Chapter Text
Shang Qinghua's brisk walk broke into a run as he saw the bus pulling into the stop ahead of him. He reached the end of the line and filed onto the bus last, wedging himself amongst the other standing passengers and hanging onto the edge of the bag rack as the bus lurched into motion.
The bus's warmth sent sweat trickling down his back, but it was too crowded for him to comfortably take off his coat. He unzipped it and stared out the window at the dark streets while he caught his breath. He'd slept through his alarm and ridden his adrenaline rush since waking, skolling an instant coffee for breakfast and hastily dressing before heading out, but standing still was making him drowsy again.
He sighed and fished his work phone out of his bag. He wouldn't have much time before his daily sync with Yue Qingyuan, so he'd better start dealing with his own inbox.
The sun had risen by the time the bus stopped outside the defence department's head office. Shang Qinghua hustled through the security gates, took the lift to the top floor, locked his personal phone in his pigeonhole, and swiped through the door into the reception area outside the Secretary's office. Yue Qingyuan's silhouette was discernible through the frosted glass of his office wall, but his acting EA, Zhang Zhaoye, wasn't there yet, so both desks outside the office were empty.
Shang Qinghua logged in and started scanning Yue Qingyuan's inbox. Less than two hundred emails over the weekend, which wasn't too bad. He finished skimming and started categorising until the sync reminder popped up. Zhang Zhaoye still hadn't arrived, so Shang Qinghua printed Yue Qingyuan's calendar. Zhang Zhaoye strolled in as Shang Qinghua came back from the printer to get his notebook.
"Are you coming to sync?" said Shang Qinghua.
"Is it eight already?" said Zhang Zhaoye. "The coffee shop was packed, I had to wait ages. I still need to print—oh, you've done it already. Legend!"
"No problem," Shang Qinghua said with a smile. You couldn't get your coffee after sync?
He tapped on Yue Qingyuan's door before opening it.
"Ah, good morning, Shang Qinghua," said Yue Qingyuan. "Is it that time already?"
"Yes, Secretary," said Shang Qinghua.
"Let me just get a cup of tea," said Yue Qingyuan.
Shang Qinghua muted the TV (it was still showing the story that had been all over the headlines for several days now; the child who'd gone missing in the Tian Gong mountain range had been found alive against all expectations) and looked over his notebook to refresh his memory. Yue Qingyuan came back and joined them at the table in front of his desk.
"What do I have on today?" he asked.
"There's nothing in your inbox that you need to read immediately. You still have three minutes that need your signature today, and five more that need to be signed this week. You have a meeting at nine with the independent investigator—she's briefing you on her report about the bribery allegations against Greenholt Nolan. You have half an hour free before the consultation on the environmental impacts of the new proposed training area, then a call with the finance department on our FTE staffing allocation. After lunch you have the Greenholt Nolan rep," Shang Qinghua rattled off. "Will you need to me to take notes for the two external meetings?"
"Please," said Yue Qingyuan.
Shang Qinghua nodded acknowledgement and continued. "Then you have your one-on-one with Shen Qingqiu, then your meeting with Qi Qingqi and Liu Mingyan on that sensitive staffing matter."
"You have the rest of the afternoon free," Zhang Zhaoye put in, craning his head to look at Yue Qingyuan's calendar.
"Yes, but Mu Qingfang has asked for a meeting about STI transmission rates across the defence force," said Shang Qinghua. "Liu Qingge also wants to attend, and after today your schedules don't align until the middle of next month."
"I'll see them today, then," said Yue Qingyuan. "And I'll see if I can clear any of those minutes before the independent investigator arrives. Anything else for today?"
"Not at this stage," said Shang Qinghua. "The procurement minute is the most urgent one. We'll be liable for a variation on the existing contract if the procurement is delayed."
"All right, I'd better get on with it," said Yue Qingyuan. "Thank you both."
Zhang Zhaoye and Shang Qinghua went back to their desks. Shang Qinghua spun on his chair to look out the window. Cang Qiong's easterly peaks were casting long shadows over the city, and the nearby river glittered in the autumn sunlight.
