I don't know what happened in the law firm next door. A bunch of people gathered there making a lot of noise, blocking the entire area from the elevator to the corridor.
"Excuse me." In front of Li Xuan were several office staff members, who were arguing with each other with red faces and necks, and ignored him at all.
"I said..." Li Xuan sighed, raised his hand to press his shoulder, and pushed to the side, "Get out of the way."
"What..." Before the man could react, Li Xuan had already forcefully pushed his way through the crowd.
There was a brief silence behind him, and then the quarrel started again. Li Xuan pressed his temple, took out his key, and walked towards the company. When he reached the door, he was stunned and stopped abruptly.
"Is anyone else here? ... Or did you forget to close the door?" Sheng Min asked.
“Closed.”
Li Xuan looked at the open glass door in front of him, took out his phone and took a look, there were no messages or missed calls. He pursed his lips, cursed in his heart, and said to Sheng Min: "Let's go first."
"What's wrong?"
Sheng Min didn't know what was going on. He followed obediently for only two steps when he suddenly heard a male voice behind him: "Li Xuan!" Then, hurried footsteps sounded, and a force rushed over from behind. Someone grabbed his shoulder and said, "Why are you walking? You are just trying to avoid me."
The man was about the same age as them, with a cute baby face and a pair of black-framed glasses. Although he spoke like a debt collector, he clearly had a familiar smile on his face.
"What are you talking about taking some time to come and see? How long have you lived here? That's funny. If I hadn't recognized your computer, I would have thought there was a thief when I first arrived."
Sheng Min was almost dragged to the ground. Hearing this, he probably guessed that this was one of Li Xuan's friends. He took a step aside calmly and removed his hand from his shoulder: "Why should I hide from you? I was planning to buy a bottle of water... ... Why are you here?"
"The drinking water company has it. I bought a box of that soda you usually drink and just got it back from the post station." Qi Boyuan said, "But don't get me wrong, I really didn't mean to arrest you. Didn't we originally plan to meet for an art class next Monday? Yesterday, a senior from the student union introduced me to a senior of his. He said he was quite capable but had a bit of a tough temper. In short, he was a troublemaker... That's no problem. Anyway, neither of us likes to hear flattery."
"It's just that I've interviewed a few people before, and it doesn't seem fair to let him just cut in. So I said if he's willing, we can just have a preliminary interview today, and if he's really good, we can have a final interview with others next week. He agreed and will come at four o'clock. But I think his technical skills are definitely up to par, after all, he just left Yuanxin and was in charge of some important projects..."
"Yuan Xin?"
Sheng Min is not familiar with domestic technology companies, but he has heard of Yuanxin, a company that currently occupies 40% of the domestic mobile game market.
"Yeah, I'm also surprised. It's hard to find a job after graduating from Yuanxin. After all, we're still a startup company. But they said they came here just for you."
Qi Boyuan's hand just slipped down and came up again. He naturally pulled Sheng Min's shoulder back and smiled proudly: "When you were a sophomore, you took the outsourcing of the e-commerce app, and he worked with you at that time. My senior told me that although this classmate of his majored in art, he was actually good at programming. He always urged others to make progress and called the programmers useless. Only that time, he was driven away by you. After the work was done, he specifically asked the client's chief programmer about his background. I heard that he was from the same school and was only a sophomore. He was about to graduate at that time, and he was so depressed that he didn't even go to the graduation ceremony... I guess he has been brooding over it for so many years, and is looking for trouble. By the way... His last name is Chu, Chu Tianheng, do you remember him?"
"I don't quite remember." Sheng Min responded, and out of the corner of his eye he saw Li Xuan following behind him, looking like he had a headache.
"I guess I don't remember... But you can still pretend to remember during the interview later."
"My face?"
"No way." Qi Boyuan glared at him. "I finally caught you. Now that you're here, let's meet. You said you'd stayed here for a few days without telling me, so I didn't mind. But you left as soon as I got here. That's too deliberate. I don't think you have anything to do. Are you trying to trick me?"
Qi Boyuan said this with a stern face, showing a slightly hurt expression. Li Xuan knew that he was always like this, just pretending to be in the mood for acting, but Sheng Min was not familiar with him, and didn't know how to respond for a moment, so he quickly changed the subject and said, "Don't talk nonsense. You just said it was a coincidence, how come you deliberately arrested me now?"
