"Huh?"
Polly scrambled up from under the covers, looking bewilderedly toward the noisy hallway. Across the way, in the suite opposite, several clerks from the adjacent monthly magazine were staying. Polly ran over to ask what was happening. They had heard from somewhere that Claude had been taken to the hospital.
Jenny, after learning the situation, fumbled in the dark to put her things away, fetched a kettle of water from the bathroom, and washed away the sweat and weariness of a long day's work. She had a vague premonition that something bad was about to happen.
The next morning's rain was exceptionally heavy. The pattering sound of rain slapped against the windows. When Jenny got up, the dormitory door opened. After a night of soaking, the ceiling had started leaking. Leni and Denise had already set buckets under the leaks. They sat outside eating breakfast, complaining bitterly about the conditions, but who would bother to submit a report to get funds for repairs in a building meant for clerks? The South Building housed mostly editorial department staff.
Jenny checked the documents in her bag; at least they were fine. With such heavy rain in the morning, even though she had an umbrella on the way from the dormitory to the company, the outer layer of her clothes was soaked. Jenny didn't go upstairs first; she deliberately hung her coat behind the chair at the reception desk on the first floor. The reception room was empty; her work this morning wouldn't be busy.
When she went upstairs to clock in, Jenny saw that the office staff were all gathered outside the cubicle, eavesdropping on Mr. Alpha and Mr. Baker's conversation. Jenny also moved closer to listen.
"What? He got stabbed? At least he's okay, but that means he won't be back in the company for months?" someone in the crowd remarked.
Jenny caught this, then suddenly saw a well-dressed young secretary walk into the office. He introduced himself as an assistant from the Chief Partner's secretariat, here to see Mr. Baker. The people outside quickly called Mr. Baker out, and he followed the assistant away.
Jenny returned downstairs. Throughout the morning, only three or four people braved the heavy rain to submit contributions. She collected their manuscripts one by one, then resumed editing the fairy tale collection she was working on.
In the afternoon, after finishing her tasks, Jenny had just sat down in the office when she saw Frank walk over with a cup of hot tea. He tapped on her desk. "The big boss has decided to have Mr. Zweit come and manage the Magazine Department on behalf of our partner for six months."
Jenny was taken aback by this news, extremely shocked. "Shouldn't they call Mr. Colin back?" Frank shrugged, left the tea for her, and turned away. Jenny fell silent.
Among the seven junior partners of the company, Remiel and Zweit were the sons of the chief partner, Morty Dawling. Andrew, Anselm, and Devlin were full brothers, the sons of the chief partner's cousin, Mr. Ted Dawling. Claude and Colin were brothers, the sons of the chief partner's younger cousin, Mr. Freil Dawling. Mr. Ted Dawling had already passed away. Freil Dawling, due to a highly disgraceful conflict with Morty Dawling, had cut off all contact and no longer managed company affairs. Thus, their positions and shares in the company had long been allocated to their own children. The Distribution, Printing, and Business departments were the hereditary territory of Ted Dawling's branch. The Newspaper, Literature, and Educational Auxiliary departments, along with the Finance and Copyright departments and the position of chief partner, belonged to Morty Dawling's line. The Magazine and Procurement departments belonged to Freil Dawling's family. The Magazine Department was managed by Freil's eldest son, Mr. Claude; the Procurement Department had been handed over by Freil to his son-in-law, Roby Gejeff.
Three branches, a tripod of power—since the three founding brothers of the Dawling Publishing Company, each had managed their own domain, and no one had ever crossed the line to meddle in another's territory. Here, many conflicts were not just natural positions in the job structure, but also family factional issues. The entire Magazine Department, from top to bottom, was highly resistant upon learning that Zweit Dawling would be temporarily managing the department. Although Claude Dawling was frivolous, he was still direct blood; no one wanted to live under a stepfather, even for just six months. Colin Dawling had just left to gain experience in the Berlin office, a place of exile, and then his brother suffered this misfortune. People in the Magazine Department suspected that someone was targeting their faction. The department's long-standing reputation had been painstakingly built; if an outsider came in and messed things up, arbitrarily reshuffling editorial offices, the impact on content quality would be severe. For a time, Mr. Baker and Mr. Montray, the executive editor of the adjacent monthly magazine—both sworn enemies—staged a historic reconciliation, privately writing a joint letter to seek arbitration from the palace rear residence in Albany. The editors-in-chief were all frantic, while the attitudes of the various section heads of different publications became rather subtle. At least Mr. Alpha sat tight, and Frank hadn't sent out a single letter. Mr. York next door seemed similarly inactive.
