So shameful
Shi Guang heard the morning birdsong outside the window, clear and melodious, with the unique dampness of the mountains. He also heard the sound of a heartbeat so close that it gave him an unprecedented sense of security.
He opened his eyes with some difficulty, and saw the golden morning light, like a spotlight on a stage, falling squarely in front of him. At the end of the beam was Lu Yu's handsome face, with no dead angles.
He was awake, and had apparently been awake for a long time.
His deep eyes were now staring at himself intently.
After the brain of time had been shut down for a full three seconds, those embarrassing memories of last night came flooding back like a broken dam.
Seeing that he was awake, the arm around his waist tightened slightly.
"Don't move."
It’s… so shameful.
Lu Yu stared into his eyes and opened his lips slightly: "Good morning, boyfriend."
Shi Guang could no longer bear Lu Yu's overly hot and direct gaze, and suddenly buried her face, which was already red and almost cooked, deeply in Lu Yu's strong chest.
He responded in a voice as thin as a mosquito: "...Hmm."
Just as a sweet atmosphere was brewing in the air in this small room 202, a series of deadly calls rang out.
"Bang! Bang! Bang!"
The door was banged so hard that it made a loud noise. The force and rhythm were so strong that no one else could be blamed except Fatty Jiang.
Then, his loud voice came through the thick wooden door:
"Brother Lu! Master Time! Are you up yet? The sun is blazing down! Help! We have a key piece of peripheral data that hasn't been matched, and the entire process is stuck. We urgently need Master Time to come over and support us!"
Shi Guang's body suddenly stiffened, like a rabbit caught stealing food by its owner. He hurriedly threw back the quilt, not even having time to look for his slippers, and jumped out of bed barefoot, frantically searching for the clothes he had changed out of yesterday.
Lu Yu scratched his messy short hair irritably, sat up, and yelled back at the door that was still banging:
"Got it! What are you arguing about? Wait, five minutes!"
Fat Jiang outside the door seemed to be intimidated by Lu Yu's roar, which was full of irritability, and the knocking on the door stopped abruptly.
Lu Yu shook his head, lifted the quilt and got out of bed.
Five minutes later, the door of room 202 finally opened.
Fat Jiang, who had been waiting at the door bored, immediately perked up. He was about to complain, but when he saw two people walking out of the room one after the other, his prepared complaints were instantly choked back.
His eyes widened slightly uncontrollably.
Something is wrong.
Something is very wrong!
Jiang Xiaopang's eyes were like two precise X-rays, quickly scanning back and forth over Lu Yu and Shi Guang several times.
Mr. Time's lips... don't they look... a little redder and fuller than yesterday?
Fat Jiang rubbed his eyes subconsciously, thinking that he was hallucinating from working all night.
Then, his gaze turned to Lu Yu who was walking behind Shi Guang.
Seeing this, the alarm in his heart was about to burst out.
Brother Lu is in an overly good mood today!
Several people walked into Room 201. In the room, Lin Xiyue, Sun Rui and others, with huge dark circles under their eyes, were gathered around a computer, having the final debate on a bunch of complex data models.
With Shi Guang's participation, the data bottleneck problem that had troubled everyone for half the night was almost solved.
He quickly entered a state of intense focus. Sitting in front of his computer, his fingers tapping away rapidly on the keyboard, his brows slightly furrowed as he succinctly gave a series of technical instructions to Sun Rui and Lin Xiyue beside him.
Under his leadership, the originally chaotic finishing work quickly became well organized and incredibly efficient.
Lu Yu first ran downstairs and bought everyone steaming hot buns and soy milk, ensuring that every team member who had been working all night could have a hot breakfast. Then he escorted Lin Xiyue, who had been working for more than ten hours straight, back from her computer and ordered her to go back to bed immediately.
The entire operations room was still busy.
At ten o'clock in the morning, when the autumn sunshine filled the entire courtyard of the inn, with Lin Xiyue's cheers, the location data collection and modeling work of the entire digital protection project of the ancient town in western Sichuan was finally successfully completed!
"I declare!" Lin Xiyue raised the USB flash drive in her hand, like a torch of victory, "We can officially rest now! Now, disband! Eat if you want to, eat; sleep if you want to, sleep!"
"Oh yeah!"
The team members, who had been suppressed for a long time, burst into warm cheers.
"I'm making this announcement! To celebrate the project's complete success, I'll treat you to lunch at Li's Firewood Chicken, the most famous restaurant in town!" Fatty Jiang waved his hand proudly, like a triumphant general. "No one is allowed to leave until we're all leaning against the wall!"
Zhao Teng and several other team members immediately responded more enthusiastically, and several of them began to discuss ordering some signature dishes.
Shi Guang began to pick up the scattered cables and his computer. To him, the bustling world outside always seemed to be separated by an invisible film.
Just then, a pair of white sneakers stopped in front of him.
Shi Guang paused in his packing. He knew who was coming without even looking up.
Lu Yu bent down, took the heavy computer bag from him, and lifted it easily in his own hand. In the chaos, when everyone's attention was distracted by the noise from Fatty Jiang's side, he leaned over to Shi Guang's ear.
