The moment my heart fluttered was because of you.
Lin Jingshang's finger paused on the box of mints for a moment.
Does Xie Dang eat candy? Or was it specially prepared for him?
He recalled that Xie Dang didn't seem to have a sweet tooth, always ate black coffee, and barely touched the white porridge he had for a late-night snack that time.
This box of candy...
The light turned green, and a car behind honked. Lin Jingshang snapped out of his daze, closed the glove compartment, and focused on driving.
On Monday, Lin Jingshang arrived at the company early, parked his car back in its original spot in the underground garage, carefully checked it to make sure there were no scratches, and then took the file bag and spare key upstairs to find Xie Dang.
When he entered the president's office, Xie Dang was listening to his assistant's work report.
Upon seeing him enter, the assistant tactfully paused and withdrew.
"Mr. Xie, the documents have been delivered, and the car is parked." Lin Jingshang placed the file folder and keys on the desk. "Here are the keys, thank you."
Xie Dang lifted his gaze from the document, first scanning the key, then landing on Lin Jingshang's face, and nodded.
"Yes, thank you for your hard work."
Lin Jingshang's inexplicable expectation and nervousness were dashed, and he suddenly found himself a little ridiculous. Did he really expect the other party to say something?
Just as he was about to turn and leave, Xie Dang suddenly spoke up again: "Is the car in good condition?"
"Oh? It's fine, there's no problem," Lin Jingshang replied.
"Hmm," Xie Dang responded, then lowered his head back to look at the documents.
Lin Jingshang paused, but couldn't help mentioning, "The mints in the storage box taste pretty good."
He regretted it as soon as he finished speaking, feeling that his question was a bit stupid, as if he were trying to find out something.
Xie Dang paused in his flipping through the documents, without looking up: "These are for stimulating your senses. You can take them if you like."
Lin Jingshang: "...No need, thank you, President Xie."
He practically fled the office.
Back at his workstation, Lin Jingshang looked at the glass jar of lemon candy on the table, and then thought of the box of mints, feeling a bit confused.
It's for stimulating your senses; you can take it.
So, was that candy for someone who might be riding in the front passenger seat? Who could it be for? A customer? Or...?
He shook his head, trying to banish these chaotic thoughts.
This isn't like him.
During his lunch break, Lin Jingshang went to the small terrace as usual.
Xie Dang arrived a little late today, carrying not only coffee but also that familiar little box—the box of mints. He sat down in the chair next to Lin Jingshang, placed the mints on the small round table between them, and said nothing.
Lin Jingshang looked at the box of candy, then at Xie Dang.
Xie Dang took a sip of coffee and his gaze fell on the buildings in the distance.
After a while, he picked up the box of candy, opened it, poured out one for himself, and put it in his mouth. Then, he pushed the box towards Lin Jingshang.
Lin Jingshang looked at the box of candy that was being pushed towards him, and then at Xie Dang's calm profile. Suddenly, the chaotic emotions in his heart calmed down.
He reached out and poured out a mint, put it in his mouth, and found it cool and slightly sweet, which was quite refreshing.
The sun shone warmly as the two sat side by side on chairs, quietly eating mints.
---
The system was quiet for a while, and it seems to have undergone a version update. This time, it chose a different method of interference.
That morning, as soon as Lin Jingshang arrived at the company and turned on his computer, he discovered that his computer screensaver had been forcibly changed.
The original screensaver was a default landscape image, but now it has been replaced with a beautiful animated illustration: two blurry male silhouettes are nestled together in a shower of falling cherry blossoms, bathed in the hazy moonlight.
The screensaver also features an artistic text line: "A moment of heart-fluttering beauty, all because of you."
Lin Jingshang: "..."
He moved the mouse expressionlessly, woke up the computer, went into settings, and prepared to change the screensaver, only to find that the relevant options were grayed out and could not be modified.
He took a deep breath and resigned himself to the fact.
Fortunately, the screensaver itself isn't too bad-looking, as long as it's not lit up in front of colleagues.
He sent a message to Xie Dang.
[Lin Jingshang]: My computer screensaver was forcibly updated, and the art style... is very beautiful. (Attached: Screensaver screenshot)
[BUG Partner]: Same here. I have tried to crack it, but the permissions are locked and cannot be restored for the time being.
Even Xie Dang couldn't handle it?
Lin Jingshang was a little surprised; it seemed that the system had really gone all out this time.
Throughout the entire day, Lin Jingshang was extremely careful, trying his best to avoid putting the computer into screensaver mode.
But there are always times when he makes a mistake. For example, he went to get some water and when he came back, he saw the scene of cherry blossoms fluttering and silhouettes cuddling on the screen. A colleague who was passing by couldn't help but cast a curious glance.
He pretended to be calm and quickly typed on the keyboard to wake up the screen.
In contrast, Xie Dang was much calmer.
When a subordinate came into his office to report on his work, the computer screen happened to be in screensaver mode, and the beautiful image and cheesy text were openly displayed in front of the two of them.
The subordinate was visibly taken aback, glanced at Xie Dang, and continued his report.
