A Strange Night in a Lonely Building

Let me tell you something that we often overlook when we go to work.

Private companies, especially startups, often move buildings and workstations. But workstations cannot be moved randomly. Before moving, you must investigate whether there are any employees in the building who have jumped off the building or died suddenly. Otherwise, some inexplicable mysterious phenomena are likely to occur.

The story begins in the fifth month of my employment, when my colleague and mentor for new employees resigned.

He worked there for 6 years and his colleagues called him Lao Wang. He left just when the company was about to go public.

Later I found out that Lao Wang’s wife was cheating on me.

He was a son-in-law who married into the family. His wife’s family was rich and powerful, so they left the family with nothing, leaving him a small three-bedroom apartment in the third ring road of Beijing, and took his son away.

Of course, none of this had anything to do with me, but Lao Wang was a key member of the department, and he single-handedly handled most of our group’s projects. He left suddenly, and the company didn’t have time to recruit anyone, so General Manager Yin gave an order and threw most of his work to me.

Since then, I started working overtime every night and became an “invisible person” living in the company.

——When I feel tired, I lay down a folding bed in the conference room. When I feel hungry, I go to the cafeteria on the 2nd floor to eat. If I want to exercise, I go
to the gym on the 7th floor to ride a bike, and then I take a shower directly in the shower room of the gym’s locker room. I go home to do my laundry every weekend, and then take a big bag of clean clothes to the company on Monday.

When the strange thing happened, I had been working overtime for two months in a row.

I remember that day was a Thursday. As usual, I went to the gym to ride a bike at 9 o’clock in the evening. After taking a shower and returning to my workstation at 10 o’clock, I found that my colleague Wei Jiao was still working overtime.

Wei Jiao, I and Lao Wang are all in the same group, and our leader is Mr. Yin.

After Wang left, there were several projects related to celebrities. Mr. Yin felt that it was not safe to give it to a newbie like me, so the task fell on Wei Jiao. She also often worked overtime recently, but usually
left around 8 o’clock and never stayed so late.

“You haven’t left yet?” I walked over to greet her.

Wei Jiao looked up at me from behind the monitor, his expression somewhat stunned and incredulous, and after a long while he smiled at me.

“I’m writing a PPT. My boss wants to review it at the monthly meeting tomorrow.”

Wei Jiao looks stylish and generous, but usually cold and quiet. But today she seems to be in a good mood, with two shallow dimples facing me, showing a little more tenderness.

“Can I take a look?” I asked on a whim.

I don’t know why, but I’m feeling extra brave today.

Wei Jiao turned the monitor towards me, and I leaned over to take a look. She had prepared a template for her PPT, and had just written the table of contents and subheadings. It looked like she had just started.

“It’s so late, how long are you going to finish writing?” I couldn’t help but complain.

Wei Jiao sighed softly: “I can’t help it. I just accepted the request temporarily. I may have to stay in the company all night today.”

“Is this your first time staying up all night?” I asked.

Wei Jiao nodded.

I ran back to my workstation, pulled out a bunch of “overtime tools” from the drawer, and dumped them all on Wei Jiao’s desk: mouthwash, compressed towels, facial cleanser, facial masks, effervescent tablets, and various instant noodle snacks.

“Come on, come on, I’ll protect you. You can pick whatever you want. I’m sure you’ll find it useful!”

I can’t help but feel a little proud – in terms of seniority and ability, you are the senior, but in terms of overtime and all-nighters, I am the best! !

Wei Jiao was stunned for a moment, and finally borrowed my mouthwash and facial cleanser, went to the bathroom to remove makeup and wash up, and also took away a facial mask.

I reminded her: “This mask was given by a brand. It’s not a big brand. Don’t despise it.”

Although I have never been in a relationship, I know that facial masks should not be used casually. If they are not suitable for your skin type, they may cause rashes.

Wei Jiao turned around and smiled at me again. Her long curly hair swayed like fluttering butterflies.

“Xiao Zhang, thank you. It would have been great if I had met you earlier.”

I swear! I didn’t think much of it when I heard that!!

This is just a compliment from a senior to a junior. Maybe she means that it will be smoother if you find a job earlier!

Yes! That’s it…right?

After Wei Jiao finished washing up, he returned my things to me and went back to continue writing the PPT.

I also started working on tonight’s work.

Before I knew it, it was 2 a.m. After finishing my work, I stood up, stretched, and prepared to go to the meeting room to sleep.

Wei Jiao is here tonight too, I wonder if she’s asleep?

If she wants to rest, I can give her the folding bed and sleep on the sofa in the hall for the night.

I am a grown man, and although she is three years older than me and is a younger sister, I still have to have basic gentlemanly manners.

I tiptoed over and found that Wei Jiao had indeed fallen asleep.

