Deskmate, Your Image Is Slipping - Chapter 1

Chapter 1: Reunion

“That’s all for today’s meeting. Gu Yu, come with me.”

Gu Yu neatly gathered the meeting documents on his desk and followed behind Zhou Zhengyi into the Chairman’s office.

“Take a seat, Little Gu.” Zhou Zhengyi gestured toward the chair opposite him. “I called you here to discuss the overseas/out-of-town assignment.”

Secretary Lin handed over a file. Zhou Zhengyi added, “The company just acquired a piece of land in Nancheng, and I think you’re the most suitable person to send.”

“Mr. Zhou, how long will I be gone this time?”

“Hard to say. The company attaches great importance to that project.”

“Understood.” Gu Yu kept his eyes lowered, his tone devoid of any fluctuation. His gaze rested on the project proposal, though he wasn’t truly processing its contents.

“If there are no issues, book your ticket today and depart immediately.” Zhou Zhengyi took a sip of his freshly brewed coffee and waved his hand, signaling that he could leave.

Gu Yu offered no further words. Returning to his workstation, he cleared up and handed off his remaining loose-end projects one by one, managing to leave work on time for once.

By the time he reached his apartment, a few low rumbles of thunder echoed in the sky. Gu Yu opened his phone, booked his flight for tomorrow, and then tapped on his contact list to dial a number saved as “Auntie Xue.”

“Hello? Is that Ah Yu?”

“It’s me, Auntie Xue. I’m heading back to Nancheng tomorrow.”

“That’s wonderful! I’ll tell Old Zhao to pick you up tomorrow. You haven’t been back for so long, we’ve all missed you to death!”

The woman on the other end of the line spoke with a gentle voice that bubbled over with pleasant surprise.

“There’s no need to trouble Uncle Zhao. This trip is an assignment from the company, so someone will be picking me up. I’ll come visit you all when I get a moment.”

“Mhm, okay, fine! When the time comes, I’ll cook all of Ah Yu’s favorite dishes. It just so happens Zhao Che is coming back from abroad these few days, so we can all get together.”

After exchanging a few more pleasantries, he hung up the phone. Putting his mobile down, he didn’t make another call to anyone else.

Through the glass window, Gu Yu watched the heavy traffic and the vibrant glow of thousands of household lights in this city. Yet every single lamp and every single beam of light exuded a lively warmth that had nothing to do with him.

He curled his fingers slightly, feeling a hollow emptiness inside his chest. He knew he had never truly belonged here.

Before the day had even fully broken, Gu Yu’s sleepiness had entirely evaporated. He sat up, gently buckled the vintage-style mechanical watch on his nightstand around his wrist, and began packing his belongings.

Haicheng after the rain carried a bitter chill. A gust of wind made one shiver in place. Gu Yu wrapped himself tightly in a dark, long trench coat. The hand dragging his suitcase was exposed to the cold air, his fingertips turning pale from the frostiness.

Nancheng… He hadn’t been back for six years.

A few hours later, the cabin announcement chimed: “Dear passengers, the flight you are currently taking has arrived at Nancheng Airport.”

After disembarking, Gu Yu went straight to the hotel arranged by the company. Before he even had time to unpack, Zhou Zhengyi’s phone call came through.

“Hello, Mr. Zhou. I’ve arrived.”

“Mm, Little Gu, take a good rest for a day first. The cycle for this project is a bit long, and some of the materials aren’t complete enough. I had Secretary Lin compile a new set and send it to your email.”

“Received. I’ll familiarize myself with the engineering matters tonight.”

Gu Yu opened his laptop and flipped through the project plan for this assignment. He flagged the areas he disagreed with and appended fresher, more innovative ideas.

After reviewing it, he felt there weren’t major problems with the design itself, but the construction difficulty was quite high, which drastically increased the danger factor for the workers. Therefore, as soon as the meeting started the following day, he laid out his suggestions in detail. After analyzing them item by item, the entire team unanimously agreed with his viewpoint.

However, altering a scheme wasn’t something that could be done on a whim. Every step of the design was intricately linked—a single change meant meticulously recalculating various possibilities all over again. Thus, after the entire team pushed through day and night for several weeks, they finally finalized the ultimate plan.

Today was the day the final review results came out.

“Our project has officially been approved!” announced Tao Yu, the project’s chief engineer. A round of applause broke out beneath the stage. Immediately after, he praised without restraint, “Little Gu, you played an indispensable role in this proposal. As expected of Qixing’s chief engineer—you have a bright future ahead of you.”

