Chapter 14: Song Ye, you… seem a bit off.

The hallway was silent.

Jiang Nanshu carried the paper bag and looked at him in surprise, then lowered her head to look at the paper bag in her hand.

She raised her head again to look at him, revealing a slightly confused expression.

It was as if he had done something earth-shattering.

For Jiang Nanshu, it really was.

Among her entire contact list, only he had seen her post on Moments and immediately fulfilled her current wish.

This was something that even many boyfriends in the midst of passionate love might not be able to do.

So, how could she not be surprised and let her mind wander?

After a while, she blinked and said, “Thank you…”

Looking at Song Ye’s cold face, the shock inside her could not calm down.

She hesitated for a moment, then said, “I thought you came to talk to me about the leaked images.”

“These two things are not mutually exclusive.”

Song Ye stared at her slightly dazed face without any visible emotion and said indifferently, “You have half an hour.

Finish eating, tidy up, and come to the company with me to work overtime.”

“…Huh?”

The topic suddenly shifted to working overtime.

Jiang Nanshu was genuinely stunned.

Song Ye said, “We need to revise the promotional draft.”

“…Alright.”

Since the black post had already leaked most of her promotional draft’s images, the draft definitely couldn’t be used at ten o’clock the next morning.

Jiang Nanshu thought for a moment, then looked up at her boss.

“You can just tell me how to revise it.

There’s no need for me to go to the company, right?”

“Some materials are not available to you.”

Song Ye did not explain further.

“Call me when you’re done eating.”

After speaking, he turned and walked to his own door, facing away from her as he pressed the fingerprint lock.

Jiang Nanshu watched him open the door and go inside, blinked, and then closed her own door.

In the Feishu group chat, after a moment of silence, message notifications sounded again.

Song Ye @mentioned the operations team leader and Jiang Nanshu, informing them to revise the promotional draft and roughly outlining the direction of the changes.

Some videos and setting images that needed to be added to the draft could only be downloaded from the company’s internal network.

So, to revise the promotional draft, they had no choice but to work overtime at the company.

It was already eleven o’clock at night.

Going to the company now would inevitably mean an all-night shift, a nightmare for any worker.

Lu Xiaowei did not reply immediately.

Jiang Nanshu sat at the dining table, bit her lip, and responded in the group chat to Song Ye: [Okay, I’ll work on the revisions.]

A moment later, Lu Xiaowei replied: [I’ll come in early tomorrow morning.

Thanks for your hard work.]

Jiang Nanshu ignored her, put down her phone, and opened the paper bag.

Inside the paper bag was an insulated bag.

She tore it open.

Cantonese dim sum was always delicate and came in small portions.

But Song Ye had bought quite a lot shrimp dumplings, rice rolls, chicken feet, and other popular varieties.

There was even a serving of coconut-flavored taro sago.

The quantity was enough for Jiang Nanshu to eat for three meals.

If Song Ye had bought this while she was going to the company for overtime, she could explain it as an overtime benefit.

But it was obvious that he had purchased it before the black post incident.

Was it really just… casual?

Jiang Nanshu lowered her head and took a bite of the fragrant and soft taro.

She paused.

The taste was very similar to the authentic Cantonese tea restaurants in Shenzhen.

She tried a few more of the dim sum items.

They were all delicious.

It was the best Cantonese dim sum she had eaten since returning to Jiangcheng.

Jiang Nanshu ate her late-night meal with mixed emotions, put the remaining food in the fridge, changed her clothes, and grabbed her bag.

Twenty-five minutes had passed.

She messaged Song Ye: [I’m ready.]

S: [Come out.]

The two of them almost simultaneously opened their doors.

Their eyes met.

Jiang Nanshu saw that he had changed into different clothes a black windbreaker and sweatpants.

His outfit was casual, and his black hair looked softer than before.

He looked clean and neat.

She stared in a daze.

She thought he had probably just taken a shower.

Song Ye closed his door behind him, looked at her, and said, “Let’s go.”

Inside the elevator, the two stood close together.

Jiang Nanshu caught a faint scent of his body wash.

It seemed to be mixed with a light sandalwood fragrance, fresh and pleasant.

In the small, enclosed elevator, the scent was especially noticeable.

She silently took a step back and casually asked, “Where did you happen to buy it? It tastes great.”

Hearing her emphasis on the word “happened,” Song Ye’s lips curved slightly.

“He Xi Alley.

At the entrance of an old street.

You probably don’t know it.”

She really didn’t.

“…Do they have delivery?”