"Let's hope it stays quiet," said Zhang Zhaoye.
Shang Qinghua knocked on his desk. "Don't jinx it," he said.
He went to the kitchen to make himself another instant coffee and got to work, wrangling emails until the independent investigator arrived, then setting himself to finish the formal record of conversation before lunch. He spared a moment to email Liu Mingyan asking how much longer it would take to recruit a permanent replacement for Zhang Zhaoye and signed for some classified briefings the agency security adviser, Wang Guo, brought up for Yue Qingyuan.
"I won't have time to read them today," Yue Qingyuan said when Shang Qinghua tapped on his door to tell him. "Can you remind me later?"
"Yes, Secretary," said Shang Qinghua. He stored the documents in the safe and made a note for himself.
Liu Mingyan replied to tell him they were still shortlisting candidates. Shang Qinghua closed his eyes and knocked his head against his desk, then glanced sideways, but Zhang Zhaoye was engrossed in his phone and hadn't noticed.
"Thanks for the update :)," he replied.
He told Zhang Zhaoye he was going to lunch and went to meet Shen Yuan at the cafe across the road. Shen Yuan was already there when Shang Qinghua arrived; he waved to him and went to order his coffee at the counter before he sat down. Shen Yuan was furiously tapping away on his phone.
"Bro, we're not in the news at the moment. Who are you even arguing with?" said Shang Qinghua.
"There's a journalist going on about why the Greenholt Nolan report hasn't been released yet," said Shen Yuan. He read aloud, "Typical irresponsible criticism. Report's release is City Lord's decision. Pity journalists less informed than high school polisci students."
"Never change, Cucumber bro," said Shang Qinghua. Shen Yuan was famous—infamous, even—for his unique approach to social media engagement. Shang Qinghua's most prolific anti-fan had found his true calling in managing the department's communications and media branch.
"Don't call me that at work!" said Shen Yuan.
"Chill, no one's listening," said Shang Qinghua. "It's not like I'd risk outing myself as Airplane either."
They chatted for a few minutes about the latest web novel Shen Yuan had been reading until they were interrupted by Luo Binghe approaching their table. Luo Binghe nodded politely at Shang Qinghua and gazed adoringly at Shen Yuan, who smiled back affectionately.
"Binghe, will you join us?" he said.
Shang Qinghua inwardly rolled his eyes. Of course Shen Yuan would bail on one of their infrequent catch-ups to dote on his baby lamb.
"I can't stay," said Luo Binghe. "Are you having lunch here?"
"No, just coffee," said Shen Yuan.
Luo Binghe beamed at him. "Good, I'll bring you something later," he said.
"Thank you, Binghe," said Shen Yuan.
Luo Binghe brightened even further, virtually wagging his tail, and left.
"Bro, what the fuck?" Shang Qinghua said immediately. "You have him cooking for you?"
"He got upset when I tried to refuse," Shen Yuan said defensively.
"You won't be able to promote him out of Shen Qingqiu's division if you can't assess his application because of a conflict of interest," said Shang Qinghua.
"Being his mentor isn't a conflict of interest," said Shen Yuan. "And even if it was, Luo Binghe wouldn't need my help. He was the most capable grad in his cohort—it's criminal that Shen Qingqiu sidelined him into being his EA!"
"Whatever, bro," said Shang Qinghua, who wasn't particularly interested in attending another Luo Binghe Praise Hour. He checked his phone. "Shit, I need to get back for my next meeting."
He made it upstairs in time to quickly check Yue Qingyuan's email before he joined the Greenholt Nolan meeting. Afterwards, he settled in to write the record of conversation; with an unprecedented lack of interruptions, he finished within an hour. He leaned back in his chair to stretch, beginning to feel optimistic about leaving early today. He might even get out of the office before sunset!
He glanced over his to do list. His mandatory security training was due this week. He'd better get that out of the way, since Yue Qingyuan was insistent that his office wasn't exempt from keeping up with their corporate obligations. He logged into the e-learning portal and clicked impatiently through the information screens until he reached the assessment questions.