She was wearing a facial mask, her long hair was draped over the back of the chair, and she was covered with a Minions air-conditioning blanket.

The computer screen was flashing white fluorescence, and her unfinished PPT was still on it .

I took a rough look and found that the project description has been completed, but the execution plan and benefit estimate have not been done yet. The completion progress is about 40%. The remaining part requires data analysis, which is a lot of work.

The monthly meeting time is at 11 a.m. If I get up at 7 a.m. and then wake her up to continue writing, will it be too late?

Although I was worried about her progress, I also found it a little funny – she could even fall asleep with a face mask on, which was seriously inconsistent with her usual image as a cold beauty!

I turned off the light of the display and was about to leave when I noticed from the corner of my eye that she was wearing Martin boots and her calves were swollen.

I don’t know why I suddenly felt a little pity for her.

Wei Jiao’s family lives in another city. Although she is usually strong-willed and doesn’t say anything, I know that she lives alone in Beijing and works in the Internet industry, so her life is not easy.

I thought about it, went back to my workstation, got a pair of hotel slippers that I had prepared for myself, and quietly put them on her.

Sleeping with shoes on will cause blood circulation in the legs to become blocked. Wearing slippers will be better and will prevent the swelling from being so severe.

After doing all this, I suddenly felt playful and took out my phone to take a short video of her sleeping: Wei Jiao in the video looked peaceful and quiet, with an inexplicably gentle atmosphere surrounding her.

After taking the photo, I sent it to her directly on WeChat. When she wakes up in the morning and sees herself sleeping like this, will she frown and scold me?

Why do I still have a little bit of expectations?

Oh my god! I don’t have any weird masochistic traits! !

I shrank my neck, walked quietly to the conference room, set up the folding bed, and turned off the lights in the office area.

Lying on the folding bed wrapped in a blanket, I was about to check Weibo for a while before going to sleep, but the scene just now was still on my mind.

I was so busy filming the video, and now that I think about it, I vaguely feel like something is not right…

It seems… a little too quiet…

I didn’t seem to hear Wei Jiao’s breathing while sleeping just now?!

I tried to recall it several times, but I was not sure whether I heard it or not.

Maybe it’s because I did some extra exercise with the equipment today and my body felt a little tired. As I was thinking about it, I started to feel sleepy.

Forget it, let’s go to sleep first. Maybe because she was wearing a facial mask and her breathing was shallow, I didn’t hear it…

I didn’t sleep well that day. When I woke up it was already 8:15 and all the lights in the office were turned on.

The company’s working hours are from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., and colleagues will arrive at work one after another around 8:30 p.m.

I quickly got up and washed, and while packing I recalled my dream last night.

It’s so weird, this is the first time I have such a weird dream.

I dreamed that I was working overtime, and Lao Wang, who had resigned, suddenly came to the company to have a drink with me, and we went to a barbecue restaurant.

During the meal, Lao Wang kept complaining and I could only comfort him. By the end of the drinking, I was a little drunk too.

Old Wang suddenly grabbed my hand. His grip was so strong and forceful that his nails almost dug into my flesh!

I screamed and tried to break free but couldn’t, so I yelled, “Old Wang, what are you doing!”

After hearing this, Lao Wang raised his head, his eyes were all white, and he stared at me sinisterly: “There is no time…”

I stood up and tried to walk, but Old Wang’s butt seemed to be rooted to the ground, as solid as a rock, and I couldn’t move it no matter how hard I pulled.

I saw that Lao Wang didn’t want to hurt me, but rather had something important to say to me, so I just sat down on the ground in despair: “What do you mean no time? Lao Wang, just explain it clearly.”

Old Wang looked down at me again, still with those white eyes, but this time he showed a creepy eight-tooth smile.

“Zhang Xiaozhang, you must confess your love to Wei Jiao before Halloween.”

Want me to confess my feelings to Wei Jiao?? ! !

This is so weird!

I checked my phone and saw that today was October 31st, which was Halloween Eve.

Let’s not talk about why Lao Wang knew that I liked Wei Jiao. Just the timing alone is so fucking weird!

Who confesses their love on Halloween? You pretend to be a ghost to scare people, and then eat them if they don’t agree?!

Why did Lao Wang happen to remind me in my dream yesterday? And why did he emphasize this time?

…Is it possible that I subconsciously hope to confess my feelings as soon as possible?

David Lynch’s version of Daybreak?

Oh my god…am I so horny?? !!

I felt like crying but had no tears. I hadn’t figured anything out and my stomach started protesting again. I decided to go to the cafeteria to have breakfast first and think about it after I was full.

After eating, I remembered that Wei Jiao was still there, so I simply packed her a bowl of eight-treasure porridge. After all, I had a meeting with my boss, and I couldn’t bring any savory food like buns or pancakes, so porridge was the safest choice.

