I met my whole family through Baidu Tieba.

No? What is this? ...

In that instant, Zhou Man's mind transformed into the scene of the Big Bang's origin, turning into a complete mess.

After an unknown amount of time, she finally moved. She tiptoed a little further away, then stomped her feet heavily, making a sound, and walked towards the door of room 212.

When they arrived at the door, they didn't go in immediately, but knocked on the door first.

"Please come in."

She only opened the door after Shen Kang's voice came from inside.

After the door opened, you could see Shen Kang sitting properly on the sofa, and He Qiuzhu sitting obediently beside him, both staring at the monitor screen in front of them, looking very serious.

On a small loudspeaker on a nearby table, the commentator was still repeatedly calling out "Kobe!"

"President Zhou?"

Shen Kang looked surprised when he saw that the person at the door was Zhou Man.

He Qiuzhu was also quite surprised and called out to President Zhou.

Shen Kang then asked, "Why are you here?"

"I had some business to attend to at the company nearby, and since I was passing by, I thought I'd stop by and take a look..."

Zhou Man said casually as she walked in.

"You didn't even give me a heads-up beforehand. Sit down, sit down..."

Shen Kang gestured for Zhou Man to sit down on the sofa, subtly observing her expression: for some reason, he felt inexplicably guilty.

He didn't know what he was feeling guilty about, nor did he know what he was observing or trying to glean from Zhou Man's face. But he was just observing, just looking.

"Come, Mr. Zhou, try some of my tea. You're used to drinking those fine teas, so it's nice to try our commoner's tea once in a while. It's a way of sharing the joy with the people..."

While pouring tea and busying around aimlessly, Shen Kang rambled on incoherently.

"Alright, then I'll share the joy with the people..."

Zhou Man didn't think there was anything wrong with Shen Kang's words and responded with her own nonsense.

After pouring the tea, Shen Kang, who could chat with anyone for hours on a single day, stood there, suddenly speechless.

For the first time, he was as honest and quiet as he had said.

Zhou Man, who could usually turn a casual remark into a speech, was speechless as she held the tea handed to her by Shen Kang.

He Qiuzhu looked at Shen Kang, then at Zhou Man, and suddenly spoke.

"Want to watch the game?"

He Qiuzhu spoke softly.

Although it didn't break the eerie atmosphere, it did give Shen Kang a starting point for conversation.

"Oh right, Mr. Zhou, wanna watch the game? Let's watch together! Lakers vs. Celtics, it's going to be amazing!..."

two minutes later

The three people were sitting on the worn-out sofa. From left to right, they were Shen Kang, He Qiuzhu, and Zhou Man.

They stared intently at the monitor in front of them, watching Lao Da's impressive performance, each more focused than the last, as if nothing else in the world mattered except for this game.

On the monitor, Kobe was dribbling at the free-throw line. A passionate male commentator's voice blared from the loudspeaker, sounding particularly loud in the quiet 212 room.

"Okay, Kobe steps up to the free-throw line, first shot—go! Smoothie! The Lakers played incredibly tenaciously on the road today. Facing a defense of the Celtics' caliber, Kobe carried the team single-handedly. That's the value of a superstar!"

Shen Kang nodded vigorously and said in an overly serious tone, "Lao Da's free throw was indeed solid."

"It's definitely stable," Zhou Man said earnestly, holding her teacup.

He Qiuzhu was somewhat confused. "Shen Kang, who is Lao Da?"

Zhou Man was also taken aback: Right, who is Lao Da?

"Uh, I meant Kobe, you misspoke," Shen Kang said calmly.

"Second free throw—and it's in! Kobe makes both free throws, the Lakers are tied! Now the pressure is on the Celtics. Pierce has the ball, facing Artest's defense—ouch, the ball's been stolen! Lakers fast break! Kobe runs down the court! Passes! Gasol follows up with a thunderous dunk! Beautiful! The Lakers have taken the lead!"

Shen Kang nodded vigorously again, this time even more forcefully than before, his neck almost bent at a ninety-degree angle.

"That was a beautiful pass. Gasol's touch is really soft; someone else might not have been able to dunk that ball."

Zhou Man nodded in agreement, her tone carrying a similarly exaggerated sense of admiration: "Yes, the pass was good. Kobe didn't try to take all the credit; he had a great sense of the game."

He Qiuzhu looked to the left and then to the right.