Why are your security obligations important? Select the correct answer.
A. Non-compliance with security obligations is an offence under the Espionage Act.
B. Breaches of security can cause harm to Cang Qiong's national interests.
C. Breaches of security can endanger the lives of Cang Qiong's military and diplomatic personnel.
D. All of the above.
Shang Qinghua clicked D and checked Yue Qingyuan's inbox and his own. Capability Division was asking about the procurement minute. With a pulse of irritation at Zhang Zhaoye for not having notified them, he told them it was ready to collect.
Corporate Division wanted an extension on completing the departmental Fraud and Corruption Plan since they hadn't received input from Strategy Division. He told them it was a statutory deadline that couldn't be moved.
"I'm heading off a bit early today," said Zhang Zhaoye.
"Have a good night," Shang Qinghua said automatically. He went back to the quiz.
You meet a foreign national who says they're interested in your work and invites you for a drink. What should you do? Select the correct answer.
A. Ignore them and hope they go away.
B. Politely decline and notify the agency security adviser.
C. Have a drink with them. It's fine as long as I don't talk about work.
D. Tell them they've mistaken you for someone else.
Shang Qinghua clicked B and went back to Yue Qingyuan's inbox. There was a new sitrep, coded to indicate an incident with fatalities. Shang Qinghua scanned it to glean the pertinent details
"Shit," he said with feeling.
An army helicopter had been found missing that morning; its wreckage had been found by a farmer around midday; there were three bodies found with the wreckage, all unidentified.
He sent a chat message to Ji Jue, "have you seen lqg's inbox?" and got up to knock on Yue Qingyuan's door. Yue Qingyuan, Liu Qingge and Mu Qingfang turned to look at him inquiringly.
"Sorry to interrupt. Secretary, there's a sitrep you need to look at," said Shang Qinghua. He added to Liu Qingge, "You too, sir."
Yue Qingyuan's surprise shifted to concern. He got up and went to his desk. Liu Qingge took out his phone.
"Should I leave?" Mu Qingfang asked.
"Fuck!" Liu Qingge said a moment later.
"I think I'll need you," Yue Qingyuan told Mu Qingfang. "Three people have been killed in an army helicopter crash. I'll forward you the email. Shang Qinghua, can you get Shen Yuan in here?"
"On it," said Shang Qinghua. He went out to call Shen Yuan. Ji Jue had replied, "just seen it i've texted the boss."
Shang Qinghua replied, "he's seen it," while Shen Yuan's phone rang.
"coming over," Ji Jue replied.
"There's been an incident," Shang Qinghua told Shen Yuan. "I've forwarded you the email."
"What kind of—" There was a short silence, then Shen Yuan said, "Fuck!"
"Yeah," said Shang Qinghua.
"I'm coming over," said Shen Yuan. "It isn't in the media yet, at least. Can we stop the farmer from telling anyone?"
"He's a civilian. What do you want the army to do, hold him at gunpoint?" said Shang Qinghua.
"Ugh," said Shen Yuan. He hung up.
Shang Qinghua waited till he and Ji Jue arrived then crowded back into Yue Qingyuan's office with them. Shen Yuan took the remaining chair while the two chiefs of staff stood by the wall. Yue Qingyuan was having a measured conversation on his phone; Liu Qingge a tense conversation on his.
"I was hoping to leave early today," Shang Qinghua said under his breath. Ji Jue grimaced in commiseration. As Yue Qingyuan got off the phone, the lead story on his TV changed.
"Secretary," said Shang Qinghua. He nodded at the screen, which was now showing footage of the crash site.
"For fuck's sake," said Shen Yuan. "Secretary, you'll need to make a statement as soon as possible."
"Yes, I thought we'd better work something up together given the timing," said Yue Qingyuan. "Liu Qingge and I will also need a more detailed brief on the incident. That was the City Lord's chief of staff on the phone; I've assured her we'll have more information first thing in the morning. Mu Qingfang, will you want to clear the brief?"
"I'd better," said Mu Qingfang.
