It was still the same conference room.

Xu Moran and Zhao Chun were both there, still with a pot of hot tea, and the three of them sat opposite each other.

Zhao Chun glanced at Xu Moran and opened his mouth first, “Xiao Shen, are you getting used to your time in Moxi?”

Shen Yun smiled and nodded, “It’s fine, everyone takes good care of me.”

Xu Moran glanced at him.

Shen Yun had a lot of things in him that were hard to explain, very similar to Gao Xi.

Although they were two completely different people, and Shen Yun’s personality, temperament, looks, everything was different from Gao Xi, but that feeling couldn’t be wrong.

Just as Xu Moran was attracted to Gao Xi at the beginning, he couldn’t help but pay attention to Shen Yun silently.

Shen Yun’s life wasn’t easy, he knew.

But the young man smiled like a clear breeze, “It’s fine, everyone takes good care of me.”

“So it’s like that,” Zhao Chun said, “I’ve discussed it with Teacher Xu. Although you were recommended from President Zhou’s side, your experience and your qualifications are indeed not enough to work on a project like Lanqiao.”

Zhao Chun paused, observing Shen Yun’s expression.

But Shen Yun was unperturbed and only smiled at him, “So?”

“So, what we mean is that you can participate in Lanqiao as a senior assistant. On the one hand, you can enrich your resume, on the other hand, you can accumulate some experience, so that it will be good for your future. Only by laying a solid foundation can young people walk the road steadily in the future.”

Undeniably, Zhao Chun’s words were very tempting. If Shen Yun was really a young man in his early twenties, perhaps he would be very grateful to the other side for these words.

However, Shen Yun just lowered his head and remained silent for a while before chuckling softly, “Thank you, Teacher Zhao, for thinking of me so much. It’s just that, is there any place where I can’t be an assistant? Why would I need to come to Moxi?”

Zhao Chun frowned, instinctively wanting to say that Moxi was certainly different.

Meanwhile, Shen Yun continued, “Moxi’s fame was made by Gao Xi, right?”

He looked meaningfully at Zhao Chun, “Now that Teacher Gao is gone, Moxi may not be the same Moxi.”

Xu Moran and Zhao Chun were both silent.

Xu Moran was silent because Shen Yun’s words had poked his wounds.

Zhao Chun was silent because he was angry in his heart. Moxi today, was it Gao Xi’s credit alone?

Didn’t he and Xu Moran pay with blood, sweat and tears?

Why was everyone “Gao Xi, Gao Xi”?

It was like that when Gao Xi was alive, and he was still haunting them like a ghost even after he died.

But people are the most hypocritical creatures. No matter how unconvinced they are, the dead are the greatest (you can’t compete with the dead).

Zhao Chun calmed his emotions and said with deliberation, ”Teacher Gao was naturally good, but Moxi wasn’t created by Teacher Gao alone. Behind Teacher Gao’s success, there was also the blood and sweat of many others.” He was indeed not wrong. ”In addition to Teacher Gao, there’s also Teacher Xu, and even other experienced designers, each with their own style. As long as you follow carefully, every newcomer will benefit greatly.”

Shen Yun smiled, “Teacher Zhao is right. Unfortunately, I came to Moxi just for Lanqiao. Without Lanqiao, I would not have come to Moxi. As for the other designers, in the eyes of Teacher Zhao naturally they are all excellent, but…” He smiled a little, shrugged and didn’t continue.

Shen Yun’s voice was very nice, gentle, warm, and a little sweet in its softness. He sounded like a very good boy.

But his tone was strong, affirmative, and unquestionable.

Zhao Chun sneered and scolded Shen Yun in his heart for not knowing the immensity of heaven and earth.

No one spoke for a while, and the atmosphere turned awkward.

Shen Yun lowered his head and concentrated on knocking out a cigarette, and had just taken it into his mouth when the phone rang.

He held the phone with one hand and held the lighter in the other hand to light the cigarette.

The crisp click of the lighter came, and this was the first sound that came from Shen Yun’s side before he inhaled softly.

Zhou Lan frowned, “Just how many cigarettes do you smoke a day?”

“Oh, President Zhou, it’s you?” Shen Yun paused for a moment. “Is there something wrong?”

Zhou Lan asked, “Where are you?”

“I’m at work,” Shen Yun smiled, “President Zhou, please don’t call me during working hours, can you?”

Zhou Lan hooked the corner of his lips, “Little brat, are your wings hard?”

Shen Yun was silent for a moment. Zhou Lan was calling at this time, it was really better not to waste such an opportunity.

So he smiled and said lightly: “No, President Zhou.”

He deliberated, the gentle sound of his breathing transmitting over, “Can President Zhou stop playing tricks on me in the future? I can also get tired.”

The deep fatigue in his tone surged out like a tidal wave, spreading through the telephone receiver.

It gave Zhou Lan a strange illusion.

It was as if this was the real Shen Yun, stripping off his mask of softness, smiling and obedience, and standing naked in front of him.

Letting him see the thousands of miles of ice fields and barren decadence in his heart under the spring breeze on the surface.

That feeling was fleeting, but Zhou Lan was quite startled. He tapped the desktop lightly with his fingers: “I’m playing tricks on you?”

“Aren’t you?” Shen Yun laughed softly. “I’m participating in Lanqiao as a designer, not anything else, aren’t I?”

As soon as Zhou Lan heard this, he knew what had happened.

He did intend to teach Shen Yun a little lesson, but he didn’t intend to let Moxi bury him like this.

But what was Shen Yun doing, using him to send punitive forces? Did he really treat him as a dish?

Zhou Lan frowned and was silent for a moment, but Shen Yun seemed not to feel his displeasure: “I’m busy, hanging up.”

