Huayu 2021: Isn’t he in the technology field?

Chapter 155 The Real Side: Lei Jun's Phone Call

The moment Jiang Qing pushed open the door to the private room, a wave of steaming heat, carrying the aroma of butter, wafted towards her.

He glanced at her and saw that Chen Duling was fiddling with a silver tea clip shaped like a bamboo joint. When she looked up at the sound, the black bow hair accessory in her hair trembled slightly with the movement, revealing a hint of playfulness.

Suddenly, something bright appeared before my eyes.

In the past, she was always seen with her hair tied in a low ponytail or with her long hair down, wearing a plain-colored shirt. But now, her slightly wavy long hair was draped over her bare, snow-white shoulders, and her pale yellow velvet dress accentuated her slender waist, making her look like a tulip bud about to bloom.

The flared skirt was perfectly proportioned, revealing two long, slender, and fair legs as she stood up. It was clearly a charming and sweet style, yet it was even more alluring than the deep-V dresses worn at the Tencent press conference.

"You're here! Please sit down and have some tea. The side dishes are ready."

Chen Duling picked up the teapot and poured tea, greeting him familiarly, as if she were repeating a similar scene every day.

Instead of the expected cold face and sarcastic remarks, Jiang Qing became even more wary.

Something is wrong!
"Dudu, your style today is very different from before."

Jiang Qing smiled and sat down opposite her, naturally accepting the teacup in return.

He looked at the oval face in front of him and thought that Dudu was especially cute today.

"What's different? Is it better or worse?"

Chen Duling gestured to Jiang Qing with her teacup, a slightly puzzled expression on her face.

This is clearly a question.

"She's sweet, cute, and a bit playful, completely different from the gentle and intellectual demeanor I had when we met before."

Jiang Qing took a sip of tea and gave her answer with a smile.

"If we didn't know each other, I would definitely think that this is a female campus belle from some school who has appeared here."

Seeing Dudu's lips begin to curve upwards, he immediately increased the stakes.

Sure enough, she laughed even more heartily.

Women dress up for those who appreciate them; regardless of age, women always enjoy hearing compliments.

If it's someone you like, that would be even better.

"I specially finished work an hour early to get this look done."

Chen Duling gave him a sweet smile.

"Looking back now, it was definitely worth it."

Jiang Qing was taken aback, not expecting her to be so direct today.

"It's definitely worth it, it looks great, and it suits you perfectly."

Quickly regaining his senses, he launched into a tirade of praise.

No matter what the situation, start by praising them.

Chen Duling's smile remained unchanged as she nodded slightly, and her subordinates began to put the vegetables into the pot.

"Let's start eating, you must be hungry at this hour."

She picked up a slice of tripe and dipped it in the spicy broth, her slightly husky, mature voice floating out softly.

"During the afternoon break on set, everyone was guessing how much Dilraba's haute couture dress cost."

The tripe gradually turned reddish-brown from the spicy soup as she moved it up and down.

"After Liu Yifei came out, everyone had lost interest in guessing and was thinking that her outfit must have been incredibly expensive."

Just as Jiang Qing was about to speak, Chen Duling pushed the celadon dish forward, interrupting him.

Steam rises from the two-tone tofu shaped like a yin-yang symbol, with crab roe and black truffle forming a yin-yang fish that trembles slightly with the steam.

"This dish is called Twin Flowers."

Chen Duling lightly touched the edge of the porcelain plate with the tip of her chopsticks, her dimples shimmering.

"The kitchen staff said the inspiration came from a master of balancing things."

Jiang Qingxin's mind was filled with thoughts.

Good heavens, so that's what they were waiting for!
Suddenly, a burst of laughter erupted from the next private room, startling the potted green plants by the window, causing them to tremble.

Jiang Qing looked at her cheeks, which were slightly bulging from chewing, and smiled bitterly to himself.

Dudu's ability to tease people is enough for Xiao Ye to learn for a lifetime. The most important thing is that she seems to forget what she said immediately afterward, and she doesn't forget to look at herself with innocent eyes while eating.

tsk...

At that moment, she had a light sheen of sweat on her nose and was eating with great relish, which made him a little hungry just watching.

"Yang Wei, who is the college classmate who encouraged me to participate in Peach Blossom Village, was recently promoted and is now in charge of both variety shows and film and television business. I was dragged there by him."

