Setting Up Stalls – Chapter 108

What kind of experience is it to squeeze into an elevator?

It wasn’t just Sun Miao who had come to love going home; Su Ruixi felt the same way.

In the past, she was the type—as long as the ‘roll’¹ didn’t kill her, she’d ‘roll’ herself to death. “I’m standing right here today; let’s see who dares not to work overtime.”

Although Su Ruixi’s company had a voluntary overtime system, with the boss herself staying late, no one could really bring themselves to say, “I’m not working overtime today, goodbye Boss.”

Especially since Su Ruixi paid generously.

While many large companies had employees ‘voluntarily’ working 996² and essentially exploiting them for free labor³, Su Ruixi’s company genuinely paid 1.5 times the normal rate for weekday overtime, 2 times for weekends, and 3 times for holidays. Moreover, those who stayed late for overtime also received a meal allowance, ensuring they wouldn’t be shortchanged.

These days, everyone striving in big cities was doing it for one thing—money.

Besides, they had nothing much to do at home, and the pay was excellent, so everyone was naturally willing to stay and work overtime. Haven’t you seen? So many companies didn’t even pay for overtime, yet employees still had to stay and work. Their company’s boss was already very good.

Most importantly, Su Ruixi led the charge in this ‘rolling’ culture. Those who stayed in her company were all ‘kings of the roll’⁴. Those who couldn’t ‘roll’ anymore simply left on their own.

However, this company culture seemed to have loosened up in the past few days—the boss, she no longer loved to ‘roll.’

The company’s working hours were nine to six, a very normal daytime shift. Although everyone worked overtime quite frequently and often didn’t leave at six, as it approached six o’clock, some people would inevitably start to get restless: after all, they could take a break and have dinner.

Compared to them, the boss was much calmer. After all, employees had break times, but she didn’t. She often forgot to eat dinner due to work.

Now, however, it was completely different. As soon as it hit five o’clock, the assistant noticed that her boss, Su Ruixi, was a bit restless, almost unable to sit still. From the assistant’s office, she had already seen Su Ruixi come out several times. Sometimes it was to get water; she clearly could have asked the assistant to bring it in, but she went to the pantry outside to get it herself. Other times, she came out to look for a file, which, similarly, she could have had the assistant deliver.

But every time she came out, her gaze would drift to the clock on the wall. Their company had some international clients, so there were several clocks on the pantry wall showing the time in various countries. However, the one at the very front displayed the domestic time, and that was the one Su Ruixi inadvertently looked at the most.

At first, the assistant thought she was checking the international times, guessing there might be an important overseas client with a proposal to follow up on. But then she realized: Su Ruixi was looking at the domestic time. She racked her brain wondering if there was any particularly important work today, but finally, it dawned on her: the boss was waiting to get off work.

Once she figured it out, the assistant was stunned: No way, their boss was waiting to get off work?!

Su Ruixi could have actually just sat in her office and waited for quitting time. But experiencing the feeling of being eager to return home⁵ for the first time, Su Ruixi simply couldn’t sit still as the end of the workday approached. She just wanted to walk around to kill some time, but after a lap, she returned to find that only a few minutes had passed, which made her even more restless.

As the boss, Su Ruixi could have left work at any time without adhering to the schedule. But Su Ruixi was a particularly self-disciplined person. If she, as the boss, didn’t lead by example, how could her employees respect her? So, she made it a point to always arrive and leave on time, never being late or leaving early.

Bosses like her were truly rare.

By 5:58 PM, Su Ruixi really couldn’t sit still any longer, especially after Sun Miao sent her a message saying she had finished cooking, felt a bit sweaty, and was going to take a shower first. Su Ruixi’s mind was already fantasizing about tonight’s dinner, and eventually, her thoughts drifted to Sun Miao.

She must be at home waiting for her. After showering and drying her hair, still a little steamy, Sun Miao would come downstairs, look at the food on the table, and seeing that she hadn’t returned yet, might sit on the sofa, turn on the TV, and idly watch some programs.

Whenever Su Ruixi imagined such a scene, it would be a lie to say she didn’t want to go home. She had been working a lot of overtime before, and the project she had been busy with—the one that fell through with Zhang Qiang and for which she found new collaborators—was almost complete, just needing finalization. So, not working overtime was also an option.

5:59 PM. Su Ruixi began to pack her things. Car keys, check. Lunchbox, check. Her computer desktop was tidied up, leaving only the blue sky and white clouds wallpaper. Su Ruixi could barely keep her butt in her seat. She even opened the time window in the bottom right corner of her desktop, watching the second hand of the analog clock tick, bit by bit, towards the end.

6:00 PM. Su Ruixi grabbed her bag and walked straight out. Her pace was quick because if she was late, she’d have to wait for the elevator. She rented two full floors in this office building, Jinsha Building. There were many companies in Jinsha Building, and their employees combined numbered at least two thousand. Even with staggered departure times, at least 800 people would be heading home at this hour. The elevators were packed beyond belief; some people had to wait five or six minutes just for an elevator.

Jinsha Building actually had quite a few elevators—eight in total, lined up with four on each side. At full capacity, they could hold nearly 100 people simultaneously. Even so, during peak commuting hours, there was still a wait.

How could someone as proud as Su Ruixi want to be packed like a can of sardines with others?

