Dawn of Life

When they listed the house last time, in order to compete with Gao Ming, they registered with two agencies: Lianjia registered Gao Ming's information, and Wo Ai Wo Jia registered Lin Yue's information. Since then, Lin Yue has been constantly "harassed" by agents from Wo Ai Wo Jia.

First, you have to cooperate with them to take photos and videos at your home and upload them online; then you have to deal with their calls to schedule viewings.

After the client viewed the property, the agent would call her to negotiate the price. Although she always said that she didn't plan to sell and was just checking the market reaction online, the agent didn't take her words to heart at all. Perhaps it was because the real estate market was too cold that they were working very hard.

Lin Yue had considered changing the registration information for "I Love My Home" to Gao Ming's, since she would ultimately have to sign off on the sale anyway. But she was reluctant, feeling she needed to stay informed about market trends. After the divorce, she had completely lost trust in Gao Ming.

After enduring this for a while, she finally decided to tell her family about her divorce, hoping her parents could come to Hangzhou to help her take care of Xiaoyu. Lin Yue is from Sichuan. During her senior year of college, a company from Hangzhou came to her school for campus recruitment.

The company was good in every way, but Lin Yue's mother, Liu Cuiying, disagreed. She hoped that Lin Yue could stay in Chengdu to develop her career, and the two had a big argument about it.

Later, Lin Yue gave birth to Xiao Yu. Liu Cuiying was happy and came to Hangzhou to stay with her for two months. However, she soon returned to her hometown in anger because she couldn't get along with Gao Ming's mother. After Xiao Yu started kindergarten, the former mother-in-law also returned to her hometown. Lin Yue asked Liu Cuiying to come to Hangzhou to help, but she refused. She hasn't come to Hangzhou since.

She held her phone in thought for a long time before finally dialing Liu Cuiying's number. After exchanging a few pleasantries, she weakly said, "Mom, I... I've divorced Gao Ming."

During her cold war with Gao Ming, she called Liu Cuiying to tell her about her current situation and her desire for a divorce. As a result, Liu Cuiying scolded her harshly, telling her that she must keep the family intact no matter what, for the sake of her son and for the sake of her reputation in her hometown.

After that, Lin Yue never mentioned divorce to Liu Cuiying again, not even after Liu Cuiying had obtained the divorce certificate.

But now she really feels like she can't hold on any longer, especially since Xiaoyu doesn't get home until after 9 pm every night, and by the time he gets ready and goes to bed, it's already 10 pm. Then he has to get up again at 6:30 am. For a seven-year-old child, that's not enough sleep, so she hopes Liu Cuiying can help her for the sake of her grandson.

Liu Cuiying on the other end of the phone suddenly fell silent.

After a long silence, Liu Cuiying's slightly agitated yet reproachful voice came through: "You're getting more and more opinionated these days. Such a big thing as divorce, and you didn't even discuss it with us? You were the one who wanted to get married, and now you're the one who wants a divorce. You chose this path yourself, and no matter how difficult it is, you should find a way to get through it yourself."

Lin Yue said helplessly, "Mom, he's the one who wanted a divorce."

On the other end of the phone, Liu Cuiying seemed even more agitated, unleashing a torrent of words: "He wants a divorce, but you can firmly refuse. Every family has its ups and downs. As long as you don't divorce, the family remains whole. When you get old, you'll have someone to keep you company and take care of each other..."

She listened silently, her face etched with numbness and exhaustion. Finally, when Liu Cuiying paused for a moment, she said, "Mom, I'm really tired lately. Could you and Dad come to Hangzhou to help me take care of Xiaoyu? I have custody of him now."

There was another silence on Liu Cuiying's end: "If you can't take care of yourself, you shouldn't ask for custody. I'm so old, how can I possibly take care of you..." Then she hung up the phone.

Lin Yue felt completely drained. Numbly, she walked to the balcony and gazed at the endless darkness behind the tall buildings. She was swallowed by a sense of powerlessness and despair, like walking in a vast desert with no one behind her.

Perhaps because she had recently experienced too much heartache and helplessness, her heart had become numb. Surprisingly, she did not argue with Liu Cuiying on the phone this time.

From as far back as she could remember, Liu Cuiying had been constantly criticizing her. When she brought home her report card with the highest score in the class, 99 points, Liu Cuiying wouldn't affirm the 99 points, but would instead nitpick over the one point she lost. When she finally got 100 points through her relentless efforts, Liu Cuiying would say, "Hmph, what's there to be proud of? You'll drop next time."

This was another sleepless night.

The next day, Lin Yue's stomach started hurting again. Su Ling saw that Lin Yue was not in good condition and didn't go to lunch when she was called by Su Ling.

