<h4>Chapter 24: Absenteeism</h4>


    Trantor: Sparrow Trantions Editor: Sparrow Trantions


    The next morning, while lying on his bed, Zhao Yao felt something wet licking his face.


    As he opened his eyes, his adorable cat Mango, was on his bed staring nkly at him with its tongue out.


    “What are you licking me for?” Zhao Yao asked helplessly while cing Mango back on the floor. Looking at the other side of his bed, Matcha, with its underside faced up, let out a loud growl. Recallingst night, Zhao Yao wondered how long he had stayed up ying with his phone again.


    Looking at Matcha’s fat white belly, Zhao Yaomented, ” Stupid cat, you just seem to get fatter every day.”


    Zhao Yao proceeded to walk out of his room and saw Elizabeth lying on the floor, in front of an empty cat bowl. She then tapped the empty cat bowl and looked up at Zhao Yao.


    “Don’t we have an automatic cat feeder?” Zhao Yao asked.


    “I don’t like the taste and I’m craving for something,” Elizabeth replied. “I want to eat the cat rice you made yesterday.” As she was speaking, Elizabeth threw up onto the floor.


    Zhao Yao took a closer look at the mess Elizabeth made, and it seemed to be partially digested cat food.


    This clearly shows that not only did Elizabeth consume the cat food but also took in a greater amount than thest time she had it, leading to her indigestion and her body’s reaction to it.


    “You know that you hate eating normal cat food, why did you eat so much?” Zhao Yao bemoaned.


    Elizabeth patted the empty bowl and said, “If I hadn’t tried, I wouldn’t have known that this cat food is so inedible. Hurry, go make me some cat rice, and fish, preferably the Norwegian salmon.”


    “You’ll have to settle for the cat food today, I have to make a trip back to the office.” Zhao Yao nned to return to thepany toplete the handover of his work as he resigned from his job. It didn’t even matter to him if thepany didn’t pay him for this month, he just wished to leave thepany as soon as possible.


    If not for his sense of responsibility, he would have just not turned up for work, severing any existing rtions with thepany. Although the job provided him with a few thousand dors sry, it didn’t make up for all the extra work he had to put up with.


    Looking as Zhao Yao hurriedly left the house, Elizabeth grunted and shifted her gaze towards the automatic cat feeder.


    Zhao Yao breathed an air of confidence as he stopped in front of the parking barrier of hispany in his Porsche Panamera. He was getting stares from the security guards at the booth.


    Walking along the corridors, looking at the familiar walls, desks, and chairs in the office, he realized that he unknowingly had note to the office for almost two weeks.


    Just as he sat down at his desk, Yuan Ying walked up behind him and shouted, “Zhao Yao!”


    He turned. “Hi Boss!” he greeted. He then awkwardly continued, ” Sorry, I’ve been really busytely, so busy that I can’t report for work.”


    “Too busy? You’ve just graduated for only a year and you’re already starting your own business? Just wait till you fail terribly ande begging me for your job back.” Yuan Ying sneered.


    Without the slightest change of expression, Yuan Ying said, ” I understand. How about this? As thepany has yet to find a recement for you, could you craft up a handover document, listing all the relevant information, designs, codes...”


    Halfway from finishing her sentence, she turned towards another male colleague and said, “Lee, could youe over? Zhao Yao’s handover document will be passed over to you. You’ll be taking over his work and ensure that everything goes smoothly with absolutely no mistakes. If there is, you’ll be held responsible.”


    Lee nodded his head and replied, “Got it.”


    Hence, Zhao Yao carried on with his handover document. Although he had been gone for two weeks, he was still familiar with and responsible for the relevant modules that he had been working on for the past six months.


    Moreover, he had a good habit of keeping the files, codes, documents and notes very organized.


    He spent his daypleting his handover document, went home for the night and then continued the next morning. Around noon, he finally finished the document.


