The next day, as He Xiaoyuan arrived at the office, anyone who walked past him teased: “Lu Ge! Lu Ge, huh?”
He Xiaoyuan found it both funny and helpless.
When Zou Fanping walked by, he patted He Xiaoyuan on the shoulder, sighed deeply, and in a voice loud enough for the entire office to hear, said:
“Ah, Yuan… I didn’t realize you loved Lu Ge this much.”
He Xiaoyuan brushed Zou Fanping’s hand off his shoulder and quipped:
“You all love me just as deeply.”
And somehow, they even knew to add a heart before his name.
Zou Fanping put his two index fingers together, tapping them:
“Perfect match, see how thoughtful we are?”
He Xiaoyuan turned and pushed Zou Fanping back, signaling him to return to his desk.
Just then, the late-arriving Yuan Miao pushed open the glass door, looked in He Xiaoyuan’s direction, and said:
“Congratulations, Yuan Ge, got any wedding candy?”
He Xiaoyuan: “……” Get lost.
The rotation schedule didn’t stop; the company wouldn’t give the trainees extra time just for preparing their assessments. The entire morning, everyone was at other departments on rotation, leaving the office empty.
In the afternoon, the trainees gradually returned. Without chatting, everyone rushed to their desks to make use of their time.
He Xiaoyuan returned, organized the notes from his new rotation department, and continued examining Sui Sui Xing. The app itself was simple. During the morning rotation, he had also briefly discussed Sui Sui Xing with Yuan Miao and the others.
They all agreed that the product was straightforward, not much to study. Any real analysis had to focus on aspects like user experience and target audience.
Some of He Xiaoyuan’s current thoughts were the same as what Yuan Miao and others would come up with: Sui Sui Xing, over the course of internet entertainment development, had been replaced by other products with stronger social features.
Also, with the widespread adoption and intelligence of smartphones, user habits for internet socializing had changed.
On his way back to the office, He Xiaoyuan thought of something else: there were still 8,000 users nationwide. Why were these 8,000 still using Sui Sui Xing?
He Xiaoyuan opened a search engine on his computer and typed in Sui Sui Xing, confirming.
…
During afternoon tea, Groups One and Three gathered in the nearby break room, taking a short break while chatting and snacking about Sui Sui Xing.
Leaning against the counter drinking coffee, He Xiaoyuan started discussing the assessment and the app with Lu Ge over WeChat.
Lu: “Heard about the assessment.”
As usual, direct: “Asking me?”
He Xiaoyuan: [little dinosaur shaking head.jpg]
He Xiaoyuan tapped out a message on the keypad: We’re preparing for…
Wait!
He Xiaoyuan realized, deleted what he’d written, and rewrote the message:
He Xiaoyuan: “Lu Ge, you haven’t gotten into this kind of product before, right?”
This wasn’t part of regular departmental work. This was a product nearly obsolete for years!
Lu Ge sent a voice message. He Xiaoyuan opened it, holding the phone to his ear. The man’s low, pleasant voice came through:
“I know. Sui Sui Xing was an add-on product for a desktop social software under Haike. I was involved in Haike’s acquisition back then, so I’m familiar with all the products, and I remember Sui Sui Xing.”
He Xiaoyuan drew a quiet breath. Lu Ge spoke calmly, as if it were just everyday knowledge, simple as one plus one equals two. He Xiaoyuan had worked this long, surely aware of what acquisitions meant for a large company—and how strong someone had to be to join a project team for such a case.
He Xiaoyuan lowered the phone, said nothing, and quietly sent a thumbs-up emoji.
Experts are just experts.
Lu: “I know. Not asking me?”
He Xiaoyuan: “No, I want to see for myself, after all this rotation, where my own abilities stand.”
Lu: “Don’t treat a work assessment like a school exam. They’re different.”
He Xiaoyuan understood—he was being told that if he could ask someone for guidance, he wouldn’t need to struggle alone. Integrating available resources was also a measure of strength.
He Xiaoyuan: “Still no. Lu Ge, you’re too generous. If I hear your opinion, I’m afraid I won’t have my own ideas.”
Lu Ge said nothing, just replied “OK,” then added:
“Do you think I’m good?”
The question threw He Xiaoyuan off.
He Xiaoyuan: “Of course.”
Lu deliberately teased him:
“Tell me why you think so.”
He Xiaoyuan thought: he teaches them things, helps with appliance requests—of course he’s good.
Better yet—he’s excellent.
He Xiaoyuan: “Everything! Absolutely great.”
Lu: “Specifics.”
?
He Xiaoyuan didn’t immediately understand the purpose of the question. Surely Lu Ge wasn’t just fishing for compliments?
He Xiaoyuan: “For example, he teaches us things, answers all questions. Even though I said I didn’t need help, he still applied for small appliances for me.”
Lu: “Anything else?”
Anything else?
He Xiaoyuan continued typing, keeping his head down.
Holding the phone, he hadn’t joined the two groups’ discussion about Sui Sui Xing, finally drawing the attention of others in the break room.
Everyone looked over, and no one spoke anymore. The break room went quiet.
He Xiaoyuan, typing, realized something was off. As he raised his head while tapping the screen, he met the gaze of the group and nearly jumped.
He paused tapping the screen and looked back at everyone, asking, “What’s up?”
