Even though I was repentant, I was still very satisfied.
He vaguely felt that HR's unexpected appearance seemed to have brought a series of unpredictable chain reactions to his life.
When Tao Zhiyue returned home, it was already dark and the beef had been braised for at least two or three hours. Obviously, there was no time to make dinner.
But at this moment, Tao Zhiyue was in high spirits. He ate some snacks to fill his stomach, compared the recipes, rolled up his sleeves and started fighting.
Wash the beef, cut it into pieces, blanch it and soak it in cold water for half an hour, then pour it into a large soup pot, add the prepared seasonings, and bring to a boil over high heat.
The light pink beef gradually turns into the brown color of the brine. It is boiling gurglingly in the pot, and the aroma penetrates directly into the nose.
Tao Zhiyue swallowed his saliva, turned down the heat and simmered slowly until the beef was completely cooked and could be easily pierced with chopsticks.
He picked up a small piece of beef and tasted it. It was very fragrant, but unfortunately the inside was not fully flavored and was a bit bland.
According to the instructions in the recipe, soak the beef in brine overnight to make it more delicious.
So that night, Tao Zhiyue fell asleep with great anticipation.
He hadn't looked forward to the next day so eagerly for a long time.
The next day, Tao Zhi, who had been dreaming of grazing cattle on the grassland all night, woke up early, solemnly removed the plastic wrap on the pot, took out a large piece of braised beef and sliced it, then poured in a bowl of noodles. Fresh and fragrant marinade, topped with plenty of beef, and sprinkled with some green onions for garnish.
When the braised beef and smooth noodles were eaten together, Tao Zhiyue narrowed his eyes in happiness.
It was so delicious. He thought it tasted better than what he had eaten at the noodle shop that night, maybe because it was made by himself.
Yesterday he bought more than three kilograms of beef. The portion is generous and the braised flavor is very good for rice. If he eats it alone, he can eat many meals.
It would be great if I could invite friends to share it.
The seductive aroma of braised meat floated quietly in the room. Tao Zhiyue took a deep breath, closed his eyes, and stopped thinking about it.
It was still a day with nothing to do. After Tao Zhiyue patrolled the house carefully, he decided to do a general cleaning to welcome the arrival of summer.
Sweep the floor, mop the floor, organize the wardrobe, store sundries, change bed sheets and quilt covers, clean up the accumulated grease in the kitchen...
Time always flies by when I’m busy, and in the blink of an eye it’s time to have dinner again.
Tao Zhiyue cooked a pot full of white rice, stir-fried a plate of vegetables, and marinated rice with beef. It was a masterpiece.
After the meal, Tao Zhiyue sat down in front of the computer with satisfaction and started surfing the Internet as usual.
After reading the forum for a while and watching a few funny videos, there was a notification on the app that there were new developments in the space.
At this time, it is probably the chicken soup sent by the gym’s hunky coach, urging members to actively make appointments with him for classes in the new week.
Tao Zhiyue opened it casually, and it turned out to be the macho coach.
He scrolled down while looking, and a familiar landscape photo appeared below.
[News] hr: It’s a loss for the industry that I didn’t become an architect/cute [Picture][Picture][Picture]
Tao Zhiyue was slightly startled when he saw the screenshot. He didn't expect that the old-fashioned HR brother could also play the most popular online game.
As a sandbox-type game, Animal Island’s biggest feature is the player’s free creation, but the extremely high degree of freedom is also a threshold. Players lack a sense of purpose and don’t know what to do after entering the game, so they easily lose interest.
Therefore, the operation of Animal Island has been tepid for several years, until this time it unexpectedly broke out of the circle.
Tao Zhiyue discovered this game not long after he came to this world. It is much better than similar games in the original world. Players can achieve many delicate operations that Tao Zhiyue once thought were difficult to support with existing technology.
He studied while playing, and spent more than half a year of his free time on the animal island.
Since Tao Zhiyue chose a small hedgehog as his image at the beginning, in the later stage, it was difficult to make some larger items by himself.
He was unwilling to find other players to jointly operate and cooperate, and he was even less willing to give up half a year of hard work and change accounts and start over again. He was in a dilemma and simply gave up the game.
HR sent a message asking about the renovation of the cabin, so Tao Zhiyue dug out the screenshots he had saved before and sent it to him.
The folder is full of pictures, various frozen moments, the first harvest of the little hedgehog’s farmland, every different style of home that the little hedgehog has ever had, the little hedgehog and the grape trellis full of fruits in summer...
