"Thank you all for your hard work!"
As usual, after each comic convention, the organizer would hold a dinner gathering.
The participants included not only the company employees but also the temporarily hired volunteers and the invited guests.
Due to the large number of people, they had three tables for this dinner today, and the private rooms were connected by removing the partitions between three rooms.
Young people are the most energetic. Even after a busy day, they still had plenty of energy now.
Since they took their seats, the private room had been in a complete uproar. You had to speak right into someone's ear to be heard clearly.
Du Yu was already used to such a scene. After all, they had at least a dozen such dinners in a year.
She was chatting with her colleague while eating the dishes, talking about the interesting things that happened at work today.
There were always all kinds of situations at every comic convention. If you didn't handle them in time, you might end up in trouble.
At this time, a colleague came back from the next table. She showed her phone and boasted, "Hehe, I added Teacher Lan as a friend."
The colleague chatting with Du Yu exclaimed, "Wow, is it possible to add Teacher Lan?"
"Sure. You can go and ask him for his contact information right now."
The colleague was immediately tempted upon hearing this. She picked up her phone and ran to the guests' table to ask for the contact information.
To attract audiences, besides the organizer's careful planning, popular guests also needed to be invited to the comic convention.
The most common guests were mostly people in the circle, such as cosplayers, painters, singers, dancers, voice actors, etc.
Teacher Lan, Li Qinglan, whom the colleague mentioned, was one of the guests this time and also one of the most popular cosplayers in the cosplay circle at present. Many audiences came here especially for him.
Popular guests usually needed to be booked several months in advance. So, in order to secure their schedules, the organizer not only paid extremely high fees but also tried their best to build good personal relationships with the guests.
To put it bluntly, this was a society based on personal connections.
However, it wasn't her thing to build relationships and talk about feelings. The colleagues who were good at such things were sitting at the guests' table.
Du Yu used to hate such worldly wisdom with a purpose and utilitarianism. But after working for a few years, she had come to terms with it. Compared with others, her job was already very good.
At least the workplace atmosphere was relaxed, her colleagues were all like - minded people, and the work content was also what she liked to do. In short, she was very satisfied with her current work situation.
If her love life could be a little smoother, it would be even better.
It had been half a year since she broke up with Han Chubin. Du Yu said that she still wanted to have a relationship if she met the right person, but in the past half - year, she always couldn't muster up the energy when faced with the ambiguous partners who showed their interest actively.
She always felt that something was missing.
The colleague who got Li Qinglan's contact information was happily looking through the great master's Moments. Suddenly, she seemed to remember something and said to Du Yu, "By the way, A Yu, just now Teacher Ning asked me if you had a boyfriend. I said you did."
"Thanks."
"No problem!"
Du Yu's colleague had also been fortunate enough to attend that grand birthday party and had helped spread the news enthusiastically.
As the saying goes, it is everyone's responsibility to expose a scumbag. In this circle, the spread of gossips and scandals was as fast as the speed of light. Thanks to everyone's unremitting efforts, Han Chubin, along with his former name, had disappeared from the local comic conventions.
Although Du Yu had let go of these things, because she was angry at that time, she had once publicly stated in the office that she would never date anyone in the circle again.
The colleagues were also very helpful. When someone inquired about her, they would consciously help her fend them off.
However, Du Yu also felt that her concept of love had changed recently.
In the past, when she was in a relationship, she valued the feeling the most. As long as the feeling was right for a moment, it was okay to give it a try. At first, both of them were very enthusiastic and could get along well. But once ten or half a month passed, the shortcomings would be exposed. Coupled with her tough and decisive personality, she would choose to break up after one or two unsuccessful discussions.
This way of handling relationships made her love life like a never - stopping roller - coaster - either reaching the peak or falling to the bottom.
Now Du Yu was a little tired of such relationships.
Secondly, it might also be influenced by her good friend Zhou Zhuofei.
Zhou Zhuofei had been single for a long time before she fell in love with a colleague in the same company a few months ago. Now they were living together sweetly.
Under normal circumstances, Du Yu would think that living together too early would make the passion in a relationship fade away. But for Zhou Zhuofei, she thought it was just right.
Because Zhou Zhuofei and her boyfriend were a perfect match in every aspect.
Her friend was a complete homebody. She didn't want to go out and didn't like socializing. She could have a great time at home with just a computer.
And her boyfriend was the president's secretary. He was very busy with work and didn't have much time for dates.
The most important thing was that one of them loved to take care of others, and the other was willing to be taken care of. Wasn't this a perfect match?
So, it had been almost half a year since they started dating. Du Yu had never seen them quarrel, and Zhou Zhuofei had never said anything bad about her boyfriend. In her description, their emotional relationship had always been very stable and inclusive.
They would put themselves in each other's shoes when encountering problems. So, it was very difficult for them to quarrel when there was a conflict. Instead, they would actively solve the problems.
Du Yu was deeply impressed by a sentence - quarreling was just venting emotions and couldn't solve problems. If your emotions started to build up, it only meant that a problem had already arisen.
