30.Hi, hello!

Listening to Luo Hao's vivid recounting of Ling Ling's life in Tuowu, he longed to experience those joyful days with her. "Brother-in-law, seeing how infatuated you are, could your future brother-in-law teach you a few tricks?" Luo Hao said in a condescending tone, draping his arm across Yu Chuanbei's shoulders in the quiet tavern. Yu Chuanbei pushed his arm aside rudely and teased him, "You also know that you are a future brother-in-law. Whether you can be my brother-in-law or not depends on whether my second sister is willing. Besides, you have been chasing my sister since college, and you are almost bald but still haven't caught up with her. What do you have to teach me? A typical case of failure?" Luo Hao defended himself unwillingly, "Tsk, I just didn't catch up with the one I liked, but I have more practical experience than you. You said that it's a modern society, with so many means of communication and social media that it's almost overwhelming. You and Ling Ling, the girl you love, are still doing the 'When you are thinking of returning home, it's the time when I am heartbroken' drama." "Then what else can I do? I want her to fall in love with me sincerely and for a long time. I don't want to force it. She wants to keep a distance from me, and I keep sticking to her. It will only annoy her. I don't want any bad things to remain in her heart." Yu Chuanbei sighed helplessly. Luo Hao rolled his eyes at him in frustration, opened a friend interface on his Weibo account, and showed it to him: "This is Ling Ling's Weibo account. She always likes to share her creative experiences and daily life on it. She originally was a person who clearly separated her online personality and real life. No one who met her in real life knew that this was her account. If I hadn't passed by her one time and found her browsing Weibo account, you wouldn't have had this blessing!" "I don't want it!" Yu Chuanbei threw the phone back to Luo Hao in disgust, "Since she doesn't want others to know, then I used the account you stole to spy on her privacy. How shameless." Luo Hao tutted at him a few times and said, "Do you know why Ling Ling has rejected you so many times? It's because you haven't gotten into her heart. In love, all the concerns and hesitations are because the feelings between the two people are not deep enough and passionate enough. You two just lack the right heat. Online social networking, without the constraints of social status, makes it easier to open up to each other. Of course, netizens will die when exposed to the public, but it's better to die than to realize you were deceived by an illusion when you actually live together. But you two are different. You two have already known each other for a long time, just a little short of becoming close friends who have put aside their social status." But Yu Chuanbei still couldn't make up his mind: "But, what if Ling Ling finds out in the future? Even if we can't be boyfriend and girlfriend, at least we are still friends now...

Listening to Luo Hao's vivid description of Ling Ling's big and small experiences in Tuowu, he really wanted to experience those interesting days with her.

"Brother-in-law, seeing that you are so infatuated, can your future brother-in-law teach you a few tricks?" In the quiet tavern, Luo Hao put his arm on Yu Chuanbei's shoulder and said in a condescending manner.

Yu Chuanbei rudely pushed his arm aside and teased him, "You know you're a future brother-in-law. Whether you can become my brother-in-law depends on whether my second sister approves. Besides, you've been chasing my sister since college, and you're almost bald in pursuit, but you still haven't caught up. What do you have to teach me? A typical example of failure?"

Luo Hao defended himself unyieldingly, "Tsk, I just didn't get the girl I wanted, but I do have more practical experience than you. You said it's a modern society now, with all the communication methods and social media options available, and you and your beloved Ling Ling are still engaging in that 'When your lover longs for you, I'm heartbroken' drama."

"Well, what else can I do? I want her to fall in love with me sincerely and for a long time. I don't want to force it. If she wants to keep a distance from me and I keep trying to get close to her, it will only annoy her more. I don't want any bad things to remain in her heart." Yu Chuanbei sighed helplessly.

Luo Hao rolled his eyes at him in frustration, then opened a friend's page on Weibo and showed it to him. "This is Ling Ling's Weibo account. She always likes to share her creative experiences and daily life on it. She's always been someone who clearly separates her online persona from her real life. No one who's met her in real life knows it's her account. If I hadn't walked by her that one time and noticed her checking her Weibo account, you wouldn't have had this good fortune!"

"I don't want it!" Yu Chuanbei threw the phone back to Luo Hao in disgust. "Since she doesn't want anyone to know, then I used the account you stole to spy on her. How shameless!"

Luo Hao tutted at him a few times and said, "Do you know why Ling Ling has rejected you so many times? It's because you haven't gotten into her heart. In love, all the concerns and hesitations are because the feelings between the two people are not deep enough and passionate enough. You two just lack the right amount of passion. In online social networking, there are no social status constraints, so it's especially easy to open up to each other. Of course, netizens will die when exposed to the public, but even if they die, it's better than realizing you were deceived by an illusion when you actually live together. But you two are different. You two have already known each other for a long time, and you are just one step away from becoming close friends who have cast aside your social status."

But Yu Chuanbei still couldn't make up his mind: "But, what if Ling Ling finds out in the future? Even if we can't be boyfriend and girlfriend, at least we're still friends now. I don't want to hurt her and end up not seeing each other again."

"If you really like her and are sure that you will treat her well, then you should find various opportunities to get close to her so that she will accept you. You are also giving the girl a chance. She doesn't know you fully yet. If you insist on dating her, isn't that making it difficult for her? Look, I am pursuing your second sister, and I must give her enough opportunities!" Luo Hao never gave up any opportunity to express his love to Yu Jinnan from a distance.

