Chapter 34 : I broke up with her.

Jiang Nanshu subconsciously looked up and saw Song Ye and Li Yi standing at the office door, their gazes fixed on her.

She looked at him and gently nodded.

The research group had finished work by now, a group of people walking arm in arm in this direction, discussing where to go for a late-night snack.

Gao Xiaokun saw Jiang Nanshu and cheerfully called out,

“Senior, you’re working this late, too?”

“Mm, I didn’t finish some work, so I stayed late,” Jiang Nanshu replied, picking up her bag and walking to her workstation, smiling at them.

“I only work this late occasionally. You guys are the ones working the hardest.”

“We were busy at first, but when it came to testing and going live, you guys in operations didn’t slack off either,” Gao Xiaokun said, looking at her, and then asked, “How are you getting home?”

Jiang Nanshu paused for a moment and said, “I’ll take a taxi.”

Gao Xiaokun replied, “I’ll give you a ride!”

“You’re not on the way.”

Song Ye said with his hands in his pockets, glancing coldly at him before casually letting his gaze fall on Jiang Nanshu.

“She’s coming with me, it’s on the way.”

Jiang Nanshu: “…”

She couldn’t help but look up at him.

Is it too obvious?

Gao Xiaokun scratched his head.

“I see… Well, okay then.”

Li Yi sighed. How could this silly kid not see it?

Your boss is pursuing your senior!

“Boss, are you having a late-night snack?”

Chen Yang asked, looking at Song Ye.

“No, I don’t have a habit of late-night snacks,” Song Ye replied.

He occasionally ate with Lin Yao or the project team, but Chen Yang knew he wasn’t really into them.

He just wanted someone to pay. Song Ye saw right through him.

“Let Li Yi pay.”

Li Yi: “…”

He only has so much money, and with so many people going for a late-night snack, he was going to be drained.

Li Yi’s eyes lit up, and he smiled at Jiang Nanshu.

“Senior, why don’t you come with us?”

Chen Yang also looked at her.

“Yeah, come with us.”

A group of people eagerly looked at her.

Jiang Nanshu blinked, glancing at Song Ye.

“Well… should we go together?”

Song Ye lowered his eyes to look at her, and淡淡 murmured, “Mm.”

There are many companies in the area, and several of them require overtime work.

As a result, nearby late-night snacks are abundant.

The group didn’t go far and quickly entered a nearby popular barbecue spot.

Along with Jiang Nanshu, there were two girls from the planning team.

They sat at several tables, ordered a bunch of barbecue and several pots of seafood porridge.

While waiting for the food to arrive, someone shouted for a round of King of Glory.

Working on games during the day and playing games at night, that’s just the routine of a gamer.

Everyone had a phone in hand and was already grouping up to play.

Chen Yang called out, “Boss, join us.”

The tables and chairs in the restaurant were quite low.

Song Ye was tall, lazily leaning back in his chair.

His long legs had nowhere to rest, so he sat farther from the table than everyone else.

Jiang Nanshu sat right in front of him.

With so many people, their seats were closely packed, and with the distance between them, Jiang Nanshu only needed to lean back a little to be in his arms.

So, she kept sitting upright, not daring to lean back.

Song Ye glanced down and noticed she was playing that otome game again, wearing headphones, flirting with the characters in the game.

“Jiang Nanshu, do you play King of Glory?” He suddenly spoke up.

Jiang Nanshu paused, looking up at him.

“I do, but I don’t play much.”

“As long as you can play,” Song Ye said淡淡ly, “I’ll carry you.”

“I haven’t played in a long time, I might drag you guys down,” Jiang Nanshu said honestly.

With all the overtime in the past two years, she preferred playing otome games that provide emotional value.

Song Ye nonchalantly said, “Pick one, I’ll play support.”

Jiang Nanshu took off her headphones, entered the game, and chose Yu Ji.

Song Ye’s avatar immediately lit up, and he chose Zhuang Zhou.

As the game started, everyone noticed that Jiang Nanshu wasn’t as bad as she had claimed.

Her operations were quite good, possibly because Song Ye’s coordination was just that excellent.

Jiang Nanshu was rescued by him several times, and she realized that Song Ye was good at the game.

The game ended, and the barbecue started to arrive at the table.

Someone next to them said, “Are there any fun new games lately?”

Gao Xiaokun replied, “There’s an indie puzzle game that’s quite popular.”

“Some indie games are indeed well made, but some only start off well, and the longer you play, the less interesting they become,” Chen Yang said, listing some games he had fallen into.

The girl sitting next to Jiang Nanshu spoke up, “I used to play an indie game called ‘Echoes of Time,’ not sure if you’ve heard of it.

