Lin Zifeng, looking distraught, barged into the general department of the company. He scanned the room, then dumped several bags on the floor with a series of thuds before heading straight to the director's office without any hesitation.
The women who were working at the moment were first taken aback, then their faces changed into ones of horror, two of the beauties even let out a gasping gasp towards the scene.
Lin Zifeng was disheveled, his clothes tattered and ragged, as if he had just returned from a beggars' convention.
"Lin Zifeng, is that you?" A pretty lady blinked, incredulously whispering the question.
Lin Zifeng had no mood to pay her any mind. He walked to the door of the director's office and entered without even knocking.
Shang Xue is a women's lingerie company under the Mei Shi Group. As such, over 80 percent of the employees were female, especially in the general department, which was all women.
The women snapped out of their stupor and started whispering to each other. Meanwhile, a few rushed over to the bags left on the floor.
"Where's my bag?"
"My bag's gone too."
"Team Leader He, this is your bag, isn't it?"
"Why is the bag in such a sorry state?"
"My DSLR camera, I borrowed it from a friend, wuwuwu..."
Mei Xuexin looked up, her brows slightly furrowed, obviously unhappy about the fact that whoever had come hadn't knocked first. However, the sight of the intruder made her face instantly freeze.
His white shirt was in shreds, his jeans had an uncanny resemblance to a beggar's, and his face had several scars.
Lin Zifeng stared at his beautiful boss, walked step by step to the front of the desk, and the fury in his eyes flickered. "Bang!" He slammed a small bag onto the desk.
"Miss, I need to take a few days off."
Mei Xue Xin's expression gradually regained its calm, even a hint of frostiness, "Where have you been these days?"
"I traveled through time and lived a few days in paradise. Then I remembered I didn't ask for a leave from Miss Mei, so I came back." Although Lin Zi Feng tried to maintain his calm, his facial expression revealed a hint of scorn.
"I was looking for you." Mei Xue Xin explained, her expression indifferent, without sincerity, as if she had lost something insignificant.
Lin Zi Feng could no longer keep his anger in check. He leaned in closer to her across the table, his eyes locked onto her flawless, beautiful face, "Miss, I may have sold myself to your family, but I am also your employee, your secretary."
"You're fine now, aren't you?" Mei Xue Xin leaned back, crossing her arms.
Lin Zi Feng's expression froze, he nearly grinded his teeth to dust, he sneered, "Should I be thankful then, Miss Mei, for sparing me?"
"No need." Mei Xue Xin paused, "Take ten thousand RMB from the finance department, have a three-day break."
"Mei Xue Xin, so my life is worth nothing to you." Lin Zi Feng slammed the table in anger.
"Watch your behavior, don't forget who your boss is and that you are my family's private property. For at least another five years, I have the right to deal with you in any way I see fit." Mei Xue Xin glanced sideways at him, picked up a file, and stopped giving him attention. She said while reading the document, "Leave."
"Mei Xue Xin..." Lin Zi Feng had somehow lost his temper all at once. Three years ago, to raise money for his father's medical treatment, Lin Zi Feng sold his youth for ten thousand RMB.
This in ancient times would be considered slavery!
"Heartless!" Lin Zi Feng cursed inwardly, turning to leave.
Mei Xue Xin secretly gazed at his departing back until Lin Zi Feng left the office, she then grabbed the phone, "This is Mei Xue Xin, give Lin Zi Feng ten thousand RMB, deduct it from my salary."
Lin Zi Feng stood outside the office, gave the office door a cold glance, and walked away.
Even when he was filled with anger, Lin Zifeng could not give up. It was not because of a contract from three years ago, but a promise. After all, the Mei family saved his father’s life. Whether it was selling his youth or signing a contract of servitude, he was a mere, ungraduated college student back then. Even if he wanted to sell himself, no one was willing to pay the price.
Therefore, Lin Zifeng was always grateful. For the past three years, he's been serving the Mei family as a male nanny, adamantly refusing any form of payment.
Mei Xuexin's mother, appreciating his diligence, quick-wittedness, and dutifulness, arranged for him to work as Mei Xuexin’s secretary as soon as he graduated. However, Mei Xuexin looked down on him and treated him like a mere servant.
A few days ago, during a trip to Mount Tai, Lin Zifeng not only had to carry Mei Xuexin’s bag, but also the bags of several colleagues. As a result, he naturally fell behind. Unexpectedly, a strong gust of wind suddenly came up and nearly blew him off the cliff. His return to life was nothing short of miraculous.
