She hadn't expected him to care so much about this question that he'd bring it up again days later. Xu Yumo was momentarily stunned.
Could it be that he was worried her emotional state might affect her work?
Or was this part of his assessment of a potential collaborator?
She grumbled inwardly, lowering her eyelashes and giving a vague reply: "Something like that."
Eight years of obsession—rather than heartbreak, it felt more like the end of a long, drawn-out illusion.
He Linxi said nothing, only staring at her without blinking, his long fingers slowly rubbing against the handkerchief, as if trying to see through the hidden turbulence beneath her calm exterior.
This silence, filled with the unknown, made Xu Yumo feel as if the air around her had grown thin.
Her heart fluttered slightly. She swallowed lightly, about to find an excuse to leave, when the man's low voice sounded again:
"Mediocre taste."
Xu Yumo's breath caught. She jerked her head up to look at him.
But He Linxi had already withdrawn his gaze.
He lowered his eyes, casually tucking the handkerchief into his suit pocket, as if that barely-veiled insulting remark had merely been a figment of her imagination.
"Go prepare." He stood up, his tall figure casting a suffocating shadow under the cold-toned lighting, his voice reverting to that distant, businesslike tone. "I hope your algorithms are more accurate than your taste in people."
Xu Yumo was so choked by his words that she couldn't catch her breath for a long moment. The faint sadness she'd felt earlier was unexpectedly diluted by a strange sense of embarrassment and irritation.
She bit her lip, her face burning slightly, and replied with quiet composure: "Don't worry, President He. I'll let the data speak for itself."
It wasn't until she stepped outside and the early winter wind hit her face that Xu Yumo finally processed what had just happened.
That remark from He Linxi just now… was he insulting Zhou Shiye?
But the question was—how did he even know she liked Zhou Shiye?
Standing on the steps outside the office building, Xu Yumo furrowed her brows, her thoughts in a tangle.
Although her secret crush wasn't exactly well-concealed, and those close to her could more or less see through it, occasionally even teasing her about it, that was limited to the casual chatter of their small circle.
He Linxi, on the other hand, had never belonged to that circle. In fact, during their high school days, he and Zhou Shiye had been at loggerheads—two kings who never crossed paths.
Xu Yumo's memory suddenly pulled her back to the basketball finals in the autumn of their sophomore year.
Zhou Shiye had led his team with wild, aggressive play, maintaining the lead the entire game. Almost everyone thought victory was certain.
But in the final moments before the buzzer, He Linxi moved like a cold, sharp bolt of lightning, cleanly intercepting Zhou Shiye's confident drive to the basket.
A leap, a hang in the air, a flick of the wrist.
A perfectly arced three-pointer at the buzzer, completely overturning the score.
That day, the entire court erupted.
Zhou Shiye stood beneath the basket, his expression at its darkest, his brows pressed together with the unmistakable frustration and restlessness of youth.
On the other side, He Linxi merely took the water handed to him by a teammate with an indifferent expression, as if that game-changing shot had been nothing more than an ordinary play.
…
Could it be that her crush on Zhou Shiye had already become common knowledge in the capital's social circles, a joke that even He Linxi had heard of?
At the thought, Xu Yumo's heart felt like it had been pricked by a needle, a dull, lingering ache spreading through her chest.
A little self-deprecating. A little humiliating.
Forget it.
She took a deep breath of the icy air, letting the surging emotions slowly settle.
Anyway, she no longer intended to continue this crush.
As for what others said or thought—that was all in the past, irrelevant to who she was now.
It was just that He Linxi seemed different from the person she remembered.
More aggressive. And far more unfathomable.
Back at her rental apartment, Xu Yumo didn't even bother taking off her makeup before collapsing into bed. A full week of high-intensity burnout had finally made her body protest.
She slept deeply that night.
She inexplicably had a dream, one that brought her back to the basketball court of her sophomore year.
The young Zhou Shiye waved at her with youthful exuberance, calling her over to grab some bottled water.
Meanwhile, He Linxi's cold, aloof figure lingered at the edge of the dream, staring at her with a heavy, unreadable gaze.
It wasn't until nearly noon the next day that Xu Yumo groggily opened her eyes to the light filtering through the gaps in the heavy curtains.
She habitually reached for her phone. On the screen lay a single unread email. The sender was the administrative department of Matrix Technology, with an attachment containing an activated highest-level electronic access pass for the laboratory, along with a detailed safety manual.
She glanced at the sending time—it was actually the middle of the night.
Isn't this efficiency a bit too high…
Xu Yumo mused silently, sitting up in bed.
Since she had the access pass now, she didn't intend to give herself any more rest time. She got up, hastily stuffed a couple of slices of bread into her mouth, and headed straight for Matrix Technology.
On Saturday, the building was nearly empty. The massive floor-to-ceiling windows reflected the cold winter sunlight, leaving the entire structure vast, quiet, and still.
Xu Yumo swiped her access card to enter the lab, and the moment she stepped inside, her eyes lit up involuntarily.
It was exactly what one would expect from the highest-valued tech giant in the country—the testing equipment far surpassed Aether Technology's current setup in both precision and standardization, and the test scenarios provided were even more demanding than she had anticipated.
Complex interference variables and extremely stringent response tolerance thresholds made her gradually lose track of time once she sat down at the computer.
