She spoke confidently, but Rong Yi didn’t rush into action. Instead, she entered a massive amount of information first. Through serious and meticulous analysis and studying, she quickly formulated the initial steps of her plan to pursue the person.
Step 1: Understand who Fan Xingze is and find common topics to discuss with him.
Rong Yi looked at her notes and tapped on the screen.
Previously, she had no understanding of Fan Xingze as a person and didn’t know much about his intentions. She was quite interested in Ai Yuesheng’s life, but at that time, her boyfriend was an unknown student, so she had no way to learn more.
There were many ways to learn about Fan Xingze. Just by entering his name in a search engine, tens of thousands of related web pages, news articles, and gossips would pop up.
From the vast sea of news reports, she selected some highly credible ones and drew the following conclusions:
1. Fan Xingze came from the wealthy Fan family. His mother was the third wife of the current head of the Fan family. Like all children of prestigious families, his story involved various struggles for inheritance rights.
Unlike his calculating mother who married into wealth, Fan Xingze was naturally disinterested in such matters. He showed exceptional aptitude for science from a young age, was a bookworm in school, and focused on scientific research after graduation. It was said that at one point, he had a falling out with his mother and even went a whole week without pocket money, surviving on cafeteria rice and seaweed soup.
No wonder he looked like a bean sprout in high school, Rong Yi thought.
2. In his nearly thirty years of life, he had never been involved in any scandals. He even made headlines for being very straightforward in his interactions with women, like warning a female celebrity to be cautious of the wind because her makeup was coming off.
Excellent, a perfect gentleman, Rong Yi was pleased.
Looking at the current situation, with Fan Xingze having lost some of his memories regarding relationships, Rong Yi held a definite advantage in experience.
An ironclad scientist straight as an arrow, Fan Xingze’s characteristics were clear. Emotionally, he seemed naive, making him potentially easy to win over. Rong Yi was full of confidence but being cautious in her approach, she sought advice from her friends.
Mo Yuning: “When pursuing a man, just go for it! Why worry about anything else? I tell you, first love is always the most unforgettable. Even if he temporarily forgets you, the taste of youth will always be etched in his soul, and he will fall in love with you again. It’s only a matter of time. I’m very confident.”
Luo Huayue: “Wait, Rong, are you saying your brother-in-law and that Fan Xingze you dislike are the same person? Like Dr. Banner and the Hulk? He’s a living person, not just game data? That’s great news! Pursuing someone? I have no experience in that area…but my friend said to win a man’s heart, you have to win his stomach. So, she always bakes cookies and makes cakes for her boyfriend…do you think that’s useful?”
Zhang Haiyang: “Four words: cater to his interests! Rong, your brother-in-law seems similar to me, straightforward, living in his own little world, deeply passionate about his research. If you truly want to connect with someone like that, the usual dinner, singing, and movie outings won’t interest us at all. If you give me a rare fish specimen, I’ll worship you as a goddess! For someone like your brother-in-law, a tech geek, find something he likes in the field of high-tech equipment, like keyboards or graphics cards…well, I’m not that knowledgeable in that area, but you get the idea, right?”
Ice:”Oh no, sister, no no no no no, don’t actively pursue men, men are all despicable. If you chase after them, they will lose interest in you. Why? A man’s primal instinct is to hunt, this instinct flows in their blood, they only feel pleased with what they have hunted for, but when it’s served on a platter? No no no, they will think, where is the trap if the bait is here? Listen to me, even if you want to take the initiative, don’t do it so obviously. Show some flaws, display your availability, make yourself appear mysterious, like a black cat passing through a snowy night, with emerald eyes and agile figure, but no name, no owner, no origin, no destination. If not captured, it will disappear in his world the next second.”
Raymond:”How do you know I’ve pursued men? Oh well, never mind about those details, all for earning points for live streaming, no big deal behind the scenes… Chasing men and chasing women may seem different, but fundamentally they’re not so different. Men and women alike, some admire strength, some are into appearances, some are purely selfish, just that among men, the proportion of selfishness is somewhat higher. Of course, there are some pure ones, but the ones I’ve encountered in the game are mostly sophisticated selfish individuals. You have to offer him irreplaceable value for him to develop a ‘attraction’ towards you. It’s like doing business, if what you offer can only be found with you or is the cheapest, then he will develop a strong interest in you.”