Tao Zhiyue couldn't help but fall into the still vivid memories, and the message alert sounded.
[hr: Is Dr. Tao always alone? ]
He didn't have time to think about why HR asked such a question. He turned back like a reflex and glanced at the rich-colored and fragrant braised beef on the table.
[Tao: Was my social fear attribute discovered so quickly? 0.0]
During the days when he was working in this world, people would ask him curiously from time to time why he didn’t join a group of colleagues or participate in any gatherings.
Tao Zhiyue always used social fear as a prevarication. When he mentioned this word, others would often stop asking him any more questions. They would show an understanding expression and at most advise him to participate in group activities as much as possible.
HR is determined to know the reason.
[hr: Is it because you feel like you have nothing to talk about with the people you know around you, so you can’t become friends? ]
Tao Zhiyue wanted to continue to prevaricate, but his fingers were frozen and he could not type a word.
He couldn't face such a sincere question and write anything against his will.
Bits and pieces of the past year or so flashed through Tao Zhiyue's mind, those dull, regular and unchangeable days, and the gaps in life were full of tiny emotions that he had deliberately suppressed, and they burst like a flood in an instant.
No.
He didn't want to be perfunctory anymore.
He doesn't want to deal with someone who cares about him seriously, and he doesn't want to deal with himself anymore.
Tao Zhiyue never feels like he has nothing to talk about with the people around him. Gua, the programmer who passionately debates technical problems with him, Wang Heng, his colleague who wants to invite him to fight for his dreams together, and even the CEO who seems a little out of touch, are trying to talk to him. Release kindness.
Even the little girl he met by chance during his morning jog in the park once generously and proactively told him that he would see her tomorrow.
Since the day he lived his life again, many people Tao Zhiyue met have reached out to him, but he has been reluctant to respond.
Why can't I become friends with people
Even if you want to escape the plot of a scary novel, you don't have to shut out everyone you know in your life.
The chat window was still, hr was waiting for his answer, and the friends list beside it was empty, without any real friends.
Everything was silent except for the ticking of the clock on the wall.
The second hand rotates endlessly and regularly, and is the only moving thing in the room.
It was like he was walking in a vacuum.
Tao Zhiyue finally realized that when he refused HR's invitation to meet, he didn't just want to have a real-life relationship with the other person.
He doesn't want to have a real emotional connection with anyone in this novel world.
This is an illusory novel world preset by the plot. Will the people he meets already have a predetermined fate? Will his appearance and interactions be in vain? Will the emotion he gets here be meaningful
Do these people and these passing times really exist
Tao Zhiyue tapped out the answer gently.
[Tao: No. ]
[Tao: I just... have no sense of reality. ]
This is a vague answer, without beginning or end, making it difficult to respond.
But to his surprise, hr replied quickly, just like the night they met.
For HR, those questions that bothered him deeply seemed to require no hesitation at all.
[hr: You are breathing, you are real, you can see the screen and the messages from me. ]
[hr: That’s the sense of reality. ]
[hr: Doctor Tao, hedgehogs can also be hugged. ]
Two animals, one big and one small, worked hard until twelve o'clock, finally restoring the island to its former vitality.
Huo Ran hadn't played this game for long, and he was immersed in the joy of building infrastructure on a single player. He even only added Huo Sihan as a friend.
This was his first time building an island together with others. The big brown bear was swinging an ax to chop down trees. His physical strength was about to bottom out. He was about to put down the ax to find something to eat. The little hedgehog brought him fruit that would increase his strength in time.
It was an amazing feeling. Huo Ran suddenly understood what attracted players to the group mode of this game.
So after Dr. Tao went offline to go to sleep, Huo Ran, who was still interested, dug out the scarf that had made Animal Island a fire a while ago. Huo Sihan had sent him the link when he tried to lure him into the trap.
There are tens of thousands of comments under the scarf, and many of the top high-profile comments are about things they encountered when playing Animal Island. Some are humorous, and most of them are full of warmth.
Huo Ran was fascinated by what he saw. He followed the recommendation in the comments and went to see the creative area of the official forum of Animal Island. There were various forms of derivative works in it. Huo Ran stared at the screen intently and clicked on one after another. New web page.
When he came to his senses, he looked at the time in the upper right corner of the computer and saw that it was already four o'clock in the morning.
Huo Ran, who didn't often stay up late, quickly turned off his computer and went to bed. In a daze, he was still thinking about the forum post he hadn't finished reading just now.