It wasn't until the green "PASS" characters finally appeared on the screen, successfully clearing one of the most challenging core logic modules, that Xu Yumo let out a long, relieved sigh.
She was just about to stretch her stiff neck when, out of the corner of her eye, she caught a tall figure standing quietly by the half-open frosted glass door.
"Ah—"
Completely caught off guard, Xu Yumo flinched like a startled cat, nearly jumping out of her chair along with it.
"President He?"
She had no idea when He Linxi had arrived. He was leaning lazily against the doorframe, not wearing a suit—just a simple black shirt with the top two buttons casually undone, exuding an air of leisurely refinement that was a far cry from his usual workday demeanor.
His brow arched slightly as his deep gaze settled on her startled face, and his low, pleasant voice carried a hint of amusement: "That bad? You look like you've seen a ghost."
Xu Yumo steadied herself, pressing a hand to her racing heart as she stood up awkwardly. "Sorry, I was so absorbed I didn't hear your footsteps. I just didn't expect… you'd be at the office on a Saturday too."
"And yet here you are, working overtime on a Saturday as well." He Linxi strode in with long, unhurried steps.
The faint scent of cold sandalwood from the man swept into her nostrils uninvited as he drew closer.
Xu Yumo subtly turned her face away, avoiding his probing gaze, and mumbled in her own defense: "I just wanted to resolve this algorithm bottleneck as soon as possible, so it wouldn't hold up the rest of the schedule."
"Oh?" He Linxi drew out the syllable, his tone rising slightly at the end with a faint, teasing edge. "And here I thought Miss Xu was using work to distract herself from a broken heart."
"…"
Xu Yumo was momentarily struck speechless by his pointed jab, unable to find a retort for a long moment.
Fortunately, He Linxi didn't press the topic further. He glanced down at her computer screen. "How's the progress?"
"I just got the closed-loop logic for the End Effector running successfully." The moment the conversation turned to her field of expertise, Xu Yumo immediately snapped back into her element. She pointed at the waveform on the screen, her eyes shining with intensity. "There are only two final edge-case logic validations left. Once those pass, this algorithm can guarantee lossless data transmission even in complex, high-interference environments."
As she spoke, her hand instinctively returned to the keyboard, ready to continue.
But He Linxi glanced at his wristwatch. "It's already this late. Don't you think you should grab something to eat first?"
"I'm not hungry. You go ahead, President He—don't worry about me." Xu Yumo replied without looking up.
However, the moment the words left her mouth, her stomach, which had been empty for most of the day, let out a most uncooperative protest.
He Linxi paused mid-motion, a low chuckle escaping his throat, his chest vibrating with quiet amusement.
Xu Yumo's breath caught instantly, and her entire face flushed crimson. She wished she could bury herself inside the robotic arm base beside her.
He Linxi's gaze drifted lightly over her reddening ear tips, and only when she looked about to burn up entirely did he slowly rein in his smile.
He curled his index finger and tapped twice on her desk, his voice warm: "Come on, my treat."
Xu Yumo looked up uncertainly. "You're treating me?"
"Who else?" He looked back at her, his tone casual yet carrying an undeniable authority. "Since you're a prospective partner I've set my sights on, is there a problem with me, as the host, buying you a meal?"
"…No problem." She shook her head hastily.
With that hat of honor placed on her head, she had no room to refuse. But on second thought, it meant he was quite satisfied with her current testing progress.
The tension that had gripped Xu Yumo's nerves all day finally eased, and a faint smile rippled back into her eyes. She stood up, her tone unconsciously carrying a touch of professional deference: "Then thank you, President He."
He Linxi paused at her words and turned his head slightly. "Xu Yumo."
"Hm?" She responded instinctively.
"There's no need to keep using such formal address. We're the same age." He paused, casting her a sidelong glance with a hint of ambiguous teasing in his voice. "Or have you already forgotten that we were high school classmates?"
Xu Yumo was momentarily taken aback.
Though she hadn't immediately placed him when they first met, she did remember him.
Unlike Zhou Shiye's flashy, attention-grabbing personality, He Linxi's presence came more from his perennial dominance at the top of the rankings and that perfectly sculpted face.
She recalled that in their freshman year of high school, when the girls privately voted for the school's most handsome boy, the support for Zhou Shiye and He Linxi had been almost evenly split.
At that time, Xu Yumo had just become aware of her feelings for Zhou Shiye. Afraid of being discovered, she deliberately muddied the waters during the discussion and, against her true feelings, cast her vote for He Linxi.
For that, Zhou Shiye had even grabbed her and laughed at her, saying her taste was ridiculously off.
She was just a little surprised—the two of them had almost no notable interactions throughout their three years of high school, so why would he suddenly bring this up out of nowhere?
"…I remember." Xu Yumo's ears tingled with warmth. She pressed her lips together nervously and tried to patch things up. "I just didn't expect you… you to still remember it, too."
The hastily corrected form of address came out a bit stuttering, carrying a soft, obedient quality she herself hadn't even noticed.
"I've always had a good memory. Besides, we were in the class next door."
He Linxi casually curled the corner of his mouth. He reached out and hooked his suit jacket off the coat rack, draping it over his forearm with an easy, leisurely air.
"Let's go, Classmate Xu."
That "Classmate Xu" was drawn out slowly, the ending tone lifting slightly.
For no particular reason, it carried a hint of something inexplicably tender.