Both your salary and your salary will be as you wish.

Chapter 57 The Dignity That Cannot Be Retained

The calculations are hidden behind the cultivation, and the difficulties are revealed when leaving the company. The so-called workplace and relationships are ultimately a game of mutual benefit. Respect is always earned by oneself, not given by others.

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Wang Haowen, clutching the resignation letter as thin as a pancake wrapper, pushed open the door to Yu Li's office. Zhang Zhishan's roar seeped through the crack in the door, like free background music, sounding incredibly invigorating.

Yu Li ignored the roar and remained remarkably composed, but the slight upturn of her lips was still caught by the sharp-eyed Wang Haowen. Yu Li was clearly enjoying the spectacle.

He slammed his resignation letter onto Yu Li's desk. Yu Li didn't even lift her eyelids, only nodded slightly. "I'll accept the letter. I'll go through the resignation process as scheduled, but things are urgent in Shanghai. Once you've handed over things here, hurry over. We don't have much time." His words were a continuation of yesterday's, light and airy, with a hint of condescension, neither warm nor cold.

"Mr. Yu," Wang Haowen cleared his throat, speaking clearly and distinctly, "I am truly resigning. I am not going to Shanghai."

Yu Li's face froze instantly, her expression filled with disbelief. Her carefully drawn eyebrows furrowed, instantly shattering any semblance of elegance and poise. "Have you lost your mind? You'd throw away your job for a little girl?!"

"I don't want to go to Shanghai and be a lackey," Wang Haowen said, his neck stiff and nonchalant. "No matter how high the salary is, I don't want to serve you anymore."

Lying in bed last night, he was still having second thoughts. A seven-figure annual salary? To say he could just give it up so easily was pure bragging. But Wang Yuelai's words, "be a grandson," were like a curse, playing on repeat in his mind. He dreamt of the old man pointing his finger at him and cursing him incessantly. Who could stand this kind of mental pressure?

Yu Li was so angry that her lips trembled. "You have no ambition at all? Such a good opportunity, so many people would give it up, and you actually gave it up?" Her face was full of disappointment.

"The opportunity sounds appealing," Wang Haowen blurted out his thoughts, "but your bet is almost up. Can you guarantee you'll win? And those two from the Song family, they're cunning as monkeys. Those two provocative reporters from the PR department, can you say Song Yaxuan didn't deliberately let them slip by to cause trouble? If you win, they'll help you make money in Shanghai; if you lose, they'll let Chairman Wang take over Tianyi and still reap the benefits. I can smell that, can't you?"

He didn't believe his face could fool Song Yaxuan, that pretentious young lady. She was clearly using him as a tool to poach Yu Li's boyfriend. Once she had Yu Li undermined him, he would be thrown into the scrap yard without a second thought.

Yu Li's eyes flickered, but she didn't hide anything. "What kind of work doesn't involve risks? What kind of work doesn't involve hardship? You might get hit by a pebble just by going out. There's no way to avoid danger. If I had had such a good opportunity back then, I would have kowtowed to Buddha until my head bled!"

"But I'm not you. I don't want to suffer like that." Wang Haowen's self-deprecating humor returned. "When Zeng Jia broke up with me, it was because she thought I wasn't ambitious enough, that I couldn't afford a house and wouldn't admit it, and that buying one would only result in a loss. The trend was to live in a retirement apartment as a cover. You were all right to criticize me. But I squeezed my way in here because I wanted to earn more money and buy her a place in Beijing. Now she's gone. What's the point of me working so hard here? What am I doing this for?"

"Wang Haowen!" Yu Li's voice rose eight octaves in anger, "How old are you? Giving up on yourself already? Are you planning to lie down and live off your past achievements?"

"Lying down? Not really," Wang Haowen clicked his tongue, his eyes a little unfocused. "My mom, she drove a bus, she had a really strong personality, she worked day and night, and in the end she wore herself out, her heart skipped a beat and she was gone. After that, my dad and I got over it, we just made do with what we had, as long as we didn't starve, we wouldn't even dream of getting rich overnight."

"Besides, I've tried my best, but what have I accomplished? I don't think I'm cut out for this, and there's no need for me to desperately strive for the top." He shrugged, his expression shifting from cynical to that of a detached observer. "Moreover, I've seen what life at the top of the pyramid is like; it's not something an ordinary person could endure."

Yu Li stared straight at him, her eyes as if they were welded shut. If it weren't for the "crunching" sound of her gripping the coffee cup, Wang Haowen would have thought she was frozen in place.

He pushed his resignation letter forward again. "Alright, I won't take up any more of your time, Mr. Yu. Thank you for your guidance. If you have no other instructions, I'll get back to work right away."

Yu Li lowered her head, pretending to be engrossed in reading documents. But the moment Wang Haowen turned around, he caught a sharp glimpse of her hand, which was gripping the Montblanc pen, trembling violently.

