CH 50

Xu Xinghe’s head was rocked with thunder. He could only stammeringly ask Ling Changfeng: “You, you… you asked for leave from Ark for me?”

“Well.” Ling Changfeng nodded with great interest. He looked at the splendid expressions on Xu Xinghe’s face, and then asked calmly: “Is there any problem?”

Xu Xinghe thought: “There are too many problems!”

How to start? He could only pour out all the questions in his mouth: “When did you ask for leave for me? How did you ask for it? Who did you ask for? Sick leave or personal leave? Did you take the initiative to call, or did they? Did you answer the call for me? You didn’t directly say that I overslept, right?”

Ling Changfeng stood there, listening to him finish his questions, and then replied one by one: “This morning, past nine o’clock, I asked Qin Yuan to ask for leave for you.  As for who was asked, or what kind of leave…” His long eyes squinted, “Is it important?”

“Of course it is!” Xu Xinghe said sadly. “Yes! If I ask for personal leave, my bonus will be deducted. It will also affect my winning the Outstanding Employee Award at the end of the year!”

Ling Changfeng: “…”

Slight surprise and confusion flashed through his eyes, and when Xu Xinghe saw it, his heart ached even more.

Obviously, Marshal Ling, who has been in a high position for a long time, does not understand the suffering of ordinary social animals.

Ling Changfeng was silent for a while, and said, “Then I’ll ask Qin Yuan. But don’t worry, he has always done things well, and there shouldn’t be a situation where your bonus will be deducted.”

“Uh… thank you.” Xu Xinghe touched his nose upon realizing his tone was a little anxious. After all, as an excellent employee of Ark who never missed one day of attendance last year, this was the first time he overslept during the working day, so he was a little flustered, a little guilty, and felt it was somewhat novel.

“I don’t mean to blame you either. Anyway, thank you for asking for leave for me… Otherwise, if I missed work without any reason, it will be directly counted as absenteeism, and the problem will be even more serious…” Xu Xinghe stared at the small corner of the room, his tone Involuntarily softened by three points.

Quickly confirming the details of the leave request with Qin Yuan over email, Ling Changfeng raised his eyes and said to Xu Xinghe: “Qin Yuan said, he called your Director Wang and helped you ask for leave, but said nothing else. Your boss didn’t ask anything, he just replied ‘Okay I know’. As for the bonus issue, he told you not to worry, the person in charge shouldn’t-” Ling Changfeng looked at the screen’s “make an issue”, and felt it was a bit rude, so he changed it to, “be so rigid.”

Xu Xinghe: “???”

Team Leader Xu, who had just calmed down, was flabbergasted when he heard the marshal’s words. “Ah, ah, didn’t I say it last time? Don’t harass our Director Wang any more with this kind of small question asking for leave in the future! He’s very busy managing everything and doing research!”

Ark’s current general manager Wang Yunze, a top expert in the field of artificial intelligence, who also served as the vice president of Capital University for more than 30 years, is a person Xu Xinghe admires and respects very much. Even some textbooks he read in university were edited by Director Wang.

When Ling Changfeng heard him say this, his sword eyebrows couldn’t help but raise his eyebrows slightly. “Why is he so busy?”

Xu Xinghe said with puffed cheeks: “What do you think! Managing a data center the size of Ark, while also needing to do scientific research. Even the person in charge of our department has to make an appointment in advance when calling him!”

Ling Changfeng glanced at him: “I usually make an appointment in advance for the calls I make.”

Then he thought about it, “Your director’s level, I may not be able to make an appointment.”

Xu Xinghe: “…”

He didn’t want to pay attention to Ling Changfeng at all.

Unfortunately, after less than three seconds of stalemate, his stomach made a very disappointing sound.

“Gululu—”

It was especially obvious in the quiet room.

Xu Xinghe: “…”

A faint smile flashed in his eyes, Ling Changfeng said leisurely: “Okay, let’s go eat first.”

Xu Xinghe walked towards the dining room with his head down.

Ling Changfeng followed him with his hands behind him, and suddenly remembered something: “By the way, at nine o’clock in the morning, you had a phone call.”

“Huh?” Xu Xinghe Looking back at him, suddenly vigilant.

Ling Changfeng continued: “Your left hand was pressing on my chest at that time, and I accidentally answered it when I moved.”

