When the Heartthrob Meets the Cold-Hearted Ex - Chapter 5

In the end, Tang Yeran was dragged to the employee cafeteria by a group of young girls from the art department.

Most of these girls had just graduated and were full of energy when not working, like a flock of sparrows utterly impossible to refuse.

Qianhe’s employee cafeteria was located on the tenth floor, spanning several hundred square meters. Employees could choose between a buffet or ordering set meals from various stalls.

Cantonese cuisine, Sichuan dishes, Shaxian snacks over twenty stalls covered regional delicacies from all over. It seemed Xue Ling’s earlier claims weren’t exaggerated at all.

The cafeteria was at its busiest at this hour, and Tang Yeran, a stunning new face, drew a 300% head-turning rate as she walked through the crowd, nearly causing a localized traffic jam at one point.

Fortunately, Xue Ling was a regular here. Holding Tang Yeran’s hand, she deftly weaved through the crowd and quickly secured an excellent spot.

“Tangtang, you sit here. I’ll go get the food.”

Tang Yeran initially didn’t want to trouble others, but a glance at the sea of people eyeing her made her realize that insisting on joining the crowd would only cause more trouble.

So she smiled politely. “Thanks for the trouble. Leave your bag here, I’ll keep an eye on it.”

“No trouble at all!” Xue Ling, a self-proclaimed beauty enthusiast, was overjoyed by the smile and practically skipped to the stalls, forgetting to even ask about Tang Yeran’s preferences.

Tang Yeran was happy to go with the flow and wasn’t picky. But when she saw what Xue Ling brought back, she was pleasantly surprised. “Claypot fish?”

“Yeah, I noticed you staring at that stall earlier, so I figured you’d like it.” Xue Ling set the ceramic pot on the table, secretly pleased with her intuition.

“Thank you. I love it.” Tang Yeran took a bite and found the taste oddly familiar.

She glanced at the two employees at the next table sharing a claypot fish, and suddenly, the scene overlapped with a memory.

In her sophomore year, Tang Yeran became a regular at the university’s second cafeteria. At least four days a week, she’d be in line at the claypot fish stall.

Believing that “good things should be shared with those you like,” she dragged Su Yang along, subjecting her to four fish meals a week.

Back then, Su Yang was still aloof to outsiders, but without realizing it, she had developed an unconscious indulgence toward the ever-vibrant girl by her side.

“Su Yang, look! I got the last serving, eat it while it’s hot!” Tang Yeran set down the ceramic pot, pinching her ears with excitement over a simple pot of fish.

Though Su Yang’s eyes held resignation, she still picked up her chopsticks to humor her. “Four fish meals a week, don’t you ever get tired of it?”

“Nope.” Tang Yeran swallowed a piece of fish, her eyes crinkling with happiness. “I wouldn’t mind seven days a week. But if you’re tired of it, we can switch to claypot crab next time?”

Su Yang pictured the crab’s massive pincers and sighed. “Never mind. Let’s stick with fish.”

“I knew you liked it too! Claypot fish is the most perfect dish in the world. Eat more, you’re so skinny already.”

Faced with delicious food, Tang Yeran displayed remarkable efficiency not only devouring her own meal with gusto but also using serving chopsticks to pile Su Yang’s bowl into a small mountain.

Su Yang, infected by such pure joy, found even the fish she’d tasted countless times somewhat delicious. “It’s actually not bad.”

“Not bad? It’s way beyond just ‘not bad’!” Tang Yeran protested at such a conservative assessment.

“I’ve tried claypot fish at so many places, but the one in our school canteen is the most authentic. You better cherish it, once we graduate, we won’t get to eat it often. Hmm, we’ve got about three more years left.”

Seeing Tang Yeran seriously calculating the “countdown to claypot fish,” Su Yang pondered for a moment before saying earnestly, “Actually, we can still eat it often after graduation. Maybe I’ll open a canteen in the future, specializing in claypot fish guaranteed to taste exactly the same.”

“You, a computer science major, running a canteen? Fully automated electronic cooking? Well, I guess that’s not impossible, hahahaha!”

Tang Yeran was glad she didn’t have food in her mouth, or it would’ve been terribly ungraceful. But she couldn’t help it, Su Yang’s deadpan delivery of such a ridiculous idea was just too funny!

Su Yang, not understanding why her friend was laughing so hard, continued seriously, “To replicate the exact same flavor, full automation might be tricky. We’d probably still need to hire a chef.”

“Pfft! Please, stop! My stomach hurts!” Tang Yeran clutched her belly, laughing so hard tears nearly spilled.

“Tang Tang, Tang Tang? Why are you crying? Is the fish too hot?” Xue Ling was startled to see Tang Yeran eating with tears in her eyes and quickly took a bite herself, it wasn’t that hot.

