This kind of launch event typically attracts industry insiders or enthusiasts of the field. Apart from Xie Xi being a celebrity, the others are ordinary people.
Therefore, the trio of Ye Qiusuo sitting in the middle was extremely conspicuous, as if they were from a different dimension compared to the others. Furthermore, Ye Qiusuo is the largest shareholder of Tianqiu Tech, so the cameras naturally cut to her from time to time.
The fans in the live stream, especially those who adore Professor Ye but have had no way to see her, were absolutely thrilled, as if celebrating a festival.
[Damn, three pairs of long legs. Can people nowadays be even better-looking than celebrities?]
[I want the details of the man next to Professor Ye within five seconds.]
[Someone mentioned it earlier, but let me explain again. This is Lu Minglang, the current heir of the Lu Group. A little tidbit: Lu Mingzhe is his younger brother.]
[Wow! Lu Mingzhe and Lu Minglang. Just from the names, you can tell they're related. So they're brothers.]
[Doesn't that mean Lu Mingzhe is also... haha, is he just playing around in the entertainment circle?]
[Am I the only one wondering what they're talking about?]
[Ahhh! Oh my god! What is Professor Ye doing?! Is she touching Xi Xi's hand?!]
[Sisters, what are you waiting for? Screenshot now! A historic moment captured together, and Professor Ye is making a move!]
[Huh? Turns out she was just taking the watch. But why is Xi Xi wearing that watch today? It doesn't really match the outfit.]
[It's the Tianqiu Tech product launch today. He's wearing the smart medical watch produced by Tianqiu Tech, and the project lead is Professor Ye. Xie-Ye CP is real!!!]
[Aww, Professor Ye put it on! What's going on?!]
[What are the two of them saying? So curious.]
However, at that moment, the camera cut back to the person on stage, and the audience couldn't see the follow-up between Ye Qiusuo and Xie Xi below.
[Hey, cameraman, cut back!]
[Why switch the shot now? Let me see, let me keep watching!!!]
By the time the camera switched back, the two were already sitting upright in their seats, and the watch was back on Xie Xi's wrist.
However, Lu Minglang next to them said something to Ye Qiusuo. Before she could respond, the audience saw Xie Xi turn his head and say something.
[Is that handsome guy talking to Xie Xi or Professor Ye?]
[Judging by the eye contact and the angle of his turn, it should be Professor Ye.]
Baby Xi seems a bit unhappy. When he's usually angry, one of his eyebrows raises.
[Come on, it's just talking. You're reading too much into it.]
[Suddenly, I'm shipping a love triangle.]
...
The launch event continued. Finally, it was Xie Xi's turn to go on stage, and the audience below immediately got excited. After all, seeing a real-life celebrity in person is different from seeing them on TV or a phone screen.
"Welcome, welcome." The host guided Xie Xi to stand in the center of the stage, then took a pair of glasses from the central podium and said to the camera, "This is the first time Tianqiu Tech has hired a spokesperson, for these glasses designed to correct and rehabilitate visual issues for those with reading and writing disorders."
The audience below began to applaud. After the applause died down, the host faced Xie Xi again: "I'm also a fan of Xie Xi. I've always known your handwriting isn't great, but I only found out about this issue of yours not long ago. So, I'd like to ask Xi Xi, what was your world like before, or how did you experience reading and writing?"
"I have a relatively severe case of reading and writing disorder. Words appear incomplete to me, and it causes dizziness." Xie Xi hadn't wanted to disclose this before, simply not wanting to garner sympathy. Now it's fine; mentioning it can help with the product promotion anyway.
[So, that's why Xi Xi didn't continue his studies.]
[No wonder on the reality show, the assistant often had to read things to Xie Xi. It turns out he couldn't see clearly.]
[Actually, long-time fans know that even though he didn't finish junior high, he doesn't know less than someone who went to university.]
[Right, right! I remember an early program where Xi Xi and a few other celebrities participated. It was like an early version of "Knowledge Q&A," just for fun among celebrities. He performed exceptionally well. Not sure about math, but he never lost in literature-related topics.]
"And now, after wearing these glasses, can you see clearly?" the host asked.
"Yes, I'm practicing my handwriting now." Xie Xi deliberately added the latter part, mentally noting that the practice copybook was personally transcribed by Professor Ye before she gave it to him.
"Then we look forward to seeing Xi Xi's improved handwriting in the future," the host said with a smile.
Subsequently, the host began to demonstrate and explain the functions and parameters of the glasses, with Xie Xi standing beside him, responsible for holding the glasses.
[Professor Ye is watching so intently. They even have matching glasses. This is too sweet for me!]
[Start editing, sisters! Such great material. I've already imagined it ten thousand times!]
Later, when Ye Qiusuo went on stage and Xie Xi sat below looking up, the CP fans went even crazier.
It always seemed that when the camera shot from the front, there was a light in Xie Xi's eyes.
The launch event lasted over three hours. After it ended, Lu Minglang still hadn't left.
There was one thing he couldn't understand. When they first cooperated, they got along quite well. But later, when he offered well-intentioned advice, the other party not only didn't appreciate it but became wary instead.
However... he wasn't without his own intentions either.
"President Ye, looking forward to meeting at the upcoming industry conference," Lu Minglang said, standing up, buttoning his suit jacket, and giving a light laugh.
Xie Xi, who was just about to speak to Ye Qiusuo, immediately felt alarm bells ringing. What conference were the two of them going to attend?!
"President Lu wants to stay and have a meal with us at Tianqiu? However, Tianqiu Tech only welcomes employees with ID cards," Ye Qiusuo said, not responding to his previous statement. As she spoke, she glanced at the door, clearly not welcoming him to stay any longer.