She usually arrived at work early and left late, so naturally, she didn’t have to squeeze in with others. But today—she was determined to brave the squeeze!

Seeing her hurried steps, the employees in the company, including the assistant, all stood up to bid Su Ruixi farewell: “Boss Su, see you tomorrow.”

“Mm.” Su Ruixi nodded calmly, her pace unwavering. Her high heels clicked crisply on the tiled floor, exuding an air of authority for no particular reason. Only the assistant understood Su Ruixi’s little secret thoughts. People in love were just different; even leaving work had become an enthusiastic affair for her now.

Look at Boss Su’s quick little steps, so completely different from her usual steady and composed demeanor. Although she still walked gracefully, a hint of eagerness inevitably showed through. The assistant saw through it all but said nothing.

Su Ruixi had still somewhat underestimated the determination of working folks to rush home and catch the subway. Standing in the elevator lobby, she found that many of her employees were already waiting. It couldn’t be helped; Su Ruixi’s workstation was at the very back, so it naturally took her longer to walk out than other employees.

Seeing Su Ruixi, her employees braced themselves and greeted her. Su Ruixi nodded back and waited among the crowd.

Actually, at times like this, the bootlickers⁶ should have been showing their ‘love-the-boss’ side. Unfortunately, most of them were still sitting at their desks, waiting for their late-leaving silhouettes to be noticed by their superiors. Those who rushed ahead of Su Ruixi to wait for the elevator at this time were mostly people who wished they could be home in a second.

They finally had a day off from overtime; of course, they had to hurry back. Even if it was the boss, they wouldn’t let her delay them.

So, Su Ruixi could only wait amidst the crowd, watching wave after wave of people leave in the elevators. She lifted her wrist to check the time: it was already 6:05 PM. Her employees were still waiting, and so was she. Su Ruixi took a deep breath, forced herself to be patient, and thought about her old man’s company.

Say what you will, her old man’s company didn’t just have one building; they had a whole plot of land dedicated to their company. The chairman’s office even had its own dedicated office floor and a private elevator, so there was no need to wait for elevators at all. At this moment, Su Ruixi finally understood why many company bosses didn’t stick to regular working hours—they genuinely didn’t want to squeeze into elevators with their employees.

At 6:10 PM, there were finally fewer people on Su Ruixi’s floor. Su Ruixi took a step forward, thinking it must be her turn this time. But the elevator that arrived was going up, and there was someone inside who recognized Su Ruixi.

“Yi?”⁷ The person inside, Tong Yuwei⁸, paused for a moment, then asked just as the elevator doors were about to close, “Jiejie, are you going down?”

Su Ruixi was taken aback, nodded, and wondered who this person was and why she knew her. Tong Yuwei said, “Then hurry up and get in!”

Su Ruixi was confused. “But, isn’t this one going up?”

“Don’t worry about that, just get in quickly!” Tong Yuwei’s voice was urgent, and people behind Su Ruixi also started to urge her. Subconsciously, Su Ruixi stepped into the elevator. Once inside, she exchanged glances with the people already there and noticed that on the button panel, only ‘1’ and ‘-1’ were lit up.

Su Ruixi’s eyes widened. Tong Yuwei, beside her, explained with a hint of pride in her voice, “Go up first, then down. Otherwise, it’s too hard to get into these elevators.” As Tong Yuwei spoke, the elevator stopped again on a higher floor. Even though people inside were saying “Going up,” someone still squeezed in, saying, “Even if it’s going up, let’s get in first.”

After going up two more floors, the elevator was full. Even if it continued upwards, no one got out. Amidst repeated calls of “It’s full!”, the elevator began to descend directly.

Tong Yuwei whispered to Su Ruixi, “You have to squeeze into some elevators like this. Go up with them, so you don’t end up without an elevator. Next time, Jiejie, you can do the same.”

Su Ruixi didn’t really have much impression of Tong Yuwei, but Tong Yuwei clearly remembered her well. As Tong Yuwei was getting off the elevator on the first floor, she turned back and said to Su Ruixi, “I remember! When I used to buy beef pancakes, Little Boss Sun would always deliberately save them for you. I saw it and asked to buy them, but she wouldn’t sell them to me. Jiejie, I taught you how to squeeze into an elevator today, so don’t forget to put in a good word for me with Little Boss Sun later!”

Her voice grew a little louder: “You must remember! Give a vote to the beef pancakes during the comeback poll⁹!”

Tong Yuwei’s tone of voice, and this appearance of being a diehard fan of beef pancakes, made Su Ruixi connect her with the customer Sun Miao had mentioned. She thought: *Oh, so this is the customer who speaks with a bit of a Lin Daiyu¹⁰ accent.*

Realizing this, Su Ruixi actually chuckled.

But when she reached the parking lot, started the car with one press, and saw the time on the car’s display, Su Ruixi couldn’t quite smile anymore: 6:13 PM.

She had clearly left work very quickly, yet she ended up waiting in the elevator lobby for so long! She keenly realized the benefits of having a company on a low floor, like the third or fourth. If the floor was low enough, she could have just walked down quickly and wouldn’t have needed an elevator at all.

At the same time, she became fiercely determined again: Buy a building! She absolutely had to work hard and earn enough money to buy an office building where her company was the sole occupant, with a dedicated elevator exclusively for the boss!

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