When I returned to my workstation, Wei Jiao had already woken up. She looked ready, with a simple and fresh light makeup on, and was fixing her hair.

“I brought you a bowl of eight-treasure porridge. It has no sugar. Drink it while it’s hot.”

I put the porridge on her table and looked down at her feet.

She had changed back into her Martin boots, and her calves were slightly swollen, but luckily not too swollen.

Wei Jiao smiled at me, said “thank you”, and started drinking porridge.

“Have you watched the video?” I thought of the video I took last night and couldn’t help but tease her, “Didn’t you say you were going to stay up all night? Why did you get lazy and fall asleep?”

“I’ve been writing the PPT and haven’t slept yet…” Wei Jiao looked at me in surprise.

“How is that possible? I clearly saw you sleeping with a facial mask on, and I even changed your slippers for you. How could I have remembered it wrong?”

“If you don’t believe me, check it out for yourself.”

Wei Jiao turned around the display screen and saw that her PPT had 20 pages of content with clear data. It would take more than 6 or 7 hours to write it.

It seems that what she said was true, she was indeed working all night…

But I saw Wei Jiao sleeping with my own eyes, and I even touched her, was it all an illusion?!

I remembered the face mask and the pair of slippers.

“Can I see your trash can?” I asked cautiously.

The company provides each workstation with a trash can, which is placed under the desk.

If Wei Jiao fell asleep, there would definitely be a used facial mask and a pair of hotel slippers in the trash can; otherwise, it would prove that she had been working all night.

Hearing my request, Wei Jiao’s smiling face suddenly turned cold: “Zhang Xiaozhang, please respect yourself.”

I quickly explained, “I didn’t mean anything else. I… I don’t know what happened. I swear I really saw you sleeping. Let me see if there are those two things in your trash can. I’ll take a look!”

“This is my workstation. It’s not a good idea for you to stand here. Please leave.” Wei Jiao’s voice also turned cold.

I looked around and saw that my colleagues had arrived at their workstations one after another.

Although the company’s lease has recently expired and we are moving, there are not many colleagues left here, but they are basically from the same department as us. The way we are now is indeed easy to cause misunderstanding.

“I’m sorry for interrupting you.”

After I apologized, I left immediately without waiting for even a second.

I ran to an empty meeting room, closed the door, and turned on my phone to play the video I shot last night.

But the video screen turned completely black!

It’s like the picture taken at night with insufficient exposure. You can only see that the camera scans from top to bottom, and nothing else can be seen…

I confirmed the shooting time again, and yes, it was the one I took at 2 a.m.

I opened WeChat and clicked on the short video sent to Wei Jiao from the chat history, and the screen turned black!

What is going on?

The video was clearly shot in brightly lit office areas, so why is it completely dark? !

A strange thought suddenly popped up in my mind – could it be that Wei Jiao, who was applying the facial mask, didn’t want to leave any trace of her existence?

Something is wrong. Something is really wrong!

First, in the same period of time, two Wei Jiaos with completely different behaviors appeared…

And the dream about Lao Wang seemed to remind me that something unusual would happen today.

Is today a special day?

I stayed in the conference room until 9 o’clock, then went back to my workstation and pretended I was at work at a normal time every day.

Mr. Yin didn’t know that I slept in the company, and I deliberately didn’t tell him. My application for regularization is still under review. If he knew, he would only think that I was inefficient and incompetent, and then I would be in danger.

I waited until 11 o’clock and Lao Yin and Wei Jiao went to a meeting. I took the opportunity to sneak to Wei Jiao’s workstation and check the trash can, but I didn’t find any facial mask or slippers.

But this did not dispel my doubts, but made me more suspicious.

I always feel that Wei Jiao is hiding something from me, but I can’t figure out what it is.

After much hesitation, I told Wang Qing about this.

Wang Qing is a former colleague of mine in my last company. She likes to read supernatural and science fiction novels. She used to tell us stories during lunch, such as “Lighting a Lamp to Borrow Longevity”, “Rooster Worshiping the Hall”, “Time and Space Leap”, and “Parallel Universe”. She was very convincing.

I recently looked at her circle of friends and it seems that after breaking up with her ex-boyfriend, she learned some kind of “Five Elements Technique”. She was talking nonsense and seemed to have some Taoist skills.

“It might be a parallel universe.” Wang Qing gave her answer after listening to my description.

“Really?” I asked.

If it is a parallel universe, then where is the “me” in this universe? Is he doing well?

“But I don’t think so.”

“Look at you, you’re gasping for breath. What are you talking about?” I was confused by Wang Qing.

It took a long time before I received her reply.