Xu Xinghe’s footsteps stalled. He had no time to care about the problem of why his hand was pressing on Ling Changfeng’s chest, and quickly opened his call log.

Sure enough, he saw the name of Liang Shilei, the head of their technical department, in the “Calls Connected”.

Xu Xinghe turned his head stiffly and asked Ling Changfeng: “Mr., Mr. Liang, what did he say on the phone? No…what did you tell him?!”

Ling Changfeng replied patiently: “After answering the call, he asked you who I was, and I said you were going to take a leave of absence, but he didn’t reply, so I hung up the phone.”

After that, he commented seriously: “This call happened 3 minutes after I asked Qin Yuan to ask for leave for you. I can only say that the efficiency of information communication from top to bottom needs to be improved.”

Xu Xinghe: “…”

Ah, just when he thought it was embarrassing enough for Ling Changfeng to ask Director Wang for leave, something even more embarrassing happened.

Boss Liang called him this morning and the call was actually picked up by Ling Changfeng himself!

He couldn’t imagine what Mr. Liang’s expression looked like when he heard Marshal Ling’s voice on the phone…

What ‘s more, he had to report to Mr. Liang tomorrow!

After eating lunch absentmindedly, Xu Xinghe always felt his heart was pounding like a drum.

Thinking about it carefully, this is the first time he’s taken leave for more than a year. He was a little annoyed and frustrated. Why did he sleep so deeply last night?

It seems that by Ling Changfeng’s side, he can always sleep soundly.

After eating, while waiting for food to digest, Xu Xinghe clicked on the group chat again, and was surprised to find that in the short time he finished eating, more than 99+ unread messages were waiting for him.

Xu Xinghe’s heart tightened, and he opened the chat record with a slightly ominous foreboding –

Ajia: “Team Leader!! How are you now, Team Leader? Are you feeling okay? Have you started to react?”

Ryan: “F*ck team leader, I admire you so much… What time did you meet last night? Can you still get up?? Will you come to work tomorrow?”

Ajia: “What do you say? Our leader is welcoming his once in a one-and-a-half-year vacation!”

Ajia: “Hey, team leader, will you come see us before your official vacation? If I knew, I would’ve said goodbye to you last night. @Xu Xinghe”

Ethan: “Wait a minute. Wait…what are you talking about? Did we hear the same news at lunchtime?”

Xiao Zhou: “Obviously not”

Ajia: “You guys are too late”

Ryan: “When you say this, I feel that my news is a little behind, wait for me to inquire!”

…

Xu Xinghe: “?”

Team leader Xu looked at the screen of unpredictable and unintelligible messages, and typed a question mark.

Ryan: “The team leader has appeared!!”

Ajia: “Ahhhh, Brother Xu, how are you feeling now?”

Xu Xinghe: “What, aren’t I talking to you now?”

Ryan: “The team leader should avoid contact with electronic equipment in the future! There is radiation!”

Xu Xinghe was stunned: “…How can you, a person in the technical department, say such nonsense that electronic products have radiation??”

Having to ask for leave because he watched a horror movie last night, and was too frightened he couldn’t fall asleep until after 3 a.m. in the morning… it’s really difficult to explain, and unreasonable.

Xu Xinghe hesitated for a moment, then secretly made up a plausible excuse: “I’m not feeling well, so I took a day off and will go to work tomorrow as usual”

Ryan: “?!”

Ajia: “?!”

Ethan: “…”

Xiao Zhou: “Okay”

Xu Xinghe looked at their replies, and his ominous premonition became heavier and heavier: “Wait a minute, what do you think happened to me?”

Ryan: “…nothing.”

Ajia: “Team leader, can you really come to work tomorrow??”

Xu Xinghe: “…”

When he saw that these guys in the group suddenly faltered and pretended to be deaf and dumb, he instantly became a little irritable.

What the hell is going on? Could it be that Boss Liang said something in the morning?

Xu Xinghe wasn’t naive enough to hope that Mr. Liang couldn’t tell it was Ling Changfeng who answered the phone this morning, but Mr. Liang isn’t a gossip, so it stands to reason that he wouldn’t spread it around.

Xu Xinghe asked tentatively, “What did Mr. Liang say at the meeting this morning?”

Ajia: “He just talked about the work arrangements, nothing major. Team leader, if you are not feeling well, take a rest first. We’ll talk about it when you come to work tomorrow.”