Lin Zifeng didn’t expect that not only did Mei Xuexin run back first, but she greeted him with such an attitude when she saw him.
Despite the disregard for his own life, it mattered to him after all!
Frustrated, he went back to his living place, a basement room of five to six square meters.
After placing the items in his hand on the bed, he took off his ragged clothes to check his wounds in the mirror.
Up to this point, Lin Zifeng still found it unbelievable that he didn't tumble to death after falling from a thousand-meter cliff, merely suffering from a few scrapes.
After checking his body, he also surveyed his face again. There were two scratches on his forehead and one on his left cheek, not serious, probably with no lasting scars.
Standing at 1.76 meters, Lin Zifeng had a decent appearance, not quite the Prince Charming but rather charming in a manly fashion. His only asset now was his looks, if they were ruined, it would be the end for him.
After checking, he managed to find a set of clothes to wear. He was wearing these ragged clothes because his clothes for changing were all left at the hotel. His room card and phone were lost when he fell off the cliff. The hotel's security didn't even let him in the door. Out of frustration, he directly returned home in this way.
“Sigh!” Lin Zifeng let out a sigh, leaning half onto the bed.
He picked up a long object nearby, about a meter long, quite heavy, wrapped in a layer of something that wasn’t quite cloth or leather.
Unwrapping it, there was yet another layer. After taking it off, he saw the authentic item inside, a sword. Its scabbard, black and shiny, lacked any special decoration. On the other hand, the handle was made of bronze, with a Bagua map carved on each side.
From its appearance, it seemed quite ancient. Lin Zifeng touched it lightly, held the hilt and pulled, the sword came out noiselessly. The body of the sword was also bronze, without gloss, but also not rusted. The whole body of the sword was engraved with ancient patterns.
Lin Zifeng couldn't understand these patterns, nor did he know the age of this sword. However, he knew that this sword must have a long history, because he found it inside a cave under a cliff.
After playing with it for a while, Lin Zifeng put down the sword and pulled out a bag, or you could say, a satchel carried by an ancient wandering shaman, which was also gritty. The material could not be categorized as leather or cloth, similar to that of the wrapping for the sword.
Lin Zifeng removed the stuff one by one from the inside. One was a long wooden box, over twenty centimeters long and more than ten centimeters wide. The box was lovely, with an ancient charm, and engraved with patterns. However, this box couldn't be opened, Lin Zifeng had tried many times under the cliff. Other things included an Eight Diagrams bronze mirror, several jade vases, two books, dozens of amulets, and a small sachet.
That day, when Lin Zifeng was swept off the cliff by the wind, he didn't fall directly to the bottom. Instead, he landed on a platform with a radius of about a yard, a hundred meters or so from the ground. He woke up, found his way into a cave that was even larger than the one he was staying in now.
Inside the cave, there was a skeleton sitting upright, wearing a Daoist robe. And in the center of the cave was an alchemy furnace. The alchemy furnace probably weighed about five or six hundred jin, which Lin Zifeng was unable to move, so he only brought these things back.
The two books looked very worn but had not weathered. One was a book on alchemy, and the other was on the method of cultivation, both nameless. Judging from the calligraphy and the material of the books, they appeared to be handwritten copies, and all the characters were in the ancient script.
Lin Zifeng only half understood these characters, so when he was recuperating in the cave, he had a look at them in one breath. The only thing he could understand were the names of a few elixirs. Lin Zifeng picked up the jade vases again and tried to open them one by one, but he could only open two: one was a Pellet of Fasting, the other a Minor Restoration Pill. It was by relying on these two kinds of pills that Lin Zifeng survived a life-and-death situation.
When he fell, he didn't die, but his whole body felt like it had been shattered. Even moving slightly was quite strenuous, let alone crawling out of the cave. He thought he was going to keep the skeleton company.
In despair, he discovered these items and, following the descriptions in the book, identified which type of elixir each one was. At that time, Lin Zifeng, with a desperation mindset, didn't expect the elixirs to be so effective. After consuming a Minor Restoration Pill, he woke up the next morning without any body pain. After resting for a day, he crawled out of the cave. As for the Pellet of Fasting, he had taken one back then, and up to now, he didn't feel hungry or thirsty.