"Everyone, the drinks and desserts you ordered are all here, please enjoy."
When the waiter of the cafe brought the food, Li Yu'an, who was sitting at his seat, was still stuck in the recent competition, feeling a sense of unreality.
You know, when Li Yu'an learned that his competitor was Ke Ming, he was already prepared to "try his best but still lose to You Ming Studio."
But he didn't expect that today's competition process would be far more complicated than he imagined -
the new game IP "Alien" under You Ming Studio plagiarized or even copied the NPC's appearance, and even the original author of the "plagiarized" was Louyang!
The two sides had a big argument over this matter.
Fortunately, the partner Will who was hiding behind the scenes had already prepared the trump card, and with the help of the central building, he ruthlessly tore off the false masks of Ke Ming and You Ming Studio!
Out of both moral and ability considerations, the GMs including Yan Cen all chose "The Last Fog" under their Dawn Games without exception.
"Mr. Li? What are you thinking about?"
A familiar voice came from the side, and Li Yu'an broke away from his daze, "Ah?"
Yan Cen, who was sitting outside, handed over the frozen lemonade in his hand, "Here, you just ordered it."
"Thank you."
Li Yu'an's eyes dodged, and his eyes met Yan Cen's as soon as they met. Fortunately, the drink in his hand was enough to "freeze" people, so as to stop the uncontrollable heat overflowing from the tip of his heart.
In order to avoid the embarrassment of being "seen through", Li Yu'an could only look across -
Bo Yueming and Pei Yi were sitting next to each other, the latter was concentrating on eating the dessert served to him, one bite after another, his cheeks puffed up for a rare time.
Li Yu'an wanted to laugh and thought it was a little cute.
Yan Cen followed Li Yu'an's gaze and asked casually, "Mr. Li, are you familiar with Young Master Pei?" As soon as
he said this, Bo Yueming across from him also raised his head, seeming to care about this matter.
"..."
Can't you see it?
How come your eyes are so accurate?
Li Yu'an grumbled in his heart, but in order to avoid misunderstanding, he simply explained, "Last time after the Bo's banquet, the next day we met again in the cafe."
Pei Yi, who was opposite him, took a bite of egg tart vaguely, and he didn't know if he understood.
That time, Li Yu'an failed in his investment and was in a very bad mood. Unexpectedly, he turned around and saw Pei Yi sitting at the next table waiting for someone.
The successive setbacks in life and career made Li Yu'an nervous to a certain extent, but Pei Yi seemed to see his gloomy mood, and before leaving, he deliberately "gave" away his cake and drink.
This plain and warm approach is far better than a lot of snobbish eyes of the rich and powerful who flatter the powerful and trample on the weak. Today, with the success of the investment competition, Li Yu'an wants to repay this wave of "favors".
Unexpectedly, after a few visits, he not only attracted Bo Yueming, who he was not familiar with, but also Yan Cen, whom he dared not even think about.
Li Yuanan took a sip of his drink, feeling a little uncomfortable.
After all, there were two people present who were senior executives of GM. Even if they had left the company and severed the relationship as potential partners, he didn't know how to deal with them.
Keeping a deliberately cold face? It doesn't seem good.
Deliberately smiling to please them? It's not his style either.
He didn't dare to look at Yan Cen beside him, and Bo Yueming, who was diagonally opposite, was not suitable to look at.
Li Yuanan had to stare at Pei Yi, who was eating a bite of egg pie on the left and a bite of pudding on the right. He suddenly felt that being a "fool" was also good -
eating, drinking, and having fun, and having a good partner to protect him, and not having any worries for a whole year!
How is he like him? Worrying about career is a waste of energy, and the secret love ends in vain.
Today, I finally got the investment and had a little social interaction with Yan Cen, but I have to pretend to be indifferent when staring at my favorite dessert.
After all, the habit of "loving sweets" looks particularly childish, and Li Yu'an still wants to pretend to be mature in front of Yan Cen.
"..."
In the blink of an eye, Pei Yi finished another small egg soufflé, and pursed his lips with some reluctance, "Ah?"
Li Yu'an tried hard to suppress his greed, "This egg soufflé tastes good? Pei Yi hasn't eaten enough yet?"
It looks soft and should be especially delicious.
Bo Yueming's attention has been on Pei Yi, and the corners of his mouth are slightly raised, "Then add another one."
Li Yu'an is inexplicably envious, and his Adam's apple rolls lightly:
What can I do, I want to eat it so much.
Yan Cen took in the subtle expressions of the people around him, and gently pushed the frame of the glasses with his slender fingers to hide the smile from the heart.
"Add two servings, I see that Mr. Li's eyes have never left you."
