Chapter 49 A Brief Introduction to the Charm of Mature Women
Jian Zhen was in the middle of a conversation with an NPC when someone took her controller. This was unacceptable! She quickly got up, braced herself against the carpet, and chased after them.
Xu Weisheng had already entered the kitchen before her. The advantage of a large apartment is that it has plenty of space. The house even has two kitchens, one Western-style open and one Chinese-style with a door. At this moment, Xu Weisheng locked herself in the kitchen with the door, taking control of the kitchen.
The door was a transparent glass sliding door with a water ripple pattern. When Jian Zhen arrived, Xu Weisheng had kicked the bottom edge of the door frame with one foot, making it impossible for her to pry it open. The two of them were separated by a glass door that could deform, observing each other's exaggerated expressions up close. They both thought the other was grimacing and completely lacking in composure.
Jian Zhen threatened, "Are you going to open the door or not?"
"Are you going to apologize or not?" Xu Weisheng insisted that the "feeling of being a married man" insulted his purity.
Jian Zhen didn't think she had anything to apologize for. She leaned against the door frame, stuck in a horse stance, rolled her eyes, and complained, "Aren't you childish?"
“You’re deliberately trying to annoy me by bringing up some young people you just met in the office building. You’re the childish one.” Xu Weisheng revealed his petty nature.
Jian Zhen's face froze, seemingly struggling between further escalation and admitting her mistake. After a moment, she chose to back down, letting go of her hand, standing up straight, looking at the glass, and saying, "Fine, I was childish first, wasn't I? Open the door, and I'll apologize to you properly."
Xu Weisheng was skeptical, but coerced her, saying, "You promise?"
Jian Zhen tilted her head back and chuckled speechlessly—someone who could say such a thing was forcing others to admit they were childish. After laughing, she raised her hand and said in her most professional tone, "I swear, OK?"
The glass door slowly opened, and the two stood facing each other, their eyes meeting, but for a moment neither of them was in a hurry to speak.
Xu Weisheng's face gradually warmed up. Whenever the two of them were on the verge of an ambiguous relationship, he would force himself to recall how he and Jian Zhen had gotten to where they were today, how he had pushed her away time and time again, and how he was now cautiously and humbly trying to ask her to come back. He had already made a mistake once, so this time he had to be extra careful, always remembering his position and keeping a proper distance, so as not to scare her away again by being too hasty.
This conflicted and contradictory state of mind caused him to frequently reflect on himself. For example, right now, he felt that he was being unreasonable again. Before Jian Zhen even spoke, he wanted to apologize first.
He handed the handle to Jian Zhen and said one word, a little awkwardly: "Here."
Jian Zhen took it, holding it with both hands, and kept her promise, saying politely, "I'm sorry, I did it on purpose to upset you today."
Xu Weisheng stared at her, his lips twitching weakly—it was a fake smile—he didn't know what to say.
Jian Zhen beckoned to him, and Xu Weisheng was stunned for a moment. Then, belatedly, he bent down and was about to ask what was wrong when Jian Zhen tiptoed and quickly kissed him on the left cheek. He heard a "sorry" right next to him, and before he could react, he saw the perpetrator disappear like the wind, leaving him frozen in place, slowly turning as red as a boiled shrimp.
How could this be...? It took Xu Weisheng a while to recover from his petrified state. He covered his left cheek and slowly leaned against the door frame, thinking: This is too unfair...
Jian Zhen returned to her designated gaming seat and continued to stare intently at the screen as the story unfolded. If it weren't for the slight trembling in her hands as she gripped the controller, no one would have guessed that her heart was racing. At least her expression was serious, not at all like someone who had just kissed a man.
If we could see through a microscope how her brain and heart were functioning at that moment, we would find that her brain was split in two, with each side doing two completely unrelated things—the left brain was playing a game rationally and seriously, while the right brain was doing its best to persuade the heart to calm down.
Listening more closely, you can hear the right brain righteously proclaiming: "We're both adults, with normal physiological urges, and we like each other. Kissing and hugging is perfectly normal. Even if it develops into a romantic relationship with complicated entanglements, breaking up or getting a divorce later is no big deal. We can always find a way to handle any problem. The sky won't fall. Even if love fails, I still have family; if family leaves, I still have friends. Even if all relationships have cracks, I still have my career to rely on. It's just love, right? It's not a big deal..."
And her heartbeat truly returned to normal amidst this silent chatter.
It's clear that the more inner support a person has, the more purposeful they are in life. Jian Zhen's current wisdom in strategic retreat and her composed confidence are things she couldn't have achieved before, and certainly not something someone like Xu Weisheng, whose foundation is inherently unstable, could aspire to.
