There is a river in the center of N city, dividing the city into north and south halves.
The Software Park is located on the Nan'an River. It was specially allocated by the government more than ten years ago to support the development of the electronic information and Internet industries. A small part of the area occupies a piece of wasteland on the old campus of N University. The school and the government argued for several years, and later the matter was settled by allocating twice the land in the university town in exchange.
The office that Li Xuan and his team rented was located in Building C of the Software Park, facing the river. Although most programmers did not have the hobby of looking out at the view, it was indeed a prime location in the Software Park.
Qi Boyuan had found the place, and the landlord was a distant relative of a teacher from the same college but different department. Qi Boyuan shamelessly negotiated with the landlord for almost a month, and finally got the place at a very favorable price, and also used the rent, which was almost like getting something for free, to take over the landlord's usable equipment.
Li Xuan was busy finishing up a previous outsourced project at the time and had never been to the site. He only looked at the floor plan and photos and took the photos. The contract was also signed by Qi Boyuan.
Later, the soul-swapping incident happened and it was inconvenient for him to come. After going back and forth for a while, it was not until today that he went to the office for the first time.
Perhaps the driver was too tired after driving for too long at night, so he didn't talk to anyone along the way, but just drove in silence. Li Xuan enjoyed the quiet time, leaning back in the back seat and resting his eyes, waiting for Qi Boyuan's call. He remembered something else on the way, so he took out his laptop and turned it on. When he passed the overpass, his cell phone finally rang.
"Hello." Li Xuan opened the voice changing software and then pressed the call button.
"Are you looking for me? I just forgot to bring my phone..." The sound of a takeaway box being opened could be vaguely heard from the other end of the line. "What's the matter?"
"We've decided to officially move in at the end of the month, right?"
"Yes." Qi Boyuan is a well-educated young man who is a bit superstitious. "I found someone to read the fortune. The fortune teller at the back door of the school gave me a friendly price of 88 yuan, and he didn't even ask you to reimburse me."
"Are you going over this week?" Li Xuan continued browsing the web while speaking, his brows furrowed unconsciously. He sent a message to Yang Xu, asking him to send Zhang Zhihua's number.
"It's basically done. The desks and chairs have been replaced, and I've ordered the computer to be delivered the day before the move. I have nothing to do this week, so I probably won't go. Didn't you ask me to prepare the publication number and copyright documents? I'll finish them this week. It's hard to get a publication number now, so I have to get it sooner."
The company has now been registered. After several rounds of online collaboration, Li Xuan and Qi Boyuan decided to use the demo originally written by Li Xuan as the first game to be launched, which is still being revised.
"What's wrong? Any other instructions?"
"Yes." Li Xuan said simply, "I might find some time to go over and take a look recently. Does the property management have the key?"
Of course it's possible to pry it open with wire, but I'm afraid that if the property surveillance camera sees it, I won't be able to explain it clearly.
"You want to go over?!" Qi Boyuan laughed in surprise, "The leader finally agreed to come and inspect our work? Or have you finished your mysterious errand and can come over to work? Why do you want to find the property management? Why don't you find me? Whenever you go, I'll go with you and give you the key..."
Li Xuan held up the car window with his hand and poured cold water on him helplessly: "I'm not done yet. I just want to take a look, so I don't need you. I'm not sure when, and you may not be free."
"How do you know not? I think you don't want to see me?" Qi Boyuan joked.
"That's right. I'm going to check whether you've done your job well and whether you're pretending to obey me. I definitely can't go with you."
The text message rang, and it was Yang Xu who replied, reporting that he had bought the meal and it would be arriving soon.
"That's fine. You're going this week, right? It's no use if you don't want to see me. I'll block you every day."
"You're sick." The car started at the green light, causing the laptop on his lap to shake. Li Xuan reached out to hold it, "I think you're too idle, so I'll assign you more work."
Qi Boyuan smiled and said, "If you want to arrange more work, don't make excuses... Let me tell you something serious. Didn't we select a few artists last time? We have an appointment for the last round next week. If you have time, you'd better come... Li Xuan?"