Ryan: “Speaking of Boss Liang, do you think his face didn’t look very well this morning?”

Ethan: “Ah, a little bit, he wasn’t in the right state in this morning’s meeting. The documents were reversed at the beginning.”

Xu Xinghe: “…”

He remembered the appearance of Boss Liang’s white temples, and inexplicably felt a sense of guilt.

Xu Xinghe: “That’s all? He didn’t say anything else…about me?”

Ryan: “I told you, he said you were on sick leave.”

Ethan: “There’s something in the team leader’s words, what do you think Mr. Liang said?”

Xu Xinghe: “…Hehe, I thought he would ask about the progress of 3A-Z’s investigation, and praise you as wastes.”

Team leader Xu said this, but he was silently relieved. Listening to this situation, Mr. Liang should not have leaked anything.

So what are these people talking about?

Xu Xinghe: “I’ll give you one last chance. What outrageous news did you hear? Leniency for those who confess, resistance is a dead end!”

Seeing the silence in the group for a while, he continued to attack their psychological defenses with words: “If I find out you’ve spread rumors after coming to work tomorrow, you’re all finished. Tomorrow, if the 3A-Z investigation is not finished, no one should leave work :)”

When everyone heard this, they began to confess –

Ajia: “I declare in advance that I have not spread rumors, I just heard that you were pregnant, and asked Director Wang for parental leave this morning…”

Ryan: “I declare in advance that I have not spread rumors, I just heard that you exercised last night, and immediately asked for leave this morning… Later, I heard that you were in that period, and it seems that you were marked…”

Ethan: “What I heard is relatively normal, I just heard that our Team Leader Xiao Xu1Adding the xiao before his name is like calling him “little boss” was a little uncomfortable after being tossed last night.”

Xu Xinghe: “…”

He licked his back teeth, smiled and began to turn his face and refused to recognize anyone: “I changed my mind. The 3A-Z investigation work, I think it’s better for you all to finish it today :)”

After saying that, he ignored the group full of mourning and turned off the smartphone. Out of sight, out of mind.

“What’s wrong?” Ling Changfeng, who was sitting across from the long table, looked towards him at some point, as if he had been observing him for a while.

Xu Xinghe gritted his teeth and said, “It’s nothing, I’m talking about work.”

In the end, he was too naive, thinking that as long as Boss Liang didn’t talk about the phone call in the morning, no one would think about it.

But he forgot that in that broken place in the Ark – the pantry – rumors of him being pregnant could be spread every day in the afternoon! Even if he really took sick leave, after half a day, all sorts of rumors would definitely spawn. What’s more, this is the first time he’s asked for leave; it’s not strange for those gossip mongers to get excited.

Ling Changfeng looked at his face and asked, “Have you encountered any problems at work?”

Xu Xinghe shook his head: “No, it’s just that as soon as I didn’t go to work, some nonsense started to spread in the pantry… However, it doesn’t matter anymore.”

He thought about it. This kind of thing really doesn’t matter. Anyway, rumors like pregnancy will be self-defeating as long as he goes to work as usual.

After hearing this, Ling Changfeng frowned: “Nonsense? What did they say?”

The pair of pupils were originally cold, but at this moment, the brows were wrinkled, and the end of his eyes showed a sharp coldness for no reason.

But then, Ling Changfeng discovered that the situation was not what he imagined.

His little spouse didn’t seem to be angry at these rumors, but hesitantly said, “Nothing… what can they spread? It’s all rumors anyway! Don’t pay attention!”

At the end, he was a little out of breath.

Then he lowered his head and picked up a piece of cake, pretending to eat it.

A trace of confusion flashed in his eyes. But when he saw Xu Xinghe’s slightly flushed ears the next moment, he suddenly became enlightened.

He could probably guess what kind of rumors they were.

Ling Changfeng put away the coldness in his eyes, but still said solemnly: “No, how can rumors be ignored?”

After speaking, he changed the topic quietly: “Unless this rumor will come true in the future.”

Xu Xinghe: “…”

He rubbed against the ground and stood up: “I’m going to feed the cat.”

After saying that, he rubbed oil on his feet and slipped away without looking back.

What a joke! Want the rumors to come true? Wait until his next life!

That Ark… it’s like an entertainment circle for nerds.

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