“Ahhhhhhh—!”
A burst of teasing screams erupted inside the activity room. Curiosity was plainly visible on all three faces, and even the usually composed Zhuang Yu was smiling with obvious gossip-fueled excitement.
Lu Zhiheng’s brows furrowed almost imperceptibly. “…Do I really look like someone who wouldn’t have a girlfriend?”
Now that he thought about it, Jiang Nian’s earlier request actually had not been wrong at all. If he had not gone on that brief “date” today, his so-called girlfriend probably would have remained a fictional character in their minds.
The three of them nodded in unison, then immediately shook their heads again.
Zhuang Yu analyzed calmly, “Brother Lu, last week you spent two days in group meetings with your advisor, one day organizing the club’s freshman welcome event, and the other four days training models with us. You really don’t seem like someone who’d be…”
“Exactly, exactly! What kind of couple doesn’t see each other for seven days straight?” Cheng Ze asked in confusion. “Are you two in a long-distance relationship? But I’ve never even seen you constantly checking your phone or making calls or video chatting or anything…”
Before Lu Zhiheng could think of how to respond, Cheng Ze had already shaken his head himself. In any case, they finally knew Brother Lu’s girlfriend was real!
Which meant—
Cheng Ze immediately began firing off questions like he was reciting menu items. “How old is Sister-in-law? Is she from our school? Which department is she in? How did you meet? Is she super pretty…”
Lu Zhiheng had never experienced anything like this before. It was even more exaggerated than when relatives questioned him during New Year gatherings about why he was still single at his age.
“Stop.” Lu Zhiheng raised a hand in surrender. “We only just got together. Things aren’t stable yet.”
In other words, he would talk about it when the time was right.
Seeing Lu Zhiheng unable to handle the interrogation, Zhuang Yu stepped in to end the topic. “Alright, alright. Once Brother Lu and Sister-in-law’s relationship becomes stable, then you can introduce her to us. For now, let’s look at the bug first!”
Cheng Ze and Li Tianxing exchanged silly grins. Sister-in-law was pretty mysterious, but that only proved their Brother Lu was truly taking this relationship seriously.
Lu Zhiheng first placed the kitten plushie at his workstation before sitting down in front of Cheng Ze’s computer. “What’s the issue?”
“The database suddenly started throwing errors, and all the field mappings got messed up.” Cheng Ze made a miserable face as he gave up his seat. “We spent forever checking and traced it back to the data cleaning step, but no matter what we changed, it still wouldn’t work.”
Lu Zhiheng looked toward the screen, his fingertips settling on the keyboard as his gaze sharpened into calm concentration.
The slight awkwardness from being teased moments earlier instantly vanished the moment he touched code and project work, restoring him to the dependable and steady Lu Zhiheng everyone knew.
His eyes swept through the logs line by line while his fingers lightly tapped across the keyboard to locate the problem. His voice remained calm and light, yet strangely reassuring.
“It’s not a logic issue. The upstream input field formats aren’t unified. Disabled users have many different device models, and the sampling frequencies vary. You didn’t add compatibility handling here.”
Zhuang Yu froze briefly. “We thought we’d already standardized it…”
“You didn’t cover the special models.” Lu Zhiheng tapped lightly at the screen. “Add an adaptive formatting layer here, then apply abnormal value truncation.”
Cheng Ze slapped his forehead. “So that’s what it was!”
Li Tianxing quietly sighed from the side. “Brother Lu is way too amazing. We spent half the day troubleshooting and still couldn’t figure it out!”
Lu Zhiheng was just about to tell them to be more careful next time when the phone placed beside him suddenly lit up several times.
[Jiang Nian: Surprise inspection. Did you bring your plushie properly with you?]
[Jiang Nian: Cookie misses the kitten. It wants to see it!]
[Jiang Nian: Little Dog rolling around.jpg]
[Jiang Nian: Oh right, the mini cake was really delicious. Too bad a certain someone paid for it but didn’t get to eat any!]
Lu Zhiheng’s social circle was usually simple, so he had never bothered setting message privacy protections on his phone.
