Chapter 41 : Echoes of Time and Space (3/3)

She had thought for a moment it was a blind date setup.

Jiang Nanshu smiled at him.

“Well, thank you all.”

“Is this Madam’s daughter?”

A young doctor looked over and stared at Jiang Nanshu, then couldn’t help exclaiming,

“She’s so beautiful.”

Jiang Yu heard the noise and came over from the balcony, looking at Jiang Nanshu still standing by the entrance.

“You’re back.”

Jiang Nanshu walked over and handed her the bouquet of carnations.

“Mom, happy birthday.”

Jiang Yu smiled and hugged her.

Then turned to introduce her to the others.

“My daughter, Nanshu.”

Whenever Jiang Yu introduced her to outsiders, she would habitually leave off the surname, so everyone assumed her name was just “Nanshu.”

Back when Jiang Nanshu transferred schools, Jiang Yu even asked if she wanted to change her last name to Jiang.

To match hers.

Jiang Nanshu had hesitated.

“Jiang Nanshu?

Doesn’t that sound kind of awkward?”

It didn’t sound great.

So the name change was dropped.

“Nanshu, where do you work?” the young doctor asked.

Jiang Nanshu sat down on a single-seater sofa and smiled at him.

“I work in a game company, doing operations.”

“Do you guys work a lot of overtime?

I’ve heard that people in game companies can be even busier than doctors.”

This came from another male doctor.

Jiang Nanshu nodded.

“Most of the time, it’s pretty busy.”

Everyone started asking which company she worked for, what project she was on.

They occasionally played some games themselves.

Cheng He looked at them and couldn’t help but interrupt.

“Are you doing a household registration check or what?

So many questions.”

The male doctor glanced at him, then at Jiang Nanshu, and chuckled.

“Don’t think I don’t know that Professor Lu introduced someone to you.

Said it was his daughter — must be Nanshu, right?”

Everyone turned to look at the two of them.

Jiang Nanshu: “…”

Cheng He looked at her.

His gaze was very gentle.

Then he turned to the male doctor.

“How do you know?”

They were probably good friends.

The male doctor smirked and replied lazily.

“I overheard Professor Lu talking to you.

You didn’t go on a date, so I figured it didn’t work out.

Didn’t want to call you out.”

Then he turned to Jiang Nanshu again.

“Nanshu, Cheng He is the top pick at our hospital.

Professor Lu’s prized student.

Future head of cardiothoracic surgery, for sure.

Think about it.”

The other doctors all looked at them with amused smiles, clearly enjoying the gossip.

“You talk too much.”

Cheng He smacked the male doctor on the shoulder, then looked at Jiang Nanshu.

“He’s always like this, can’t keep his mouth shut.

Don’t mind him.”

In front of so many people, Jiang Nanshu could only smile awkwardly.

She stood up.

“I’ll leave you to it.

I’ll go check if the kitchen needs help.”

In the kitchen, only Lu Mingkun and Lu Youchuan were busy.

Since it was Jiang Yu’s birthday, Lu Mingkun wouldn’t let her do anything.

He said the birthday girl just needed to wait and eat.

She wandered around the kitchen for a bit.

Lu Youchuan turned around and saw her.

“You’re back?

Dinner’s almost ready.

Can you grab the dishes?”

Jiang Nanshu helped set the table.

Not long after, a big spread of dishes was brought out.

Lu Mingkun opened a few bottles of wine and had some drinks with the students.

After everyone was full and had chatted a bit more, they cut the cake with Jiang Yu.

It was almost nine by the time the group of doctors finally got up to leave.

Jiang Nanshu and Lu Youchuan walked them downstairs.

The group had planned to drink, so none of them drove.

Cheng He turned to Jiang Nanshu and smiled.

“Nanshu, want to take a walk together?”

The other doctors immediately started teasing.

“Oooh, go Cheng!”

“We’ll head out first, take your time.”

“We’ll grab a taxi at the gate.”

Jiang Nanshu waved at them helplessly.