"Liu Qingge, did you get confirmation all the casualties were soldiers?" said Yue Qingyuan.
"Most likely," said Liu Qingge. "There's a unit with three soldiers AWOL today."
"Shang Qinghua, please make sure Wei Qingwei also sees the brief, in case any equipment failure was involved. You can send it to all of us for concurrent clearance when it's ready. And let Qi Qingqi I'll need an all staff message to send no later than tomorrow morning."
"Anything else for tonight, Secretary?" said Shang Qinghua.
"That's all for now," said Yue Qingyuan.
The senior executive dispersed to their respective offices. Ji Jue and Shang Qinghua huddles together at Shang Qinghua's desk to determine what information they needed and who could provide it. When they'd divided the work between themselves, Ji Jue went back to his own desk outside Liu Qingge's office.
Shang Qinghua unlocked his computer. The training portal had timed out without saving his progress. He glared impotently at the dialogue box and smacked his mouse button to close the window before he made his first call.
Once he'd contacted everyone on his list and followed up with a written request, he settled in to catch up on admin while he waited. He was too irritated to resume his mandatory training, but he logged into the finance portal to complete next month's budget forecast, circulated the agenda and action items for this week's div heads meeting, and filed the actioned emails in Yue Qingyuan's inbox.
He'd asked for input to the brief within an hour. When he checked his inbox an hour and a half later, he was pleasantly surprised to find half the divisions he'd called had already provided their input. He started calling the others, compiling the input into the brief template while he talked.
One of the branch heads said belligerently that Shang Qinghua wouldn't get his input until the following morning, since all his staff had finished for the day. Shang Qinghua patiently explained that the Secretary was briefing the City Lord at open of business and needed his brief before that meeting, not after. The branch head said shortly that he'd write it himself and hung up.
Shang Qinghua took a deep breath, in and out, and rolled his shoulders.
"how's it going," Ji Jue messaged him.
"just had to explain the linear nature of time to a branch head"
"😐"
"yeah," Shang Qinghua said.
He abruptly ran out of steam. He started out the window at the city lights for a few minutes, then did a search for real estate listings. He jotted down some calculations he'd already done a dozen times. Despite everything, he was years away from saving enough for a deposit on his own place—even if bought a unit an hour away from work, like his current rented flat. Anything closer to work was even more expensive.
He flicked over from the sales to the rental view, experimentally holding the idea of giving up. He could afford to rent a nicer place, even one closer to work. But he'd already moved twice in the last three years when his landlord had sold his flat, which was bad enough. And the thought of his painstakingly accumulated savings being siphoned into rent increases gave him chest pain.
Yue Qingyuan came out to ask him to have dinner delivered for everyone still in the office. Shang Qinghua put through an online order for delivery and compiled more briefing input while he waited, then went down to the foyer to collect the food when it arrived.
He laid the food out on the coffee table in Yue Qingyuan's reception area while Liu Qingge, Mu Qingfang, Shen Yuan and Ji Jue trickled in.
"How much longer till the briefing's finished?" Liu Qingge asked.
"I'm waiting on a couple more areas. I'll call them again after this," said Shang Qinghua.
"Let's not talk about work while we eat," said Yue Qingyuan. There was a short silence, then, in a tone of obligate camaraderie, he said, "Shang Qinghua, you're looking at buying an investment property?"
"Uh, no," said Shang Qinghua.
"Probably a good idea," said Mu Qingfang. "Mine have been more trouble than they're worth."
Liu Qingge nodded agreement and the conversation turned to the troubles of landlording and the hassles Yue Qingyuan's partner had been having getting their holiday home built. Shang Qinghua listened without speaking, cramming as much food into his mouth as he could stomach. He piled a plate with seconds for later and drifted unobtrusively back to his desk, where he read the latest contribution to the brief. His heart sank.
"Secretary?" he called. "The victims have been identified. One of them was from Huan Hua."
Liu Qingge groaned. Shang Qinghua joined him in spirit. He was already going to be sitting through so many meetings about this incident, and now they'd all be twice as long because Shen Qingqiu and Liu Qingge would apparently spontaneously combust if they ever let a point pass without arguing over it.
