Ladybug

On July 1, Gu Siyue sent over three documents: the Shareholders' Agreement, Intellectual Property Ownership Agreement, and Articles of Association. Han Luyi held 68%, Su Niannian 17%, and the option pool 15%. The two signed them separately, photographed them, and sent them back.

On the 3rd, the business license for Haicheng Source Code Technology Co., Ltd. was approved. Its registered capital was one million, subscribed but unpaid, and its business scope filled half a page.

Google searched TWKAN

The registered address was an entrepreneurship incubator in Pudong recommended by Gu Siyue. The actual office address was Bug Café.

In Haicheng in July, cicadas chirped from morning until night.

Around noon, his phone lit up.

A WeChat message from Lin Wanqing: "Coming over for dinner tonight?"

A few seconds later, another message arrived: "It's nothing fancy, just a home-cooked meal."

"Sure. What time should I come over?"

"Five-thirty is fine."

At five-thirty, Han Luyi knocked on the door of 501. Lin Wanqing answered, wearing a light gray lounge T-shirt. The sound of the range hood came from the kitchen behind her.

"You're here. Come in," she said, stepping aside. "The ribs are still stewing. Have a seat first."

Han Luyi had passed the door to 501 for years. This was the first time he had entered it from outside.

The entryway was narrow. A pair of adult cloth shoes and a pair of pink children's sandals sat side by side. Lin Wanqing handed him a pair of disposable slippers. The living room was small, with the same layout as 502, but its style was completely different. A floral cloth covered the coffee table, Duoduo's crayons and drawing paper were piled in a corner, and the refrigerator door was covered with palm-sized doodles: suns, flowers, and a huge ladybug.

Four or five illustrations hung on the wall in simple white frames.

A cat basked in the sun on the windowsill. At the entrance to an alley on a rainy day, puddles reflected half a streetlamp. A little girl ran through a field of dandelions, her skirt blown into an arc by the wind.

"Brother Luyi!"

Duoduo rushed out of her room and wrapped herself around his leg. A five-year-old did not have much strength, but she held on tightly.

"Brother Luyi, you came to my house! Look, look—"

She held up an A4 sheet of paper. On it was an elephant with four legs of uneven thickness and a trunk drawn as a rainbow.

"It looks good." Han Luyi crouched down.

"Its trunk can change colors! Because the water it sprays is made of rainbows!"

"That made sense."

"Then give it a name."

"Rainbow Elephant."

Duoduo thought about it.

"Doesn't sound good. Call it Pangpang."

"Alright, Pangpang."

Lin Wanqing called from the kitchen, "Duoduo, stop bothering him," but her tone did not truly sound like she was stopping her.

Duoduo dragged Han Luyi around the living room, wanting to show him all her drawings, all her stickers, and her treasure: a plastic kaleidoscope her kindergarten teacher had given her.

"Look! It changes when you turn it!"

Han Luyi took it and gave it a turn. The colorful fragments formed a pattern. He turned it again, and it changed.

"Isn't it pretty?"

"It is."

The sound of a wok came from the kitchen.

The dining table was a small folding square table, usually tucked against the wall. Lin Wanqing moved it out and set it up in the middle of the living room, just large enough for three people.

There were four dishes and a soup: braised pork ribs, stir-fried shrimp, sautéed loofah, cold cucumber salad, and a small pot of tomato and egg soup. The rice had just been scooped from the cooker and was still steaming.

Han Luyi took a bite of ribs.

"How is it?" Lin Wanqing stood beside the table without sitting down.

"Delicious."

"That's good."

Lin Wanqing smiled and put a rib into Duoduo's bowl. She picked off the bone with her chopsticks before setting it down. Duoduo ate until her mouth was covered in sauce.

"Brother Luyi, can you come eat here every day?"

"Duoduo." Lin Wanqing used a tissue to wipe the corner of her mouth.

"Pleeease—"

"He has his own things to do."

"Duoduo, your mom works hard cooking too." Han Luyi picked up a second rib.

Halfway through the meal, Lin Wanqing put down her chopsticks, as if she had found the right opening.

"Thank you for introducing that lawyer," she said quietly. "Attorney Shen called me today and told me the preservation order was approved."

Han Luyi nodded.

