AWB Chapter 466 The Night Before the Press Conference
Chapter 466 The Night Before the Press Conference
Backstage at the Beijing International Convention Center, 10 PM.
Ling Yun flipped to the last page of his speech, then back again. The page was covered with annotations, some added by Chen Zhongming, others revised by himself. He read a passage aloud, felt awkward, crossed it out, and rewrote a line next to it. After finishing, he read it again and put down his pen.
Someone was moving things outside the dressing room. The sound of boxes being dragged down the corridor was muffled, like distant thunder. Every ten seconds or so, someone would shout into the walkie-talkie: "Retest the lighting," "Switch the large screen to the third display," "Sound system—is it working?"
Zhao Hu pushed open the door and came in, carrying two bottles of mineral water.
"The venue has been checked, and security is fine." He placed the water on the table, unscrewed a bottle, and handed it over. "But guess what I found under the podium?"
Ling Yun took the water and took a sip. "What?"
"A bugging device. It's stuck to the bottom of the podium, covered with black tape; you can't even spot it unless you look closely." Zhao Hu pulled a metal piece smaller than a fingernail from his pocket and placed it on the table. "Origin unknown. But at this time, there aren't many people who could put something here."
Ling Yun glanced at the metal piece and sneered. He picked up the bug, twirled it between his fingers, and then put it into the ashtray on the table.
"Some people will only ever resort to these underhanded tactics. Never mind them. How's it going outside?"
"It's alright. It's a bit cold."
Ling Yun put on his coat and walked out of the dressing room. The corridor was long and the lighting was a stark white. On both sides were piles of supply boxes that hadn't yet been moved into the venue. The boxes were printed with the Starfire logo, and next to them was StarPhone's GG message. He walked to the end of the corridor, pushed open the security door, and a gust of cold wind rushed in, making his coat collar stand up.
He leaned against the outer wall, took out his phone, and dialed An Shiyu's number. The phone rang twice before being answered.
"Still not asleep?"
"I'm waiting for your call. My daughter just asked why her dad is missing again, and I told her he's going to do magic on TV tomorrow." An Shiyu's voice was soft and sleepy. "Why is your voice hoarse?"
"I read from a prepared speech." Ling Yun cleared his throat. "I've revised the speech three times, but it still doesn't feel right. Zhao Hu just found a listening device under the podium."
There was a moment of silence on the other end of the phone. "Who put it there?"
"I don't know. But I can guess—it's those old acquaintances who have always wanted to bring us down."
"Lingyun".
"Um."
"My daughter and I will watch your live stream at home tomorrow. No matter what bad things those people do, your stuff is good, and that's all that matters."
Ling Yun didn't speak immediately. He leaned against the wall, looking at the blurry outlines of buildings in the night. The streetlights in the distance shivered in the cold wind.
"Are you nervous?" An Shiyu asked.
"A little. But I believe in what we've done."
"Then don't worry," An Shiyu said. "Get some rest. Don't revise the draft anymore; your first draft is definitely the best."
"Okay." Ling Yun paused for a moment, "You should go to sleep early too."
He hung up the phone, put it back in his pocket, and stood on the outer wall for a couple more minutes. The wind ruffled his hair, and he casually smoothed it down. In the distance, a sanitation truck slowly drove past, its yellow warning lights flashing.
He pushed open the emergency exit and walked back. He ran into several employees still working overtime in the corridor, and they all greeted him. A young woman, carrying a stack of documents to be distributed tomorrow, hurriedly bowed, almost scattering the documents all over the floor.
"Slow down." Ling Yun helped her up.
"Thank you, Mr. Ling." The girl blushed and ran away.
It was 11:30. Ling Yun went alone to the suite on the twelfth floor of the hotel. Pushing open the door, he found the room filled with smoke. Li Mo, Wang Jianguo, Ni Guangnan, Jiang Feng, Zhao Weiguo, and Ma Baoguo were all crammed into the living room. Several boxes of half-eaten dumplings sat on the table, and a few empty beer bottles lay on the floor. A StarPhone prototype sat on the windowsill, its system version number displayed on the screen.
"Brother Ling is here." Li Mo moved over to make room for Ling Yun.
Ling Yun sat down on the sofa armrest, picked up a cold dumpling from the table, and stuffed it into his mouth. "What are you guys doing here instead of sleeping?"
"I can't sleep," Wang Jianguo said.
"And you? Have you finished revising the manuscript?" Li Mo asked.
"I won't change it. Go up tomorrow and we'll talk about everything."
Zhao Weiguo picked up a can of beer and handed it to Ling Yun. Ling Yun took it and clinked cans with Zhao Weiguo.
"Brother Ling, do you remember when we were sophomores, you dragged me to the internet cafe next to the school basketball court to post pictures of guys, and we got chased away by the security guards?" Zhao Weiguo said with a smile.
"I remember. You ran faster than me and shook off the security guard. I was chasing after you, completely out of breath, and when I finally climbed over the wall, my trouser leg got caught on the barbed wire and tore in a triangle."
The whole room was filled with people laughing so hard they were doubled over.
After laughing, Li Mo leaned back on the sofa, stared at the ceiling, and remained silent for a while.
"Brother Ling," his voice deepened, "it's been six years since that run-down internet cafe in Jinan. Tomorrow is the day we hand in our papers."
The group fell silent. A gust of wind whistled against the windowpane.
Lingyun put the beer can on the table, stood up, and looked at them.
"No matter what the results are tomorrow, each and every one of you—" He looked at them one by one, "Li Mo, back in the dorm when I told you we wanted to make Chinese products a source of pride, you agreed without hesitation. Wei Guo, when the first internet cafe opened, you stood from morning till night, not even having time to drink water. Jianguo, the day the first version of Xinghuo OS started running, your team didn't leave the office for three days. Old Ni, you came back from retirement to work with me, and you never once mentioned any conditions to me."
He held up a beer can, "You guys are my best comrades."
No one spoke. Ni Guangnan took off his reading glasses and wiped them. Wang Jianguo stared at the ceiling. Li Mo rubbed his eyes with the back of his hand, then stood up and raised his beer.
"Tomorrow, we'll leave it to the market."
Several people bumped beer cans together. The aluminum cans made a soft sound, like metal gently tapping on glass.
As midnight approached, everyone gradually dispersed. Ling Yun was the last to leave. He walked to the elevator and glanced back down the corridor. The arguing of the young engineers drifted from one of the rooms, their voices rising and falling, interspersed with the clatter of keyboards.
The elevator arrived, but he didn't get on. Instead, he turned and walked back to his room. As he closed the door, his phone vibrated—a text message from An Shiyu: "Our daughter drew a picture with 'Go, Dad!' written on it. I won't show it to you yet; I'll wait until you get back."
Ling Yun placed his phone on the bedside table and turned off the light. The curtains weren't fully drawn, and the neon lights outside cast a thin, orange-red stripe on the wall. He lay down and closed his eyes. The two speech drafts on the table fluttered slightly in the breeze blowing in from the doorway, then fell silent again.