Gu Yu gave a faint “Mm,” though there wasn’t much emotion on his face.

Through their interactions over the past few weeks, Tao Yu had come to understand that Gu Yu simply had a rather reserved personality. Seeing him merely utter an “Mm,” Tao Yu didn’t mind it much and continued: “Everyone has worked hard over the past few weeks. The very first step of our project has finally come to a successful conclusion. Yuheng Corporation has hosted an internal dinner gathering for us tonight at 7:00 PM. I’ve posted the location in the group chat.”

The heavy atmosphere that had been stifled for days instantly lightened quite a bit. A few colleagues at the bottom even began chatting among themselves.

“By the way, I heard the CEO of Yuheng Corporation will be attending in person tonight!”

“Really? Word has it he started his own business before even graduating from university, and he got the company listed in just short of two years…”

“Holy crap, so young and capable?!”

Gu Yu had no interest in these rumors, though in his memory, the largest shareholder of this project did seem to be Yuheng.

After getting off work, he first returned to the hotel to change his clothes before hailing a taxi to the restaurant.

It was peak evening rush hour. The driver took a lot of time just to arrive, and after finally picking him up, an accident occurred at an intersection before they had even driven very far.

Inertia thrust Gu Yu’s body forward abruptly. Thanks to his seatbelt, he avoided crashing hard into the back of the front seat.

Just as he straightened his posture, before he could even assess the situation, he heard the taxi driver blurt out an oath.

“Fuck! How is the person ahead driving? Are they blind?!” The driver cursed under his breath as he opened the door to get out, knocked on the opposite car window, and began a “friendly” negotiation.

Gu Yu lowered his head to check his wristwatch; twenty minutes until seven. According to the law, as a party involved, he couldn’t just leave either. Thus, he sent a text to Tao Yu explaining the situation beforehand, then pushed open the door and stepped out as well.

Not knowing who had called the police, the distant sound of a siren—weewoo-weewoo—wafted over from afar.

At that moment, a person stepped down from the black Land Rover SUV opposite them. The man had his back turned to Gu Yu. All that could be seen were two long, slender legs wrapped in black suit trousers. His upper attire was immaculate. Just looking at the luxury car paired with the suit was enough to tell his identity was anything but ordinary.

“You two, come over here,” the traffic police officer waved at Gu Yu and the driver.

As the two walked over, the elegantly dressed man turned around as well. Before Gu Yu could catch a clear view of the man’s face, a beam of high-beam headlights swept over, causing him to reflexively close his eyes.

“Holy shit, turning on high beams right in front of the traffic police—are they tired of living?!” The driver was directly blinded and cursed out loud.

Gu Yu eased up slightly. As his eyes gradually refocused, he froze instantly. The man in front of him, wearing a tie and a suit, was actually Zhao Che—the very person he had lived under the same roof with for nearly ten years!

Having not seen each other for six years, the current Zhao Che had stripped away his former youthfulness. His features had become more three-dimensional, and those peach-blossom eyes that used to curve so softly when he smiled were now tinged with a sharp edge. From top to bottom, he exuded a mature, steady aura.

He seemed to be a bit taller than the last time Gu Yu had seen him.

“Long time no see… I didn’t expect our reunion to happen like this.” A deep, magnetic voice pulled Gu Yu’s stray thoughts back to reality.

Gu Yu felt the blood all over his body freeze. His hand unconsciously gripped a corner of his clothing, forcing himself to calm down as he spoke flatly: “Mm. Long time no see.”

Hearing this, the taxi driver leaned into Gu Yu’s ear and chimed in: “You guys know each other? That’s great! Can you help ask for some leniency so we can just settle this privately?”

Gu Yu: “…”

The traffic police officer also glared at the driver, his eyes practically saying: Next time you say something like that, could you make your voice a little quieter?

The traffic police officer asked, “How do you guys plan to resolve this?”

Zhao Che, standing to the side, took the initiative to speak: “Neither side suffered any serious issues, so let’s leave it at that. As for subsequent compensation matters, contact my assistant.”

His driver handed a business card to the taxi driver. Unexpectedly, the taxi driver stared at the words on the card and read them aloud: “Assistant to the President of Yuheng Corporation, Lin Lin.” Midst his shock, he added, “Yuheng Corporation? Then doesn’t that mean you’re the President of Yuheng Corporation?!”

He suddenly deflated, patting his chest with a feeling of surviving a narrow escape.

Seeing that nothing major had occurred, the traffic police officer said, “Alright then, just sign the settlement agreement and you’re free to go.”