No one answered. Zou Fanping pointed at He Xiaoyuan’s phone with his chin and asked, “Lu Ge?”
He Xiaoyuan blinked. “Ah.”
Immediately, both groups instinctively chorused, “Oh!” in unison: “Lu Ge”
He Xiaoyuan had a bad premonition and hurriedly explained, “I’m talking to Lu Ge about the assessment.”
Zou Fanping, ever the joker, waved his hand dismissively: “No need to explain, no need to explain. We get it, we all get it!”
Someone from Group Three asked, “Does the Handsome Guy contact your Lu Ge every day?”
Yuan Miao seemed to realize, “Oh!”
Someone from Group One added, “Not just every day.”
Both groups again chorused, “Oh~~~~!”
Everyone wore “eating popcorn” expressions, clearly enjoying watching the handsome guy’s antics.
He Xiaoyuan could only laugh helplessly, knowing they were just playing around, so he didn’t explain further and let them be.
After the two groups dispersed and returned to their offices, He Xiaoyuan walked out of the break room, holding his phone to his lips, continuing to reply to Lu Ge’s previous message.
He lowered his voice, spoke quickly, concise and to the point:
“Teaching, guiding, answering questions—Lu Ge is a life mentor! Thumbs up, a million thumbs up!”
Not long after, Lu Ge’s voice message came through. He Xiaoyuan walked while holding the phone to his ear, listening and smiling.
Behind him, Ge Luming came out, head full of question marks, eyes fixed on He Xiaoyuan’s back: ???
Is she taking it too seriously, or what?
He Xiaoyuan isn’t even straight, right?
The Sui Sui Xing assessment day was scheduled for next Wednesday, including the weekend—just a few days away.
Some people had already started preparing the PPT for their reports; others were drafting documents and structuring their thoughts. He Xiaoyuan, however, was still in the research phase.
On Thursday, someone from Group Two let slip that they had found one of the original creators of Sui Sui Xing, directly consulting them for insights.
Someone in Groups One and Three’s chat exclaimed: “I’m so sour, today I’m a lemon spirit.”
On Friday, Group Three received good news: Ge Luming, single-handedly, found out which department was currently in charge of Sui Sui Xing—the CEO’s office.
Everyone: ?
How could a case like this end up in the CEO’s office? Shouldn’t it be managed by the department responsible for the social media platform that Sui Sui Xing belonged to?
CEO’s office?
Ge Luming posted in the chat: “Never mind that for now. One of you from Group One should come with me to the basement and grab someone.”
[?]
“What are you going to do?”
Ge Luming didn’t say directly. She just @-tagged He Xiaoyuan:
“@He Xiaoyuan, Handsome Guy, it’s you.”
In the basement, right in front of the executive elevator, Ge Luming and He Xiaoyuan stood together.
Here’s how it went—Ge Luming found out Sui Sui Xing was managed by the CEO’s office and somehow learned the schedule of the CEO’s office manager, Qiao Sixing. She discovered Qiao would return to the office around 3 PM, so she brought He Xiaoyuan to the basement, waiting at the executive parking spot right in front of the elevator, ready to “grab” someone, turning a bicycle into a motorcycle…
Ge Luming: Peh, not exactly. She meant: to approach CEO Qiao with a request—see if the trainees could access Sui Sui Xing’s backend data and statistics for reference.
He Xiaoyuan had met Qiao Sixing twice and found him courteous and easygoing, but this “grab” plan seemed over the top and aggressive. Would Qiao really agree?
Ge Luming peeked down the driveway: “We’ll only know if he agrees by trying.”
He Xiaoyuan: “You didn’t also find out which department manages Sui Sui Xing, did you?”
Ge Luming, still peeking, shrugged: “Pretty much.”
He Xiaoyuan: “……”
He still thought it was risky and suggested, “We should go upstairs; we could just send CEO Qiao an email.”
Ge Luming turned back: “Of course not! The assessment is next Wednesday! Too late!”
She continued: “Do you have ideas? Written notes? Or a PPT?”
He Xiaoyuan: None of the above.
Alright then.
He Xiaoyuan had never done anything like this, unsure: “Will this really work?”
Ge Luming craned her neck, peeking again, muttering: “That’s why I called you, Handsome Guy.”
?
He Xiaoyuan didn’t get it.
Ge Luming said: “I heard CEO Qiao prefers men.”
He Xiaoyuan: “…………………………”
Realizing her slip, Ge Luming quickly raised a hand to cover her mouth, looked at He Xiaoyuan, and smiled: “It’s fine, it’s not like we’re selling tickets or anything.”
She offered a reasonable explanation: “This is just PR, tackling a challenge. For PR, appearance matters—beautiful, handsome, right?”
While saying “beautiful, handsome,” she pointed at herself, then at He Xiaoyuan.
The implication: the two of them were in it together—if there were really tickets to be sold, it would be together.
He Xiaoyuan seriously doubted whether Ge Luming’s dramatic basement approach would actually convey the intention.
Ge Luming continued peeking for approaching cars while muttering theatrically:
“Oh, great Lord in the sky~ Please decide for me~ This poor woman is wronged~”
He Xiaoyuan: “……”
Soon, a black Mercedes-Benz slowly approached.
Ge Luming’s eyes lit up: “Here it comes!”