It was hard to believe that this was something her friend of seven or eight years would say. After all, she used to be the most emotional person in the club.
So, Du Yu had to admit that Zhou Zhuofei had grown up and matured. This relationship had made her a more convincing and admirable person.
So, Du Yu also began to think about whether she should change her way of handling emotions.
She also began to want to seek a more stable relationship, but unfortunately, she hadn't met a suitable partner yet.
Life is just so torturous. When she didn't care, she often met people she was interested in. But when she started to be serious, she found that there was no suitable person.
The Teacher Ning that the colleague mentioned was also one of the guests this time. Du Yu had gone to help during the autograph session, so she had talked to him a few times.
He was a funny and sociable person, the type that usually attracted her the most. But now she had no interest in him at all.
After a while, the colleague who went to ask for Li Qinglan's contact information came back. She excitedly shared with Du Yu, "I got it too! He's so handsome! A Yu, won't you go?"
"I'd better not. Anyway, even if we add each other, we won't have much to talk about."
For a cosplayer who has reached this level, cosplaying is basically treated as a job rather than a simple hobby. Getting too close might not be a good thing. It's better to just look at the beautiful photos and admire the handsome guys.
Halfway through the meal, several guests left early to catch their flights, and all the volunteers had also dispersed. In the end, only the staff and a few guests who planned to stay for one night remained.
So, everyone discussed sending the guests back to the hotel first and then arranging other activities.
While Du Yu was waiting for them to reach a decision, a figure suddenly approached her. "Are you Du Yu?"
"Yes, I'm Du Yu. How do you know?"
Du Yu looked at Li Qinglan in front of her in confusion. In a work setting, everyone only used cosplay names, so there was no reason for this person to know her full name.
"Don't you remember me? I'm Li Qinglan."
"Li Qinglan?" Du Yu repeated the name. It sounded familiar, but she just couldn't recall where she had heard it.
But since the other person could call out her name directly, they should be an old acquaintance, right?
"Sorry, I really can't remember. Could you tell me the characters of your name?"
The other person was not surprised by Du Yu's reaction at all. He calmly and gracefully spelled out his name in full: "Li, as in the surname with the character for 'wood'; Qing, like the 'clear' in 'clear water'; and Lan, like the 'Lan' in 'Lancang'."
As soon as she heard this self - introduction, Du Yu really remembered. She had indeed heard this sentence before.
She asked uncertainly, "Were we junior high school classmates?"
Seeing the other person nod, she breathed a sigh of relief. Fortunately, her memory hadn't completely faded.
"It's really you!" Du Yu never expected that after so many years, she would reunite with a junior high school classmate in a foreign place. "Oh my god, I've been looking at you all day today, and I really didn't recognize you at all!"
Li Qinglan asked, "Didn't you go to the class reunion two years ago?"
Du Yu waved her hand and said, "Yeah, you know about my job. When others are on vacation, I'm not. Where would I have the time to go? Besides, I don't have any close classmates from junior high school anymore. It doesn't matter whether I go or not."
"No wonder. I've never seen you talk in the group. How about adding each other's contact information?"
"Sure."
Du Yu agreed very readily. Naturally, there was a bit more affection between old classmates than with others.
She took out her phone and quickly added Li Qinglan as a friend. Looking at Li Qinglan's delicate profile, she couldn't help but sigh, "But you've changed so much now. I really didn't recognize you."
In her memory, Li Qinglan didn't seem to be this handsome.
But then again, she hardly had any impression of this junior high school classmate, except for his rather distinctive name at that time.
Hearing this, Li Qinglan showed a gentle and handsome smile: "After all, it's been more than a decade since we graduated from junior high school."
"You're right. Thinking about it, it's been so long since we graduated. Time really flies."
So, the two of them chatted about a lot of topics related to junior high school until everyone had decided on the next arrangement and they said goodbye.
However, this kind of encounter with an old acquaintance in a foreign land was really too wonderful. So, after Du Yu got home, regardless of the fact that it was already midnight, she still sent a long string of messages to Zhou Zhuofei in one go.
After sending the messages, she fell asleep right away and didn't wake up until the next afternoon.
At this time, she found that the phone interface was still on the chat window between the two of them, and Zhou Zhuofei had also replied after reading her messages.
[That's really quite a coincidence. But you've never recognized him even though he's so famous?]
[I just searched for him. He's really handsome!]
[Great! A big shot in our circle turns out to be my junior high school classmate. What a dreamy start. If I were a novelist, I'd start writing right now!]
[Because he's really different from before!]
[Ah, you're awake?]
[Yeah. I specifically recalled it afterwards. I really wasn't familiar with him. It seems that I collected his homework when I was a group leader before.]
[So you were a group leader before.]
[Of course. I was quite well - known back then.]
[Hahaha.]
As they were chatting, Du Yu suddenly remembered something.
It seemed that she had once stood up for Li Qinglan.
