Zhou Mi’s final answer to Jijie was that she would think about it.

Because the answer in her heart wasn’t certain, that feeling was like standing in a fog or sinking to the bottom of a lake, somewhat unsure of the road conditions and direction.

That night, she couldn’t sleep, only drifting off when she heard birds singing.

At nine-thirty in the morning, she was carefully concealing her dark circles with concealer in front of her vanity mirror. Jijie, fully dressed, came to her side and bent down to plant a kiss on the top of her head.

Zhou Mi smiled at him faintly in the mirror: “You look so handsome today.”

Jijie was wearing a black jacket with floral embroidery today, giving him the air of a young lead vocalist or drummer in a rock band—flamboyant yet decadent.

Jijie straightened up, his slender hand still resting on her left shoulder: “Where would you like to have breakfast today?”

Zhou Mi turned her head to look at him: “At home? I can make two bowls of spring noodles in five minutes. I brought some of my mom’s handmade noodles from home yesterday.”

Jijie gazed at her face, which was so exquisite it was almost flawless: “Would the cooking fumes affect your makeup?”

“But…” Zhou Mi glanced at the door, somewhat regretfully: “Would such a nice kitchen just sit there gathering dust?”

Jijie pondered for a few seconds: “How about I hire a cook this week? Then we can eat at home whenever we want, and you won’t have to do it yourself.”

Zhou Mi pressed her lips together and agreed: “Mm, alright.”

—

During the period from Christmas to New Year’s Day, Zhou Mi was so busy she barely had time to drink water. Marketing campaigns for various products came in waves, and she had been working overtime until one or two in the morning for a whole week, wishing she could eat, dress, live, and travel all within the company. Thus, she had to repeatedly decline her boyfriend’s successive invitations to year-end parties.

Jijie’s lifestyle completely matched his family background. He was a typical rich kid influenced by Western culture. Describing him as “born with a silver spoon in his mouth” wouldn’t be sufficient. It should be said that from the moment he was born, he had already achieved financial freedom for a lifetime.

That two-million-yuan house in Huajun was just one of the gifts from his grandfather for his eighteenth birthday.

Work, which was crucial to many people, was merely an optional decoration in his life.

In a sense, he was similar to Zhang Lian.

People at the top of the pyramid pursue personal experiences far beyond worldly constraints, just in different forms.

It was only after they started dating that Zhou Mi learned that during the Dragon Boat Festival project, he had been so dedicated to participating in every meeting just to have more contact with her.

Zhou Mi was flattered by this: “I can’t imagine how you could fall in love with me at first sight.”

Jijie was nonchalant: “But I did have that moment of enlightenment, like seeing a very cute stray cat.”

Zhou Mi laughed: “And now?”

Jijie loved to pinch her cheeks with gentle force: “Now you’re a perfect blue-point Ragdoll.”

Zhou Mi’s new leader, Jenny, had always been responsible for the 3C project. She had beautiful honey-colored skin, monolids, and a cool, sophisticated appearance, with a crisp Beijing accent.

Since joining Aoxing, Zhou Mi hadn’t interacted much with her, but she had always left a deep impression.

Considering the potential conflicts of interest and inconveniences that could arise from her boyfriend’s company and position, Zhou Mi took the opportunity of Ye Yan’s resignation to request a transfer from the FMCG group to the 3C group.

She had privately discussed this decision with Ye Yan, and her former leader’s evaluation was direct yet regretful: “What a waste of resources. Just thinking about losing a key player in my FMCG kingdom makes me heartbroken. But I respect all your decisions.”

Although changing departments was like crossing mountains, Zhou Mi’s proactive attitude toward work helped her quickly overcome the awkward period of adjustment and begin to handle the new team’s affairs with ease. Resigning at this point would be somewhat awkward and irresponsible.

One evening in mid-January, Jijie asked her how her consideration was going, and she explained this reason to him.

Jijie looked troubled and confused, sighing softly: Why do you like staying at Aostar so much? Wouldn’t a more relaxed position be better?

Zhou Mi felt a lump in her throat for a while, and finally said: Let’s talk about it after the New Year. It’s really busy before the Spring Festival, and I don’t want it to seem like I’m deserting in the face of battle.

Jijie pulled her into his arms: “Baby, do you know how long it’s been since you went out with me after your transfer? I feel like you’re spending almost twenty-four hours a day at the company.”

Zhou Mi could only pat his back helplessly, comforting him: “I’m sorry, I promise I’ll spend more time with you during the Spring Festival holiday, okay?”

That same night, she also received a screenshot of a chat conversation from Tao Ziyi. It showed two colleagues from other departments discussing her in a small group, saying she was being two-faced, and that anyone with eyes could see how she had transformed from a country bumpkin to a phoenix after hooking up with a rich guy, and deliberately transferred departments to show off.

Tao Ziyi was indignant: These lowly women are just jealous!

Zhou Mi stared at these few paragraphs for a long time, with no reaction in her eyes or heart.

She replied to Tao Ziyi: Let them say whatever they want.

Tao Ziyi said: It’s just because you have a good temper. If it were me, I would have gone to tear their faces off already.

Zhou Mi felt something was strange, but couldn’t pinpoint what.

Logically speaking, a few months ago, she would have been burning with anger, red-faced, and teary-eyed by now.

But her actual reaction was not only lacking indignation and hurt, she also didn’t bother to argue, and even somewhat agreed with them, because what they said was indeed close to the truth.

She guessed this might be what maturity meant.

After New Year’s Day, Zhou Mi followed Jenny and joined her Aostar initial heart—the BN project team, a secondary collaboration project with a classic Chinese animation IP, recreating a full set of limited edition digital products from the previous New Year.

