The next morning, when Bai Sijun woke up, Mei Yuchen was curled up sleeping soundly beside him.
He didn’t know when Mei Yuchen fell asleep. He vaguely remembered that shortly after he finished speaking, he heard the steady sound of breathing behind him.
Getting up seemed to make some noise, and Mei Yuchen, still in a dream, furrowed his brows slightly. He shifted from lying on his side to lying on his back, and the shoulder-length strands of hair slid along the contours of his shoulders, revealing a slender and fair neck.
Bai Sijun stared at it for a moment. The term “swan neck” was usually used to describe women, but he felt it didn’t seem out of place on Mei Yuchen. The protruding Adam’s apple added a unique beauty to the silent elegance.
Almost involuntarily, he extended his index finger and twirled a strand of Mei Yuchen’s hair.
The shiny hair wasn’t particularly soft; each time he twirled it halfway, it would automatically spring open, unable to wind around his finger.
He wondered what Mei Yuchen would look like with short hair and suddenly wanted to see.
The vibration of his phone snapped him out of his childish game. He quickly picked up his phone from the bedside table, fearing that the abrupt vibration might wake Mei Yuchen.
Glancing at the phone screen, he saw it was a call from the chief editor. He suddenly had a bad feeling.
He answered the call outside the bedroom, still not daring to believe, “Go to the office now?”
It was Saturday, and it was not even eight o’clock. Bai Sijun couldn’t recall any plans for the company on this day.
As usual, the chief editor didn’t explain the matter over the phone. He just told Bai Sijun to arrive at the office before nine for a meeting. Judging from the chief editor’s tone, it was probably an urgent situation.
Without thinking too much, Bai Sijun headed downstairs, but as he took his coat from the hanger, he suddenly remembered that he had promised Mei Yuchen last night not to leave him again.
If Mei Yuchen woke up and found him gone, he would probably be upset.
He returned to the study on the second floor, found a sticky note, and quickly wrote a line: “Emergency at the company, I’m leaving first.” The handwriting was a bit sloppy, and after looking at it for two seconds, Bai Sijun felt dissatisfied. He tore it off and rewrote it neatly.
After finishing, he added a line at the end: “I’ll buy you snacks after.”
He stuck the note on the bedside and left Mei Yuchen’s villa. He thought the company matter shouldn’t take too much time, so he left his computer, charger, and other things at Mei Yuchen’s place, only taking his phone and wallet as he hurriedly left.
When he arrived at the office, it was already past nine. He opened the door to the meeting room in surprise, only to find the spacious room occupied by the chief editor, the deputy editor, two other colleagues, and Liang Ru.
If he remembered correctly, the chief editor had clearly mentioned in the work group, asking everyone to come to the office for a meeting at nine.
Bai Sijun instinctively asked, “Where are the others?”
The deputy editor adjusted his glasses and said, “Everyone has something to do.”
Bai Sijun immediately understood. The chief editor hadn’t mentioned the reason for the meeting in the group, and experienced colleagues knew it wouldn’t be something good. Hence, they found various reasons to decline. Only honest people like him and two other colleagues, plus the newcomer Liang Ru, obediently came.
Indeed, it wasn’t good news. A Japanese detective novel introduced by Hongtu Culture last year was exposed to be plagiarized by the translator. Now, it was causing a stir on Douban and Tieba.
Before Hongtu obtained the copyright, fans had already translated the novel on Tieba. The editor failed to confirm this beforehand. Now, the wild translator claimed that Hongtu’s published version copied his translation.
Determining plagiarism between translations was challenging since the original text was readily available. Even if the translation was a creative adaptation based on the original, it still couldn’t escape the framework of the source text. Therefore, there were inevitably many similarities.
The problem arose when the wild translator added his original translation to the version published by Hongtu without pointing it out. In Hongtu’s version, the translation appeared unchanged.
Later on, after a careful comparison, it was indeed suspicious that Hongtu’s version borrowed extensively, and public opinion currently leaned towards the wild translator’s side.
However, this was not the biggest issue. The major problem was that the responsible editor for this novel, Huang Qian, had already switched jobs before the new year. Currently, there was no one in the company to take responsibility.
Bai Sijun had a very bad premonition because, when he was still an assistant editor last year, he helped Huang Qian proofread this novel.
Sure enough, after the chief editor explained the situation, his gaze fell directly on Bai Sijun. In an uncompromising tone, he said, “As far as I know, you were involved in proofreading this novel. Now, I hope you take the initiative to shoulder the responsibility.”
“Wait a moment,” Bai Sijun quickly interrupted, “I did participate in proofreading, but it was only to check for typos. I didn’t confirm the content of the book.”