Yue Qingyuan froze for a moment, then sighed deeply. "I'll text Shen Qingqiu," he said.
After a moment, he reported that Shen Qingqiu was coming back to the office. He intended to send the cable to Huan Hua himself, rather than risk Lao Gongzhu hearing about it from the media first.
"He also wants to know why we're only being told now that one of the casualties is from Huan Hua," he said.
Liu Qingge bristled. "The army doesn't work for Shen Qingqiu," he said.
As everyone dispersed again, Shang Qinghua updated the brief with the additional input. He went dispiritedly back to his real estate search. It wasn't as though he was going to find a place he could currently afford, so he flipped the sort to start with the most expensive listings and started browsing through the photos of luxury houses and apartments to pass the time.
A banner ad for Honey followed him through several pages, offering an asterisked guarantee that paid users would find a partner within a year. He'd seen Honey ads before, but they'd been discreetly promoting their service as a secondary income source. This one must be targeted to the kind of person who had seven figures to drop on real estate.
Shang Qinghua drummed his fingers absentmindedly against his desk and let himself slip into a daydream of being paid generously to flatter an old rich guy. That kind of job had its downsides, but at least he'd never have to read another email.
By the time he received the last of the briefing input, he was struggling to keep his eyes open. He finished editing the compiled brief, stripping out acronyms, circumlocutions and irrelevant detail, and sent it to everyone who needed to clear it. He confirmed Yue Qingyuan didn't need anything else, then he was finally able to leave.
Yue Qingyuan called the division heads together for a meeting as soon as he and Liu Qingge had finished briefing the City Lord. The City Lord had ordered Yue Qingyuan to conduct a review, which he delegated to Mu Qingfang to lead.
"Should we consider conducting the review jointly with Huan Hua?" Mu Qingfang asked.
"Absolutely not!" Liu Qingge and Shen Qingqiu said unison. Shen Qingqiu glared at Liu Qingge, who looked taken aback to find himself in agreement before he glared back.
"The incident is clearly within our jurisdiction, not Huan Hua's," said Yue Qingyuan. "Have there been any developments since the last brief?"
"The coroner informed me this morning that the soldiers were drunk when they died," said Mu Qingfang.
There was a dismayed silence, broken by Shen Yuan muttering, "For fuck's sake."
"Surely that part can be kept confidential," said Yue Qingyuan.
"If it leaks, it will look worse than if we released the information up front," said Shen Yuan.
"We have privacy obligations—" said Qi Qingqi.
"To protect the reputations of three idiots who had no such consideration for themselves?" said Shen Qingqiu.
"What about the army's reputation?" said Liu Qingge.
"If it can only be protected by lying, it isn't worth protecting," said Shen Qingqiu.
Liu Qingge frowned but didn't disagree.
"We're not contemplating lying, only how to present the facts in our best interest," said Yue Qingyuan.
He moved on before Shen Qingqiu could utter the retort clearly forming on his lips, turning the division heads' attention to the review's terms of reference.
Shang Qinghua dutifully took notes and watched the clock. None of the other attendees seemed to share his desire to get out of this meeting; they haggled over every point discussed in exhaustive detail, only moving on at Yue Qingyuan's insistence.
Shang Qinghua could feel his brain shutting down, one neuron at a time. He started counting the seconds, betting with himself how many would pass before he could escape and get another coffee. He'd already decided to buy as many as he wanted this week, having been freshly reminded it would make only a fractional difference to his savings balance.
Zhang Zhaoye was at his desk by the time Shang Qinghua got out.
"What happened to our sync?" he asked.
"I cancelled it last night," said Shang Qinghua. "Have a look at Yue Qingyuan's emails."
