HOW TO DEAL WITH A TSUNDERE GONG
Chapter 23 – Resignation

Luo Junyu proved himself to be an expert at trying out new foods. On his two days off, he brought Xu Bai Chuan to eat all the famous snacks nearby. At first, they were still able to do live broadcasts. However, due to a user starting to curse others out which led to fights on the public chat, an administrator was called to seal one account after another. Yet the other party seemed prepared; when one account toppled, thousands would stand up. 

The administrator only had two fists and it was difficult to be a match against four hands. Facing a huge force of users, the administrator could only back down in defeat. Luo Junyu was nevertheless a streamer who garners a lot of traffic in the anchor world and has witnessed all sorts of internet battles. Adopting the saying what the eye doesn’t see, the heart doesn’t grieve over, he simply shut off the live broadcast and devotedly brought Shasha and Xu Bai Chuan to explore H city.

Xu Bai Chuan asked him, “Is there any point to not streaming?”

Luo Junyu said, “Yes, they’ll move on and bother others during this period.”

Xu Bai Chuan questioned him again, “Are they your anti-fans?”

Luo Junyu stuck out a finger and shook it: “Tsk tsk tsk tsk”. Using the tone of an experienced person he said, “They are anti-fans of a person who is living life very well.”

Xu Bai Chuan momentarily felt unsure, he just heard this adventurous, egoistic, crude, unhinged, straight guy actually say reasonable words. Yet Luo Junyu shattered his illusion the next instant by saying, “I don’t need to care about my image anymore now that I’m not streaming!” Afterward, he fished out a hair-tie, grabbed his bangs, tied it into an apple hairstyle, then scooped out a plate of meat from the hotpot.

Luo Junyu’s taste in food was similar to Xu Bai Chuan as the hotpot shared between them was crimson red, but his tolerance for spice could still be improved. Xu Bai Chuan came out unscathed, and yet Luo Junyu was already hissing as he went to search for water.

The food couldn’t barricade his mouth for long since he soon started talking about his tragic past. 

“I may seem like a handsome—”

Xu Bai Chuan: “Is that something you should say about yourself?”

Luo Junyu waved his hand. “That is unimportant. I may seem like a handsome guy now, but I used to be an unemployed young man.”

“I liked to game since I was young and wasn’t good at studying. My parents didn’t let me play on the computer because of this. Wasn’t modems still in use back then? My mom hid the modem before she went to work every day. Since she had a bad memory, she forgot where she hid it one time.”

“I could no longer game at home, so I went to an internet cafe. There was a time when my mom saw my bicycle outside there. She entered the cafe to find me, then I ran out of the back door. That was a thrill!”

“As a person, I am more self-aware than others—”

Xu Bai Chuan questioned that statement. “En?”

Acting as if he didn’t hear that, Luo Junyu took a gulp of beer and continued. “I felt that I really cooled down after the college entrance exam. Live broadcasting just so happened to see a rise in interest at the time. Embracing an open-minded attitude, I made an account. That’s how I became this popular!”

Gripping a piece of meat between his chopsticks, Xu Bai Chuan thought that were he not to enter Tang Jin’s company right after graduating, perhaps he would have walked the same fumbled path as Luo Junyu. Although this foolish child seemed simple-minded at first glance, he had actually gone through a panic-stricken time which others won’t understand. 

It’s not easy. 

It was already past 9 p.m. that day when the two of them arrived home after eating hotpot. Xu Bai Chuan rapidly took off his smelly clothes, then took a shower and went to bed.

Xu Bai Chuan unfailingly woke up at 6 a.m. the next day and made a simple egg sandwich. After he finished eating, he head off to work as usual, clocked in and returned to his work area. He could be considered early as the other workers were still streaming into work one after another. Just as expected, everyone had clear dark circles under their eyes, their movements were sluggish, just like walking corpses.

How many people did this snow ruin?

A young lady from the operations department threw her small body, probably weighing under 45 kg, onto the office chair with a vigor of 90 kg. Resting her body on the desk, her head was buried in the crook of her arm as a hand was carelessly feeling around on the main computer. Xu Bai Chuan couldn’t look on any longer and helped her turn it on. 