Xie Dang remained calm and, after his subordinate finished reporting, explained in a low voice, "The system vulnerability is being handled by the technical department."
The subordinate left with some doubt.
The two met on the small terrace during their lunch break.
Lin Jingshang couldn't help but complain: "This screensaver is so awkward, and the worst part is that you can't turn it off."
Xie Dang took a sip of coffee and looked into the distance: "The image rendering technology is acceptable, but the color saturation is too high, and the copywriting lacks originality."
Lin Jingshang was amused by his academic commentary: "President Xie, isn't your focus a bit off?"
Xie Dang turned to look at him: "You'll get used to it. It lacks creativity."
These words were spoken in a calm tone, but Lin Jingshang did not believe that things would get better once he got used to them, but there was no other way at the moment.
In the afternoon, Lin Jingshang needed to collaborate with a colleague from another department to revise a PowerPoint presentation. The two shared a projector and took turns operating the computer.
When it was Lin Jingshang's turn to operate the computer, he wasn't paying attention, and the computer went into screensaver mode again. The huge projection screen was instantly filled with cherry blossom silhouettes and the phrase, "A moment of heart-fluttering, all because of you."
The small conference room fell silent for a moment.
His colleague stared wide-eyed at the screen, then at Lin Jingshang, his expression quite interesting.
Lin Jingshang felt a chill run down his spine. He forced himself to remain calm, quickly typed on the keyboard, switched back to the PPT interface, and coughed lightly: "Cough, my computer has a virus."
My colleague said "Oh," his eyes burning with gossip.
After finally getting through the meeting, Lin Jingshang returned to his workstation, feeling utterly exhausted.
He messaged Xie Dang: [The company is dead. My phone's screensaver lit up during the meeting, and everyone in the conference room saw it...]
[BUG Partner]: It is known that the technical department has received similar feedback from multiple users and is working urgently to address the issue.
A while later, Xie Dang sent another message: "Don't worry about it; associations lacking factual basis are meaningless."
Lin Jingshang looked at the message, and his agitated mood calmed down a bit.
Yes, why care about what others think?
Between him and Xie Dang, there were countless details that only they knew, all of which had actually happened. Systematic tricks simply couldn't compare to those experiences.
When Lin Jingshang turned off his computer after get off work, he looked at the beautiful screensaver that had lit up again and suddenly felt that it looked somewhat empty. The world's will was like a clumsy stage backdrop, trying to perform a play that it could not understand at all.
He and Xie Dang are real people off-screen, and they will move forward at their own pace.
---
The system realized that the screensaver attack had not achieved the expected results, and seemed to have abandoned this method, changed its approach, and started doing other things.
Lin Jingshang discovered that the calendar app on both his phone and computer had started adding entries automatically and silently, very frequently. These entries were unrelated to work arrangements and were all extremely mundane reminders, some even with a hint of ambiguity.
[Remember to tune in to the Interstellar review on Wednesday at 7:00 PM; it's said to be a great place to discuss life and love.]
On Friday, I tried the newly opened matcha mille-feuille downstairs during my lunch break. The sweetness was just right.
[Sunday afternoon, sunny and perfect for a walk; the ginkgo trees along the city park's avenue are already turning yellow.]
At first, Lin Jingshang thought it was an ad push from some app, but after checking carefully, he found that these items had indeed been added to his personal default calendar and synced to all his devices.
He immediately became alert and sent a screenshot to Xie Dang.
[Lin Jingshang]: Help! It's starting to fill my schedule... (Attached: Calendar screenshot)
[BUG Partner]: I also discovered that a similar entry appeared in my calendar, with highly overlapping content.
Lin Jingshang opened the screenshot sent by Xie Dang.
Sure enough, apart from a slight adjustment in timing, the content was almost identical, even the film review recommendation that it was "suitable for exploring life and love" was exactly the same.
Is this system trying to force them to have common topics and dating opportunities?
[Lin Jingshang]: What should I do? Delete it?
【BUG Partner】: Deleted items will be re-added. Filtering rules have been set up to categorize them under the 【Invalid Alerts】 tag, allowing them to be ignored in batches.
Following Xie Dang's method, Lin Jingshang indeed found the newly added "Invalid Reminders" category in the calendar settings, which was densely packed with schedules forced upon him by the system.
Out of sight, out of mind.
The system seems to be able to detect their ignoring behavior.
A few days later, Lin Jingshang was preparing materials for an important client meeting when a full-screen reminder suddenly popped up on his phone calendar, accompanied by a notification sound.
[Reminder: 3 PM - Enjoy a cup of coffee with someone special~ Location: Third-floor rooftop garden of the company.]
Lin Jingshang's hand trembled, almost spilling coffee on the keyboard. He hurriedly turned off the notification, his heart still pounding.
This thing can force pop-ups?
He looked out the glass wall of the office and saw Xie Dang walking out of the office, holding a phone in his hand, his brows slightly furrowed, clearly having also received the same forced invitation.
The two looked at each other through the glass and saw helplessness in each other's eyes.
Xie Dang shook his head slightly at him, indicating that he didn't need to pay attention, and then turned around and went back to his office.
Lin Jingshang steadied himself and continued working.
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