Volume One, Chapter 7: Dispelling Doubts and Seizing Opportunity

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Zhou Shutong looked at me calmly, her eyes full of understanding. I felt she wasn’t just being polite. I nodded, stood up, and handed her a folder.

“This contains my resume. I’ll also add you on WeChat and send you the electronic version.”

She took the resume and studied it carefully, nodding as she read. “Your background is impressive! Working for a major company for so many years, reaching middle management by thirty, handling live-stream operations and backend systems—you’re really talented.”

A surge of pride, the quiet pride of a corporate worker, welled up inside me. I chuckled bitterly. “Heroes don’t dwell on past glories! Those days are long gone. Look at me now, struggling to even find a job.”

Zhou Shutong smiled gently. “Everyone hits setbacks. Everyone experiences confusion at times. Some for a while, some for a lifetime. Right now, our company needs people. Are you interested in giving it a try?”

Her words were like a beam of light piercing through my dark clouds.

“We’ve been neighbors for so long, and I still didn’t know what you do.” I studied the beautiful woman before me seriously.

Zhou Shutong winked with a smile. “I’m a live-stream host for product sales.”

“Then what can I do for you?”

She immediately shifted into work mode, her expression serious. “Our company sells snacks with our own brand, but our warehouse is managed by a third party. Their inventory system is outdated—stock levels are adjusted manually, even courier tracking numbers are input by hand. Efficiency is low, and we get a lot of customer complaints. Inventory counts are inaccurate too.”

“Can you design a warehouse management system that supports automatic real-time inventory updates, shows the quantity of products remaining for each expiration date, and sets up alerts when a product reaches one-third of its shelf life?”

“There was a time they couldn’t distinguish product expiration durations and ended up shipping almost expired goods to customers...”

Listening to her detailed explanation, I pondered for a moment before replying, “What you’re describing is easy to fix. Their system is probably a free version downloaded online with limited functions, requiring everything to be done manually. If you give me a clear list of requirements—one, two, three, four, five—I can have it ready in three days at the latest.”

Zhou Shutong was delighted. “That’s great! I’ve been so worried about this system! You don’t know, when I’m live-streaming, customers often complain about not receiving tracking numbers for a day or two. If your system works well, you’ll definitely have a place in the company. And I promise, we’ll pay according to market rates.”

Whether they paid or not didn’t matter much to me; I wasn’t looking to make money from her.

What mattered more was that she came to see me when I was at my lowest. I was already deeply touched.

Now that I had agreed to develop the software, I finally had something to do.

After finishing the meal and clearing the table, she returned to her company, and I began studying the system architecture.

Once busy, all bad moods could be brushed aside. Indeed, staying busy was the best way to heal oneself.

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It had been over two months since I last touched my main job. At first, I was a bit rusty, but gradually I slipped back into the groove, as if I had returned to the past in an instant.

I stayed up all night, and when the first morning light streamed through the window, I finally completed the system.

After compressing the files and sending them to her, I stretched and skipped breakfast, going straight back to sleep.

I slept until three in the afternoon. If not for my body’s urgent protests, I might have slept until nightfall.

At thirty, I really felt my energy was no longer what it used to be. I just couldn’t stay up like before.

Refusing to accept aging was futile.

My phone chimed with a WeChat message from Zhou Shutong.

She said the pre-sales colleagues had tested the system and gave it rave reviews. It completely solved all their existing problems. She also mentioned wanting to meet at their company tomorrow at 2 p.m. to discuss further.

She often streamed late into the night, so her mornings were usually her hibernation time.

Just after replying to her message, Lin Feifei called. I shifted into a comfortable position and lazily answered.

“Hey, you’re off work? Why call me now?”

Lin Feifei giggled. “Nothing much, just checking in on you! You’re the one who needs care the most right now. I was worried you might be in a down mood after work.”

I couldn’t help but smile. Her tone was playful. It felt good to be cared for.

“To be honest, what made you think of me?”

Lin Feifei let out a soft hum, her voice drifting like a cloud.

“Bored! I wanted someone to talk to.”

My interest piqued. I sat up a little and asked with amusement, “Oh? What’s going on?”

She sighed. “My ex-boyfriend found out my flight number and is probably coming to pick me up. It’s so annoying. I wanted to talk to someone, and you just popped into my mind.”

Hearing her complaint, I chuckled softly, rubbing my forehead in resignation. I said earnestly, “We’ve only met once. I didn’t realize I’d left such a deep impression on you!”

Lin Feifei was stunned. “What did you say?”

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I joked, “What I mean is... don’t use my standards to judge your own criteria for choosing a partner. You’ll have a hard time finding a boyfriend that way.”

Lin Feifei snorted, firing back, “Do you have some misunderstanding about young people’s current tastes?”

“Don’t be so absolute. Maybe your standards aren’t high enough! Am I being arrogant?”

“If that’s the case, we’re like two ice lollies melting into each other—no words.”

I laughed again. We’d only known each other for a little over a day, but I really enjoyed this playful banter. Since Kuang Li’s betrayal, the few times I’d smiled were mostly because of this woman.

Lost in thought, she suddenly cleared her throat a few times on purpose. “Come pick me up at the airport tomorrow night. You’ll probably have to help me fend off that annoying guy, got it?”

“Sure, no problem. But you’ll have to pay extra.”

“Alright, alright! We’ll see how you perform then.”

With that, Lin Feifei hung up.

I casually cooked some noodles and then drifted back to sleep.

The next day, wearing the outfit Lin Feifei had given me, I headed to Zhou Shutong’s company for the interview. It was the best outfit I could muster.

Since Zhou Shutong started work late, I didn’t want to disturb her sleep and drove directly to her company in Lin Feifei’s Tesla.

I arrived ten minutes early, greeted by a tall, well-dressed, handsome man.

He was strikingly handsome, with a fair, sharply defined face, bold eyebrows, and an air of sharp intelligence. He looked much younger than me.

Age reversal in the workplace had become common, so I was unfazed, keeping a calm mind.

“Let me introduce myself. I’m Tony, or Tony Yang. Go ahead and introduce yourself first.”