Chapter 67 Desolation, Revision, Video Call - "Oh, you missed me..."

Bell Tower Square.

This square, which was built 800 years ago and is located at the end of King Street next to the lake, is a famous landmark in L City and a place where residents come to stroll after meals.

Although the church that once stood alongside the bell tower has vanished into the annals of history, its existence has inscribed a clichéd yet romantic blessing upon the tower—

"Those who are truly in love will reunite when the bells toll."

Fu Ze sat on the edge of the sculpture fountain in the center of the square, letting the wind blow through his thick coat that he had taken from Yuan Jianxing's wardrobe.

A circle of pigeons landed around him, cooing as they walked back and forth, pecking at the remaining breadcrumbs in the cracks in the ground.

One of the bolder ones even flew up and landed on Fu Ze's shoulder.

A half-open, pure white dove wing gently nestled beside Fu Ze's ear. Paired with Fu Ze's face and the forlorn expression illuminated by the lighter in his hand, the whole scene would look perfectly natural on the cover of a fashion magazine.

Unlike those affected and contrived performances that require a photographer's guidance to achieve, Fu Ze's melancholy comes from the heart.

He never imagined that his joke, "It seems the word 'rest' doesn't exist in the chief's dictionary," would become such a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Ever since they had dinner together at Cui Ya's restaurant, he hadn't seen Yuan Jianxing for several days in a row unless he deliberately got up early and went to bed late.

It evokes a sense of "being alone in an empty room".

During this time, Fu Ze also seriously considered whether he should take on the responsibility of being a "canary" and deliver lunch to his "sugar daddy" Yuan Jianxing.

Even if I can't eat in the office because I'm on a business trip, I can find a slightly secluded corner.

But Fu Ze ultimately kept this suggestion to himself.

Because Harami Hoshi seems to be really, really busy.

Fu Ze, who no longer held a formal executive position, had no idea what the other party was busy with.

Suddenly, Fu Ze recalled the first time they met at a hotel in the North District of V City, when he took advantage of Yuan Jianxing's phone call to complain to Mu Wangzhuo about several things he had said about her:

"I was just wondering who would be so 'lucky' in the future to 'marry' this chief who never comes home at night."

"The lofty ideals you hear from others or hear about in news reports can never compare to the reassuring presence you have in your arms."

"Secondly, life is already as hard as cold rice, making people's lips, teeth, and stomach ache. Does anyone really want to invite such an iceberg who has never said a kind word in his life to stay at home and cool things down?"

Regarding the first point, Fu Ze chose not to comment and refused to acknowledge that it was a boomerang.

After all, he and Yuan Jianxing hadn't even reached the point of "getting married" yet; at most, it was just "unrequited love."

As for the second point, Fu Ze, as someone who experienced it firsthand, had no room for rebuttal.

These days, he has felt a deep empathy for the poet who wrote the line, "Suddenly I see the willows on the roadside, and I regret urging my husband to seek fame and fortune."

However, the difference is that if Yuan Jianxing's promise is valid, then given time, he can stand by her side again.

However, this third point can be slightly revised...

Fu Ze opened his phone and scrolled through their chat history over this period of time.

Her profile picture had been changed to the atmospheric photo of the stairwell corner taken by Cui Ya, while Yuan Jianxing's profile picture was still the blue-background ID photo taken when she joined the company.

The expression on Hara Mihoshi's face in the photo is much sharper than Hara Mihoshi's current one, exuding a kind of arrogance that doesn't need others' approval.

Just by looking at this photo, Fu Ze could imagine the other party cutting down those outlaws and eventually becoming the "CEO".

Shifting his attention to the chat window between the two profile pictures, Fu Ze gently swiped the screen.

Previously, he would never have imagined that Yuan Jianxing would be like this in private.

Like this ↓

Yuan Jianxing: Have you considered changing your name?

Fu Ze: Aren't you from V City? Why do I need to change my name? Have I been in L City for too long and started to adapt to local customs?