“It’s more than ten kilometers away.

What do you think?”

“…”

So, no delivery.

Jiang Nanshu originally wanted to ask why he had gone so far to eat but held back.

When the elevator doors opened, she followed behind him and said casually, “Send me the address later.

Next time, Jia Jia and I will go eat there together.”

Song Ye’s steps paused slightly.

He responded indifferently with an “Mm.”

After getting in the car, Jiang Nanshu received a location from Song Ye.

She opened it and checked.

Sure enough, it was fifteen kilometers away and had no delivery service.

Without any expression, Song Ye started the car and drove out.

Jiang Nanshu exited WeChat, turned to the man beside her, and asked, “Later, when you send me the new materials, what will they be?

Are we modifying the previous draft?”

She was worried about not having enough time and wanted to start brainstorming for the promotional draft as soon as possible.

“The previous draft is scrapped.

We’re redoing it completely.”

Song Ye’s voice was calm and clear.

“We will release a real gameplay demonstration video, introduce the core mechanics, and focus on showcasing open-world exploration.”

This was originally planned for later.

Now, they were forced to move it up.

Jiang Nanshu asked a few more questions.

Song Ye answered them one by one.

As she listened, ideas for the new promotional draft began forming in her mind.

Late at night, the company was almost empty.

The two of them swiped their access cards and entered.

As the elevator approached the 16th floor, Jiang Nanshu kept her hands in her coat pockets and finally couldn’t help but turn to ask, “Why don’t you ask me if I leaked the information?”

Song Ye didn’t even look at her.

As the elevator doors opened, he walked out directly.

“I never doubted you.”

“…”

Jiang Nanshu stepped out of the elevator, biting her lip as she stared at his back.

Thank you very much!

Song Ye turned on the lights, brightening the entire 16th floor.

He glanced back at her.

“I’ll be in my office.

Call me if you need anything.”

Jiang Nanshu nodded, walked to her desk, and turned on her computer.

She took a deep breath and went to the shared documents to look for materials.

At that moment, voices came from the entrance

“Tonight’s an all-nighter.

Let’s order takeout.”

“I’m so sick of working overtime lately, I can’t even eat.”

“Alright.”

It was Gao Xiaokun’s voice.

“I’ll order skewers later.

Don’t eat if you don’t want to.”

At ten o’clock in the morning, the promotional draft was released on various platforms on time.

Jiang Nanshu poured herself another cup of coffee, sat back at her computer, and waited for player comments and feedback.

The promotional draft included a segment of real gameplay footage, showcasing the game’s core mechanics, highlighting the puzzle-solving exploration elements in the open world, and featuring some of the most stunning character designs.

Player 1: [A bit unexpected.

It’s different from what last night’s black post claimed.

Looks like people were too quick to criticize.

The transition between 3D and 2D is very smooth.

Just from this video alone, it’s on par with Starflame.]

Player 4: [The integration of the scenes and world storyline is perfect.

This is only part of it, right?]

Player 8: [The puzzle-solving and exploration elements are really appealing to me.]

Player 12: [Is this really made by Jifan? Aren’t they known for card-based pay-to-win games? I can’t believe they actually developed an open-world game.

The producer is impressive.]

Player 25: [According to rumors, the producer has changed.

It’s not the original team anymore.]

Player 106: [The producer has potential, but let’s not get ahead of ourselves.

So far, I haven’t seen anything groundbreaking.]

The comments were rolling in quickly, and most of them were positive.

Zhou Jiale had already replayed the video countless times.

Each time she watched it, she had to praise it: “This is so cool.

If anyone still criticizes it, they must be professional haters.”

Li Junyi, who worked in operations but was also a seasoned gamer, agreed, “Exactly.”

Jiang Nanshu thought to herself: The time was too tight.

If not for that, Song Ye definitely could have done even better.

The morning passed by.

There were no major issues in public sentiment monitoring, meaning the crisis caused by the black post was likely averted.

Jiang Nanshu finally breathed a sigh of relief.

Zhou Jiale noticed her looking unwell and quickly suggested, “Nanshu, you should rest for a bit.

You’ve been up all night.”

Jiang Nanshu hummed in agreement and was about to lay her head on the desk for a short rest when Song Ye sent a meeting notification in the group chat.

In the large conference room, Song Ye sat with his arms crossed and legs spread out, leaning lazily in his chair.

His expression was cold as he looked at everyone.

“Now we can resolve the issue of the information leak.

Those who did it know exactly what they’ve done.