After a moment’s thought, she looked at Cheng He.

“I’ll walk you to the gate.”

Keeping a distance of about ten meters from the others, the two of them walked slowly behind.

Cheng He noticed her cough and expressed concern.

Jiang Nanshu said, “I had a fever earlier, just about recovered.

Still cough a bit sometimes.”

Cheng He was a smooth talker.

His tone was gentle, and he seemed well-mannered.

From the apartment to the community gate,

he asked about her home renovations and her game projects.

The conversation flowed easily, and she felt comfortable talking to him.

A black Mercedes turned the corner and was about to enter the neighborhood gate.

The man in the driver’s seat caught sight of the two walking side by side and immediately hit the brakes.

Song Ye’s face was expressionless as he turned the wheel and slowly pulled the car over.

Jiang Nanshu’s phone had been vibrating in her pocket the whole time.

She finally took it out and glanced at it.

It was the Feishu group chat blowing up.

She thought something urgent had happened at work,

so she stopped walking, stood at the edge of the sidewalk, and looked down to check.

Cheng He stopped, too, lowering his eyes to glance at her.

The group chat was buzzing with chatter.

Messages were flying by so fast she couldn’t catch all of them.

Until someone fed her.

She finally tapped in and saw what they were talking about.

Game Planning Group – Sakura:Nanshu Nanshu! That game “Echoes of Time” has been updated!!!

The producer just dropped the update out of nowhere!

Game Planning Group – Sakura: Hurry and play! Let’s discuss the plot after!

Game Planning Group – Sakura: It’s free for beta users. Did the producer make enough money already?!

She was the girl from the planning group who had late-night snacks with them before.

It was Nan Shu who first brought up “Echoes of Time.”

Many games release updated expansions as paid DLCs to boost revenue.

For a game like “Echoes of Time” that almost went viral and already had a strong fan base, was it updated for free?

Jiang Nanshu was also shocked.

The group chat was filled with discussion about this.

R&D Group’s Chen Yang: Maybe they did make enough money.

I saw tons of posts on gaming forums.

With all this buzz, if they sold it as DLC, they could easily make a few million in revenue!

The producers ‘ class just walked away from the money.

R&D Group’s Gao Zekun: Maybe it’s just for closure or nostalgia.

Maybe they never planned to make money from it.

Lead Programmer Du Heng: Only girls like this kind of game.

Even if it were sold as DLC, it wouldn’t make much.

You guys are overestimating it.

Lead Planner Li Yi: Who says only girls like it?

Tons of guys play puzzle games—I love it!

Whether it makes money or not isn’t our business.

Maybe the producer made the game just for someone special.

Operations Zhou Jiale: For whom?

Li Yi, you got inside info? Spill it!

Lead Planner Li Yi: No insider info.

But the producer seriously… gave up the money.

Give it to me instead!!

Operations Li Junyi: [You’re not his wife.

Why would he give you money?]

…

“Is there something going on at your company?” Cheng He asked gently.

Jiang Nanshu finally looked up and smiled at him. “Not really.

Just that an old unfinished game suddenly got updated, and everyone’s talking about it.”

She paused. “Did you call a ride?”

Only then did Cheng He take out his phone to open the ride-hailing app.

After booking the car, he smiled at her. “It’ll take a few minutes.”

“Then… I’ll wait with you.”

Jiang Nanshu was a bit distracted, intrigued by the chat.

She was curious about the update to “Echoes of Time.”

But… her computer was still at Song Ye’s place.

Cheng He looked down at her.

“Are you free tomorrow? Want to go watch a movie?”

Bang

The sound of a car door slamming came from behind.

Cheng He instinctively looked up and locked eyes with the man who had just stepped out of the car.

The man had striking looks, the kind of handsome that carried a touch of aggression.

His whole vibe was cold and aloof.

Especially the way he looked at people was intense, almost oppressive.

Jiang Nanshu, with her back to him, raised her eyes to Cheng He. “Tomorrow I…”

“She’s busy tomorrow.”

