, come in.”

Hearing this, Zhou Zhuofei didn’t hesitate and stepped inside.

After all, the one who had spoken was Xiao Wang, Ling Yu’s secretary and universally acknowledged as Ling Yu’s most trusted right-hand man—so Zhou Zhuofei had no qualms about obeying.

Once inside, she pressed the button for her floor and automatically took up a spot in the corner.

When she first joined the company, the knowledge that her boss was the future male lead of a romance novel had excited Zhou Zhuofei, and she’d occasionally kept a special eye out, wondering if she might witness some unusual plot development.

But over time, that curiosity had faded.

To her, Ling Yu was no longer the hero of any romantic story, but simply the “signature machine”—every application or report ultimately ended up with Xiao Wang, waiting for Ling Yu’s signature.

At this point, she was far more concerned with him signing off on her reimbursement from yesterday than with when he might fall in love with the heroine.