Snapping out of her thoughts, Tang Yeran wiped her eyes with a tissue and smiled gently. “It’s nothing, just a bit spicy. I’ll be fine after some water.”

“Oh~” Xue Ling nodded knowingly. “It is a little spicy, but that’s what makes it authentic. Actually, our canteen didn’t have such a variety at first, Su Yang insisted on adding these dishes. Honestly, one big reason I’ve stayed at Qianhe for so long is the canteen.”

“Exactly, exactly, exactly!” Food being the paramount necessity of life, the two young designers nearby immediately chimed in with fervent agreement.

“Don’t let Su Yang’s usual poker face fool you, she really cares about us employees. The benefits at Qianhe make all my classmates from the same year super jealous.”

“Absolutely! Getting into Qianhe is the proudest achievement of my life these past few years!”

Seeing the genuine admiration in the girls’ eyes, Tang Yeran felt a twinge of emotion but teased lightly, “You should say all this to Su Yang’s face, maybe you’ll get a raise.”

“That wouldn’t work. Su Yang values merit and ability salaries and bonuses are strictly performance-based. She hates flattery the most.”

Designer A, true to being one of Su Yang’s employees, even resembled her a little in her earnestness. But youth won out, she couldn’t keep a straight face for more than three seconds.

“Okay, truth time, Su Yang’s presence is just too intimidating. None of us dare talk much around her. Not just us, even our team leader is scared of her, right, Team Leader?”

Suddenly put on the spot, Xue Ling buried herself in picking at her food, refusing to engage.

Though no one responded, it didn’t stop Designer A from continuing her monologue.

“Actually, President Su isn’t that much older than us, but she always has this overwhelming presence whenever she appears. Probably because she’s just too capable.”

“That’s why I think you’re amazing, Editor Tang. When President Su showed up this morning, our entire department froze, only you remained completely natural, as if her presence made no difference at all.”

“Sigh, when will I ever develop that kind of unshakable composure where I wouldn’t bat an eye even if Mount Tai collapsed before me?”

Tang Yeran looked at the young woman’s admiring expression with mixed amusement. That’s too much praise, I’m just used to it, she thought.

Of course, she couldn’t say that outright. Instead, she smiled and said, “You’re afraid of President Su because she signs your paychecks, you see her as your benefactor. But I don’t work at Qianhe, and President Su doesn’t put food on my table, so naturally I don’t need to fear her.”

The moment the words left her mouth, Tang Yeran noticed both young women at the table staring at her in complete silence.

She was puzzled. Even if what I just said was the absolute truth, there’s no need to look at me with such worship.

“President Su!” The synchronized greeting snapped Tang Yeran out of her brief moment of self-satisfaction.

Turning around, she saw Su Yang standing behind her, when had she arrived? The cool, detached aura radiating from her starkly contrasted with the lively atmosphere around them.

There she stood, a tall figure with slender waist and long legs amidst the crowd, holding nothing but a palm-sized bread roll. It was hard to tell whether she’d come to eat or to model.

Under multiple pairs of staring eyes, Su Yang remained completely unruffled. She raised the small bread roll slightly, making an effort to appear approachable. “Just here to grab lunch. Are you all satisfied with the company cafeteria? If you have any suggestions, you can submit them anonymously to the feedback box.”

“Very satisfied!”

“No complaints at all!”

Any later, and Designer A might have raised her hand to pledge loyalty.

Fortunately, Su Yang didn’t linger. With a slight nod at their response, she quickly departed.

The two designers watched Su Yang’s retreating figure and exhaled in relief.

“Whew~ Why did President Su come for lunch at this hour today? She’s usually nowhere to be seen during peak times. Did we say anything that might have offended her?”

“No no, we were just praising President Su and the company earlier. No worries.”

That afternoon, Tang Yeran visited Qianhe’s testing department. Employees here had to run the same game scenario thousands of times to identify bugs tedious, repetitive work that didn’t exactly foster the same warm, outgoing attitude as the young women in the art department.

After briefly explaining her purpose to the testing department head and obtaining permission, Tang Yeran moved carefully, trying not to disrupt anyone’s work.

She noticed that several computer screens weren’t displaying scenes from Sparkling Candy but what looked more like a AAA PC game.

This aligned perfectly with Su Yang’s usual approach, keeping things low-key before suddenly dropping something major.

Mindful of confidentiality agreements, Tang Yeran wisely avoided photographing those screens testing the new game, keeping her focus on Sparkling Candy-related peripherals instead.

Getting photo materials wasn’t difficult, but seeing how every employee here was too busy to even look after themselves, I couldn’t find an opportunity to ask for the verbal interview content I needed.

