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The atmosphere in the room grew cold. Lu Kai and the others, seemingly determined not to turn back until they hit a wall, stared fixedly at the TV in front of them. It wasn't until the winner's portrait appeared on the big screen behind the red-haired white man that everyone resigned themselves to their fate, their hearts sinking to the bottom. Tomato gritted his teeth and said, "It really went to a white person." Although the shortlist, aside from Freckles, was entirely white, Tomato impatiently turned off the screen projection. For nearly five minutes, the room was silent, and no one knew what to say or where to begin. The silence was finally broken by Dorasi's sudden burst of tears: "I... I'm sorry! I..." Dorasi's sobs startled everyone. Zhao Jinghuan was the first to react, rushing to her side and pulling the sobbing Dorasi into her arms: "Oh my, Dorasi, what are you doing?" Lu Kai and the others hurried over, all offering comfort to Dorasi: "What's there to be sorry about? This was a decision we all made together. It's not your fault. If you want to blame someone, blame these white people for not knowing what they're doing." "Yeah, they're busy stealing wallets at the train station. There's not even a toy factory, and yet they're awarding prizes there. What do they know?" "I don't think they want to come to China next year. If they dare, we'll just rip off the paint." The more words of comfort were offered, the harder Dorasi cried. Seeing this, Sister Zou quickly sent the people surrounding Dorasi away. She and Zhao Jinghuan took Dorasi into the back room, where they spent over ten minutes calming down before emerging again. After a while of tossing and turning, it was already past three in the morning. The sudden bad news had driven everyone away from sleepiness, but there was no point in forcing themselves to continue, especially since Wanfeng's cold hadn't fully healed yet. Lu Kai gathered his thoughts and told everyone to go back and rest. "Go back and get a good night's sleep. Take half the day off tomorrow morning. Come back to work at 2 pm, and we'll discuss what to do next." With previous experience in mind, Lu Kai didn't try to comfort Dorasi. Instead, he patted Tomato on the shoulder and said, "Don't worry. Our design is so good that we'll sell 30,000 units regardless of awards. Tomato, don't let your imagination run wild. Follow me, and we can solve any problem." Tomato was stunned for a moment. Seeing Lu Kai winking at him repeatedly, he realized that this was a veiled criticism—no, a reference to Tomato comforting Dorasi. So he nodded seriously, "Yes, of course I believe in you. We will closely follow your leadership!" He spoke so seriously that it almost sounded sarcastic. Lu Kai gave Tomato a disdainful look, and then...
The atmosphere in the room grew colder, and Lu Kai and the others stared at the TV in front of them, as if they would not turn back until they hit a wall.
It was not until the winner's portrait appeared on the big screen behind the red-haired white man that everyone had to accept their fate and their hearts fell to the bottom.
Tomato gritted his teeth and said, "It really was awarded to a white person."
Although the shortlisted candidates are all white except for Freckles.
Tomato turned off the screen projection in annoyance. For almost five minutes, there was no sound in the room. No one knew what to say or where to start.
The last thing that broke the silence was Dorasi's sudden and unexpected crying:
"I…I'm sorry! I…"
Doraemon's crying startled everyone. Zhao Jinghuan was the first to react. She rushed to her side and pulled the crying Doraemon into her arms: "Oh my, Doraemon, what are you doing?"
Lu Kai and the others also hurried over, and everyone started to comfort Dorasi:
"What's there to be sorry about? This is a decision we all made together. It's not your fault. If you want to blame someone, blame these white people who don't know what they're doing."
"Yeah, they're busy stealing wallets at the train station. There's not even a toy factory, and they're awarding prizes there. What do they know?"
"I don't think they want to come to China next year. If they dare to come, we'll just break the paint."
The more words of comfort were offered, the harder Dorasi cried. Seeing this, Sister Zou quickly dismissed the people surrounding Dorasi. She and Zhao Jinghuan took Dorasi into the back room, where they spent over ten minutes calming down before emerging again. After all this time, it was already past three in the morning, and the sudden, tragic news had driven away everyone's sleepiness. But there was no point in forcing it on, especially since Wanfeng's cold hadn't fully healed yet.
Lu Kai calmed himself down and asked everyone to go back and rest first.
"Go back and have a good sleep. Take half a day off tomorrow morning. Come back to work at 2 pm. We'll discuss what to do next."
With his previous experience, Lu Kai didn't try to comfort Dorasi. Instead, he patted Tomato on the shoulder and said, "Don't worry. Our design is so good, we'll sell 30,000 units regardless of the award. Tomato, don't overthink it. Follow me, and we can solve any problem."
Tomato was stunned for a moment. Seeing Lu Kai winking at him repeatedly, he realized that this was a veiled criticism. No, it was Tomato trying to comfort Dorasi. So he nodded seriously: "Well, of course I believe in you. We will closely follow your leadership!"
It was said so seriously that it seemed like sarcasm.
Lu Kai glanced at Fanqie with disdain, then clapped his hands, encouraging everyone like a coach encouraging his players. He was worried about Dorasi, so he quietly told Sister Zou to take Dorasi home and make sure to take him upstairs and to the door.
"It's best to send it to the bed and cover it with a quilt."
But Sister Zou had a better idea. She told Dorasi, "My home is close to the studio. Come sleep at my place. When you wake up, we can come together."
When Zhao Jinghuan heard this, she couldn't help but raise her hand: "I live closer to the company..."
Sister Zou said: "I have a second bedroom at home with a second bed."
Zhao Jinghuan nodded: "That makes sense." Then he retreated obediently.
