Chapter One: The Data War

The sound of keyboard clicks echoed clearly in the empty conference room. Lin Yan stared at the fluctuating data stream on the screen, his fingertips typing out the final formula. Looking up, Mu Hongyan had already handed him a cup of black coffee; the silver ring on her finger gleamed coldly in the halo of the floor lamp. Outside the glass curtain wall, the night was thick and dark. The edges of the "Smart City Data Platform" proposal on the document were slightly curled; the header of the thirteenth revised draft still bore Mu Hongyan's red pen annotation: "Insufficient granularity of user profiles," the handwriting as sharp as the heels of her high heels on the carpet.

“StarRing Technology’s offer is 15% lower than ours.” Mu Hongyan’s voice mingled with the steam from the coffee machine. The financial model of their competitor was flashing on the projector. As her fingertips swiped across the screen and a code comparison chart popped up, the jade bracelet on her wrist bumped against the touchpad. “But their government cloud interface adaptation solution has three vulnerabilities—here, and here.” She circled two lines of code, the fine lines at the corners of her eyes faintly visible in the blue light. “Send our encryption module iteration solution to Director Zhang at the Municipal Information Center before 3 a.m.”

Lin Yan's fingers swiped rapidly across the touchpad, and the background data suddenly showed abnormal fluctuations. "User behavior logs have surged," he pulled up the real-time monitoring, the curve resembling a sudden surge of ocean waves, "The number of requests per second exceeds the threshold by 300%, it's possible that Xinghuan is generating fake traffic to create a false impression." Mu Hongyan's pupils suddenly contracted in the blue light, her fingernails turning white as she grabbed her phone: "Technology department? Initiate IP address tracing, give me the attack node distribution within ten minutes—yes, using the firewall system we just bought last month."

As morning light streamed into the conference room, a small mountain of cold coffee cups lay before the two women. The seventh paper cup still held remnants of instant coffee. When the signing letter from the city hall arrived, Mu Hongyan finally loosened her tie, revealing a red mark on her collarbone—a mark left from hitting the table corner when she slammed her hand on it too hard during yesterday's negotiations. "The celebration is on the 88th floor of the Jin Mao Tower," she said, hooking her suit jacket over her arm as she walked towards the door. Suddenly turning back, her voice softened, "Aunt Su said in the break room yesterday that Ayu's cast should be removed, right?"

Chapter Two: Champagne-Colored Cracks

In the banquet hall of the Jin Mao Tower, crystal chandeliers shattered the light into a galaxy. Wang Lei from the marketing department, holding a microphone, called for Lin Yan to come up on stage. The champagne glass trembled between his fingertips, reflecting the project data scrolling on the large screen. He suddenly remembered last week in the hospital, Ah Yu sleeping by the bedside, her eyelashes casting butterfly-wing-like shadows under her eyes, the bruise from the blood draw on her wrist still lingering, like a pale purple flower blooming on her pale skin.

"Mr. Lin, you've lost ten pounds in the last six months, haven't you?" The finance director's laughter mingled with jazz music. As Mu Hongyan brought over the whiskey, she happened to see his phone screen light up—it was a rainy night three months ago, when Ah Yu stood at the entrance of the convenience store with a transparent umbrella. Rain dripped down the umbrella ribs onto her hair, forming a string of tiny water droplets, like her unspoken thanks.

“Director Zhang said he wants to recruit you to work on the government cloud architecture next time.” As Mu Hongyan leaned closer, the scent of Chanel N°5 mingled with the cool champagne in the ice bucket. Her fingertips traced the second button of his shirt, her nails lightly brushing the skin below his collarbone. “But I told him you still have unfinished business—for example, our smart city phase two plan.” As she turned, strands of hair brushed against the back of his hand, suddenly reminding him of Ah Yu’s usual jasmine balm, that warm sweetness, which now seemed particularly distant in the cold champagne.

His phone vibrated in his pocket; it was a message from the housekeeper. The short message made his fingers tighten: "Miss Ayu secretly removed her cast today and is chopping vegetables in the kitchen. She can barely hold the knife." He stood up abruptly, his champagne glass tilting, the golden liquid spreading in winding patterns on the white tablecloth, much like the seven stitches Ayu had just received on her ankle in the emergency room that day. Blood beads seeped down the edges of the gauze, but she bit her lip and said, "It's okay, I just wanted to cook you a bowl of porridge."

Chapter Three: The Light in the Kitchen

As the entryway light came on, Ah Yu was tiptoeing to reach the glass bowl on the top shelf of the cabinet. Her right leg, still unsteady after the cast was removed, turned around hastily at the sound. The edges of the gauze on her ankle were stained with faint red, but when she saw Lin Yan, she smiled and revealed her dimples—he was carrying a takeout seafood porridge, his tie askew on his collarbone, and his suit trousers were damp with the night rain from the Bund, making him look like someone just pulled from the deep sea.

"Didn't I tell you not to get it wet?" He quickly stepped forward and supported her swaying shoulders, his fingertips touching the thin calluses on her wrists—the marks left from when he discovered her secretly working as a part-time illustrator late at night last month while he was helping her move her computer. On the counter, broccoli was cut into irregular sizes, and cream soup in a frying pan bubbled and boiled, with overcooked shrimp curled up in the soup like a few tired butterflies.

“I wanted to make basil pesto pasta.” Ah Yu bent down, twisting her apron which was covered in flour, a broccoli leaf still stuck to the end of her hair. “But the supermarket didn’t have fresh basil, so I used mint…” She suddenly looked up, her eyes like amber soaked in water in the warm light. “I saw you eat three boxes of basil pasta from the convenience store last time you worked overtime.”

Lin Yan noticed the bandages scattered next to the food processor and remembered that three days ago she had secretly gone to the hospital to change her dressing. On the way back, she had fallen on the steps, and the blood from her knee had stained his white shirt sleeve. She had been busy apologizing, saying, "I've dirtied your clothes." Now, the gauze on her ankle was bleeding again, but she was still smiling as she pressed him down at the dining table and handed him warm honey water, the cup still warm from her fingertips.

Chapter Four: Unremoved Bandages

The microwave's "ding" broke the silence. Ah Yu turned to scoop out some porridge, and her hair tie suddenly slipped and fell to the ground. As Lin Yan bent down to pick it up, he saw the newly permed curls at the nape of her neck, curled and clung to her skin like a small animal trying to hide. He suddenly remembered the alleyway three months ago, in the pouring rain, she was squatting on the ground feeding stray cats, raindrops dripping from the eaves onto her thin shoulders, and his umbrella ultimately tilted towards that small figure shivering in the rain.

My dear reader, there's more to this chapter! Please click the next page to continue reading—even more exciting content awaits!