Wandering in the vast darkness

004 Passengers are colleagues

The staff canteen is busiest during dinner time at Yu Wenhao Printing Company. This time coincides with the shift from the start of work in the first workshop to the end of get off work in the second workshop. The food in the company canteen is good and inexpensive, so employees who have already finished get off work or have just arrived will choose to have dinner there.

Yu Wenhao was also getting ready to leave work. He took two lunch boxes from the cabinet and hurried to the cafeteria.

It was rush hour, and there were many people taking taxis. Yu Wenhao didn't have time to sit in the cafeteria and eat properly. Every day, he would get his food from the cafeteria, bring it to his car, and eat a few bites while waiting for customers, or eat later when there were fewer customers and he was waiting for orders.

Yu Wenhao walked into the cafeteria and saw a long queue at the food pick-up point. People inside were calmly choosing their meals, while most of those queuing outside were looking down at their phones.

Seeing so many people, Yu Wenhao was thinking of giving up and not queuing. He could just buy some bread at a small supermarket when he passed by in his empty car. Waiting a few more minutes here might mean missing out on a customer.

"Smaller than, smaller than!"

Just as Yu Wenhao was about to leave the cafeteria, he heard someone call his name. Looking in the direction of the voice, he saw it was their company's CEO, Mr. Qu, who was at the front of the line.

"Come here, come here." General Manager Qu waved to him, and Yu Wenhao walked over. General Manager Qu said, "You can cut in line in front of me."

Yu Wenhao hesitated, "Isn't that a bit inappropriate?"

"What's the big deal? You're in such a hurry to do business. Everyone in line here is scrolling through Douyin. What's wrong with scrolling for a few more minutes?" Mr. Qu said, and the people in front of and behind him laughed.

Yu asked if he could refuse again. He waved to the people in the line behind him and said sorry. He then joined the line in front of General Manager Qu.

Many people in the company know about Yu Wenhao's situation and that he drives a ride-hailing car part-time after work. Everyone just smiles at him.

Mr. Qu remembered and said to Yu Wenhao, "I'll talk to the cafeteria later. You won't need to queue for dinner. You can get your food first. By the way, you can come in from the checkout side so you don't have to queue and it won't delay your trip."

Yu quickly said, "Thank you, thank you, Mr. Qu."

"It's nothing," said Mr. Qu. "By the way, how is your daughter doing?"

"The same as always," Yu Wenhao said.

"Still waiting?"

Yu said yes.

Mr. Qu sighed, wanting to say something, but then felt it was unnecessary. He reached out and patted Yu Wenhao on the shoulder.

Yu Wenhao retrieved his car from the parking lot, opened the app on the phone on the shelf in front of him, and immediately received an order. Yu Wenhao quickly accepted it, and upon closer inspection, couldn't help but laugh. The passenger for this order was right at the entrance of their company, so it must be someone from their company.

Yu Wenhao drove to the main gate and saw Xiao Xie, the graphic designer from the technical department, standing there. Although she hadn't been there long, she dealt with Yu Wenhao every day, and the two were quite familiar with each other. Xiao Xie probably didn't expect that the car she had called would come out of her own workplace and stand there, looking left and right at Xiasha Road in front of the gate. Yu Wenhao stopped the car in front of her and honked the horn.

Xiao Xie turned around, rolled down the car window, and said to her, "Get in the car."

"No need, no need, Director Yu, I've already called a car," Xiao Xie quickly said.

Yu Wen chuckled and said, "Look at the license plate, is it me?"

Xiao Xie glanced at Yu Wenhao's license plate and couldn't help but laugh. She quickly went around to the passenger seat, opened the door, and got in.

"Not bad, Director Yu, a second job?" Xiao Xie asked.

Yu nodded and said, "Yes. Why didn't you eat in the cafeteria?"

"I'll eat out."

Xiao Xie's final destination was Raffles City in Qianjiang New City. Yu Wenhao asked, "Going on a date?"

"Where? I'm having dinner with my best friend, all of us are the same kind, not a single dull-witted male," Xiao Xie said, and Yu Wenhao laughed heartily.

"A bit arrogant, Director Yu," Xiao Xie said, turning to look at him after the car started.

"What's wrong?" Yu asked.

Xiao Xie said, "You've even taken on a second job right outside your workplace, aren't you afraid your boss and the others will see you?"

Yu Wenhao shook her head: "They all know that I'm using my off-get off work time. During work hours, I don't slack off for a single minute, so what right do they have to interfere?"

"That's true." Xiao Xie nodded. Although she hadn't been there long, she knew about Yu Wenhao's work situation and could be considered a perfect working person.

Xiao Xie joined the company late and was unaware that more than three years ago, when Qianqian had just discovered the truth, the labor union was still within the company and had launched a fundraising campaign. This fundraising campaign grew bigger and bigger, even involving the entire Hangzhou Daily Group, and raised more than 300,000 yuan.

As a result, Yu Wenhao refused to accept the money no matter what. He was thinking that if he took the money, he would never be able to hold his head up at work again, and everyone would be a debtor he would have to be grateful to. He told the union chairman that as long as he had the ability, he would do his best to deal with his daughter's illness, which was also their responsibility as parents. He dared not accept, and could not accept, this money.

This sum of money is still sitting in the finance department. General Manager Qu knows that Yu Wenhao is proud, so he told the union chairman to keep it in reserve, in case it comes in an emergency in the future.

Yu Wenhao was preparing to work part-time as a ride-hailing driver, and he had told his boss, Mr. Qu, and several other leaders in his unit about his plan. They were all very supportive of him.

Yu Wenhao joined the company right after graduating from university and has been working there for twelve years. He is well-liked and very capable. Last year, his superiors considered promoting him to the position of vice president in charge of production, but Yu Wenhao declined the offer.

Yu Wenhao's concern was that if he became the vice president, he would have to oversee all production in the entire factory, including the first workshop, and would need to be in the factory at night to keep an eye on things, unlike now, when he only needed to be responsible for the production of one workshop.

Yu Wenhao felt that given his current situation, he was unlikely to be up to the task, so he declined the promotion. In the end, the person who was promoted was the former director of the first workshop, now Vice President Zhang. Because of this connection, Vice President Zhang now takes good care of Yu Wenhao.

When the car arrived at Raffles City, Xiao Xie was about to get off when Yu greeted her and reminded her, "Don't forget to give us a five-star review."

"No way." Xiao Xie made a face at him. "I'll give you a bad review and complain that you're fierce."

Yu Wenhao laughed heartily, and Xiao Xie also got off the car with a chuckle.

Another order came in. Just as Yu Wenhao was about to start his car, his phone rang in the armrest box. He picked it up and saw it was his high school classmate, Er Mao. Yu Wenhao answered it:

"Spit it out, I'm busy."

"Get lost! Don't be silly. This weekend, San San is treating some classmates from Hangzhou to a get-together downstairs at his company," Er Mao said to Yu Wenhao.

"I'm not going," Yu Wenhao said. "You guys can have your own get-together, I don't have time, I need to make money."

Er Mao chuckled: "I knew you'd say that. You have to come, whether you like it or not. San San said that if you don't come this time, he'll use a ride-hailing app to designate a driver to call you over, and you can pay for the whole trip while you're drinking."

Yu Wenhao laughed too: "Okay, okay, I'm coming. Just send me the time, I won't argue with you anymore."