That night, He Xiaoyuan lay in bed, holding the silver leopard brooch, turning it over in his hands. Big boss… Lu Chen really is the big boss.
All those colleagues in the chat constantly calling him “big boss” in the group—he hadn’t realized a thing. Silly.
He turned over, recalling moments with Lu Chen, spotting all the subtle hints about his identity—too bad he only realized it now.
Then he thought of his mother…
He placed the brooch back in the drawer, turned off the light, and went to sleep.
The next morning, while having breakfast, he checked his phone. In the boss group chat, his colleagues were still talking about big boss this and big boss that:
- Chang Bei: “Hey, recently mentioned the domestic version of ChatGPT to big boss—didn’t get approval.”
- Xue Jinming: “Big boss doesn’t favor this case, probably.”
- Xiao Qi: “What’s wrong with this case? It’s a hot trend. Why not pursue it?”
- Yu Xun: “Who knows?”
…
Finally, He Xiaoyuan realized they were talking about Lu Chen, the real big boss, not the project team’s “big boss,” and certainly not Tang Xingzhou.
Scrolling through the chat while eating, he thought: of course they won’t do a domestic ChatGPT now—Spirys already has “Zhongshi.”
Thinking of “Zhongshi” reminded him of Fang Dinghao. He considered for a moment, then exited the group and privately messaged Fang Dinghao: “Brother Hao, fishing today?”
Fang Dinghao replied immediately: “You still have time to go fishing with me?”
He Xiaoyuan: “?”
Fang Dinghao: “Forget fishing, and don’t try to fish me either. You might as well go fish your boss.”
Fang Dinghao: “I thought it over yesterday. A little employee vs. big boss setup like yours has huge potential.”
Fang Dinghao: “Way more than any ChatGPT or Zhongshi project.”
He Xiaoyuan: “……”
He Xiaoyuan: “Bro, can you say something practical?”
Fang Dinghao: “While he still loves you and your relationship is intense, move fast. Reconcile, secure him, flash marriage, register it, and then Spirys and Zhongshi will both be yours.”
He Xiaoyuan: “…………”
Bro… maybe you should just go back to sleep and skip the morning.
What nonsense is this so early? He’s eating gossip again first thing in the morning.
He Xiaoyuan thought for a moment, half joking: “Bro, actually, my boss and I are in cahoots acting for you. We’re not really a couple.”
Fang Dinghao sent a voice message, tone completely sincere: “Does it matter? Not really. As long as he really is a boss, that’s all that counts. Little Xia, I believe in you. Even if you’re acting for me, all those hugs and kisses in broad daylight… they’re real, right?”
“Your boss definitely likes you!”
“Go for it, Xiaoyuan. Take him, and Spirys and Zhongshi will be yours!”
“If you don’t know how, I can teach you.”
He Xiaoyuan: “……?”
He looked at his phone, bewildered.
What kind of tech genius is this? This is a gossiping troublemaker in a watermelon patch.
So when He Xiaoyuan was packing the spare fishing gear and got a call from Lu Chen asking if he wanted to go fishing today, he summarized Fang Dinghao’s morning voice messages with a sigh: “Don’t come. He’s definitely going to be here for gossip.”
Lu Chen: “Let him do what he wants. I just want to accompany you.”
Hmm?
Lu Chen: “A date, boyfriend.”
He Xiaoyuan immediately grinned, stopped organizing the gear, held the phone to his ear, tapped the car with his free hand, and said with a smile: “I’m going to work, not really fishing.”
Lu Chen, in full big-boss style, said: “One word from you, and I’ll find a boat and come over immediately.”
He Xiaoyuan laughed: “What boat? Today we’re fishing in a tiny ditch. No boat can go there.”
Lu Chen didn’t insist: “Then after you finish, I’ll come find you. Dinner together, okay?”
He Xiaoyuan smiled: “Sure.”
Just before hanging up, Lu Chen said: “A kiss.”
He Xiaoyuan: “Cut it out.”
Kisses over the phone…
He muttered: “Dignified big boss.”
Lu Chen: “Big boss is taking you out for a feast tonight.”
He Xiaoyuan, smiling: “Got it.”
Finally, before ending the call, he blew a quick kiss to the phone.
He organized the fishing gear, closed the trunk, and got a message from Lu Chen: [Big Dinosaur Kisses Little Dinosaur.jpg]
He Xiaoyuan laughed and thought, too bad there’s no “Little Dinosaur kisses Big Dinosaur” sticker.
He sent back: [Heart Hands.jpg] [Salute.jpg] [Reporting to Boss, Working Well.jpg]
That day, He Xiaoyuan and Fang Dinghao didn’t catch a single fish—but they ate up a lot of gossip. The fishing rods lay on the rack as they chatted.