The young lady weakly said, “Thank you for saving my life, but I’m unable to repay your kindness.”

Just doing this is considered saving a life?

The young lady was responsible for managing the club’s official Weibo account, spreading all of the club’s news immediately after they occur, and brazenly acting cute when interacting with fans. She was the first one to mention the matters of Century Rising Dragon two days ago.

Just when Xu Bai Chuan was about to ask whether the matter with Century Rising Dragon had been settled, he was called into the pantry by the person from HR who had interviewed him before.

The young man from HR took a glass of water but didn’t drink it. He swayed it in his hand, treating the cup as if it wasn’t a single-use paper cup, but a goblet of red wine. It was obvious that he had something to say, but didn’t know how to bring up the matter.

In regards to workplace experience, Xu Bai Chuan’s was definitely more enriched than this young man from HR. Looking at his awkward manner, Xu Bai Chuan had an odd feeling in his heart. So to alleviate this awkwardness, he also took a glass of water and smilingly asked, “Not sitting?”

This young man from HR was surnamed Li and he was turning 27 years old. He was already considered a senior in this company where the entire staff was comprised of younger people and everyone had to call him Li Ge when they came across him. It was reasonable to say that as a person who had been in HR for several years, it was already a common occurrence for him to have these talks. Yet when facing Xu Bai Chuan in this instance, he lacked confidence and hesitated to speak.

Li Ge was rather straightforward and Xu Bai Chuan would often team up with him when gaming. They chatted well together and since he didn’t wish to put Li Ge in a difficult situation, he took his time to form the following words. “It just so happens that I have something to say to you. Shall I speak first?”

Li Ge was at a loss and currently going through an internal struggle. After a long pause, he said, “Okay, you speak first.”

Once he opened his mouth, Xu Bai Chuan told a lie. “The truth is I came to H city after a fall out with my family”, what fucking fall out, “Our club is very good and the atmosphere at work is comforting. People are truly strange, we may have a good life outside but still miss home. After catching sight of the snow yesterday, I felt a little homesick.”

Even he felt sick saying that out loud. At the time when he graduated and followed Tang Jin to leave his hometown, there wasn’t a trace of reluctance in his heart, only the feeling of freedom. That terrible family not only deprived him of a childhood, they also changed his inner self. These things were hard to recognize with the naked eye, but they unwittingly hindered him, being heavy shackles he couldn’t be released from.

It was impossible for him to miss home.

However he didn’t wish to burden Li Ge, thus after shaking off the goosebumps, he continued. “I’ve truly let you down Li Ge. I want to resign.”

In the beginning, Li Ge’s brows wrinkled into a river (川) character, but his frown slowly went down when he heard the implications in Xu Bai Chuan’s tone. Until he heard those last four words Xu Bai Chuan declared, he appeared like a fish that left the shores and returned to the ocean at last as he released a deep breath. Fortunately, Xu Bai Chuan spoke out first, otherwise, he would have to fire a good person and excellent employee whose work had no shortcomings. Moreover, he was also a person who would often team up with him in games. You may as well just choke me to death.

Li Ge patted Xu Bai Chuan’s shoulder and said, “Indeed, the outside world doesn’t compare to home. You’re a B city person, right? There are also eSports clubs over there, I’ll write a recommendation for you.”

If writing a recommendation letter could ease Li Ge’s guilt, there was no need for Xu Bai Chuan to prevent him from doing so. When they left the pantry, Li Ge showed a desire to speak and yet stopped. “You and Century Rising Dragon…”

Xu Bai Chuan asked, “What?”

Realizing that he shouldn’t say anything, Li Ge helplessly let out an “ai” then said, “Nothing, nothing at all.”

Even with that incomplete sentence, Xu Bai Chuan already grasped the meaning.

Pretending to not hear what Li Ge just said, he returned to his seat as usual, took a deep breath and set out to complete his final day of work.

Where there’s a start, there’s a finish. If Tang Jin can’t do it, he will. 

Previous Chapter | Chapters | Next Chapter

Like my translations? Some caffeine to keep me going please. Thank you! ☆