The weekend soon arrived, and Huo Ran happily bid farewell to the workdays that had been so torturous for him.
Even though he hated the social activities Huo Zhendong arranged for him, if he really had to choose between work and socializing... forget it, he chose death.
Every day when Huo Ran came to the company, he not only had to face the flowers that always filled the reception room, but also had to meet his assistant Jiang Nansheng, whose face was full of secret love.
Yes, his male assistant likes him too.
Unlike Xia Xingxi, Jiang Nansheng did not do anything excessive. He performed his job duties conscientiously, with an expression on his face that said "I like you, and I will be overjoyed if you look at me"... That's all.
Huo Ran couldn't even open his mouth to say no because the other person hadn't confessed her feelings at all, so he couldn't change his assistant because of this.
He always felt that there was nothing wrong in truly liking someone.
Huo Ran is going on a business trip to Jinbei City next week. He originally didn't want to bring along this assistant who always blushes in front of him, but considering that Huo Zhendong has assigned him a task, it would be more efficient to have an assistant for trivial matters such as collecting information on exhibition projects, arranging schedules and booking hotels.
Therefore, Huo Ran did not act willfully, but just reminded Jiang Nansheng without thinking to wear a mask.
Hearing this, Jiang Nansheng's face immediately caught fire, and in a blink of an eye it turned red like a burning cloud, "Thank you, Mr. Huo, for your concern. I am allergic to pollen, so I should wear a mask. I didn't expect that Mr. Huo even noticed this."
Huo Ran: …
Huo Ran felt that he should also wear a mask, otherwise he might not be able to maintain the calm expression that Mr. Huo should have.
The troubles brought by Xia Xingxi came to an end. The flower-sending maniac could be temporarily avoided by going on a business trip. As for Jiang Nansheng, Huo Ran had not yet figured out how to talk to Dr. Tao. For a while, it seemed that he and Dr. Tao had no topics to talk about.
How will Dr. Tao spend the two-day weekend
After holding it in for most of the day, even the friends who were playing ball with Huo Ran noticed his absent-mindedness and stopped to ask him if something happened.
Huo Ran blurted out: "What do you usually do on weekends?"
My friend seemed to see a real idiot, and he slapped the basketball in his hand and said, "Play ball!"
"..." Huo Ran explained palely, "No, I'm not asking you."
My friend took a step back suddenly and looked at the air in front of him in horror.
Huo Ran hesitated for a moment, but finally apologized to his friend honestly, saying that he was not in good shape today and would not play anymore.
For the first time, he truly felt that it was a hassle that pp could not be used on the antique keypad machine.
Without the mood to play ball, Huo Ran decided to go home and read. He hadn't had the time to read for a long time.
… and then turn on the computer to see if anyone is looking for him.
Huo Ran returned home, took a shower, and rushed to the study impatiently, his hair dripping with water.
There was no new message on pp, and the chat history between him and Dr. Tao stopped at yesterday's good night greetings.
I don’t know if Dr. Tao will sleep in on the weekend, and I don’t have anything to say today, so Huo Ran didn’t send a good morning greeting.
It's almost evening now, Dr. Tao must be awake, what is he doing
Huo Ran, a newly-addicted internet addict, stared at the computer screen for a while, unconsciously clicking on Dr. Tao's profile picture.
[I patted Tao.]
Huo Ran: !!
Huo Ran was stunned on the spot, his expression stiff and he didn't know what to do.
In less than half a minute, Dr. Tao responded.
[“Tao” patted me.]
The two lines of gray fonts tapped together, an instant connection beyond words. They were not talking to each other, but at this moment they were looking at the chat interface at the same time.
Huo Ran's heart moved slightly and he lowered his head unconsciously.
It felt like I was really patted on the head.
[hr: I just came back from playing basketball, I am sweating/penguin jumping]
[hr: Is Dr. Tao out playing?]
[Tao: Reading at home.]
[Tao: But I don’t think I can really read it.]
