Yang Ruoqian had found a crack.
It was thin.
It was ugly.
It smelled faintly of office meetings.
But it was a crack.
At three-thirty, the reviewer asked whether personal thank-you letters should affect quarterly evaluation.
Yang looked at the question for a full ten seconds.
Then he looked at Chang Zhiqing.
"This is important."
Chang Zhiqing's expression became alert.
This was normally bad.
When she was relaxed, Yang still had room to move.
When she was alert, a harmless sentence might be pinned to the wall, labeled, sterilized, and turned into process before he could enjoy it.
He chose his words carefully.
"Employee effort should be seen."
Chang Zhiqing nodded.
"Yes."
"Creators' thanks are direct evidence."
Her pen paused.
Good.
A pause meant friction.
Friction meant meetings.
Meetings meant time.
Time meant money burning quietly under fluorescent lights.
Yang continued before anyone could save the room.
