Ling Jie pulled Xiao Zhu aside outside the small conference room, glancing toward the interior with her eyes. "What's going on? Why has she been coming to the studio for three days straight?"
Xiao Zhu whispered, "It seems she had a fight with Teacher Yu. Teacher Yu hasn't shown up these past few days."
"Weren't they fine just a few days ago?" Ling Jie released Xiao Zhu and pushed open the conference room door.
Qiao Jingjing was leaning back on the sofa in a daze, looking somewhat listless. Ling Jie decided to share some good news to lift her spirits.
"Jingjing, Director Li has sent over the contract. The terms are quite good. Plus, with this news spreading, the offers for TV dramas have increased again."
Ling Jie quoted a figure, her expression beaming with delight.
However, Qiao Jingjing's expression remained unchanged. Ling Jie waved a hand in front of her eyes, and Qiao Jingjing looked up at her, suddenly asking, "Am I worth that much money?"
Ling Jie was taken aback.
Qiao Jingjing asked again, "Filming a TV drama takes at most five months. Am I really worth that much?"
"Of course you are! TV stations and streaming platforms are fighting over your shows, advertisers are scrambling for product placements and ads. Neither the TV stations nor the streaming platforms lose money, so why wouldn't you be worth it? Wang Liu and Yue Xiaohua are getting almost the same amount."
"I'm not comparing myself to them."
"Then who are you comparing yourself to?"
Qiao Jingjing didn't answer. After a long pause, she lowered her eyes. "Is it pretentious of me to think about this?"
"It's not about being pretentious or not," Ling Jie said, sitting down beside her. "To be honest, I've thought about this question too. But the current market is like this—if you don't take it, others will. If you don't earn this money, the production company will still sell your drama at the same price, and the difference will just end up in the investors' pockets. So, thinking about this isn't a matter of being pretentious; it's meaningless."
"Besides, let me ask you, if someone wants you to film a drama and offers you tens of millions, would you say, 'I only want a few million'?"
Qiao Jingjing pursed her lips and answered truthfully, "No."
"So what's the point of thinking about this? The question is too big. Let's focus on filming well, avoid causing trouble, live up to others' works and their money, and do our charity work sincerely. That's enough."After saying all this in one breath, Ling Jie tentatively asked, 'Why are you suddenly thinking about this?" Where's Teacher Yu?"
Qiao Jingjing's eyelashes fluttered slightly. Without a word, she picked up her phone and started playing a game. Ling Jie had a vague understanding and didn't say anything more. After watching her play for a while, she got up and left.
Qiao Jingjing played two rounds of Ranked Match, spaced out for a while, then opened WeChat. Out of habit, her finger scrolled down and tapped on a certain name.
She had already looked at those two messages several times over the past few days.
"Sorry."
She had seen this one immediately that day but had no desire to reply.
The next message had been sent late at night.
"I have to go on a business trip for a while. Not sure when I'll be back."
Xi'an.
Yu Tu took off his anti-static suit, retrieved his phone from the safe, and pressed the power button. As expected, it was out of battery.
He put on his jacket and headed out. Guan Zai walked in. "Lao Yu, wait for me."
Yu Tu waited for him to change clothes, and the two walked together toward the guesthouse next to the monitoring center.
November in the northwest was already bitterly cold. At past six in the morning, the sky was still dark, the world enveloped in silence and darkness, with only faint streetlights illuminating the path beneath their feet.
As the wind blew, Guan Zai shrank his neck and teased Yu Tu, "You've been out having fun for a month, but you haven't slacked off professionally.""Most of the credit goes to the Measurement and Control Center." Yu Tu's mind was still occupied with data. "The satellite's lifespan has still been affected."
"The original design lifespan was three years, and it's already been operating beyond that. Besides, this malfunction wasn't due to the overall design." Guan Zai yawned and shook his head vigorously. "This was the first satellite model you participated in designing, right? Also our first collaboration."
"Mhm."
"Guess what my first impression of you was?"
"Jealousy." Yu Tu smiled. "It was quite obvious."
"Bullshit." Guan Zai laughed and cursed. "At first I thought, oh great, we got ourselves a pretty face. But soon after, you handed me an overall optimization plan. I thought, not bad - both talented and good-looking, quite the catch."
Yu Tu sighed helplessly. "Watch your wording. Don't embarrass us engineering students."