Li Yu'an, who thought he had hidden it well, blushed and tried to explain, "No, I don't like these."
But Pei Yi on the opposite side didn't give him this "face" and nodded like a chicken pecking at rice, "Yeah, yeah, only children like it!"
"..."
Li Yu'an's ears turned red instantly, and he endured it before he stood up and blocked Pei Yi's mouth directly -
what's wrong with this guy? It's obvious that he is a white-cut black! He actually teased him in return?
Yan Cen saw Li Yu'an's embarrassment and waved to the waiter to bring two more egg custard soufflés.
He changed his posture seemingly inadvertently, closing the distance that Li Yu'an had deliberately maintained, and whispered in agreement, "This dessert is really good, you can try it."
The ending tone was full of smiles, and it hit his ears lightly.
Li Yu'an didn't dare to turn his head to look at him, not even a glance. He picked up the drink and took two sips, then he pulled the straw and unconsciously spun it in the cup -
was the senior laughing at him?
What should I do, it seems embarrassing again.
...
Li Yu'an finally gave up and finished the egg custard soufflé with a hard mouth.
Fortunately, Yan Cen's next topic revolved around the game "End of the Mist", and he didn't repeat his preference for desserts.
As one of the persons in charge of the game at work, Li Yu'an had some understanding of "The End of Fog", and the initial awkwardness was easily relieved during the conversation.
The afternoon tea was quickly finished.
Bo Yueming and Pei Yi each had their own inconveniences, so they got on their own private shuttle vehicles at the door of the restaurant. After a simple farewell, the driver drove away.
Yan Cen looked away without any reluctance, "Mr. Li, shall we go together?"
Li Yu'an was stunned, "Huh?"
Yan Cen asked back, "Isn't your car parked downstairs of the company? I have to go back to the company to deal with some documents, shall we walk back together?"
The restaurant and the company building are only two or three minutes away, so there is no need to be extravagant to take a car.
Li Yu'an had no reason to refuse, so he nodded, "Okay."
Yan Cen walked ahead unnoticed, leaving the outer side near the road for himself. When he saw Li Yu'an following him, he deliberately slowed down his pace.
"Now we are outside the company, not working hours, we can chat about things outside of work."
"...What to talk about?"
Suddenly, Pei Yi and Bo Yueming were gone, and it could be said that the two of them were "alone" at this moment. Li Yu'an was a little uneasy, but at the same time, he was a little happy.
Yan Cen tried, "Pei Huan said before that you two were in the same grade and major? Then have we met in college before?"
"..."
Pei Huan?
Yes, Pei Huan said those two words at the banquet before. Did he want to find out about Pei Huan through him?
Li Yu'an misunderstood and lowered his eyes to hide his sadness. "Something happened at home in my sophomore year, so I changed my major and started over. In fact, Pei Huan and I are not familiar with each other. We are not in the same year or the same major."
As for him and Yan Cen, except for the unexpected encounter in sophomore year, they had nothing to do with each other at other times.
Li Yu'an always kept a half-step distance from Yan Cen, hiding the only answer, "Mr. Yan, you are two or three years older than me, it's normal that we haven't met."
Yan Cen's eyebrows moved slightly, "Really?"
Li Yu'an replied in a low voice, "Yeah."
It is said that people with predestined relationships can meet each other no matter how they go around, while people without predestined relationships will pass by each other even if they are close.
Just like he finally made it to the end of the simulation competition, but in the end he was still one step behind and had no chance to stand on the same award podium with Yan Cen.
If it weren't for Will's creativity and Sister Louyang's insistence on reasoning, he alone would probably not be able to get into the eyes of Yan Cen and the GM.
Even though Li Yu'an tried his best to restrain himself, he still released a trace of low pressure.
Yan Cen noticed it keenly and frowned.
He remembered the relevant situation he learned from the assistant, and thought that Li Yu'an was thinking about the family affairs of the past, and a trace of regret and apology flashed in his eyes.
Before he could find the right words to apologize, Li Yu'an said, "Boss Yan, my car is here."
Yan Cen stopped and looked in the direction he pointed -
only two or three meters away in the open-air parking space, there was a black car with the license plate number "京Q8A168".
Yan Cen sighed inaudibly and moved his gaze back, "Okay."
Even though he couldn't remember it at first, he knew that he would not remember it wrong, let alone admit it wrong. He and Li Yu'an did meet unexpectedly at Teikyo University that year.
However, from what he said just now, it seemed that he had forgotten that brief intersection.
Yan Cen was not the type to dwell on the past. Whether that social interaction existed or not would not affect their subsequent cooperation and work together.
In this case, there was no need for him to mention it deliberately.
Yan Cen changed the topic and took the initiative to bring up another matter, "Mr. Li, since we are going to cooperate next, do you mind adding me on WeChat?"