"Yeah, I'm listening."
Li Xuan just sent a message to Zhang Zhihua, saying that his phone was out of battery and he borrowed Li Xuan's phone. He asked him if he had any contacts to delete and why there were still posts related to the video on the forum.
"Let's talk about it later. Just make your decision." The car was a little stuffy. After Li Xuan sent the message, he lowered the window a little and asked, "Does the property management have the key?"
When Qi Boyuan heard what he said, he knew that he would most likely not come: "The property management doesn't have one, but there's a key box taped to the main door with a spare key inside. The combination is six eights. But there's only one for the main door, not for your office."
"That's okay. You should have told me earlier why we took such a long detour." The car drove into the tunnel and the lights suddenly came on. Li Xuan squinted his eyes and dimmed the computer screen.
"You think I talk too much?" Qi Boyuan said with a sigh, "Okay, I'm hanging up..."
"Wait." Li Xuan stopped him, "Are you busy now?"
Zhang Zhihua replied with a message full of complaints. He said he had contacted them and the website was also deleting them. Some posts might not have been noticed because they did not involve any keywords. He also took credit, saying that Weibo had already made arrangements and the related terms would definitely not be on the hot search list.
"Now? What?" Qi Boyuan asked him, "At this time, are you supervising the employees to work overtime? Don't worry, they won't rest so early. I work right after dinner. I've changed the level upgrade in the past two days and added a social system. Then I have to deal with the documents."
"Let me edit it. Please help me delete some posts tonight."
"Delete the post?" Qi Boyuan didn't expect him to suddenly say such a thing. He was stunned for a moment. "What post? You got into trouble and it was on the social news? ... Deleting posts is against the law, brother. You are not planning to send your partner to jail? I thought this kind of drama would only happen when our company goes public."
Li Xuan could tell he was joking and didn't cooperate with him: "We've told the website that they won't cause you any trouble. You won't be able to go to jail even if you want."
The taxi driver in the front seat gave him a strange look in the rearview mirror.
"Then why don't you delete it yourself? Don't you know how?"
Li Xuan said calmly, "Everyone has their own expertise. I can't delete as quickly as you do. After all, I don't have the experience of hacking into the school's surveillance system in high school."
"... Actually, you only need to say the first half of the sentence." Qi Boyuan sighed in a fake voice, "Okay, what are the posts? Are there too many? Send them over..."
"Not a lot. I'll send you the requirements. Just focus on them tonight and be careful. If they don't come out, no one will send them out later. I'll modify the level upgrade and chat system, so you don't have to worry about them."
"All for you? Can you finish it? Don't you want to do PVE and build a map..."
"It's okay." Li Xuan pinched the bridge of his nose.
Qi Boyuan thought for a moment and said, "It won't take me that long to delete the post. I'll still be in charge of the chat system. You have too much work to do. Let me see what this post is about... Sheng Min?"
"Do you know him?" Li Xuan felt strange in his tone.
"Of course I know him. He's quite famous, but you're the only one who doesn't pay attention to him." Qi Boyuan said, "Jia Jia really likes him. She's a loyal fan. She was watching his new drama while having dinner just now..."
Zhou Jia vaguely heard their conversation and asked Qi Boyuan who he liked. Qi Boyuan smiled and replied that he liked me.
"Why would you ask me to delete his post?" Qi Boyuan asked him with a smile after coaxing his girlfriend, "Is this really a new business you took on? ... You can't be secretly chasing stars during this period of time, right?"
Li Xuan said casually: "Why chase after a star? I'm more like worshipping a Buddha."
"Hmm?" Qi Boyuan was puzzled. "What Bodhisattva?"
"No." The car had already arrived at the entrance of the software park, and the driver turned around to signal him that he could get off. Li Xuan opened the car door and said, "You go ahead, I have something else to do. I'm hanging up now, and I'll contact you later."