Xu Weisheng returned carrying two boxes of ice cream. He changed his tone and asked, "Rum and chocolate, which one do you want to eat first?"
“Chocolate.” Jian Zhen stared intently at the screen.
Xu Weisheng scooped a spoonful of chocolate ice cream and fed it to her. She naturally opened her mouth and ate it. The clean spoon was pushed out by the tip of her tongue. Xu Weisheng saw this and almost lost his grip on the spoon. His ears were burning. He scooped a big spoonful of chocolate ice cream and put it in his mouth to cool down.
"The lighting effects in this tomb complex section are better than when I saw it before. Did you make any changes?"
"I made some adjustments to match the changes in the game's timeline." Xu Weisheng looked at the screen seriously for the first time, his perspective following the character controlled by Jian Zhen.
"You've been working overtime behind my back quite a bit!" Jian Zhen glanced at him with a smile.
Hsu Wei-sheng fed her another spoonful of ice cream, trying to keep his tone calm as he said, "It's always better to make changes beforehand than to have them pointed out by the audience after the film goes live and then have to make changes."
“There are no perfect works, especially animation,” Jian Zhen said rationally. In fact, as industry insiders, they all know that it is common for released works to have their visual details constantly modified.
"Of course, so I'm trying my best to restrain myself from investigating too many details of the remaining issues. Sometimes imperfections are also part of a work, otherwise—" Xu Weisheng thought of the story of how he went bankrupt when he first founded Touxue because he was too meticulous about details, which led to high time and manpower costs. It was not a good omen, so he quietly stopped.
"I never imagined that someone as obsessive-compulsive as you could work at Qili for two years and take on so many projects." Jian Zhen was referring to the works produced by Qili back then, which were credited to Lin Sheng.
"They were just trying to piggyback on my fame; a lot of it had nothing to do with me," Xu Weisheng said, speaking of the past with a nonchalant air.
Sure enough, Jian Zhen snorted, chuckled, and turned to look at him, saying, "Don't you hate them?"
"Who are you referring to when you say 'them'?" Xu Weisheng scooped up a spoonful of ice cream, not rushing to feed it to her, but instead looking up at Jian Zhen and asking, "Are you referring to the behemoth that is Qili itself, or the specific individuals within it?"
Jian Zhen looked at him and blinked. She had regretted many times in private that she hadn't listened to her parents and gone abroad to study after graduation. Instead, she had recklessly thrown herself into Qili, a small, oppressive, and competitive feudal society. But at this moment, she suddenly realized that this experience also had its value. For example, if she hadn't worked in Qili, she wouldn't have been able to understand the meaning of Xu Weisheng's words, and she wouldn't have been able to experience the feeling of resonance at this moment.
Hsu Wei-sheng continued, "If we're talking about Qili itself, it's just a profit-making machine without self-awareness, huge and cold, impossible to dismantle from the outside, so I can't bring myself to hate it. But if we're talking about specific people..."
He lowered his head and chuckled, saying, "They are all just fuel for this machine; fuel cannot determine the direction it will take."
Jian Zhen's eyes dimmed, and she lowered her gaze, looking at his hand as she said, "Actually, this industry should be the most equal and simplest, but as soon as capital intervenes..."
“It is very difficult for market-oriented works to be free from the influence of capital.” Xu Weisheng still held back, knowing full well that it was not “very difficult” but “absolutely impossible.”
“Yes.” Jian Zhen licked her lips, then reverted to her invulnerable adult demeanor, turning back to look at the game screen and saying, “After all, tickets are required. It’s obviously different whether one person watches it or a hundred people watch it.”
Xu Weisheng nodded and said, "However, there should be limits to how business can interfere with creative work. A conscientious company will promise and uphold this principle from the very beginning."
“That’s why we do snow penetration,” Jane said crisply.
"What if we also go astray one day?" After all, everyone has a dark side, and the higher you stand, the bigger the shadow becomes.
"No," Jian Zhen said firmly.
Xu Weisheng was amused and asked, "Why?"
“I’m so upright, I’ll stop you.” Jian Zhen said this without the slightest hesitation. Xu Weisheng wanted to laugh, but couldn’t. He stared at her profile, lost in thought, as if trying to see her as a transparent gem.
There really are people like that. Xu Weisheng's heart was filled with emotion. He thought to himself, there really are people who come into this world with the most steadfast kindness. No matter which direction you look at them from, they can reflect light from countless angles. And he had only met one such person in his life.
There was no movement from the side for a long time, and the taste of chocolate in Jian Zhen's mouth was almost gone. She was about to turn her head to ask Xu Weisheng for another spoonful when she turned her face and bumped into Xu Weisheng leaning over. The kiss that was supposed to be on her cheek ended up touching her lips by accident.
What a wonderful coincidence!
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