The Mystery of the Inner Demon

Chapter 341 Old Money 2
Old Qian took a deep drag, the cigarette burning down to almost nothing; this last bit of smoke was his life-saving poison.

He coughed twice from inhaling too hard and said with a wry smile, "I got this smoking habit to stay awake while working overtime. I've lived a mediocre life, and without realizing it, I've given my life to this place, just for a few dollars a month. Looking back now, it was really stupid."

Qi Fei did not interrupt his self-pitying lament. The image of Zhuang Xueqing's thin and pale face appeared before his eyes. They were both ordinary people crushed by this vast money empire—they had been driven to desperation.

"Do you have time to listen to my story? I want to talk to someone. If someone had been willing to listen to my grievances and advise me when Dong Ziwu was parachuted in to be my boss, perhaps things wouldn't have turned out this way." Old Qian's cigarette ash fell onto his trouser leg, and he remembered to brush it off—deep down, he was still a respectable man.

Then he looked up at Qi Fei, his voice suddenly turning cold as if he were a different person, and said, "Anyway, you're not in a hurry to save Tian Mi, and you also want her to die."

Qi Fei couldn't bring himself to deny it immediately. From the very beginning, when he planned to use Tian Mi as bait, he hadn't cared about Tian Mi's life or death.

However, when Lao Qian pointed out this idea, he was afraid. He was afraid of himself, after all, he and Xi He shared the same bloodline, and that dark side followed him like a ghost. He didn't know when, but he began to feel the crisis of being swallowed by this darkness.

“I could have lived in the light.” Old Qian’s words seemed to echo Qi Fei’s hidden worries. “Now that I’m middle-aged, I’ve started to convince myself that I will live an ordinary life, work hard, and live a stable life. That’s what I need. Is that too much to ask? No, it’s not.” He asked himself and answered.

"But Tian Mi's appearance changed everything. At first, I thought she was just another Feng Yi, the so-called leaders now, coming and going, that's all. I'm different from those young people, I don't have any hope for these people. They're all arrogant and looking down on others, temporary workers who will leave after a few years. It doesn't matter, it really doesn't matter."

But Tian Mi is more cunning than Feng Yi. She not only wants to climb the ladder by any means necessary, but she also wants to do it in a respectable way. She wants to innovate and send people to set up a computing power investment department. They looked at a bunch of resumes and knew I had experience in this area, so they asked me to lead the project. I agreed without much thought. For me, where I work and what I do are all the same; it doesn't matter, it really doesn't matter.

Computing power investment is a new sector. Over the years, I've seen it all, but the only thing I can't let go of is the inability to slack off when there's work to be done; that damned sense of responsibility kicks in. Speaking of which, they have a pretty good eye for people. I mean, a good eye for people who actually do the work. Computing power is indeed something I'm interested in. How to put it? Setting up this department was tough, but it felt like I rediscovered a long-lost passion. I know that at my age, without connections, even if you do exceptionally well in Nancheng Investment, you're still just a low-level worker. But my expertise has been recognized in this area, and people need recognition. I'm an ordinary person, and I have the desires of an ordinary person—those small, insignificant joys that don't deserve the attention of those higher-ups.

During this time, something happened that had nothing to do with me: Li Shuangshuang became pregnant.

This pretty young woman was previously worried about being single, and there was no word of her finding a boyfriend, but suddenly she's pregnant. The company is buzzing with gossip, speculating about who the father of her child, whom she's unwilling to reveal, is.

But I didn't participate; these pointless gossips had nothing to do with me. I was focused solely on setting up the computing power department, and I was already overwhelmed with countless things to contact and coordinate every day. One thought just crossed my mind: young people these days are quite open-minded; having a child out of wedlock was a huge scandal when I was young.

As for the position of department head, I hadn't considered it. It's normal for the group to assign a supervisor. I can convince myself from any angle that those less capable than me have higher academic qualifications, and those less qualified than me have more experience.

See? Things have come to this point and it's still all normal. My bottom line is very low, very low.

However, Tian Mi arranged for Dong Ziwu. Who was he? When they told me his name, my mind went blank. I had considered many candidates, but this person had never come to mind. Soon I learned that he was an employee of a subsidiary of the group, who had been promoted to my position at lightning speed. When the appointment document came out, another piece of news surprised me: he officially announced his relationship with Li Shuangshuang. He had actually made this girl bear the stigma of being pregnant out of wedlock for six months just for this position.

Soon after, it was discovered that he had gotten in through Tian Mi's connections.

Perhaps you won't understand why such seemingly insignificant things could make me harbor such deep hatred for him. Heh, I can't explain it myself.

Dong Ziwu, this pampered young master who had never experienced setbacks, accepted the position of manager with such a natural and at ease attitude.

I don't understand. Why would anyone think that using connections is normal, or even something to be proud of?

On his very first day at work, he started directing my tasks and had me write reports for him. He showed none of the awkwardness one would expect from a junior employee promoted to supervisor; he was as skilled as if he had practiced it countless times in his mind.

In his eyes, I was just a lowly person, someone who served him to gain prestige and rise in rank. Just like Li Shuangshuang, everyone had to work for his advancement; this was determined by our inferior birth.

But who is he? He's just the son of Dong Qianjin and Wu Xufen. Dong Qianjin is just a so-called middle manager in a company, someone who graduated from the same university as me.

His rise to power was achieved through his parents' sycophancy and maneuvering.

Ultimately, the person I hate the most is Tian Mi. The computing power investment department, which I painstakingly built up, is nothing more than something she can casually do favors for.

Not only will Dong Ziwu sit in the supervisor's position, but in the future, I will have to continue to work hard in this department, working for his resume. Everyone will say that this young talent should be made the group's vice president, while I, in two years, will join the ranks of the forgotten old employees, retiring quietly, and might even be laid off early.

On what grounds?!

At this point, Lao Qian clenched his fists, his eyes burning with a hellish rage.

Just then, Qi Fei's phone rang. When he answered, Wu Shanqiu's voice came through: "Brother Fei, Tian Mi has been found."