Liu Zhao was a senior in college. Through a classmate, he landed a job as a field exploration intern at a geological research institute in his city.
On the day he reported for work, the staff member in charge of receiving him grinned from ear to ear as soon as he saw him. "Liu~ Zhao~. Nice name! Don't I look familiar?"
Liu Zhao stared blankly and shook his head. The staff member pointed to the window behind him. "That's our director. Isn't she beautiful?"
Liu Zhao shook his head, then nodded.
The person behind the glass really was beautiful, so much so that calling her "beautiful" seemed too shallow. She leaned against the window like a translucent piece of jade, absorbing all the light around her.
The staff member looked delighted to have some gossip to share and continued with a grin. "Love at first sight?"
Before Liu Zhao could think of how to answer this ridiculous question, the young staff member went on. "Even if you do fall in love at first sight, it won't help. Our director already has a husband, and her husband is the handsomest man in all the realms and the strongest being across the six paths! He's not only bad-tempered, but also really jealous. The last intern got beaten half to death for trying to seduce the director, so you'd better behave!"
Three days later, Liu Zhao finally met the director up close, and... he could... kind of... understand the senior intern who'd been fired and the director's jealous husband.
Director Li was both sweet and fiery, and her eyes even turned red when their gazes met. In other words, anyone with someone that beautiful in their arms would have to keep a close watch!
But Director Li merely raised her eyes, and the interns were sent off to the middle of nowhere to collect data. The only difference was that the director herself came along.
Under the sun and wind, Liu Zhao felt like he must be bewitched. He couldn't stop staring at the director, and kept wanting to get closer. Maybe it was just his imagination, but the director seemed to be responding to him too. Whenever that happened, someone from the institute would pop out of nowhere to warn him that "the director's husband is absolutely vicious!"
As Liu Zhao carefully scanned the rocks, he pondered whether he could risk becoming the other man. Whenever the instrument issued to him detected a reaction in a rock sample, the institute would send people over a few hours later. That very night, thunder crashed overhead, and a boulder weighing hundreds of pounds would instantly turn into a pile of sand and gravel.
Once, a fragment of rock rolled to Liu Zhao's feet. He picked it up and placed it in his palm, only to see a mouth appear out of nowhere in the middle of the stone. Its lips moved several times before slowly disappearing.
Liu Zhao heard it say, "Help me."
He was terrified. He immediately decided to pack up and run, but the director actually chased him to the dorm.
Liu Zhao immediately remembered, "The director's husband has a bad temper," and, "An intern who tried to seduce the director got beaten half to death." So he shouted, "Director, you're married!!!"
Li Fuyu laughed so hard she trembled.
Liu Zhao was going crazy. "Just because you're beautiful doesn't mean you can do whatever you want! Take one more step and I'll call the police!"
The next second, his phone turned into a puddle of fine sand, just like the boulder pile from a few days ago.
Li Fuyu closed in step by step, her tone sounding more like a threat, or perhaps a coquettish tease. "And now? What are you going to do?"
Watching Li Fuyu press closer as she spoke, Liu Zhao swallowed hard, chanting in his heart, "Lust is emptiness," even as he tried to run.
The moment he moved, he discovered in terror that his body was rapidly turning to stone. Half a minute later, he had become a human-shaped stone statue.
Then he felt a touch of moisture on his lips, and the director leaned sweetly close to his ear and called him, "Husband."
Liu Zhao's heart pounded, and his mind went blank. His final thought before losing consciousness was: Is being the other man actually illegal?
Theme: My job at the research institute is being the other man
