Chapter Five

The J Province Broadcasting Building has a total of 28 floors. However, to improve work efficiency and cut costs, editing and production are concentrated on the 15th and 16th floors.

After finishing their “friendship milk tea,” Han Zekai and Wei Sheng headed to the office on the 21st floor. They had completed the onboarding process in the morning, and now, in the afternoon, they needed to collect their broadcasting access card, meal card, and uniform.

“We’re set then—I’ll come find you after work, and we’ll grab a meal together,” Wei Sheng enthusiastically invited Han Zekai.

He never subscribed to the belief that “I come from a modest background, so I can’t hang out with rich people.”

Every family has its struggles; just because someone has money and power doesn’t mean their lives are necessarily better than ordinary people’s.

Though Wei Sheng’s father was a complete scumbag, his grandparents and mother had always showered him with love and favoritism, ensuring he never felt any less than other kids.

Han Zekai nodded.

With all the intel he’d provided, surely he was worth a meal?

Besides, dining together was a good idea—he still had questions for Wei Sheng.

Wei Sheng’s workplace was on the 15th floor. Unfortunately, he arrived at the worst possible time—when the post-production team was under the most pressure. By the time he was led into the director’s office, Post-Production Director Jiang Fei had just finished an intense argument with leadership.

However, upon learning that Wei Sheng had been hired to “reinforce” the post-production team, Jiang Fei’s expression finally softened—especially after seeing his face.

To be fair, Wei Sheng wasn’t an unbelievably handsome man, nor did he have particularly striking features, but when put together, his face was incredibly pleasant to look at. His smile, with its curved brows and neatly aligned white teeth, made it easy for people to take a liking to him at first glance.

“I’ve read your resume and seen your work—you have a proper background in this field and some editing experience. Perfect, we have a show that’s in desperate need of post-production right now. Come, I’ll introduce you to your new colleagues. You’ll officially start work tomorrow—sound good?”

“Thank you, Director Jiang! I’m ready to start anytime!” Wei Sheng quickly responded.

“Pfft—relax. The post-production team here isn’t as terrifying as netizens make it out to be.”

Wei Sheng: “…”

Heh. Is that so?

I don’t believe it!

Jiang Fei gave him a tour of the department, introducing a long list of names—none of which Wei Sheng remembered.

Now he understood why, despite the building having fingerprint and facial recognition for clocking in, they still issued work badges.

These things were basically dog tags. The employees’ department and name were printed in large, bold letters, ensuring no one had to endure the embarrassment of forgetting a coworker’s name…

However, since the department had only recruited two new people this year—unfortunately during its busiest period—Jiang Fei regretfully informed them that they’d have to postpone the usual welcome dinner until the current production cycle was over.

In the broadcasting industry, it was a tradition to have a welcome dinner for new hires. Plus, there was no need for anyone to chip in—the department had a budget for team-building events.

After the long introduction round, by the time Wei Sheng finally sat at his workstation, it was nearly quitting time.

Of course, little did he know that this would be the one and only time in his entire corporate life that he’d get off work on time…

After clocking out, he went up to the 16th floor and found Han Zekai twirling his car keys as he stepped out of the office.

“Wow, Young Master Han—you’ve only just started working, and you’re already driving the Four Rings?” Wei Sheng teased, pointing at the Audi logo on the keys.

His father had always wanted one of those. Too bad that after thirty-plus years on the job, he could only dream about it.

Not that Wei Zhiyong couldn’t afford it—he just couldn’t save up.

“Oh, I usually drive a Porsche. But my dad said I shouldn’t be too flashy at work, so he forced me to use this ‘little Audi’ instead,” Han Zekai scoffed.

Clearly, he had no respect for his father’s ridiculous attempt at discretion.

In a government system, was there really such a thing as a secret?

Even if they didn’t say anything, once they became full-time employees, they’d have to submit a personal financial disclosure anyway.

By then, the office would know about his villas, luxury cars, company shares, and the trust fund his grandfather set up for him. And if the office knew, the entire department would know…

Wei Sheng: “…”

Rich kids are so unfriendly!

Feeling thoroughly out-flexed, Wei Sheng decided to take Young Master Han to experience the true essence of commoner cuisine—night market steak!

When they reached the city plaza, Han Zekai—concerned that his new coworker might go broke treating him—kindly suggested they skip a fancy meal and just grab a simple salad at a light-food restaurant.

“Absolutely not! A proper Chinese meal must have meat!”

The area around the city plaza had several large shopping malls, with their top floors leased to high-end restaurants where diners could enjoy a panoramic city view. None of them had an average cost below 1,000 yuan per person.

Han Zekai was still debating whether to secretly foot the bill when, before he knew it, Wei Sheng had dragged him into a small alley off the plaza.

“I’m telling you, there’s a night market steak place here that’s absolutely amazing!”

“They recently launched a two-person set—two steaks, two fresh-squeezed lemonades, and two portions of popcorn chicken—all for just 98 yuan!”

As soon as he heard that two steaks came with a bunch of extra stuff and cost less than a hundred yuan, Young Master Han’s expression changed, and he instinctively wanted to run.

Steak this cheap—could it be the infamous “Technology and Ruthless Techniques” [efn_note] “Technology and Ruthless Techniques” (技术与狠活) refers to using special cooking tricks, secret ingredients, or unconventional methods to enhance flavor or presentation—sometimes in extreme or unexpected ways. It’s often used humorously or sarcastically to describe food industry shortcuts, processed ingredients, or surprising cooking techniques. [/efn_note] that’s been terrifying the internet lately?