The next day he entered the company with dark circles under his eyes, calmly ignored the roses that were delivered on time, calmly accepted the eager care of his assistant Xiao Jiang, and then followed Huo Zhendong and chatted and laughed with several uncles, listening humbly. A terrible emotion for future generations.
Huo Ran, who only slept for three hours, felt like a warrior in life.
After the visit, Huo Zhendong took his old friends to continue the next trip, and Huo Ran finally relaxed.
We’re already here, why not hold a few more meetings.
After reading many players' opinions about the game in the middle of the night, Huo Ran discovered how charming the virtual game world was. He had not understood this in the past and thought that playing games was just a pastime when he was bored.
But from Dr. Tao to many other players, they are fully immersed in the game, will establish many new interpersonal relationships, and will learn knowledge and skills that seem useless in reality. Some people have made friends, Lovers and even lifelong partners, some people have developed new interests and gained unexpected opportunities.
These people who are addicted to a certain game should not be simply classified as Internet addicts. In many cases, they are looking for a second life in another world.
At a certain time, they will say goodbye to this virtual world for various reasons, but they will never forget the traces left here, which may change their real lives.
If one-way movies are the art of dreaming, then Huo Ran believes that games with interaction as the core should be the art of dreaming.
So Huo Ran called the newly formed game development department in the group and wanted to make up some temporary lessons and listen to professionals talk about games before leaving for northern Shanxi.
Previously, Huo Zhendong asked people to invest in emerging game companies everywhere, precisely to enter this blue ocean industry as soon as possible with the development of technology, which has great potential in the future.
Entering the conference room, it was the first time for many people to see the airborne vice president. Before they had time to observe the legendary second generation of a wealthy family who was born with a silver spoon in his mouth, they were quickly taken away from their thoughts by Huo Ran's barrage of questions. .
By the time the meeting, which lasted all afternoon, was over, a group of people seemed to have been squeezed dry. They could no longer recall the initial subtle envy and contempt. There was only one thought left in their hearts: He is indeed Huo Zhendong's son.
On the way to the airport, Huo Ran's brain was excited after absorbing many unfamiliar concepts. He was still not sleepy sitting in the stretch car specially arranged by his assistant.
A lot of exciting ideas and plans were floating in his mind, and he began to lose focus.
… Is the lop-eared rabbit poster in the post last night with her neighbor Titmouse
I haven’t finished reading the post, I’m so anxious.
Huo Ran struggled for a while, took out an antique button machine from his pocket that was incompatible with everything around him, and tried to log onto the official forum of Animal Island.
The system of this key machine is really backward. The product has been discontinued for many years, and even the original manufacturer has gone bankrupt. The system has not been updated for a long time, so the built-in browser does not support many common web page formats today.
The forum could not be accessed at all, and the jump page was blank, which made Huo Ran even more curious, as if there were a hundred cat paws scratching in his heart.
Jiang Nansheng, who was sitting across from him and secretly glanced at him, immediately handed over his mobile phone, "Mr. Huo, do you need to use mine?"
Huo Ran glanced at his face, which was still a normal color, and cautiously declined: "No, I'll just take a look."
Jiang Nansheng was a little regretful, but still tried to fight for it: "Mr. Huo, don't you change your mobile phone? Your mobile phone is too old and it is very inconvenient. If you need to change to a new model, I will have someone send it to the airport right away."
Huo Ran was silent for a moment and did not answer him directly: "I'll close my eyes and rest for a while. Call me when you get there."
He wasn't mentally prepared yet.
Although in the eyes of others, it might be strange for him to hesitate over such a trivial matter.
But for him, this is not just about changing his mobile phone. This is a habit he has maintained for ten years. It is also his longest and most persistent resistance to his father Huo Zhendong, who was once busy with his career and neglected his family.
Later, Huo Zhendong did change. He would take time to communicate with his children and no longer controlled and lectured them simply and roughly.
Those tough and rigid words sound like caring, but in fact they are perfunctory actions that require the least effort, and are often accompanied by chronic harm.
Huo Ran and Huo Sihan were still young at the time, and they thought their father was careless and harsh. However, Huo Zhendong's wife, who had spent more time with him, could no longer bear it any longer. Their love as a couple was exhausted, and they divorced as soon as Huo Ran came of age.
So Huo Ran hasn't changed his cell phone yet. This outdated old cell phone is like a symbol of the past, and he can't find an opportunity to erase it.
