He stayed on the balcony for five or six minutes.
After finishing a cigarette, Wu Jun and Li Xiaoxiao went back inside.
As soon as they entered, they heard Li Yueling asking Dong Lizhu if the company was still hiring delivery drivers.
Li Yueling sighed, explaining that her husband, Zheng Jingshan, had gotten into a conflict with his boss’s brother-in-law. He’d been given a hard time and pushed around until he finally quit. Now he was unemployed and at home.
Seeing Wu Jun, the boss, come in, Dong Lizhu didn’t answer Li Yueling right away. Instead, she turned to ask for Wu Jun’s opinion. "Jun, what do you think?"
Wu Jun was very respectful. "Auntie, you’re the HR manager at Junheng. When it comes to hiring, you have the final say."
"Then I’ll make the decision." Dong Lizhu was pleased that her nephew was giving her so much face in front of their neighbors. "Zheng, we have interviews at the company tomorrow. Candidates who pass will complete their onboarding in the morning. You can just go straight to the office to handle the paperwork, and you can start the same day. The salary and benefits are about what Xiaoxiao told you, and everything will be spelled out in the contract."
"Lizhu, thank you so much! How can I ever thank you enough?" Li Yueling said, full of gratitude as she held Dong Lizhu’s hand.
Zheng Jingshan also promised, "Lizhu, Mr. Wu, Chao Yun, thank you for giving me this chance. I’ll definitely work hard to repay your kindness."
Zheng Jingshan’s employment issue was settled over the course of the meal.
With his job situation resolved, the purpose of their visit tonight was achieved. A weight was lifted from Zheng Jingshan’s mind, and he started to drink freely, toasting Wu Jun and Ma Chaoyun.
Dong Lizhu didn’t drink alcohol, sticking to a soft drink, but Zheng Jingshan toasted her all the same.
Once Li Xiaoxiao returned, the three women—she, Dong Lizhu, and her aunt—chatted up a storm. They went from clothes to cosmetics, from cosmetics to skincare, talking about everything under the sun and getting along wonderfully.
The dinner party started a little after six in the evening and lasted until almost nine.
After Li Xiaoxiao and Li Yueling helped Dong Lizhu clean up, the gathering—which had started as a neighborly dinner and turned into a get-together for colleagues—finally came to an end.
Dong Lizhu and Ma Chaoyun were the hosts, and Li Yueling and Zheng Jingshan lived right across the hall. In the end, only Wu Jun and Li Xiaoxiao needed to head downstairs to leave.
Downstairs, in front of the apartment building.
Wu Jun handed the car keys to Li Xiaoxiao.
During dinner, the three men had finished three bottles of liquor. Ma Chaoyun was a lightweight and drank the least, less than half a bottle. Wu Jun and Zheng Jingshan were evenly matched, each downing a little over a bottle.
That amount of alcohol was nothing for someone with Wu Jun’s tolerance, but as a matter of principle, he wouldn’t drink and drive.
The two of them got in the car. Just as they were leaving the residential complex, Wu Jun told Li Xiaoxiao to pull over.
Wu Jun said, "It’s getting late. You should just drive straight home. I can grab a cab."
Li Xiaoxiao kept driving and joked, "It’s not that far. I should just take you home. If the guys at the office found out I took Mr. Wu’s car and left him to get a taxi, they’d skin me alive! Besides, you drank so much. I won’t be at ease until I see you get inside."
Wu Jun waved his hand dismissively. "It’s not a big deal. This much is nothing."
"Director Dong gave me strict orders. I wouldn’t dare disobey. You’d better just sit tight, Mr. Wu. Now that you’re in my car, you’re not getting out until we reach your stop." Li Xiaoxiao glanced back at Wu Jun with a wink, her tone playful. She clearly had no intention of stopping.
Seeing this, Wu Jun could only stay seated. He didn’t know how to jump out of a moving car, and the young woman was dead set on not stopping.
Less than five minutes later, Wu Jun was starting to have regrets.
A sudden slam on the brakes at a traffic light!
Li Xiaoxiao: "Sorry, Mr. Wu! I thought I could make it. I was so close..."
Wu Jun: "It’s fine. ’Better to wait three minutes than to rush for one second.’"