Xie Xi: Good, she doesn't like Lu Minglang.
Lu Minglang wasn't angry either. He turned and left with people from another company.
Ye Qiusuo watched his retreating figure and instinctively frowned. She knew Lu Minglang was not simple and had designs on Tianqiu Tech, so their subsequent conversations were hardly ever amicable.
She found it troublesome and didn't want other complications. Either be direct competitors; there was no need for pretense.
"Is there a dinner arrangement too?" Xie Xi suddenly spoke up beside her. "Can I go? I'm hungry."
Ye Qiusuo withdrew her gaze and turned to look at him: "Did you eat this morning?" She remembered last time he came to see her, he hadn't eaten either.
Xie Xi: "No, I didn't." (He actually had.)
"Let's go." Professor Ye led Xie Xi towards the backstage. The company had already booked a private room over there. The earlier comment about needing an ID was purely for Lu Minglang's benefit; it wasn't about eating in the company cafeteria anyway.
Xie Xi thought delightedly: She really treats him differently!
As for Xie Xi joining the dinner gathering, the people at Tianqiu Tech were welcoming. After all, he is Tianqiu Tech's first spokesperson and deserves special treatment. Moreover, it's said he's also an investor in this glasses project.
Even though this project isn't entirely under Tianqiu, everyone still regarded him as a partner.
Of course, taking a group photo when dining together is a must, especially with a celebrity present.
Seizing the opportunity, after the big group photo, Xie Xi simply took a separate photo with everyone, successfully obtaining a picture of just him and Ye Qiusuo.
He saved it, resisting the urge to post it on Weibo to show off, and instead sent it around on WeChat, of course setting it to be visible only to his parents plus one Zhang Dong.
Zhang Dong: Wow! Professor Ye and Brother Xi look so well-matched!
Mother Xie: My son is making fast progress, keep it up!
Father Xie: Seeing all those extra bowls and chopsticks on the side means there were many other people; you just managed to tag along for this, didn't you.
Xie Xi: "..."
Although Father Xie had seen right through him, Xie Xi wasn't discouraged. He logged into his alternate account and posted today's diary entry: We took a photo together, another small step forward~
"Xie Xi." Ye Qiusuo noticed Xie Xi across from her looking down at his phone again and called his name with a frown. "Eat first."
There were about a dozen people in the private room, split between two tables. The atmosphere was quite noisy as everyone ate and chatted. Being technical staff, they didn't feel the need to particularly ingratiate themselves with the shareholders. Moreover, Professor Ye herself was also technical staff, so no one really paid attention to their little interaction.
Except for one person.
Zhao Guiyin.
As a top-tier assistant, he could not only handle all sorts of matters for his superior but also act as the company's spokesperson, possessing a keen ability to read people and situations.
Ye Qiusuo could be described as someone who normally didn't pay attention to others. It wasn't that she couldn't, she just didn't want to—a common trait of those deeply immersed in science.
But she had taken note of something as minor as Xie Xi not eating.
This was rather strange.
However, since CEO Ye could invite the notoriously hard-to-get Xie Xi, perhaps the two had a good private relationship, Zhao Guiyin reasoned to himself.
"Oh." Xie Xi sent that Weibo post and immediately picked up his chopsticks to eat.
Even though he liked Professor Ye now, whenever she called out 'Xie Xi', he still felt a bit of a jolt.
...
"Brother Xi, was the food good?" Zhang Dong came to pick up Xie Xi and asked casually.
"It was good," Xie Xi replied absentmindedly, cradling his phone.
What's going on? No one has edited a video yet? Where are the Xie-Ye CP fans?
Xie Xi didn't know that the video editors among the CP fans were at home, swooning over the content for ages, squealing and rolling around, completely unable to focus on editing. Others were working on edits, but progress was slow; they'd need at least until tomorrow to finish, requiring an all-nighter today.
Unable to find any new videos, Xie Xi grew anxious.
In his anxiety, he started calling his agent.
"Sister Wei, I want to post a Weibo."
"You're asking me about posting a Weibo? What do you want to post?" Wei Qi was startled.
"Oh, it's a group photo with Professor Ye. I want to do some more promotion for this project," Xie Xi declared with righteous seriousness.
"Promotion? Sure, you can post that," Wei Qi said, not reading anything into it. Mainly because upon hearing "Professor Ye," she couldn't really imagine anything else.
As soon as Xie Xi hung up, he immediately posted the photo he had only shared on WeChat using his official account, hoping to stir up the CP fans.
Xie Xi: [Post-release dinner. image.jpg]
To avoid making the two of them too obvious, yet still letting the CP fans find some sugar to enjoy, Xie Xi posted nine pictures. The first eight were randomly selected from the earlier group photos, and the ninth and final one was the photo of him and Ye Qiusuo.
As expected, the CP fans once again went into a frenzy.
[The real deal is giving us sugar?!]
[Professor Ye! I actually get to see Professor Ye! What press conference was this?]
[Sisters above, go check out the Skyball Tech press conference, there should be a replay.]
[The two of them sitting together is absolutely perfect, how are they so well-matched? Sob, I'm dying from this sweetness.]
[Hehehe, XiXi actually took off his jacket. He looks good in a white shirt too.]
[Can I just say that all the people Xie Xi took photos with are industry giants? You might not know them by name, but you definitely know their research or the products they've already developed.]
[Yeah, for the first time, I'm not jealous of the people taking photos with Baby Xi, but jealous that Baby Xi gets to take photos with these giants.]
