Chapter 10.1 end

In the winter of 2015, a well-known domestic game company joined forces with a game studio in Pingcheng to jointly launch a MOBA-style domestic mobile game called “Glory”.

As soon as the game was launched, it became an instant hit across the entire network, with the number of registered users exceeding 10 million within a week and the daily active users reaching as high as one million.

During that time, topics related to “Glory” frequently topped the hot search list. The interns in Tang Yi’s office discussed this game during their free time, and Jiang Qiaosheng’s name was often mentioned as well.

The popularity of the game brought huge profits, and the Beijing headquarters scheduled a celebration banquet on Christmas Day.

Jiang Qiaosheng went to Beijing two days in advance, while Tang Yi went directly from the city she was on a business trip to by high-speed rail. Over the past half year, the two of them had been living a life of intermittent contact, lukewarm and calm, like a tranquil lake without any ripples.

The conversation that night was like a sealed secret, and no one had ever brought it up.

When Jiang Qiaosheng asked Tang Yi if she wanted to attend the celebration banquet, she even zoned out for a few seconds, her gaze falling on his face, unable to fathom what he was thinking.

In the end, Tang Yi agreed to attend.

The celebration banquet was held at the hotel where Jiang Qiaosheng had stayed before. He was one of the main guests tonight, being the center of attention, with Wen Jing closely following behind him.

The two of them were a handsome man and a beautiful woman, like tightly embraced twin stars.

Tang Yi suddenly regretted agreeing to come here. She had just come from Hebei, dirty and disheveled, completely out of place with everything here.

She turned and entered a nearby emergency exit. When she reached the seventeenth floor, she received a call from Jiang Qiaosheng.

“Have you arrived?”

“Jiang Qiaosheng.” Tang Yi sat down on the stairs: “I’m a bit tired, I want to go back first.”

Jiang Qiaosheng seemed to be walking, the background noise fluctuating: “Where are you now?”

Tang Yi buried her head between her legs, silent for a moment before saying, “Seventeenth floor, emergency exit.”

“Wait for me there.”

Jiang Qiaosheng arrived quickly, pushing open the door to the emergency exit. The light from the corridor spilled in, and the motion sensor lights in the hallway lit up as well.

He walked up to Tang Yi, and after a few seconds, the motion sensor lights dimmed again.

Jiang Qiaosheng squatted down, looked up at her: “What’s wrong?”

Tang Yi said in a low voice: “Nothing, I’m just a little tired.”

Jiang Qiaosheng looked at her for a while in the light and shadow of the window, and suddenly stood up and hugged her: “I’ll take you back to your room to rest.”

Tang Yi didn’t struggle, this was the most intimate contact they had had in the past few months.

Jiang Qiaosheng’s room was on the twenty-seventh floor.

It was a suite with a full-length window. Standing by the window, one could see the night view of Chang’an Street.

Jiang Qiaosheng’s phone was ringing constantly, probably urging him to return to the banquet hall. Tang Yi took the hot water he handed her, took a sip and said, “You go up, I’ll wait for you here.”

He was a bit worried, “I’ll ask Xiao Ye to come down and keep you company.”

“No need, she’s having a good time. Asking her to come down would spoil her fun.” Tang Yi smiled, “I’m really fine, just a little sleepy.”

As they spoke, the phone rang again, and Jiang Qiaosheng answered, “I’ll be there soon.” After that, he looked at Tang Yi, “I’ll have someone bring you food later, eat before you sleep.”

“Okay.”

Tang Yi sat at the sofa watching him walk out, and there was a fleeting discomfort in her heart, so she called out to him again: “Jiang Qiaosheng.”

“Hmm?” He turned back to look at her.

It seemed like she didn’t know what to say after calling him back, so she reminded him, “Drink less alcohol.”

Jiang Qiaosheng smiled lightly, “I got it.”

The suite soon became quiet.

Tang Yi curled up in the corner of the sofa, her tense head gradually relaxing, and drowsiness swept over her.

She had a dream.

It was very short, and when she woke up, she only remembered the last fragment, which was when she was standing in the banquet hall, she didn’t choose to leave, but walked straight up to Jiang Qiaosheng.

His expression was surprised and panicked.

When she woke up, she could still hear his voice saying “Tang Yi, let me explain” ringing in her ears.

Tang Yi found it amusing.

Has she already imagined Jiang Qiaosheng to be this kind of person in her subconscious?

But isn’t he?

Maybe.

Tang Yi picked up her phone and saw a message from Jiang Qiaosheng. She had slept too deeply and forgotten that someone was coming to deliver food, so the staff couldn’t enter and had to take the food back.

Jiang Qiaosheng asked her to call him back when she woke up.

Tang Yi called back, but no one answered. Feeling stifled in the room, she got up, washed her face, took her room key, and went downstairs.