She watched for a long time but couldn't figure out what was so smooth about the big guy in the purple jersey—he was clearly just stuffing the ball into the basket.

But she felt that now was not a good time to ask questions, so she followed Shen Kang's example and nodded slightly.

"Celtics inbound the ball, Rondo orchestrates the offense—passes! Garnett hits a mid-range jumper! Got it! The Celtics have taken the lead again. This game is absolutely phenomenal, with the lead changing hands repeatedly, neither side willing to concede!"

The three people nodded at the same time, their movements perfectly synchronized.

It was as if someone had given them a command from behind.

"Lakers on offense, Kobe drives to the basket—double-teamed! Double-teamed! Kobe keeps driving—blocked! That was too risky. Facing the twin towers of Garnett and Perkins, Kobe's strong attack was ruthlessly suppressed. He got a bit carried away on that play; he should have passed it to Fisher in the corner."

Shen Kang let out a deep sigh and said in a serious tone, as if commenting on an international situation, "This ball was indeed played too hastily. The bottom corner was open; it should have been passed. But that's just Lao Da's style; he has to step up in times like these, and whether it goes in or not, it's his responsibility."

Zhou Man nodded, her expression as if she were listening to a report from a senior executive at a board meeting: "Sometimes being too responsible isn't necessarily a good thing. You have to let go when it's time to let go, and teamwork can maximize efficiency."

He Qiuzhu finally found a point she could understand and suddenly asked, "So it was his teammates who couldn't keep up?"

Shen Kang and Zhou Man turned to look at her at the same time, and then nodded simultaneously.

He Qiuzhu was satisfied, feeling like she understood the game, and turned back to continue watching the screen.

"With 30 seconds left in the first half, the Celtics have the ball, and Ray Allen uses a screen to emerge—a three-pointer! Beautiful! Ray Allen's three-pointers are like a sniper rifle, never missing a shot! This is his fourth three-pointer of the day! The Celtics have extended their lead to six points. The Lakers have called a timeout."

As soon as the narration stopped, the room suddenly fell silent.

The background noise from the stadium blared from the loudspeaker, a buzzing sound like a pot of bubbling porridge.

The room was unusually quiet.

The three of them remained in the same posture—leaning forward, hands on their knees, eyes fixed intently on the scoreboard in the upper right corner of the screen.

It was as if those six numbers held some secret to winning the game.

Shen Kang said, "Ray Allen really had a good shooting night."

Zhou Man said, "The Celtics' team basketball is indeed impressive."

He Qiuzhu also asked, "Is six points a lot?"

Shen Kang and Zhou Man answered her at the same time.

Shen Kang said, "Not much, we caught up with two three-pointers," while Zhou Man said, "Six points is nothing in a game of this level."

The two voices overlapped, then stopped simultaneously, and they fell silent again.

The silence lingered for three seconds, like an invisible rubber band being stretched longer and longer.

He Qiuzhu sat in the middle, glancing to her left at Shen Kang—who was rubbing the knee of his jeans with his right hand. The knee, which hadn't been wrinkled before, was now covered in fine lines from his rubbing.

Look to the right at Zhou Man—Zhou Man is holding a teacup, which is empty, but she is still holding it, her thumb rubbing back and forth on the rim of the cup. The posture is like that of someone enjoying tea in a high-end restaurant, but she is not drinking at all.

The whistle finally blew to end the pause, and the commentary started playing again over the loudspeaker.

"Okay, Lakers get the ball in the frontcourt, Kobe receives it—facing Pierce, one-on-one! Fake! Fade away! Fade away! Got it! Kobe! That's Kobe! No matter how many shots he misses before, he still dares to take the crucial shot. That's the confidence of the league's best player!"

Shen Kang nodded.

Zhou Man nodded.

He Qiuzhu nodded in agreement.

The three people sat side by side on the tattered sofa, shoulder to shoulder, knee to knee, nodding at the monitor in unison.

If someone were to pass by the door at this moment, they would probably think that these are the three people in the entire universe who are watching the game most attentively.

……

Zhou Man is gone.

She had originally planned to come and pick up He Qiuzhu, but she didn't say anything until she came downstairs, as if she had forgotten about it and asked He Qiuzhu if she wanted to "go home" with her first.

Go downstairs, exit the building, and arrive at the Bentley.

Ding Ling was already waiting there.

