Mr. Melancholy Wants to Live a Peaceful Life
by 青色羽翼/Cyan Wings
CHAPTER 108
The studio had a lot of manpower, making the move convenient. They started to pack up. They quickly packed the computers, materials, contracts, forms, and other objects into boxes and carried them all out on their backs. There was no need to call a moving company.
Of course, this was primarily because the Zhen Li Studio basically had no belongings. Apart from the computers, files, and other comparatively easy to move objects, what the company had invested the most in was the office decoration and the livestreaming equipment. These objects were entrusted to Lian Yufan, who could repair items at any time. If they were smashed or hit during moving, he could fix them without revealing anything.
Yuan Luori insisted on taking his folding bed and the cushion kept under it. He put the wash basin, mop, cleaning rags, broom, and other articles onto the folding bed, tied them up with rope, put it over his shoulder one-handed, and prepared to go.
Zhen Li handed his suitcase full of makeup products to Yuan Luori and put a camera over his own shoulder. He turned on the livestream to broadcast a livestream of the move.
“We hear that Director Yu has rented us a new office. We’re moving today,” Zhen Li said into the camera.
[What a fright! A face full of red pockmarks suddenly appeared on camera. I’m going to have an attack of trypophobia.]
[I was just getting ready to cleanse my eyes by looking at a beautiful man, and now I’ve lost my purpose in life.]
[When I saw the livestream start, I came to watch excitedly, then I quietly took off my glasses. Today, I’m going to be Yuan Luori not wearing glasses.]
[Is President Zhen having an allergic reaction? Turn on a filter or use some thick foundation to cover it up! I know you’re beautiful without makeup, I understand, but our relationship is built entirely on shallow appearances. It’s better to preserve that kind of simple relationship.]
“Oh, I applied some disfiguring makeup today.” Zhen Li sighed in some distress. “I’ll do my best not to appear on camera afterwards and honestly demonstrate to everyone the travails of moving.”
The camera focused on Yuan Luori. The mop he was preparing to take away was really too long. It was simply inconvenient. He was just fretting about the mop.
Just then, Yu Hua walked by carrying a box of files. He frowned and said, “What are you taking that for?”
“These are articles for daily use, aren’t they?” Yuan Luori shoved a shower nozzle into the washbasin.
The vein stood out in Yu Hua’s forehead. “Why did you take the nozzle off the water heater in the bathroom?”
“For showering,” Yuan Luori said frankly. “The old nozzle was blocked. I borrowed 15 yuan from Lian Yufan to buy this one. It’s very useful. I’m worried the nozzle at the new office won’t be useful, so I screwed this one off.”
“Fine, then bring it,” Yu Hua said coldly. He determined to take off all the shower heads in the employee dorms in the commercial apartments and replace them with these nozzles that cost 15 yuan each.
“Wait.” You Zhengping walked out of a cubicle, also carrying a box. “Doesn’t the new office building you rented have washbasins and mops?”
Yu Hua coolly said, “All the installations are new, and there’s a sweeping robot and a vacuum cleaner. Since the janitor likes these things, we can sell the smart cleaning items secondhand online.”
“What?” Yuan Luori was shocked. “The new office has something as classy as a vacuum cleaner? I was so envious when I was with the show group that their cleaning ladies used vacuum cleaners.”
[Hahaha! What sort of classy item is a vacuum cleaner? Yuan Luori is so funny, I’m dying.]
[CaoyuanLuori: natural beauty, near-sighted and astigmatic, dance genius, legal studies nut, angel of economizing. How did he film the show? I’m very curious about ‘Idol’s Light’ now!]
[We’ve already settled that we’re waiting to watching Yuan Luori-xiaogege.]
“What are you carrying all that stuff for?” Yu Hua said unhappily when he saw that You Zhengping was also holding a box.
“I’m helping.” You Zhengping flexed his muscles towards Yu Hua.
“With your strength, you can only lift two or three hundred pounds. It’s too much work carrying something so heavy. Give it to Yuan Luori,” Yu Hua said, brooking no argument. He stuffed the box You Zhengping was carrying into Yuan Luori’s arms.
Yuan Luori: “…”
He was gradually realizing You Zhengping’s position in the great master’s heart. Reacting quickly, he said, “There’s no need for you to move anything, leave it all to me!”
