By this time, it was already 6:30 in the evening. The April issue had already been made at the printing factory, and Zhaochuan's car was already waiting like a thief 800 meters away from the gate of Yuanyue Society. Everything seemed to have been settled.
When Yu Yao saw that "boy-boy match" he had a suffocating expression, followed by an overwhelming murderous aura. Without saying a word, she picked up her phone and called Lao Miao. At that time, Lao Miao was having dinner with someone at a place less than a thousand meters away from Yuanyue Society. When he answered the phone, he sounded drunk and refused to come back to work overtime on the revision.
"Okay, either you come back now or never come back."
Yu Yao said such a domineering sentence, hung up the phone and looked up. Chu Li was already calling the printing factory, apologizing repeatedly and asking the people in the printing factory to help re-plate, because this back cover would definitely not be usable——
Under the wind of harmony, the boss even emphasized the importance of responding to the call of the nation. Now, no one dares to joke about this. It's okay if the boss doesn't know. If he knows, it will be a large-scale collective punishment that even the artists will not be able to escape... It hasn't been long since "Little God" made a mistake. If something happens again now, I'm afraid both of them will be talking about whether "Moonlight" magazine will still be published next year.
Fortunately, the printing factory was the one that Yuanyue Publishing House's magazines had been cooperating with, so even though no one wanted to see this happen, they still agreed to wait for the new files to be sent over and re-make the plates... Chu Li hung up the phone and looked at Yu Yao for a few seconds, then had to sit down and accept his fate of working overtime.
[The navy hired by the monkey: Wait another half an hour! 】
[Zhuchuan: Didn’t you spend the afternoon cleaning the fish tank? Why are you working overtime again? ]
[The water army hired by Monkey: I suddenly found that there was a problem with the section that Lao Miao was in charge of, and he refused to come back to work overtime. There was nothing I could do but bear the brunt of it... I am not familiar with the drawing software, so I have to waste some time. ]
【Tsukawa: …】
[Zhuochuan: It's only 6:10 now. If you finish before 7, this is my first date in 28 years. If you dare to ruin it with the excuse of "overtime", I will break your neck.]
[The navy hired by the monkey: ………………………]
[The sailors hired by the monkey: Date? Isn't it to go out for dinner and have your hair cut with you? ]
[The monkey's hired navy: Is this a date? ]
【Zhuchuan: No, it’s eating and getting a haircut. 】
[Zhuchuan: Where did I find someone as mentally retarded as you? ]
“…”
Time flies by, I don't care about Lao Miao, He Xie or Chu Li anymore, I immediately grabbed a mirror and looked at my face; then I opened my bag to see if I brought any makeup products; finally I looked at my outfit today, ah, I should not have worn this black down jacket, it's so tacky...
[The naval forces hired by the monkey: Why didn't you tell me before the date? I could have behaved better, such as dressing up or something, at least I wouldn't have to wear a down jacket. ]
[Zhu Chuan: I'm sorry for not considering your intelligence. ]
[Zhuchuan: What do you want to wear in such a cold weather if not a down jacket? Have you heard of a late spring cold snap? If you get sick, I'll have to send you to the hospital.]
[The sailors hired by Monkey: ………We’ve watched a movie together before. 】
[Tsukawa: Jiang Yucheng was also there? Does that count?]
【Zhu Chuan: You mean the three of us shared my first date? 】
【Zhuchuan: Who do you want to hate? 】
Chu Li saw that Chu Chuan was ready to come to her house and have a fight with her the next second, so she didn't dare to say anything. She just sent a perfunctory "Hehe" and put down her phone and rushed to the computer.
I quickly deleted Lao Miao's "boys and boys" and spent ten minutes thinking about the copy. In the end, like an old-fashioned man, I gritted my teeth and prepared to use the back cover words "Set off! Towards the Leviathan of my dreams!"
It took another twenty minutes, while I was calling Ah Xiang and groping my way around like a blind man feeling his way through an elephant.
While accepting Ah Xiang's voice instructions, she was busy studying how to use the typesetting software. When she just figured out a little bit and was ready to reprint...
Old Miao returns with his lover.
Chu Li glanced at the lower right corner of the computer. At this time, nearly forty minutes had passed since Yu Yao called Lao Miao. Based on where he had just eaten, it would take him no more than ten minutes to walk to Yuanyue Society.