So Lu Kai and the others left together. Zhao Jinghuan leaned on the windowsill and looked down. She didn't sit back on the bed until she saw Tomato and the others separated at the intersection.
This whole night can be regarded as "coming with high hopes and leaving with low hopes."
Zhao Jinghuan felt a little sad. She lay on the bed and thought about all sorts of things. Sometimes she thought about Dorasi's crying, and sometimes she thought about the millions that Lu Kaihua had lost. She didn't know when she fell asleep, nor when she turned over twice, and then she put the phone under her ear.
At first, Zhao Jinghuan just vaguely felt a little bit of pain, but she was so sleepy that she didn't move. The pain continued until the phone next to her ear suddenly rang. The sharp sound pushed her out of her dream.
Zhao Jinghuan squinted her eyes and opened her mobile phone. Seeing that it was a group chat from the studio, she opened it and took a look. As soon as she took a look, the last bit of sleepiness in her heart disappeared.
Sister Zou said in the group:
"It's over, Dorasi is lost!"
…………
That morning, Sister Zou brought Dorasi back to her house. She dragged her weary-eyed daughter to the bathroom, washed her face, applied some makeup, and then selected two expensive eye masks for her. Sister Zou considered getting Dorasi to sleep with her, but she was used to sleeping alone and felt it was a little strange to sleep with someone else, regardless of whether they were male or female.
So, Dorasi was put in the second bedroom. Sister Zou found Dorasi new pajamas, watched her get into bed, and tucked her in. Sister Zou was actually a little worried at this point, so she locked the door, thinking that while it could be opened from the inside, it would still make a little more noise.
After doing all this, she went back to the master bedroom to sleep. After entering the room, she deliberately opened the door of the master bedroom for fear of missing any movement. But after all, she had stayed up most of the night and even drank a lot of beer. After washing up and lying on the bed, Sister Zou soon fell asleep unconsciously. She woke up from the bed at ten o'clock in the morning. The first thing she did was to go to see Dorasi in the second bedroom. However, as soon as she opened the door, she saw that the big plush bear that was originally lying in the living room outside had been moved to the bed, replacing Dorasi in a very obvious way.
Sister Zou felt her blood pressure suddenly rise. She pulled out her phone to call Dorasi, but it hung up after one ring. She sent Dorasi a text message, asking where she was, but no one replied. Losing her composure, Sister Zou posted a message in the group chat: "It's over! Dorasi is missing!" As soon as she sent the message, she hurriedly called Lu Kai, but the call only rang twice. Before Lu Kai could answer, Zhao Jinghuan called.
Sister Zou clicked on the call switch button, but before the call was connected, Zhao Jinghuan hung up early. I think the other party heard the prompt tone that Sister Zou was on the phone. The two calls were staggered, and immediately chaos broke out. Sister Zou and Zhao Jinghuan called each other at the same time, and both lines were busy. Then Zhao Jinghuan called Lu Kai, Lu Kai called Sister Zou, and Sister Zou called Zhao Jinghuan again. The three of them answered and hung up, and before a call was completed, Fanqie and Wanfeng, who saw the message in the group, joined the "melee". It was now a complete mess. No matter who Sister Zou called, the line was busy. The more anxious she was, the more she couldn't reach anyone. She was so angry that she stomped her feet and screamed on the phone.
In the end, Zhao Jinghuan directly started a group voice call in the WeChat group.
Several people from the studio immediately joined in. Sister Zou said she hadn't kept an eye on Dorasi and didn't know where she had gone. Lu Kai asked if Dorasi had gone to the studio, but Zhao Jinghuan said no, she hadn't been there at all. Wan Feng said worriedly:
"Doraxi won't do anything stupid, right?"
There was a moment of silence in the voice chat, and Lu Kai, Zou Jie, and Zhao Jinghuan said almost at the same time: "No, no, no." But none of them were actually sure.
Lu Kai made a quick decision and asked Wan Feng, who was still sick, to stay home and call Dorasi. The rest of the group set out immediately to search along the road. Sister Zou asked him how to search and where to start. Lu Kai was confused and answered randomly:
"Look anywhere, just look!"
Zhao Jinghuan put on her clothes and went downstairs. She got on her trolley, but didn't know which direction to go. After hesitating for a moment, she stepped on the accelerator and rushed out in a random direction. She looked in parks, breakfast shops, and small shops on the street. Wherever there was a chance, Zhao Jinghuan would stick her head in to take a look, but the more she looked, the more she felt like looking for a needle in a haystack.
While waiting for the red light, she suddenly heard someone honking behind her. She turned around and found that it was Lu Kai's broken Jetta parked behind her.
Lu Kai leaned out of the car window and shouted to Zhao Jinghuan, "Why did you come out? You should be waiting in the studio. What if Dorasi comes back to the studio if you come out?"
Zhao Jinghuan waved his hand and asked Lu Kai to go to the office and wait: "You go back and wait! I'll go find it! You can't drive into many alleys, and I'm familiar with the road conditions. Don't be stubborn, I'm a rider, I..."
She suddenly thought of something, and after a moment, she asked Lu Kai loudly: "Is Dorasi wearing that exclamation mark?"
"Ah?" Lu Kai didn't understand what she meant. Zhao Jinghuan realized that it was useless to ask Lu Kai about this matter, so she called Sister Zou directly. When the call was connected, she hurriedly asked Sister Zou:
"Did Dorasi take the exclamation point on his head with him when he left?"
"I don't know. Why are you still bothering with the exclamation mark at this moment?"
Zhao Jinghuan raised her voice anxiously: "Exclamation mark! Did she take off the exclamation mark on her head?"
Author's Note
Yaunai
author
05-18
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