Then he snatched up all the boxes at You Zhengping’s feet, shuffled over, and stuffed them into the elevator along with Lian Yufan.
Feng Kui was the strongest person there. He carried the sound equipment and so on over his shoulder with one hand, held up Huan Zixu with the other, and went down the stairs. You could hear Huan Zixu’s voice faintly saying, “Put me down,” and, “It’s only twenty-one floors, I can walk for myself.”
Director Ha carried its toys, dishes, dog food, snacks, drinking fountain, and other items into its cage, closed the cage with its paws, tied its leash to the cage, and dragged it into the elevator like a sled dog. The things in the cage rattled and clanked the whole way.
The scene of it filling up the cage hadn’t been caught on camera. The fan only saw a husky pulling its belongings and were already very shocked. If they had also seen it tying the leash, they probably would have been struck dumb.
Since the studio truly had few belongings, they could move everything in one round. Zhen Li told the fans that they were going to change places, then restart the livestream at the new office. He temporarily turned off the livestream and squeezed into the elevator.
In the elevator that could hold twenty people, You Zhengping and Yu Hua stood together, while Lian Yufan, Zhen Li, and Yuan Luori crowded into a corner. Lian Yufan felt it was too warm and wanted to stand in the center, but Zhen Li held him back.
“Did you get all-purpose adhesive on yourself today? You keep pasting yourself to my chest. Then there’s your face. What kind of new makeup style are you investigating? It’s so ugly,” Lian Yufan said in exasperation.
You Zhengping was well aware of the reason and secretly squeezed Yu Hua’s hand. Yu Hua squeezed back.
You Zhengping was of a mischievous disposition to start with. Lately he had completely undertaken the work of looking after the Xuyang District, so he had steadied a bit. He rarely joked around anymore. Now that he had relaxed and saw how Zhen Li was looking, he couldn’t help “quietly” saying, “Your President Zhen has a private arrangement with Director Yuan, and he’s also got something going on with Director Lian. Isn’t that a messy way to do business?”
Though he spoke quietly, the elevator was only so large, and the other three had excellent hearing. Naturally they heard it clearly.
Zhen Li nearly fainted. Fortunately, Lian Yufan objectively remarked, “If it’s a mess, that’s down to your Yu Hua doing anything it takes to get popular. He’s always forcing us into ships. If you’re going to blame anyone, blame him.”
“No, no, no! Don’t blame him!” Zhen Li and Yuan Luori said simultaneously. “We’re all willing!”
Though he knew that all of You Zhengping’s “jealousy” and “concern” were playacting, Yu Hua still enjoyed it very much. Pulling a long face, he said, “I don’t appear on camera with them. I preserve my purity. If you don’t believe me, you can ask the fans when they start the livestream later.”
Seeing that Yu Hua could pay attention to nothing but You Zhengping, Lian Yufan really wanted to expose him. But he remembered in time that they might have to do repairs if the move went badly, so he kept his mouth tightly shut, not saying another word.
Reason told Lian Yufan that indulging his personal feelings could result in endless renovation and compensation. Silence was golden.
Everyone waited downstairs for Feng Kui and Huan Zixu, then they all crossed the street to the office building across from them. The floors Yu Hua had purchased had two dedicated elevators that went all the way up, solely for employee use, one elevator for people and one for freight. Feng Kui looked at the spaciousness of the freight elevator and its weight limit and laughed silently. He happily took the freight elevator. Huan Zixu’s expression also looked better. He got on along with Feng Kui.
Zhen Li worried that, as an ordinary person, You Zhengping would get suspicious, so he explained, “Feng Kui is too tall. He prefer spacious freight elevators.”
You Zhengping looked at Yu Hua and thought, had Yu Hua chosen this office building for Feng Kui’s sake?
Yu Hua was wearing an expression that said “all Destroyers are slaves,” so You Zhengping couldn’t be sure. They carried their stuff to the new office and were instantly stupefied by the new office’s space, daylight, and decoration.
Zhen Li ran ahead of the others into the largest room. This room had flooring of the highest quality, and it was fully three hundred square meters large. Zhen Li didn’t care that You Zhengping was there. He screamed and plastered himself against a wall, loudly saying, “Director Yu, I don’t want my 30% bonus anymore, spend it on putting a big luxurious mirror on this wall instead!”
