Chapter 3 N - Old Photos

On a rainy day with no sun and fog, the sky was damp and gray around nine in the morning.

Even with the lights on inside and outside the reception room, shining brightly, the overall environment was still gloomy.

Xing Yu stood under the light, holding a folder in one hand and his other hand in his pocket. His well-tailored blue-black striped suit accentuated his tall and upright figure, and he exuded an even more imposing aura than when he was seen a couple of days ago.

The impact of their encounter at this moment was no less than that of the previous two days, and perhaps even greater, almost enough to shatter Chu Beiling into pieces.

His thin lips moved slightly, but he could barely utter a word.

"What is Xing Yu doing standing at the door? Why aren't you going in? Didn't they say the person in charge of ECho has already arrived?" Xu Tunan brushed past Xing Yu and saw Chu Beiling sitting motionless on the leather sofa.

A slight pause for half a second—

Xu Tunan rushed to Chu Beiling, grabbed him by the collar, pulled him off the sofa, and pushed him against the wall. His movements were so fast that none of the people present could react.

Xu Tunan sneered, "Damn it, you finally know how to come back. You disappeared without a trace. Why didn't you just die in Singapore and never come back?!"

Chu Beiling did not refute, because he was in the wrong; he hadn't even said goodbye when he left.

Over the years, he has completely severed ties with the past, and he has betrayed their friendship.

Chu Beiling lowered her eyes and said, "I'm sorry."

"Chu Beiling, who asked you to apologize?" Xu Tunan tightened his grip even more. "Even if you were to apologize, you shouldn't be doing it to me."

Chu Beiling was somewhat puzzled. Who else could it be? Xing Yu?

They had agreed to separate temporarily, and Xing Yu had agreed to his request, but later he broke his promise and moved away from Zhalongkou, disappearing from his world.

At that time, Ms. Li was ill, and he had no choice but to go to Singapore with her.

Chu Beiling's gaze fell on Xing Yu, who stood motionless not far away. He looked at him coldly and distantly, as if he were just an observer watching a farce that had nothing to do with him.

So Xing Yu hates him too? Hates him for not contacting him for ten years, even though he clearly tried to contact him, but Xing Yu simply blocked him.

I've even forgotten about him now.

Zhu Qing'an used all her strength to finally pull Xu Tunan away and push him aside, shouting sternly, "What are you doing?"

Xu Tunan sneered: "What am I doing? I can't tell. I'm planning to beat someone up."

Zhu Qing'an frowned slightly, her eyes full of displeasure: "Is this your company's attitude towards cooperation? On the day of the meeting, you pinned the person in charge of the partner against the wall and were planning to throw a beating at them?"

Xu Tunan knew he had acted impulsively. Chu Beiling was now the head of the partner company. They had lost contact for ten years, and everything had changed drastically. Their relationship was no longer the one where they could do whatever they wanted, just like when they were young.

But the first thing he did when he saw Chu Beiling was to beat him to death. What was the point of keeping a friend like that?

They didn't consider anything else at all.

Chu Beiling reached out and grabbed Zhu Qing'an's hand, signaling him not to do anything rash. Upon hearing the instruction, Zhu Qing'an rolled his eyes at Xu Tunan and stood aside.

Not far away, Xing Yu's gaze shifted from Chu Beiling's face to the two people's hands, which had just touched and clasped together before separating.

The group of people stood still, neither moving nor speaking.

What was originally a perfectly good discussion about cooperation has fallen into a stalemate due to the reunion of old friends.

Yang Feng, who was carrying tea and snacks, had just stepped into the reception room when he saw the room looking like the air pressure dropping before a typhoon, full of the atmosphere of the eve of a storm. He froze on the spot, wondering whether he should go in now.

After hesitating for a while, he knocked on the door of the reception room, placed boiled water and tea in front of Chu Beiling and Zhu Qing'an, and then turned to ask Xing Yu, "President Xing, the usual?"

Xing Yu nodded, and Yang Feng, having received confirmation, quickly slipped away as if his feet were greased, fearing he would be fired any second later.

The brief respite in the meeting room was once again plunged into a low-pressure storm.

"So your name is Chu Beiling. I was wrong before, I'm really sorry~" Xing Yu reached out to him, a playful look in his eyes: "You also misremembered who I am, does that mean we're even?"

Xing Yu was a head taller than him. Chu Beiling raised his eyes slightly. He wanted to laugh, but he couldn't: "It's normal to forget after so many years."

