"..."
Yu He had only just begun, and it would take at least another ten minutes to process, even at her speed.
"I've already left Xingque and am at a coffee shop in a nearby commercial area. Come find me," she said, hanging up immediately.
Her fair, slender fingers flew across the keyboard, tapping with a rhythmic patter that drew the admiring gaze of a nearby teenager. He couldn't resist taking out his phone to record.
Yu He remotely controlled Shi Ban's computer, scanning his previous code at lightning speed. She then sent a virus to each of the hackers attempting to infiltrate the website, thereby halting their intrusion.
To prevent further malicious invasions, she also set up a small hidden trap in their company's firewall system.
After finishing, she sent Shi Ban a message.
[Don't just focus on dating. Improve your skills when you have time. If you keep this up, my brother will surpass you.]
A Pig: [???]
A Pig: [Your biological younger brother? When did he start learning this?]
Yu He glanced at the time. Fifteen minutes had passed, and Qin Beiting should have arrived. She didn't have time to reply.
She exited the remote control interface and, through the reflection on the screen, saw the teenager behind her holding his phone to record. Her fingers typed another string of code on the keyboard.
The teenager watched the rapidly scrolling code on the screen, engrossed in his recording, when suddenly his phone screen went black.
Teenager: ???
He fiddled with it for a moment, only to find that the phone had inexplicably shut down. He restarted it and checked his photo gallery, but the video he had just recorded was gone.
Logically, shouldn't it have saved automatically?
But it wasn't in his cloud storage, nor in the trash bin!
He suddenly realized it must have been Yu He's doing! But Yu He had already exited the page, deleted the records, unplugged the USB drive, and left.
As Yu He exited the internet cafe and was about to head to the coffee shop next door, she was suddenly stopped by a familiar voice.
"Baby."
Her steps faltered. She turned around and saw Qin Beiting walking towards her.
The man was dressed in a black slim-fit suit, a white shirt, and a gray tie, looking very formal. He carried a briefcase in his hand, appearing like a seasoned professional fresh from a business meeting, his demeanor exuding an air of noble refinement that created an untouchable distance.
"Brother Ting..." Yu He suddenly felt a pang of guilt.
"What are you doing here?" Qin Beiting glanced pointedly at the internet cafe door behind her.
Just as Yu He was about to concoct a casual excuse, the teenager from earlier ran out.
"Miss, you were so amazing just now! Can I add your WeChat? I'm also learning hacking!" The teenager held up his phone, looking at Yu He with eager anticipation.
He was not much taller than Yu He, with a clean-cut, youthful face, appearing to be about fifteen or sixteen years old.
"!" Yu He hadn't expected him to follow her. She nervously glanced at Qin Beiting.
Based on her understanding of this man, he would likely assume the teenager was just saying that to try and chat her up, right?
However, she saw the man ask with a hint of amusement, "Oh? How amazing?"
"It's just..."
"It's just basic Python, all the tutorials have it," Yu He immediately interrupted him.
The teenager blinked. Although he was only a beginner, he could recognize that Yu He's skillful actions just now were definitely god-level!
"I already have a boyfriend, so I'm not accepting any advances," Yu He said, then linked her arm through Qin Beiting's and pulled him away, forcefully pretending the teenager's actions were merely an attempt to chat her up.
Qin Beiting lowered his gaze, watching the girl confidently state their relationship. The corners of his lips curved upwards involuntarily as he took her arm and entwined his fingers with hers.
"No, I just wanted to..." The teenager tried to catch up and explain.
Qin Beiting glanced back, his icy gaze sweeping over the teenager, who couldn't help but tremble and freeze in place.
Seeing that the teenager no longer dared to bother her, Yu He was about to breathe a sigh of relief when she heard the man's magnetic voice from above.
"You were in the internet cafe just now?"
"Yes, I finished my business and didn't know when you'd be free. I happened to see an internet cafe here, so I came to consolidate the vocabulary I'd memorized earlier."
Yu He said, looking down, then suddenly remembered Qin Beiting mentioning before that she couldn't meet people's eyes when she lied. She deliberately looked up at him. "I didn't study at all when I was out playing the other day, I need to catch up, right?"
"You said you were at a coffee shop earlier?" Qin Beiting raised an eyebrow at her.
Yu He: "...The main entrance of this internet cafe is too far off the beaten path, and I was afraid you wouldn't find me, so I mentioned the more obvious coffee shop nearby."
"Oh..." Qin Beiting nodded, then asked meaningfully, "Do you really want to learn hacking quickly?"
"..."
Yu He felt that the atmosphere was off. She had come to test this man, but why had the tables suddenly turned?!
"I just want to learn faster and be better than you, so I can sleep in every morning," she said earnestly.
This was definitely not an excuse!
She truly didn't want to wake up early!
Qin Beiting: "..."
Then he would have to keep his identity a complete secret; he couldn't let the little girl know.
"What cooperation were you discussing? Did it work out?" Yu He changed the subject while he was silent.
"It worked out, but it's a trade secret and I can't talk about it," Qin Beiting replied.
Yu He didn't actually want to know his trade secrets. Her eyes darted around, and she added, "I'm hungry. Let's go eat something. You're familiar with this area, do you have any good restaurant recommendations?"
"I don't come here very often, but the partner I met with just now recommended a good Western restaurant nearby. We can try that," Qin Beiting said smoothly.
Yu He: "...Okay."
The two of them walked hand-in-hand to the Western restaurant. There weren't many customers at this time, so Qin Beiting requested a private room.
The floor-to-ceiling windows of the private room offered a clear view of Xingque across the street, with its ancient charm, red walls, and green tiles, magnificent and grand, like the Forbidden City of old.
"What kind of people work at Xingque?" Yu He asked, standing by the window and turning back to him.
Qin Beiting was ordering food. "I don't know. Come here, let's see what you want to eat."
"..."
Seeing his calm and unreveited demeanor, if she hadn't seen the surveillance footage from Shengda Venture Capital's front desk with her own eyes, Yu He would have doubted if she was overthinking things.
However, the more flawless he appeared, the more her fingers itched to expose his true colors. She was eager to do so but couldn't rush, much like a difficult calculus problem she'd encountered before, a stubborn illness, or a tough firewall... she had to take it step by step.
"You know what I like to eat," Yu He sat back down, resting her chin on her hands as she looked at him.
Her eyes twinkled with a smile, her gaze clear as a spring. Qin Beiting's Adam's apple bobbed involuntarily, and his dark eyes deepened.
"When you look at me like that, I can't help but want to do something to you." He stood up, crossed the table, and kissed the girl's lips.
Just then, a waiter knocked and entered to deliver water. Upon entering, they were hit with a large dose of public affection and immediately retreated. They returned after a moment.
While the waiter was pouring water, Qin Beiting picked up his phone and checked the replies in a group chat.
[Did you detect Crow online today?]
This was a message he had sent to the group ten minutes earlier.
Scorpio: [No.]
Taurus: [I haven't detected anything on my end either.]
Virgo: [No]
...