"No... Oh, it's half and half. I didn't have to come to the company for the interview. You called me last time, so I wanted to come and see you. I arranged to meet you at the company, and I actually ran into you. It's not my fault... Here, your water."
As he was talking, he had already entered the company's gate. Next to the door were several boxes. He opened one of them, bent down, took out a bottle of water, and raised his hand to throw it to Sheng Min.
"Thank you." Sheng Min took it.
The other boxes seemed to be newly picked up express deliveries. Qi Boyuan took a knife and opened them while talking to him.
Lucky bamboo, money tree, elephant ornaments, when he opened the last box and took out a small Pixiu that was half a person's height, Sheng Min noticed Li Xuan sighing softly behind him.
"Don't comment. I won't ask you for this money." Qi Boyuan obviously didn't hear. He took out one and put it in a suitable place, with great interest, without even turning his head.
"I didn't buy the God of Wealth, but the Golden Toad is a product that takes our company's tone and your feelings into consideration. In traditional culture, it's better to believe in something than not to believe in it. You're just too much of a workaholic, and your dreams are all binary... But you've made some progress recently, and you even know how to watch TV series."
Sheng Min thought that Li Xuan's friend was completely different from him in character. After hearing him say that, he subconsciously asked, "What TV series?"
"The one about Sheng Min, 'Wei Yang Liu'? It was still playing on your office computer when I just entered. You're almost catching up?"
He almost choked on his water, and couldn't tell whether it was embarrassment or something else. Sheng Min didn't dare to look at Li Xuan's expression and covered it up: "No... Maybe I pressed it accidentally..."
"You were not careful, and you were able to accurately click to watch only Sheng Min? You must have specially opened a membership." Qi Boyuan had a look of "you are kidding me" on his face, and he stepped back while watching, "I didn't know you had this hobby before. Jia Jia will be here later. Why don't you leave and you two can exchange your thoughts on watching the drama..."
Li Xuan behind him couldn't bear it anymore and coughed loudly.
After swapping bodies, Li Xuan tried to avoid meeting acquaintances. Qi Boyuan was so excited about catching someone that he forgot to turn on the lights when he entered the house. Li Xuan was two steps away and didn't notice that there was someone behind him. He was startled and turned his head sharply: "Dude, who are you... Why did you follow me in?"
"My friend." Sheng Min raised his hand to his face to cool down.
"Sorry, I didn't notice it just now. Hello." Qi Boyuan nodded with lingering fear, waiting for the next introduction. However, the remaining two people were silent.
"Um..." Qi Boyuan took a look and saw that the other person had no intention of taking off his mask. He looked closely and found that his features were strangely familiar. "Have we met before?"
"No." Li Xuan said in a low voice and pulled up the mask.
"He has a cold, a severe cold." Qi Boyuan still looked a little confused, Sheng Min quickly said, "Isn't the interview at four o'clock? Do you want to go and prepare?"
"Nothing to prepare. I just packed up the meeting room." Qi Boyuan took out his phone and took a look. "They said we'll be at the campus in half an hour." He pressed the talk button and said, "Senior, when you come in, just walk along the road on the left and you'll reach Building C..."
The other party replied with a "good" response. Qi Boyuan raised his head and said, "What do you mean, are you going to meet him or not? If you really have something to do, just go and do it... You are so mysterious every day... But it's only a matter of an hour or so. If you can make it, come and listen."
Sheng Min hesitated for a moment. This matter was not his to decide. But after a few thoughts, he agreed: "Okay." Then he said to Qi Boyuan in a natural way, "My friend will come too."
"Oh, okay." Qi Boyuan was a little surprised but didn't say much. He glanced at the patient with a severe cold. The other party spoke first, looking very familiar.
"Let the property management handle the quarrel in the corridor," Li Xuan said. "What will the interviewees see?"
The law firm next door was said to have lost the lawsuit, and the client came to cause trouble. After more than an hour, both parties were about to give up, but they continued to argue for the sake of face and were unwilling to give in. After Qi Boyuan enthusiastically said that the corridor was too small and might affect his performance, and he had helped to call the police, the property management had not come yet, and the tug-of-war had temporarily come to an end.
As the crowd dispersed, the corridor suddenly became much wider, leaving only a few unburned cigarette butts and dust in the air. Qi Boyuan didn't know what he was talking about with the law firm, and he didn't come back immediately after the fight.
"Did he really call the police?" The awkward atmosphere had not yet dissipated. They sat at opposite ends of the sofa in the reception area, and Sheng Min found an unimportant topic as if nothing had happened.
