HYSE - 3

Shi Yin thought that as Chief Editor Gu grew older, he seemed to become more humorous.

Although this kind of dry humor still made her a bit angry.

She pushed her sketchbook forward, leaned back into the chair, sneered, ground her teeth, but still remained calm and even joked good-naturedly: [It’s okay, you can always block me again.]

After waiting three minutes, there was no reply.

Could it be that he didn’t know what to say?

Shi Yin thought for a moment and decided she could be a little understanding. She carefully selected a cute yet aloof sticker from her collection to express her half-serious, half-joking dissatisfaction.

This time, a notification popped up almost instantly under the green bubble.

— The message has been sent but was rejected by the recipient.

“...”

Shi Yin: ????

Shi Yin stared at the screen in disbelief.

Her mother, sitting across from her, watched her daughter’s face change like a palette after picking up the phone, and slammed the table to assert her presence: “I’m talking to you! Are you ignoring me now? What do you think of your mother?!”

As if not hearing her, Shi Yin fixed her eyes on the WeChat interface, muttering bitterly: “Bastard…”

Mother Shi: “…”

The next second, a piercing female scream echoed throughout the café: “Shi Yin?! Are you trying to drive me crazy?!?!”

Ultimately, with much wailing and gnashing of teeth, Shi Yin reluctantly agreed to meet the banking elite male her mother had mentioned, sparing her life from being beaten to death on the spot.

Mother Shi originally intended for them to add each other on WeChat first and chat, but Shi Yin thought it unnecessary. As she stuffed her sketchbook into her bag, she said: “No need to add now. Let’s meet first. If we get along, we can add later.” After pausing, she muttered softly, “Otherwise, I’ll have to delete it again...”

Mother Shi’s ears were sharp; her anger hadn’t subsided yet, and she poked Shi Yin’s head with a disappointed expression: “When you meet him, behave yourself and don’t cause trouble!”

Shi Yin dared not act out and obediently nodded.

Mother Shi thought for a moment and added: “You don’t have to try too hard either. It’s my daughter who is choosing a man. He should be the one trying hard. You can be casual, even a bit spicy.”

Shi Yin: “...”

Mother Shi needed to go shopping and drinking tea with her girlfriends in the afternoon, so she didn’t chat with Shi Yin for long before rushing off for her beauty treatment.

In the afternoon, a message came through stating they had arranged to meet at the revolving restaurant on the top floor of Golden Ding. The meeting was set for 5:30 PM on Saturday, and they also sent over a phone number with the note “Lin Yuan.”

Shi Yin casually glanced at her phone and tossed it aside, not paying much attention, and continued reading the manga in her hands.

Shi Yi’s first long manga series had been serialized for three years, which wasn’t a short period. However, it was only her first long work, and in the manga world, she was undoubtedly still considered a newcomer.

The last thing Zhao Editor told her before leaving was about the annual summer manga newcomer award in late July and early August.

Shi Yin had participated once before, but that year’s average quality was mediocre, without any standout works, so her championship win was unsurprising.

Later, she started working on long serializations and didn’t have the energy to participate. Now that her long series was nearing its end, the editor suggested she use the first chapter of her new serialization to enter this newcomer award and see how it goes, generating some buzz.

The manga book Shi Yin currently held was also last year’s winner of the newcomer award, and this person was participating again this year.

The pen name was Sweet Apple Candy.

Just looking at this pen name, Shi Yin could imagine a lolita-dressed loli hugging a drawing tablet, coloring diligently.

Sweet Apple Candy lived up to her pen name; the story was very girlish, the art style sweet, the brushstrokes delicate, and the colors vivid, immediately catching the eye, making Shi Yin envious.

Shi Yin’s weakness lay in color illustrations.

Unfortunately, black-and-white manga had virtually no future domestically; colored manga was king.

Shi Yin placed Sweet Apple Candy’s manga upside down on her face, wrinkling her nose in discontent.

The book slowly slid off her face and landed on her lap with a soft thud, clearly audible in the quiet room.

That solitary sound made Shi Yin feel incredibly sad.

With a furrowed face, she sat upright, grabbed her phone from the coffee table, and messaged Zhao Editor: [Brother Zhao!!!!!!]

Zhao Editor: [?]

Shi Yin: [I miss you so much!]

Zhao Editor was silent for half a minute before cautiously replying: [Teacher Shi Yi, please don’t do this. My child is already three years old.]

“...”

Speechless for three seconds, Shi Yin gathered herself and began recounting Chief Editor Gu’s misdeeds, each word dripping with blood.

[Brother Zhao, truth be told, since that fleeting glimpse at my doorstep last time, I haven’t seen Chief Editor Gu again.]

[Not once, not even once.]

[We haven’t even spoken.]

[I tried adding him on WeChat, but he didn’t add me.]

[Finally, when he did add me, he said he clicked by mistake.]

[Okay, fine, he clicked by mistake, but then he blocked me.]

[Isn’t that too despicable?!?!?!?!]

[Brother Zhao!!! Life is so hard for me!!!]

