Chapter 2: The Man Racing Against Time

The next morning.

“I’m going to be late, I’m going to be late!”

At 8:58 a.m., Chang Yu was sprinting madly down the street.

Having just gotten off the bus, he hurried in the direction of his company.

The company’s rules were strict—employees were required to clock in at exactly 9:00, not a second more, not a second less.

Not even a minute, not even a second of delay was tolerated.

Dashing like the wind and panting heavily, Chang Yu made it to the company, aiming directly for the security booth at the entrance.

A middle-aged, chubby man sitting inside spotted Chang Yu’s rushing figure and waved urgently.

“Hey! You’re really cutting it close today! Hurry and clock in, or you’ll be counted as late and absent!”

Without a word to the man, Chang Yu flung the door open, pressed his finger to the fingerprint scanner on the desk in one fluid motion.

With a soft ding, his fingerprint was accepted, and the machine displayed his sign-in time: 8:59:59.

“Phew—thank goodness, I made it!” Chang Yu exhaled deeply, collapsing exhausted onto a small stool inside the booth, gulping for air.

Thinking back on his mad dash, he really had just starred in his own “Fast and Furious.”

“Good thing you made it—one more second and you’d have been marked absent and docked pay!” the chubby man remarked with feeling.

“Well, our company’s attendance policy is just that strict,” Chang Yu replied, face drawn in a bitter sigh.

“If you’re marked late, that’s a five-hundred yuan fine—there’s no slacking off at all!”

The chubby man nodded, “Us security guards aren’t like those white-collar office workers. Those folks make more money and can afford to be late once or twice.”

“We’re different—work harder, earn less. With just two thousand a month, we can’t afford those fines.”

Chang Yu grumbled, “You’re telling me. This line of work gets tougher every year—it’s exhausting!”

His complaints made the chubby man raise his brows. “Yu, not to lecture you, but you’re so young—why do you have to be a security guard? Wouldn’t anything else be better than standing at a gate?”

Those words struck home, and Chang Yu recalled some unpleasant memories. “Brother Wang, if I had any other choice, who would want to be a doorman at my age? Life just leaves you no way out!”

“To be honest, when I first left the orphanage, I wanted to do something big, something that would amaze the world.”

“I went to job fairs, applying for all those high-paying positions, but every time I was met with ridicule and shown the door.”

“They told me that today, if you want a good job, you can’t do it without a diploma.”

“But I grew up in an orphanage, never went to school. The fact that I can read and write is already an achievement—where would I get a diploma?”

“With the director’s meager means, just raising us was a struggle. How could he afford to send us to school?”

“No education, no connections—I couldn’t find any decent work. In the end, being a security guard was all I could do.”

“Yeah, you’ve got a special situation. Alone in the provincial capital, with no parents or relatives to help—it’s tough,” the chubby man sighed, feeling sorry for Chang Yu’s hard lot.

Chang Yu gazed out the window, melancholy written across his face. “That’s why I cherish this job so much.”

“The pay may be small, but it lets me survive in this indifferent world, lets me eat.”

“In the end, aren’t we all just working so we can have a full meal?”

“Enough of this depressing talk,” Wang said suddenly, waggling his brows at Chang Yu in a way that was almost matchmaker-like.

“Let’s talk about that girl you met on the blind date yesterday. That took a lot of doing to arrange—she’s a beauty, right?”

If Wang hadn’t mentioned it, Chang Yu’s mood wouldn’t have soured, but at the mention, his anger flared.

“Don’t bring her up—just thinking about her annoys me!”

“She’s one of those snobs, looked down on me and mocked me in front of everyone at the restaurant.”

Wang was taken aback. “What happened?”

Chang Yu’s expression darkened, his spirit deflated. “Isn’t it obvious? Money.”

“You know, I’m already twenty and still haven’t had a girlfriend!”

“These past two years, I’ve been on more than twenty blind dates, not one success.”

“As soon as the girls hear about my pitiful salary, they refuse to even consider dating me.”

“Heavens, I want a passionate romance too, but for now, that’s just a distant goal!”

Wang gave him a sympathetic look, patted his shoulder. “Don’t rush. I’ll ask my wife in a few days, see if she knows any good, sensible girls. By the way…”

“So you met at a Western restaurant? I forgot to ask—how much did your meal cost yesterday?”