Jiang Qing put the shrimp paste into the clear soup pot. The steam blurred the vision between the two of them, but it didn't stop him from explaining the reason.

"He said Tencent is preparing to launch an e-sports variety show and invite some celebrities who like playing games to participate. I remember Dudu, you're pretty good at games, right?"

"Yeah, it's alright, I don't play as much these days."

Chen Duling took a sip of the mushroom soup, then looked up at him.

"You want me to participate in that variety show?"

"That's not it."

Jiang Qing stuffed the hot, sliced ​​beef into her mouth.

"I just suddenly remembered that our host Chen seems to have a glorious record of defeating male gods 6-0?"

His tone was sarcastic; anyone could tell.

Chen Duling paused, her chopsticks hovering above the spicy pot, and almost burst out laughing when her eyes met Jiang Qing's.

How dare this person turn the tables and accuse the victim?
They really have a shameless way of trying to divert attention!

"He was indeed my idol back then, but after I defeated him, he didn't dare to fight me again, so he wasn't anymore."

She stared at Jiang Qing with a half-smile, without any attempt to hide her feelings.

"Later, when I was about to graduate from college, I served as the host of a debate competition. I met a guy who liked to tease the host. He became my new male god. Unfortunately, he was a blockhead and made me wait for five years."

As she spoke, her eyes narrowed slightly.

"Ahem... However, doesn't Host Chen bear any responsibility?"

Jiang Qing coughed lightly and corrected the girl, who was being unusually straightforward today.

Something seems off about Dudu today.
"Hmm, I do bear some responsibility, so let me toast you."

Chen Duling nodded in agreement and raised her teacup to him.

"Hey, that's all in the past. It's my fault, I shouldn't have brought it up. Let's get started."

Jiang Qing casually raised her teacup and lightly touched it with hers, then took a sip and picked up her chopsticks to start scooping things out of the pot.

"I'm starving to death."

He muttered to himself as he picked up food from his plate, looking like he was possessed by a hungry ghost.

A sly glint flashed in Chen Duling's eyes as she watched his actions, and she nodded in agreement.

Was she angry this afternoon?

Not so much.

But jealousy is a given.

She knew in her heart that Jiang Qing's conditions were like a little sun in the entertainment industry, and few female artists would not be tempted by her.

There are quite a few people in the industry whose families are richer than Jiang Qing's, and some even have powerful backgrounds and connections.

At Jiang Qing's age, there are almost no people more outstanding than him who don't rely on their families.

Moreover, it's obvious to anyone with eyes that Jiang Qing's future potential is immeasurable.

Putting aside everything else, just looking at the attitudes of those well-known internet giants towards him shows that Jiang Qing has the ability to make them take him seriously.

She didn't know why Jiang Qing would suddenly be willing to enter the entertainment industry to act, but she vaguely felt that it wasn't as simple as it seemed on the surface.

As for the reason Jiang Qing gave to the media, she only believed half of it. Things were definitely not as simple as they seemed on the surface.

She had anticipated situations like today.

Although she wasn't angry, that didn't mean she should put on a show of generosity in front of Jiang Qing.

She just wanted Jiang Qing to know, to see her most authentic self.

She gets jealous, feels dissatisfied, boldly expresses her feelings, and does many things that girls do.

She wanted to show Jiang Qing every side of herself, instead of deliberately pretending to be a perfect "white moonlight" in front of him.

Later, Jiang Qing took the initiative to talk to Chen Duling about the interesting things she did with Yang Wei and the others during her university years.

Chen Duling listened intently, resting her chin on her hand with focused concentration. She would occasionally pop a little food into her mouth and chew it slowly, her face flushed red, whether from the spiciness or the heat, it was hard to tell.

When the waiter knocked on the door to add soup, Chen Duling was drawing patterns in the dipping sauce bowl with the tip of her chopsticks.

Jiang Qing glanced at the picture drawn by Ma Jiang, which was clearly the one that had gone viral on social media, showing him with Liu Yifei and Dilraba Dilmurat together. Liu Yifei's wide sleeves and Dilraba Dilmurat's fishtail skirt were depicted as two arcs in her drawing, trapping her firmly in the center.

He pretended to know nothing and continued his story.

"Taste this."

Chen Duling suddenly pushed the blue and white porcelain cup in front of Jiang Qing, and the white jade mushrooms and quail eggs were arranged in a wreath shape on the plate.

"This is a new plating technique taught to me by the props team."

