You actually like her, don’t you? (1)

It was two o’clock in the afternoon.

Although the sun was shining brightly, the temperature was a few degrees lower than the previous day.

The biting cold wind forced pedestrians to huddle, walking with their heads down, trudging with heavy steps, braving the wind.

Yue Qianling seemed to be the only person with a light and brisk pace. She carried a small bag containing her digital tablet, a water bottle, and some office supplies. She stood in front of the HC Interactive Entertainment building, looking up at the office building with a facial expression that seemed to say, “I’m back, folks!”

Since it wasn’t office hours, the elevator was empty.

Yue Qianling stood in front of the mirror, carefully tidying her hair, making sure her appearance was impeccable. Only then did she step out of the elevator.

Most of the employees in the Mobile Game Division had already heard about yesterday’s incident, so when they saw Yue Qianling returning, they were neither surprised nor indifferent. However, they couldn’t help but cast a few more glances at her.

In this company, secrets didn’t stay hidden for long, especially when it came to bizarre and amusing gossip like this. By the time Yue Qianling had taken the subway, this gossip had already spread through various WeChat groups in the company.

Someone must have saved a screenshot of the message that the team leader had posted in the group chat and circulated it. Now, almost everyone in the company knew about it. According to the gossip, Yue Qianling had regretted her decision to leave and wanted to come back to work, but the boss had made a firm statement to the HR personnel, almost treating her as worthless.

However, this morning, when the big spenders in the game collectively threatened to stop spending, the boss immediately seemed to forget the words she had said previously and urgently ordered HR to ask them to contact Yue Qianling.

After looking at the personnel matters for half a day and not being able to explain the situation clearly, the boss grabbed the phone and talked on and on.

The boss couldn’t even wait until the next day, and called her back right away.

At this moment, when the members of the project team saw Yue Qianling coming back, they all breathed a sigh of relief.

There were less than three days until Christmas. If the issue with the event card art was not resolved, they might lose their bonuses at best, and at worst, the game would be in trouble, and they might lose their jobs.

So now, as soon as Yue Qianling arrived, they immediately asked her to start redesigning the card art.

Yes, the boss said to redo it directly this time.

But Yue Qianling had a plan in mind. She didn’t rush about her work on the character design right away. First, she needed to complete the onboarding procedures.

“Team Leader.” Yue Qianling held a procedure form and walked over to her desk. “I’ll go through my onboarding formalities right away. Please send me the requirements document first.”

A few others in the team glanced over, exchanged knowing looks, and then sat back down without saying anything.

Speaking of this incident, the one who actually got into trouble was the team leader.

When Yue Qianling left, the team leader took over the male lead tasks directly, and even pretended, saying, “Ah, she left just like that, and now all these tasks have fallen on me. It’s really giving me a headache.”

Then, she turned around and handed over the task of drawing the conceptual scene illustration she was originally responsible for to someone else.

In fact, everyone understood that being in charge of such a popular main character, while it might not come with a raise, still carried a certain level of prestige.

After all, every time they had a meeting to review the popularity of characters and the flow of fans, the artists responsible for high-popularity characters were always in the spotlight.

So, when Yue Qianling resigned, she had never mentioned it to anyone, fearing that someone would eagerly take over this highly sought-after opportunity.

But who could have predicted that situation would turn into such a big mess.

Having subpar artistic skills wasn’t the real issue.

What was terrifying was when there was a comparison, especially when the comparison involved an intern performing significantly better.

Now, those who were once envious of the team leader for taking over a high-popularity character were starting to feel relieved that they hadn’t tried to snatch this task for themselves. Some even took pleasure in the misfortune.

Nevertheless, the team leader, with several years of experience under her belt, had some coping skills when faced with this kind of awkward situation.

Finally, the team leader, who had been burying her head in front of her computer, looked up and smiled awkwardly before nodding.

“Oh, alright. I’ll send it to you right away.”

Then, she fiddled with the mouse while speaking in a complaining tone, “Players these days are really hard to please. Just a slight change in style, and they all react like this. Well, players are like gods, right? So, I have to trouble you to come back.”

“No trouble at all, I’m getting a raise,” Yue Qianling replied with a smile. “But this time, it’s not just a matter of style. The card art is really ugly. By the way, who drew it? Could it be some random freelancer?”

The team leader’s typing fingers froze, and she glanced away sheepishly, taking a while to finally utter a sentence.

“I… I drew it. Oh, I’ve been really busy lately, and when you left, I had to clean up the mess. I didn’t have the energy to put much effort into it, so I just drew something quickly. I never thought the players would only recognize your art style.”

“Ah, so you’re the one who drew it!”