“If you traveled through a parallel time and space, the Wei Jiao in this time and space would not remember what happened yesterday, but from your description, Wei Jiao’s memory is continuous and she knows the cause and effect, which means that time and space have not changed. If two different Wei Jiaos did appear last night, then the problem may not be with time and space, but with Wei Jiao.”

But what could be wrong with Wei Jiao? Could she create herself out of thin air?

I still had some doubts: “Are you sure?”

“I’m not sure either. How about this, I have a Taoist friend who specializes in studying supernatural events. I’ll ask him to go to your company tonight to take a look.”

I sent the company’s address to Wang Qing, and she told me to just wait.

Finally, she told me, “Stay away from Wei Jiao.”

Tonight is Halloween Eve, also known as Ghost Festival in the West.

The administration joined in the fun and gave everyone a pumpkin lantern, and the cafeteria also gave out a pumpkin pudding.

I am alone in Beijing. I don’t like celebrating festivals and I don’t have any feelings about foreign festivals.

Wang Qing has been busy today and hasn’t contacted me.

I didn’t know when the Taoist priest would come, so after a quick cleanup, I went to the gym to do some spinning at 9pm as usual. Unexpectedly, I ran into Wei Jiao at the gym.

She had her hair tied in a high ponytail and was wearing a professional sports bra and sports shorts. She was stepping on a stepper. From my angle, I could see her thin belly and firm thighs.

I don’t know what was wrong with my brain, but I somehow walked past the cycling area, walked towards Wei Jiao, and got on the stepper next to her.

“Hi…is anyone here?” I heard embarrassment in my own voice.

Wei Jiao turned her head and glanced at me, beads of sweat dripping from her forehead, directly dripping onto her clearly visible collarbone: “No one, you can use it.”

“I see that you don’t exercise regularly. Is this your first time here?” I asked while stepping on the stepper.

“I’ve been under a lot of work pressure lately, so I need to exercise so my body doesn’t overwhelm me.”

Wei Jiao increased the speed of the stepper and soon she was slightly out of breath. She waved her arms and the sweat on her back slid down her waistline… into a strange area that I could not describe.

I suddenly felt a little dry in the mouth. I swallowed and secretly glanced at her. Fortunately, she was concentrating on stepping and didn’t look at me.

A group of big men lifting weights nearby also looked over here from time to time. If someone caught me peeking at her, I would be doomed on the spot.

I thought of the dream I had last night. Could it be that today is a good time to confess my feelings? ?

No! Zhang Xiaozhang, you have to calm down!

Women only affect your typing speed!!

I got off the stepper, let out a long sigh, went to the water dispenser and drank two glasses of water, hoping to calm myself down by drinking water.

I was just about to ask Wei Jiao if she wanted to drink, but when I turned around, I found that she was gone!

Strange, I didn’t hear her getting off the stepper just now…

I searched all around the gym, including the equipment area and the exercise rooms, but couldn’t find her.

And not only Wei Jiao, everyone else in the gym was missing as well!

In a matter of seconds, the gym, which had been noisy just now, suddenly became completely quiet, as if I was the only one who had been there from beginning to end.

What happened?? The incident in the early morning happened again?!

I was getting more and more scared. In my panic, I remembered that the equipment in the gym all has a timing function. The exercise data of the previous user will be retained in the cache and will not be cleared until the next user turns on the device again.

I checked my stepper and the latest exercise data was 21:10 on October 31st, which was fine.

According to my memory, I turned on the treadmills that had just been used one by one, and found that the exercise data on the screen was still on October 28 !

This shows that no one has used these treadmills today! !

A thought that I never dared to think of appeared in my mind

——Could it be that those colleagues who were running just now were…ghosts? !

I stood in the middle of the huge gym, a layer of cold sweat breaking out on my back uncontrollably.

I looked around and felt as if countless pairs of eyes were staring at me. They were hiding their bodies, but they deliberately revealed some clues for me to discover.

What are you doing? You think it’s fun to play a trick on me?!

I am just an ordinary person, I just want to work hard and live my life well. Not only do I get scolded by my boss for working overtime every day, but I am also mocked by my bad friends for being single all my life and having never kissed a girl. That’s fine, but now even a ghost from nowhere is trying to play tricks on me! !

Why?? ! !

I couldn’t help but get a little angry, and I started to curse: “Alpaca! Stop playing tricks on me, get out of here!”

“You want to play with me, right? If you have the guts, come out and I’ll play with you to your heart’s content!”

“The Supreme Lord, hurry up and give the order. Big ghosts and little ghosts, please show up!”

“Expecto Patronum!”

……

“Zhang Xiaozhang.”

A familiar voice came from behind.

I turned around and saw Wei Jiao standing at the door of the gym, wiping his hair with a towel.