It’s best to step forward voluntarily, so I don’t have to waste time tracking you down.”

The room fell silent.

Jiang Nanshu remembered that she was still under suspicion.

She forced herself to focus and quickly recalled the details from the past two days.

Suddenly, a thought struck her.

She immediately opened the promotional draft that had been submitted to Lu Xiaowei the other day.

All internal shared files downloaded within the company had a subtle timestamp.

At the bottom right of each image, there was a faint watermark indicating the download time and the name of the person who downloaded it.

The watermark was very light and easy to overlook.

She checked the watermark on the promotional draft, then opened last night’s black post and found that one of the images still had a partially visible watermark that hadn’t been edited out completely.

The timestamp on the black post was from Wednesday at around 4 PM.

At that time, she seemed to have been in Song Ye’s office on a call with the vet.

Lu Xiaowei cleared her throat and said, “This issue concerns our marketing team “

“Wait a moment.”

Jiang Nanshu interrupted her.

“I have something to say.”

Everyone turned their attention to her.

She glanced at Song Ye.

Song Ye looked back at her and nodded.

“Go ahead.”

“I wrote the promotional draft, and based on last night’s group chat reactions, it seems I am the prime suspect.”

Jiang Nanshu remained seated, her expression calm as she faced the group.

“I now have proof that I wasn’t the one who did this.”

She explained the discrepancy between the timestamps on the promotional draft and the black post.

Everyone pulled out their phones to check, and indeed, the timestamps didn’t match.

Some people were still confused and asked, “So what?

How does that prove anything?”

Jiang Nanshu pursed her lips and looked at Song Ye.

“I was… called to the boss’s office at the time to discuss a few competitor research questions.”

Between calling him “Ye-ge” and “boss,” she chose the latter.

A flicker of amusement crossed Song Ye’s eyes.

It was unclear whether he found it amusing that she was lying in front of everyone or if it was just because of the way she addressed him.

Jiang Nanshu suddenly felt a bit embarrassed, as if they were secretly working together behind the scenes.

She forced herself to maintain a composed expression and said matter-of-factly, “I wasn’t at my computer at the time.

He can confirm my alibi.”

Song Ye casually looked at her and slightly curled his lips.

“She was indeed in my office at the time.

The security footage can confirm it.”

Jiang Nanshu averted her gaze slightly and said indifferently, “If anyone doesn’t believe me, they can check the surveillance footage.”

Was that passive-aggressive?

She could play that game too.

The conference room was dead silent.

Some people glanced at Lu Xiaowei.

Lu Xiaowei kept her head down, her face looking terrible, and said nothing.

“This timestamp implicates several people who were at their computers at the time.

If no one steps forward, we’ll start by checking the surveillance footage in the office area.”

Song Ye turned to the IT team leader.

“Once we identify the location, check the chat logs.”

The company’s internal chat system allowed IT to retrieve chat histories.

New employees might not know this, but the veterans were aware that sensitive complaints should be made over WeChat instead.

Of course, that didn’t apply to those who were reckless and indifferent.

As soon as he finished speaking, Lu Xiaowei’s face turned pale.

“Anyone who worked overtime last night can leave early to rest.”

Song Ye tapped the table twice.

“Meeting adjourned.”

Leaving the conference room, Zhou Jiale clung to Jiang Nanshu’s arm and let out a sigh of relief.

“That’s great.

You can finally go home and rest now.”

Jiang Nanshu smiled.

“Yeah.”

Back at her desk, she packed up her things while yawning.

She was exhausted.

Seeing how drowsy she was, Zhou Jiale hesitated and said, “Maybe you should rest at the office for a bit before going home?

I’m afraid you might fall asleep in the car and get taken away by the driver without even knowing.”

“…That could actually happen.”

Jiang Nanshu was so sleepy that it was indeed a possibility.

Zhou Jiale suggested, “Why don’t you nap in an empty meeting room?”

Jiang Nanshu thought for a moment, hugged her coat, and nodded.

“Alright.”

Zhou Jiale watched her, unable to hold back a chuckle.

“You always look so elegant.

You never seem like a tired corporate worker at a gaming company.”

But now, with her tired face, red-rimmed eyes, dark circles, slightly messy hair, and pale complexion, she finally looked like one.

Jiang Nanshu rolled her eyes weakly at her.

Zhou Jiale grinned.

“Don’t worry, though.

You’re still gorgeous.”

Too tired to argue, Jiang Nanshu took a sip of water, grabbed her coat, and went to find an empty meeting room for a nap.