Hara Mihoshi: ...is your new ID.

Fu Ze: I won't change it, I'll just call him Fu Ze.

Fu Ze: Why don't you change my gender?

Hara Mihoshi: If you don't mind, this is actually better.

Fu Ze: ? ? I was just kidding!

Yuan Jianxing: But I wasn't joking, I accepted it.

Hara Mihoshi: Smiling.jpg

Unlike today's young people, such as Fu Ze, who always like to use the latest trendy memes, Yuan Jianxing always uses the software's built-in emoticons in conversations.

If it weren't for the software itself frequently upgrading and expanding its built-in emoji library, Fu Ze would definitely feel that there was a generation gap of two or more generations between him and Yuan Jianxing.

And this ↓

Yuan Jianxing: Pickup code xx-xx-xxxx, please pick it up for me.

Fu Ze: What did you buy? Why didn't you have it delivered to your door?

Yuan Jianxing: Mu Wangzhuo sent it without my permission, and I don't know what it is.

Fu Ze: Why are you in contact with him? Has your disguise finally been exposed?

Yuan Jianxing: He was the one who led the team to the border area before. After one mission, even with his intelligence, he should have figured it out by guessing and asking questions.

Fu Ze: Well, he's not as smart as me. I figured it out the moment I heard your punishment notice.

Fu Ze: Shaking his head.jpg

Yuan Jianxing: Being too clever for one's own good certainly saved me a lot of trouble.

Fu Ze: What do you mean? Why are you trying to save time? Explain yourself!

Hara Mihoshi: I can't hear you.jpg

Ever since that conversation after Fu Ze woke up, whenever Yuan Jianxing encountered a question he didn't want to answer, he would skip even the steps of making excuses to fob off Fu Ze and simply bury his head in the sand.

It was as if they were deliberately taking advantage of Fu Ze's absolute advantage of not being able to confront him directly, thus bullying him.

Browsing through their chat history, Fu Ze couldn't help but chuckle silently.

A few weeks ago, he could never have imagined that he would develop such a relationship with the guy who pinned him against the wall.

Whether the core of this relationship is real or not, at least on the surface it feels pretty good.

But it always feels like something's missing...

Fu Ze couldn't help but raise his hand and touch the side of his neck.

After a few days of rest, the area has become smooth again, and there is no longer any trace of the kiss mark.

Based on Fu Ze's experience of listening to gossip in bars, every relationship, whether healthy or unhealthy, must have some passion and desire.

Fu Ze was completely unable to perceive either of these things from Yuan Jianxing's behavior or even his eyes.

This is why, after realizing that Yuan Jianxing had changed his attitude towards him, he immediately began to suspect that the other party was trying to control him.

Fortunately, Fu Ze has a good attitude and never worries about gains or losses.

Emotional control is something that, if not handled properly, can backfire.

Fu Ze is confident that he can turn the tide.

Or rather, he was very willing to accept this challenge initiated by Yuan Jianxing.

Just as Fu Ze started to have wicked thoughts and was about to increase Yuan Jianxing's strength first, his phone started vibrating violently.

The sudden tremor startled the flock of pigeons surrounding Fu Ze, and the wild flapping of their wings nearly caused Fu Ze to drop his phone.

He managed to grab the phone and immediately looked at the screen.

Yuan Jianxing's photo was enlarged and displayed in front of him, as if he had responded to Fu Ze's challenge immediately.

It's a phone call!

It's a video call!

Clearing his throat, Fu Ze straightened up and pressed the answer button, calmly saying, "Oh, you missed me?"

"Yes, I want to." Yuan Jianxing answered very frankly, seemingly completely unaware of Fu Ze's sarcasm on the other end and how much impact his two words had on the other party.

"What are you doing?" he asked again.

It seemed like concern, but it also seemed like casual conversation, or perhaps both.

Pulling up her collar to cover her slightly reddened earlobes, Fu Ze stiffened her neck and said, "I didn't do anything. I can't just stay cooped up in the house forever."