“As long as you have the money, you can decorate it as you like,” Yu Hua said coolly.
As long as the money Huan Zixu was aiming for all got used up, that was enough.
Zhen Li refused to unstick himself from the dance room wall. Yuan Luori, meanwhile, began to worry. An area this large would be hard to clean. He went to the dance room’s washroom, saw the individual shower stalls inside it, and was so excited he was about to cry. If Zhen Li hadn’t held him back, he nearly would have unpacked and moved right into a shower stall.
Director Ha, seeing such a large hallway, started darting back and forth along the hall, perfectly letting off its energy. If it hadn’t been scared of being seen by ordinary people, it might have used its speed to escape the force of gravity and flown up into the sky!
Lian Yufan was comparatively rational. He didn’t get excited. He looked into every room, determined that they were perfectly decorated and didn’t need any big changes, and further that the materials were environmentally friendly. There was no formaldehyde. Then he gave a satisfied and solemn smile and said to Yu Hua, “You’re doing things properly at last.”
Even the extremely insightful Huan Zixu nodded slightly. It wasn’t only because Feng Kui liked the freight elevator and he wouldn’t have to get carried up and down the stairs anymore. More than that, it was because the office environment was good, so there would be more potential for him to negotiate business with advertising companies. He could easily invite them to the office, let their collaborators see that theirs was a company with potential and presence. Seeing surroundings like these, many advertising companies would consider driving down prices.
Everyone was very satisfied with the new work environment. Yu Hua said, “This floor is for all of you. Each person has an individual office, though normally when you’re livestreaming, you’ll go to the dance room. During rest periods, you can return to your own rooms. I’ll be upstairs. Whatever happens, don’t come looking for me.”
Then he took You Zhengping’s hand and was about to go upstairs. Lian Yufan said, “Wait, another floor in an office building like this? How much rent are you paying?”
Yu Hua’s expression didn’t flicker. “The public relations director has no authority to inquire into the company’s financial affairs.”
“Who manages our company’s financial affairs?” Lian Yufan took a second to react, then said, “Isn’t that you? Hiring, recording attendance, negotiating business, and financial affairs are all taken care of by you. That’s unprofessional. But that’s not important. Does our company have enough savings to rent such a large space?”
“Yes!” Zhen Li remembered Yu Hua’s hundred million and quickly helped him cover up. “Even if there isn’t enough, with our company’s current resources, we can bring in investments and obtain loans.”
“No, you can’t get a bank loan this quickly. Though I haven’t inquired into the company’s financial affairs, I’ve followed every sum of money we’ve made. I have a rough idea of what our profits are. An office building like this rents by the day by the square meter, and there needs to be an advance payment. Adding up all of our studio’s money…” Lian Yufan calculated quickly. “It would actually be enough for one month’s rent, but you’ve wasted so much money, and especially rented an entire floor for your own office. Isn’t that too wasteful? Return the second floor! You’re giving yourself special treatment!”
Hearing that Yu Hua had reserved a whole floor for himself, Huan Zixu instinctively took this money to be a part of his down payment. He came over and said, “If you want to return it, I can discuss it with the landlord so they won’t keep part of the advance payment and rent.”
When the discussion was successful, he would take that money for his down payment. There were only six days left in his arrangement with the developer. No matter what, he would first get the money to them, then think about the rest.
Watching Huan Zixu rack his brains to put together the down payment, Yu Hua gave him a cruel smile and gently said, “I used my personal profits to rent the floor upstairs. None of you have a right to concern yourselves with it.
“Anyway, Director Huan, regarding the headhunting company’s fee that you mentioned yesterday, I propose transferring the money directly from the company’s account as a better method of settling the fee. It can’t touch your personal account, or else we won’t be able to account for it in our taxes.
“Find out what the headhunting company’s account number is. Let’s avoid accidental tax evasion.”
When Yu Hua finished, he appreciated Huan Zixu’s expression, which looked at though his apartment had flown away. Holding You Zhengping’s hand, he happily went up to his private floor.
Author's Note
Yu Hua: Do you see how hard he’s working for his apartment? I feel moved in spite of myself. I want to help him out. I want to see how much force he can expend for the sake of this apartment.
Huan Zixu: …
Lian Yufan: Today’s Yu Hua still won’t do things properly.