Chen Duling rested her chin on her hand as she watched him bite into the runny egg, a faint smile playing on her lips.

"Isn't it more creative than the macaron tower at the press conference tea break?"

"Of course."

Jiang Qing answered without hesitation.

He realized that Dudu was doing it on purpose.

Since that's the case, then let's just go along with her.

Just then, the neon signs outside the window turned a deep blue, making the key necklace on her collarbone gleam coldly.

Jiang Qing recalled the dazzling diamond necklaces on the red carpet and suddenly found the small silver key in front of her particularly appealing, as if it could unlock some secret garden.

By this point, he had a vague idea of ​​what Dudu was thinking.

She wanted to show him her true self completely.

If they hadn't missed each other back then, Dudu would probably have stayed by his side and spent his whole life with her.

But now, everything is different.

The red soup in the copper pot was bubbling away when his phone suddenly vibrated and spun around on the corner of the table.

Chen Duling glanced at the caller ID "General Manager Lei" and paused in her soup-scooping hand.

"Is Mr. Lei checking up on me?"

Jiang Qing smiled and swiped to answer the call, then handed the strainer to Chen Duling.

Lei Jun's signature Mandarin immediately burst from the other end of the phone.

"President Jiang, what a refined taste you have! Even after finishing filming the TV series, you still find time to attend Tencent's press conference and stir up rumors. Is this all to promote your new drama?"

His voice carried a hint of sarcasm and resentment.

Chen Duling smiled faintly, sipping tripe in her hands, but her ears were secretly perked up.

Jiang leaned back in his chair.

"Shouldn't I love what I do?"

"Young poor man!"

Lei Jun's loud voice made the phone buzz.

"Where's the promised voice model? My testing team is so bored they're practically choreographing square dances for their robot vacuums!"

The background noise included intermittent stifled laughter, and one could vaguely hear someone shouting, "Mr. Lei, turn on speakerphone!"

Jiang Qing tapped the table with his finger, and Chen Duling noticed that his eyes suddenly sharpened, as if he had become a different person.

"The model was debugged last week, and its accuracy is 15% higher than that of the competitors."

He picked up a slice of marbled beef and dipped it in the clear broth.

"But Mr. Lei, are you sure you want it now? Our new algorithm can recognize swear words in thirty different dialects."

"I want it!"

Lei Jun was so anxious that he blurted out a Xiantao accent.

"When can you give it to me?"

The voice suddenly became alert again.

"You didn't hide another Easter egg in the model, did you? Like that beta version that sang 'Are you OK?' last time."

Chen Duling chuckled and hurriedly covered her mouth, blinking her eyes like a startled rabbit.

Jiang Qing raised an eyebrow and mouthed "I'll settle the score later" to her, but her words were quite serious.

"This is definitely the clean version, but there's one thing we have to mention at our new product launch event."

The sound of papers turning over came from the other end of the phone.

"What, you want to make the other companies anxious so you can raise the price?"

"After all, the company has so many mouths to feed, Mr. Lei should understand."

"Then just acquire it from me. You can focus on your technical work. I won't interfere if you want to be an actor in your spare time..."

"Mr. Lei, you're here again..."

The two chatted back and forth for quite a while.

When Jiang Qing hung up the phone, he noticed that Chen Duling was staring at him with her chin resting on her hand, her eyes shining as if she had discovered a new species.

"So this is how President Jiang works."

She poked at the shrimp paste in the bowl.

"She's completely different from usual."

"Work and life should be kept separate."

He answered as a matter of course.

Chen Duling suddenly reached out and wiped the chili seeds from Jiang Qing's lips, so naturally that Jiang Qing didn't even have time to react.

"So you prepared this a long time ago and deliberately delayed giving it to President Lei?"

"We can't let him think this is easy, we have to pretend..."

Jiang Qing was interrupted by Chen Duling's laughter before she could finish speaking.

She laughed so hard that the ribbon in her hair trembled.

"You're more cunning than code."

Jiang Qing sighed, pressing her temples.

“It’s all about living.”

"You're being cheeky, you're being inappropriate again."

Chen Duling gave him a cute eye roll.

"However, this is what Teacher Jiang looks like when she's working."

She deliberately dragged out the last syllable under Jiang Qing's expectant gaze.

"Very charming."

Their eyes met, and both of them simultaneously lowered their gazes.

(End of this chapter)