“Wait,” Zhou Lan ordered. “Come over tonight!”

“Sorry, I’m busy.” Shen Yun let out a light laugh and hung up the phone.

Shen Yun kept his head down while talking on the phone, and Xu Moran and Zhao Chun couldn’t even catch his eyes to give him a wink.

When he raised his head at this moment, he saw that a thin layer of cold sweat had covered the foreheads of the two people across from him.

Zhao Chun saw him hang up the phone and dared to speak out, “Xiao Shen, you’ve accused President Zhou wrongly. We’re just considering it from your perspective and making some suggestions. If you don’t agree, naturally no one can force you.”

Shen Yun blinked, puzzled, “I’m sorry, was I the one who misunderstood Teacher Zhao?”

“It’s fine to misunderstand me, but don’t misunderstand President Zhou.”

Zhao Chun really was afraid of offending Zhou Lan, “Apologise to President Zhou later, okay? If you offend President Zhou, your future path will not be easy.”

Zhao Chun’s words were spoken in a serious manner.

“Thank you, Teacher Zhao.” Shen Yun curved up the corners of his lips, “Then can I take a look at Lanqiao’s information now?”

“It’s at Wang Kai’s place, just go to him and get whatever you want.”

After this conversation, Zhao Chun felt tired and waved him out.

Shen Yun smiled faintly, and with the kind of joy and ease of a young man who had achieved his heart’s desire, he thanked him once more and left.

Xu Moran didn’t say a word the entire time, and only after Shen Yun exited did he smile and shake his head.

***

That night, Zhou Lan waited for a long time, and by twelve o’clock, Shen Yun still hadn’t come.

Zhou Lan took the phone to dial Shen Yun’s number, looked at it for a while, and then put it down again.

This was the first time Shen Yun had refused Zhou Lan.

Shen Yun was always very obedient and did whatever he was told to do.

Zhou Lan sometimes even wondered if Shen Yun didn’t know how to refuse.

It seemed that he didn’t pay much attention to what was done to him, as if his soul had gone out and there was only the body left for others to fiddle with.

He always smiled slightly, as if he could never do anything against your wish; but inside were hidden hard muscles and bones that would inadvertently hurt someone who tried to squeeze him.

Such a hard-boned person, just like this, without saying a word, let Zhou Lan knead him flat and rub him round, and toss him hard several times for the Lanqiao project.

It was inevitable for him to lose his temper when he encountered Moxi’s excessive ostracism.

Zhou Lan lay down on the bed; in fact, he was not particularly “hungry”.

But thinking about Shen Yun, for some reason his body felt hot again.

He got out of bed and took a shower to calm down the inexplicable emotions in his heart.

His eyes gleamed in the dark with interest. Even if the opponent was a wolf cub, he could be tamed. Shen Yun was still too young.

He probably hadn’t yet figured out who the dominant player in the game was.

Shen Yun, however, was not unaware of who the dominant player in the game was, he just wanted to find out where Zhou Lan’s bottom line was.

Even if he provoked Zhou Lan, it didn’t matter.

Either it would make him tired, and then he would end this deformed relationship early, which was what Shen Yun wanted.

Or it would annoy him, and he would torment him. Then let it be.

Even a bowl of bitter medicine was better than a bowl of boiled water. At least there was still taste, at least it could still make him feel that he was alive.

Feeling bitter, feeling sad, feeling pain, feeling despair, he also wanted it.

***

Shen Yun threw himself into his work with all his heart.

Under normal circumstances, unless there were too many room configurations, designers would choose some room configurations that they were good at handling and distribute them reasonably.

In other cases the main designer would basically make a plan for each room configuration type, and then filter out the most suitable ones and give them to Party A.

But Zhou Lan had once said that he would only adopt at most three of Shen Yun’s plans, so Shen Yun planned to make only three drafts.

He was certain that all three would be adopted.

He had already got the drawings from Wang Kai, but didn’t have the measurement record sheets and some other data.

Wang Kai was following Zhao Chun on Meng’s project and was too busy to transfer the data to him, so Shen Yun had to wait.

The gazes of his colleagues in the company had changed again, not as blunt and piercing as before, but more obscure and difficult to understand.

There were still people who threw their work at Shen Yun, and when Shen Yun had time, he did it silently, but when he didn’t have time, he just refused.

No matter what he did, he wouldn’t be popular here anyway.

It was another morning, and it was Thursday in a blink of an eye, and there was no data, and the week was about to pass again.

Shen Yun was sitting in the lounge, on a chair by the window, holding a cup of coffee in one hand and flipping through a magazine on his lap with the other.

The early morning sunlight poured in and shone on his body, making him drowsy.

The chair was angled towards the door, and from the left side, only a silhouette could be seen.

When Xu Moran came in, he saw the drowsy Shen Yun. He stopped suddenly at the door, unable to move anymore.

Countless times, countless times, Gao Xi would turn his chair to this angle.

While drinking coffee, he would look at “Interior Design” on his lap.

Gao Xi once said with a smile that this was his exclusive angle, because he liked the sunlight coming from this angle the most.

As if he was afraid of startling the other party, Xu Moran lightened his footsteps and approached slowly and carefully.

The other party really had a copy of “Interior Design” on his lap.

Xu Moran stood behind the back of the chair, looking at the top of the dark head that was leaning slightly sideways in the chair, and tears welled up in his eyes.

Xiao Xi, he murmured.

Was it Gao Xi? It was Gao Xi, right? It was his Xiao Xi who returned? It was his Xiao Xi who couldn’t bear to abandon him?

Xu Moran trembled and stretched out his hand.

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