From the moment he met Xing Yu, his thoughts became so chaotic they were like knots.

Chu Beiling couldn't stand it anymore; Xing Yu kept bringing up the fact that he had forgotten about him.

The blood flowing from my heart seemed to contain some impurities, and every part of my body felt numb and painful.

All he wants now is to disappear from here immediately.

Chu Beiling smiled apologetically at the two of them: "Sorry, I'm not feeling well today. Let's schedule another time to discuss the details of our cooperation."

"Director Chu, I think you should show a professional attitude. If you don't want to cooperate, you should terminate the project cooperation agreement as soon as possible," Xing Yu said without much emotion.

He's still the same; he takes revenge on the spot and can't wait even a second longer.

Terminate the cooperation agreement as soon as possible; that's probably Xing Yu's real thought right now. He doesn't want to see him for even a second longer.

Even if he and Zhu Qing'an didn't want to cooperate with them, the project was decided by their CEO, Mr. Fu.

Chu Beiling opened her mouth, then said with difficulty, "We cannot decide."

Xing Yu said briskly, "In that case, let's not waste time and damage our company's reputation because of Director Chu's personal reasons."

With a "whoosh," the long-accumulated anger in the sky finally turned into a torrential downpour, violently hitting the French windows and leaving streaks of water, as if it would not stop until it overturned the place.

The sky grew increasingly dark, a chaotic blackness. The damp, cold air seeped in, coming straight at him and seeping into his bones. Chu Beiling had nowhere to hide and was so cold that he almost lost his temperature.

Xing Yu: "Director Chu?"

Chu Beiling licked his dry lips, pulled out a chair, and sat down. Zhu Qing'an sat down beside him.

Xing Yu glanced at the two of them, then subtly looked away.

Yang Feng nervously brought over the lemon tea that Xing Yu had ordered, only to find that the room was already peaceful and quiet, as if everything had been resolved.

As an assistant, Yang Feng intended to help her boss, but Xing Yu called her out to attend to other matters.

ECho has a game that's going to be released in China, adding new gameplay features, incorporating Chinese style elements, and also releasing exclusive animations in China. Their company needs to produce the game's opening and closing animations, and to model and create animations for the new characters in the Chinese version.

ECho is a Singaporean company, and since it's going to launch a Chinese version, it's bound to incorporate Chinese characteristics. However, Singaporean aesthetics differ from those in China, which could lead to some conflict.

So we approached ECho for collaboration. The initial project requirements documents had already been submitted to them. This meeting was mainly to confirm the specific details of the plan with ECho.

Xing Yu opened the PowerPoint presentation and showed the plan according to their requirements, and confirmed the coordination with them.

Zhu Qing'an put forward the art requirements and general style for character modeling and CG. Since there was no assistant, Xu Tunan had to act as the assistant and record the requirements.

"And what about you?" Xing Yu's gaze fell on Chu Beiling, who was pursing her lips and remaining silent.

Chu Beiling felt a slight bitterness in his mouth: "I only supervise the project's progress—"

After a pause, he said, “Artistic requirements,” pointing to Zhu Qing’an beside him, “He is the art design director of ECho. You discuss it with him; I’m not responsible.”

"Oh..." Xing Yuping paused for a moment: "So you're here to be a cheerleader?"

Zhu Qing'an glanced at Chu Beiling, who looked pale and was biting his lip in silence, and refuted the unfriendly, even sarcastic, words on his behalf: "President Xing, Director Chu is the project management director of ECho, responsible for supervising and following up on the project progress. Please be polite."

"Excuse me," Xing Yu said sarcastically without any politeness, "Your colleagues seem to have a pretty good relationship."

Zhu Qing'an answered directly for Chu Beiling: "Sorry, we don't answer personal questions." She pointed to the PPT: "President Xing, please continue."

“I overstepped my bounds.” Xing Yu narrowed his eyes slightly. “Director Chu, your oversteps are quite significant.”

Painting was Chu Beiling's taboo subject, a forbidden zone that no one could tread. Yet, his reckless high school classmate had dared to step right into it.

That's just too much.

Zhu Qing'an didn't care whether the other party was a partner or not, and was about to retort when Chu Beiling stopped her.

He didn't want to continue this discussion and urged Zhu Qing'an to quickly explain the specific design requirements and style, thus speeding up the meeting.

