Hello, How Long Has This Been Going On?

Wang Heng observed his expression and was a little surprised, “Brother Tao, haven’t you considered the future direction of your career? Many people will want to change companies when they are in their thirties.”

Tao Zhiyue really wasn’t thinking that much about the future.
Since he always felt that he had somehow ‘stolen’ his current life, it would be great as long as he could peacefully survive till the end.

Before he could speak, Wang Heng criticised himself, “I’m sorry, I was being an idiot.
I forgot that you are only 22 years old… I keep on forgetting this.
Sigh, maybe because I was still failing my classes and dangling between the lines of being a dropout at 22.
QAQ”

In the beginning, the project team was in urgent need of programmers.
It wasn’t easy for them to get a newbie due to the company’s lack of influence, but they also heard that the newcomer was quite young.

Originally, the group even wondered when this kid would reach his limit and not be able to bear the cruel reality of having less money, more affairs, more projects, and bad deadlines.
But in the end, reality taught them a cruel lesson: Great Gods were different from mortals.

“…” Tao Zhiyue said guiltily, “That’s why I told you not to call me Brother Tao.”

When he abruptly died in his last life, he was 26 years old— the same age as Wang Heng.
He was a worker who’d been through his fair share of turmoil and troubles.
Inversely, he had become a ‘child’ that everyone in the workplace admired with emotion.
That sort of attention caused Tao Zhitue to feel slightly guilty.

“No, a Great God deserves nothing less than this amount of respect,” Wang Heng insisted and said anxiously, “If you don’t have an idea on what to do yet, are you interested in taking a look at the project I’m working on? An artist friend of mine and I are working on it together as we both want to create a strategy mobile game that’s packed with innovative gameplay.”

Worried that Tao Zhiyue would refuse, he quickly added, “but I’m definitely not trying to force you to join us! If you have the time, do take a look at our current ideas.
We would be grateful if you could provide us some criticism as we haven’t found a programmer yet.
Though we’ve both seen the codes before, we’re not too sure if it would be too hard to pull this level of our craft.”

Tao Zhiyue was no stranger to conversations like these since he had accepted such invitations many times before.
This type of plan wasn’t formal to the point of starting a business as it resembled an amateur interest group.
He remembered that back then, there was a game idea that he really liked and after joining the team, he was very happy to work on it.
Soon, Tao Zhiyue became good partners with those whom he worked with side by side.

Many indie games that have sprung up later were initially formed by such teams.
Even if these games were not able to be produced due to various obstacles in the end, many people were able to gain like-minded friends from the projects.

Friend— a word that was by now, a bit distant to him.

Tao Zhiyue was silent for a while before he said tactfully, “Recently, I’m a bit busy with something to handle back at home, so I may not have the energy to take on the project.
If you need it, I can help you look at the plans, but keep in mind that I might not be able to come up with any useful suggestions.
“

Wang Heng didn’t think too much about it as he took it for granted that the world of the Great God must be filled with work and schedules.
Hence, he was still very touched when he heard Tao Zhiyue’s reply, “Okay, that’s already really good to me, so thank you, Brother Tao.
I’ll send it to you on PP since the company Dangdang’s site is not very good.
By the way, I haven’t added you as a PP friend yet.”

With that said, Wang Heng took out his mobile phone, ready to open the QR code of the app.

Tao Zhiyue stopped him in time and continued to lie without changing his facial expressions, “I haven’t used PP for a long time.
How about you send me an email and I will write back to you when we return to the company.”

Wang Heng didn’t doubt his words, so he nodded.
After all, the fact that Tao Zhiyue didn’t even join the company’s PP group and his inability to be contacted after work hours were widely-known truths throughout the company.

“Brother Tao, if you are very busy now, it’s okay to handle it later since we are not in a hurry.
I saw that you were so sleepy in the morning; you must have been busy until late yesterday.
Remember to take a break, alright? Once you’re done with all your matters, I’ll treat you to a meal,” Wang Heng was very sincerely concerned about him.

Tao Zhiyue shook his hand that held his milk tea, remembering that he was ‘busy until late’ as he chatted with someone on PP.
He suddenly felt the weight of the milk tea in his hand become heavier, “No need, no need, I’ll treat you to a meal when we have the opportunity.”

Though, he didn’t know how long they would have to wait for this opportunity to arrive…

After walking back to the company, Tao Zhiyue quickly got into his working mode.
As time passed quickly, it soon became 6 o’clock in the blink of an eye.