"He's not stupid..." Li Xuan scratched his neck, "Well, I don't mean to say you're not smart... Why would he really call the police? The people from the law firm see each other every day... He just threatened them. If they go to the police station, they might have a criminal record. The law firm will definitely not want that. Among the troublemakers, at least two of them must have been in jail before, so they don't want to go to the police station."
Li Xuan was indeed a little embarrassed. The moment Qi Boyuan mentioned that he watched Sheng Min's TV series in private, he really had the urge to run out of the door.
It was rare for him to feel so uncomfortable that he started talking more. Sheng Min pursed her lips and pretended not to notice: "How do you know that someone in there has been in jail
"Intuition." Li Xuan said simply, "Those who have been there have different eyes and expressions."
These words made Sheng Min's heart tighten, and he couldn't help but look at Li Xuan. After the latter finished speaking, he seemed to realize something and almost avoided his eyes at the same time.
It was inexplicably quiet, as if something separated them, and neither of them spoke. Sheng Min's lips moved, but he looked at Li Xuan's profile and didn't say anything. Qi Boyuan hadn't come back yet, so Sheng Min withdrew his gaze, stood up quietly, walked to the front desk, and fiddled with the wooden elephant.
"What are you doing?" Thirty seconds, or one minute, was not a long time. Li Xuan also came over and stood behind him.
"The elephant with its trunk pointing downwards is a water-absorbing elephant, and wealth can only be gathered when facing water." Sheng Min explained in a gentle voice, as if the silence just now did not exist. "In fact, it is not placed wrong. You can see water from the windows on both sides. But I remember that the north side is upstream, and the water flow is stronger."
"Do you believe this too?"
"I've played a Taoist priest before... There were Feng Shui books on the set that were used as props. I flipped through them while waiting for the scene." Sheng Min carefully turned the wooden sculpture. "Your friend is quite interesting. Have you known each other for many years?"
"College classmate, about three years." Li Xuan leaned back a little, against the wall, "Actually, you don't have to agree to stay for the interview. He won't care about such things. He's just talking."
"That's not the reason." Sheng Min didn't look back. "I don't understand, but I always feel that whether a game can attract players depends first on the visual experience? The main beauty should be very important to you, so is it better for you to stay and take a look? Just don't blame me for acting on my own."
"No. But you..."
"I can handle it." Sheng Min lowered his head so his expression could not be seen, but his voice was gentle and calm, "Don't worry."
The sun's hottest hour has passed. The sun slants in through the window. The summer sun is always dazzling and scorching no matter what time of year it is. The dark green shadows of the trees are cast on the wooden floor, divided into countless pieces by the window frames, and then naturally merged into one again at some point.
Sheng Min was attracted by this little trick of light and shadow. He arranged the wood carving, raised his hand to cover his eyebrows, squinted his eyes slightly to look at the mottled light spots, and walked a little closer. A layer of golden fluffy light was also covered on his body.
"I've never been to jail. But I do know a lot of people with criminal records." Li Xuan looked at his back and picked up the conversation again, his tone was very calm, "I was taken to the police station and educated a few times for gang fighting, but I was too young at the time and didn't have a criminal record."
"I know." Sheng Min seemed to sigh. He turned around without knowing when. "You also know that I am not..."
"I know." Li Xuan interrupted him, shrugged slightly, and returned to his usual nonchalant smile, "That's because I know."
They seemed to be playing charades, but it was clear that they understood each other.
"Those people must be jealous of your intelligence and good looks, so they bully you." Sheng Min said after a moment of silence.
Unexpectedly, Li Xuan laughed when he heard such a sentence: "No one is bullying me, they are just gathering to fight and beat each other."
Sheng Min lowered his eyes and looked at the scar on his hand. He couldn't help but wonder whether the young Li Xuan would be scared when he entered the police station. He didn't even have an identity at that time. Would he worry that he would be sent to a shelter or orphanage again
But he said nothing, and repeated stubbornly: "They must be jealous of you."
"Maybe." Li Xuan smiled. "Let's fight and ask them when we meet. They should still be hanging out on the same street."
Sheng Min knew that Li Xuan was just joking, but she still felt uncomfortable. She was not in a position to say that she didn't want to see them again: "If you really meet them, remember to tell me."
"Are you afraid that I will lose?"
"You won't lose." Sheng Min shook his head, also in a joking tone, "I want you to win easily."