Lao Miao was drunk. When he arrived, he glanced at Chu Li and Yu Yao who were working overtime. He didn't even say hello to them and just ignored them... When Chu Li handed the finished document to Yu Yao, Lao Miao also sat down next to her.
A cool breeze with a strong scent of alcohol blew in his face. Chu Li turned his head and glanced at Lao Miao. Watching him open his computer, Chu Li said, "You just came now, and the new back cover is almost ready."
Lao Miao still ignored him.
Instead, he opened Word by himself, and under the watchful eyes of Chu Li and Yu Yao, he adjusted the font to size 1, made it bold and centered, and quickly typed out three words:
【Resignation letter】.
Chu Li: "..."
Yu Yao: “…”
…
A quarter to seven.
Sitting in the car, Zhuochuan has raised his hand to look at the watch on his wrist for the seventh time. In the context of modern people who habitually use their mobile phones to check the time, this action simply represents the impatience and irritability of the person making the action. He took out his mobile phone, weighed it in his hand, hesitated again and again, but still did not make the urgent call.
Zhao Chuan sat in the car with a frown on his face, until the next second, he saw from a distance a person wrapped up like a ball, carrying a bag and jogging towards him with her head lowered... She was wearing black short boots, a black skirt, and a black down jacket, which vaguely revealed a creamy white turtleneck sweater underneath. She was frozen and shrunken, and her eyes were blown into two lines by the north wind——
She stopped not far from Chuchuan's car, and like a meerkat, she stretched her neck as far as she could and looked around as if she was looking for something.
“…”
Such a scene easily suppressed the man's previous irritation, and the negative emotions in his heart disappeared at once. The man unlocked the car door, turned on the lights, and honked the horn.
Then Chu Li suddenly turned her head around, almost jumped up, rushed to the side of the car, opened the door of the passenger seat, and got into the car with a cold breath of ice and snow. She sighed and twitched her red nose: "It's thawed, it's thawed, I feel like a frozen cutlassfish that has been frozen hard..."
"I think it's salted fish..."
Zhuochuan hadn't finished speaking yet.
Two cold little paws stretched out from the side and pulled his hand. The man stared at his big hand and fell silent. He saw that she just touched the hand with her watch. She stretched her head to look at his watch and then smiled happily: "Six forty-eight, ten minutes to seven, I didn't delay anything at all, you are really a genius!"
The silly and optimistic smile on her face made Zhuchuan swallow back the words "I came at 5:30 because I was afraid you would leave work early."
He just patted her head and asked, "Are you hungry?"
“It’s not bad,” Chu Li rubbed his hands together and put them close to the heater and air conditioner outlet. “I redid the back cover. It took me more than 20 minutes. The main reason was that I didn’t know how to use the software, so I had to start learning from scratch… Actually, if Lao Miao had come back or some art editor was here, it would probably only take a few minutes to finish it. But he refused to come back. I was almost done when he came back reeking of alcohol. He sat down and started writing his resignation letter in bold font, afraid that no one would see it…”
Chu Li thought for a moment and said, "Maybe Yu Yao's attitude recently made him feel very upset, so he drank so much."
"Resignation letter? What do you think?" Zhaochuan asked casually.
"I didn't read it much. I've been living this frustrating life for a year. The only two times I got so angry that I wanted to resign were when your "Luohe Divine Book" was first released at the book fair. Seeing those cosplayers occupying the street, your readers couldn't even get in to buy books," Chu Li put down his hand from the air conditioner. "Another time was a few days ago, when Suo Heng's "Little God" had an accident. Readers had no way to complain. They couldn't do anything about us or the printing factory, so they could only return the products silently or suffer losses..."
“You are full of readers.”
"Yuanyue Publishing House has always been a book seller. I grew up reading the magazine "Star Tracks". Everything was normal and I didn't notice any difference... But when Yuanyue Publishing House joined "Moonlight" and the sales channels became more complicated due to the increase in the number of book types, I always felt that -"
"What?"
“I always feel that Yuanyue Society is not really in line with my philosophy.”
"That's why I told you not to come, but you didn't listen."
Chu Li, who was leaning against the window and watching the scenery passing by quickly, was slightly startled. She raised her head and looked at Zhuo Chuan, saying blankly: "When did you tell me not to come to Yuanyue Society? You were not even here when I came to Yuanyue Society."
“…”
In the dim car, Zhuchuan glanced at her and said nothing.