At eight o'clock in the evening, the plane landed.
Huo Ran slept on the plane and felt much better. The dark circles under his eyes were gone.
He rolled down the window and looked at the night in northern Shanxi. The lights were bright, the streets were full of bustling food stalls, the market was full of smoke, and the aroma of barbecue and fried rice flowed domineeringly into the wind.
Huo Ran has been to many cities at home and abroad, but this is his first time in northern Shanxi.
This time Jiang Nansheng was sitting in the passenger seat and was looking down at his phone when he suddenly turned his head in surprise.
"Mr. Huo, Mr. Huo actually posted a message!" Jiang Nansheng handed over the phone and sighed, "I thought Mr. Huo only used this to send messages."
Huo Ran took the phone very carefully, being very careful not to touch his hand, lest the other party take any chance of blushing.
[News] Contentment always brings joy: Friends come from afar! [Image] [image]
The pictures were of a sumptuous dinner, as well as a group photo of Huo Zhendong and several of his uncles standing in a row, arms around each other during the day. Their faces were all red from drinking, and Huo Zhendong, who had half-white hair, laughed so hard that his eyes were wrinkled.
Most pp users are young people, while middle-aged and elderly people usually use another instant messaging software with simpler functions.
Jiang Nansheng continued: "No wonder Lao Huo is always so successful. He always cares about and penetrates into the lives of young people and is constantly exposed to new things. My parents refused to use PP. They didn't try it and just said it was too difficult and they couldn't use it. "
Probably no one can guess the reason why Huo Zhendong used APP. He actually wanted his son to change his mobile phone.
Looking at Jiang Nansheng's admiring expression, Huo Ran thought silently in his heart.
After arriving at the hotel, Huo Ran entered the room and immediately turned on the computer. He had been thinking about the posts about lop-eared rabbits and tits for a long time, and he had no time to chat with Dr. Tao all day. I wonder if his mood was better.
He logged into the app and sent a message to Dr. Tao while waiting for the browser to jump.
[hr: Dr. Tao, I have arrived in northern Shanxi. I have just entered the hotel room. The climate here is so comfortable. ]
The moment the message was sent out, new news about Dr. Tao popped up.
[Tao: I brought snacks I made to my colleagues today. I will take a new step at work tomorrow. It takes courage to step out of the comfort zone. I will also doubt whether it is the right thing to do, but after stepping out, I feel that I have become happier. Yes, I think this is right. ]
[Tao: Thank you for what you said to me yesterday^-^]
After a brief chat, Dr. Tao quickly went to bed, but Huo Ran stared at this paragraph and did not look away for a long time.
Although he didn't know what Dr. Tao looked like or what kind of life he lived, Huo Ran always felt that Dr. Tao was a brave and decisive person from the day he met him.
Sure enough, even Dr. Tao will be confused and distressed, but as long as a little strength comes from the outside world, he can cheer up and try those things that he has been avoiding.
Huo Ran's eyes flashed and he looked at the color screen button machine that had been with him for ten years. It was lying quietly on the table, and the paint color had already faded.
This is the most stubborn label in his life, but it is not only him, but also Huo Zhendong who has been depressed about it for a long time.
Huo Ran took a deep breath, no longer hesitated, and called the hotel concierge.
Twenty minutes later, he inserted the SIM card into his new phone, turned it on, and downloaded the app.
While waiting for the app to download, Huo Ran successfully opened the Animal Island forum on his mobile phone.
On the latest floor, the owner of the Lop-eared Rabbit posted a photo of the new tree house she and Titmouse built. She didn’t post any words, but everyone saw two small dens made of hay in the tree house. There are piles of carrots in it, and thick branches are placed in another small nest.
Huo Ran scrolled down the screen and looked at the yelling replies, and smiled unconsciously.
Doctor Tao was right, and Huo Ran felt that he seemed to be happier.
Opening the app, Huo Ran entered the space dynamic page and liked the content-contented dynamic.
Huo Zhendong actually didn't sleep, and sent a message a few minutes later.
[Contented and happy: Are you at the hotel? ]
[hr: It’s been a while. ]
[hr: I stayed up so late after drinking. ]
[Be content and happy: If you drink too much, go for a walk and enjoy the breeze! ]
[hr: What do you think I am using to chat with you? ]
Huo Ran saw that Huo Zhendong had been typing for a long time, probably deleting, deleting, and revising it for several rounds, and finally sent a lonely expression.