Zhao Che signed his name on the paper with a dashing flourish. Turning his head, he looked at Gu Yu, who was staring off into space, and asked, “Where are you heading?”

Gu Yu answered instinctively, “XX Hotel.”

“Just so happens to be on the way. I’ll give you a ride.”

Gu Yu hadn’t yet snapped out of the daze of their reunion. By the time he retroactively snapped back to his senses, he was already sitting beside Zhao Che, with the refreshing scent of the car’s subtle fragrance wafting around the tip of his nose.

He suddenly remembered the gossip everyone had been chatting about in private: The largest shareholder of the project is the President of Yuheng Corporation…

What an unwelcome coincidence. That person was none other than Zhao Che, whom he had spent six years avoiding.

At this moment, a deep and grounded voice resonated: “Does my mom know you came back this time?”

“Mm, I called her yesterday.”

“Find some time to head back to Fengjing Garden together. They miss you very much.”

Hearing this, Gu Yu felt as if his heart were stuffed with a wad of water-soaked cotton—heavy and suffocatingly dull.

Since primary school, he had lived with the Zhao family. Zhao Guowei and Wang Xue had treated him as their own, and Zhao Che had looked out for him in every possible way. Yet, because of his own selfish desires, he had left for six years.

Unpredictable are the affairs of the world. Just a few days after returning to Nancheng, they had run into each other like this.

But since he was back, he would eventually have to go visit anyway: “Mm.”

Fortunately, no other words were spoken along the way until they reached XX Hotel.

“Oh, Engineer Gu is here! Heard you got into a car accident, you aren’t hurt, are you?” a colleague spoke up, though his tone didn’t sound particularly caring.

Before Gu Yu could answer, the door to the private dining room behind him was pushed open. Zhao Che walked in with steady strides.

Tao Yu hurriedly stepped forward to greet him: “President Zhao, please, take a seat! You didn’t say a word when you arrived, excuse us for not welcoming you at the entrance.”

Gu Yu cast a faint glance at the colleague who had spoken earlier and said politely, “I’m fine. Apologies for being late.”

The crowd didn’t dare say another word. After all, the guest of honor for the celebratory feast had arrived late as well.

“It’s fine, it’s fine, you’re our star contributor after all,” Tao Yu smoothed things over, ushering Zhao Che to sit in the primary guest seat, while he and Gu Yu sat on either side of him.

“Everyone’s here. Waiter, start serving the dishes.”

A few delicate cold dishes were served to the table. No one moved their chopsticks, all understanding basic table etiquette.

“Little Gu, let me introduce you. This is the President of Yuheng Corporation, Mr. Zhao Che,” Tao Yu introduced with a smile.

“Hello, President Zhao. I am Gu Yu from Qixing.” Gu Yu maintained that same cold and distant tone.

“Mm, hello.”

The two shook hands symbolically. In those brief few seconds, Gu Yu could feel the warm heat from the other man’s palm.

Tao Yu asked curiously, “Little Gu, you and President Zhao came in one after the other. Did you run into each other downstairs?”

Before Gu Yu could speak, Zhao Che spoke first: “Mm, ran into each other on the way, so we came together.”

Tao Yu’s interest was piqued: “President Zhao and Little Gu… know each other?”

“We do.”

“Mm.”

The two spoke in unison. It was as if the colleagues below had stumbled upon juicy gossip, and they began whispering among themselves: “How do the two of them know each other? Didn’t Engineer Gu just return to Nancheng?”

“No idea.”

Seeing that neither of them had any intention of continuing the topic, Tao Yu tactfully steered the conversation back to the project.

Gu Yu listened to their exchange, lowering his head to eat the small bowl of millet sea cucumber that was almost empty. From his peripheral vision, he caught Zhao Che’s sharp, defined side profile and his lips opening and closing.

“I heard Engineer Gu worked non-stop for half a month for this final proposal,” Zhao Che said.

Gu Yu instinctively pulled his wrist back slightly, his tone polite and restrained: “It was only my duty.”

Zhao Che suddenly chuckled: “Still as reluctant to take credit as ever, huh.”

A low, muffled laugh accompanied by a teasing tone escaped, causing everyone to cast their glances over one after another.

Tao Yu’s eyes widened, thinking to himself: This tone… why does it sound like they’re extremely familiar with each other?

Gu Yu pulled at the corner of his mouth, picked up a glass of wine, and stood up: “President Zhao flatters me. The proposal is the result of everyone’s joint effort. This glass, I drink to everyone!”