The last hundred dollars of wages still weren’t earned.
After lunch, Wen Jiaxuan cleaned up the kitchen and returned to the living room, where Wu Zehao was holding a computer, expressionlessly browsing something. Wen Jiaxuan quietly approached and took a look, realizing that Wu Zehao was reading the article he had written.
If Wen Jiaxuan were to rate his own efforts for this week, he felt it was a nine out of ten. The reason for deducting one point wasn’t because he found flaws but to remind himself not to be too proud.
He sat down on the other side of the sofa, pretending to drink water, but in reality, he was secretly observing Wu Zehao’s reaction. Wu Zehao’s face still showed no expression, making it hard to tell what he was thinking.
As Wen Jiaxuan sat there, he started to feel a bit anxious. Despite his confidence, he couldn’t help but feel uncertain until the evaluation came.
After a while, Wu Zehao finally looked up and asked, “How do you think you did in your writing?”
“我觉得…”
“I think…”
The three words (not bad) were forcibly swallowed by Wen Jiaxuan because he suddenly realized that Wu Zehao’s expression was not so bright. A sense of guilt instantly enveloped him, and he swallowed and said, “I did my best.”
Wu Zehao’s expression softened slightly, and he asked, “Do you want to hear the truth or a lie?”
Well, Wen Jiaxuan knew he had to prepare for some criticism. He looked at Wu Zehao hesitantly and said, “I want to hear the truth… but you can mix in some lies if you want.”
“You have quite a few demands,” Wu Zehao said, looking away and at the screen, “Are you used to writing argumentative essays?”
“I’m not writing argumentative essays,” Wen Jiaxuan replied, puzzled.
“Then what’s with the obvious thesis, evidence, and reasoning?” Wu Zehao asked.
“…Is there?” Wen Jiaxuan tried to recall what he had written, but he couldn’t remember anything due to nervousness. He weakly replied, “Maybe because I’m used to writing opinion pieces.”
“I now understand why you failed your opinion piece,” Wu Zehao said ruthlessly, but he suddenly stopped, and Wen Jiaxuan already knew what he wanted to say. Wen Jiaxuan suddenly felt like he’d been hit by a thousand arrows and asked in disbelief, “Are you saying what I wrote is garbage?”
Wu Zehao took a deep breath and denied, “No.”
Wen Jiaxuan said in a plaintive tone, “You clearly did!”
Wu Zehao continued to deny, “No, you wrote it quite well.”
Wen Jiaxuan asked in doubt, “Really?”
Wu Zehao paused for a moment and said, “You asked me to mix in some lies.”
“That means it’s still garbage!” Wen Jiaxuan immediately felt indignant.
Wen Jiaxuan suddenly felt defiant and asked, “Where exactly did I write poorly?”
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
“Come over here,” Wu Zehao patted the seat beside him, gesturing for Wen Jiaxuan to sit down.
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Qfc Aljzejc aliafv tlr tfjv jcv rjlv, “Qts lr atf Zlvvif Sjra vjcufgber?”
Qe Iftjb jrxfv, “Glv P jrx sbe ab kglaf atja?”
Qfc Aljzejc qegrfv tlr ilqr jcv gfqilfv, “Qfii, sfr…”
“I asked you to write about why people shouldn’t travel there, focusing on the tourists,” Wu Zehao frowned and said, “This is a serious deviation from the topic, points deducted.”
Wen Jiaxuan twisted his fingers nervously and didn’t dare to speak.
“Now, assuming the topic is ‘Why is the Middle East dangerous,’ let’s take a look at what you’ve written.”
Wen Jiaxuan thought the content was still good.
“One moment you write about the First Gulf War, then you mention the Munich massacre. Where’s the logic in that?”
“They are both related to Israel…”
“Then explain your logical connection to me.”
Wen Jiaxuan couldn’t come up with an answer because he simply placed the materials he had in his hands into the article, like a hodgepodge, without ever considering the issue of logic.