Jenny went to the restroom after organizing manuscripts in the afternoon, but overheard two women next door discussing Mr. York. "I just saw upstairs that Mr. York's secretary went to the Distribution Department." "Ah? Wasn't he transferred from the Literature Department? How is he connected to the Distribution Department?" "That's the thing—until something happens, you never know who belongs to whom." "Don't say that; someone might hear..." The next door went quiet. Jenny then emerged from behind the screen, washed her hands, dried them, and returned to the office. So, Mr. Alpha's calm demeanor now, and his taking care of Morty Dawling's illegitimate son, meant he had long been on Morty's side. Jenny shook her head, suddenly remembering the twenty-mark gold coin. She recalled the snippets of conversation she'd overheard on the terrace the previous day and realized: Claude, compared to his cousin Zweit, spoke and acted like a hothouse flower, while the latter was much more polished. But what was the old man thinking, putting both his illegitimate and legitimate sons in the same department? Was he raising fighting cocks or planning something else? Besides, everyone in the company knew the old man favored his eldest son, Remiel, seeing him as the sole heir, so much so that he exiled Zweit to Berlin for years. If it hadn't been for Remiel's own department having issues, and his temporary management of the Literature Department lacking popular support, the old man wouldn't have called his second son back. His favoritism was well-known, all because of the irreconcilable feud with Zweit's biological mother. And now he was letting him meddle in the Magazine Department.
Jenny's attention was distracted all afternoon by these company matters. After sorting out several submissions and handing them to Clare, she took out a chapter of the fairy tale and began editing. The corridor outside the Magazine Department saw people coming and going, making the office staff inexplicably restless. Cowens, carrying a pot of tea to Mr. Alpha's office, collided head-on with Fujena, drenching the column she had just written and sending the teapot clattering. Fujena flew into a rage, clutching the manuscript; seeing the ink had smeared, she cursed Cowens. "Where's your mind? Can't you see someone in front of you? I spent the whole afternoon writing this, and now it's ruined!" Cowens hurriedly apologized, picking things up and looking for a handkerchief. Mr. Alpha, seeing the commotion at his door, didn't blame Cowens. With a calm expression, he told Fujena to lower her voice. "If it's ruined, go write a copy, and while you're at it, revise the spots I pointed out earlier." He didn't rebuke his old subordinate Cowens at all. Fujena's face turned green with anger, but she had to swallow her pride and get to work. After she left, Cowens abjectly apologized to Alpha for a while and brought him fresh tea.
From the very start of working with Fujena, Cowens had disliked her attitude. Not only did she look down on him as a senior clerk, but she also loved to alter the manuscripts he handled when he wasn't around, then use them to show off in front of Frank and Mr. Alpha, stepping on him to look good. But even after half a month of such efforts, she hadn't really become close with either of those two superiors. Cowens, seeing that Mr. Alpha hadn't gotten angry with him today, felt a bit more favored. He strolled around the office in a good mood, so obvious that even Jenny, busy editing, noticed. Jenny glanced in Fujena's direction. Fujena was now grinding her teeth as she revised the column content for the page; it was clear she had a grudge against Cowens. And Cowens, dismissive of her, felt that his boss was closer to him. Jenny thought to herself that Mr. Alpha must have been in a good mood today because his boss was about to be replaced by Mr. Zweit, so no one would be punished even if they slipped up. At any other time, Cowens might not have been so lucky. But since she had little to do with Cowens, she didn't feel obliged to warn him. Jenny buried her head and continued her work.
Meanwhile, Fujena rewrote the smudged column. The column proposals were made by Frank and Luther, with the actual content written by the two clerks. The person in charge just looked them over; if they liked them, they used them; if not, they gave a few pointers and had them revise. When the column was published, Frank and Luther's names always came after the person in charge. Cowens's name was occasionally added by Frank in the fourth position, while her name appeared only rarely. The more Fujena wrote, the angrier she became, silently vowing that one day she would make Cowens taste her wrath.
Two days after the partner's injury incident, the Dawling Publishing Committee convened a meeting of all shareholders, including family members, to state their position and issued a document. With that, the chief editors of the seven magazines in the Magazine Department all fell silent, and the situation finally stabilized. That same day, Zweit called the seven chief editors upstairs for a meeting, officially confirming that he would be temporarily managing the department for six months. For some, the lingering suspense was finally put to rest...