Fang Dinghao: “You really just found out Lu Zong is the big boss? You’re not acting for me, right?”
Fang Dinghao: “I knew it! You two were all lovey-dovey at first, then suddenly turned cold. So you were acting for me, using me as bait.”
Fang Dinghao: “How did you even meet? Are you really his subordinate?”
Fang Dinghao: “How long have you known each other? How come you never knew he’s the Spirys boss?”
Fang Dinghao: “You don’t even know his full name? It’s public online!”
Fang Dinghao: “You definitely have feelings, right? At least been together? I saw it—those kisses were real.”
Fang Dinghao: “I just can’t believe the mighty Spirys boss would fake all that for a tech guy like you every day. There must be something real.”
…
Faced with this barrage of gossip questions, He Xiaoyuan answered some, ignored some, hinted at others, left some hanging—making sure Fang Dinghao wouldn’t get the full story and had to scratch his head over it.
Yes, intentionally. He Xiaoyuan had a goal: get Fang Dinghao talking, no matter what, to secure this tech genius for Spirys.
While gossiping, He Xiaoyuan brought the conversation back on track: asked Fang Dinghao how he had been thinking overnight.
Fang Dinghao became unusually quiet: “I was supposed to think about it. I’m still thinking.”
He Xiaoyuan started baiting again: “What do you think of Zhongshi?”
Fang Dinghao: “Stop baiting me.”
He Xiaoyuan: “Then I’ll change the topic.”
Fang Dinghao leaned against the small fishing chair, one leg crossed over the other, swinging it lazily: “Fine.”
He Xiaoyuan: “With your skills, making money must be easy, right?”
Fang Dinghao swung his leg: “Not bad.”
He talked about starting programming very young—six years old—joining national competitions in elementary school, making money from it in middle school, and even having his own patents.
He Xiaoyuan envied him: “That’s great. When I was in school, I could only work part-time at cafes, bubble tea shops, or wait tables and wash dishes in restaurants.”
Fang Dinghao paused, puzzled: “You worked part-time in college… why wait tables?”
The implication was clear: as a college student, he could have found other work to earn living expenses.
He Xiaoyuan looked at the water beyond the fishing rod, his expression calm: “It’s not that. I don’t have a father, my mom passed away early, I lived with relatives. We didn’t have much money, and there were debts. Back in middle school, I had to work for a little income.”
He continued, “At that time, I hadn’t even finished high school, and my studies were already an issue. I couldn’t do things like university students giving tutoring to earn money.”
Fang Dinghao immediately fell silent.
His own family was affluent, born into privilege, never lacking money. Even his friends and classmates mostly came from at least middle-class families.
Living over thirty years like that, he knew many people in the world lacked money, but it was the first time he’d heard someone so close describe a life of poverty and no support.
Fang Dinghao felt like he had stumbled into someone else’s pain while gossiping, an uncomfortable, shamed feeling rising inside him.
He fell silent for a moment: “I… I’m sorry.”
He Xiaoyuan shrugged: “It’s okay. It’s not something we can’t talk about.”
Fang Dinghao felt guilty.
He Xiaoyuan, in a casual tone, continued slowly: “Do you know what’s hardest for a poor person?”
Fang Dinghao: I deserve this.
“Taking… the wrong path too often.” He paused, switching topic slightly.
“I finished the college entrance exam, had to choose schools and majors, but I didn’t know what to pick. My relatives were ordinary people—they didn’t know either. I had to search online myself.”
“I was probably influenced by TV shows and people around me. I thought studying finance would give me a future, but I didn’t even really know what finance was. I just vaguely wanted to pick finance.”
“Then the schools I applied for had finance programs with too high score requirements. I fell back to my second choice, business administration.”
“Before entering, I thought as long as I did well, I could switch to finance later. But I found out it was impossible to transfer from business administration to finance.”
“Finally, I got into Spirys. On my first day of rotation training, I didn’t even know what RPG or SLG games were.”
“Everyone else was listening to supervisors explain games. I secretly searched RPG and SLG on my phone.”
“My first assignment? I literally didn’t know anything.”
Fang Dinghao: I deserve this.
He Xiaoyuan continued, looking at him: “Honestly, I really envy you.”
“You can skip work and fish every day, your skills are top-notch, and so many people are eager to recruit you. You can be confident in your talent.”
“I can’t. Even if I don’t find someone like you, I wouldn’t lose my job—but every task I handle, I have to do seriously.”
“I don’t have the luxury of taking a day off from work just because I feel like it.”
Fang Dinghao: I deserve this.
He Xiaoyuan: “But you know what I envy most about you?”
“I envy that you have skills, and the output of your skills can, in the future, influence or even change the world.”
“Whenever you want. As long as you’re willing.”