"Yes, you gave my second sister enough opportunities, but my second sister didn't give you a chance." Yu Chuanbei also laughed at him tirelessly, but he also decided to give it a serious try: "Okay, thank you."

Yu Chuanbei took out his cell phone and followed Ling Ling on Weibo, then paid for the drinks and stood up to leave.

"Hey kid, the master has just taught you a special skill, and you want to go down the mountain! Come and have a drink with me." Luo Hao pulled his sleeve.

"Sorry, I won't be free from now on. I want to have a good chat with Ling Ling." He smiled wickedly and was in a very good mood.

After returning home, Yu Chuanbei didn't even bother to change his clothes. He took out his mobile phone and curled up on the sofa. He opened Ling Ling's Weibo account. She named it "Ling Bu Ling Bu Ling" and her avatar was a photo of her feet on both sides of the prime meridian. Haha, so cute.

He opened the private message and racked his brains for a way to greet her without being abrupt. He deleted and revised the words he had typed. Finally, he decided to just give a simple and refreshing greeting - "Hi, hello!"

After sending these three words and two punctuation marks, he sat there waiting anxiously. But the waiting process was really tormenting, so he thought, instead of just waiting and increasing his anxiety, he might as well stand up and walk around. However, when he picked up the water cup absentmindedly, he spilled the water on his lapel.

He had no choice but to take off his T-shirt and go take a shower. Before that, he had not forgotten to open the Weibo notification message, and turned up the volume to the maximum. Then he put his phone at the bathroom door. Except for the brief noise when washing his hair, he kept his ears perked up to listen for the movement of the phone outside the glass door.

He didn't dare to wash for too long, for fear of missing Ling Ling's reply to his private message. He ran out wet, but still no reply.

He fell onto the bed in frustration, holding his phone and scrolling through Ling Ling's past Weibo posts. Unfortunately, she never posted selfies, but she would post pictures of a piece of bread she had bitten into, her favorite figurines, paintings that had been accidentally soaked, and her favorite words printed on a white T-shirt hanging in the sun... Those were all her traces and her flavor, and he followed them silently and savored them carefully.

One painting depicts several warped skyscrapers, resembling disorganized screws from afar. Ling Ling's accompanying text reads: "Arrogant city, guilty people, cries distorted into song."

In the photo, the painting sat tilted on a wooden easel, the dark sky behind it peeked a sliver of its edge. The glass window separating the sky from the sky reflected the lonely shadow of Ling Ling, who was photographing the painting across from her. Yu Chuanbei looked at the date on the Weibo post. It was just a few days after Bai Yuefu had snatched away the advertising creative she had created for Ningshi. Yu Chuanbei felt a pang of pain.

More than an hour had passed since he sent the greeting message, but Ling Ling still hadn't replied. So he downloaded the picture, sent it to her in a private message, and said, "Luckily, you're in this city."

Ling Ling was working overtime when she received the message. Seeing a private message from someone she didn't follow, she picked up her phone and took a look. She found this stranger incredibly strange. She flipped through her recent Weibo posts, but there wasn't anything misleading. How could this person suddenly appear out of nowhere? None of her 1,645 followers had ever interacted with her.

She thought the Weibo profile picture, "Gushan Temple North," was a dark mess. The name was a lyric from an ancient poem, and the way he spoke was a bit pretentious. He must be a dilettante, probably sending a private message to a strange woman late at night. He must be a drunken, flirting sleazy jerk. If she replied, she'd probably get a full-frontal nude photo right after.

Thinking this, Ling Ling was too lazy to pay attention to this weird guy, so she closed the Weibo interface, put her phone on the table, and continued to work overtime.

*~*~*~*~*~*~

Ling Ling has had an extremely difficult time in the company recently.

Ever since her last confrontation with Gu Chaoqun, he'd been constantly trying to trip her up, both overtly and covertly. It was already taxing enough to focus on serious matters every day, figuring out how to build a new system platform and get the entire company accustomed to the new architecture after digital transformation, and then having to think about scheming with Gu Chaoqun was truly exhausting.

Ling Ling tried her best to avoid any interaction with him. After all, this job was just a phase in her career, and Gu Chaoqun was just a minor character. Idiots can't be hidden; anyone who comes into contact with them will see through them. A pure idiot like 12K gold wouldn't accept anything you'd add to his idiocy. Even if you kindly tried to dilute his stupidity, his narrow-mindedness would repel you. If the ISO 900 standard had a "idiot" designation, sending him there would definitely result in a blue X-shaped stamp.

So Ling Ling just had to focus on her own work. Throughout the system's development, she oversaw document management, user research, and the construction of data comparison and analysis modules. After her hands-on testing, the system's preview environment delivered smooth operation and a superior user experience, earning praise from all involved departments.

Seeing this, Gu Chaoqun organized a meeting for company executives to report on the progress of the project, showcasing all the core features Ling Ling had designed. The presentation Gu Chaoqun gave was the very summary Ling Ling had worked overtime, preparing for the CEO meeting. The PowerPoint showrunner had transformed her presentation into a garish presentation and then signed the first page with his name in a sapphire-yellow, gold-colored Weibei font.

Author's Note

Liu Qiu

author

04-01

It's a rare opportunity to be featured on the "Editor's Pick," so I'll be updating three times a day this week! Thank you for your support, and let's be there for each other.