He was sure this was Lu Zhou.
Huang Guangming was about to turn around and leave but Lu Zhou grabbed his shoulder.
“The f*ck? Why are you leaving…”
Huang Guangming stood there and sighed.
“I’m embarrassed to see myself like this, just let me go…”
Lu Zhou couldn’t help but interrupt him.
“No, screw that!”
F*ck sake!
I haven’t seen this a*shole for years, and he treats me like this…
Long gone was the cocky and obnoxious Guangming… Lu Zhou felt a little distant now.
When did my brother become like this?
Especially that hairline…
Lu Zhou nearly didn’t recognize him.
After a moment of silence, Huang Guangming spoke.
“You look like you’re surprised, in a bad way.”
Lu Zhou smiled and said, “Of course not! I’m just a little emotional. I haven’t seen you in six years, and you’ve changed… a lot.”
Huang Guangming sighed and said, “… It’s been six years, and you still don’t know when you’re being offensive.”
Wait.
Am I?
Lu Zhou thought about it and didn’t know how he was being offensive.
Wang Peng closed the car door and walked over.
“You know him?”
Lu Zhou was in a good mood, and he responded, “Yeah, an old friend of mine.”
Huang Guangming looked at Wang Peng and said, “And you are?”
Lu Zhou was about to speak, but Wang Peng spoke first.
“Wang Peng, driver.”
“Nice to meet you.” Huang Guangming took off his safety hat and asked, “Why do you have a male driver?”
Faced with this weird question, Lu Zhou said, “… Have you ever seen a CEO with a female driver?”
Huang Guangming thought for a second and said, “I guess you’re right.”
Lu Zhou looked at the factory as he asked, “You’re working at… HiSilicon?”
“Yeah…” Huang Guangming awkwardly scratched his head and said, “I switched majors. I was too embarrassed to say, but I didn’t switch to finance; I switched to automation instead.”
“… Why didn’t you tell me?” Lu Zhou sighed and said, “I would have persuaded you otherwise.”
“… Forget about it, bro.” Huang Guangming sighed and said, “It’s in the past.”
Automation workers received little pay and had to work harder than programmers.
Huang Guangming was doing pretty well for himself, and he had a pretty good master’s supervisor. Even though his academic abilities were average, and his major wasn’t popular, he was still given an opportunity to work at Huawei.
However, Huang Guangming was the type of person who was average at everything he did.
This was an advantage when he was doing his master’s. His supervisor didn’t ignore him, nor did his supervisor pay too much attention to him.
But that blabbering mouth…
His friends might think it was funny, but his colleagues thought otherwise.
All in all, he earned a couple of grand in RMB per month, doing a highly stressful job. Even though he wasn’t even in his thirties yet, his hairline was clearly receding.
“Honestly, if I knew it was going to be this stressful, I wouldn’t have changed majors.”
Lu Zhou wanted to say mathematics wasn’t easier either, but he still couldn’t help but ask, “Then why did you switch majors?”
Huang Guangming sighed and said, “My mom told me to. She said she has a cousin in a car factory. She heard that the factory workers have easy jobs, and they all majored in automation.”
Huang Guangming went from an automation major to being a factory safety officer.
His mom didn’t have the slightest clue what automation was, but Huang Guangming should have at least did some research himself.
“… By the way, why did you study mathematics in the first place?”
“My mom made me.” Huang Guangming sighed and said, “Remember? I had a cousin in accounting, and she studied mathematics, so my mom made me major in mathematics as well…”
Lu Zhou: “…”
Okay then.
Everything makes sense now.
After all, this was Lu Zhou’s roommate, so he still wanted to help him.
Lu Zhou felt bad seeing him like this.
Lu Zhou went silent for a while and asked, “Want to go back to school?”
“Forget about it, I know what you’re going to say…” Huang Guangming shook his head and said, “I’m not smart enough to be in academia. I’m just happy you still remember me. If I go back to school, I’m going to do horribly, and people are going to blame you… I can’t do that to you.”
Lu Zhou understood what Huang Guangming was thinking, so he nodded and said, “No one will blame me. You’re overthinking this, but it’s your life, so I won’t make your decisions for you. It’s just that if you want to go back to school… Tell me.”
Huang Guangming was a little hesitant, but he soon smiled and said, “Haha, thanks in advance then… Want a smoke?”
“I don’t smoke… You’re allowed to smoke here?” Lu Zhou looked around and tried to look for a non-smoking sign.
“Not in the factory, but you can smoke outside. I came out here for a cigarette break and happened to bump into you.” Huang Guangming took out a cigarette and said, “Most people aren’t allowed inside. There’s even a 100,000 yuan reward for catching a corporate spy. But since you’re an academician, you can probably visit. Do you want me to take you?”
Lu Zhou was about to reject his offer when the factory door slowly opened. A group of people in suits walked out of the factory.
Huang Guangming looked back and immediately threw his cigarette on the ground.
The person leading the group was the head of the HiSilicon semiconductor industrial factory, Meng Zhongbiao.
Lu Zhou: “Who is that?”
Huang Guangming gulped and spoke.
“… Factory manager.”
Being caught slacking off…
I can forget about my salary bonus…