“Your article lacks any semblance of structure and progression. It simply strings together what you know, devoid of original thoughts…”
Wu Zehao continued, and Wen Jiaxuan slumped, looking close to tears. He realized that what Wu Zehao was saying was probably true; his article lacked depth. In his opinion pieces, he usually just used materials, added some padding, and stopped when he reached the required word count, without ever truly analyzing the content.
“…Kid, did I go too hard on you?” Wu Zehao noticed that Wen Jiaxuan’s expression wasn’t right and paused his criticism.
“No,” Wen Jiaxuan looked at the floor and shook his head reluctantly.
“Writing articles takes practice,” Wu Zehao softened his tone, “There are still a few months until the exam; you have time.”
Wen Jiaxuan remained silent, feeling deeply upset. He thought he probably wouldn’t pass the exam.
“I’ll revise this article; you can help me with something else,” Wu Zehao suddenly said.
“What?” Wen Jiaxuan lifted his head, unaware that his eyes had reddened slightly.
Wu Zehao looked at Wen Jiaxuan’s pitiful expression and sighed, “For this issue, I plan to do a special feature on ‘Game of Thrones.’ Connect the locations I photographed in Croatia with King’s Landing from the TV series. Find at least ten places in real life that correspond to the show.”
“Sure,” Wen Jiaxuan quickly nodded. He was familiar with Game of Thrones, and he could easily identify which season a scene was from just by looking at a screenshot. He thought to himself that he couldn’t afford to disappoint Wu Zehao this time.
Wu Zehao returned to his worktable to edit Wen Jiaxuan’s article, while Wen Jiaxuan put aside his disappointment and focused entirely on the task Wu Zehao had assigned him.
Time passed minute by minute, and initially, the sunlight only reached the edge of the floor-to-ceiling window. However, unnoticed, the sunlight gradually moved further in, finally reaching the top of Wen Jiaxuan’s head.
“Let’s continue this tomorrow,” Wu Zehao passed by Wen Jiaxuan, ruffled his fluffy hair, and said, “The sun is about to set.”
“I’m not hungry, and I can still work on it,” Wen Jiaxuan replied without raising his head.
“Behave,” Wu Zehao took the laptop from Wen Jiaxuan, then turned and walked back to his worktable, locking Wen Jiaxuan’s computer in a drawer.
“What kind of boss are you?” Wen Jiaxuan knelt on the sofa, hands on the armrest, and stared at Wu Zehao discontentedly.
“A boss who cares about his employees,” Wu Zehao replied without changing his expression.
Wen Jiaxuan frowned in displeasure, flopped back onto the sofa, and, with one leg crossed over the other, took out his phone. He deliberately said, “Why hasn’t the boss started cooking yet?”
His attitude resembled that of an arrogant young master.
Wu Zehao asked with a smile, “Are you giving me orders now?”
Wen Jiaxuan swung his crossed legs nonchalantly, showing no signs of guilt, and said, “Well, you’re the one who stopped me from working.”
Wu Zehao looked at those pale and tender feet that swung back and forth and suddenly wondered what it would feel like to hold those slender ankles in his hands. However, he quickly realized his thoughts and averted his gaze, heading straight to the kitchen.
Wen Jiaxuan first replied to a WeChat message, then spent some time browsing Weibo, and finally, he idly opened QQ. He didn’t use QQ much, but he still had a few groups where he used to chat with friends.
In one of the groups, the group owner had just @mentioned everyone. Wen Jiaxuan clicked on it and found that the group owner mentioned that his tea business had recently failed, and his family was facing difficulties. He was hoping that his group members could lend him some money.
This group owner was also one of Wen Jiaxuan’s online friends from a few years ago. He thought that since the person was in difficulty and seemed sincere, he could help out a bit. So he clicked on the private chat window and planned to send a 50 yuan red envelope.
However, when he tried to send the money, QQ prompted Wen Jiaxuan that he hadn’t linked a bank card, so he couldn’t send the red envelope. He instinctively thought of fetching his wallet but then realized that his wallet had been stolen before.
