"Oh hey, Little Chen, do me a favor."
A fairly handsome fellow, holding a stack of documents in his hands, smiled and waved as he called out.
The one being called was sitting at a desk by the window, hands flying across the keyboard in a steady stream of coding. He couldn't spare even a sliver of attention for the guy who acted so familiar with him.
The fellow walked over briskly, set the documents down, crossed his arms to lower his head, and peered straight into Chen Ming's face, eye to eye.
"Hey, hey, are you really that busy? At least acknowledge me, come on."
Though it was supposed to be eye-to-eye, Chen Ming was only offering the side of his face, his focus still entirely locked onto the computer screen.
The guy didn't get angry. He hummed softly to himself—this kind of treatment was old hat to him, and he seemed to genuinely enjoy this side of Chen Ming.
As if feeling the weight of that prolonged stare, Chen Ming finally stopped ignoring him and gave a brief, clipped reply.
"So, what is it? Make it quick, I have other things to do." The clacking of his keyboard never skipped a beat.
The fellow propped his head up with a beaming smile.
"I just want to take you out for dinner alone tonight. Clear some time for me, will you? Please?"
Chen Ming's brows knitted hard as he turned his head to glare at him. "Xie Feng, are you out of your mind with boredom?!"
"Oh ho! You finally remembered my name! Today is my lucky day!"
Moved by an excitement Chen Ming couldn't begin to fathom, Xie Feng gave a bizarre little wiggle of triumph, as if he had just won the lottery.
The truth was, Chen Ming still hadn't really remembered it, but pride made him snap back, "I told you, I just couldn't be bothered to say it, it's not like I forgot. Why do you—"
"Eh, never mind that. Tonight, no matter what you've got on your plate, you are clearing your schedule. It's settled."
Xie Feng scooped up his documents and bolted before Chen Ming could muster a rebuttal, denying him any chance to refuse.
Chen Ming felt a deep surge of resignation, though it barely showed on his face as he turned right back to work.
Yet his mind wasn't nearly as calm as his expression suggested; he was frantically trying to figure out what on earth that guy was up to.
Come to think of it, meeting Xie Feng had been a complete accident. After graduation, Chen Ming had taken a job at the company on a counselor's recommendation. While his technical skills were top-notch, his social skills were absolute zero. If not for his stellar performance, Chen Ming's abysmal relations with his coworkers would have guaranteed him as the first one fired.
Chen Ming had been with the company for nearly two or three years now. The colleagues held him at a lukewarm distance, and since he never stepped on anyone's toes, naturally no one bothered with him. Because he was utterly devoid of ambition, his job title had never changed either.
Chen Ming didn't care in the least. Or rather, he had never needed to care. Weren't people striving for promotions just for better pay and perks? Both his parents had passed away, and he had drifted among various relatives since childhood. When he finally reached adulthood, he inherited his parents' estate—his finances and housing were entirely secure. Naturally, he didn't care much about money, especially living by the rule of one man well-fed meaning the whole family is without hunger.
Hadn't he taken this job on his counselor's recommendation simply because it was close to the house his parents left him?
The speed of his coding didn't drop, smooth as muscle memory, knowing exactly what was being typed without needing to look.
His mind drifted back to that night when he and Xie Feng had first crossed paths.
That evening, Xie Feng had been assigned to accompany the boss to host some clients. Sitting in a corner, Chen Ming had overheard plenty of envious whispers, eyes burning with a cannibalistic jealousy.
"What's so great about Xie Feng? Just a pretty face."
"Exactly, exactly. If I had a mug like that, I'd be doing way better."
...
Such murmurs floated through the air. Back then, he still couldn't fathom where those people got their misplaced confidence.
Still, he didn't know anyone, so it wasn't his place to argue. Besides, what was the name of the guy they were talking about again?
Whatever, forgotten was forgotten. Clearly, someone this conspicuous was bound to attract a mountain of trouble.
In Chen Ming's impression, Xie Feng was an exceedingly capable man. The projects he handled brought massive profits to the company—not just one, but a great many—which was why his position had shot straight up.