As Wang finished, Chang Yu’s expression turned odd, somewhere between a smile and a grimace.

Wang was sharp—seeing that look, he guessed something was up. “Don’t tell me—you let her pay?”

Caught out, Chang Yu was a bit embarrassed and quickly explained, “There’s a reason. That gold-digger was just taking advantage!”

“She chose that restaurant. I had no idea how expensive it was. Later, I snuck away to ask and found out the meal cost thirty-eight hundred yuan.”

“She ordered all the dishes—only the most expensive ones. That’s two months’ wages for me, gone in a meal.”

“Who spends that much on a blind date? Brother Wang, she was taking me for a fool!”

“If we’d actually hit it off, fine, but she tore into me in front of everyone. Why should I be a doormat?”

Wang listened, stunned. He didn’t say it out loud, but he also thought it was too much to spend thirty-eight hundred of a young man’s money on a first meeting.

That’s just making a fool of someone!

“Well done, Yu. With women like that, you can’t let them walk all over you!” This time, Wang was firmly on Chang Yu’s side.

“It was my fault for setting it up. I didn’t realize Zhang’s daughter had become so materialistic.”

“It’s fine, Brother Wang, I didn’t take it to heart,” Chang Yu said with a grateful smile. “But there’s something I’ve always wondered.”

“You went to a prestigious university, so why work as a security guard here?”

“You don’t understand—being a security guard has always been my dream!” the chubby man replied matter-of-factly.

“Being a…security guard?” Chang Yu was bewildered.

He’d lived long enough, but this was the first time he’d heard someone call guarding a gate their dream.

Truly, you live and learn.

Seeing Chang Yu’s expression, Wang cleared his throat and began his tale.

“This goes back to my university days. At that time, there was a goddess in our class—a campus belle, truly beautiful. Boys lined up from our classroom all the way to the school gates just to chase her.”

“The moment I saw her, I knew she was the woman I wanted to marry.”

“So I put on all my mature charm, pursued her passionately yet gently.”

“For four years, right up to graduation, I failed to win her over. Then someone told me she’d be working at a certain company after graduation.”

“So, without a second thought, I turned down other jobs and became a security guard at her company.”

“I didn’t think it was shameful. In fact, being the guard at her company meant I could see her every day—what could make me happier?”

“Wait, hold on, Brother Wang!” Chang Yu suddenly realized something, startled. “You don’t mean your goddess works at our company?”

If Wang was the guard at her company, it meant she works here.

Wang nodded proudly, “Of course, she’s here—and now she’s my wife.”

“You’re amazing, Brother Wang!” Chang Yu’s eyes shone as he looked at Wang as if he were an idol.

“We’re both security guards, with the same job, the same two-thousand yuan salary—how come you have a wife and I don’t? Come on, tell me how you met her—maybe I can learn something.”

“Let me finish.” Wang calmly took a cigarette from his iron case, lit up, and took a drag.

“Don’t be fooled by how well she’s doing now. Back when she started, she worked herself to the bone.”

“She’d come early every day, leave late every night. The high-pressure workload wore her down—her skin grew dull, and even her bright eyes became lifeless.”

“One day, I couldn’t take it anymore. I summoned my courage and told her, ‘You don’t have to work so hard. From now on, let me take care of you.’”

“Guess what she said?”

“What did she say?” Curiosity overtook Chang Yu.

“She burst into tears on the spot—sobbed her heart out, so much it broke my heart,” Wang recalled, his face softening.

“I may not know much about love, but I’m sure those were tears of being moved,” Chang Yu said, a touch of envy in his eyes.

“She sobbed and told me, ‘Stop right there! The only reason I work so hard is to keep from falling into your clutches!’”

At this, Wang smacked his lips, still savoring the moment.

“I knew even then—she never cared about my money. She cared about me as a person!”

“Pfft—!”

Chang Yu, in the middle of a drink, choked and sprayed water all over Wang.

He’d expected a touching love story—never imagined it’d twist at the end into a tale of a lovesick stalker.

In the blink of an eye, what began as romance had become a comedy of unrequited love.