Chapter 196: Airline Tickets Don’t You Care About Him?
Zhu Yingning clicked on the installation package to download.
The download took a long time, so she left to do something else. When she came back, she found that the game had been downloaded, but there were still many built-in installation packages, so she had to wait for a while.
This time she registered a new account, wanting to experience the differences between the public beta and the closed beta from beginning to end.
An entire afternoon passed in just this play.
Aside from the newly added pig farming feature, the public beta version isn't much different from the internal beta version, primarily focusing on bug fixes, UI optimization, and refinements to game fluency. Zhu Yingning doesn't know much about the game, so she can't pinpoint the specific changes, but the overall feel is clearly a step up.
As for the pig-raising function, she was surprised that Xu Sirui could make this gameplay so detailed.
He had once asked her for detailed information about the farm, including site selection, breeding procedures, and disease prevention. At the time, she had assumed this information would only be roughly incorporated into the game, appearing as a background in the introduction. However, Xu Sirui had clearly done some extra research. He had developed specific gameplay methods for site selection, disease prevention, and breeding, each corresponding to three or five different subplots.
Zhu Yingning tried to list all these plots into a mind map, and the final result was a lush and flourishing mind map.
If she initially expected this game to score 80 points, then Xu Sirui undoubtedly presented her with a perfect score. At the end of the game, apart from admiration, she felt indescribable gratitude in her heart.
I wanted to say something to thank you, but after typing and deleting, I ended up with just two words: "It was fun."
Rather than a lengthy thank you, she felt that "fun" might be a higher compliment to game developers.
Xu Sirui replied: "After all, it was done by my team."
She couldn't help but laugh and repeated, "After all, it was your team that did it."
After putting down her phone, Zhu Yingning had an idea. She carefully inquired about the game's public beta date and planned to order afternoon tea for everyone in her studio, including herself, as a treat that day. The geographical distance made personally treating them to a meal impractical, but she felt sorry for the employees who had worked overtime for a month if she didn't do anything.
Thinking of this, she couldn't help but sigh that she was not a rich woman. If she were rich enough, she would be very willing to pay for everyone to travel, but when she saw the balance in her account, she immediately came to her senses.
Do what you are capable of. This is the only way to comfort yourself.
**
The day of the public beta test was a Thursday. Zhu Yingning checked the pastry shop near their studio a day in advance and made an appointment for delivery service that afternoon. He left the phone number of Xu Sirui and specifically instructed the staff of the pastry shop not to call the owner of the mobile phone number in advance to verify the information, so as not to let the other party lose the sense of surprise.
The employees were very cooperative. Since Zhu Yingning ordered a large quantity, they even set up a small group for her and invited the riders from their store to join so that they could convey messages to her at any time.
After the food arrived, the driver took a photo and sent it to the group chat, telling her: "Safe delivery."
"Thanks."
Zhu Yingning replied to the message and continued working, but when she was organizing the workpiece files, she couldn't help but glance at the phone screen frequently, wanting to see if Xu Sirui had received the snacks or sent her any messages.
After waiting for an hour, I didn't get any call or message from Xu Sirui.
Puzzled, she opened her phone and asked, "Didn't you receive any snacks?"
Xu Sirui, who always replied to her immediately before, did not reply in time this time. Not to mention replying in time, he disappeared for several hours.
She was worried that he was too busy with the public beta test to be available, so she didn't bother him any further. She only tried to call him after get off work.
The call was connected, but after ringing several times, the person on the other end hung up. His message followed:
"What's up?"
"What kind of snacks?"
Zhu Yingning was confused: "Why did you hang up the phone?"
"I'm in a meeting."
"Are you at the company?"
"Um."
"Didn't you receive the pastry?"
This time, Xu Sirui took several minutes to reply. He first sent a photo of the snacks, freshly delivered and placed together, unopened. Then came the text: "Received. Thank you. Did you send these snacks?"
Zhu Yingning stared at their conversation, and the more he thought about it, the more strange everything seemed to him.
She became suspicious, thought for a moment, and sent a message to Xu Sirui: "I asked the staff to label your portion. It's strawberry flavored. How is it? Did you try it? Is it delicious?"
This time Xu Sirui replied quickly: "It's delicious."
She sneered and continued, "Now show me a 'yeah' sign in front of the leftover packaging."
As expected, Xu Sirui's next words were: "I threw the packaging bag away. What are you doing? Are you checking on me?"
Haha, she was “thrown away by me”, and she still has the nerve to ask her back…
How come this bastard doesn't feel guilty when he lies?
Zhu Yingning clattered away on the keyboard. "Xu Sirui, you weren't at the company this afternoon. Why did you lie to me? I ordered peach flavor for you."
Moreover, the reason for holding a meeting was obviously nonsense. As the head of the studio, even if he didn't need to preside over the meeting in person, he was still an important participant. How could he be idle and reply to so many messages while in a meeting?
And that photo, and the few minutes of disappearance before sending it - it was hard not to wonder if he had panicked and immediately found someone at the studio to send him the picture.
In order to confirm her guess, she asked Shen Fei for Zheng Boyu's contact number and called him quickly before Xu Sirui replied to her.
Zheng Boyu didn't note her number, so he was a little confused when he answered her call. He asked, "Who is this?"
As soon as Zhu Yingning revealed her identity, he seemed frightened and immediately said, "Xu Sirui is really in the company!"
"?"