Proofreading is a complex job. Sometimes, to confirm a minor point mentioned in the book, it might take most of the day. This was the responsibility of the editor, and it had nothing to do with anyone else. Bai Sijun only helped check for typos after Huang Qian finalized it and had no idea that there was already a translated version on Tieba.
If this could be linked to his responsibility, then the deputy editor and chief editor, who were responsible for the second review and final review, also shared responsibility.
Of course, Bai Sijun didn’t dare to say these thoughts out loud. The chief editor continued, “Whether you and Huang Qian confirmed the content is something we cannot know. I’m asking you now, if you don’t handle it, who will?”
Bai Sijun frowned and glanced at the other two colleagues; one was drinking water, and the other was looking at their phone, both looking like they didn’t want to get involved.
There was no choice. Bai Sijun felt wronged, but pushing it to others wouldn’t make it right either.
He clenched his knees under the table, forcefully suppressing the anger in his heart, and said, “For such a significant matter, I feel like I don’t have the ability to handle it.”
The chief editor immediately said, “Whether you can handle it is one thing, whether you go to handle it is another.”
Bai Sijun gritted his teeth and didn’t know how to retort.
Then the deputy editor said, “Don’t put too much pressure on yourself. The situation is already like this, and we can only do our best to remedy it. The chief editor and I will handle the online matters. You should contact Huang Qian and those two translators.”
The chief editor added, “This is a great opportunity for you to gain experience. We believe in you, so we’re entrusting you with this matter.”
Bai Sijun’s mouth twitched. Did he really look so easy to bully?
Anyone with half a brain could see that contacting Huang Qian and the two translators would likely involve a lot of squabbling and might end up being fruitless.
Suddenly, an idea popped into his head. If he resigned and left right now, who could the chief editor push this matter onto?
Once this idea took root, it kept beckoning Bai Sijun like a devil.
He remained silent, not saying anything, and his mind fantasized about slamming his laptop shut, yelling at the chief editor and deputy editor, “I’m not doing this anymore!”
The scene would undoubtedly be spectacular.
However, after a few seconds, he dispelled this thought. He suddenly thought of Mei Yuchen.
If he resigned, then Mei Yuchen would truly have no one to look after him. He didn’t want to break his promise the day after making it.
In the end, Bai Sijun sighed in resignation and said to the chief editor, “I understand.”
The two colleagues went straight home, and the chief editor and deputy editor, for some reason, left the company. Liang Ru asked if Bai Sijun needed help, but both of them knew deep down that the industry rookie Liang Ru couldn’t help at all.
In the deserted company, Bai Sijun was alone. He first called Huang Qian, and her attitude was as expected.
“I’m no longer with Hongtu. What’s the use of contacting me?”
“But you were the editor for that book…”
“Regardless of whether I was the editor or not, the fact is I’ve left Hongtu, and I have no connection to this anymore.”
After saying this, Huang Qian hung up. Bai Sijun patiently tried again with the landline, but this time, Huang Qian’s phone was turned off.
Bai Sijun suddenly felt a bit disheartened. His dream was to become an editor and one day see his name on the information page of a book. He had worked hard for over four years for this day, but for some people, the “responsibility” in the title of an editor seemed hardly worth mentioning.
He didn’t believe Huang Qian would keep her phone off the whole day, so every few minutes, he alternated between the phone and the landline. At the same time, he also contacted Hongtu’s translator. The translator vehemently claimed he didn’t plagiarize but refused to provide any explanation. Eventually, he also ignored Bai Sijun’s calls.
While searching online for similar cases and studying breach of contract responsibilities in contracts, Bai Sijun also had to confirm the plagiarism summary compiled by the wild translator. He felt like one computer was not enough.
After working for who knows how long, his phone suddenly rang with a low battery alert. Bai Sijun, with a headache, went to his colleague’s desk to find a charger but found nothing after searching for half the time.
His charger and computer were all at Mei Yuchen’s place. If he had known the situation, he would have prepared and brought them along. However, even if he took a taxi to Mei Yuchen’s place now, it would take two hours round trip, and he simply didn’t have that time.
After hesitating for a while, he finally called Mei Yuchen. The call was quickly answered, and he said, “Mei…”
He was too tired to say the second word. Anyway, Mei Yuchen was the one calling him by his last name, so following suit shouldn’t be inappropriate.
“Can you help me by bringing the charger and computer to the office?”
On the other end of the phone, Mei Yuchen didn’t answer immediately. Bai Sijun suddenly felt a bit uncertain. Thinking of Mei Yuchen’s aversion to trouble, he thought he would likely refuse.
However, after a short while, Mei Yuchen’s calm voice drifted in, “Wait for me.”
