Chapter 155: Breakdown of Talks-A Cat for Every Cat Owner(Wise as snow, cold as ice.)

Whether out of mistrust toward Zhao Mian—fearing he might flake on an assignment again and leave early—or simple habit, Chen Xujia always paired him with either Lin Luyou or Cheng Li whenever tasks were assigned. She would put it nicely, saying, "You two joined earlier and are the same age, so communication and collaboration will be much easier."

However, Zhao Mian was entirely unappreciative of this arrangement. He still clocked in right at nine every morning and left the office like clockwork at six-thirty every evening.

Was this guy just here to coast and kill time?

Because Zhao Mian never finished his share of the work, the remainder inevitably fell onto the shoulders of Lin Luyou and Cheng Li. Looking at the mounting pile of tasks accumulating on her desk, even someone with as mild a temper as Lin Luyou began to feel a sense of displeasure.

Could a student from National A University really be like this? Was he actually even from National A University?

Zhao Mian's behavior inevitably caused her to ponder and doubt.

As everyone knew, the professors at National A University loved assigning group projects, aiming to cultivate their students' teamwork and collaborative skills. Among all departments, the finance professors utilized group assignments to the absolute extreme.

Roughly speaking, out of five regular assignments in a semester, at least three would require collaborative teamwork.

With such an intensive schedule of group projects, any student who harbored the mindset of a free-rider looking to sponge off others' grades would be held in utter contempt by their peers; being socially ostracized was the least of their worries.

Consequently, most people who initially thought of slacking off were ultimately forced by credit requirements to develop the habit of never missing deadlines and completing tasks on time.

Precisely because of this background, Lin Luyou found it all the more difficult to believe:

Having been forged in the crucible of National A University's finance department just like her, how could Zhao Mian still not have shaken off the habit of being an absentee partner who left all the work to others?

Compared to Lin Luyou, whose lingering "alumni filter" caused her to feel not only annoyed by Zhao Mian's actions but also a sense of frustration that he was failing to live up to his potential, Cheng Li was already plotting her next move.

If she proactively took over his tasks so his workload became effortless, wouldn't she catch his eye and stand out?

With this thought in mind, she forced herself to sacrifice her precious time—both the moments she usually spent slacking off at work and her post-work leisure hours—and volunteered to help him finish his assignments.

Yet, enduring such humiliation was simply not in Lin Luyou's nature. Finally, on Thursday, she reached her breaking point and intercepted Zhao Mian in the lounge area:

"I have to ask... do you seriously have some urgent matter to attend to every single night?"

"Something wrong?"

Zhao Mian practically lived with his earphones on. He slipped one earphone out and glanced at Lin Luyou.

Under that casual glance, Lin Luyou inexplicably felt a pang of guilt.

It was probably the sense of suppression brought on by their height difference.

While comforting herself with the reminder that she was in the right, Lin Luyou couldn't help but straighten her posture further to make herself appear less weak:

"If you don't actually have any pressing emergencies, I think it would be better for you to finish all your tasks here at the office before you leave. Leaving your work undone means the rest of us have to put in extra effort to pick up the slack."

"Cheng Li has had to stay late for several days running because of you. But all of this could have been avoided if you had just done a bit more during the day or stayed back for a few extra minutes after hours."

Inwardly, Lin Luyou despised herself a little.

Even though she knew Cheng Li couldn't stand her, here she was, using her as an example and even speaking up on her behalf.

At that moment, Lin Luyou felt for the first time that she possessed the latent potential of a self-righteous saint.

True to form, Zhao Mian's expression remained completely unchanged upon hearing this:

"I never asked her to do my work. She volunteered on her own... what's that got to do with me?"

"But you're a student from National A University! When you step out into the world, you represent the reputation of National A University!"