Yue Qianling leaned on the desk, covering half of her face with a paper, and said, “I didn’t mean it that way earlier. Please don’t take it the wrong way.”

With that, she turned and walked away.

In the crowded office area, an awkward silence hung in the air.

Not a word was spoken, but the team leader felt like she could hear everyone’s laughter in her mind, and her face gradually turned red.

Suddenly, she slammed the table and said, “Hurry up and submit the weekly report!”

***

On the other side…

Yue Qianling smoothly completed her onboarding process and was on her way to the finance department.

She had been feeling down for several days, thinking that she would never have a chance to return.

But overnight, things took an unexpected turn, and she had the opportunity to vent her frustration in front of the team leader.

If the situation allowed, she might even have done a little victory dance right there.

While handling her salary card, the people in the finance department noticed her cheerful mood. One of them remarked, “You seem to be in a good mood, huh?”

“Of course,” Yue Qianling replied with a twinkle in her eye. “I get to see all you beautiful ladies again. How could I not be happy?”

The finance department staff were amused and giggled, and their attitudes were several times friendlier than usual.

After receiving all the necessary cards, Yue Qianling was about to leave when she overheard a girl nearby complaining, “The people from the Ninth Business Division posted the wrong invoices again!”

Yue Qianling’s ears perked up, catching the keyword “Ninth Business Division,” and she paused in her tracks.

The girl, holding a stack of documents, reluctantly walked out, muttering to herself, “They have such bad tempers. They’re going to give me a hard time again in a while.”

Yue Qianling glanced at the girl, her mind racing with a plan. She approached her and said, “Sister, are you going to deliver these papers to the Ninth Business Division?”

The girl nodded and asked, “Yes, why do you ask?”

“Well, I just happened to be going there too,” Yue Qianling extended her hand towards the girl, “How about I help you? It will save you another trip.”

The girl looked at Yue Qianling with a hint of suspicion, thinking it was convenient for someone else to handle this legwork. She didn’t bother to wonder why Yue Qianling “just happened to be going”.

“Then I’ll trouble you. Just hand these over to the head planner and tell them these invoices were posted incorrectly and need to be redone,” she immediately handed a pile of invoices to Yue Qianling, and did not forget to offer words of praise, “You’re so beautiful. They’ll definitely speak to you kindly.”

When Yue Qianling heard this, she instantly became more confident.

“Alright, I’ll go then!”

This was Yue Qianling’s first visit to the Ninth Business Division, and for some reason, she felt a bit nervous and curious.

As soon as she entered, she discreetly surveyed the area, making sure no one was watching. Once she confirmed that, she relaxed her steps.

Perhaps because it was located on the top floor, she felt that the lighting here was better compared to other floors.

Every person’s desk was filled with various intricate models, and a wall projected a detailed three-view illustration of a sniper rifle.

Employees were sitting, standing and running around, and even gathering in small groups—there was absolutely no semblance of order. Some were even huddled together playing games.

Clearly, compared to their mobile gaming department, the ninth division was noisier and more flat-structured, but full of lively commotion.

The atmosphere was filled with a sense of nostalgia, making it hard to believe that they were part of the same company that often made life-or-death decisions for their projects.

Stepping into this department felt like entering a utopia.

After observing for a while, she finally remembered her task. She casually approached someone and asked, “Excuse me, do you know where the head planner is?”

The person didn’t even turn to look at her and simply pointed in a direction, saying, “That big guy over there.”

Yue Qianling followed the direction indicated by the person and indeed saw someone slightly overweight standing over there, engaged in a fervent phone conversation.

She stood behind him and waited until he finished the call before she began, “Hello—”

However, before she could continue, the man impatiently waved his hand, his brow furrowing, “I’m not okay! I’m busy here, go away.”

Yue Qianling: “…”

She could now understand why the people from the finance department were so reluctant to come here.

Seeing the man about to walk away, Yue Qianling quickly grabbed his arm and said, “Hello, these are the invoices returned from the finance department. They are incorrect and need to be reissued.”

The man didn’t even glance at the invoices, roughly shaking off Yue Qianling’s hand and half-shouting, “What’s with all this trouble? If there’s an issue, they should just reissue it themselves, right? Getting paid without working, huh? Get out of the way! Don’t bother me!”

Where did this unreasonable person come from?! Did he really think he was above everyone else?!

Yue Qianling felt a surge of anger rising, her eyes narrowing as she was about to unleash a torrent of curses—

But out of the corner of her eye, she caught sight of a familiar figure approaching.

Her heart rate suddenly increased, and the words that were about to spill out of her mouth transformed into something else: “Don’t be so fierce~”

“…”