'SEE YOU MORNING' 114 First Meeting

Waking up early on Friday, Lin Yuhui went downstairs and bought four steamed buns for breakfast. Though the place was remote, some people were still running small businesses to make a living. Eating a bun while turning on his computer to listen to the news, he never wasted time. Though just an ordinary citizen, he still paid attention to domestic and international events, especially during this period when he made a point of following pandemic-related updates.

Only after finishing breakfast with the news did he realize he had bought too many buns—two would have been enough in the morning. He was long past his youth, his metabolism had slowed considerably, and breakfast simply didn’t require the portion size of a full meal.

Before leaving home, he took nattokinase to lower blood viscosity and relieve insufficient blood supply to the heart, hydroxychloroquine sulfate to prevent and treat COVID-19, azithromycin for upper respiratory infections, and Bacillus licheniformis to counter the diarrheal side effects of antibiotics. Still alive, his body needed maintenance to keep running without failure, so he had to find ways to maintain it himself.

Stepping outside, it happened to be drizzling, the air very humid, but luckily the temperature was not too high. Lin Yuhui assessed how his heart felt under the body’s load—not bad, aside from being a bit too full.

With the delight of the early morning rain and the anticipation of embarking on a new chapter in life, Lin Yuhui walked along the rain-moistened road.

But when he felt he had covered enough time and distance yet still hadn’t seen the factory gate from yesterday, he realized he had taken the wrong way and would have to backtrack. But where had he gone wrong?

He looked around, trying to determine his location. This was an industrial development zone; the roads should all be parallel and perpendicular. Scanning his surroundings, he realized he was on the road behind the building inside the factory compound he had seen yesterday. Facing that building, the factory gate should be to his right front. That was when it hit him: he had turned left right after leaving home. He should have turned left at the main road intersection from the entrance.

On his way back, HR Sapphire had already sent a WeChat message asking where he was. Lin Yuhui had to answer truthfully and promise he would arrive soon. Luckily, the boss hadn’t shown up yet—otherwise, what would become of that first impression? Heh.

When he finally reached the factory gate again, the temperature had risen and the weather was muggy. Lin Yuhui had wanted to wear an N95 mask, unsure if others would mind, but before long he pulled it down. The humidity had made it completely unbreathable.

He waited a while at the gate, then Sapphire came to fetch him at the security booth. It wasn’t raining, but she was holding a large black umbrella—perhaps for sun protection.

While Sapphire signed paperwork with the security guard, Lin Yuhui took the umbrella. On the way back, he held it for her; after all, he couldn’t let a lady hold the umbrella for him. But she seemed unusually determined to keep her distance from him, saying nothing, just looking down at her phone’s WeChat the whole time. Fortunately, the umbrella was truly large enough that he could walk slightly behind and to the side without peeking at anyone’s private messages.

The new office had two rows of desks facing each other, with twelve seats in total but not all occupied. Lin Yuhui was led to his seat. As he walked past the colleagues beside him, he didn’t look directly, but in his peripheral vision he could tell one of them was a great beauty. To his left front was Lila, a girl who looked somewhat young and green, in market procurement. To his right front was Stephanie, a middle-aged woman who seemed quiet and a bit cool, in the project department.

The man on his left was Dylan, stocky but ugly, responsible for procurement and the supervisor of the girl across from him. Sure enough, the person on his right was a beautiful woman, Cerise, with fair skin, a round face, and large eyes. She wore makeup. She was also in the project department, reporting to the lady across from her.

Lin Yuhui only nodded at her, not shaking hands like he had with the other colleagues. She had false eyelashes, long straight hair that fell to her shoulders, lipstick, eyeshadow, blush, and manicured nails—very meticulously made up.

The two colleagues sitting in the other row of desks behind him were responsible for quality control: Jin Yan and Mu Shangzhi. Neither had an English name because they didn’t want one.

When Lin Yuhui was taken to Sapphire to receive meal tickets and a temporary ID badge, he suddenly said, “Could you write down the new colleagues’ names next to their seats on a piece of paper? I’m not good at matching names to faces.”

“Sure,” she said, tearing a sheet from her notepad and writing the seat positions and names of the colleagues nearby, also adding her own name and that of the boss’s wife, Zina.

After everything was done, as Lin Yuhui returned to his seat in the office with the employment contract he needed to sign, a voice suddenly came from behind him.

“Lin Yuhui—Engineer Lin, you’ve arrived!”

Lin Yuhui stood up and turned around to see a woman with a smiling face, who continued, “Was the journey all right? I’m Zina.” She seemed very talkative, and he assumed she must be the boss’s wife.

“Hello, hello, it’s me,” he said, quickly reaching out to shake her hand.

“Hey, do you have an English name?”

“Not yet.”

“Think of one. The boss is a foreigner—an English name is easier for him to remember.”

“Alright, then call me David.”

“Christian hasn’t come in yet. He’ll be here shortly. Sit for a while and don’t worry. I’m in the next room; come find me if you need anything.”

“Okay, okay,” Lin Yuhui said as he saw her off.

He hadn’t even written a few characters on the safety education test paper when he heard someone calling him from behind again.

“Lin, you’re here.”

“Yes, nice to meet you,” Lin Yuhui answered. It was the boss, Christian, a middle-aged Western man, somewhat thin, with short hair and a sharp, energetic face.

“Yes, likewise. Finally meeting in person. Come to my office, let’s sit and chat.”

After a brief, courteous conversation in the boss’s office, Lin Yuhui returned to find that it was already lunchtime.

“Who can take me to the cafeteria? I don’t know the way yet,” Lin Yuhui asked his new colleagues.

“You take him. I’m about to get married,” Sapphire whispered to Stephanie.

Lin Yuhui said nothing, but thought to himself: I’m a washed-up old man, anyone can see I’m no match for a beautiful young woman like her, do they really have to be so…

“Follow me,” Stephanie said, getting up to lead the way before Lin Yuhui could think further.

“Okay, thanks.”

Most of the afternoon, Christian briefed Lin Yuhui on the company’s situation and the different series of graphite heat exchanger products. By the time he returned to his own office, it was nearly quitting time.

“David, how did you end up at this company?” Dylan next to him seemed quite talkative. Before Lin Yuhui had even settled into his seat, he asked eagerly.

“Oh, I submitted my resume online,” Lin Yuhui said. As he turned to respond, he noticed the girl across from him also looking over.

“Great, joining so quickly. Welcome.”

“So quickly”? Lin Yuhui found that a bit puzzling, but didn’t feel comfortable asking for details.