The plot and twists in the early and later parts were great. It was pretty popular at the time and was just short of hitting the mainstream.

I’m not sure what the creator was thinking, though the game’s ending was left unfinished, it’s like it was abandoned.”

“‘Echoes of Time’? I’ve played it too,” Jiang Nanshu remembered.

She recalled that the game had been launched on a domestic gaming platform.

At the time, she had just started working, and a colleague had recommended it to her.

She still had some memory of it.

In the game, the male protagonist “William” has to kill the demon king because the demon king has kidnapped the princess.

William solves puzzles and clears levels, bringing the princess back home.

But soon, the princess is kidnapped again, and William goes to save her once more.

After repeating this several times, the twist comes that the princess was actually in league with the demon king, and she wants to escape from William.

It turns out that William is the one who wants to capture her.

That’s where the game’s setup ended.

But ‘Echoes of Time’ felt unfinished.

The final scene showed the princess and a light gray cat, locked in a beautiful room, with both the demon king and the male protagonist only able to watch from a distance.

And that was it.

At the time, there were many help-seeking posts on forums, with players believing the game couldn’t possibly end so simply.

They thought there must be hidden gameplay that they hadn’t found.

Many gaming experts joined in to play, but the conclusion was that the game was indeed abandoned.

It was still somewhat popular but never reached the mainstream. Jiang Nanshu agreed with the girl from the planning team, “If they had continued to develop it, it could have been a big hit.”

“It sounds familiar. That game was ranked pretty high on the sales chart back then. It probably made a few million dollars. If it had been managed well or sold off, it could have earned a lot. But that game is still the same now. It hasn’t been updated, and I don’t know what the creator was thinking. They’re not making money anymore.”

Chen Yang had some recollection of the game because he had seen a hot post about it on the platform’s forum.

The post was probably titled “What games do you regret not playing?”

‘Echoes of Time’ was in the top ten for likes.

That’s why Chen Yang remembered it.

Li Yi, holding a skewer of grilled meat, slowly looked at Song Ye.

Song Ye was looking down at his phone. His eyelids were heavy, and his face showed no expression, as cold as usual.

The Zhuang Zhou in the game had already lost all his health.

He had lost interest in continuing to play, so the screen of his phone turned off, and he put it back in his pocket.

He then looked down at Jiang Nanshu.

Jiang Nanshu noticed him putting his phone away.

“Not playing anymore?”

Song Ye, without showing any emotion, gave a soft “Mm.”

Li Yi knew that the creator of this game was his older brother, and that’s how he found out.

One time, he went to his brother’s house to hang out, and when he was playing on his computer, he saw the materials for ‘Echoes of Time.’

At that time, he was only sixteen or seventeen and secretly searched the platform, finding out that the game’s creator was named Will, which was Song Ye’s username on the platform.

Very few people knew about this, and Li Yi had only discovered it by chance.

He saw that Song Ye didn’t say anything, and guessed that he probably didn’t want anyone to know.

Luckily, the conversation shifted quickly.

After a few more sentences, the topic changed.

Chen Yang turned to Song Ye.

“Boss, when’s your business trip?”

Song Ye is going on a business trip?

Jiang Nanshu froze for a moment and instinctively turned to look at him.

Song Ye glanced at her.

“The day after tomorrow, in the afternoon.”

At this late-night snack, Song Ye and Jiang Nanshu ate the least.

Jiang Nanshu wasn’t a big fan of barbecue, so she only had a few skewers and a small bowl of porridge.

Song Ye, on the other hand, seemed distracted and didn’t eat much.

He paid for the bill first, didn’t return to his seat, and sent Jiang Nanshu a WeChat message: [Do you want to go with me to pick up the car, or wait for me by the side of the road?]

Jiang Nanshu looked up at everyone, then lowered her head to reply: [I’ll go with you.]

After bidding farewell to her colleagues, she walked to the entrance of the barbecue shop.

She saw Song Ye’s tall figure standing not far away.

He had his hands in his pockets, casually turning his head to look at her, his sharp features even colder under the dim streetlights.

Jiang Nanshu quickly walked over and stood in front of him.

Song Ye gave her a glance, raised his hand, and grabbed the fluffy hood of her down jacket, pulling it over her head.

“Let’s go.”

The hood blocked her vision a bit, so Jiang Nanshu raised her hand to adjust it and followed behind him.

“How many days are you away? Where are you going?”

“An island, for a week,” Song Ye slowed his pace and explained, “It’s not really a business trip, more like a senior management annual meeting.

I’ve been busy lately and didn’t plan to go, but last night, the boss called personally and insisted.”

