Chen Lu sighed softly and slowly stood up.

"I'm leaving."

Liang Zhirou also stood up, gently took his hand, and whispered, "Let's plant a strawberry before you go."

"Great!" Chen Lu couldn't help but think, "Is this for real?"

Seeing the girl tilt her snow-white neck back, he said with some surprise, "I thought you were going to implant a seed in me."

"Anything is fine." The girl pursed her lips and pointed to the area below her collarbone with her index finger. "I just feel that this way I won't miss you so much."

A moment later, Chen Lu looked at his masterpiece, smiled slightly, and squeezed the girl's hand back, "I tried to come back before it disappeared."

Liang Zhirou was very happy to hear this, and said, "Okay."

"You just focus on drawing, and when you become a big shot in the future, I'll hold up a flag for you at your book signings."

"good."

"I'll ask Chen Mo for a day off on your birthday so she and Lin Miaomiao can spend it with you."

Liang Zhirou nodded almost imperceptibly and tentatively asked, "Shall I go to the airport with you?"

It takes forty minutes to drive to the airport from here, and she wanted to spend more time with Chen Lu.

"Forget it, how long will it take you to come and go? And you definitely won't want to take a taxi back, which will only waste more time."

"All right."

Liang Zhirou didn't say anything more. After thinking for a moment, she didn't say anything like "Come back soon."

She was afraid that Chen Lu would misunderstand and think she was pressuring him.

"They're gone."

After Chen Lu finished speaking, he closed the door as if fleeing, covering up the girl's "okay".

Fearing he might stay any longer, he hardened his heart and yelled, "Go to his company! Let whoever wants to run it, run it! I need to celebrate my girlfriend's birthday first!"

That would be troublesome.

......

It's only a few days, it's okay. Chen Lu said he'd be back soon.

I managed to get through so long alone before, didn't I?

Liang Zhirou comforted herself for a few moments and resisted the urge to chase after Chen Lu to see his back. Instead, she leaned against the door.

The sound of the door closing still echoed in her mind. The surrounding silence made her feel as if her heart had sunk into a lake, and she felt inexplicably depressed.

Although the rented room wasn't very big and her belongings were a bit cramped, she always felt that there was emptiness everywhere, as if a piece of her heart was also empty.

As if by telepathy, Chen Lu did not leave immediately. He leaned against the door, his thoughts unable to settle for a long time.

The farewell just now seemed to be just the prelude; the two of them were still not truly apart.

Chen Lu wouldn't care if it were just a business trip, but Liang Zhirou hadn't celebrated her birthday many times, and now he was going to miss it again. Just thinking about how Liang Zhirou had pretended not to care earlier made his heart ache like it was being pricked by needles.

Two minutes later, Chen Lu sat in the passenger seat.

"As long as our company is still alive, I will not let that studio make even a single penny more comfortable."

This was the first thing he said to Jiang Chao after they met.

The car was traveling on the elevated highway leading to the airport. Because the road was not very congested, the car was moving very fast.

Jiang Chao lit a cigarette, gripped the steering wheel with one hand, and rummaged through the pockets with the other, but still couldn't find the lighter.

"Damn it! Why do those bastards in the programming team keep stealing my lighters every day?!" Jiang Chao couldn't help but curse.

Chen Lu, who had been looking out the window at the blue sky, turned to look at him and teased, "What's wrong? We've both gone to solve problems, why are you still in a low mood?"

"We had a fight. Liu Yan suggested that I go on a business trip abroad and not come back."

Chen Lu suddenly felt even more sorry for Liang Zhirou.

"Are you alright?" Jiang Chao asked, turning his head to the side.

"It's okay. If you had spent some time with Liu Yan before, she definitely wouldn't be angry with you." Chen Lu was a little speechless. "She has a bad temper, but she's a very reasonable person. You know that better than I do."

Upon hearing this, Jiang Chao nearly ground his teeth to powder. After loosening his fist, he moved closer to Chen Lu and said, "Brother, no, Dad! Please start the class. I'll listen on my knees."

"climb."

"What do you think the chances of a deal going through?" Jiang Chao asked curiously, looking at the license plate of the car in front of him. Hey, idiot, that's interesting.

You must take a picture with your phone immediately.

“There’s no point in thinking about this.” Chen Lu leaned back in his chair, closed his eyes to rest. “If you want to reach an agreement, you definitely can. The question is how much you can accept.”

......

Hangzhou is not particularly far from Shenzhen. The flight took off at 1 p.m. and arrived at 3:10 p.m.

Around 4 p.m., the two of them entered the Penguin company building.

Following behind the receptionist, the group walked on the smooth, warm yellow floor tiles, their crisp footsteps echoing throughout the spacious hall.

Chen Lu grabbed Jiang Chao's arm, stomped his foot on the ground, and whispered, "This floor tile might have been bought with the money I topped up."

“Then this is the one I charged.” Jiang Chao was led astray and childishly stepped onto another floor tile.

He really spent a lot of money. Every time he went out to internet cafes during college, his account, which was almost entirely covered in skins, would attract a lot of attention from people around him.

"This decoration is really beautiful." Chen Luchao gestured with his chin towards the door. "The fountain outside is also beautiful; it makes me feel relaxed."

"I wish our company could grow to this size." Unlike Chen Lu, Jiang Chao's focus was on the company's scale.

"Stop dreaming. There aren't any opportunities like that anymore. You can't achieve that level just by being good at managing things. You need an opportunity to come, and you have to be able to seize it."

They had only been sitting in the reception room for two minutes when the person in charge of their meeting knocked and came in.

Wow, they arrived so quickly...

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