Strategic Retreat, Tactical Advance

In my strategic retreat from life, you are the one and only tactical advance.

A gentle, flirtatious older shou who's great at teaching people how to be tender x a loyal dog-like gong who plays the pig to eat the tiger and is utterly devoted to his wife

(Mainly told from the shou's perspective.)

After five years in the workplace, 26-year-old Gu Nanqiao thinks he's figured out the rules:

Work results don't matter. Performing for the group chat does.

Work results don't matter. Understanding the boss's unspoken meaning does.

Work results don't matter. The boss's impression of you does.

"Trying to guess the emperor's intentions without permission is a crime worthy of punishment."

Gu Nanqiao: "The client wants a green iPhone 6. Never mind that everyone's using the iPhone 17 now. If I actually make one, won't the company get sued?"

Boss: "Why did the client ask you and no one else? The strong never complain about their circumstances. This just proves you can't do it."

Rather than suffering because of hard work and diligence, he has to put up with a workplace that refuses to admit it's trying to end the relationship without paying him, disguises itself with a twisted, atypical form of PUA, and is warped at every turn.

"I'm done with this."

Gu Nanqiao takes his suitcase and heads to a secluded hotel in the mountains of Southwest China to recuperate.

Lu Ling: Did you sneakily eat some poisonous mushrooms?

Gu Nanqiao, bracing one hand on the table: I didn't.

Lu Ling: Are little dwarves showing up?

Gu Nanqiao raises one hand, completely serious: The client is still here. Pay attention to customer satisfaction!

Lu Ling, completely baffled: City people really know how to have fun.

As the city becomes obsessed with pursuing increasingly absurd targets, Gu Nanqiao, 26, and Lu Ling, 21, return to the sincere, down-to-earth way of life in the countryside, sharing farm produce, supporting rural development, and realizing their own worth.

Theme: When you're on the wrong path in life, retreating is already a step forward on the right one.