Chapter 35 Since ancient times, there has only been one path to Mount Hua.
On her first weekend back from Quzhou, Jian Zhen unusually volunteered to work overtime at Qili. Lao Le arrived early and immediately exclaimed in surprise upon seeing her, "Why are you here? Didn't you submit 41cut? Is there a problem?"
“No problem.” Jian Zhen pinched the bridge of her nose, took off her glasses, and said calmly, “You’re like a frightened bird right now.”
"What are you doing here if there's no problem?" Laur walked closer to her desk, peered at the computer screen, and frowned as he asked, "What's this?"
"layout".
"A new layout has been added to 'Mystery Valley'?" Lao Le realized something was amiss after saying this. He was now the highest decision-maker in the team; he couldn't possibly be unaware of tasks involving assignments, unless—
“It’s not for ‘Mystery Valley’, this is some side work I’ve taken on.” Jian Zhen lifted the lid of the ceramic cup on the table, picked up the strong tea and took a sip, her brows furrowing from the bitterness.
Sure enough, Lao Le looked around. Luckily, there weren't many people there since it was Saturday, so no one should have heard Jian Zhen's words. She bent down, placed her hand on the back of Jian Zhen's chair, and whispered, "Can't you take it home to make? Why do you have to make it at the company?"
Regarding the punishment for undertaking business from other companies in the company's office space, Qili said that although there was no explicit rule, it was absolutely unwelcome. Especially when some colleagues were working themselves to the bone all day and still couldn't even finish their own jobs, seeing other colleagues easily making extra money would surely make them grit their teeth in anger.
“A neighbor is renovating.” Jian Zhen had anticipated that Lao Le would ask this question and had already prepared a response.
Actually, no one was renovating. Xu Weisheng probably had considered this when finding her a house. The new house had excellent sound insulation, and the neighbors were all gentle and polite, and wouldn't do something as unethical as drilling an electric drill early on a weekend.
She simply wanted to find a place to work outside of home. Otherwise, staying at home, she always felt that every floorboard had Xu Weisheng's footprints. Seeing the footprints reminded her of him, and thinking of him made Jian Zhen unable to help but recall her confession that had been rejected beforehand.
This is probably the most pathetic way to pursue someone in the world.
"You—" Lao Le hesitated, her phone in her bag kept ringing, so she had to put Jian Zhen aside and go back to her office to attend an online meeting.
Two hours later, Jian Zhen finished her work and was about to get up to get another glass of water when Lao Le called her into his office.
"Jian Zhen." Lao Le took a deep breath, clearly trying to control his emotions, and said as calmly as possible, "It's outside of work hours now. I can't control what kind of private work you want to take on, but could you please not bring it to the company? If other colleagues see it, they might think you're provoking them."
"Who's so free? Let him have the guts to report me to the personnel department." Jian Zhen remained unmoved on the surface, but every word she spoke was barbed.
Lao Le was completely baffled: "Have you taken the wrong medicine? Why are you talking so aggressively?"
Thinking of her unfortunate experience, Jian Zhen snorted and said, "I think I should take some medicine."
Lao Le was speechless. He immediately took out his phone and booked a double room at the hotel next door, telling her to go work at the hotel or simply go and rest: "Look at your big eye bags, people who don't know better would think I'm abusing my employees."
Jian Zhen chuckled twice, and said meaningfully, "It's not you who's abusing the employees, it's this building we're standing in."
"You should go to the hotel right away!" Lao Le was really afraid that if she stayed any longer, she might say something that could get her killed.
Jian Zhen reluctantly accepted her kindness, got up and floated out. Fortunately, Lao Le did not book a room by the hour to save money, because she worked overtime for more than 10 hours, forgetting to eat and sleep, and did not send the revised original drawings to the "Pingping Youqi Work Group" until after 3 a.m.
Regarding the adjustments to Pingping's side story, she and Xu Weisheng reached a preliminary consensus: first, based on the revised plot, select the usable parts from the original work for modification, while creating original content for the rest. This approach would establish the visual standards as quickly as possible without causing excessive waste and alienating the original team.
Several seasoned night owls in the work group received Jian Zhen's compressed file at 3:30 AM and were terrified. They privately messaged her, complaining that she was like a robot, chewing on batteries. Some, however, were compassionate and hesitated before sending Jian Zhen a message, asking if she was under too much work pressure and urging her to take care of her health.
Such heartwarming news, but unfortunately Jian Zhen didn't see it. She threw down her drawing board, took off her shoes, and sprawled out on the hotel bed, falling into a chaotic dream shrouded in black mist.
Artistic creation can sometimes be seen as an overdraft of one's inspiration. Jian Zhen has "Mystery Valley", "Hundred Demon Records", and "Billiards Boy" which she pays attention to from time to time. Carrying so many ever-changing otherworldly worlds on her back, she often feels overwhelmed. This is reflected in her dreams, which are often intermittent and fragmented.
That night, she first fled for her life in the mountains of Migu, then got into a brawl with a group of thugs in a billiards hall, and finally returned to Baitadong in Quzhou. This time, she slipped and fell. Xu Weisheng was not by her side, and no one reached out to save her. She just lay there and fell, falling and falling...
