After a few moments, He Xiaoyuan tilted his head back and sighed softly.
Lu Chen looked down at the young man resting against his arm and sensed something was on his mind. He asked gently, “What’s wrong?”
He Xiaoyuan turned his head and met Lu Chen’s gaze, pausing before saying slowly: “The project teams… are so intense.”
Lu Chen immediately knew he was talking about Qin Chengfei.
If it were Changbei, Xue Jinming, or other senior colleagues, He Xiaoyuan would never have said that.
Lu Chen then asked about Qin Chengfei.
He Xiaoyuan had initially wanted to say more. As the top boss of the project team, there was nothing Lu Chen couldn’t know about a project.
But considering that Qin Chengfei might still be preparing the project and hadn’t reported it officially yet, He Xiaoyuan thought it better not to speak too freely. He only mentioned briefly that Qin Chengfei was planning to start his own project.
Lu Chen cut straight to the point: “Jealous?”
He Xiaoyuan thought for a moment and nodded: “A little.”
A little… a tiny little.
Well, actually, not so tiny. Not just a little.
“Pretty jealous,” he admitted.
Lu Chen reassured him: “He tried starting businesses a few times in college, sold patents, and smoothly built his own network and sources in his field.”
Network.
Information channels.
He Xiaoyuan looked at Lu Chen: “Having those, you can just get a project?”
Lu Chen: “Not necessarily. Projects are ‘dug out,’ not ‘heard about.’ But having networks and info channels definitely gets you closer to a project.”
‘Dug out?’
He Xiaoyuan absorbed Lu Chen’s words.
Lu Chen, seeing that He Xiaoyuan’s mind was still at work even after hours, smiled: “You don’t have to work so hard.”
He lifted his arm, gently running a hand through the young man’s soft hair, a look of care in his eyes.
He Xiaoyuan leaned back against him, letting him touch, obedient and relaxed.
Lu Chen’s mind flickered, and unexpectedly, he spoke in a gentle tone: “Want to run your own project? I’ll give you one.”
He Xiaoyuan looked up at him.
Lu Chen realized he’d been carried away by his own impulse, but he didn’t take back his words. He continued, “Hmm? Do you want it?”
He Xiaoyuan’s expression stayed calm as he looked back, his voice low: “Why don’t you just promote me to department vice president while you’re at it?”
The comment made both of them laugh.
Lu Chen smiled, half in jest, half serious: “That’s not impossible either.”
He Xiaoyuan smiled sincerely: “Thank you, Lu, but I’d rather just start humbly, diligently following along on projects.”
Lu Chen didn’t move his arm but leaned in closer, showing a subtle, familiar intimacy: “You said you were jealous, didn’t you?”
He Xiaoyuan countered: “Jealousy is just jealousy. Do you give me everything I want?”
Lu Chen’s tone turned serious: “What do you want?”
He Xiaoyuan smiled mischievously.
“What?”
He jokingly said: “I want the stars and the moon.”
Lu Chen remained serious: “Be practical.”
Without thinking, He Xiaoyuan replied casually: “The Sipu Towers?”
Lu Chen’s reply was calm: “Not impossible either.”
He Xiaoyuan had no idea that both towers actually belonged to Lu Chen; he thought Lu Chen was just teasing him.
He Xiaoyuan reached out, mimicking Lu Chen, gently pinching his chin while playfully scolding: “Be practical too.”
The physical closeness between them was increasingly natural, gradually turning intimate.
That day, He Xiaoyuan went up to the 11th floor to unwind. As he entered, he noticed a familiar-looking model building by the fish tank.
He Xiaoyuan walked over, picked it up, and laughed—this was the Sipu Tower.
Had Lu Chen really given it to him? A whole building?
He Xiaoyuan examined the model, his eyes narrowing in a delighted smile.
Meanwhile, in the CEO office early one morning, a female colleague in a business skirt hurried out of the open CEO office, eyes wide, and rushed to Qiao Sixing’s desk. “Mr. Qiao, did someone break into our office?!”
Qiao Sixing was calmly typing at his computer. He raised his eyes and asked evenly: “What happened?”
“The super expensive custom building model in the big boss’s cabinet—it’s gone!”
November came with rapidly changing weather—some days sunny and pleasant at ten-plus degrees, others suddenly cold and rainy.
He Xiaoyuan switched to his winter wardrobe. The plane trees lining Sipu Tower’s street had turned red overnight, leaves drifting to the ground.
That day, He Xiaoyuan was out with Xiao Qiyi.
After finishing a meeting with a partner, Xiao Qiyi invited He Xiaoyuan for coffee.
They stepped out of the café and didn’t rush to the car, instead lingering by the entrance, basking in the sun and chatting.
As they talked, He Xiaoyuan’s phone vibrated in his pocket.
He assumed it was a message, pulled it out, and glanced at the screen. The notification read: “Someone sent you a star.”
What?
He Xiaoyuan froze for a moment.
When he unlocked the phone and saw the full message, he laughed.
Xiao Qiyi noticed him smiling at the screen and sipped her coffee, curious: “What’s so funny?”
He Xiaoyuan turned the screen toward her and showed it openly: “It’s a message I wrote to myself a while back.”
On the screen was a twinkling star, followed by a line of text:
“He Xiaoyuan, today marks your 180th day at Sipu. How’s it going—did you get into the department you wanted? Have you met new people? Is work and life going smoothly? Keep it up!”
Xiao Qiyi, without reading the full text, saw the star and smiled: “Ah, the Yaoyao Star.”
He Xiaoyuan put away his phone: “During a rotation assessment, I once set up the Yaoyao Star for myself with a timed message. I almost forgot about it.”
Xiao Qiyi held her coffee to her lips, reminiscing: “The Yaoyao Star… an old internet product. It was quite popular back then.”
He Xiaoyuan nodded: “The product concept was still pretty solid.”
Xiao Qiyi agreed: “The social core was trendy at the time. Honestly, even now, it hasn’t really aged.”
Back at the office, He Xiaoyuan pulled out the Yaoyao Star message again. Looking at it, he felt a quiet sense of reflection: half a year had already passed. Time flew.
He remembered his first subway ride to Sipu Tower like it was yesterday.
In the blink of an eye, he had not only been confirmed as a full employee but was already working on his second project.
That evening, back at his apartment, He Xiaoyuan sat on the sofa and replied to the message:
“I’m doing really well now. Confirmed as full-time, in the project team. First project went smoothly, now on the second. Moved into a new apartment—good environment, close to work, rent’s affordable. Earning money, repaid debts, received high bonuses, even have savings. Met many new people, learned a lot, making progress at work. Recently started playing basketball too.”
He paused, thought for a moment, and continued:
“Also, Lu Ge—I’m very familiar with him now. He’s an extremely good friend. I treasure our friendship. I also like him very much.”