The pushover offended a top-tier boss

On Monday morning, she didn't get up until the alarm rang three times.

I feel like I'm going to a funeral.

The weekend went by too fast; before she could even catch her breath, she was already facing the torment of a new week.

The black Hongqi stopped right in front of her. She opened the passenger door, got in, fastened her seatbelt, leaned back in her seat, and didn't want to say a word.

When she arrived at work, she had just sat down and turned on her computer when the internal phone rang.

"Teacher Ye, the boss is calling for you." It was Secretary Lin's voice.

Her heart skipped a beat.

What happened again? Is there a problem with the report again? Or is there another mistake somewhere?

She walked slowly to Zhou Huaijin's office door, took a deep breath, and knocked.

"Enter."

She pushed open the door and found Zhou Huaijin sitting behind his desk with a large bag in front of him, filled with small bags.

traditional Chinese medicine.

"Drink one packet every day for half a month," Zhou Huaijin pointed to him.

Ye Zhenzhen looked at the large bag of Chinese medicine and silently swallowed her bitterness.

"Okay, thank you, boss." This time she was smarter.

I don't ask about the money. I don't ask about the price. I don't ask if I need to pay back.

If you don't ask, you don't have to pay for it yourself. Anyway, he's such a high-ranking leader, he definitely wouldn't be comfortable telling her, "Fifty yuan a bag, thank you for your patronage."

It can save a lot of money.

whee.

She smiled to herself and reached for the bag.

The next second, a deep voice came:

"Drink today's drink now."

No, not at all.

Ye Zhenzhen's smile froze on her face.

She hates drinking Chinese medicine.

The year I graduated with my master's degree, I developed an endocrine disorder from working on my graduation project and drank Chinese medicine for more than half a year. The taste—bitter, astringent, and sour—was torture with every sip.

In the end, she preferred to continue with her hormonal imbalance rather than suffer that kind of torment anymore.

"Boss, I'll be right back—"

"no."

Zhou Huaijin looked up at her, as if he could see right through her little schemes.

Good medicine tastes bitter.

Ye Zhenzhen: "..."

She had to tear open the seal of a bag of traditional Chinese medicine. The moment the bag was torn open, a strong medicinal smell wafted out.

She pinched her nose, tilted her head back, and gulped it down in one go.

The medicine was warm, and its bitter taste exploded on her tongue, like someone had poured a whole bottle of bitter herbs into her mouth. She desperately fought back the urge to gag, tears welling up in her eyes.

I've finished drinking.

She threw the empty bag into the trash can, her face turning green.

Zhou Huaijin looked at her expression of utter despair, his lips twitched, but he suppressed his smile.

"Go ahead," he said.

Ye Zhenzhen walked back to her office with a bitter face.

Chen Zheng was startled when he saw her expression: "Did you get scolded again?"

Ye Zhenzhen glanced at him listlessly: "It's worse than being scolded."

After she finished drinking, Zhou Huaijin said to her.

From now on, the first thing I'll do after getting to work every day is come to him for my medicine!

Are you deliberately messing with her?

She lay on the table, feeling that her life was just too hard.

The next morning, as soon as she arrived at work, the internal phone rang.

"Teacher Ye, come here."

She resignedly walked over. On Zhou Huaijin's table, there was another bag of Chinese medicine.

"Drink it."

She closed her eyes and drank it down, and then she felt terrible.

"Boss, could I—" she tried to bargain.

"cannot."

She shut up.

The third day, the fourth day, and the fifth day.

The first thing I do every day when I get to work is go to his office to take my medicine. I'm even more punctual than clocking in.

She felt like she wasn't there to work, but to serve her sentence.

Zhou Huaijin would always sit behind his desk, watching her finish the bag of medicine, as if confirming whether a task had been completed. Sometimes he would grunt in response after she finished, and sometimes he would say nothing, and she would slink away on her own.

She was absolutely certain that he was deliberately punishing her.

on purpose.

It was absolutely intentional.

She'd rather be scolded than drink this!

After finishing his medicine in Zhou Huaijin's office, he walked back with a frown and ran into Secretary Lin in the corridor.

"Teacher Ye," Lin Rui called out to her, handing her a small box, "Here, have this."

Ye Zhenzhen looked down and saw it was a box of candy. The outer packaging was entirely in English, and it looked very expensive. The tin box was printed with colorful patterns.

"Secretary Lin, you are such a kind person!" Her eyes lit up immediately. She took the candy box and wished she could bow to Lin Rui on the spot.

Lin Rui smiled and said, "My boss asked me to give this to you. He said it would expire soon if left there, so you might as well eat it."

Ye Zhenzhen's smile froze.

"Aww..."

She silently retracted a positive review in her mind.

She returned to her workstation, opened the candy box, and found small, round candies inside, light golden in color, with a scent of honey and lemon.

She poured out one, put it in her mouth, and found it sweet with a hint of cool mint flavor, which diluted the bitterness of the Chinese medicine considerably.

She glanced down at the bottom of the candy box; it was all written in foreign languages, and the country of origin was France.

She took out her phone and searched for the brand.

Depend on.

A box of candy costs over three hundred yuan.

Old Deng, you're eating so well.

Five days have passed.

Her period was completely over, her lower abdomen stopped hurting, and she returned to normal. The only thing that wasn't normal was that she still had to drink that packet of Chinese medicine every morning, which was so bitter that she questioned the meaning of life.

She felt like a walking medicine cabinet.

On Wednesday afternoon, Lin Rui walked into her workstation with a document in her hand.

"Teacher Ye, I'm going to Beijing on a business trip tomorrow, it's a two-day trip." He handed her the documents, "Here are the details, please take a look."

Ye Zhenzhen took it and opened it. It read: National Youth Work Standing Committee Meeting, held at the ×× Conference Center, with representatives from all over the country in attendance; it was a very high-level meeting.

"Okay." She nodded.

"Professor Ye, tomorrow's meeting is at the Standing Committee level," Lin Rui added, his tone more serious than usual. "The agenda is very important. You just need to sit in and take notes; you don't need to speak. But your notes must be detailed and accurate, without any omissions."

"Understood." Ye Zhenzhen nodded earnestly.

"And what about you, Secretary Lin? Aren't you going?" She looked up at him.

Lin Rui smiled and said, "I'm starting my vacation tomorrow. I'll have to trouble Teacher Ye to take care of things from now on."

Ye Zhenzhen was stunned for a moment.

Is Secretary Lin going on vacation?

How could a novice like her fill his job?

She suddenly realized that even that bag of Chinese medicine wasn't as despairing as this.