She excitedly cheered to her leader: BN!! It’s BN!!!! Do you know why I came to Aostar back then?!!! It was because of BN’s Women’s Day earphones from two years ago!!!

Jenny responded coldly: Your exclamation marks are bothering me.

Zhou Mi immediately suppressed her emotions: ………………. Sorry.

Jenny: The ellipses are also a bit much.

Zhou Mi: Sorry

Like a circular sparkler, Zhou Mi felt herself beginning to shine again after burning to the end.

She devoted herself wholeheartedly to BN’s Spring Festival project. One day, she saw a designer asking in the group chat: Who wrote this brief? Wow, I haven’t seen such a comfortable and intuitive brief in a long time. What needs to be done is crystal clear.

Jenny tagged her in the group: @Aostar-minnie.

The designer responded: Very good.

Jenny said: Minnie is good indeed. She writes to-do lists in her notebook every day, can answer whatever you ask her, and often finds reference images and videos for me.

Zhou Mi felt a bit embarrassed by the praise, chuckling as she replied: Hehe, it’s all thanks to my previous team’s good guidance~

Jenny: I don’t like people who always use modal particles and tildes when they speak. Have you always been like this? It’s different from what I imagined.

A small intern who had just joined two months ago timidly chimed in: I also thought Minnie was the cold goddess type.

Zhou Mi cleared her throat and explained seriously: …There might be some misunderstanding here.

—

However, an accident occurred the night before the shoot.

Just before leaving work, while Zhou Mi was checking the appearance and performance of the full set of digital products against the script, she discovered that a function on the keyboard seemed to be damaged.

She frowned slightly and called over the colleague who had checked these earlier: “Has this light on the keyboard never lit up?”

The person looked completely confused and asked: “What light?”

Zhou Mi’s heart suddenly sank.

Jenny wasn’t in the office, so she quickly contacted her: “We have a big problem.”

Jenny always spoke as calmly as her appearance: “What’s wrong?”

She emphasized: “Don’t always imitate my accent inappropriately.”

Zhou Mi organized her thoughts: “I don’t know if there’s a problem with the product the client sent or if it was damaged during transportation, but the keyboard light won’t turn on. Cici confirmed earlier that there were no issues, but she didn’t notice this function. However, tomorrow’s shooting script includes a detail showcasing the keyboard’s RGB lighting effects.”

Jenny said, “Have you confirmed it?”

Zhou Mi replied: “Yes, I’ve tried it on several computers in the office, and none of them light up.”

Jenny: “Damn it.”

Zhou Mi: “…”

“We’re scheduled to start shooting at 9 AM tomorrow, and it’s too late to ask the client to send another one. It’s embarrassing to have this kind of issue. Let’s not disturb the client first and think of ways to solve it internally,” Jenny’s tone also indicated the situation was tricky: “The main problem is that this set of products was previously released as a limited edition, and it will be difficult to find at this late hour.”

Zhou Mi tried to calm herself and thought for a moment: “How about this, I’ll ask my boyfriend. He knows a lot of people and should have friends in this area. I’ll also go to the electronics market to check.”

Jenny said, “Alright, I’ll ask around too.”

After hanging up, Zhou Mi’s heart was racing. She glanced at Cici, who knew she had made a big mistake and was sitting at her desk, anxiously wiping away tears.

Zhou Mi took a deep breath, ran her hand through her hair, and grabbed a tissue from her desk to give to her: “Don’t cry first. Quickly ask if any of your friends know local geeks or digital enthusiasts, or KOLs in this field. Someone might have collected an old version or received a new product in advance.”

She hurried out wearing her down jacket while dialing Jijie’s number.

After several rings, the other end connected, with a lively and noisy background.

Zhou Mi said: “Could you please—”

Jijie responded with a “Huh?” in an excited tone: “Baby, I can’t hear you! Wait a moment, let me find a quieter place.”

Zhou Mi stopped at the elevator, pressed the “down” button, and raised her voice: “I’m fine! I just wanted to tell you that something’s come up at work, and I’ll be home late today.”

Jijie said, “Alright, I’ll be home late too. What time will you finish? I’ll have the driver pick you up. It’s not safe to take a taxi too late.”

Zhou Mi said, “No need, I don’t know how long this will take.”

After hanging up, Zhou Mi quickly composed a message and sent it to a group of media friends, asking if they knew any digital KOLs who were local to the city.

Walking out of the building, she waited for two minutes on the busy street, looked at the unresponsive taxi app, glanced at her watch, and couldn’t help cursing inwardly, damn it, at this time, on this road, it’s impossible to get a taxi.

Just then, Jenny called again, asking if she had left for the electronics market.

Zhou Mi exhaled a large cloud of white breath, feeling overwhelmed: “It’s tough. I can’t get a taxi. Should I start walking and take the subway there?”

Jenny said, “Stay where you are. Let me see who can accompany you.”

After ending the call, Zhou Mi thought Jenny’s suggestion wasn’t a bad idea. She was about to ask in the team group chat if anyone could spare time to go with her, but Jenny had already efficiently posted in the company’s main group:

Aostar-Jenny: Who’s at the office and not busy? Help me send someone. One of our products for tomorrow’s shoot has an issue, and we need to go to the electronics market to see if they have the same model. @Aostar-minnie is downstairs and can’t get a taxi. If we’re any later, that place will close.

Zhou Mi followed with a “crying on the floor” emoji: Save me! It’s urgent!!!

The main group was quiet for a few seconds, then a dark profile picture appeared with a message.

Fabian: @Aostar-minnie Wait for me.