The three of them had already been standing nearby, so they saw every message clearly.
Sister-in-law’s name was Jiang Nian? They had never heard of anyone by that name around Brother Lu before.
But that was not the important part!
Although Cheng Ze loved gossip, he had actually once been the only one among the four of them who had a girlfriend, so in a sense, he counted as Lu Zhiheng’s senior in relationships.
The moment he saw the messages, he instantly sensed disaster approaching.
“Wait, Brother Lu! Don’t tell me you left halfway through your date with Sister-in-law because I called you over?!”
Lu Zhiheng nodded once. “You said it was urgent…”
“It was urgent, but not that urgent—” Before he could finish speaking, Cheng Ze was already panicking in his seat. “No, no, I’ve become a sinner! Brother Lu, why didn’t you tell me you two were on a date? If I’d known, you could’ve given me ten times the courage and I still wouldn’t have dared interrupt!”
At the time of the phone call, he had not thought much about it. How was he supposed to know Brother Lu had actually figured romance out?!
A date was such an important occasion! How could he just leave the moment he was called?
Seeing Cheng Ze so flustered, Lu Zhiheng spoke to reassure him. “She knew. She was the one who told me to leave first.”
Zhuang Yu and Li Tianxing both looked as though they wanted to say something but stopped themselves.
Could it be that Brother Lu’s relationship would end today?
Cheng Ze stared with widened eyes. Listening to Lu Zhiheng’s calm explanation, he suddenly did not know what to say.
In the end, he could only squeeze out one sentence.
“Then Sister-in-law is way too understanding…”
Given Lu Zhiheng’s current priorities, if there was a problem with the project, then of course he would come solve it first. Compared to that, his so-called “date” with Jiang Nian was not nearly as important.
Yet at that moment, for some reason, he once again recalled the figure sitting by the window.
—Jiang Nian must have felt a little disappointed, right?
Even if they were not truly boyfriend and girlfriend, leaving a girl behind alone midway through things was still not very appropriate.
After replying to the messages, Lu Zhiheng locked his phone. His usually calm brows and eyes now carried a trace of urgency that even he himself had not noticed.
Lu Zhiheng instructed them, “Check the beta version again for any remaining problems. Then once An Ran comes back next week, prepare for launch and promotion.”
Li Tianxing froze. “Brother Lu, you’re… going where?”
Lu Zhiheng picked up the jacket hanging over the back of his chair and put it on in one smooth motion. “She hasn’t left yet. I’m going to take her home.”
Zhuang Yu reacted the fastest and immediately waved him off. “Go, go! We’ve got things covered here!”
Cheng Ze wore an expression that screamed he’s finally enlightened, wiggling his brows exaggeratedly. “Go already, Brother Lu! Hurry and coax Sister-in-law! Don’t make her wait too long!”
【Wow, Niannian, it still has to be you! The Male Lead’s dislike value increased by another point! Current total dislike value: 5.】
【Keep working hard and we’ll definitely break 10 within three days!】
Jiang Nian snorted proudly. She could not stop someone from leaving, but she could send messages to harass Lu Zhiheng.
That was the realization she had reached while eating her mini cake.
Jiang Nian slowly wandered over to the bus stop across the street, preparing to send Lu Zhiheng another message.
But unexpectedly, he actually sent her a photo first.
It showed a simple desk. Aside from the desktop computer, keyboard, and mouse, the kitten plushie could immediately be seen attached to the top of the metal rack on his desk. At first glance, it looked as though it were lying there asleep.
[Lu Zhiheng: Don’t worry. It’s acting as a supervisor.]
[Lu Zhiheng: Where are you right now?]
What did the Male Lead mean by this?
Surely he was not coming to find her?
Jiang Nian was puzzled, but she still sent him her location.
[Jiang Nian: I’m at the Route 180 bus stop.]
Lu Zhiheng quickly replied:
[Lu Zhiheng: Wait for me.]
Jiang Nian: “…?”
What was going on? Why was he really coming to find her?