Everyone shared their knowledge generously, Rong Yi was very moved and decided to learn from everyone’s experiences.
She bought a high-end customized mechanical keyboard, rumored to make programmers fall in love at first sight. She spent an afternoon studying how to cook, meticulously following a cooking tutorial to make a snack from Fan Xingze’s hometown – fragrant fried small yellow croaker. On a cold rainy night, she appeared before Fan Xingze who was working overtime, dressed in a knee-length black wool coat and a slim black dress, adorned with a sparkling diamond necklace around her neck. Her bright eyes were the only light in the dark corridor.
This is how she showed up in front of the desk of Fan Xingze who was working late alone.
Fan Xingze lifted his head from the flickering screen and saw Rong Yi through the office glass door in the dark corridor outside. He felt he had strained his eyes a bit, as the faint light in front of him seemed blinding.
“You—”
Before he could finish his sentence, Rong Yi pulled out a lunch box that was completely mismatched with her aura.
She opened the box, picked up a crispy small yellow croaker from inside, slowly savored it in her mouth, and licked the lingering taste off her fingers.
“Mmm…” She savored the taste of the small yellow croaker, glanced at Fan Xingze, and in a muffled voice through the glass barrier, as if trapped in a jar, said, “Mr. Fan, you’ve worked hard. Working so late, I wonder if this company pays you overtime?”
Fan Xingze: “…”
Rong Yi: “Are you eating?” She picked up a small yellow croaker and dangled it in front of Fan Xingze like teasing a cat through the glass door.
Fan Xingze lowered his head, continued typing on the keyboard, “No, thank you.”
Rong Yi leaned over, “Huh? What did you say?” She pushed the door open, “I can’t hear you.”
Fan Xingze reluctantly raised his head, “I need to work. If Rong General has nothing—”
“There is.” She twisted a small yellow croaker, “First time cooking, I felt quite gifted. Isn’t fried small yellow croaker the specialty of Mr. Fan’s hometown? Come on, give me some feedback.”
Fan Xingze: “I don’t like fish.”
“Liar.” Rong Yi sat on a chair opposite him in his office, her body forming a graceful curve, “You ate half a steamed bass alone at lunch today, I saw it.”
“A few days ago, you asked the cafeteria aunt if they had fried small yellow croaker, I overheard it too.” She propped up her chin, watching him trying hard to focus his attention on the keyboard, not looking at her, not getting angry, just gently placing the box of small yellow croaker on the table. “If it’s not delicious, just throw it away. If it’s delicious—”
She leaned in, crossed the screen, and whispered in his ear, “Remember to thank me.”
After saying that, without waiting for Fan Xingze’s response, she got up and left, closing the door behind her.
On the third day, Linda watched Rong Yi, who seemed distracted and kept glancing towards the door. “…Rong Yi, what are you looking at?”
“You tell me, how long does a man take to respond when he clearly receives kindness from another woman?”
Linda scrutinized Rong Yi from top to bottom, almost not recognizing her. Was this still the Rong Yi who only cared about work and put relationships aside?
Who was the man she mentioned? Was the woman herself? Didn’t she have an online boyfriend?
But she didn’t dare to ask directly, so she could only honestly reply, “Well, it varies from person to person. There may not necessarily need to be a response.”
Rong Yi looked at her, “What do you mean?”
Linda said, “Some guys take silence as a rejection. Actually, for girls who don’t have feelings, clear rejection is the most straightforward approach. The fear of leading you on, giving hope but not actually agreeing, that kind of behavior is likely a scumbag move!”
She finished, and the person next to her stood up abruptly, “No feelings? How is it possible not to have feelings?!”