The company's long-term veterans naturally resented this. Why should they bust their guts out and remain at the bottom while some wet-behind-the-ears kid got to step all over them?
The friction between them had instantly caught fire, and even tucked away in his corner, Chen Ming could practically smell the gunpowder in the air.
Pulling his thoughts back to the present, he glanced at the monitor and saw the code was nearly complete, ready for the final touches.
He checked the time; there was still a bit left before quitting time. Pulling out his portable USB drive, Chen Ming spent the leftover time doing what he loved—a habit he had stubbornly maintained for years.
So, what had happened that night?
Recalling the details of that evening, more vivid pictures resurfaced in his mind.
That night, just like any other, he had finished everything that needed doing. Seeing it was still early, he casually grabbed his USB drive to code a game mod—not to sell it, purely to make his own gaming experience smoother and more enjoyable.
He had gotten so caught up in the work that he completely lost track of time. All the surrounding coworkers had gone home; nobody bothered to remind Chen Ming, and Chen Ming certainly didn't want anyone disturbing him.
If his stomach hadn't staged a protest, Chen Ming probably would have coded straight through until dawn.
Pulling himself away from the sea of screens ordinary people couldn't make head or tail of, he found the office practically deserted. He packed up his things and prepared to head home and grind some more.
He remembered the night sky being gorgeous. Sparse clouds failed to obscure the round moon, though lacking the sparkling embellishments of the countryside.
Even so, it couldn't diminish Chen Ming's fondness for it.
He had never truly integrated into the bustling, noisy city. The serene, peaceful embrace of nature, the lonely chirping of cicadas and croaking of frogs—those were the things that truly touched his heart.
Whenever he felt like that, he would always find some deserted corner of a park and sit quietly by himself.
That night was special. Or perhaps, it was only special because of Xie Feng.
A chilly breeze slipped under his shirt, sending shivers straight down to his bones as he prepared to leave.
Just then, a taller dark figure stumbled into view, footsteps loose and weaving haphazardly. Anyone with eyes could tell the person was plastered.
Chen Ming had no desire to get involved. The deep-seated wells of goodwill in him had been shattered long ago by his relatives during childhood; not harboring a profound malice toward the world was already a testament to his inherently pure nature.
"Ugh—"
The dark figure made a retching sound. Through blurred vision, the man spotted someone and tried to veer away.
One failed to get out of the way in time while the other tried to dodge, and by some cruel twist of fate, they collided, resulting in the man dramatically vomiting all over Chen Ming.
Enduring the foul discomfort, Chen Ming tried to pull away, but it was already too late. He recognized the voice instantly; given his extremely limited social circle at the company, it was ninety-nine percent likely to be one of his coworkers.
He ripped off the ruined jacket and tossed it aside. Meanwhile, the dark figure wrapped both arms tight around Chen Ming's waist, and he could feel that grip growing steadily stronger.
Stooping slightly, Chen Ming put his back into it and heaved the guy up, slinging the man's arm over his shoulder. He half-dragged, half-carried him to a bench beneath a streetlight, settling him down securely.
Standing with his back to the streetlight, his shadow stretching long across his eyelashes, Chen Ming seemed lost in thought.
A faint sigh drifted through the night air. Chen Ming hadn't lost his humanity entirely; he couldn't just leave a drunkard out here to fend for himself.
Shifting slightly to the far end of the bench, Chen Ming sat down and waited. Fortunately, the moonlight kept him company, keeping the loneliness at bay.
He had no idea how much time had passed when the reclining figure clutched his head and sat up. In the harsh glare of the light, those dazed eyes spoke volumes of his intoxication.
Xie Feng offered a very polite expression of gratitude: "Hello, you're Little Chen, right? I'm really sorry for the trouble earlier."
If Chen Ming hadn't looked into those eyes, he might have actually believed the guy was sober.
Seriously, to be able to recognize him under these conditions, armed with nothing more than blurred vision and scrambled memories, the guy was truly something else!
Chen Ming thought inwardly with a face full of astonishment, while simultaneously pondering how to respond.