Guan Zai chuckled, then suddenly said: "Let's talk about money?"
Yu Tu slowed his steps. "Did the professor tell you?"
"Director Zhang called me, asked me to sound you out. Are you having some difficulties?" Guan Zai suddenly remembered something. "Is it related to your family?"
He seemed to have an epiphany: "I remember now - one day you took a call from home, speaking in dialect, and you seemed off the next day."
Yu Tu was silent for a moment.
"Everything's fine at home." He replied. "I just... lost my focus."
"Good to hear." Guan Zai nodded without pressing further. "I'm curious - is investment banking really that profitable? Is it true fresh graduates can make millions?"
"It depends on the person and the year." Yu Tu said. "Some people could get that before the 2008 financial crisis. The year I graduated, when we were just recovering from the crisis, it was still pretty good."
"If I went to Google, I'd get a high salary too. Not bad, but as a foreigner, I'd probably never get to touch the core technology. And any achievements wouldn't really be mine. I don't have that 'for all humanity' perspective."
He took out a cigarette and offered one to Yu Tu.
"Know why I never tried to stop you from leaving? Because I never thought you would actually go. I've always believed you and I are the same kind of people. As my wife puts it in four words: 'out of sync with the times.' This current model was designed by us together, demonstrated together, proposed together. I don't think you can bear to leave it. I even made a bet that if you left, I'd change my name to 'Guan in the Pigsty.'"
Yu Tu looked down intently at the cigarette in his hand. "Wouldn't that make it a family reunion? All brothers and sisters."
"Fuck off, then you and I would be brothers too."
Guan Zai took a drag. "I have a question, Old Yu. No one can predict satellite malfunctions. We solved this one in five days, but some take months. If it really took months, would the investment bank wait for you? Or would you just abandon this and leave?"
Yu Tu stopped walking. "Lighter, can I borrow it?"
A faint flame flickered and died out. Neither continued the previous topic.
Guan Zai always smoked quickly. After walking for a few minutes, he lit another one. Yu Tu frowned: "You should smoke less."
"Just refreshing myself. Your sister-in-law will be up soon, I'll call her before sleeping." Guan Zai suddenly remembered. "Oh, speaking of your sister-in-law, she has a junior she wants to introduce to you."Guan Zai's tone carried a hint of sourness. "She just glanced at a photo of you and me and immediately asked if you had a girlfriend. Good looks really give you an advantage. Back when I was chasing your sister-in-law, I had to put in Herculean effort."
"You should get that habit of jealousy treated early. Help me politely decline."
"Really not interested? I've seen her once—she's quite pretty."
"No need."
Guan Zai dropped the subject. After a moment, Yu Tu spoke up himself, "Lately, I've gotten to know a..."
He paused.
Guan Zai perked up. "A girl?"
"Yeah, quite clever, a bit mischievous... but also very obedient."
"Not bad." Guan Zai grew interested. "Did you meet her during your recent break?"
"No, she's my high school classmate."
"High school classmate? Why only now?"
Yu Tu smiled faintly. "Maybe my judgment wasn't great back then."
He added, "We're not together."
"What, she doesn't like you? That can't be right."
Yu Tu didn't respond, but his eyes shone brightly.
Guan Zai immediately understood. "You've still got it, old man."
As they talked, they reached the guesthouse entrance. Their cigarettes weren't finished yet, so they lingered outside.
Guan Zai, struggling against drowsiness, took a few deep drags and leaned against a pillar with his eyes closed to rest.
Yu Tu stood on the steps nearby.
The surroundings were quiet.
Gradually, a faint glow emerged on the distant horizon, though the stars overhead hadn't faded yet, still twinkling brilliantly. The universe was vast, with billions of stars, including one that he and his colleagues had just painstakingly saved.
He thought of Guan Zai's question—if this mission had taken a month or even months, would he have left?
He hadn't answered, and Guan Zai hadn't pressed, because they both knew he wouldn't.
When your blood runs hot, how could you possibly walk away?
He couldn't help but ask himself again—was he really going to give up?
He hadn't thought about this question in a while; he thought he'd become resolute. But after these five days and nights, a trace of doubt had resurfaced.
Perhaps he should reconsider.
There must be a way.
As the last wisp of smoke dissipated before his eyes, Yu Tu's mind inexplicably flashed to a pair of eyes as bright as stars. Their owner was probably sleeping soundly in sweet dreams, carefree.