His warm breath, with a hint of refreshing mint toothpaste, gently brushed against his time-sensitive earlobes, causing him to shiver uncontrollably.
"Ignore them, let's go for a walk alone?"
They ultimately lived up to Jiang Xiaopang's hospitality and accompanied the main group to Li Ji Firewood Chicken for a lively celebratory lunch. However, after the meal, when Jiang Xiaopang suggested going to the town's internet cafe to play games and relax, Lu Yu used the excuse of going with Shi Guang to sort out some materials and took him away from the main group.
Instead of returning to the inn, they turned in the opposite direction of the main street and entered a secluded alley along the river.
The hustle and bustle of the ancient town seemed to be isolated behind us in an instant.
On one side of the alley lies a gurgling stream, water plants swaying leisurely in the water. On the other side, pristine western Sichuan dwellings, with black tiles, mottled wooden walls, and strings of fiery red dried chilies and air-dried bacon hanging from the eaves.
The afternoon sun lazily streamed down through the gaps between the mottled and interlaced eaves of the old houses overhead, casting tiny, warm golden specks of light on the damp bluestone pavement. The air was filled with the tranquil aroma of a mixture of moisture and moss.
The two walked side by side on the quiet cobblestone road. No one spoke, but the atmosphere was not awkward at all.
Lu Yu deliberately slowed down his pace to keep up with the pace of time.
After walking a little further along the stream, a clear and pleasant tinkling sound attracted their attention.
Deep in the alley, under a century-old ginkgo tree with lush branches and leaves, an old lady in blue cloth clothes was sitting on a small stool. She was wearing reading glasses and rhythmically hitting a piece of silver in her hand with a small hammer.
In front of her was a piece of blue cloth, on which were placed various silver ornaments she had made by hand, including simple hairpins, carved bracelets, longevity locks and fish-shaped pendants. Each piece had a unique handmade warm texture.
Lu Yu's attention was quickly attracted by an inconspicuous object.
It was a silver sheet, hammered into the shape of a ginkgo leaf. The artisan meticulously outlined the veins of the leaf, making them clear and lifelike. In the sunlight, it reflected a soft, delicate light.
He walked forward, picked up the ginkgo leaf carefully, then turned around and handed it to Shi Guang. The smile in his eyes was like crushed starlight.
"Look," he said, "this is perfect for a bookmark."
Time's gaze fell on that delicate ginkgo leaf. Autumn had not yet arrived, but this tiny leaf before my eyes seemed to have already brought the splendor of the entire golden autumn.
Lu Yu scanned the QR code on the old lady's stall with his mobile phone and paid readily.
He walked back to Shi Guang and put the ginkgo leaf, which still had the warmth from his fingertips, into Shi Guang's hand.
He looked into Shi Guang's eyes and whispered in a voice that only the two of them could hear:
"It's for you."
Shi Guang lowered his head, looking at the delicate ginkgo leaf lying quietly in his palm. The silver leaf reflected the fragmented sunlight, which was slightly dazzling and a little hot.
When the two of them walked back from the other end of the alley side by side, it was already dark.
The gorgeous sunset turned the western sky into a magnificent fiery cloud. The golden afterglow gently enveloped the entire Qingwa Ancient Town, giving the quaint green-tiled wooden houses a warm and hazy halo.
As they reached the inn's entrance, they happened upon Fat Jiang and his group, who had just returned from a wild afternoon of shopping in town. Lin Xiyue, Sun Rui, and the others, who were catching up on some sleep in the inn, were drawn out by the noise outside. The enthusiastic proprietress was cheerfully greeting everyone with a plate of sliced watermelon.
Everyone was gathered together and the atmosphere was just right.
Zhao Teng raised his precious camera, took a look at the beautiful sky and light, and his photographer's occupational disease instantly came on.
He excitedly suggested, "Everyone, come on! Don't move! While the light is at its best right now, let's all take a group photo at the entrance of the inn! Let's just take it as a commemoration of the complete success of our project, how about it!"
This proposal was unanimously agreed by everyone.
"That's a great idea!" Fat Jiang was the first to respond. "Boss, you should come too. You're the biggest logistical contributor to our project!"
The proprietress was so enticed by his coaxing that she happily let him come over. Everyone started laughing and spontaneously lined up under the inn's quaint plaque that read "Green Tile Inn."
The camera was set up for time-lapse photography and placed on the stone table opposite.
Lu Yu stretched out his arm and put his arm around Shi Guang's shoulders. Shi Guang subconsciously raised his head and looked at Lu Yu beside him, but Lu Yu did not look at him.
He tightened his grip around Shi Guang's shoulders, then raised his head to face the camera lens not far away that had already started the countdown, and smiled a smile that was even more dazzling than the gorgeous sunset behind him.
The ten-second countdown set by Zhao Teng just ended at this moment.
“Crack!”
The crisp sound of shutter clicks echoed in the quiet evening air, freezing this moment, everyone's smiling faces, and this unique memory of youth forever.
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