"She's very good." Lin Wanqing paused. "Not like the lawyers I imagined. She was very patient. She asked about a lot of things I thought were unimportant—where Duoduo's kindergarten was, who usually picked her up and dropped her off, what it was like the last time he came. After she finished asking, she told me, 'Ms. Lin, we have the advantage. Don't be afraid.'"

Duoduo could not understand what the adults were talking about and focused on dealing with the ribs in her bowl.

"Oh, right—"

Lin Wanqing put down her chopsticks and went into the room to get something.

It was a painting, palm-sized, painted on a canvas board.

The painting depicted an old-fashioned wooden door. Its dark red paint had peeled away slightly, and a ladybug rested on the doorknob. The ladybug was painted in fine detail, with curved antennae and five black spots on its wings. Even the wood grain on the door was detailed enough to reveal the rings.

"Duoduo insisted that I add a ladybug." Lin Wanqing handed the painting to him. "So I painted one."

Han Luyi took it. The canvas board was very light.

"Thank you for introducing the lawyer, and thank you... for what happened before."

"You're welcome," Han Luyi said.

Duoduo leaned over to look. "Mom painted it! I painted one too! But my ladybug has eleven spots!"

"Why eleven?"

"Because I wanted it to have more!"

"Fair enough."

Lin Wanqing began clearing the bowls. Han Luyi stood up to help, but she sidestepped and blocked him. "Sit."

Her tone was not harsh, but it left no room for discussion.

Duoduo climbed onto the sofa and tugged at his sleeve, pulling out her drawing book to show him page after page. Every page needed an explanation: this was a kitten from kindergarten, this was Mom, this was an ice cream monster, and this was Brother Luyi.

"Wait, this is me?"

The paper showed a very tall stick figure wearing enormous round glasses, with a ladybug as large as a person floating beside him.

"Yep! You and your ladybug! Mom said you're a bug catcher."

"...More or less."

Lin Wanqing washed dishes in the kitchen, water rushing loudly. Every now and then, she laughed from behind the door.

Han Luyi looked around 501. The illustrations on the wall were warm and fluid in color, like a quiet person had painted every word she had never spoken onto paper.

An unfinished illustration sat on an easel in the corner. An orange cat lay on a windowsill, while the view outside was only half-painted, with pencil lines still visible. Several printed reference images lay spread out on a small table beside it. They looked like commissioned work.

"Brother Luyi, are you coming again tomorrow?" Duoduo asked, looking up at him.

"Depends."

"Depends on what?"

"Whether I'm busy."

"If you're not busy, come." Duoduo said it in a tone that allowed no refusal.

"Duoduo, it's time for your bath." Lin Wanqing came out of the kitchen, wiping her hands on her apron.

"No."

"You can watch an episode of Peppa Pig after your bath."

Duoduo immediately jumped off the sofa. "Bye, Brother Luyi! See you tomorrow!"

With that, she dragged her slippers into the bathroom.

Han Luyi stood. "I'm heading back. Dinner was delicious."

Lin Wanqing walked him to the door. The motion-sensor light in the hallway came on, its white light making the two doors look exactly the same.

"Hang up the painting," she said.

"I will."

The door to 502 closed.

Han Luyi placed the ladybug painting beside his monitor, next to the large ladybug crayon drawing Duoduo had made before. One big and one small, each with its own kind of beauty.

He picked up his phone and sent Gu Siyue a message.

"Thanks. For Lin Wanqing's preservation order."

"Why thank me? Shen Yuwei handled the court appearance. What does that have to do with me?"

Two seconds passed.

"Still, you made a good recommendation. Her case wasn't difficult. Yu Wei handled it well."

Helping Duoduo was like helping his younger self, but he would never say it aloud.

Gu Siyue did not say anything else either.

He opened his computer, preparing to continue writing code.

His phone lit up. Su Niannian had sent a screenshot.

The homepage of a tech media outlet—

<Breaking: CodeSafe announces a strategic partnership with Dingsheng Cloud, officially joining Dingsheng Cloud's developer toolchain>

Subtitle: Dingsheng Cloud's 150,000 enterprise developers will gain one-click access to CodeSafe's code review engine.

Below the screenshot was a single line:

"The giants have entered the game."