Volume 10: Pro and Con
Chapter 1: My Struggle (Part 1)
Lu Li was very busy this summer. He first took Baili to get her ID card, then made a trip to the bank, and in between, he flew to Mulan to select an office building. He realized that the small-scale operations of a workshop wouldn’t get him far. At the current size of the Changle Production Team, the production cycle for a single game was too long, and the sources of income were too singular. He planned to upgrade the workshop to a company as soon as possible, while also recruiting more talent to gather more resources for the next game, Deep Sea Chronicles. As for the source of employees, Lu Li planned to recruit recent graduates from Mulan University…
In early June, when the cicadas were at their loudest, the results of the College Entrance Examination were announced. At ten o’clock that morning, Lu Li, An Baili, and Wen Hupo were gathered around the computer screen, constantly refreshing the Mulan University official website. At 10:07, a notice titled “Regarding the 2019 Undergraduate Entrance Examination First and Second Batch Exam Results and Interview List” appeared on the page.
An Baili nervously clenched her small fists, shifting back and forth in her chair like a boxer about to enter the ring.
Lu Li couldn’t help but feel a bit of the tension himself. He clicked on the notice. The first thing he saw was a long list of candidates for the first batch interview. His nervousness didn’t last long; the name “Lu Li” was ranked seventh in total score, with a large checkmark in the interview column. Only seventh? Lu Li sighed at the abundance of talent in Shenzhou. Even with the experience of two lifetimes, he still couldn’t outperform the top six.
He kept scrolling down and finally saw the admission list for the second batch. An Baili looked at Wen Hupo in shock, as if a primitive person were looking at an alien—the golden-haired girl’s name was ranked first in the second batch, and her score was leagues ahead of the others. The little village girl stammered, “Haven’t you only been in Shenzhou for a year and a half? How did you score so high?”
Although Wen Hupo’s face was expressionless, Lu Li could feel the small sense of pride in her heart. She lifted her head slightly. “Was it difficult?”
He continued to scroll down, but An Baili’s name was nowhere to be seen for a long time. Sweat beaded on Lu Li’s hand holding the mouse. This girl didn’t really fail, did she? Will we have to donate money to the school? How much would it cost to buy a spot? Five million? Ten million?
When the scroll wheel reached the bottom, Lu Li finally breathed a sigh of relief. He saw An Baili’s name at the very end of the interview list, in the fourth-to-last column. Before he could react, An Baili had already cheered, “Yay!”
“Outstanding Representative, scroll back up to the first batch interview list and take a look,” Wen Hupo reminded him.
Lu Li scrolled back to the first batch list and found a familiar name ranked sixth.
“Zhu Xi?” Lu Li looked at it several times. “Is that the Fourteenth Princess, Zhu Xi? She’s in the same school as me?”
“It’s probably not someone with the same name. I remember there was news before saying that Princess Zhu Xi would also be taking the entrance exam.”
Lu Li looked at Zhu Xi’s rank and score. As luck would have it, that bad woman’s score was exactly one point higher than his, and her rank was also exactly one place above his, as if she were deliberately trying to one-up him. Lu Li felt a little annoyed.
The interviews were at the end of the month, so Lu Li and the others still had a month to prepare. To say prepare was an overstatement; it was really just a matter of keeping their Character Evaluation Books safe and handing them directly to the interviewer. After the dust settled, Lu Li let out a long sigh. Now it was time to shift his energy from academics to his career. A few days ago, his business partner had contacted him, saying that the license for Evening Collection Online was about to be issued, and the online game would start its open beta in July. They hoped Lu Li would attend the promotional event as a representative of the Changle Production Team.
Lu Li closed the computer and looked at An Baili, who was rolling around on the bed with joy, thinking about where to go to celebrate today. Suddenly, he received a call from Chuanhai.
“Hello?”
There was no sound on the other end of the line for a long time. Just as Lu Li thought it was a spam call, a familiar and headache-inducing voice sounded.
“Ta-da! Brother-in-law, guess who I am?”
Who else could it be?
“I’m not your brother-in-law anymore,” Lu Li said helplessly.
“I’m already used to calling you that. Besides, brother-in-law, how could you back down after encountering a little difficulty? You don’t have any manly spirit at all.” This girl, Long Jing, had a mouth as sharp as Chen Jianing’s.
Lu Li didn’t want to argue with a little brat. He said wearily, “You little devil, what do you want?”
“Hehe, brother-in-law, you haven’t been able to contact my cousin recently, have you? Poor you, hehehe.”
A vein throbbed on Lu Li’s forehead. Was this girl deliberately looking for trouble?
“I have good news for you, but you have to buy it for a thousand yuan a piece,” Long Jing said secretively. “Er, no, that’s too cheap. One thousand yuan per word. Are you buying?”
Logically speaking, since Lu Li and Chu Jingyi had temporarily broken up, he didn’t need to indulge this girl anymore. But Lu Li was soft-hearted after all. Hearing this, he just sighed and said in a tone for coaxing a child, “Mm, I’ll buy, buy, buy. I’ll send you another salary tomorrow. This will be the last time I pay you a salary, okay?”
But Long Jing’s next words made Lu Li’s spirits lift. “Brother-in-law, I’ll tell you Sister Jingyi’s new number. Don’t tell my uncle, okay?”
“Girl—no, miss, what did you say?”
“Hmph, of course it’s my sister’s contact information. There are eleven digits in total, one thousand yuan per digit. Er, let me calculate, you have to pay me… how much was it again?”
Lu Li felt this little demon lord probably wouldn’t even get into high school.
Long Jing recited a string of numbers. Lu Li quickly grabbed a piece of paper to write them down and confirmed it several times.
“Brother-in-law, let me tell you, Sister Jingyi has moved to the Chu family’s main residence now. There are a lot of rules in the main residence, so Sister Jingyi might not dare to answer your call during the day. You should call her after eight o’clock at night, let it ring once, and then hang up immediately. That way, Sister Jingyi will know you’re looking for her, and she’ll secretly call you back when she has a chance.” This secret agent-like rendezvous method made Lu Li’s lips curl up in a smile. He had once thought that Chu Jingyi would definitely not be a good secret agent, but he never thought his words would come true; their romance had really turned into an underground operation.
“Long Jing, you are my timely rain, my savior, my…” Anyway, rainbow-colored farts were free. Lu Li’s words of praise poured out, making the girl so dizzy with compliments that she just giggled foolishly. From this perspective, Long Jing and her sister were really quite similar.
Just then, Lu Li heard Secretary Long’s voice on the other end of the line. “Girl, I went to all the trouble of coming to Chuanhai to accompany you, and you’re secretly calling someone?”
“Hey—don’t take my phone—”
“Brother-in-law? You’re calling Little Lu?”
Lu Li’s heart hung in suspense. After he and the Chu family had gone their separate ways, how would Long Di view him? Would he still allow Long Jing to have contact with him?
The next second, Secretary Long took the phone and said cheerfully, “Hello, Little Lu, can you hear me? It’s me, it’s me, Long Di, Uncle Long.” His tone was light and cheerful, a stark contrast to Chu Xiaodong’s heavy tone. Lu Li breathed a sigh of relief. It seemed not everyone was like Chu Xiaodong.
He was not as isolated and helpless as he had imagined.