Wen Jiaxuan went to the kitchen, following the busy Wu Zehao, and asked, “Boss, do you have money in your QQ?”
“Yes, what’s the matter?”
“Could you transfer 50 to my QQ, and I’ll send it to you on WeChat?”
“Sure,” Wu Zehao quickly agreed but then asked with some suspicion, “What do you need it for?”
Wen Jiaxuan honestly replied, “I have a QQ friend who’s facing some difficulties. I decided to help him out.”
Wu Zehao: “…”
Wu Zehao turned expressionless and coldly said, “Don’t send it.”
Wen Jiaxuan was puzzled, “Why not?”
“Where did this online friend come from? Do you even know them?” Wu Zehao asked, “A naïve kid like you, how can you not realize when you’re being scammed?”
“You call me naïve? He’s not a scammer,” Wen Jiaxuan couldn’t help defending his friend. “We’ve known each other for years, and we used to play games together.”
“Then tell me, what’s his name, where does he live? Can you provide any details?”
“You… You’re such an old-fashioned person!” Wen Jiaxuan pouted, “Haven’t you heard that online connections are valuable? We should cherish these relationships. Who says you have to know someone’s real name to be friends?”
Wu Zehao didn’t want to argue further. “Listen to me, don’t send it.”
Wen Jiaxuan couldn’t convince Wu Zehao, so he returned to the living room with a displeased look. He picked up his phone again and offered some verbal comfort to his friend, but his friend didn’t respond in the group chat.
Wen Jiaxuan knew that Wu Zehao had the habit of going to the yard to smoke after dinner, and today was no exception. When he came out of the kitchen after washing the dishes, Wu Zehao had just finished smoking and entered the house.
Wen Jiaxuan calculated and was sure that Wu Zehao would go out to smoke again tonight. So, while Wu Zehao wasn’t paying attention, he quietly went to the yard and hid Wu Zehao’s ashtray behind a potted plant.
After doing that, Wen Jiaxuan returned to the living room as if nothing had happened to watch TV.
About two hours later, Wu Zehao went out with his cigarette pack, and indeed, he couldn’t find the ashtray. Wen Jiaxuan hid behind the sofa, secretly amused, thinking, “Who told you to call me naïve and insult my online friend?”
However, at that moment, Wu Zehao suddenly glanced towards the house, so Wen Jiaxuan quickly pulled his head back.
Wu Zehao returned to the house, wearing a stern expression, and asked Wen Jiaxuan, “Kid, did you hide my ashtray?”
“Don’t falsely accuse me,” Wen Jiaxuan pretended to be calm. “Who knows if you put it somewhere else and forgot about it?”
Wu Zehao didn’t say much and simply sat beside Wen Jiaxuan. With a swift motion, he lifted Wen Jiaxuan onto his lap. He smacked Wen Jiaxuan’s raised buttocks and said firmly, “Bring my ashtray out.”
“You… Why did you hit my butt?!”
Wen Jiaxuan didn’t expect Wu Zehao to physically intervene like this. He struggled while lying across Wu Zehao’s lap but found himself not only unable to break free but also receiving several spanks on his buttocks.
“You violent maniac! I’m going to expose you to the media!”
Smack, smack, smack.
After a few more smacks, Wen Jiaxuan whimpered, “I hid it behind the potted plant on the right side of the doorway.”
Wu Zehao snorted coldly, “You should’ve said so earlier, then you wouldn’t have to endure this.”
Wu Zehao released Wen Jiaxuan and went outside. Wen Jiaxuan knelt on the sofa, holding his sore buttocks, and shouted at Wu Zehao, “I’ll be your little dog if I let you do this again!”
At that moment, Wen Jiaxuan’s phone vibrated. He checked it and immediately his eyes lit up. He held up his phone and went to the doorway, leaning halfway out, saying to Wu Zehao, “Boss, the scammer who cheated me out of my fee just added me on WeChat!”
Oh, oh? I have a feeling that the online friend and the scammer might be related! Or maybe it’s me thinking too much..
Our poor mc, a magnet for scammers 😂
His boss is too good…