    He emailed the document to Lee and left a message in the email saying, “Lee, I’ve sent you the handover document. Please read through.”


    Upon receiving Zhao Yao’s email, Lee nodded his head and said, “Not Bad! It is very detailed and well written. However, I have to go through again to make sure there are no errors.”


    “Rx. I’ll be done in less than three hours. Don’t you worry.” Lee assures Zhao Yao.


    “Thanks, Lee!” Zhao Yao eximed.


    With no work on his hand, he turned to hisputer and surfed the Inte for any cat rice rted things.


    After three hours, Lee walked up to Zhao Yao, patted him on his back and said, “Well done. Inside your document, there are all kinds of instation tools, manuals, and codes, veryplete and concise.”


    Zhao Yao smiled and said, “The first time I joined thepany I was as lost as anybody else. Thus, I wrote the document as detailed as possible, making the next person who takes over my job life’s easier.


    Lee nodded his head in agreement and said, “I’ve sent the email to Miss Yuan. You’ll just have to wait for her confirmation and you can then proceed to the Human Resource Department toplete your resignation.”


    A short whileter, Zhao Yao got Yuan Ying’s approval. He was slightly taken aback by her swift response andck of resistance. He expected her to dy the time and even force him to sit through the one-month notice period. Although he had done all the necessary transfer documents and procedures, he was prepared if things went sour. However, to his surprise, Yuan Ying was being very cooperative.


    Zhao Yao then proceeded towards the Department of Human Resource. As he walked up towards the front desk, he noticed a young girl, wearing dark overalls and a pair of nude-pink stockings that wrapped around her beautiful long legs. Her soft white neck glimmered under the light, leaving one fantasizing the possibility of kissing her.


    Zhao Yao knocked on the door. The girl raised her head, revealing a pair of dark beautiful eyes and kindly asked, “Hi Sir, how may I help you?”


    Gazing into Sonia’s eyes, Zhao Yao wasn’t as nervous as before. By this moment, he had experienced managing tens of millions of funds, the existence of super-cats and BOOK also boosted Zhao Yao’s confidence ten-fold.


    While admiring the beauty of Sonia, Zhao Yao maintained his cool and replied, “I’m Zhao Yao from the Research and Development Department. I’m here toplete my resignation.”


    “Sure, give me a moment,” she said. Sonia searched up Zhao Yao on thepany’s database but frowned as the result shows on her screen.


    Zhao Yao had been gged for skipping work for two weeks and thepany had decided to terminate his contract.


    Sonia initially had a good first impression of Zhao Yao but changed because of the gged report.


    In the eyes of Sonia, such actions disyed ack of responsibility and unprofessional behavior of Zhao Yao.


    Ever since young, Sonia was very obedient and had always followed the rules. Thus, she could not tolerate those who did not follow them.


    So she nced disdainfully at Zhao Yao and said, “You have been unterally terminated thebor rtionship with thepany because of your absenteeism for the past two weeks. As for this month’s pay and bonuses, they’ll be deducted ordingly by the number of days you’ve been absent for work. The bnce will be paid to you on payday.”


    “Absent?!” Zhao Yao frowned. “But I’ve sent an email to Miss Yuan, applying my leave for that period of time. She approved.”


    Sonia shrugged and said, ” Miss Yuan imed that she did not receive your email.”


    Zhao Yao was stunned but soon realized that this was Yuan Ying’s tactic all along. She had him thinking he was on leave and even as he came back, she made him do a day and a half’s work for nothing.


    Recalling that he still wrote documents and notes diligently for her, made him really mad.


    He initially thought that he had taken two weeks off, but now he was considered absent from work.


    Given so, his pay would then be reduced to less than a quarter, and his bonuses to nothing. Now, he had lost at least four thousand dors.


    Although Zhao Yao did not care about these few thousand dors, he simply would not take it lying down and hated the feeling of being yed.


    He looked at Sonia and said, “Okay, I got it.”