She must have taken a shower and changed into a long ginger cotton and linen dress. Her long golden brown hair fell wetly on her fair shoulders and neck. She walked over to me and I could clearly smell the cherry blossom scent of her shampoo. For a moment, it seemed as if all the anger in my heart had dissipated.

“I just heard someone cursing and chanting a spell?” Wei Jiao looked at me inquiringly.

“Oh… a colleague went crazy, and then just left.” I didn’t dare look directly at Wei Jiao, and my words were stuttering: “I, I’m going to take a shower.”

Before I could finish my sentence, I ran out, grabbed my toiletries and jumped into the shower.

She didn’t leave! She heard it! !

I’m screwed! I’m screwed!

My fragile office romance died before it even started!!

The company’s gym is equipped with two changing rooms for men and women, each with a single shower cubicle.

It wasn’t until I finished taking a shower that I slowly calmed down.

So many things happened in the past two days, strange parallel events, weird and terrifying dreams, the sudden disappearance of colleagues, and Wei Jiao’s abnormal attitude… What is going on?

I was preoccupied with something and didn’t pay much attention. After taking a shower, I just wrapped a bath towel around my lower body and wiped my body in the dressing room, preparing to change into clean clothes.

Suddenly, I heard a very deep bell sound in the corridor. This bell sounded very strange, with an ancient rhythm in it, and it kept echoing in the corridor.

As I was listening, I became distracted and my legs went weak and I sat down on a chair in the locker room, hitting the back of my head on the wall.

I endured the pain and raised my head, and saw Wei Jiao rushing in with a serious face.

She looked me over quickly, locked the dressing room door, then stood in front of me and covered my ears with her hands.

I looked up at her face so close to me and her concerned expression, and was stunned for a moment.

“What’s going on?” I asked her by mouthing.

She just shook her head slightly, signaling me not to speak.

The bell in the corridor continued to ring. No one knew when it would end, and the sound became clearer and clearer. At the same time, footsteps were heard, as if someone was shaking a bell and walking towards the gym.

Wei Jiao frowned slightly, and the hands covering my ears trembled slightly.

Then she did something I never expected, she opened her legs and sat on my legs!!!

Oh my god! Isn’t this the legendary straight man killer? ?

I have been single for 25 years, and the first time I experienced the leg-sitting kill was with my secret crush???

Wei Jiao’s face moved a few inches closer to me. Because she had just taken a shower, the dressing room was full of hot and humid steam. Her breath fanned on my face, and my nostrils were filled with the scent of cherry blossoms in her hair. My face became uncontrollably hot.

I looked at Wei Jiao’s eyes so close to me, my mind went blank, and I subconsciously reacted as a man should at this moment.

I also reached out and covered her ears.

Wei Jiao was stunned for a moment, looked at me, and his face actually turned slightly red.

Our current posture is too ambiguous. If someone takes a picture of us and posts it online, it might become a Weibo joke for the weird XP bot. Thinking of this, I couldn’t help but laugh out loud.

Wei Jiao gave me a reproachful look and asked me with his mouth: “What are you laughing at?”

“Nothing.” I mouthed the words to her, but I couldn’t hide the smile on my face.

The sound of the bell gradually faded away, and seemed to be mixed with a few insults.

“You tricked me into catching ghosts, but I couldn’t even see a human figure, let alone a ghost.”

“Where are the people? Where are the ghosts? Where have they gone?”

Judging from the voice, it’s a young man.

After another ten minutes or so, the ringing and footsteps faded away and could no longer be heard. Wei Jiao let go of me and sat up from me.

We smiled at each other awkwardly, and I pointed to the clothes next to me and said, “I’ll continue changing.”

“Yeah.” Wei Jiao nodded and walked out of the dressing room.

What happened just now?! Wei Jiao, she actually sat on my lap?!

She…she couldn’t be secretly in love with me…right?

What should I do? Just smile?

Zhang Xiaozhang, your spring is here!!

Although I had a vague idea of ​​what was going on, my mind was still in a semi-confused state.

I changed my clothes and followed Wei Jiao to the rooftop in a daze.

This building was built in the year 2000 and has 10 floors in total. We usually work on the 9th floor. The 10th floor leads directly to the rooftop, so the stairwell door is usually locked.

For some reason today, the door was not locked, so we pushed it open and went straight to the rooftop.

It was my first time to go to such a high rooftop. I was a little curious, so I leaned on the railing and looked down.

At 10 o’clock in the evening, the streets of Zhongguancun were still brightly lit, with cars coming and going in the orange halo, and Internet people carrying backpacks gathered at the intersection waiting for online taxis. There were no young couples hugging at the intersection, and no young people partying in the dark.

This is a place where romance is missing.

Wei Jiao found a clean place to sit down, took out a can of Fujiabai from his bag and handed it to me.