[Contented and happy:/like]
This was very similar to Huo Zhendong's style of not being able to speak, so Huo Ran followed suit.
[hr:/handshake]
[Contented and happy: / clasping fists]
Seeing the silly default expressions filling the screen, Huo Ran suddenly had an idea.
[hr: Dad, I have set an example, should you also keep up with the trend of the times? ]
[Contented and Happy: What’s the Trend? ]
[hr: Nowadays young people like to use emoticons. If you use them too, it will make you look fashionable and friendly. ]
[hr: You can long press on the picture to add it to the emoticon, and then click on the heart symbol to select the emoticon package to send. ]
[hr: Huahua for you.jpg]
[hr: Look, I would be happier if you complimented me with such a cute expression, which looks much more sincere than that thumbs up. ]
[Contented and happy: Oh, all the bells and whistles! ]
Unable to deceive his old-fashioned father, Huo Ran put down his new phone angrily and got up to take a shower.
Don't overdo it, get up early tomorrow and get down to business.
After a while, Huo Ran came out after drying his hair. Feeling tired, he deliberately took his new phone aside to charge before going to bed.
The screen lit up, and Huo Zhendong sent a message five minutes ago.
[Contented and happy: flowers for you.jpg]
But in his eyes, Brother HR is always a "paper person" that has nothing to do with real life. They will never intersect, and he will not worry about the changes in each other's identities and emotions.
The paper man is about to come to the city where he lives, and Tao Zhiyue finds it incredible.
Even putting aside the distance hidden behind the Internet, a middle-aged straight man who is gentle, kind, and even a little pushy, to Tao Zhiyue, is really like a person from two different worlds. It is difficult for him to imagine meeting such a person. chat.
Tao Zhiyue regretted that when he changed the nickname of the forum, he casually used the prefix Shanbei City.
But it's too late to think about this now.
Tao Zhiyue looked at the message sent by HR and read the hidden expectations behind the text. He thought about it for a long time before organizing his words and politely declined the other party.
Subconsciously, he didn't want to have any real-life connection with Brother HR.
After rejecting HR, Tao Zhiyue had another weekend alone. In order to prevent himself from being too bored, Tao Zhiyue set a few small rules.
If the weather is fine, go for a walk in the park, breathe fresh air, or follow the old man doing Tai Chi and stretch your muscles secretly.
If it rains or snows, you have to go to the supermarket to buy vegetables and meat, and make your own soup base for hot pot. On days when the rain is falling or the snow is falling, it is the happiest moment to stay at home and have a steaming hot pot.
Walking, exercising, and cleaning pots and dishes are all energy-consuming things. You will definitely feel tired at the end of the day, and you will not want to do anything the next day. All you want to do is sit at home and play with your mobile phone, so you spend a whole weekend like this.
But this weekend is a rare foggy weather in Shanbei City.
There was a vast expanse of white outside the window, and the buildings not far away were all hidden in the gray mist. The city was silent and blurry.
After finally waiting until the afternoon, Tao Zhiyue was still worried. He didn't know what to do. He had played all the popular games and browsed the forum again and again, but there were no new posts.
When he felt bored in his previous life, he would chat with his good friends at that time, asking for benefits and cheating, chatting about daily gossip, and even exchanging emoticons could kill a long time.
But now, he looked at the only "my friend" in his friend list and fell into silence.
… Do you want to chat with Brother HR
Having just rejected the other party's implicit invitation to meet yesterday, Tao Zhi became more embarrassed and did not dare to take the initiative to go to the other party again.
He decided to dig out the books that were about to collect dust on the bookshelf to improve his cultural literacy.
In the past, he would insist on reading two books a week to ensure a certain amount of knowledge input, but recently he has become more and more slack for some unknown reason.
After reading for more than two hours, Tao Zhiyue woke up from his sleep and confirmed one thing: You must not read in front of the window in this weather. The hazy white mist has a hypnotic effect.
Tao Zhiyue rubbed the red marks on his face guiltily and looked at the time, four fifty in the afternoon.
After successfully surviving the long day, he could start thinking about what to eat at night. This question was enough for him to struggle with until dark.
Tao Zhiyue was a little happy.
At this moment, the cell phone, which used to be as quiet as if it was on silent mode, suddenly rang.
He wondered if there was another application that he forgot to turn off, and went to pick up the phone abandoned on the sofa with some surprise.
Then Tao Zhiyue saw the new prompt on the app.