Linda hurriedly reassured, “Just because you show kindness doesn’t guarantee a response! Many guys are clueless, you might have to try a few more times to get a reaction…”
Rong Yi slowly sat back down, “Oh, right, try a few more times… can’t be impatient… especially when there’s something yet to be delivered…”
She turned to Linda and asked seriously, “Is pursuing someone a long and persistent process, like carrying out a big project?”
Though Linda lacked relevant experience, thanks to reading romance novels and watching Korean dramas, she understood a thing or two. How can one not know when exposed to deep, intense, secret loves in stories that span hundreds of chapters or episodes?
So, she nodded affirmatively, “Yes! Patience is key!”
Rong Yi said, “Got it.”
Step 2, flirting, and continue to flirt.
Merely one act of kindness is not enough; frying small yellow croaker was just the beginning of the offensive. The subsequent series of actions is the mainstay of the entire battle!
On the third day, Linda saw Rong Yi holding a customized keyboard with a bow on it, knocking on Fan Xingze’s office door.
Linda: “…Holy crap?”
Once, she also secretly shipped this couple, but back then she knew Rong Yi showed no special favor to Fan Xingze and had a legitimate boyfriend, so she always thought she was in the wrong.
How come today she can switch sides?
Did Rong Yi fall for someone else after a car accident, or what is it? Korean dramas don’t deceive; surely car accidents are crucial plot drivers!
From that day on, Linda began to intentionally or unintentionally pass by Fan Xingze’s office door, always reaping unexpected gains. Sometimes she saw Rong Yi bringing him food, sometimes she saw Rong Yi inviting him to have lunch together (politely declined), sometimes she saw Rong Yi offering him takeaway coffee (politely declined), and sometimes she even saw Rong Yi struggling to engage him in small talk at the door for five minutes (the result of a failed polite refusal).
Although linda gossip, but know what words to say, what words should not say, or not competent cfo special assistant this kind of daily access to confidential information work.
But even if she does not say, other colleagues are also long eyes. wbd advocate frank and open to each other to monitor the company culture, so the office, workstation partition is mostly glass, divided private space, but not block the line of sight. Rong Yi’s overly publicized pursuit behavior has long attracted the attention of other colleagues.
The first to bear the brunt and Fan Xingze a floor of the R & D department, these technical geeks a little bit than the accounting room of the little girl to save heart, soon turned into a dandelion flying all over the company, “cto is being cfo hot pursuit, this is a great triumph of the technical mansion” of the good news spread all over the company.
Even the CFO has heard the wind and moved, from time to time to Fan Xingze office door squatting, to enjoy Rong Yi chasing people this thousand years of strange scene.
In contrast to the gradual rise of this matter into the entertainment headlines of the whole company, Fan Xingze’s attitude has always been very cold. In the middle of the cold, there is confusion, and in the middle of the confusion, there is a little bit of confusion. However, Rong Yi insisted on staying under such cold feedback for a whole week.
On Friday, as usual, she contacted her teammates to discuss the progress of the current “star chasing program” – yes, that’s the name she gave it – only to find that WeChat was no longer able to contact them. They are. Through the game’s personal system, she realized that the day she woke up was also the time they came out of the previous copy, and now it’s exactly the seventh day, and according to the rules of the game, they have all entered the copy.
She is the only one, like being forgotten by the game, left alone in the real world.
Luo Huoyue: This is a good thing, Sister Rong! You didn’t go into the game because you had a wish, maybe the game finally reacted to the fact that you weren’t supposed to be a player in the first place and let you go free! This is what we have been dreaming of!
Rong Yi’s brows tightened as he looked at Luo Yuanyue’s reply on the blue-colored light screen.
Yes, he should not have entered the game, and now he can not enter, is not it just right?
But she always felt that there is something not right,…….
Fan Xingze has lost his feelings for her; the game has rejected her alone; all of this has happened in a place where she is only one step away from the truth of the game, as if –
It’s as if the game knows that if she tries harder, she can merge Fan Xingze’s memories with Ai San Sheng’s, and achieve–
Achieve what? Victory? The truth? A reversal of the game?