A cold, indifferent voice cut her off.

Cheng He: “……”

Jiang Nanshu: “……”

The moment she heard that voice, her heart started pounding wildly.

Startled, she turned around.

Song Ye stood under the streetlamp, his expression unreadable.

He was holding her laptop and leaning casually against the car, watching them.

Her heart pounded like crazy, like she’d been caught cheating, but she quickly calmed herself.

She pressed her lips together and raised an eyebrow.

“What are you doing here?”

“Can’t I be here?” Song Ye looked at her coldly.

“……”
Great timing.

Cheng He had a bad feeling and looked toward Jiang Nanshu.

Jiang Nanshu shifted slightly and calmly introduced Song Ye, “My boss.”

Song Ye glanced at her and added, “High school classmate.”

After a pause, he tacked on two more words, flatly, “Deskmate.”

Jiang Nanshu: “……”

She couldn’t help but glance at him.

“High school classmate” already sounded more ambiguous than “boss.”

Adding “deskmate” to it, like he was trying to clarify,

only made it sound more ambiguous.

Cheng He looked at the two of them and could already guess their relationship wasn’t simple.

Just then, his phone rang.

The car he ordered had arrived.

Cheng He hung up reluctantly, looked at Jiang Nanshu, and still managed a smile: “I’ll get going then, thanks for walking me out.”

After watching Cheng He get in the car and the vehicle drive away, Jiang Nanshu turned to Song Ye.

“You came to see me?”

“Who else?”

Song Ye leaned against the car door, expressionless, tone still cold.

“My timing was perfect.”

Jiang Nanshu choked a bit, slowly shoved her hands into her pockets, and smiled like she didn’t care: “Yeah, caught me red-handed. Real perfect timing.”

Song Ye: “……”

He was silent for a few seconds, then walked over in long strides.

His tall figure stood in front of her, exuding a strong sense of pressure.

Jiang Nanshu pressed her lips together and glanced down, noticing he was still holding the laptop.

After a few seconds of silence, she looked back up at him.

“Did you come to see me for something?”

Song Ye handed her the laptop, eyes lowered as he looked at her.

“Brought you your computer.”

“Huh?”

Jiang Nanshu paused, then reached out to take the laptop and hugged it to her chest.

“Actually… I wasn’t in that much of a rush.

Tomorrow would’ve been fine too.”

Song Ye kept his hands in his pockets, his voice calm.

“I was in a rush.”

“…My laptop is burning your hands or something?”

Jiang Nanshu looked up at him, baffled.

Song Ye went quiet for a moment, then lowered his gaze.

“Want me to give you a ride home?”

“You came all the way here… just to bring me my laptop?”

“Mm.”

Jiang Nanshu found him a little odd, but didn’t think too much of it.

She glanced at his car and said, “I want to ride. I’m too cold to walk.”

Song Ye let out a quiet snort, then turned around and opened the car door for her.

Jiang Nanshu got in, placed the laptop on her lap.

Her phone was still vibrating with messages.

She turned her head to look at him.

“Did you see the group chat? They’re saying Echoes of Time got updated.”

Song Ye started the car and pulled out quietly, hands steady on the wheel.

“Didn’t see it.”

He paused.

“That guy, he’s the blind date?”

“…Yeah.”

Jiang Nanshu tilted her head to look at his cool, indifferent profile, and still explained.

“It was my mom’s birthday.

Uncle Lu’s students came over for dinner.”

Song Ye gave a soft “Mm” and said nothing more.

Seeing his reaction reminded Jiang Nanshu of the cheating rumor about her.

She felt stifled but didn’t bother explaining further.

As soon as they got home, she rushed back to her room and turned on her computer.

The appearance of the new laptop wasn’t much different from the old one.

Song Ye had even set the desktop to look exactly like her original setup.

So the new addition was instantly noticeable.

On the desktop, there was a new ocean-blue icon.

Below it were four characters: Echoes of Time.