[I miss you, miss you, want to send you endless texts, want to call you non-stop.]

[I miss the days when you helped me revise storyboards and paste screen tones.]

[Why did you change my editor! I don’t want it! I don’t want a change! He doesn’t even help me paste screen tones or discuss new serializations with me. I don’t want him!!!]

[He didn’t even add me on WeChat!!!]

Shi Yin typed furiously, venting most of her pent-up frustration, sighed deeply, and lazily slumped back onto the sofa.

After a brief silence, Zhao Editor slowly replied: [Chief Editor was just standing beside me watching.]

Shi Yin: “...”

Zhao Editor continued: [Now he’s stood up.]

Shi Yin: [...?]

Zhao Editor, amused by the misfortune: [Oh, he went out, maybe to settle accounts with you.]

“...”

After three seconds of silence, Shi Yin quietly scrolled up the chat history, reviewing what she had just said.

Shi Yin closed her eyes in despair.

Ever since meeting Gu Congli, everything seemed to go wrong for her.

When bad luck strikes, even drinking cold water gets stuck in your teeth.

All those disrespectful words she said were seen by Gu Congli, surely he would come to haunt her soul.

Cross-legged on the sofa, Shi Yin checked the time, calculating how long it would take to drive from Yaoguang Company to her place while rapidly drafting scenarios in her mind, simulating various situations and contexts for their second meeting.

About half an hour later, she listed all possible things Gu Congli might say and thought of suitable responses, took a deep breath, and prepared for battle.

Calculating the time, he should be arriving soon.

Shi Yin straightened her back, sat still for a minute, then suddenly remembered something, jumped up, and rushed into the bathroom to wash her face, then dashed to the dressing table in her bedroom to start applying makeup.

There’s a type of makeup called natural makeup.

Shi Yin wet her beauty sponge, concealed her dark circles, applied a thin layer of foundation, used minimal blush and eyeliner to keep it natural, and didn’t even apply mascara.

Looking at herself in the mirror, she pondered whether to change clothes.

But decided against it; pajamas looked more natural, otherwise, it’d seem like she dressed up waiting for him.

With everything ready, Shi Yin took a chilled plum juice from the fridge, sat comfortably on the sofa, laying the manga flat on the coffee table in front of her.

Shi Yin even excitedly fetched a small mirror, trying out several poses, contemplating which one looked best.

Another half hour passed, and Gu Congli still hadn’t arrived.

An hour earlier, Zhao Editor had said he went out...

Shi Yin’s legs went numb from sitting. She changed positions and decided to give him another half hour.

The doorbell was as silent as a chicken, not a sound.

Unable to hold back any longer, Shi Yin grabbed her phone and messaged Zhao Editor: [Brother Zhao, has Chief Editor Gu arrived?]

Zhao Editor usually replied quickly, and this time was no exception, his reply filled with confusion: [Huh? Arrived where?]

Shi Yin: [Didn’t you say he just came to find me...]

Zhao Editor: [No, I was joking. Chief Editor returned in a few minutes, probably went to the restroom.]

Shi Yin: “...”

She meticulously applied a natural makeup look that no straight man would notice, posed eight hundred times, and thought through thirty thousand years’ worth of dialogue.

And the result? The other party just went to pee.

Shi Yin was utterly pissed.

Expressionless, she slowly exited the chat with Zhao Editor, returned to the main interface, and opened Gu Congli’s WeChat.

Their conversation consisted of only a few lines, still stuck at [Message sent but rejected by the recipient.]

Shi Yin was even angrier.

Thinking that she was already blocked anyway,

whatever she said now, Gu Congli wouldn’t see.

At the editorial department of Yaoguang Company’s monthly comic magazine “Red Moon,” Zhao Editor waited a while, didn’t receive a reply, and put down his phone, somewhat confused.

It was nearing the end of the workday, and the atmosphere in the editorial department was relaxed. Chief Editor Gu walked out of the meeting room holding a brown paper bag.

Zhao Editor tilted his head: “Chief Editor, Teacher Shi Yi just asked about you.”

Gu Congli paused slightly, his expression indifferent: “Hmm?”

Zhao Editor honestly said: “She seems to have something to discuss with you, asking when you will visit her.”

Whether it was an illusion or not, Zhao Editor thought he saw their usually frosty chief editor’s expression soften for a moment.

He might have even smiled.

Before Zhao Editor could confirm if he saw correctly, Gu Congli’s phone rang in his pocket.

After a brief conversation, he hung up, his fingertip lingering on the screen for a moment before opening WeChat.

The topmost chat icon was a cat whose head looked like it had collided with a wall, appearing quite silly.

Gu Congli stared at the cat for a while, recalling the girl wearing a furry headband last week, standing dumbfounded at the door staring blankly at him, thinking the object reflected its owner.

He opened the chat window, entered the other person’s profile page, and removed them from the blacklist.

Whether it was telepathy or an incredible coincidence, exactly two seconds later, the person who had just been unblocked and was completely unaware sent a powerful message.

— [Gu Congli BIG IDIOT!!!]

Gu Congli: “...”