Chapter 85: When Surprise Turns to Fright
The express box was opened by Fu Yue.
He thought it was those things he had ordered online arriving.
After all, he had promised Chen Bai to help him “restock” the “strawberry flavor” that was confiscated by Ji Hanmo last time.
However, when he opened the first box, what met his eyes was a plain glass jar.
The jar had no label, but a rich and warm scent of ginger sugar could be smelled.
It seemed like it was home-brewed.
Fu Yue picked up the jar, sniffed it at the tip of his nose, and put it in front of his eyes to examine carefully.
The shape of the glass jar was no different from an ordinary jam jar.
But holding this bottle in his hand stirred a ripple deep within Fu Yue’s memories.
“Who sent this?”
He muttered to himself, thinking along the familiarity welling up in his heart.
This jar, this smell…
In his mind, scenes from high school flashed by.
A winter afternoon, sunlight spilling through the window onto the desk. The central air conditioning was on, the temperature just right.
The young Jiang Ying holding a water cup, drinking something.
“What is it?” he asked.
Jiang Ying fished out a glass jar.
Only a tiny bit of dark paste was left at the bottom of the jar.
It was a bottle of ginger jujube tea paste that had hit bottom.
“Brewed it myself, pity it’s almost finished drinking.” Jiang Ying’s voice was cold and pleasant to the ears, “I’ll make a new bottle for you later.”
“Using this to curry favor with me?”
“Take it or leave it.”
But later…
Fu Yue had to choose to be cold to him.
“Could it be this? Sent by Jiang Ying?” Fu Yue was a bit uncertain, “Why is this guy so awkward.”
Refusing to meet, refusing cleanly and crisply, was Jiang Ying. Now, secretly sending packages was also Jiang Ying.
That box of orange-flavored cookies last time was the same.
No, it was also possible it wasn’t sent by him.
Was it someone familiar with him and Fu Yue?
Fu Yue regretted a bit; he should have asked clearly at the bottom of the cliff that time.
Thinking of this, he subconsciously opened his phone. In the chat box of the communication software, the latest record had a red exclamation mark next to it.
Fu Yue unconsciously swiped up.
Suddenly, he saw two words—”Mo Fan”.
In the chat history, a photo that had been recalled and resent by Jiang Ying.
A highly artistic architectural model quietly standing on the workbench.
Followed by a dialogue: “The inspiration for this design came from my idol, Master Mo Fan.”
Fu Yue knew that not long after, this model had become fragments.
Mo Fan!
That subordinate of Jiang Ying had mentioned it to him a few days ago: “Mr. Mo Fan passed away recently.”
At the time, Fu Yue only felt the name “Mo Fan” was a bit familiar, but he couldn’t remember it for the life of him.
It wasn’t his fault.
Fu Yue wasn’t in architecture, so he wasn’t that sensitive to the names of celebrities in the industry.
Thinking of this, he immediately put down his phone, opened his portable laptop, and started searching for information related to “Mo Fan”.
As a former top-tier programmer, he could use some grey channels to sneak into some private professional forums and intranets.
He could also bypass and browse some pages that ordinary users saw as “404”.
Soon, he found an inconspicuous internal message.
A private exhibition hall called “Senlang” was going to change its exhibits recently.
In order to make room for new collections, they planned to clear some of Master Mo Fan’s “old works” out of the hall after the New Year.
Fu Yue raised an eyebrow.
This news was simply a godsend.
If he could get his hands on Master Mo Fan’s original model, perhaps he could use this to successfully arrange a meeting with Jiang Ying.
He took a closer look at the address of that exhibition hall.
Even more coincidentally, the exhibition hall was right in Beale Port City, the neighboring city to the well-known resort Yefeng Bay!
A plan formed in Fu Yue’s mind:
After the New Year holiday ended, he could drop by that exhibition hall on the way to try his luck.
Satisfied, he withdrew his gaze and used his small knife to slice open the second express box.
Today truly was full of constant “surprises”.
When Fu Yue opened this second anonymous express package, he froze.
What is this?
Inside the box, neatly stacked were cards packaged in transparent plastic wrap, small standees, and a few artbooks.