After a while, we drove into the city and the surroundings finally became lively. Although it was a late spring cold snap and the weather was freezing, the neon lights, people and cars on the streets were as prosperous and bustling as a big city should be... In the traffic, the new car that Zhuchuan bought specifically for transportation was inconspicuous. He just found a parking space on the roadside and parked it. When he parked the car, he turned around and saw that the person sitting in the passenger seat who had been quiet all the way was actually asleep.
She leaned her head against the window, closed her eyes, and breathed peacefully. Her long eyelashes drooped, casting a shadow under her eyes. Her face showed fatigue after removing the disguise.
On the phone in her hand, WeChat was still popping out new messages one after another. She didn't know what the content was because the owner had set it to no longer display detailed information...
Zhao Chuan suddenly thought of when they first met a year ago, she was still a newcomer who knew nothing. At that time, her mobile phone messages, whether QQ or WeChat, generously showed the content of the messages to others. He even laughed at her for this, saying that she had no sense of guard against others, did not understand the ways of the world, and would suffer losses sooner or later.
It’s only been a year—
The man raised his hand and used his fingertips to push away the hair that fell on her face. He watched her eyelashes tremble slightly and then she slowly woke up, opened her eyes, looked at him approaching, and smiled as if reflexively.
When he spoke, his voice was still filled with sleep: "We're here... I actually fell asleep."
Chu Chuan: “Yeah.”
At this moment, Zhuchuan really wanted to ask Chu Li to resign. If he wanted to waste his youth and passion, he should consider whether it was worth it. He also felt a nameless anger burning in his heart, as if he was dissatisfied that his own child was living a good life, but was tainted by the dirty world outside and forced to grow up.
I always wondered how this editor could be so stupid and whether he could do anything good.
Now I hope she is just a little dumber. After all, the slower she grows, the less frustration she will suffer.
"Chu Li, you..."
"Why are you staring at me? Get out of the car, I'm hungry."
Chu Li didn't know what Zhu Chuan was thinking, so she lowered her head to unbuckle her seat belt, opened the car door and jumped out. Zhu Chuan also got out of the car and watched Chu Li go around the front of the car and come towards him, then stopped at a distance where they were almost shoulder to shoulder.
The two walked side by side to the street. Just then the traffic light turned red, so they had no choice but to wait on the street while discussing what to eat... Chu Li answered absentmindedly, her eyes wandering around. In fact, her mind was full of the man's hand hanging by her side.
...I want to hold on to you.
...I wonder if this would be a bad idea?
...After all, it seems that we haven't confirmed the relationship yet. Although he said it was a date, can we hold hands on a date? What if he pushes us away?
…But we’ve already kissed, so why shouldn’t we hold hands?
…even though this is on the main road.
...Ahhhhhh, what's going on on the street? Look, the girl next door is almost hanging on her boyfriend, you're jealous.
Chu Li's eyes lit up and dimmed for a long time. She was still unable to finish her thoughts when the green signal light came on. She could only watch Chu Chuan walk towards the other side of the road with his long legs spread out. She was stunned for a moment and said "ah" stupidly, then hurriedly followed the man's pace...
——He died before he could accomplish his mission.
This made Chu Li feel very depressed: he had already made up his mind to make a breakthrough tonight.
The little incident when crossing the road made Chu Li feel a little depressed. In addition, she didn't know what Zhuo Chuan was thinking about, and he seemed to be hesitant and absent-minded. Chu Li even felt that he seemed to be unhappy about something. When he didn't look at her, the corners of his eyes were so cold that ice chips could fall off.
The atmosphere is depressing.
The two found a grilled fish restaurant and sat down to eat. After the food was served, they started talking a little bit while eating. The reason was that Chu Chuan suddenly asked her if she was busy with work. Chu Li was a little confused, so she had to tell him that she was definitely busy because "Moonlight" would face a revision that she had started preparing for a year ago.
"I'm getting so worried about this. How can I make the revision a surprise? I have to create some hype and sell well in the first issue so I can have an explanation."
Chu Li poked the rice in the bowl with chopsticks.
"There are book fairs all over the country on May Day." Zhuo Chuan reminded, "Wasn't the last book fair quite successful?"
"...invite another cosplayer, and then I'll have a huge fight with the marketing department?"