Come to think of it, he couldn't even remember the guy's name properly. Wouldn't a sudden reply make things terribly awkward?
Seeing that the other person remained silent, Xie Feng assumed he was dreaming.
With no remaining mental bandwidth to process his current surroundings, the festering unhappiness inside him forced Xie Feng to blurt it all out. The fleeting thought that this might be a dream was quickly dismissed under the influence of alcohol.
"Why does everyone think I only get by on this face? Why has no one ever valued my talent?"
"I wasn't born knowing how to do this! I worked so hard, so damn hard to get good at it! Why does everyone think I just rely on this face?"
"Back in school, and now at the company—why are they all like this? Why?!"
...
Chen Ming was startled by his sudden monologue, having not yet figured out how to reply.
Listening to him vent about everything, the rant shifted to his school days. All those classmates and peers had apparently assumed he reached where he was purely through innate talent, completely dismissing his hard work. He had tried fighting back and rebelling against it, of course, but facts proved he had failed.
Beyond his studies, he even brought up his romantic history.
No! Even an outsider like Chen Ming could tell something was deeply, profoundly wrong here.
According to his rambling account, it was entirely a series of one-sided confessions from girls wanting to develop a relationship with him, while he remained completely oblivious to their feelings. Without a shred of romantic framing, his storytelling sounded more like a string of endless complaints.
Worse still, Chen Ming heard that Xie Feng had once gone out of his way to ask a certain girl why she liked him, only to receive the reply: "Don't you think it's cool to have such a handsome boyfriend?"
Chen Ming silently lit a virtual memorial candle for him. After suffering the blow of having his hard work invalidated, he thought the ones who liked him were drawn to his competence, only to find out it was just his natural good looks paying off.
That was a brutal double-whammy combo.
As for his experience entering the workforce, judging from Chen Ming's objective observations, it was safe to say that was a triple strike.
Call him miserable? His life was the kind of enviable perfection that drove people crazy. Even Chen Ming envied his formidable social prowess; even if those smiles and that affordability were entirely manufactured, it was a skill money couldn't buy.
Call him fortunate? Looking at his pathetic, pitiful state right now, anyone else would feel their heart ache for him.
And was he really so sure of his own good looks?
Chen Ming gave him a careful, serious inspection. Could it be that his own aesthetic standards were just set too damn high?
"You know what? What makes me angrier than anything is tonight's banquet. I thought I landed that project purely through my own ability, but it turns out it was just to make me cozy up to some old hag! Otherwise, everything I did for the project would have been thrown out the window! Why is everything like this?!"
"Am I really just a worthless piece of trash? Am I just coasting along on so-called innate talent, living a cowardly life until now?"
With that, Xie Feng—who had sat upright—buried his face deep between his knees, clutching his head with intertwined fingers. He looked as pitiful as humanly possible, and the sound of soft sobbing slowly drifted into the air.
This time, Chen Ming didn't spend long thinking before offering his answer.
"It's not like that. Those are just the perspectives of jealous people; they have nothing to do with you. You just need to be yourself. Don't live for other people's opinions."
"You're brilliant—so brilliant that people can only attribute all your hard work to so-called talent. They're just incompetent people howling into the void, you don't need to care."
"Anyone with half an eye can see every single project you've done, can understand the effort you put in. They just refuse to face the facts because they're too stubborn to let go of their own delusions."
...
Chen Ming was utterly terrible at comforting people. All he could do was take everything he had seen and believed, and state it all in the most mundane, flat tone possible.
Perhaps the moonlight was just right, perhaps his mood was decent, but a rare ripple of goodwill stirred quietly within him.
The trembling Xie Feng gradually quieted down, as if he had actually taken the words to heart, or perhaps simply drifted off to sleep.
Dragging him along half-willingly, Chen Ming brought him home, parked him on the couch, and finished his own work.
And the aftermath, naturally, turned out to be the exact worst-case scenario Chen Ming had foreseen: he had zero desire to maintain any human relationships, yet his solitude was shattered by a guy named Xie Feng—and a soft, gentle sort of disruption at that.