“Look, there are no stars today,” she said.

“It’s okay, there’s a full moon today.” I took the beer, took a sip, and sat next to her.

It was already very cold in Beijing at the end of October. Wei Jiao and I were both wearing two pieces of clothing, but we didn’t feel cold at all.

Because of the lights in the distance, the sky is not pure black, but just a thick blue ink color, which is not very beautiful.

We just looked at the night sky, drank in the breeze, and said nothing, yet everything seemed to be self-evident.

「City of stars,are you shining just for me?」

「City of stars,there’s so much that I can’t see.」

「Who knows,is this the start of something wonderful and new,

or one more dream that I cannot make true?」

……

As soon as I finished the can of beer, I held Wei Jiao’s hand. Her hand was very cold, as if it would disappear at any time.

Suddenly, I felt like crying, and the next second I burst into tears.

Wei Jiao was obviously panicked and asked me what was wrong.

“Wei Jiao, are you, are you dead?” I sobbed, with big tears dripping on her hands.

“Are you leaving? Wuwuwuwuwu…”

“Don’t leave me, I still have something very important to tell you!”

Wei Jiao’s expression froze for two seconds. The next second she burst into laughter, hugged me tightly, and kissed me on the forehead: “Silly straight man.”

Silly straight man? Are you talking about me?

“Wuwuwuwu, it’s fine if you just left, but before you left you called me stupid… You, you’re a bully!”

I don’t know if it was because I was drunk or tired, but I felt my mind gradually becoming unclear and my speech becoming incoherent.

“You just know how to bully me… Every time I talked to you before, you always ignored me!”

“Why are you sitting on my lap today? Do you like me?”

“If you like me, just say it boldly. Why do you have to wait for me to speak first? You just know how to tease me. I am the only one who will fall for your trick!”

“It’s my fault. I shouldn’t have doubted you and asked the Taoist priest to harm you.”

“Wei Jiao, please don’t leave…”

I was talking drunkenly and confused, I couldn’t see Wei Jiao’s expression, I only heard her sighing softly in my ear.

“Who among you is Zhang Xiaozhang?”

A young man’s voice suddenly sounded not far away. I raised my head from Wei Jiao’s arms and looked towards the source of the voice. A man with dreadlocks and wearing a Japanese yukata, looking like a ronin, was leaning against the wall, holding a bell the size of a fist in his hand, looking at us impatiently.

“Who?” Wei Jiao stood up, his voice somewhat serious.

The wanderer ignored her and turned to ask me, “Silly boy, are you Zhang Xiaozhang?”

I remembered that Wang Qing told me that a Taoist priest would come to see me.

A string in my head suddenly tightened, and I suddenly became sober. I quickly stood in front of Wei Jiao and said, “Master, was it Wang Qing who asked you to come? I made a mistake. I don’t have anything to do here. I’m sorry for making you come here in vain. Please go back.”

Ronin scratched his dreadlocks, looking embarrassed: “No mistake, Wang Qing asked me to send away a man named Zhang Xiaozhang, aren’t you Zhang Xiaozhang?”

“Send me away?” I immediately grasped the key point and turned to look at Wei Jiao.

Wei Jiao kept silent with a sullen face, and I instantly understood a little bit.

“So I’m the one who has to go?” My voice was trembling: “I… I’m dead?”

Combining the descriptions of Wei Jiao and the ronin, I pieced together the complete story.

I am dead, and it is not a normal death of old age.

I had some regrets before I died, so after my death, I used the company building as a prototype and created an identical building in the same place with my imagination. I wandered around the building alone, thinking that I was still working and resting normally, but in fact I was always moving in an imaginary space.

Today is my seventh day
after death. I will completely disappear before midnight tomorrow. There is some overlap between my imaginary space and the real space, so all these strange phenomena similar to parallel time and space have appeared. That is why my subconscious mind has transformed into Lao Wang in my dream to urge myself to confess my feelings today.

“No wonder I always feel like an invisible person in the company. No wonder I see two of you.”

Knowing that I was about to disappear, I was unusually calm.

I always thought that Wei Jiao died and her soul remained in the company, so there were two Wei Jiaos, but I didn’t expect that the deceased was actually me.

“Because of the overlap between imagination and reality, Wang Qing received the WeChat message you sent. She immediately realized that your soul was still in the world, so she asked me to send you off.” The ronin said, shaking the bell in his hand.

The ringing sound gradually transformed into an ancient rhythm. I felt light and my mind began to empty.

Wei Jiao suddenly grabbed my hand, but his eyes were fixed on the wanderer: “There is still one hour left, can you give us another hour?”

The ronin looked at his watch and gestured for invitation.

“Zhang Xiaozhang, do you have any unfulfilled wishes? In this building, you can do whatever you want now. As long as you tell me, I will agree to it.”