Zhu Qing'an had no choice but to comply. He was not the type to let personal feelings interfere with his work, especially since the two people opposite him were their business partners. If they weren't business partners, the two people in charge would have been really going too far.

He didn't want to clash with his partners on the very first day.

Xing Yu's gaze shifted back and forth between the two people, all his emotions were suppressed, and he turned back to the computer screen to continue the meeting.

The meeting, which started with some emotional reactions from all four participants, gradually improved. The negative emotions subsided, and everyone adopted a professional attitude.

Two hours later, the initial plan was roughly finalized, and all that remained was for Chu Meng to create the initial CG and character models.

After the brief meeting, Xu Tunan didn't even bother with polite greetings, and without even glancing at Chu Beiling, he stormed out of the meeting room in a huff.

Xing Yu extended his right hand and said in a very businesslike tone, "Director Chu, I hope we can have a pleasant cooperation and complete the cooperation as soon as possible."

How about completing the cooperation as soon as possible?

Chu Beiling smiled bitterly: "We also have project time requirements. As long as you can complete it as soon as possible, we will definitely not delay it for too long."

Chu Beiling didn't reach out for a while, so Xing Yu calmly withdrew his hand and made a gesture to see him off: "Well then, take care."

Chu Beiling glanced at his phone, knowing he shouldn't persist, but he just wanted to confirm if Xing Yu really had a new love interest. "We'll be discussing projects frequently from now on, can you give me your contact information?"

Xing Yu stared at him without saying a word, while Chu Beiling kept scratching at his phone screen with his fingers, the "tap-tap" sound making him incredibly anxious.

One second.

Two seconds.

Three seconds.

Blue light reflected in his dull eyes. Chu Beiling waited anxiously, motionless, staring at the numbers on his phone screen: Monday, December 9th.

Until the time number below jumps from 11:59 to 12:00.

Xing Yu finally spoke, "I added him, but you kicked me out of your contacts after the collaboration ended? So I'll pass." He gestured to Yang Feng, who was walking over.

The competent assistant understood immediately and quickly stepped forward to hand him his business card: "Director Chu, please feel free to contact me if you need anything."

Chu Beiling ultimately did not answer. Since they didn't want to contact him, they could have their assistant contact Xu Tunan directly.

After saying goodbye, Chu Beiling and Zhu Qing'an left the reception room and took the elevator down.

When only the two of them were left, Zhu Qing'an finally couldn't help but ask, "Were those two high school classmates?"

"Mmm," Chu Beiling responded softly.

"These two are high school classmates of yours, really..." Zhu Qing'an didn't know how to comment for a moment.

They'll have many more discussions like this, each one more confrontational than the last. How can this cooperation continue?!

"Did you offend them before?" Zhu Qing'an asked, but he denied it immediately: "No, that's impossible."

He felt that this was unlikely. Given Chu Beiling's personality, it was more normal for those two to dislike him and bully him.

Chu Beiling leaned against the wall of the carriage to support herself: "No, but it's no wonder they're so angry."

He went too far and was too ruthless.

Seeing what Zhu Qing'an was worried about, Chu Beiling comforted him: "Don't worry, it shouldn't happen again. They will treat it with a professional attitude, and no one will mess up the cooperation."

Zhu Qing'an didn't think so. Seeing his determination, she wanted to ask something, but seeing that Chu Beiling didn't seem to want to answer, she ultimately said nothing more.

The elevator arrived at the first floor, and the two of them stepped out of the car together and walked towards the door.

Chu Beiling reached into her pocket and realized her phone wasn't there. "I think I left my phone in the Chu Meng meeting room. I'll go get it. Wait a minute."

Zhu Qing'an: "Okay."

Chu Beiling walked back to the elevator alone. In his dazed state, he didn't even notice that there was someone else inside. He walked straight into the elevator car and bumped into the other person's arms.

A faint lemon scent wafted over, and Chu Beiling didn't even have time to linger.

The next second, Xing Yu took a step back.

Chu Beiling tried to keep him there and wanted to find out why this person broke his promise and then spread rumors.

"Smack—"

The black 16 fell onto the car floor, and the screen lit up, displaying a lock screen photo of West Lake with the setting sun staining the sky blood red.

Over the past ten years, no matter how many times he changed his phone, he never changed this lock screen. Chu Beiling immediately recognized it as his phone and bent down to pick it up.

At the same time, Xing Yu also bent down, and the fingertips of the two people touched as they bent down.