Suddenly, when her consciousness returned, she was already sitting at Zixin's wedding. If there were subtitles, the screen should have displayed "lv.6 Director reconnected," and with the influx of background audio, everything around her came alive. People started moving, and someone pulled out the chair next to her, saying familiarly, "Miss, is this seat taken?"
Jian Zhen glanced at her sideways, vaguely feeling that the person looked somewhat familiar: "Nobody's here."
“Great! I’ll save a seat for my boss. I’m afraid there won’t be any seats if he comes late.” The other person placed a bubble machine on the chair.
Jian Zhen suddenly remembered that this was the front desk of the parade. She quickly reached out and tugged at the turntable on the banquet table. When she picked up the nameplate on the turntable, her eyes widened in surprise: "The Bride's Colleague".
She grabbed the receptionist who was about to leave and asked, "Who is this boss you're talking about?"
"Our CEO Xu!" The other person's tone was inexplicably excited, and they gave Jian Zhen a look that Jian Zhen couldn't understand at all: "You've met him, he's very handsome!"
Indeed, the scene was a feast for the eyes, and Jian Zhen felt instantly full. Before the banquet began, she wanted to leave. But before she could make up her mind, the wedding venue started playing a "love documentary" carefully edited by Zi Xin. Looking at the girl with a happy face in the documentary, she took a deep breath and decided to sit down to witness her precious moment.
She told herself that the worst that could happen was to play dead.
Besides, she and Xu Weisheng hadn't broken up. At least on the surface, their collaboration on "The Hundred Demon Records" was still progressing vigorously. It's just that their current state couldn't withstand closer examination; otherwise, the more she thought about it, the stranger it seemed. Sooner or later, she would develop schizophrenia because of love.
The wedding ceremony was about to begin, and every table in the banquet hall was gradually filling up with people. The table next to Jian Zhen was still empty. She glanced at her watch; the heart rate monitor indicated that she was under a lot of pressure.
She leaned back silently, then suddenly felt the cushion of the seat next to her sink. Someone had sat down, and she knew who it was without even turning around.
"Good morning." Xu Weisheng had just returned from HKU that morning. In order to attend this wedding, she specially went home to take a shower. The traffic was very congested, and she almost arrived late despite rushing.
Jian Zhen unconsciously swallowed, glanced at him expressionlessly, and then turned her head away expressionlessly again.
Xu Weisheng felt guilty and couldn't take her coldness to heart, so he could only make fun of himself to ease the awkwardness: "Luckily I got out of the car and ran a few steps, otherwise I would have entered the venue with the bride."
Jian Zhen didn't want to talk to him, but since he insisted on speaking—"I'm not satisfied with the ghost modeling that Killua did in the 7th cut. I asked him to redo it, but he's unhappy and wants to sue you. How would you, Mr. Xu, decide?"
Xu Weisheng: ...
This is deliberate retaliation, isn't it?
He looked up at the emcee who had already begun his speech on the stage, then looked back at Jian Zhen, feeling helpless for the first time. He asked in a hushed voice, "Do we really have to talk about work here?"
"What else can we talk about besides work?" Jian Zhen tilted her head and asked sharply.
Before Xu Weisheng could answer, the sacred doors at the end of the banquet hall were opened, and the bride slowly entered to the accompaniment of a touching melody. Jian Zhen quickly dismissed him and turned around to focus on taking pictures of Zixin.
The sight of Zixin walking onto the stage step by step, with her white veil trailing on the ground and covered in rhinestones, was still incredibly impactful. Jian Zhen never thought of herself as someone easily moved by a sense of ceremony, but as she watched, she couldn't help but have tears welling up in her eyes.
Xu Weisheng handed her a tissue at just the right moment, but she choked back tears and pushed it away, saying, "No."
The hand that had been pushed away returned to hers, and Xu Weisheng insisted, "Wipe it off, or your makeup will be ruined."
Jian Zhen couldn't refuse, so she angrily grabbed a tissue and pressed it to her face. When it came time for the groom to kneel down and present the bouquet to the bride, she watched intently with teary eyes, not wanting to miss a single detail.
Amid cheers from the audience, the groom stood up, embraced the bride, and led her to the front of the stage. The emcee asked the couple to share their love story. Actually, there was nothing special about it. Jian Zhen had been gossiping with Zi Xin for a long time. The groom was Zi Xin's high school classmate. They had similar grades and made a promise to be together if they got into the same university.
They did indeed make it happen. After four years of dating, he proposed to Zixin in front of the entire school at their graduation ceremony, becoming a model couple who married young.
But hearing this story from the person involved made it all the more touching. Jian Zhen, watching the newlyweds under the spotlight, couldn't stop crying. How come other people's lives are paved with such steady steps to happiness? As long as you follow the steps steadily, you're sure to find ordinary yet precious happiness.
And she, relying on the encouragement of the scoundrel behind her, plus a bit of her own impulsiveness, embarked on a path that was destined to be difficult and likely to yield nothing.
The banquet hall had central air conditioning, and the crowd was gathered together, so it should have been quite warm. But Jian Zhen bit her lower lip, her heart filled with a tragic grandeur, like Jing Ke about to commit assassination.
Ah, the wind howls and the Yi River is cold. Her extraordinary and unconventional life may have been foreshadowed in the middle school Chinese class when she secretly read "Billiard Boy" or on the afternoon she crossed the Yongding River to find Xu Weisheng.
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