Rong Yi wasn’t sure, but she was certain that the last thing the game wanted to see was the unification of the two.
Then she had to let them be unified!
Finally, Fan Xingze took the initiative to knock on her door on a Saturday morning when she was working overtime.
This is the first time since they woke up.
Rong Yi remembered ICE’s teachings, do not be too eager, to capture, to become a one-strike “prey”. So she deliberately did not look up, tapping on the keyboard, lightly greeted: “Yo, rare. What’s the matter?”
Fan Xingze put the things she was holding in her arms onto Rong Yi’s desk, instantly drowning out her keyboard.
Rong Yi froze, “What does this mean?”
“I’m sorry.” Today was Saturday, and there weren’t many people working overtime in the outer office area. In order to minimize the impact, Fan Xingze chose this time: “I should have made it clear to you earlier, that I really don’t mean anything to you. I’ll take back these gifts.”
Rong Yi felt his heart sink.
In the three years of her online relationship with Ai, she had never experienced this kind of feeling.
“Did the ‘Star-chasing Plan’ fail?
To mask her disappointment, she tidied up the things on the table and suddenly realized that the mechanical keyboard given to her at the beginning was missing.
As if catching a special signal, she raised her red lips and smiled, ‘Okay.’
Fan Xingze had prepared himself for any response from her, but he never expected her to be so calm and just say ‘okay.’
Rong Yi looked at him standing blankly in front of her table, and for a moment, the previously silly and cute Ai Yuesheng returned. She pointed at the things on the table and said, ‘Thank you for your honesty. But as I’ve said, giving you things was just because I thought you would like it, without any other meaning. Which side do you understand, in what aspect?’
Fan Xingze suddenly blushed.
Rong Yi didn’t continue probing further, and said, ‘Can you return all the things intact? Did you leave the mechanical keyboard I gave you? How about this, keep what you like, return what you don’t. Am I a treasure or a commodity, a seven-day no reason return policy?’
Fan Xingze exclaimed, went forward and rummaged through the pile of things, indeed not finding the mechanical keyboard.
He did like the keyboard very much, but to avoid misunderstandings, he had also planned to return the keyboard. How could it have disappeared?
He pushed his glasses up, showing a apologetic expression, ‘Maybe I accidentally left it at home.’
‘Ah, at home.’ Rong Yi understood, ‘Do you like that keyboard so much? Take it home to use it. I was joking before, if you like it, keep it.’
The keyboard was customized according to Ai Yuesheng’s preferences, and she was absolutely confident it would touch Fan Xingze.
While Fan Xingze insisted on returning the keyboard on Monday, Rong Yi pondered on how to continue interacting with him. As they were in a tug-of-war, a knock on the door interrupted them.
“Knock, knock.”
Both turned around to see the silver-haired Is standing at the door, slightly bent over, with a healthy rosy complexion, smiling at them, ‘Are you busy? Sorry, I have something to discuss with Zoe.’
Rong Yi’s mind tensed up, she stood up suddenly, drawing the attention of both of them.
She couldn’t let Is and Fan Xingze be alone! This old man was likely the mastermind behind the Lucky Carnival, and Fan Xingze’s strange changes might be related to him!
Fan Xingze asked, ‘What’s wrong?’
Rong Yi squeezed out a professional smile, ‘Do you have any matters related to the recent project?’
‘Of course,’ Is said with a smiling face, ‘What about it, Rong, are you interested too?’
‘Definitely!’ Rong Yi adjusted her clothes, smiling brightly, ‘I need to make a project overview, there are many professional aspects I don’t understand, I’ll have to consult you.’
‘Don’t be so polite, Rong.’ Is spoke in fluent Chinese, leading the way, ‘I’ve been wanting to show you around our secret project lab.’
The atmosphere between the two was subtle, displaying their most business-like smiles, politely walking towards the elevator.
Fan Xingze, left behind, was completely confused.
What was happening these days? Something was off with his colleagues, even his teacher!
What happened during the time he was unconscious?
Author’s notes: This real-time moment is quite crucial, not just a simple transition as before… It will trigger some important plots.
