Volume One, Chapter One: Optimized

The documents were the latest version, sent by me personally to the client and checked over again and again for confirmation. There is absolutely no way I made a mistake.

Cheng Xu sat in the HR office at that moment, facing five senior executives alone. His brows were tightly knit, his gaze resolute, and his words carried an unquestionable certainty.

Around him, the air was thick with tension, the atmosphere so charged it felt ready to erupt.

“Could it be the client wronged you? Cheng Xu, you are not new to this industry. You made such a basic mistake, and you still dare to argue? Have all your professional standards gone down the drain?”

Gao Wei, the top executive, was a balding man. Even as he spoke, the flesh on his face trembled. His scarred fingers tapped the desk, producing a harsh, grating sound.

Cheng Xu sprang to his feet. Though past thirty, he was still slender, proof of years of grueling work.

When he first entered the workforce, he had once taken the blame for something just like this. Learning from bitter experience, he had since become meticulous, always leaving himself a way out. Now he was even more certain: the company was inventing a charge, and if they wanted to condemn him, they would find a reason no matter what.

“I want to confront the client. For all these years, I have worked overtime and burned the midnight oil, leading the team again and again on the front line. Which version of a new product has not passed through my hands? This has never happened before. Not in the past, and not in the future either.”

“The evidence is conclusive. There is no need for a confrontation.”

With a single sentence, HR manager He Yun had pronounced his death sentence.

“Cheng Xu, resign and accept responsibility.”

Cheng Xu had never imagined that the knife would come from behind.

To resign in acknowledgment of fault meant that the blame lay with him, and the company would not have to pay him a single cent in compensation.

These people were truly vicious.

Cheng Xu gritted his teeth so hard he nearly cracked them. He let out a few cold laughs.

“To put it plainly, you want to lay me off, don’t you? I have worked at this company for eight years, from programmer to project manager, and then to product manager. If you pay the full legal severance, I’ll leave. That is my bottom line. If you push me too far, I do not mind taking this to court.”

“Cheng Xu, why make things so difficult?” Seeing that he would not yield, He Yun softened her tone by a few degrees. “This industry is neither that big nor that small. Let’s part on good terms. The company can even recommend you externally. But if you make a scene and earn the reputation of being difficult, who will dare hire you in the future? You are thirty-two today. Whether you switch careers or keep working in this field, opportunities will still be plentiful. But once you pass thirty-five, no company will want you anymore. Cheng Xu, people should know gratitude. The company is thinking of your future.”

Thinking of my future, my ass.

Cheng Xu nearly swore aloud.

He had toiled for eight years, only to be “optimized” out in the end. A fire had built up in his chest, and no matter what he did, he could not swallow it down.

“Either pay compensation, or we meet in court. There is no third option.”

The final negotiation ended in mutual bitterness.

HR smoothed things over and gave Cheng Xu a week off, telling him to go home and think it over carefully.

Compensation? He need not dream of it. If this really went to court, no one would come out well.

* * *

Cheng Xu took a taxi home.

Three years ago, after he and Xiang Zheng officially became a couple, he had moved into her spacious three-bedroom apartment.

Xiang Zheng was five years younger than he was. She worked in sales for a real estate company, brisk and capable, full of energy. When the housing market went mad in 2016, she became a top sales star while still young. She was more dazzling than he, a highly educated, highly intelligent coder at a major tech company.

Privately, Cheng Xu felt he had hit the jackpot by latching onto a little rich woman. But to actually live off her money, he still could not quite bring himself to do it.

The rent was split in an uneven arrangement: Cheng Xu paid the larger share, Xiang Zheng the smaller.

After all, they still had not registered their marriage.

Looking at the double-door refrigerator packed full of food, Cheng Xu felt a faint warmth rise in his heart. Xiang Zheng had given him the warmth of home.

“Ah Zheng, can you come back a little earlier today? I’ll make you something delicious. Give me a menu and I’ll cook from it!”