HMPS: Chapter 59

It was spring again.

On Arbor Day, Ye Qing’s company started the most important team building activity of the year.

Ever since the shopping app was renamed to Three Trees, Ye Qing would bring the employees out for team building every Arbor Day and plant trees together with a sense of ceremony.

It was said to be every year, but in fact, this was only the second spring. However, this APP already had very high popularity and installation amounts. The development momentum was quite good.

In the desolate mountains and wilderness, Ye Qing planted small saplings prepared in advance and carefully shoveled soil on them.

Seeing the small green trees standing more and more firmly in the ground, he felt a surging feeling in his heart.

The competing APP that once imitated his hard work and almost put him on a dead end path had been completely eliminated in the changing market. No one remembered it anymore.

His fate took a sharp turn on a stormy night.

Along the way, looking back at this happiest moment to the present, Ye Qing was particularly moved.

Last year on Arbor Day, only He Qiao came over.

This year, He Qiao and Chi Xueyan came together.

It was because Chi Xueyan now had shares in the company, although he didn’t need to manage anything and didn’t plan to do so.

This new shareholder didn’t care about business affairs at all and just came here occasionally to look around. In particular, he was like a tourist greedy for novelty when some special events were held inside the company.

Ye Qing had no opinions about this but was happy to see it.

He felt that this was enough to make it complete.

He had always been grateful to He Qiao and Chi Xueyan, who had influenced the trajectory of his life.

In addition, Chi Xueyan was the one who came up with the name Three Trees.

Today, they were finally able to plant trees together. Ye Qing stepped on the new soil under his feet and joked toward the two people next to him, “The three trees are finally here.”

Chi Xueyan supported the saplings and waited for He Qiao to fill in the soil.

He heard this and instinctively asked, “What three trees?”

“The three of us,” Ye Qing replied. “Isn’t that why you gave the name at the time?”

At noon that day, Ye Qing asked the two of them for suggestions on names. Chi Xueyan looked at the maple trees that had started to turn red outside the window and casually gave this answer.

So the other two people present always thought that this number three referred to them.

There were three people in the private room in early autumn and three people in the convenience store in late summer.

However, Chi Xueyan raised an eyebrow in surprise from where he was planting trees. “I was thinking about my parents when I named it.”

Ye Qing looked surprised and He Qiao’s movements suddenly stopped.

Chi Xueyan didn’t notice but seriously explained the source of the inspiration.

“As a child, my parents tricked me into doing the horse stance. When I was almost unable to stand, they made me imagine myself as a tree, a tree that was deeply rooted in the earth to absorb nutrients and couldn’t move.”

“That is how the two of them used to train before,” Chi Xueyan said. “So the three trees refers to our family of three.”

It was the number one in the world, the second two in the world and the number three in the world.

Ye Qing: “……”

In fact, he didn’t care. He was just a bit surprised. It turned out he had been thinking incorrectly all along.

However, the ‘family of three’ didn’t include the person he was married to…

Ye Qing involuntarily turned his head to look at He Qiao.

He observed the expression of the company’s largest investor and with his unusually keen business sense, he immediately decided to run away with his shovel.

“Xiao Li, you can’t do it like this. I’ll help you—”

Chi Xueyan supported the tree and watched Ye Qing’s back as he left in a hurry. There was some confusion in his tone. “Isn’t Xiao Li’s tree planted quite well?”

The person beside him didn’t answer.

Chi Xueyan looked sideways and just saw He Qiao’s calm expression and ordinary tone.

“We’ve finished planting too.”

“Oh, do you want to plant another one?”

“Do you want to take a break first?”

“I’m not tired and I haven’t used any strength. You will support the next one.”

“Okay.”

He Qiao’s reaction was too normal and Chi Xueyan didn’t realize that something was wrong at all.

It wasn’t until two days after Arbor Day that he noticed the anomaly along with many strangers.

Three Trees, an app with a large number of users, suddenly changed to a new icon with a holiday theme.

During Christmas, the three small trees in the icon would wear red and white Christmas hats. During the Spring Festival, the trees would have big red ‘good fortune’ characters on them. Such holiday-limited icons were common.

But why make a new icon for Arbor Day, which wasn’t considered a big holiday?

In addition, Arbor Day was clearly over.

After updating the version and seeing this new icon that was both familiar and unfamiliar, many netizens sent out sincere tormented comments in the comments area of the app download page.

[Why is there an extra tree in this icon? Did the designer make a mistake?]

[This is the first time I saw an app that made a special icon for Arbor Day. What should I say… is it to not shame the name?]

[The three trees have one more tree after Arbor Day. It is too reasonable [thumbs up]].

[In addition, the newly grown fourth tree is so small. It is shrunk to the side and really looks like it has just been planted. It somehow feels very strict but is kind of cute…]

Chi Xueyan nestled into the sofa and couldn’t stop smiling when he saw the comments of these netizens.

In the new icon that came belatedly after Arbor Day ended, the childlike tree made them a family of four.

Chi Xueyan looked away from the screen. He couldn’t help looking at the person beside him but only saw the handsome side profile.

The TV in front of him was on. He Qiao sat next to him and was intently watching the evening news.

All in all, he looked very focused.

Therefore, Chi Xueyan didn’t disturb him and just sat closer to him.

He intentionally leaned on He Qiao’s shoulder and lazily raised his phone to admire everyone’s reaction to the new icon.