IT companies work overtime all year round. At 10 o'clock, many lights in the software park are still on. Going up from Building C, the company is on the ninth floor. It is not very big, about half a floor. There is also an Internet company and a law firm next to it.
Li Xuan opened the door with the key and turned on the light. The company's decoration style was simple, with clean gray and white colors. On the wall opposite the door, silver metal stitching formed the company's name and logo, Yuanyi Technology.
Although he would not be back to work for the time being, Qi Boyuan still prepared an office for him. Walking all the way in, his name was written on the last door. The door was wide open for ventilation, but there was no smell of renovation. The area was about 20 square meters, and there was a rest room separated by glass.
Li Xuan turned on the air conditioner and opened the windows for ventilation. There was a 1.5-meter-tall bed in the lounge, but there were no blankets or pillows. He randomly found a store to place an order, but it was too late and the goods would not be delivered until tomorrow. However, he simply did not plan to sleep tonight, so he sat on the sofa for a while, then took out his computer and started to modify the code.
Li Xuan worked on it until the next morning. He finished the level upgrade and built a basic framework for the mall system. He was too focused on writing. When the courier delivered the sheets, he rang the bell at the door for five minutes, which alarmed the front desk of the law firm next door, and finally heard some movement.
After arriving at the company that night, Li Xuan basically never left the office. When he was hungry, he ordered takeout. When he was sleepy, he lay down to sleep for a while and woke up to continue. After the soul swap, in order to cope with Sheng Min's occasional notices and unexpected situations, his work schedule was somewhat affected. Once he had full time, he always wanted to make up as much as possible.
However, when discussing the progress with Qi Boyuan, the other party sent a string of ellipsis marks.
"Why are you acting like a nobody again..." Qi Boyuan gave an indescribable expression, "I suggest you be a little nicer to yourself. We're not in such a rush. Your progress recently was barely normal. I thought you finally found some fun outside of work. Why are you doing this again?"
Li Xuan ignored him, but that didn't stop the other party from continuing to joke with him. He advised him to just chase his idol and it was not impossible to worship the Buddha.
The boring war of words ended with Li Xuan threatening to deduct the bonus.
In the next few days, he maintained the same schedule. In the middle, he did not forget to check with Yang Xu to confirm that Sheng Min had no announcements to catch up with in the next few days. So he continued to work.
The day the map was built was at night. After giving it to Qi Boyuan for testing, Li Xuan felt a pain in his shoulder for the first time in a long time, and finally decided to have a good sleep. However, when he lay down, he couldn't fall asleep. Suddenly, he remembered the boy he met in front of the elevator that day, and mentioned Sheng Min's role.
He hesitated for a moment, then returned to the computer and easily found the TV series. It was a costume drama, in which Sheng Min played the role of a young marquis who was originally a wealthy and idle man. However, his father and brother died suddenly in the battlefield, and he unexpectedly inherited the hereditary title. He was also forced to marry a princess whom he did not like...
The plot of getting married first and falling in love later is very cliché. According to Li Xuan's taste, this popular drama is really boring. I can't explain why, but he didn't turn it off in the end, and even opened a membership. But after watching one episode, it was too boring, so he clicked to watch only Shengmin.
I didn't want to waste time, so I left it as background music and continued writing code for a while. Finally, I fell asleep in a daze.
When he woke up again, it was already noon. The curtains were not drawn tightly, and the scorching sun shone on the tiny dust particles floating in the air. Li Xuan rubbed his sore arms and took out the mobile phone that had been stuck under his arms all night.
A series of unread messages popped up on WeChat, the most recent one was from Sheng Min, three minutes ago.
They had not been in touch for the past few days, and the last time they talked was on that unhappy night. Li Xuan frowned unconsciously, paused for a moment before clicking on the message, and what was even more unexpected was the content of the message.
"Today when I went to school, a man named Li Mingge came to the school to look for you. He claimed to be your father and said that your mother was in a bad state recently and that he wanted you to go back to see her, so I went for you. I have already finished the visit and just left the community. After thinking about it, I still have to tell you."