“Damn it!” A sudden shout broke the stifling atmosphere as the frustrated testing guy, with stress pimples popping on his forehead, threw his mouse aside.

“What the hell? This boss’s damage output was completely normal before, why does it suddenly feel like hitting a wall after changing maps? I’ve tested this map and boss thousands of times without issues, so why is it acting up today?”

Tang Yeran glanced over and saw a tiny ancient-style character riding a dragon on the screen, with a small flying dragon circling above its head one as a mount, the other as a battle pet, looking utterly majestic.

Meanwhile, the massive boss ahead kept relentlessly attacking the protagonist, but the damage was so pitiful it couldn’t even outpace the character’s natural health regeneration.

“Um, mind if I take a look?” Tang Yeran had a suspicion and made the suggestion to the visibly distressed tester.

The guy was fuming inside but couldn’t bring himself to snap at a woman, so he replied stiffly, “Go ahead, but don’t crash my computer.”

He was so frustrated he desperately needed a coffee to clear his head.

When he returned with his coffee, he found his character sprawled mid-air in a “dead” pose, the screen grayed out, while the boss continued floating around menacingly.

Seeing him return, Tang Yeran vacated the seat. “Sorry, the computer’s fine, but your character got killed by the boss.”

“No way, how did you manage that?” The tester’s eyes lit up as he checked the combat log: Takes 1532 damage from Infernal Flames; takes 885 damage from Crimson Blaze…

It really was the boss who killed him.

Tang Yeran didn’t keep him in suspense. “I noticed you were attacking from the water dragon’s back the whole time, but the small flying dragon had to be resummoned periodically. I checked its passive sure enough, it boosts the protagonist’s defense.”

The tester only half-understood, but his tone became noticeably more polite.

“Yeah, that’s right. This is an aerial combat map, so I have to ride a flying mount to fight. The small dragon has low HP and gets one-shot by the boss, so I set it to auto-summon.

“The dragon mount gives +20% defense, and the small dragon gives +10%. But even with that, a boss with 9000 attack shouldn’t be struggling against a character with only 2000 defense!”

Tang Yeran took the mouse, revived the character, and had it remount the dragon while repeatedly summoning the small dragon. “Now check the stat buffs again.”

“Defense buff… 100%?”

She dismissed the small dragon, the defense buff remained. Then she dismounted, and only then did the buff reset.

“The bug isn’t with the boss or the map, it’s with the pets.

“As long as at least one summoned pet is active, all previous stat buffs from pets aren’t cleared. If you keep one pet active the whole time while repeatedly summoning another, the buffs stack indefinitely.”

“The reason the boss couldn’t damage the protagonist earlier was because the baby dragon had been summoned too many times, stacking its defense bonus to 800%.”

“So while you were away, I recalled two pets and cleared all the buffs from the protagonist.”

The long-standing problem being solved so effortlessly left the tester genuinely impressed. “You’re a pro! Ever considered joining our Qianhe Company?”

Tang Yeran was both amused and exasperated by this complete 180-degree attitude shift. “No no, I prefer magazine work. Are you still busy now?”

Thanks to this small incident, Tang Yeran’s interview with the testing department proceeded smoothly.

She took a quick bathroom break, never expecting to run into a familiar face there.

Though this entire building was Su Yang’s territory, with over a dozen floors, running into him here seemed too coincidental.

“CEO Su came down five floors just to use the bathroom?” With no one else around, Tang Yeran couldn’t hide the teasing in her tone.

Su Yang stood at the sink, meticulously applying soap to his slender, delicate fingers, his gaze fixed intently on his hands as he replied casually, “Life lies in movement.”

Tang Yeran couldn’t argue, she’d used that exact phrase at least a hundred times herself when trying to drag Su Yang out for various excuses.

“Alright then, keep moving. I’ll get going.” Sensing the tide turning against her, Tang Yeran decided to make a quick exit.

“Rushing back won’t help,” Su Yang said slowly as he rinsed off the soap suds. “The testing team isn’t as easygoing as the art department girls. When they’re working, they’re completely unyielding.”

His tone sounded less like concern and more like schadenfreude.

Having been in a relationship before, Tang Yeran easily saw through his little game. Playing along pitifully, she said, “I’ve certainly seen that today. CEO Su truly knows how to manage his team. But it’s fine, work always has its challenges. I’ll just go back and figure something out.”

“You don’t need to struggle so much,” Su Yang said, drying his hands under the blower with an air of aristocratic ease. “Sometimes the solution is right before your eyes.”

Hearing this, Tang Yeran formed her hands into binoculars and suddenly had an epiphany. “CEO Su’s words have enlightened me! I see the solution right before me now. Bye~”

Su Yang: “…”

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