"Are you at the Clock Tower Square?"

Fu Ze quickly straightened up and looked around through the startled flock of pigeons: "Are you spying on me?"

As he said this, his tone rose rapidly, seemingly both indignant and delighted.

Following Yuan Jianxing's prompt to "look up," Fu Ze spotted a camera subtly rotating among a flock of pigeons perched on a telephone pole.

Just as Fu Ze and the camera were locked in a "staring" position, Yuan Jianxing continued on the phone, "There was no surveillance; it was just a chance shot."

...Was it all just a coincidence?

But the other party recognized me with just a glance.

Fu Ze blinked gently, unsure whether he was satisfied or dissatisfied with the result.

Unconsciously catching the spray from the fountain, Fu Ze shifted his gaze from the original camera on the Starship and said absentmindedly, "You called me, it wasn't just to confirm my location, was it?"

Hearing the other person's words tinged with resentment, Yuan Jianxing suddenly felt somewhat at a loss.

After all... his purpose in calling Fu Ze was not entirely innocent.

After confirming that the warning letter was not forged but was indeed from the person whose ancestral home was illegally demolished by Fu Ze, the adjudication bureau prioritized resolving the matter.

Through the monitoring system and AI analysis, the number of potential targets has been narrowed down to less than ten, but the final confirmation of who the real target is still requires confirmation by a human executive.

This task naturally fell to those who had dealt with the other side directly.

Yuan Jianxing acted quickly and soon found the right person.

Just after the target disappeared into a building, he unexpectedly caught a glimpse of a very familiar piece of clothing in the surveillance camera's field of vision, and then noticed the person wearing that clothing who was striking a rather arrogant pose.

It's Fu Ze.

It had only been a few minutes since that person entered the building, and even if an undercover officer from the nearest adjudication bureau were to be sent there, it would take at least ten minutes.

From the perspective of the other party's counter-tracking awareness, any suspicious figure will arouse their vigilance.

But Fu Ze is different.

He was a passerby who had been sitting by the fountain beforehand, and his face likely left an impression on the suspect.

Realizing this was a rare opportunity, Yuan Jianxing immediately dialed Fu Ze's number.

He originally intended to make a phone call, but accidentally dialed a video call instead.

But there's not much difference.

While waiting for the call to connect, Yuan Jianxing had already prepared the wording for Fu Ze to enter the building, follow the person, and keep him updated on the other person's movements.

However, his plans crumbled the moment he saw the other person's eyes light up and heard them ask in a flippant yet probing tone, "Oh, you missed me?"

What was originally a straightforward task assignment was reduced to a response and a word of concern.

Although the result is the same, at least the process can be more tactful.

To everyone's surprise, Fu Ze was so perceptive that after a few rounds of conversation, he directly asked Fu Ze what the purpose of his call was.

Since the conversation had progressed to this point, Yuan Jianxing naturally wouldn't let the opportunity pass and directly explained the mission requirements in detail.

Most of the time, sincerity is more touching than deception.

At least Fu Ze is very receptive to this approach.

Fu Ze shrunk the original window to a small window and quickly browsed the photos and messages the other party had sent him.

“Causing trouble near historical public buildings is incredibly inconsiderate.” Pulling down his collar, Fu Ze stood up, slipping his lighter into his pocket as he did so. “Don’t worry, I’ll complete the mission. Anything else you want to tell me?”

Having had previous encounters and collaborations, Yuan Jianxing was very confident in Fu Ze's personal abilities.

Rather, he was more worried that the other party would simply take the person down and solve the problem at its root.

So before hanging up the phone, Yuan Jianxing only said, "According to the logistics information, your collar badge is almost here. After this matter is over today, I'll put it on you again."

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Author's Note: Fu Xiaozhe, is it possible that the reason Brother Xingxing seems so real isn't because the other actor is a good actor, but because he's genuinely real? [Chin resting on hand]