Chapter 4: Not just anyone can be her neighbour (2/2)

After closing the door, she sighed in the hallway.

Just then, the phone she had placed on the hallway cabinet let out a long sigh: “This house is really nice.”

Jiang Nanshu jumped in surprise.

Cheng Jiajia had been silent the whole time, and she had forgotten that the video call wasn’t ended yet.

Cheng Jiajia coldly added, “And the neighbor is really handsome.”

“…”

What good is being handsome? He’s not hers.

Jiang Nanshu slumped down on the sofa, lost in thought.

Cheng Jiajia said, “Why don’t you move in with me?”

“Forget it, your place is too far.”

Jiang Nanshu rejected her immediately, then sighed and reassured herself, “It’s fine.

We’ll all be working, and in our line of work, we often have overtime. We’ll hardly see each other.

I’ll move out in a few months.”

“True.”

Cheng Jiajia changed the topic, “Has Ji Fan contacted you?”

“Not yet, maybe in a couple of days.”

After finishing her chat with Cheng Jiajia, Jiang Nanshu sat on the sofa, thinking about what to do next, when her phone rang.

She picked it up and checked it was an interview invitation from Ji Fan.

She spent the next two days at home, playing games, particularly Ji Fan’s few card games still in operation.

Though she had little interest in card games, she played them mainly to prepare for the interview.

Even though she wasn’t a rookie anymore, it had been a while since her last interview, and she was still nervous.

There were no familiar faces in Jiangcheng, so she couldn’t find out any details about Ji Fan’s new project.

They had made a lot of noise during their launch, and this project had attracted quite a bit of attention.

But it had been over a year, and there had been no further updates on its progress.

On Monday morning, Jiang Nanshu arrived at Ji Fan Technology for her interview.

The Ji Fan Technology building looked quite impressive, but the logo at the entrance was in shiny gold.

She could imagine how dazzling it would look when the lights were turned on at night.

The interview was conducted by the project’s lead designer and the operations director.

The lead designer appeared to be in his thirties, wearing thick-framed glasses, and had very thick hair, almost to the point of being unnatural Jiang Nanshu suspected it was a wig.

The operations director was a woman with short hair, her demeanor sharp and professional, and she didn’t seem much older than Jiang Nanshu.

They both looked through Jiang Nanshu’s resume and seemed quite pleased.

They skipped many common interview questions and went straight to asking: “What do you think are the challenges of operating an open-world game?”

Jiang Nanshu glanced at the lead designer and answered: “The content consumption rate doesn’t match the development speed.

If the development is slow, it increases the difficulty of operations.”

The operations director smiled at her answer and turned to the lead designer: “Brother Liang, I’m sure you can guarantee the development speed, right?”

Liang Yun’s face darkened slightly, and he forced a smile: “Yes, our new producer is very capable.”

Both of them were being sarcastic, yet still trying to maintain a calm exterior for the interview.

The director then asked Jiang Nanshu to analyze the features and operational highlights of other open-world games in the market.

Jiang Nanshu spoke confidently and fluently, very experienced.

Finally, the operations director, Tang Xuan, smiled and looked at Jiang Nanshu: “Do you have any questions for us, about the company or the project?”

Jiang Nanshu smiled and asked: “How is the development progress for the open-world project?”

“The project now has a new producer.”

Tang Xuan glanced at Liang Yun.

“The new producer is very capable.

The project is still ongoing, and there will be an internal test soon.”

A new producer? Had the previous producer been replaced?

It seemed this project was unstable, with high staff turnover, and even the producer had been replaced.

But Jiang Nanshu was still very interested in the project.

Firstly, she liked the core gameplay described in the launch event.

Secondly, Ji Fan offered a high salary.

Since Tang Xuan said the new producer was capable, she was still keen on joining the project team.

She looked at Tang Xuan: “That’s good to hear.

I don’t have any further questions.”

After the interview, Jiang Nanshu bought a coffee downstairs and took a taxi home.