Wei Jiao looked at me, with a look of seriousness and determination that I had never seen before.

I blushed under her gaze and said, “I have a small wish. I wonder if you would agree to it. It only takes five minutes.”

“Tsk, five minutes is too short, brother, you’re not up to it.” Before I could finish my words, Ronin interrupted with a complaint.

“Shut up, you stinky Taoist priest.” Wei Jiao gave the ronin a murderous look.

I waved my hands quickly: “You misunderstood, I didn’t mean anything else, I just wanted to braid your hair…”

I like Wei Jiao’s hair, her long golden brown hair emits a soft light in the sun.

After getting Wei Jiao’s consent, I braided her hair into a simple pigtail. It was my first time braiding a girl’s hair, and I was not very skilled. It took me two attempts to get it right, but Wei Jiao was very satisfied.

The red string for tying hair was kindly provided by Ronin. He gave me two red strings, one of which I tied to the end of Wei Jiao’s hair, and the other one I tied to my wrist, as a little selfish gesture on my part.

It suddenly occurred to me that there is a very important question that I have always forgotten to ask.

“By the way, can you tell me how I died?”

“
A week ago today, you worked overtime at the company and died suddenly in the shower room of the locker room after working out. Because of the relocation of workstations, there were fewer employees working in the building, so the cleaners did not clean the shower room every day. You were not discovered until two days after you died.”

Wei Jiao hesitated for a moment and told me the cause of my death.

“Oh.” Knowing that he died suddenly, I was not surprised at all.

Instead, the wanderers sighed: “Working will shorten your life, lying down at home will keep you safe~”

I looked at my watch and there were still 40 minutes left.

“Can you walk with me around the building?” I took Wei Jiao’s hand.

“I got my job orientation here. The HR gave me a big gift package with a cute little doll in it. Later I found out that this doll was for new employees to give to their mentors as a greeting gift, not for new employees.” I pointed to
the administrative window on the 2nd floor.

“For lunch, my favorite is the teriyaki chicken rice set in the Japanese food section. Sometimes the cafeteria chef will replace the rice balls in the set with matcha daifuku, which tastes pretty good. For dinner, the Cantonese-style roast duck and barbecued pork rice is the best, and the sauce is especially fragrant.” I took Wei Jiao’s hand and
walked from the cafeteria on the 3rd floor to the cafeteria on the 4th floor, talking about my favorite dishes one by one.

“People from the Film Association come to show movies in the cafe every Friday at 7pm
. I’ve watched several movies here that haven’t been released in mainland China. They’re all art films. You can come often in the future and don’t always go alone.” I pulled Wei Jiao to sit on the sofa in the cafe and made her a latte with the coffee machine behind the counter.

“The legal and financial departments are all on this floor. Every time there’s a problem with a contract or invoice, I have to run here again and again. The legal lady is very nice and won’t say anything, but I always get scolded by CEO Yin when I go back. But you’re so capable, you definitely won’t make the same low-level mistakes that I did.”

Finally I returned to my workstation and opened my drawer.

“You may not know this, but my drawer is a treasure chest, and it contains all kinds of overtime artifacts. If my workstation in the real world hasn’t been cleared out, you should be able to find these things. I’ll give them all to you. Please treat my “legacy” well, and don’t give it to others casually, or I’ll be sad…”

“Why did you say I should buy something else for overtime work? I ended up working myself to death…”

“Xiao Zhang.” Wei Jiao turned to look at me, eyes red: “Time’s up, let’s go.”

Wei Jiao and I returned to the rooftop.

The ronin sat up from the wall, yawned, walked over to me and started ringing the bell.

The ancient rhythm descended like a revelation, cleansing my soul. My consciousness became increasingly empty, and my body became increasingly lighter.

The moment before my soul dissipated, I hugged Wei Jiao tightly with my last bit of strength and whispered in her ear,

**”Wei Jiao, thank you. It would have been great if I had met you earlier.” **

“The moonlight is so beautiful tonight.”

【Extra】 A Dream of the Yellow Millet

Wei Jiao is a capable person whom President Yin poached from a competing company.

But in fact, Wei Jiao himself didn’t like working.

She feels that work is anti-human and that it cannot realize personal value. It is just providing labor in exchange for the remuneration necessary for life.

So she always worked faster and faster, just to finish the work in the shortest time possible, and then go home and do whatever she needed to do.

But in the eyes of her colleagues, all this appeared to be something else – she was efficient and rational, had strong working ability, and was a female devil who was not easy to mess with.

Everyone envies her, but only she knows that she envies Zhang Xiaozhang.

When Zhang Xiaozhang joined the company, Wei Jiao noticed this young man.