"You can ask the author to sign books," Zhu Chuan picked up a piece of fish meat. Feeling the burning gaze beside him, he paused and calmly put the piece of fish meat into her bowl. "I don't have any books to sign. Can you stop staring at me like I'm fat meat?"
"There are less than 10,000 copies of the Luo River Divine Book left in stock. If we quickly sign and sell a few, wouldn't it be great to have more printed?"
"…Isn't The Lost Amusement Park going to be released in May?"
Chu Chuan chooses to sell out his teammates.
Chu Li put down the bowl and reached out to touch the phone on the table.
Zhuo Chuan knocked her bowl with chopsticks and warned her, "Call me when you get home. You want to call Jiang Yucheng while you're having dinner with me. Who do you want to piss off to death?"
Chu Li took her hand away from the phone reluctantly, picked up the bowl, and found that it was already filled with various fish and vegetables with the bones picked out. She lowered her head and stuffed them into her stomach one by one. After eating, when she was so exhausted that she wanted to find a place to lean against the wall to calm down, Zhuo Chuan stood up with satisfaction and went to pay the bill.
There are many high-end hair salons and styling design shops in the same building. Chu Li, wearing her down jacket and holding it like a little country girl, followed Zhu Chuan into a relatively low-key shop. Seeing Jimmy, Jack, Andy, and Vincent looking like they had seen their own brother, she guessed that Zhu Chuan was a regular customer here.
After Joo Chuan made the simple request of “cut it shorter to cover your eyes” in a straight-man manner, the two stylists circled around Joo Chuan, asking him one by one, “Your hair is split” and another, “Didn’t you take good care of it like I told you last time”, and finally, “You have no styling at all, and you are ruining your handsome face~~~~” Chu Li shuddered and glanced at Joo Chuan in the mirror: it’s hard for him to hold on to that frosty and cold look.
Chu Li found a place to sit down with his phone in his hand. He checked the WeChat messages he had missed in the past and found that Lao Miao's resignation had been posted to the WeChat group.
A group of people seemed to take it seriously.
But apart from Liang Chonglang, no one tried to keep him. Although the coser column he was carrying was quite popular, everyone knew that this resource was obtained by Liang Chonglang, and anyone else would do the same.
Chu Li quietly watched Lao Miao's acting and was played by him instead of being the one to act. In his heart, he actually felt a spark of hope that Lao Miao might really be able to get away with it.
After waiting for 40 minutes, when Chu Li looked up from her phone, the place was almost done. She found that half of the man's hair was combed up and fixed with hair gel, and the other hair was hanging in front of her eyes, revealing her smooth forehead. The high nose bridge and sword-like eyebrows were strangely made more three-dimensional and profound than usual because of the hairstyle...
This "beast in human clothing" hairstyle also makes him look more mature, stable, and stunningly handsome.
Chu Li put down his phone in shock, and suddenly began to agree that what Comrade Jimi had just said when he wailed "No style at all~~~~" was simply stating the truth.
In comparison, Zhaochuan's usual look shows that he never takes himself seriously!
You face me with a chicken head every day, you have never thought about respecting me ah ...
Thanks to me for putting on makeup every day before going downstairs to make breakfast for you! ! ! !
Raised by a turtle!!!!!!!
Chu Li stood up and trotted to the man's side. He raised his head and glanced at him. He thought that with this face, he could sell 100,000 copies at a signing event, and even Teacher Herman would be far behind.
When Chu Chuan reported his membership card number in a deep voice and was about to pay, Jimmy came to the cashier counter, looked at Chu Chuan and said with a smile: "Little sister, I really envy you for having such a handsome brother."
Chu Li glanced at him. If looks could kill, she would have chased him and hacked him for eight blocks.
However, the reality is that I can only spit out blood silently in my heart, gnashing my teeth, and muttering in my heart like a villain: Wait, next time I come, I will stand at the door of your store and give you a powerful German orthopedic French kiss to shatter your worldview...
Before she could finish her muttering, her hand hanging by her side was suddenly grasped by a big hand. The man easily held her hand in his palm and said lightly, "What sister? How do they look alike?"
Then he dragged the stunned Chu Li and walked out of the store in a swagger.
Chu Li followed behind the man, her eyes glued to the hand he was holding.
This is on the main road.
On the main road.
On the main road ahhhhhhhhhhhhh!
They held hands.
Like millions of couples around the world.
Hold hands.
...He took the initiative.