When George interrupted, Lai De Si completely forgot about the phone and went straight to the conference room after changing.
Only when he saw Mu Tian Heng did he remember and quickly said, "Mu, the kid's phone was found but I left it in my office and forgot to bring it along."
"I'll take it afterward." Mu Tian Heng said, "Sit, let's start the meeting."
"Ok." Lai De Si eyed the old men on screen and began to switch to his serious mode. He pulled a chair and sat down.
As Mu Tian Heng had already discussed the more important points with them, Lai De Si's part was fairly straightforward and he only had to sit through it for another twenty minutes.
The moment the meeting concluded, Lai De Si heaved a sigh and turned off the computer.
"Ai, I really hate meetings, especially when it's with those old foxes. All of them are so serious and scary. Not like my sweet and gentle little Song Yu." Lai De Si suddenly thought of something and started giggling to himself.
Although he had not managed to score a date with Song Yu yet, it seemed Song Yu had already regarded him as a friend…
Mu Tian Heng lifted his hand and gave Lai De Si a smack, forcing him to come back from his daydreaming, "Get moving. Go back to your office and give me the phone."
"Ai, let me relax a little." Lai De Si stood up reluctantly, "The phone is not going anywhere."
"Quickly." Mu Tian Heng ordered and exited the room.
"Ok, ok." Lai De Si had no choice but to follow.
As the two reached Lai De Si's office, Lai De Si went to open the door for Mu Tian Heng.
"Where did you put it?" Mu Tian Heng gave his office a quick sweep.
"Isn't it on the table?"
"Where?" Mu Tian Heng frowned at Lai De Si, "Are you sure it's on the table?"
"It's right th… Huh?!" Lai De Si looked at his workspace and was startled that the phone was gone.
"I, I, left it there!"
"How could it be missing?!" Lai De Si panicked and began to ransack his table when he suddenly came to a realization, "Ah! I think George must've taken it!"
"What has George got to do with this?"
"George came to take the material for this week's programming competition. I told him it was on the table and let him take it. Turns out he took the wrong item." Lai De Si picked up the laptop on the table and shook his head, "He should have taken this laptop. Shouldn't they realize by now that they've taken the wrong thing? What's there to decode in little Mo Di's phone?"
Mu Tian Heng had long ignored Lai De Si and was heading straight for the senior programmers' office.
Lai De Si carried the laptop and hurried behind him.
As Mu Tian Heng approached the office, he could hear Edmund shouting excitedly.
"I'm very close to decoding it!!!"
Mu Tian Heng frowned and picked up his pace. He entered the room and saw George and the others sitting around a table with a cell phone in the center. It was plugged into several cables and connected to everyone's laptop.
And that phone was most certainly Mo Di's.
"Three, two, one, I did it! I decoded it! It's open! Hahaha I won…..Mu?!" Edmund paused halfway through his excited proclamation when Mu Tian Heng stepped in and disconnected the data cables to the phone.
The files shown on their screen flashed and disappeared instantly.
"Mu, what are you doing?" Edmund was baffled. He had just unlocked it and did not get to see anything yet.
Although the content of the file was not important, this had been a complex and time-consuming task which he had won; it was his right to read what was inside!
"This is not this week's challenge. This is Mo Di's phone. The program is in here." Lai De Si put the laptop on the table. "George, you idiot, you took the wrong item!"
"Ha?!" George was stunned. "That's not right, there's really an encrypted file on this phone."
"That's right, there's a memo with multiple layers of encryption on this phone. Aside from that, there's nothing else on it. How can this be Mo Di's phone?"
"The person who took this phone must've formatted the phone to wipe the memory but this file had powerful encryption so it could not be touched. I have to say, little Mo Di's programming skill is quite top-notch. It took the group of them thirty minutes to crack so it would have been impossible for some average joe to access it." Lai De Si said with a smile.
Although Mu Tian Heng did not say anything, he was beaming with pride. Of course his little one's skill was one of the best in the world.
However, he did expect that Mo Di would set up such a high-level lock for his phone. This file should be of some importance but he remembered asking Mo Di if he had valuable information on his phone and Mo Di had replied with a no.
Mu Tian Heng frowned.
Lai De Si curiously asked Edmund, "Hey, were you the first to crack it?"
"Of course, I'm still the number one in this department."
"Come on, this is just one time. And we even worked on the wrong thing, it does not count." George objected.
"Say, did you guys happen to see what was written on it?" Lai De Si quietly nudged Edmund's arm. He was really curious about the file that Mo Di had hidden under so many layers of encryption.