A sudden softness in his heart dispelled the chill around him. His expression relaxed slightly as he turned to remind Guan Zai, "You can call your wife now."
Guan Zai didn't respond. He remained motionless, eyes closed against the pillar. Yu Tu's heart skipped a beat. He walked over and called out tentatively, "Guan Zai?"
The thin man leaning against the pillar seemed to move his eyeballs slightly but couldn't open his eyes. The next moment, his entire body collapsed toward the ground like a falling building.
Shanghai had experienced a sudden temperature drop these past few days.
Qiao Jingjing woke up early in the morning and discovered the game version had updated again. According to the update notes, a new hero had been released, and some equipment attributes had been adjusted. With frequent version changes lately, she frowned and called Ling Jie, asking her to confirm with KPL which version would be used in the competition.
After finishing her morning routine, Ling Jie called back.
"They said they'll use the version that just updated today, so the new hero might appear in matches."
"Okay, I'll test the new hero later and adjust my equipment too."Ling Jie listened with some emotion, "Just over a month ago you were a complete novice, but now you're really an expert. A'guo said he matched with you twice yesterday and you played quite well. Are you confident about the competition?"
"In competitive games, nothing's certain."
After playing many ranked matches, she had come to understand that sometimes, no matter how good your skills are, you might still lose consecutively; conversely, even if you're not playing well, you might get carried to victory. A month ago, she had been determined to win the competition, but now she understood that competitive games are unpredictable—there's no such thing as a guaranteed win. Professional players lose, so of course she could lose too. All that mattered was performing at her best.
While having breakfast, Qiao Jingjing flipped through the calendar.
It was already December 1st.
Yu Tu had completely disappeared for ten whole days.
But actually, by now, she didn't really need Yu Tu that much anymore.
She still watched competition videos, listened to commentators analyze tactical systems, and still played solo ranked matches alone. The only difference was that there was no one watching her play or helping her with post-game analysis.
She remembered back when Yu Tu told her to reach Conqueror tier on her own. Now, she was only one step away.
After breakfast, she spent some time reading the movie script and made some notes. Then she opened her phone and was about to click into solo ranked when suddenly an invitation popped up.
Yutu Daoyao (from friends)
Supreme Grandmaster 5
Invites you to team up for a 5v5 ranked match in King's Canyon.
Qiao Jingjing's hand paused. She stared fixedly at the invitation box, not reacting for a long time.
After one minute, the invitation box automatically disappeared, and soon a new invitation popped up again—still Yutu Daoyao inviting her to a ranked match.
This time, Qiao Jingjing clicked to accept.
The two of them were in a team room, but neither spoke.
After a while, Yu Tu clicked start.
They played the entire morning. After each match, Yu Tu would send a new invitation.
She never spoke, and he didn't speak either.
When she played Baili Shouyue, he would play Support. When she took Support, he would take Marksman. When she went Mid-laner, he would jungle, occasionally coming to mid lane to help her gank. In one match, she stubbornly picked Nakoruru, whom she was terrible with, so he picked Guan Yu and followed her around everywhere to gank.
Five consecutive wins, six consecutive wins, seven consecutive wins...
When they reached ten consecutive wins, Qiao Jingjing put down her phone and suddenly felt stifled. Didn't he say he wouldn't duo queue with her? So what was this supposed to mean now?
The doorbell rang.
Qiao Jingjing walked over to answer the door somewhat irritably.
"Jingjing, Jingjing." As soon as the door opened, Xiao Zhu said breathlessly, "Why is Teacher Yu downstairs? Did you lock him down there and not allow him to come up? I thought about it and didn't dare to greet him."
Qiao Jingjing froze.
A few seconds later, she grabbed her phone and ran downstairs—without wearing a hat or mask, not even changing out of her slippers.
In the elevator, another ranked invitation popped up on her phone screen. Qiao Jingjing's heart churned with indescribable emotions, feeling like the elevator was moving slower than ever before.
She ran out of the elevator, ran through the lobby, then stopped.
Outside the lobby, on a bench under the phoenix trees, someone was sitting there, looking down very intently at his phone.
As if sensing her arrival, that person looked up at her. His eyes looked somewhat tired, somewhat gentle, as he asked her, "Still angry?"
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