"Don’t pass on the right!"
"Use your turn signal, your turn signal! You hit the windshield wipers!"
"Don’t swerve that way! This is the outermost lane! That’s oncoming traffic...!"
Forty minutes later, Li Xiaoxiao finally managed to drive Wu Jun to his villa in the West Sanzhuang Villa District.
Li Xiaoxiao’s driving skills were right on par with Xu Fei’s back when she first got behind the wheel!
"BLEGH..." He had been perfectly fine, but after the ride in Li Xiaoxiao’s car, Wu Jun felt dizzy and nauseous. The alcohol churned in his stomach. The moment the car stopped, he threw the door open, stumbled out, and vomited his guts out.
His head was spinning. ’Who am I? Where am I? What am I doing?’
"Mr. Wu, are you okay?!" Li Xiaoxiao frantically unbuckled her seatbelt, ran around the front of the car to Wu Jun’s side, and started patting his back and rubbing his neck.
「The next day.」
Wu Jun opened his eyes to a splitting headache.
He grabbed his phone from the bedside table and saw that he had somehow slept until 9:30 AM.
He had no memory of how he got home or how he’d even opened the door and gotten inside. He only remembered leaving the complex in Li Xiaoxiao’s car, wanting to get a cab, and her refusing to let him.
He couldn’t recall anything after that. Just a little over a bottle of liquor, and he’d actually blacked out!
He cradled his head in his hands, fingers clenched, and rubbed his temples. Then he threw back the covers to get out of bed.
As he threw off the covers, he felt a sudden chill. He looked down and saw he was completely naked.
’You really can’t judge a drunk person by normal standards,’ he thought. ’I don’t usually sleep like this...’
He rummaged through the blankets, found his underwear, and got out of bed. Slipping on his slippers, he went to the bathroom for a shower.
The shower sobered him up considerably. A wave of hunger hit him, as if he hadn’t eaten in over ten days. Too lazy to go out, Wu Jun just ordered a large breakfast on his phone.
By the time he finished breakfast, it was already 10:30 AM.
Wu Jun remembered the company was hiring today, so he called Dong Lizhu to ask about the situation.
Dong Lizhu reported, "We just finished the interviews. We’ve onboarded four graphic designers, six clerks, and six drafters. For the retail stores, we’ve hired an initial batch of twenty clerks—that’s five per store for now, we’ll hire more if needed. We also hired four online customer service reps, who have been assigned to Li Xiaoxiao’s department."
Hearing Dong Lizhu’s report, Wu Jun felt a surge of emotion. They had recruited over forty people in a single day. The company’s workforce had doubled again and was about to surpass one hundred employees.
One hundred employees from one hundred families. The weight on his shoulders felt heavier than ever.
Wu Jun couldn’t promise that every employee who worked for him would be able to buy a house and a car, but he could guarantee that their salaries, benefits, and insurance would definitely be a cut above other companies in the city.
Wu Jun asked, "How’s Chen Lin doing with the online store? And has there been any progress on selecting locations for the retail stores?"
Dong Lizhu said, "Chen Lin submitted all the documents yesterday. Taobao’s review process will take 48 hours before the store can go live. As for the retail locations, we’re negotiating with some merchants around Meng Zalang whose businesses are just so-so. The only thing is, the transfer fees are a bit..."
Wu Jun said, "As long as it’s not more than twenty percent above market price, we can take it. For the ones making exorbitant demands, just tell them to get lost."
"Okay, got it. I’ll let the team know shortly." Dong Lizhu was impressed by how quickly Wu Jun came up with a strategy, admiring his decisive and bold style from the bottom of her heart.
The two continued to discuss work matters on the phone for another seven or eight minutes.
After they finished talking about work, Dong Lizhu said, "Jun, the entire company is going on a team-building trip. Chen Lin scheduled it to start after work today. The hotel for the night is already booked. We’ll stay overnight, have fun all day tomorrow, and then head back."
Wu Jun said, "No problem."
"It’s just..." Dong Lizhu added, "Li Xiaoxiao called in sick today. She just called me a moment ago to say she can’t make it to the group activity tomorrow. Xu Fei also just called in sick."