He went out to get himself a coffee and got to work, trying to stay on tope of his usual workload while fielding requests from all comers related to the incident—they were inundated with media requests for comment now, and Mu Qingfang would need a team for his review, which meant approval for recruitment and office space allocation, and Liu Qingge needed to be kept abreast of everything Yue Qingyuan knew and vice versa, and Shen Qingqiu insisted Yue Qingyuan needed to make time to personally call Lao Gongzhu, and Qi Qingqi thought he should make an all staff address so it wouldn't look like the senior executive didn't care about the effect of the incident on staff wellbeing, and and and …
Shang Qinghua had the familiar sick feeling of knowing he had to keep every ball in the air—he'd be on the hook if anything related to the incident slipped through cracks, since it was this week's highest priority issue—while maintaining awareness of all the other business that passed through Yue Qingyuan's office, since he'd also be on the hook if he missed whatever was going to become next week's highest priority.
Zhang Zhaoye kept interrupting as Shang Qinghua tried to concentrate, bemoaning the impossibility of re-organising Yue Qingyuan's calendar and asking for advice several times an hour on how he should prioritise everyone whose meeting had been postponed. He was impervious to Shang Qinghua's repetitions of, "Have you called them to ask?" and "You'll need to check with the Secretary."
By Friday afternoon, Shang Qinghua felt more dead than alive. The office lights were too loud and every one of Zhang Zhaoye's keyboard taps and mouse clicks scraped across his skin. The initial flurry of emails had subsided and Yue Qingyuan's inbox was unsettlingly quiet; it had been twenty minutes since he'd received an email. There was probably something Shang Qinghua should be doing, but his thoughts slipped away from him when he tried to think.
He went out for a coffee to clear his head and nearly ran into Shen Qingqiu as he passed the first aid room next to the lift.
Shen Qingqiu was saying to someone behind him, "I'm not going to apologise for—"
He broke off when he saw Shang Qinghua and sharply pulled the door closed.
"Sorry, sorry," Shang Qinghua said automatically. He moved out of the way.
"Hey!" Liu Qingge yanked the door open, glaring at Shen Qingqiu, and stopped dead when he saw Shang Qinghua. Shang Qinghua nodded to him and hurried out through the security gates before either of them could snap at him.
He detoured to see Liu Mingyan on his way back. Her office was empty when he arrived, but the door was open, so he went in to wait. There was a marked-up document on her desk. He inadvertently read the first line and turned his head to read the rest.
Liu Mingyan writes danmei?! About her brother?! About her brother and Shen Qingqiu?!
A shadow moved outside and he hastily sat back in Liu Mingyan's visitor chair before she came in.
"Shang Qinghua?" she said. Her eyes darted to the document and back to him, almost too quickly to see.
Shang Qinghua suppressed his shock and smiled at her brightly. "I just wanted to ask you about the EA recruitment round! I hope this isn't a bad time?"
"Not at all," she said. She placed her bag strategically on her desk to cover her writing (presumably hers? It must be hers). "We're expediting the process as much as possible. We may be able to hold the interviews as soon as four or five weeks from now."
Shang Qinghua thanked her and escaped back to his desk to come to terms his with dual realisations. One: Shen Qingqiu and Liu Qingge hadn't been having a work meeting in the first aid room. Two: Liu Mingyan was an RPF writer. He wondered if she wrote for herself, or if her work was available online. If it was, they wouldn't be site buddies; his novel hadn't been danmei, though he might have been happier with how it had turned out if it had been.
He had a sudden urge to cry and retreated to a bathroom stall to compose himself. He'd been excited when he'd been offered his first public service job, thinking that once he had a steady income he'd be able to write without having to pander to his readers' tastes. He'd even started a new novel in the first few year. But as he'd worked his way through several promotions it had become harder and harder to make himself do anything once he finished work.
He'd kept writing a bit over the weekend for a while. That had slipped too. When he'd most recently opened his writing folder, the last modified date had depressed him so much that he'd closed it again. And that had been before he'd been promoted to Yue Qingyuan's chief of staff, which, though it had been barely a year ago, felt like an eternity.
He couldn't make himself concentrate for the rest of the day. After spending the afternoon listlessly organising Yue Qingyuan's chaotic inbox and re-reading to make sure he hadn't missed anything, he confirmed Yue Qingyuan didn't need anything and left.