Chapter 19 – Sitting posture

Thursday.

General Affairs Department Office.

With Chief Zhou around, everybody’s working attitude was different. Guo Panwei was had not been doing anything the past two days was very hardworking. He not only helped Tan Limei with her task, but he also helps Chief Zhou clean up his office. Every 10-20 minutes, he would go into Chief Zhou’s office to help him pour tea. Changjuan even did not touch up her makeup in office. She and Guo Shunjie were pretending to work hard. The only person who was still the same was Old Yan. He was still reading newspapers at his desk.

“Xuebing.” The big size Zhuang Zhi who was sitting opposite asked: “What is the password for Word read-only documents?”

Dong Xuebing walked over and look at the monitor. He pressed some keys on the number pad. “I think it is 5776.”

But the file still could not be opened. The password was wrong.

Tan Limei who was sitting not far away turned to face them and smiled: “Excel is 5776, Word is 3328. The both of you must remember the passwords. Not only you need these password to open documents, but you also need to set password access for all your documents. Hahaha. Although we cannot access to confidential documents here, we still need to follow these protocols.” She lowered her voice: “The both of you still have not seen the Confidential Files department. They were stricter than us. Their computers cannot even access the internet.”

After the past few days, Dong Xuebing, Zhuang Zhi and Tan Limei became closer.

The 3 of them had just graduated from university not long ago and were about the same age. Compared to Changjuan, Guo Shunjie and Guo Panwei, who were in their 30s, the 3 of them had more common topics. The 3 of them were also more down to earth and does not have too many ideas.

Suddenly Chief Zhou’s office door opened.

Guo Panwei immediately picked up his pen and start to scribble on his notebook. He looks like he was working hard. Changjuan, who was seated the nearest to Chief Zhou’s room, immediately closed the Tao Bao page on her monitor. Tan Limei also minimized her QQ windows. From Dong Xuebing’s seat, he could see Guo Shunjie resizing the window of the aquarium fish forum to the smallest. Even Old Yan who had been reading newspapers stood up and walked to the water dispenser to get a cup of water.

Shua, shua, shua…… Gazhi…… gazhi……

The only sounds in the office were typing and photocopier machine.

Zhou Changchun nodded with satisfaction. He walked around the office and see what the staff members were writing or typing. After a while, he slowly walked back to his room and close the door. The next moment, things returned back to normal. They returned to read newspapers, shopping on Taobao, and whatever they had been doing.

After a while, two men whom Dong Xuebing had never met before, came to the General Affairs office. The younger man waited outside and the older man, in his 30s entered. He was carrying some documents in a brown envelope. That man looked at Changjuan who nearest to him and then looked at Chief Zhou’s room. Changjuan nodded, and that man walked over to knock on the door. He entered the room, and when he left with the young man, he was not holding on to the envelope.

5 to 6 minutes later.

Ring, ring, ring. The phone beside the printer rang.

Tan Limei picked up the phone: “Hello, this is the General Affairs Office…… Oh, Chief Zhou…… Yes…… Yes……” After hanging up, she looked at Dong Xuebing and said: “Xuebing, Chief Zhou is looking for you. There is a document to be sent to the Confidential Files department. He said, after getting the document from him, Guo Shunjie will show you the way there and teach you the procedures. Guo Shunjie are you busy now?” According to the regulations, any confidential documents have to be escorted by 2 people.

Guo Shunjie replied: “No problem. I will bring him there.”

“Then I will go and get the documents now.” Dong Xuebing walked over to Chief Zhou’s room. This was his first task given by his leader. He must do a good job.

Knock, knock. “Come in.”

The way Chief Zhou speaks was authoritative. Being a leader was so good. He could just open his door and call for Dong Xuebing to deliver the document. But if he does that, he will not look like a leader. This was why he called the office phone and called for Dong Xuebing. His office was only a few meters away from Dong Xuebing desk. Even if he raised his voice slightly, Dong Xuebing could hear him.

Zhou Changchun was sitting in front of a monitor and writing something. “Sit and wait a while.”

Dong Xuebing replied politely and sat down on a leather couch in the office. The leather couch was old, and some parts were peeling. But it was very soft. It was more comfortable than the couch outside in the main office. Dong Xuebing was a bit tired from his work, and he leaned back onto the couch. He relaxed his back muscle.

Comfortable.

Zhou Changchun glanced at him and continued writing without saying a word.

Dong Xuebing had good vision, and from where he was sitting, he could see what was on Chief Zhou’s monitor. It was a Golden Sun Shares Trading program. Eh? Chief Zhou also trades in shares?

Dozens of seconds passed, and Zhou Changchun stopped writing. But he still did not pass the document to Dong Xuebing.

Dong Xuebing was puzzled. He thought about why he was called in when the documents were not ready.

He had heard of stories about the leader purposely ask someone to wait for one side while he does something. It might be the leader does not like that person. But Dong Xuebing thought about what he had done and does not understand what he did wrong. Yesterday he had address Chief Zhou wrongly, but he had used back to correct it. This morning, he also did not do anything wrong. What’s the reason for Chief Zhou to dislike him?

When he was thinking, Guo Shunjie knocked on the door and entered the room. “Chief Zhou, I am here to collect the document.”

Zhou Changchun replied: “Seat and wait for a while.”

Zhou Shunjie nodded and walked to the couch. He saw Dong Xuebing sitting comfortably on the couch. His lips twitched. He thought in his heart. This newcomer still does not learn the rules? He sat down on the couch with only half his bottom touching the couch and his body upright.

Dong Xuebing saw this and was stunned. Damn! Tan Limei had said that Guo Shunjie had someone backing him in the City Bureau. Why was he still so tense when sitting? Dong Xuebing was not stupid. He immediately realized the unspoken rule. Although Guo Shunjie was not afraid of Chief Zhou, he still must abide by the rules. If not, the leader will feel that you do not have respect for him.

Fuck!

I did something wrong again.

Back!

……

Swish, swish, swish. It was the sounds of the pen writing on paper. Chief Zhou was writing something.

The time had returned to before Zhou Shunjie entered the room.

Dong Xuebing looked around and realized that he was leaning back on the couch. Chief Zhou still had not noticed him. He immediately sat upright with half his bottom touching the edge of the couch. He placed both his hands on his lap looking straight.

2 seconds later, Chief Zhou looked over and saw Dong Xuebing with a serious expression. Chief Zhou nodded and passed the document to him. He smiled. “Ok. Send this document to the Confidential Department. Haha, you don’t need to be so serious.”

Dong Xuebing also smile. Don’t be serious? Stop bullshitting me. If I am not sitting here pretending to be serious, will you be happy with me?

Dong Xuebing walked out with the document. His back was all wet from his cold sweat.

Officialdom…… One wrong step and that’s it.

There were even rules about sitting postures.