Fu Yue casually picked up a card.
On it was a chibi cartoon version of himself, and surprisingly, next to it was a chibi version of Ji Hanmo, with pink love bubbles popping up around the two of them.
Fu Yue’s expression at this moment could be described as “old man, subway, phone”.
He had only seen this kind of thing from girls chasing idols before.
When did he become a “star”?
Harboring doubts, he flipped open another artbook.
The title page of the artbook was a sketch-style photo.
In the photo, he was buying breakfast at a coffee shop.
At this time, Fu Yue’s expression had changed from confusion to fright.
This photo, he was far too familiar with it.
It was clearly one of those candid photos of him that he had picked up in the equipment room previously!
Fu Yue held his breath and continued flipping down.
The next page was him staring blankly at the computer in the office.
The page after that was him waiting for the elevator in the lobby…
The others were his public photos, from industry forums, from company press conferences.
The photos had all been altered into a comic style.
Beside him, without exception, Ji Hanmo’s figure had been added, and the two were “artistically processed” into various intimate interactions.
This soft, cute, and romantic art style, however, made Fu Yue’s hair stand on end.
That mastermind behind the scenes, could it be that they felt Jiang Ying had already distanced himself from him, so they were starting to target Ji Hanmo?
Fu Yue felt a deep unease.
He reached out, picked up the internal phone, and dialed Ji Hanmo’s extension.
At this moment, inside Ji Hanmo’s office, a person was sitting on the sofa in the reception area.
A beige turtleneck sweater paired with a dark brown-grey suit jacket.
Her legs were crossed, and under white wide-leg pants, a pair of black stilettos lightly tapped the ground. Her nails were a low-key matte nude color.
“Fu Yue, I know. Leave this matter to me to handle, you don’t need to worry.” Ji Hanmo finished the call with Fu Yue and sat back on the single sofa in the reception area.
On his wide desk, there was glaringly also a matching kraft paper box.
The box had already been opened, and artbooks and cartoon standees were spread out on the desk.
“Aike, the South City project discussion is over,” Ji Hanmo’s long index finger tapped the desktop, obvious helplessness between his brows, “If it wasn’t for your brilliant performance just now, I would really think your psychological age is no more than fifteen.”
Aike raised an eyebrow: “What do you mean?”
“What do I mean?” Ji Hanmo pointed at that cardboard box, “Your hobby is truly…”
“One must have some interests outside of work.” Aike’s lips curled up slightly, “Having discovered a treasure like Fu Yue, I must definitely dig into it properly.”
Ji Hanmo rubbed his forehead and let out a soft sigh.
“You messing around with that studio, playing is playing, but why send it to Fu Yue himself?”
Ji Hanmo darkly recalled Fu Yue’s phone call just now, his tone sounding exactly like he had seen a ghost.
“Joy shared with others is better than joy enjoyed alone. In my studio, there are over a dozen full-time content-producing authors! They are fully shipping your pairing recently. The Christmas dinner merch is already being designed.”
A hint of slyness flashed in her eyes: “Cold overbearing CEO X Adorably clueless corporate slave, so much tension! And, thinking about that super strong possessiveness in your personality, it’ll completely explode after you get your hands on him…”
Ji Hanmo’s brow furrowed: “Aike, who told you all this?”
“Ji Linyue told me.”
“Him?”
“I wanted to pursue him before,” Aike shrugged, “After all, I’ve reached the age where I should be talking about marriage.”
She picked up her coffee, took a sip, and continued: “Originally, I didn’t quite understand male-male relationships, but looking at Fu Yue, I feel he matches your face perfectly.”
Ji Hanmo: “…”
“So, I can also accept Ji Linyue and Chen Bai now.” Aike put down her cup and said with a smile.
“Unfortunately, I’ll have to look for a new marriage alliance partner. So annoying!”
Ji Hanmo’s eyes swept over that standee on the desk.
On it, chibi Fu Yue and chibi him were holding hands “strolling under the starry sky,” with the silhouette of their company building as the background.
Aike looked at him smugly: “For the New Year, I’ll prepare a surprise for Fu Yue.”
Recommended Reads