The winter night in Beijing was particularly cold.

Tang Yi saw the hot searches on her phone while checking out at the convenience store.

#Jiang Qiaosheng’s Work#

#Glory#

#Glory Jiang Qiaosheng#

She clicked on the first one.

The first Weibo post was a thread reposted by a game blogger from a game forum three minutes ago. The post was written by someone named A claiming to be a good friend of Jiang Qiaosheng and Wen Jing, detailing their love-hate relationship.

They fell in love in their senior year of high school.

They broke up in the second semester of their sophomore year.

In the first semester of their junior year, Wen Jing went to Tsinghua University as an exchange student, while Jiang Qiaosheng was preparing to set up his own studio for her. He was fortunate to be selected to join but was later eliminated due to insufficient skills.

In the second semester of their junior year, the studio was established, Wen Jing finished her exchange and returned to Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Jiang Qiaosheng tried to win her back, but Wen Jing had already planned to go abroad, and the two completely ended their relationship.

It was unexpected that many years after graduating, these two individuals who had started their own families would collaborate together.

The post detailed their journey from falling in love to parting in great detail, emphasizing their collaboration and stirring up discussions about emotional principles.

Some were speculating whether their past love would reignite.

There are people who are feeling sorry for Jiang Qiaosheng and Wen Jing’s respective lovers.

Most people are just criticizing the two without moral bottom line, causing the online viewership of “Glory” that day to drop significantly.

As soon as Tong Yi finished reading the post, Jiang Qiaosheng’s call came through.

There was a moment of silence on the line, and Jiang Qiaosheng asked, “Where are you?”

Tang Yi walked out of the convenience store, exhaling a large puff of white air: “At the hotel downstairs.”

“I’ll come to you.”

Tang Yi was unusually calm: “Okay.”

When Jiang Qiaosheng arrived, she had already finished two cans of beer. He wasn’t wearing a jacket, just a shirt, and there was damp sweat on his forehead.

He slowly stopped in front of her.

Tang Yi stood up, threw the cans into the trash can, and said while patting her hands: “Walk with me for a while.”

The two of them kept walking along the street, and when they reached an intersection, Tang Yi suddenly stopped: “It was like this that night too.”

“What?”

“You and Wen Jing.” Tang Yi smiled, “Do you remember, on the day of your farewell dinner, there was also a junction in Pingcheng. You carried Wen Jing and walked through there, waiting for the red light at the intersection.”

Jiang Qiaosheng’s head felt like it had been struck by something, a painful breathlessness engulfed his heart, “Tang Yi…”

She knew everything.

She had known everything all along.

When did she know, and how much did she know.

Jiang Qiaosheng couldn’t say it, he gritted his teeth and tried to find his voice: “Wen Jing and I ended things a long time ago.”

“The content of the post was half true and half false. Wen Jing and I had once agreed to go to Tsinghua as exchange students and study abroad together, but in my sophomore year, my father passed away due to illness, which shattered all my plans. Wen Jing and I were both strong-willed, and she couldn’t possibly accompany me back to Pingcheng, and I couldn’t possibly accompany her to a faraway place while taking care of my mother. The studio was not established for her. When I decided to return to Pingcheng, I already had this idea.”

“After we parted ways, I did have a period where I couldn’t forget her. After all, that was a relationship I had invested my heart in. To this day, I still can’t deny the feelings I had for her back then, but Tang Yi, people grow up. The infatuation from teenage years has long ended.”

“Collaborating with her was unexpected. Xin Xun was the dream of Qin Chuan, Zhou Yang, and me back in college. We knew each other since high school and had promised to go to Xin Xun together. But for me, they were willing to start from a small studio with me. Xin Xun offered us an opportunity, and we couldn’t let it go, and I didn’t expect Wen Jing to be the planner at Xin Xun.”

“I didn’t tell you because I thought it was all in the past, and I didn’t want you to dwell on it.”

This was probably the most Jiang Qiaosheng had spoken to Tang Yi since they got married. He said whatever came to his mind, and his eyes became red.

Tang Yi couldn’t bear to look at him, she lowered her head and looked at their intertwined shadows, and tears fell.

She remained silent, as Jiang Qiaosheng’s explanation gradually stopped.

Tang Yi took a deep breath, raised her hand to wipe the corner of her eye, and suddenly said, “I’m a little thirsty, Jiang Qiaosheng, could you go buy me something to drink?”

He agreed but seemed reluctant to move, as if afraid she might leave.

She suddenly smiled, “I won’t leave.”

“Then wait for me.” On the way here, there was a convenience store, Jiang Qiaosheng ran over, bought two bottles of water, and when he was checking out, he thought she had just drank alcohol on an empty stomach, so he exchanged the mineral water for milk.

He did not dare to delay, so he ran back as soon as he had paid the bill.