This isn’t eating steak; this is consuming the entire periodic table, isn’t it?

Seeing Han’s face turn pale, Wei Sheng secretly chuckled. His frustration from being shown up by “Little Audi” vanished. He led Young Master Han past the steak stall to a nearby stall selling lamb stewed noodles.

This was a family-run stall. The owner said that a few years ago, their hometown was hit by a flood, and their house was washed away. The couple followed their son, who was attending university, to J Province and set up a stall selling stewed noodles.

Originally, they had only planned to work until they saved enough money to rebuild their house before returning home to farm.

Who would have thought that this small noodle stall would make them more profit in a month than farming did in an entire year?

And that’s assuming a good year with favorable weather. If they had faced droughts or floods, they wouldn’t just end up with nothing; they’d actually lose money on seeds, pesticides, and fertilizers!

So, Uncle Wang and Auntie Wang decided to stay and continue selling stewed noodles.

Wei Sheng especially loved their noodles, particularly the lamb and beef stewed noodles. They didn’t use cheap frozen meat from cold storage; all their meat was freshly ordered from the slaughterhouse.

The broth wasn’t some artificial mix either—it was a proper beef bone broth, simmered overnight.

A bite of noodles, a bite of meat, and then a chopstickful of the boss lady’s homemade pickled mustard greens—what a taste!

Han Zekai was also a picky eater, having tasted plenty of good food. The moment he smelled the aroma of the noodles, he stopped complaining about street food being unsanitary and eagerly asked the boss lady for boiling water to rinse the bowls and chopsticks.

He knew full well that some bacteria wouldn’t die just from a quick rinse, but in J Province, it was simply ingrained in people’s genes to scald their utensils before eating!

The boss lady seemed to like Wei Sheng a lot. Han Zekai noticed that although they both had large bowls of noodles, their portions of lamb nearly covered the entire surface of the noodles.

She even brought over several small dishes—her homemade pickled mustard greens, chili sauce with fermented soybeans, fried peanuts, and a plate of sliced braised beef…

The other customers at nearby tables couldn’t hold back anymore and started loudly protesting.

“What are you yelling about? He’s my nephew from my maiden family! My own flesh and blood!!” the boss lady bellowed.

The regulars immediately shut up.

In Henan, a “nephew from the maiden family” was even more important than a biological son!

After all, no matter how tough a son was, he wouldn’t dare hit his own father.

But if someone dared to bully his aunt at her in-laws’ house, her maiden family’s nephews wouldn’t care whether the culprit was their uncle or not—

Hit my aunt? I’ll bash your head in!

“Wait, is the boss lady really your aunt?” Han Zekai whispered, gossip-hungry.

“Of course not. I went to university with the boss’s son. He’s a shy and introverted guy who got bullied a lot in our dorm. I was in the student council, so I arranged for him to switch to a different dorm.”

“So, your habit of doing good deeds has never changed, huh?”

Han Zekai actually sighed at that.

Wei Sheng glanced at him.

Had he unknowingly helped this young master before?

Otherwise, why had Han Zekai suddenly told him so much insider information about the TV station?

“Did you save a cat in Yongkang Alley at the end of last month?”

Wei Sheng’s eyes widened. “You were there? That’s not right—I remember no one was around at the time.”

“I was driving past! Of course, you didn’t see me!” Han Zekai retorted.

That day, he was in a hurry and took the one-way Yongkang Alley as a shortcut. Unexpectedly, he spotted a small, trembling ball of fur under a roadside trash bin.

But since it was a one-way street, and the cars behind him were honking impatiently, he had no choice but to drive out of the alley first. After parking his Porsche nearby, he ran back—only to find that someone had beaten him to it and had already picked up the abandoned kitten.

Seeing the kitten rescued, and given that he was truly in a hurry, Han Zekai left.

He never expected that half a month later, at the TV station’s job interview, he’d run into the young man who had saved that kitten.

Originally, he wanted to ask about the kitten’s condition. But then he overheard people saying that the new post-production hire was being assigned to the doomed “Bros” program. Concerned that Wei Sheng, the ever-helpful nice guy, would get tricked into taking the fall, he immediately gave him a heads-up.

“So, you warned me just because of that? And here I thought my charm had won you over…” Wei Sheng said, sounding a little disappointed.

“Don’t flatter yourself! By the way, how’s the kitten now?” Han Zekai asked with concern.

“It’s recovering well. All the parasites are gone, and the burnt fur has grown back. But one of its hind legs was fractured, so it’s still healing at the pet hospital. Hurry up and eat—once you’re done, we’ll go see the cat.” Wei Sheng urged.

Hearing that the kitten’s fur had been burned off before, Han Zekai felt a pang in his heart. He quickly wolfed down his bowl of noodles.

On the rickety folding table, several side dishes were still left. Wei Sheng made sure not to waste anything, asking the boss lady for some plastic bags and packing everything up.

As they were leaving, Han Zekai noticed that even though the boss lady only charged them for two bowls of noodles—thirty yuan—Wei Sheng scanned and paid sixty yuan.

Clearly, he had also covered the cost of the braised beef and the extra side dishes.

(End of Chapter)

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