The people in this group are nothing more than old hands like Mr. Yin and Lao Wang. Zhang Xiaozhang himself is also an “old social animal” who has worked for many years and has no emotions, like an AI. The youthfulness and vitality of Zhang Xiaozhang seem a bit out of place among this group of smart people.

How could anyone enjoy work so much?

He always ran up and down with a smile on his face, picking up express deliveries, sending contracts and handing over invoices;

Normally, people would just write a few words about the project, but he could always write dozens of pages of ideas that he had worked out bit by bit.

He always recorded the entire meeting, even if no one asked him to. He would also compile a detailed meeting minutes and email it to everyone after the meeting. Wei Jiao wanted to remind him more than once, “Don’t write it if no one is reading it.”

He always buys some strange overtime tools, such as cushions, small fans, humidifiers, pressure relief mice, etc. His desk is piled with small potted plants and toys;

Whenever there were seasonal fruits or snacks on sale, he would buy a bunch and share them enthusiastically with everyone.

In short, Zhang Xiaozhang seems to be an optimistic person who works hard.

So envious.

Wei Jiao often couldn’t help but wonder, although he was only that much older than him, was he a little too depressed and negative compared to him?

Once, the group went out for a barbecue for team building. Zhang Xiaozhang got drunk and kept talking to Lao Wang, holding his hand for a long time.

“Brother Wang, I know what you said is right, but what else can I do if I don’t try so hard?”

“When I go home, your sister-in-law always quarrels with me every night. Sometimes she complains that I didn’t attend the parent-teacher meeting for my child, and sometimes she complains that I didn’t help with homework. The key is that I have to be able to do that question. Why are elementary school questions so difficult nowadays?”

“I went to a bad school, my education is not high, and my major is nothing special. I am lucky to be able to join this company. I must cherish it…”

“When something happened, she only knew to ask me to take leave, but I also have my own job and career. She just wanted to leave the child to me and go out to play and have fun by herself. She has no sense of responsibility at all. She is not worthy of being a mother.”

“
I don’t want to live such a busy life, but when I was young, everyone told me to study and go to school. When I grew up, they told me to find a good job and start a family… No one told me that there is another way to live life!”

“We men should resist! Fight for our rights! We can’t let women ride on our heads…”

“I’ve accepted my fate and just want to work hard and be a screw. Now you’re telling me to pursue my dreams? But I, I don’t have any dreams. I just want to live. Why is it so difficult?”

……

Wei Jiao drank sake and sat opposite the two of them, listening.

The two guys were so drunk that their eyes were dazed and they told the whole story in a confusing way.

Oh, it turns out that Zhang Xiaozhang is not happy either. Even the most optimistic person can be unhappy.

Thinking of this, Wei Jiao took out a cigarette from the box. Just as she was about to light it, Zhang Xiaozhang snatched the lighter from the table, mumbling something like “Let me light it for Sister Wei” and “Sister Wei, please show off.”

Wei Jiao was afraid that he would burn himself, so he reached out to grab it, but Zhang Xiaozhang slapped him back, insisting on lighting it himself. Wei Jiao had no choice but to let him do it.

Zhang Xiaozhang pressed the lighter with a “click”, stared at the flame for a long while, and kept grinning.

Finally he said, “Look, there are stars.”

“Yeah, there are stars.”

Wei Jiao did not see stars in the fire, but he saw stars in Zhang Xiaozhang’s eyes.

After the show, Wei Jiao sent Zhang Xiaozhang home, only to find out that Zhang Xiaozhang and he lived in the same community but in different apartment buildings.

Wei Jiao rented a one-bedroom apartment, and Zhang Xiaozhang shared a three-bedroom apartment with a strange roommate.

Perhaps because of this extra layer of fate, Wei Jiao gradually began to care for Zhang Xiaozhang.

But this care did not last long, and Zhang Xiaozhang died.

Due to continuous high-intensity overtime and irregular work and rest schedule, Zhang Xiaozhang died suddenly in the shower room of the gym.

Wei Jiao was somewhat sad upon learning of Zhang Xiaozhang’s death.

However, she met him in the office on the sixth day after Zhang Xiaozhang’s death.

I had originally planned to write the PPT all night, but when I looked up, I saw Zhang Xiaozhang’s concerned face, and his eyes, as lively and curious as before.

Wei Jiao discovered that this was an extremely irregular imaginary space, and the overlap of the two spaces was random. Fortunately, there were only a few places that Zhang Xiaozhang often went to. By finding Zhang Xiaozhang, she could travel back and forth between the two spaces.

What she didn’t expect was that Zhang Xiaozhang cared about her more than himself, and he mistakenly thought that the dead person was her.

How can this silly straight guy be so funny and cute?

But this night is too short.

There aren’t many beautiful things in the world.

If only I could have met him earlier.

– over –