Jiang Nanshu responded with a soft “Oh,” understanding the situation.

It was a leisure trip for the senior management meeting, a perk for the company’s top executives.

But it wasn’t all fun and games; they’d still have meetings, and if there were disagreements on development directions, there might even be arguments.

Thinking about the timing, once the senior management meeting ended, it would be time for the company’s annual meeting.

After the annual meeting, they’d get a few days off for the New Year.

They walked side by side, surrounded by tall buildings that blocked the cold wind, so it wasn’t as chilly anymore.

Their shadows merged under the yellow streetlights.

Song Ye stopped and looked down at her.

“Will you take care of the shredded pork for me these days?”

Jiang Nanshu suddenly remembered that the shredded pork had been a gift he wanted to give her back then. Now… he said he wanted to pursue her, but it seemed like he didn’t have any intention of giving her the shredded pork after all.

However, she understood that he had raised it for so many years, and there were bound to be feelings attached.

On the other hand, she also had Xiao Bei now.

“Okay, I’ll bring it home and play with Xiao Bei.” She slightly tilted her head, smiling at him.

Song Ye, with his hands in his pockets, looked at the faint dimple on the corner of her mouth, then nonchalantly looked away and took a step forward, walking into the company building.

“Let the shredded pork find its nest. You can bring Xiao Bei to accompany it for a while after work tonight, but don’t take it home.”

“Okay.”

Jiang Nanshu didn’t think much of it and cheerfully followed him.

On the way back, Jiang Nanshu sat in the passenger seat.

She thought about the game Time Echo and remembered some of the plot she had forgotten.

She went to the forum to browse posts and videos.

Song Ye saw her start fiddling with her phone as soon as she got in the car.

He thought she was just playing with her husband again, so he rested his hand on the steering wheel, driving with a neutral expression.

Suddenly, a familiar BGM sounded. He froze for a moment and turned to look at her.

Jiang Nanshu lowered her head, watching a video montage, not lifting her head.

She casually said, “Time Echo, do you know this game?”

Song Ye paused for a second and said, “I know.”

“Have you played it?”

“…Yeah.”

Jiang Nanshu finished watching the video and sighed, “It’s a pity there’s no ending.

When I played it to the end, I was really conflicted. I felt sorry for the princess, like she was going to be locked up for life.”

Song Ye was silent for a few seconds and then asked, “Who do you think the princess should choose?”

Jiang Nanshu found this question hard to answer because in the game, the princess followed the demon king.

However, there were Easter eggs hidden in the game that allowed players to sense William’s internal struggles and pain.

Yet, he was still romantic and loyal.

She thought for a moment and said, “I don’t know, but I feel like the creator’s original intention for the game was to have William bring the princess home.”

“Why?” The man asked softly.

“Maybe because William kept solving puzzles and going through levels. No matter how many times he tried, he still wanted to bring the princess home,” Jiang Nanshu paused.

“But this is just a guess. I’m not the creator, so I don’t know what he really thought.”

Song Ye chuckled.

“So, what do you think?” She turned to him curiously.

The man kept his eyes on the road, chuckling lightly, his lips curling slightly.

His expression seemed to carry a subtle tenderness that was hard to describe.

“You’re right. No matter how many times, William always wanted to bring the princess home.”

Jiang Nanshu froze for a moment at his words, feeling a strange flutter in her chest.

She couldn’t help but think that Song Ye might be confessing to her.

By the time they got home, it was nearly one in the morning.

Song Ye had been very busy lately.

When he got home, he would usually just take a shower and go straight to bed.

Tonight, after his shower, he casually dried his hair with a towel, then went to the balcony to light a cigarette.

He leaned lazily against the railing, his gaze falling on the shredded pork in the cat’s nest.

As the smoke curled around him, his mind drifted back to the past.

In the winter after he graduated from college, he signed with a company in the country and worked while pursuing his graduate studies.

One morning, he suddenly received an email.

The sender had emailed him the night after the college entrance exam.

More than four years later, the same person sent him another email.

This time, it only contained six words: I broke up with her.

Why tell him about the breakup?

Did they think that because they broke up, he would go back to pursue Jiang Nanshu?

Was it meant to provoke or mock him?

I don’t want Jiang Nanshu anymore, you can come back and chase her.

Song Ye found it laughable.

He closed the email and let out a cold laugh.

Time Echo was released about six months after that.

…

Song Ye lowered his head, snuffed out the cigarette, and threw it in the trash. He turned and walked into the study.

He leaned back in his chair, waiting for the computer screen to light up.

He stared at the screen for a while, then opened the project folder for Time Echo.