Seeing Zhou Man approach without He Qiuzhu by her side, she was taken aback. "Miss He, aren't you coming along?"

Zhou Man stayed up there for so long before coming down, so He Qiuzhu must have been there too, but she was a little puzzled that He Qiuzhu didn't come down with her.

What's even more puzzling is what Zhou Man said next.

I didn't tell her.

After Zhou Man finished speaking, she sat directly in the back seat of the car.

Didn't they say?

Ding Ling was very confused, but muscle memory made her close the door for Zhou Man first.

Then, Ding Ling walked to the passenger seat. Just before she was about to sit down, she looked up and glanced at the top of the startup base. Then she looked away and sat in the passenger seat.

The car started moving.

Ding Ling was very tactful; she didn't ask what had happened, but simply asked, "President Zhou, shall we go back to the company now?"

"Okay, back to the company," Zhou Man's voice came from the back seat.

The car then started moving.

Ding Ling sat in the passenger seat, her mind filled with good thoughts, but she remained silent, not asking a single question, nor trying to see what Zhou Man's expression was in the back seat.

The car remained quiet throughout the journey, and no one uttered a single word.

It wasn't until more than two hours later, when the car was almost at the High-tech Zone, that someone finally broke the silence inside the car.

"Ding Ling, I have a friend who has a lot to say to someone. He hopes that the person listening to him doesn't know who he is or what he looks like, and ideally, can also offer analysis and insights. Can you think of a way?"

"..."

Ding Ling really wanted to say, "Mr. Zhou, could this friend of yours be you?"

However, she didn't say it aloud, but instead analyzed Mr. Zhou's request: It seems that "Mr. Zhou's friend" has encountered some trouble. To confide in someone, to be confided in… and for the person being confided in to be able to provide analysis and insights, from these perspectives, it would be more reliable for this person to find a psychologist.

Normally, a psychologist would bring a client to their clinic for a face-to-face consultation, and might even need some personal information from the client to aid in the diagnosis. But Mr. Zhou specifically requested that the client not know who "he" was, or even what "he" looked like…

It sounds like it's a difficult job for someone.

However, as a professional assistant like Ding Ling, one's job is to help bosses solve these problems.

Ding Ling, without a doubt, is an excellent professional assistant.

"Got it!"

……

Ding Ling started contacting people right in the car, making one call after another.

During the conversation, I also asked Zhou Man what time I needed to arrange for "Zhou's friend".

Zhou Man seemed to be in a real hurry and asked directly if today was okay, to which Ding Ling replied yes.

When the car arrived at the company, Ding Ling had already arranged everything and handed a piece of paper to Zhou Man in the back seat.

"Mr. Zhou, everything is arranged. Just have your friend go at this time and place."

Zhou Man took the paper, glanced at it, and her expression froze for a moment, looking somewhat strange, as if she had seen something.

Then he nodded, put away the paper, got out of the car, and went into the company.

Ding Ling naturally followed suit.

……

Around 3 p.m., a woman dressed simply, wearing a headscarf and sunglasses, drove alone to a location.

After parking her car, the woman walked to a large square, looked up, and saw the huge sign in front of her.

Universal Studios Japan.

The woman tightened her headscarf, bought a ticket, and went inside.

Business at this Universal Studios is indeed so-so.

During the National Day holiday, the number of people here was not too high. Now that it's winter vacation, the number of people here is still not too high. If you want to play something, you basically don't have to queue for long.

The woman showed no interest in any of the other items and went straight to the outside of a church.

The church is like a replica of St. Borobudur's Cathedral. Although it is not as grand and imposing as the original, its appearance is basically a one-to-one replica, and it is still quite solemn.

On the two thick doorposts to the left and right of the entrance, two huge red Spring Festival couplets were pasted:

God blesses the world.

Jesus bestows blessings upon the nine provinces.

The Spring Festival couplets look a bit worn; it's obvious they were put up quite a while ago, most likely last year during the Spring Festival, and this year's New Year is almost here.

The woman stood in front of the church, lowered her sunglasses slightly to reveal her eyes; it was Zhou Man.

Looking at the church and Spring Festival couplets in front of her, she remembered that a few months ago during the National Day holiday, she and her "family of four" had brought Xiao Qingxuan here.

And now, Ding Ling has arranged for us to be here again—it's quite a wonderful coincidence.

This is why Zhou Man was taken aback when she saw the note Ding Ling handed her in the car earlier.