[Tao: Salted fish paralysis.jpg]
Staring at this lazy and exhausted expression, Huo Ran found it hard to associate this state with the self-disciplined Dr. Tao.
But this expression is so cute, Huo Ran silently saved the picture.
[hr: Me too, I’ve been feeling really restless lately.]
[hr: Dr. Tao, don’t force yourself to read books. Go out for a walk. I read a post on the forum yesterday and found out that there are so many fun places in northern Shanxi.]
[hr: Does Dr. Tao need Amway?]
[Tao: You even know about Amway/dog head]
Amway is a new word that Huo Ran learned when he was reading a post yesterday.
He put his learning into practice and was noticed by Dr. Tao, which made Huo Ran blush.
[Tao: Thank you~ Not for now, I don’t go out much.]
[Tao: I’m used to lying down at home, hahahaha.]
Although Dr. Tao ended with "Hahahaha", for some reason, Huo Ran read a hint of loneliness from it.
Huo Ran immediately thought that this must be an illusion. How could someone as gentle and warm-hearted as Dr. Tao be lonely
So he didn't think any more about it and chatted with Dr. Tao for a few more words until Dr. Tao said she was going to cook dinner.
Huo Ran went to the kitchen to cook himself a bowl of noodles. He took the bowl back to the study and unconsciously clicked on the game icon on the desktop, completely forgetting the rows of bookshelves behind him.
A while ago, Huo Ran's daily schedule was always full of boring business trips and social activities. After he solemnly protested to Huo Zhendong, his schedule was reduced. At least the weekends could belong to him.
So Huo Ran, who finally understood the mood of a social animal, didn't want to work hard anymore on weekends. When he wanted to go out, he would call his friends to play ball and have dinner. When he didn't want to go out, he would hide at home and play games.
There is a very popular game recently, so popular that even Huo Ran’s friends who never play games are playing it. It is a simulation management sandbox game called "Happy Animal Island". It has been operating stably for several years and suddenly became popular because of a popular Weibo post.
In "Happy Animal Island", players can choose an animal as their own image, and then build and manage their own island. The game has a high degree of freedom.
Since some animals cannot complete some game operations due to their morphological limitations, you can choose to live in groups in the game. Several players can manage the island together as long as they submit an application and the island owner agrees.
The poster of that Weibo post is a very cute squirrel. In real life, he likes to hoard things. He built many warehouses on the island and stored a lot of food and various gadgets.
One day, Squirrel Po suddenly found that he had lost some inconspicuous little things, but there was no visitor record on the island. He reported it to the customer service, and the customer service said it was not a game bug.
Squirrel Po observed carefully and found that the things would become less after he went offline every day, so he reluctantly sold a lot of food and bought an invisibility cloak made by a great player. After putting it on, he squatted at the door of the warehouse, vowing to catch this mysterious NPC thief.
As a result, he saw a small black ant which skillfully moved three grains of rice from his warehouse and then crawled into a hole hidden in the crack of the wood.
Squirrelpo looked at the player’s nickname above the ant’s head and was stunned. There was actually a player who chose to be an ant.
Then he remembered that he had received a group living application from a player a long time ago. He was looking forward to it for a while, but he never saw the player show up, and no new houses were built on the island. He thought the player had stopped playing.
I never expected that this mini player lived underground.
Squirrel Po was full of curiosity, but he was too big to go down, so he could only send a message to the ant player in the islander list, asking him what his house looked like.
The ant player responded, first expressing his apologies for stealing, then showing him a screenshot of his own hut.
A luxurious golden bed made of sawdust, a quilt made of dried flower petals, a flat-bottomed screw dining table, a large eggshell bathtub, and a thick water pipe made of plastic straws...
Squirrelpo was so cute that his face was bleeding. He then posted this on Weibo, expressing his feeling that Animal Island is full of incredible surprises and that every player can have his or her own unique way of playing the game.