"Dunno, I didn't see anything. Mu was too fast." Edmund shrugged.
Li Cheng and Raymond shook their heads.
"I managed to make out a few words!" Chote said, "But I'm not sure. Something with 'like' or 'don't like'… Ai, I couldn't see clearly. Mu was really quick."
Chote smirked and continued, "That old dude is like a different person when it comes to love. It's only a file his boyfriend hid and he guarded it so tightly."
"Like or don't like?!"
As though he had discovered a mind-blowing scandal, he exclaimed with an 'Oh!' and then deliberately teased Mu Tian Heng, "Could it be that little Mo Di had an interest in someone else before liking Mu? He wanted to put away those memories but could not bear to delete them so he hid them in those files."
Mu Tian Heng's gloomy eyes stared straight at Lai De Si.
"O, o, of course that's impossible!"
Lai De Si was struck by the death stare and had to change his words to survive, "I was just kidding. How's that possible? It should be the diary little Mo Di wrote when he started having one-sided feelings for you. I remembered that he had fallen for you a long time ago…"
Mu Tian Heng was somewhat appeased but he still ignored Lai De Si and turned to leave.
Lai De Si swallowed hard, "It was just a joke, he didn't have to stare at me like I'm some kind of dead meat."
Chote patted Lai De Si on the shoulder and said, "There's a Hua Xia saying 'bu zuo bu si', I think it suits you perfectly."
Meanwhile, Mu Tian Heng took Mo Di's phone back to his office.
He poured himself half a cup of coffee and took a sip. He then sent Mo Di a message telling him that his phone had been found and he would deliver it to him tonight.
Mo Di did not reply, most likely he was concentrating on his work.
Mu Tian Heng took another sip of coffee. His eyes were downcast as the winter sun cast a shadow over his face.
What Lai De Si and Chote had said inexplicably lingered in his mind.
Like, or don't like?
Why would his little one write those words?
Was there really someone he had liked before him… Or was this a record of his feelings for him?
Mu Tian Heng's long finger slid over the blue case of the phone and stopped at the data port of the phone.
This is not something an upright man should do.
But…
If this was related to Mo Di's feelings then he was willing to be a crook.
Mu Tian Heng hesitated twice before connecting Mo Di's phone to his laptop.
The clock struck twelve and Mo Di finally stopped working. He cracked his knuckles then took a look at his cellphone. He saw the message from Mu Tian Heng telling him that his phone was retrieved.
Mo Di was astonished. He quickly gave Mu Tian Heng a call.
Beep beep beep.
No one answered.
Even until the last ring, Mu Tian Heng did not pick up.
Mo Di slightly sulked. The line wasn't busy or out of range. Did Mu Tian Heng not hear the phone ring?
Mo Di dialed again.
The phone rang for a long time but towards the last beep, it was connected and Mu Tian Heng's voice came through.
"Hello?"
"Brother." Mo Di's voice was a mix of excitement and nervousness, "Was the phone found?"
"That's right, I've retrieved it. But…"
"But what?" Mo Di's heart pounded and there was a lump stuck in his throat.
"But it had been formatted. There is nothing left, it has been cleanly erased." Mu Tian Heng's voice was gentle as ever but underneath were undetectable waves of raging emotions.
"It's been formatted?!"
For a moment, Mo Di was unsure whether he should be relieved or depressed. He had put a lot of effort into writing the encryption on the memo, it shouldn't be that easily erased…
"Is there anything important on it?"
Mu Tian Heng asked again, disrupting Mo Di's thoughts.
"No, no." Mo Di replied instantly. His ears were turning pink.
Why did he feel that Mu Tian Heng's voice was even more gentle than before, making him unconsciously blush.
"Brother, I'll wait for you at the East gate tonight. You can come in if it's just for a while and we can spend some time together!"
Mo Di's voice was cheering up.
But Mu Tian Heng had other plans. "Come out at six today, I'll take you out for dinner."
"Ah?" Mo Di was stumped, "But brother, today is not Sunday, I can't leave."
"Yes you can. I've contacted the person in charge of the competition and he gave you permission to leave this evening and return tomorrow night."
Mu Tian Heng's voice was deep and alluring, it was even more enticing than before, "Be good, at six this evening, I will be waiting for you at the entrance."
Although Mo Di did not know why Mu Tian Heng had requested for his leave, he still readily agreed.
He then asked, "Brother, is there something special about today?"