Tao Zhiyue turned off the computer as usual, closed the lid of the water glass and picked up his shopping bag on the table.
However, for today, he didn’t feel as jolly as he usually would be.
Instead, there were hints of melancholy in his expression.

Xue Huacan, who was next door, poked his head out and looked at Tao Zhiyue with a half-smile, “Are you getting off work on time to buy groceries again?”

Tao Zhiyue glanced at him and felt that the man seemed a little complacent.
Even if that was the case, he didn’t know what the heck Xue Huacanwas planning.
But as he was truly too lazy to talk, he only put on a very perfunctory smirk, turned around and left.

When he raised his hand to check out, Tao Zhiyue looked back unconsciously in the direction of Wang Heng’s seat.
He was talking to another planner next to him before the two got up and walked towards the door whilst they talked and laughed.
Based on timing and appearance, it seemed that the duo were going to have dinner together.

Wang Heng saw Tao Zhiyue standing by the door and waved to him enthusiastically.

Whereas Tao Zhiyue would take the bus to the supermarket to buy some vegetables, bring them back home to cook them, eat, wash the dishes, play on the computer, take a shower and go to bed.

Tao Zhiyue felt a faint feeling of envy in his heart.

When he sat on the bus, leaning against the window to enjoy the cool evening breeze, he opened the ;long time unused’ PP app in his hand at some point.

Technically speaking, he did not deceive Wang Heng.

There are only two categories in Tao Zhiyue’s friend list.
One was called ‘Life’ and there was a supermarket account that regularly released promotional information on goods.
Tao Zhiyue knew that it was a girl who managed the account because he had seen a wrong picture that she accidentally posted,”Ah, my husband is killing me”.
This was then accompanied by a moving picture of a male celebrity who was really handsome.

There was also a gym coach who sent him group schedules and motivational quotes every day, but because the man had sent messages too enthusiastically and followed-up their conversation very closely at any given time,Tao Zhiyue didn’t dare to reply after adding him.

In addition, there were the intermediaries that he contacted when he was renting a house and the courier who lost an item, which led to the inevitable befriending in order to reimburse for the mistake…

The other was the default category— ‘My Friends’.
There was only one person under said category and that person was none other than HR, the user that he merely added last night. 

It happened all too sudden and Tao Zhiyue hadn’t figured out which category to place him in.
HR shouldn’t belong to ‘Life’, but it wasn’t considered ‘My Friends’ either; it seemed more akin to an accidental appearance in his life.

Whilst his imaginations ran wild, HR’s landscape profile picture suddenly flashed continuously, which startled Tao Zhiyue.

[HR: Doctor Tao, you are done with work! ]

[HR: Although it was already 6 o’clock, I was worried that you’re still on your way home from work, so I dared not disturb you.
]

[HR: But you tapped me, so that probably means you’re free now! ]

[HR: //cute//]

Tao Zhi was stunned.
He looked up, only to notice that there was another message ahead.

[I tapped ‘HR’.
]

This was a new function released by PP some time ago.
Double-clicking a contact’s avatar would prompt a message that would ‘tap’ the other party.

Tao Zhiyue seldom used the chat function of PP, but in the forum, he had seen some people’s complaints about encountering sticky situations with the tapping function.
However, he had also seen the macho coaches and gurus who posted motivational speeches and advice in their feed along the lines of: some customers will always hesitate.
After adding friends, if one has been silent for too long, they will feel more and more embarrassed and shy to take the step of change.
Now with ‘tapping’, as long as you tap me, I will take the initiative to bring out a change in you!

It must have been when he was looking at the friend’s list in a daze just now that he accidentally clicked on HR’s profile picture.

Tao Zhiyue felt embarrassed at first.
Staring at the message from HR, he was a little at a loss for words.

All he could register was that there was a lot of noise around him as the evening wind gently brushed his face through the open window.

Slowly, the sense of loss in his heart miraculously disappeared.

Tao Zhiyue felt that it was probably because the default blushing and smiling yellow emoji was actually kind of cute. 

[T/N: He means this]

[Tao: Good evening.
]

[Tao: I’m free since I won’t be cooking today.
]

[Tao: What happened? ]

Tao Zhiyue looked at the shops lined up on both sides of the street.
The neon lights on the signboards flickered in the night as a myriad of restaurants opened their doors to welcome flocking customers.
Enthusiastic waiters stood at the door and hollered as there were already diners on the simple tables and chairs that were set up in the open air.
Some have already indulged themselves in the company of wine, but the aroma of different delicacies wafted through the air, making it hard to miss.

It should be okay to be lazy once in a while, he thought.