Animal Island became a huge hit, and Huo Sihan, who quickly became addicted to it, kept brainwashing Huo Ran, using threats and inducements to get him to play in order to get the reward for inviting friends.
Huo Ran, who doesn't play games often, was reluctant at first, but as he played more he became addicted to it and even developed an interest in the gaming industry.
Huo Sihan is a koala in the game. Huo Ran thinks that the brother and sister should look alike, but of course he is much stronger than his sister.
So... he chose to be a big brown bear.
The big brown bear walks slowly, but it is strong enough to easily break the wooden fence on the koala island.
After Huo Ran came online, he first took a wooden boat to his sister's island and caused some harmless damage. He then left some fruits as gifts and happily went home.
His island will be sunny and peaceful for the next few days, and Huo Ran plans to take the opportunity to renovate the house. Brown bears are slow, so he needs to leave enough time.
The speed of time passing in this game is one-to-one with that in real life. Huo Ran played the game until 10 o'clock in the evening. He logged off when the island became pitch black and continued playing the next day.
It was not until Sunday evening that Huo Ran, who had devoted himself to the work, completed the difficult renovation work. Looking at the brand new cool industrial-style cottage, Huo Ran took a few screenshots with satisfaction and posted them to his social media.
[Dynamic] hr: It is a loss to the industry that I did not become an architect/cute [picture][picture][picture]
Soon, people started to like and reply.
[Comment] Your father: Ugh! You are shameless!
[Comment] Sheng Sheng Bu Xi: Mr. Huo is really awesome.
[Comment] Lu Yan: Ah Ran, are you playing this too? What's your ID? I'll add you.
[Comment] Zhizuchangle replied to your father: What’s your name
[Comment] HR replied to Zhizuchangle: Dad, look how arrogant she is
…
The interactions under pp dynamics are only visible to mutual friends. Huo Ran likes this unique setting very much. This way, even if he adds some people he is not familiar with, he does not have to worry about exposing his privacy.
My eyes were sore from looking at the computer these past two days. Huo Ran glanced at the densely packed new comments and was about to close the webpage when his movements suddenly froze.
[Comment] Tao: You can open a skylight on the roof, it will look better.
Huo Ran wanted to reply to the comment, but after a pause, he directly opened the chat window.
[hr: Dr. Tao, do you also play Animal Island? ]
[hr: So the roof can be moved.]
[Tao: I played it quite a lot before, but I didn’t expect it to be so popular now.]
Immediately afterwards, Dr. Tao sent a few pictures.
Huo Ran clicked on it and found that it was also a screenshot of the Animal Island cottage. It was very similar to the style he had worked so hard to decorate, but there was a large skylight on the roof, which was filled with stars at night. The dark grey and rugged cottage was set off against the backdrop, giving it a rustic and romantic feel.
[hr: Looks good! ]
[hr: Dr. Tao is amazing.]
[Tao: I had nothing to do at that time, so I tried many styles. If you need any reference, you can ask me.]
[Tao: Little Bear Spinning.gif]
Huo Ran, who was immersed in the aura of a master architect, felt ashamed when he saw the pictures sent by Dr. Tao. He carefully studied the layout of the cabin, trying to learn something.
Then he saw a small round brown figure reflected in the mirror, with spikes on its body glowing silver.
It turns out that Dr. Tao is a hedgehog.
Looking at the message sent by Dr. Tao again, Huo Ran realized belatedly that the hint of loneliness he read yesterday was not an illusion.
After being stunned for a while, Huo Ran somehow sent out a somewhat presumptuous message.
[hr: Is Dr. Tao always alone?]
Dr. Tao did not deny it and replied in a relaxed tone.
[Tao: Has my social anxiety been discovered so quickly? 0.0]
An inexplicable urge surged in his heart, and Huo Ran continued to ask.
[hr: Is it because you feel like you have nothing to talk about with the people you know, so you can’t become friends?]
This time it took a long time before Dr. Tao sent a message.
[Tao: No.]
[Tao: I just... don’t have a sense of reality.]