Wang Haowen sneered inwardly. "Disappointed that they're not living up to their potential?" Not really. It was more like discovering that the Heaven-Slaying Sword he'd been so treasuring was actually a fragile, easily broken stick. He just wished he'd snapped it in half and thrown it in the trash sooner!

He strode briskly toward the HR office area, and just as he turned the corner, he almost bumped into Zeng Jia, who was also walking hurriedly.

Their eyes met instantly, the air froze for half a second, as if a pause button had been pressed, and then the two of them went into the human resources office area one after the other.

The office area, which is usually packed like sardine cans, is now deserted; everyone has been called to the director's office for a meeting.

Normally, meetings last only three to five minutes, and they're over in the time it takes to fart, with everyone going about their own business. But today it's been over an hour and it's still not over, clearly a show of force to intimidate them.

The two stood there like door gods, neither saying a word. After two hours of this, like hawks being kept at bay, Dong Miaomiao and her group finally emerged from the director's office like groundhogs coming out of their burrows.

Seeing the two of them, their expressions were like a dye shop, a mix of red, orange, yellow, green, cyan, blue, and purple—every color imaginable.

"You two are quite the couple, you've really managed to keep it a secret for five months straight, without letting a word out. Are you playing hide-and-seek?" Dong Miaomiao said with a mix of excitement and unease. She had always thought she was best friends with Zeng Jia, but now she just wanted to call herself a complete idiot.

Wang Haowen glanced quickly at Zeng Jia. A couple? Can they even be considered a couple now?

A fleeting, almost imperceptible hint of apology crossed Zeng Jia's face, as quick as lightning. She twitched her lips, offered no explanation, and headed straight for the director's office.

Wang Chao was lounging in the boss's chair in the director's office, watching the two of them come in one after the other. The nonchalant makeup on his face couldn't hide the sly glint in his eyes as he watched the monkey show.

He'd been annoyed by Zeng Jia for a long time! She used to be one of his underlings, always meek and subservient, feigning innocence. But ever since she latched onto Zhang Zhishan's powerful backer, she'd transformed into his personal secretary, practically standing on her own two feet in his presence. And then there's Wang Haowen, that pretty boy, constantly acting like a subservient grandson to Yu Li, his fawning obsequiousness actually managing to fool her? It's truly bizarre!

"Here!" Wang Chao pointed with his chin at the thick stack of papers on the table, as if he were handing out beggars. "Sign all of these—non-compete agreements, resignation papers—get it done quickly." His condescending tone was unmistakable.

Zeng Jia didn't even lift her eyelids, picked up a pen, and signed her name with practiced ease, as if she were signing for a package. Wang Haowen, on the other hand, carefully flipped through the document to make sure there were no hidden traps before writing his name down.

Wang Chao swept the documents away, his fake smile finally crumbling. "You two, you made a mistake and resigned voluntarily, understand? No salary or severance pay, not a penny!" He magically produced two more stacks of forms, at least thirty or forty pages thick. "Everything listed on these forms, return them all to the company. If you do, the door's over there!" Not enough? Then forget about leaving!

Zeng Jia grabbed it and flipped through it with her fingers flying. The more she looked, the colder her eyes became. This list was as long and smelly as an old lady's foot binding cloth!

Office supplies aside, every penny of "service fee" and every "little gift" Zhang Zhishan transferred, including the stone seal material he gave, and the account for the mountaineering equipment he bought for that unfortunate kid Zhang Zihao a while ago, was listed in detail. What's even more amazing is that the GUCCI Dionysus bag that Yu Li gave her was also marked at its original price.

Is this a case of trying to extort money from someone who can't win? That's incredibly shameless!

She worked overtime like a donkey, drank with clients until she had to have her stomach pumped, almost losing her life. She even held shares in Zhang Zhishan's shady companies and assets, delivered gifts and ran errands for his mistress, and even lost her boyfriend... What messed up thing didn't she handle perfectly? Now that all the necessary documents have been signed, they want to open their bloody mouths and bite off a piece of her flesh?

Zeng Jia glanced at the list in Wang Haowen's hand, clearly seeing the red wine, luxury goods, and souvenirs that Yu Li had "gifted" her. Whether it was a favor or some other pretext, everything that passed through Wang Haowen's hands was now on the list!

Wang Haowen cursed, "Damn it!" That was a really strong show of force.

Even if you put all the items on the list together, you still couldn't pay back the debt, let alone sell his blood! You couldn't even pay back the debt by dismantling and selling every part of his body!

The key question is, why should they pay it back?!

Do you think they're just powerless, inexperienced newbies who can be easily killed?

Zeng Jia smiled, and without saying a word, dragged a chair over and slammed it down on the desk opposite Wang Chao's.

Wang Haowen raised an eyebrow. This tiger girl was determined to fight to the bitter end? Fine!

He understood immediately, turned around, went outside the office, grabbed a chair, and closed the door to Wang Chao's office.