On the way, she received a call from Tang Xuan.

Tang Xuan got straight to the point, saying the company was very satisfied with her and asking if she was willing to join Ji Fan and when she could start.

Jiang Nanshu replied: “I can start anytime.”

That evening, she received the offer.

The next morning, HR sent Jiang Nanshu’s graduation school, previous company, position, and photo to the whole company.

As soon as she entered the company, she noticed many people looking at her.

It didn’t seem too much, but several people greeted her by name.

“Ha, you didn’t know?” A girl walking beside her explained when she saw Jiang Nanshu’s confused expression.

“When a new employee joins, HR sends a welcome email to the whole company.”

“…”

Jiang Nanshu had only switched companies twice in her career, so she hadn’t encountered this kind of thing before.

She didn’t know how to react, so she just smiled and said, “Well, everyone seems so welcoming.”

“Not really.

I got a welcome email when I joined too, but no one paid much attention to me.”

The girl smiled as she looked at Jiang Nanshu’s face.

“It’s mainly because you’re so pretty.”

Jiang Nanshu had become immune to such compliments.

She blinked and said, “You’re cute too.”

The girl was so pleased that she smiled and introduced herself.

The girl’s name was Zhou Jiale, and she was also from the operations team, having joined the company two months before Jiang Nanshu.

The two chatted all the way to their desks.

Jiang Nanshu’s desk happened to be next to Zhou Jiale’s.

Zhou Jiale enthusiastically introduced her to the surrounding colleagues, and Jiang Nanshu tried hard to remember their names.

Before she could even settle into her new desk, she heard Zhou Jiale exclaim: “It’s time, we need to go to a meeting.”

“What meeting?” Jiang Nanshu asked.

Zhou Jiale casually picked up a notebook and said, “Core gameplay review meeting.”

“After all this time, they’re just now doing a review meeting?!”

The project team was established at the beginning of last year, and it had been nearly two years before they were reviewing the core gameplay.

Could this project really continue? Jiang Nanshu was skeptical.

“We’ve done several small-scale tests, but the feedback has been bad.

After the new producer took over, he scrapped it and started over.

We’ve just finished developing the new core gameplay, and now we’re having the internal review.”

Zhou Jiale lowered her voice and explained.

“I saw the project description during the launch event, and I thought it sounded interesting.

Why is the core gameplay feedback so bad?” Jiang Nanshu was a bit surprised.

Zhou Jiale whispered: “It’s a bit complicated.

I’ll tell you after the meeting.”

People slowly entered the meeting room.

Zhou Jiale led her to a spot near the front.

Actually, Jiang Nanshu preferred to sit in a corner during meetings.

Zhou Jiale grinned: “This way, you have a better view to see the handsome guys.”

Jiang Nanshu: “…”

“I’ll tell you,” Zhou Jiale leaned in.

“Our project’s producer is so handsome, he raised the company’s average male attractiveness single-handedly.”

The guy to her left, Li Junyi, pushed his black-framed glasses up his nose, helplessly saying: “Although that’s true, could you stop mentioning it? Give the normal guys some face, please?”

Jiang Nanshu smiled a little, uninterested: “Is he?”

She thought to herself, Can he really be more handsome than my new neighbor?

“Here he comes.” Zhou Jiale nudged her.

Jiang Nanshu instinctively looked up toward the door.

The next second, her heart stopped.

Song Ye was wearing a black windbreaker.

Though he dressed more casually than the previous times, he still looked great, with broad shoulders and long legs, a natural model for clothes.

And with that handsome face, whatever he wore made him stand out, making everyone ignore the people around him.

But… what was he doing here? Didn’t he say he was starting his own business?

Jiang Nanshu was completely stunned.

Staring at his face, she numbly thought: If this were a game, even if I didn’t get defeated right away, this would be a hell-level start.

Why did I come back to Jiangcheng?

Did I come back… for the tribulations?