Chapter 57: Old Friends Deserve a Hug

No matter how turbulent her emotions were—like wild horses galloping or stormy seas raging—since Su Qinghu had taken on this task, she had to see it through.

At 4:30 in the afternoon, Su Qinghu handed in the third draft she’d revised as requested. The supervising editor nodded approvingly. “You’re picking things up quickly, young lady. Looks like you’ll be able to handle assignments on your own soon.”

Su Qinghu let out a quiet sigh of relief. “As long as there are no issues, that’s good. Thank you for your hard work.”

Praise or not wasn’t the point. What mattered was, from the looks of it, she’d be able to get off work on time~~~

Back at her desk, Su Qinghu started reviewing the day’s work.

As a student from an unrelated major, wasn’t the first month—or at least the first fifteen days—supposed to be mostly observation? How had she ended up jumping right in?

She didn’t exactly have a mature, experienced face, did she?

Touching her own face, Su Qinghu couldn’t help but wonder: these people just handed her tasks directly—weren’t they worried they’d end up having to fix her mistakes themselves?

“Xiao Su.” Sister Li called out to her.

Su Qinghu looked over. Sister Li was smiling. “Tomorrow at work, you’ll need to pitch some story ideas. Not too many—just two will do.”

Su Qinghu: “???”

Seriously? She was still unfamiliar with the newspaper office. She’d only figured out what a story pitch was by watching the morning meeting…

Sister Li asked, “Any problem?”

“…I guess not.” Su Qinghu sighed, both curious and helpless. She asked, “Do all new reporters here start working right away?”

This process felt a little odd…

And—

Su Qinghu drew a half-circle in front of her face, then pointed to her own eyes. “Also, is it normal for everyone to stare at newcomers like this?”

She hadn’t noticed anything strange in the morning, but by afternoon, she’d lost count of how many people had come by to “observe” her.

Their looks weren’t exactly amazed, and their words were polite and reserved, so it wasn’t like she was some rare animal, nor were they just admiring her looks.

So maybe it was a tradition for senior staff to check out the newbies?

“Hahaha.” Sister Li laughed so hard she nearly teared up. When she finally stopped, she explained, “They heard there was a pretty girl in our department, so they found excuses to come by and have a look. But they didn’t want to scare you, so they tried to act restrained.”

The air went quiet for a few seconds.

Su Qinghu sighed, “They could be a bit more obvious about it… Their facial expressions were so well-controlled…”

That was what had made her uncertain, thinking it was some kind of office tradition.

Sister Li was amused by her. After wiping her eyes, she tapped Su Qinghu and said, “By the way, you should work on your physical fitness. You need to build up your strength.”

Su Qinghu instantly grew wary, even a little cautious. “Sister Li, we’re just reporters, right?”

“We are,” Sister Li said, her smile fading as she looked at Su Qinghu seriously. “But if there’s an urgent assignment and we want to beat other newspapers to the story, we have to run faster. Sometimes, you need to be able to… protect yourself.”

Su Qinghu: …So being a reporter isn’t at all like she’d imagined?

“Don’t worry, Sister Li. I’ll work on my fitness.”

“Good.”

“Oh, right, Sister Li—at today’s interview, those two women wanted to give me something. Why couldn’t I accept it?” Su Qinghu hesitated, then asked, “It seemed like even if I paid for it, you wouldn’t have let me take it?”

“We’re on different sides. There was no third party present. Even if you paid, who could prove it?” Sister Li shook her head. “If something happened, how would you prove your innocence? Xiao Su, you can never be too careful. When we’re out on assignment, we have to protect ourselves, no matter what, now or in the future.”

Su Qinghu saw her fall briefly into memory and felt a chill. She’d been too naive.

People in this era might be honest, hardworking, and optimistic, but it was only because the majority kept the minority of bad actors in check that things seemed so positive.

Where there are people, there are all kinds.

“Thank you for the advice, Sister Li,” Su Qinghu said sincerely.

Sister Li smiled, then confirmed, “You’ll be able to pitch two stories tomorrow morning?”

“I can.”

Su Qinghu replied with a bright smile, then went back to reviewing her materials. She hadn’t been given any detailed assignments yet. Even though she’d been told to start in the photography team, her mentor wasn’t around, so she could only do her best as a newcomer.

Time ticked by. At 5:30, Su Qinghu started to get excited—it was almost time to get off work~~~

She’d been free for years, so this kind of clock-in, clock-out job was a novelty. But who doesn’t like getting off work on time?

At 5:40, Su Qinghu began quietly tidying her desk, aiming to be able to drop everything and leave the moment the clock struck quitting time.

“You two aren’t busy right now, are you?”

The director walked in from the doorway, looking at Sister Li and Su Qinghu, and got straight to the point.

“Where to?” Sister Li stood up. “It’s Xiao Su’s first day. She’s not familiar with the paper yet, and probably hasn’t told her family about the flexible hours. Let her go home first—don’t make her family worry.”

The director didn’t nod or disagree, just gave them a location.

Before Sister Li could react, Su Qinghu smiled, “I’ll go with Sister Li. That place is close to where I live.”

The director nodded. “Alright, you two go together. After the interview, Su Qinghu can go straight home. Sister Li, just bring the materials back.”

With that, Sister Li and Su Qinghu grabbed their gear and headed out.

On the way to the bus stop, Sister Li quickly reviewed the interview outline in her head, then quietly went over it with Su Qinghu, asking if she had anything to add.

Su Qinghu had read plenty of reports about catching thieves, but Sister Li was a veteran reporter—she’d probably done many interviews like this. Even without notes, every question she listed was clear and logical, step by step.

Su Qinghu shook her head. “Nothing for now.”

“That’s fine. If you think of anything during the interview, just let me know,” Sister Li reminded her, then pulled her onto the bus without even checking the route—she got on, called out their stop, paid, and tucked away the ticket the conductor tore off.

“Sister Li, have you memorized the city map and all the bus routes?” Su Qinghu asked quietly.

Sister Li laughed. “Not all of them, but I know the main areas pretty well.”

They got off at the nearest stop. As soon as they stepped off, Sister Li took off at a run. “Keep up! Hurry!”

Su Qinghu was stunned for a moment, but didn’t have time to wonder why. She just grabbed her camera and dashed after the charging Sister Li.

“Sister Li, why are we running? We’re all old friends here—shouldn’t we at least hug?” A tense female voice called from behind. “If nothing else, we could at least shake hands!”

Without looking back, Sister Li urged Su Qinghu to speed up, then called out, “Come on, we’re old friends—no need to get all touchy-feely!”"