"Add, add WeChat?"
Li Yuan'an was stunned.
He remembered the WeChat account in his pinned WeChat and was at a loss for a moment.
He never had the habit of distinguishing between personal WeChat and work WeChat. These "friends" were already in his pinned WeChat.
What if the other party saw those four New Year greetings, would he guess his little thoughts?
"..."
Li Yuan'an's mind was racing rapidly, and suddenly he saw Yan Cen took out his mobile phone and flipped the interface, "Can you add me? Is it convenient?"
"I..."
Li Yuan'an glanced away and froze.
The WeChat account that Yan Cen showed was not the pinned avatar he was familiar with, but a brand new WeChat that he had never seen before.
Li Yuan was unsure, "Is this your WeChat account?"
Yan Cen pushed his glasses lightly, "Of course, what's wrong? Inconvenient?"
"Convenient."
Li Yuan quickly took out his mobile phone and added the friend. He felt a mixture of absurdity and joy in his heart.
It turned out that he didn't add Yan Cen's WeChat account in the first place?
No wonder that WeChat account never posted updates on Moments, and the New Year's greetings he sent out over the years never got a polite response.
Just like his secret love that cannot be seen in public, naturally, just like these New Year's greetings that were sent at the right time, only he knew about it.
The friend request was approved.
Yan Cen glanced at the time on his phone and said tactfully, "Okay, then I won't waste Mr. Li's time. Drive carefully. An employee will contact you later."
Li Yu'an nodded, holding back his sourness and saying something polite, "Well, thank you Mr. Yan for your trust in our game."
Yan Cen smiled and said nothing more.
In order not to reveal his true intentions, Li Yu'an did not wait for Yan Cen to leave this time, but drove away first.
Yan Cen stood at the door of the building and watched him walk away, then turned around and reopened WeChat.
He clicked on Li Yu'an's avatar, opened the notes column, and rarely took the trouble to search through the built-in graphic interface of WeChat, and finally added a "pear" to the other party.
Kind of cute.
Yan Cen's eyes hidden behind the glasses were filled with joy, and he recalled Li Yu'an's sudden and restrained mood during their conversation just now. After thinking it over again and again, he took the initiative to send the first WeChat message between the two of them.
…
It was getting late.
Li Yu'an did not return to Dawn Game, but drove back to his neighborhood.
Perhaps it was because he returned to the territory he was most familiar with, and after parking the car, he couldn't help but let out a long sigh of relief.
- Zizi.
The mobile phone placed on the frame suddenly vibrated.
Li Yu'an turned on the phone and saw that it was boring news randomly sent by the web page, but there was an unread WeChat message under this push.
It was sent by Yan Cen twenty-seven minutes ago.
"Why didn't I see it just now?"
Li Yu'an was startled and quickly clicked on the corresponding WeChat message.
"Mr. Li, even if we are not in the same major, we are brothers and sisters from the same school. I am very happy to meet you and have a pleasant cooperation with you."
Li Yu'an listened to this string of text, read it over and over again several times, and his nose suddenly felt sore.
From the moment he added the "fake" WeChat to the time he waited every year to send New Year's greetings, he had imagined countless times whether Yan Cen would respond to him.
After thinking about it for a long time, he no longer dared to think about it.
But sometimes surprises come so suddenly, so unexpectedly, and so unreasonable.
Li Yu'an thought for a long time before he dared to turn his years of expectations into the simplest response: "Happy cooperation."
He fumbled to take out the square candy from the inside of his suit pocket, reluctant to eat it, but just held it in his hand and examined it carefully, as if he had obtained some extraordinary treasure. They
took the same elevator, took the cigarettes, gave the candy, sat in the same row, handed over the drinks, walked back to the company together, and talked about a lot of work.
At least, it's much better than before.
Li Yuan recalled and remembered everything related to Yan Cen today, and his seemingly cold eyebrows gradually broke out into an unstoppable smile.
The sadness and anxiety caused by years of secret love are all offset by the details of one afternoon together.
Li Yuan secretly laughed for a while, then left the car and walked quickly towards the tricycle stall at the exit.
The air is filled with the aroma of roasted corn, which seems sweeter than before.
The stall owner is an old man who is nearly eighty years old. Every time he passes by after get off work, Li Yuan will buy one as a favor within his ability.
"Grandpa Shen."
"Hey, Xiao Li is here?" The old man stood up and asked, "Would you like bigger or smaller corn today?" "
Li Yu'an still held the candy tightly in his palm, and the little tuft on his head shook, revealing a smile that was not often seen in front of outsiders.
"I'm in a good mood today." He stretched out his hand and gestured, "I want two, sweet ones!"