So he went out and bought a bowl of porridge, placed it on her table, and sternly made her eat it: "I know you're having a hard time right now, but even if not for yourself, you have to think about Xiaoyu. What will he do if your health collapses?"

Lin Yue took the porridge from Su Ling's hand and buried her head in it, eating it in big mouthfuls, tears falling into the porridge in large drops.

Seeing the tears falling from her eyes, Su Ling's heart ached along with them. Su Ling walked over and bent down, hugging her from the side, her arms tightening as if to give her strength. Just like many years ago, Lin Yue had hugged her in the same way.

Society is so harsh on women. How hard do they have to work to balance career and life? Su Ling's voice choked up a little: "It's okay, everything will be alright."

Just then, Lin Yue received a Lark message from Shengxing on her phone: "Come here!"

Lin Yue pushed aside the porridge she had only taken a couple of bites of, took out her lipstick from the drawer, touched it up in front of the mirror, and tried to look a little more refreshed. She stood up, patted Su Ling on the shoulder, forced an awkward smile, and then walked towards Shengxing's office.

Su Ling shook her head helplessly, covered the porridge for her, and pushed it further into the workstation.

As soon as Lin Yue entered Shengxing's office, she saw Yin Jie sitting opposite him, head drooping. When she first walked in and saw Yin Jie's back, she paused for several seconds, tense for a few seconds. Had this man come to Shengxing to complain? But when she saw his expression, she was relieved; if he had complained, it probably hadn't been successful.

Lin Yue pulled out a chair and sat down next to Yin Jie, saying, "President Sheng, you wanted to see me?"

Sheng Xing said casually, "Our HR department has been implementing the 996 work schedule for over a month now, and I think the results are pretty good. Next, I plan to continue implementing it in the technology team and gradually expand it to the entire company."

Lin Yue's mind raced, picking up on a few pieces of information: the technical team was still under Liu Zheng's control, but Shengxing bypassed Liu Zheng and went directly to Yin Jie today, indicating that Shengxing was no longer concerned about Liu Zheng's feelings; they used to talk about the whole company working 996, but now, almost two months later, they were only planning to implement it in the technical team, showing that Shengxing still cared about his image among employees and didn't intend to force it; they chose the technical team because a large number of internet technicians were currently unemployed, and Shengxing had probably already assessed that replacing them would be very low-cost.

Yin Jie was initially reluctant. Although overtime was common for the technical team, it was different from the rigid "996" concept. During this period, Sheng Xing would often bypass Liu Zheng and come to him, mentioning several times that their department had too many people.

He was already fed up with his current situation and had been browsing job postings on BOSS Zhipin recently, but all his resumes he submitted disappeared without a trace. The headhunters he had met a few years ago also advised him to just coast along, as there were basically no opportunities for a 35-year-old technical manager like him in the market.

When Shengxing talked to him about this today, he barely resisted. He only dared to vent his resentment and dissatisfaction in a safe environment or when facing people who posed no threat to him. Perhaps this is the survival rule in the workplace, and also human nature.

Finally, he said he could accept the "996" work schedule, but hoped that HR would convey this rule on behalf of the company. In other words, when employees are dissatisfied, they can shift the blame to the company, and he can play the innocent and be the good guy in the team.

After figuring things out, Lin Yue looked up at Shengxing and said firmly, "President Sheng, from an HR perspective, I don't really recommend operating this way. First, there's the issue of compliance. If HR conveys this message on behalf of the company and a malicious employee gathers evidence, the employee can claim double their salary in arbitration. Losing money is a minor issue; the public pressure is immense. Internet companies are full of people who can manipulate public opinion, which could affect the company's IPO, mergers and acquisitions, etc. Secondly, employee emotions are not easy to manage. If not handled properly, it could trigger a chain reaction in company management, leading to negative behaviors such as employees forming cliques."

"Therefore, I suggest focusing on results. Overtime is just a formality; efficiency is the goal."

Seeing that Shengxing's expression softened somewhat, she added, "If you really insist on the 996 work schedule, you can handle it like the human resources team does, with the person in charge issuing the order in a tone that encourages overtime, and stating that it's only because a certain project is urgent and it's a temporary need."

Sheng Xing gazed at Lin Yue, tapping lightly on the desk with his index finger, before finally fixing his gaze on Yin Jie's face. He slowly said, "Then we won't make it mandatory. The company only focuses on work results."

After leaving Shengxing's office, Yin Jie and Lin Yue went to the conference room. He scratched his head, looked at Lin Yue, and said, "Thank you just now. The team atmosphere is so down right now, and ineffective overtime could really be the last straw that breaks the camel's back."