She finally understood what Shen Fei meant when she said, "My senior brother is shallow-minded and can't hide things." She was speechless, and her suspicions turned into laughter and tears. She rested her hands on her hips for a while before saying, "You don't have to speak for him. I already know he's lying to me."
"Huh?" Zheng Boyu was stunned. There was no movement on the other end of the phone for a long time. After seven or eight seconds, he probably felt that it was pointless to lie anymore, so he sighed and said helplessly, "Okay... I knew you could guess it. Hey... look at what this has become. I told Xu Sirui a long time ago that it would be best to tell you the truth directly. It was clearly his credit, but we took it away. It's made me so uncomfortable that I feel guilty even eating snacks. And I have to go against my conscience and cooperate with his acting."
……What's the meaning?
Zhu Yingning didn't understand a word Zheng Boyu said. She wanted to ask him directly, "What's your contribution?" But after thinking about it, she guessed a possibility and asked tentatively, "Didn't you work overtime last month?"
"That's right," Zheng Boyu said. "It was Xu Sirui who worked overtime to finish the work. The rest of us just completed the work we were assigned to do normally."
It wasn't until he finished speaking that he realized something was wrong. "...Wait, why do you need to ask me? Don't you already know?"
Zhu Yingning didn't say anything.
She held the phone, her expression dazed. She couldn't believe her ears for a moment. Her brain slowly interpreted Zheng Boyu's words, wondering how it was possible that Xu Sirui had completed such a huge workload by himself? He was not Superman.
Then her thoughts drifted to other places. She thought about the whole month of March. No matter how late she sent him a message, he would reply immediately. She thought he was awake and playing with his phone. Now it seems that he was not awake, but he was probably working overtime with WeChat, so he noticed what she sent him in the first place.
After the initial wave of disbelief, a surge of anger emerged in my heart.
She laughed in anger.
She was furious that he'd told her to trust him, that he was capable of coordinating everything, but what happened? Was he just being tough? Was he just taking on the responsibility of everything himself?
Zheng Boyu had already realized he had let the cat out of the bag and was busy trying to make amends. Zhu Yingning ignored his lame excuse and simply asked, "Where is he now? You don't have to lie to me. I know he's not with you."
Her tone wasn't excited, but it sounded unquestionable. Zheng Boyu was silent for a moment, feeling awkward, before he said, "He...should be at home. I was planning to visit him with my colleagues this weekend."
"...Visit him? What happened to him?!" she asked anxiously.
It's no wonder she was nervous; the word "visit" simply sounded too unlucky.
"It seems like you really don't know anything. You're trying to trick me out of nothing, right?" Zheng Boyu smiled bitterly. "Forget it. I'm telling you, you must never tell Xu Sirui that I told you. I'm really afraid he'll kill me."
She was anxious, but she still agreed patiently: "Well, I won't tell you."
"It's about that case of his. Wasn't the second trial in March? I don't know if you know about this, but he was pretty busy in March. He had to make games and go to Beijing to deal with his dad's mess. So..." Zheng Boyu said helplessly, "Anyway, he was exhausted and fell ill. That's what happened. I wanted to go over and take care of him, but with the public beta test these two days, I really can't spare the time. Plus, he won't let us put down our work to visit him. I'm not sure if he's at home or in the hospital right now."
**
Zhu Yingning couldn't explain how she felt when she hung up the phone. Everyone in the Party and Mass Service Center had gone home after get off work. Wang Shengju saw that she was still standing in the front yard and had not left. He told her to remember to lock the door before leaving, and then left after giving her instructions.
Dusk fell and the sky outside the yard turned a rich indigo color. She stood there in a daze for a long time before returning to the office to get her keys, packing her things, locking the door and going home.
On the way back to the dormitory, the phone in her hand vibrated frequently. She glanced down at the lock screen and saw messages from Xu Sirui popping up one after another.
He was apologizing to her.
She stared blankly at the phone screen, wondering why he should apologize to her?
The anger she'd felt just minutes before when she learned he'd lied to her had long since vanished, replaced by a sense of dejection. She realized she'd claimed to be his friend, yet she hadn't even bothered to ask about something as serious as the second trial. She'd seen Xu Zhengkang's discontent the day the first trial ended, and she'd known he'd bring up a second trial sooner or later—there were so many "clear" things, and yet, for months, she'd never once asked about it. Even Zheng Boyu knew Xu Sirui needed to attend the second trial in March, but she hadn't even thought to ask.
She had neglected him to this extent, so what right did she have to blame him for taking everything on himself?
When she reached the dormitory door, Shen Fei was squatting there picking vegetables. Seeing Zhu Yingning approaching, she casually greeted him, "Captain." She glanced up and caught a glimpse of Zhu Yingning's face. She was startled by her distraught look and asked, "Are you okay?"
Zhu Yingning was stunned by Shen Fei's question. "Does she look like she's in trouble now?" She went to the bathroom to wash her hands. When she looked in the mirror, she realized how dejected her face was.
She frowned, and the person in the mirror frowned too.
She emptied her mind, and the person in the mirror followed suit.
Seeing her grief-stricken look, she felt furious. She thought, isn't it just that she didn't care about him? It's not impossible to make amends. Is it her style to be here in despair and self-pity?
If not, why not take action?
Taking out his cell phone and unlocking the screen, Zhu Yingning immediately started looking for flights to Shanghai on Friday night.
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