This was until a new message popped up on the top of his screen.

[Xie Mark: I’m going back to China tomorrow, haha! Long time no see! Are you free to have a meal together?]

On the side, He Qiao heard the message notification sound and looked down reflexively. Then he couldn’t help being startled.

This was a strange and unfamiliar name that he had never seen before. The way he spoke was also a bit strange.

Chi Xueyan’s reaction was very normal. After reading the comments of the users on this new version of the icon and laughing enough, he finally clicked on this message.

He was about to reply when another new message popped up.

[Xie Mark: It is still very sad to think that you are married. Why didn’t you invite me to your wedding? The marriage robbery was just a joke! Please say hello to your husband for me?]

Now Chi Xueyan was also taken aback.

He suddenly remembered that He Qiao was next to him.

In order to allow He Qiao to ‘concentrate’ on the news and also appreciate the comments, Chi Xueyan deliberately brought his phone screen close to his eyes, making it difficult not to see it.

Immediately afterward, there was a familiar force from his waist that tightened slightly.

There was also the unclear tone of the person beside him. “Marriage robbery?”

“……” Chi Xueyan didn’t know where to start explaining it. “He said it was just a joke.”

“Who is he?”

Chi Xueyan sighed and replied honestly, “He is a blind date I met before.”

The force holding his waist suddenly increased.

Chi Xueyan had met eleven blind dates in total and exchanged contact information with three of them.

He took the initiative to ask He Qiao for his contact information. On the surface, it was to deal with his parents but in fact, he thought He Qiao was interesting at the time. Unfortunately, he had no intentions toward He Qiao.

He exchanged contact information with Ren Xuan because they had similar interests. They happened not to match each other and could be friends.

As for this Xie Mark… It was because he was interesting.

It was interesting in the pure literal sense.

Among all the blind dates that Han Zhenzhen arranged for him, Xie Mark was the only one who was mixed race. He had blond hair and blue eyes and was quite outstanding in appearance. He was also excellent in other aspects.

At that time, Han Zhenzhen had just started to study her son’s aesthetics. She felt that she should try everything. What if Chi Xueyan liked this type?

The only problem was Xie Mark’s communication. He had lived abroad longer and his Chinese wasn’t very fluent. It always seemed a bit off.

He sometimes inexplicably used inverted sentences and sometimes had an old tone, which made people laugh.

In addition, his personality was passionate and unrestrained. He expressed his thoughts too directly. His sentences and fragmented idioms often brought an outrageous effect, making Chi Xueyan feel very interested. He sometimes chatted with Xie Mark casually.

Xie Mark also liked him. It was in a friendly way, but it contained the exaggerated mannerisms he was used to. This made it seem a bit ambiguous.

It was this ambiguity that would make the vinegar jar particularly jealous. It didn’t work to use reasoning to talk to him.

He Qiao listened to Chi Xueyan’s explanation and there was no emotion in his voice. “Which blind date was he?”

Chi Xueyan actually didn’t want to answer this question because this number was a bit subtle and embarrassing.

But he still answered truthfully, “The third blind date.”

According to his customary numbering method, Xie Mark’s nickname was once Little Three.

Chi Xueyan was single at the time and specially told the mixed-race Mark about the special meaning of this name in a Chinese context. (i.e. the third party in a relationship).

Mark thought it was funny and his interest was aroused, making him watch some dog blood soap operas.

Chi Xueyan also found it funny. It was because the other person’s language became even more interesting after it was polluted by the style of the soap operas.

As for He Qiao…

He looked at the two messages on the screen and remembered the nicknames that once existed. He only felt that the more he looked at it, the more unpleasant it became.

‘Don’t go.”

Chi Xueyan heard the voice coming from above him and rarely showed a meek side. “Yes, I won’t go.”

He Qiao might be unreasonable but the unreasonableness at this moment seemed to please him.

From a family of three to a blind date.

Therefore, Chi Xueyan simply refused Mark’s invitation using a strong reason.

[Shahryar: My husband received your greeting and he said that he won’t let me go.]

The moment this message was sent out, Chi Xueyan showed the phone screen to He Qiao. “Are you satisfied with this reply?”

His expression was unabashedly saying: I’m coaxing you.

It was like when he told fairy tales to his parents who were angry with him.

In the next second, the original posture of them sitting shoulder to shoulder was changed.

The coaxed man took Chi Xueyan into his arms and whispered, “I’m very satisfied.”

Chi Xueyan was forced to sit in this person’s lap and looked down at his husband in this extremely intimate posture.

At this moment, he suddenly remembered something that had happened a long time ago.

It was something that could help him recover from this situation.

“What exactly is the name of the person you fought with?”

He Qiao, who was holding him, paused and pretended not to understand. “Who?”

Hearing this expected answer, Chi Xueyan’s eyes curved in a smile and he changed the topic with a light tone, “Do we have grapefruit at home?”

The last time He Qiao used a trick to fool him on this matter, he was pretending to concentrate on peeling grapefruit.

He Qiao didn’t answer. He recalled the long ago memory of Fang Shier and couldn’t help imprisoning Chi Xueyan in his arms.

Chi Xueyan couldn’t move but didn’t want to struggle. He took the initiative to lean in and kiss He Qiao’s cheek.

He looked down at his jealous lover and there was laughter in his voice.

“I want to eat the grapefruit you peeled.”