Chapter 50: They’re Coming Over?

It was a summer many years ago.

One of Zhang Yang’s classmates excitedly waved a cassette tape in front of him.

The light of the setting sun fell across the boy’s face.

He looked incredibly moved.

He said, “Jay Chou released a new song! I bought it!”

“Common Jasmine Orange¹ is out! It’s finally out!”

That classmate looked as if he were standing at the very vanguard of the latest trends, feeling himself to be impossibly stylish.

Many years later, Zhang Yang still remembered the expression on his face.

His face had been flushed red, clutching that cassette like a priceless treasure.

Every day, he was the first to arrive at the classroom. Before the teachers arrived, he would slip the tape into the recorder…

Before the morning study bell rang, he would listen to it over and over, on a constant loop.

Zhang Yang hadn’t thought much of it back then. He didn’t particularly like listening to music, and he had little interest in pop culture.

The heavy workload of middle school and the pressure of entrance exams left him breathless, making the future seem bleak.

Later.

He didn’t know how it happened, but the song started playing everywhere in the audiovisual shops along the streets.

In the lounge of the school’s radio station, the speakers blared, “The taste of saury²…”

Even without buying the tape, he found himself forced to hum a line or two along with the melody.

Was this what pop music was?

Later still, during a class meeting as they transitioned from eighth to ninth grade, a pretty girl stood before the entire class, playing an electronic keyboard and singing that very song.

That day!

Zhang Yang suddenly felt that this song was truly beautiful!

It was impossibly lovely!

Many years later…

Whenever he happened to hear “Common Jasmine Orange,” that summer would surface in Zhang Yang’s mind, along with that girl in the fluttering white dress…

Thinking back, that was likely the youth Zhang Yang had already left behind.

Early morning, July 10th.

“I’ve got it!”

“There’s more!”

The moment Zhang Yang opened his eyes, it was as if an idea had struck him. Without even eating breakfast, he rushed to the office, grabbed his computer keyboard, and began typing furiously.

…………………………………………

Morning.

At the old Universe Technology office.

Ge Yumiao began the preparation work for the new game with the newly joined colleagues from the Planning Department.

Netizens had sent back a vast number of questionnaires. They needed to organize these forms, conduct a series of analyses, identify commonalities, and finally plan the game characters and categorize them.

It seemed like a simple task, but the workload was enormous…

In the realm of information organization, no task was ever small.

Since she had just joined the company and had no other assignments or drawings to work on, Sun Lili joined the group in this labor.

Initially, she wasn’t very interested.

But later, as she read through the descriptions of ideal partners and the desired game backgrounds provided by the public, her eyes were truly opened…

There were studio lolis, cold and aloof office beauties, well-endowed shop owners, easily-flustered beast-girls, girls with glasses…

When she saw a post clearly written by a male netizen who wanted a cute “submissive³” male lead, her breath hitched—especially at the description of the two meeting and doing homework together in a bedroom…

Her face instantly turned beet red. She wanted to criticize it, but she found herself reading on bit by bit.

This was too exciting!

She couldn’t imagine how explosive this would be if it were actually made into a game!

Did their “God of Conquest” have an 18+ version?

If so, she really wanted to draw for it!

Not only did she want to draw it, she even wanted to play it herself…

She felt her inner fujoshi⁴ awakening.

“Manager Ge… are we going to include all the netizens’ content?”

“Not exactly. We’ll develop some content that the netizens like first to test the waters. If the market response is good, we’ll continue developing the rest…”

“Manager Ge, if—and I mean if—there were some subtle hints portraying the friendship between boys, could we do that too?”

“This is a romance game; friendship doesn’t exist here. You’re talking about boys and… wait, what are you looking at? Let me see!”

Manager Ge, the Ge Shen, instinctively clicked on Sun Lili’s computer screen and saw the survey report titled “Meeting Under the Osmanthus Tree.”

Halfway through, his expression soured as if he had swallowed a fly. He was thoroughly disgusted.

Why was this written like the gay erotica found on the market?

This…

“Manager Ge, personally, I think the fujoshi demographic is actually quite large… maybe we could appropriately…”

“Cough, cough… we’ll talk about it later. I need to go wash my eyes.”

Ge Yumiao still hadn’t recovered from “Meeting Under the Osmanthus Tree.” Just thinking about the words made his skin crawl.

The thought of two men being all lovey-dovey…

Good grief!

That was just too uncomfortable!

After Ge Yumiao left, Sun Lili gave a mischievous grin and went back to dutifully organizing the questionnaires.

As she worked…

Two hours passed.

During that time…

She occasionally glanced toward Zhang Yang’s office.

Zhang Yang’s office was on the second floor.

Ever since Zhang Yang entered at seven in the morning, the sound of the printer had never stopped…

It was as if he were printing an endless stream of documents.

At ten in the morning.

The sound of the printer stopped abruptly.

She saw Zhang Yang clutching his phone, talking as he held a stack of bound A4 papers. Ignoring his disheveled suit, he rushed out of the company in a hurry.

“What is President Zhang doing?”

“No idea. He’s been acting mysterious these past two days… though, President Zhang must be handling something big. I’ve rarely seen him in such a rush…” Zhao Hang said as he passed by, watching Zhang Yang’s retreating back with a hint of curiosity.

Not long after they spoke.

They saw Zhang Yang, who had just left, walking back inside.

“Please, no. Didn’t we agree I’d go to your company?”

“…”

“I don’t think it’s appropriate. My place is a bit small. It’s really small, I’m not kidding. If you all come over, there might not even be room to stand, and the transportation around here is inconvenient…”

“…”

“The new company? President Chen, let me put it this way: the new company doesn’t even have desks or chairs yet! We can’t exactly sit on the floor, can we? President Chen, why didn’t you tell me earlier that they were coming over…”

“…”

“How about this, President Chen, could you wholesale me some desks and chairs first? And maybe get me some computers too? What? What’s going on? It’s too late? You’ve already picked them up and you’re heading our way right now?”

“…”

“How long? Ten minutes? That fast? This…”

“…”

“I was busy writing just now! My phone was on silent, so I didn’t see your calls! They insist on coming to my company to talk? This isn’t right, my company really isn’t in a state to receive guests right now…”

“…”

“Reporters won’t be coming, will they? They’re not? Well, that’s a relief at least. No, wait, that’s not good either. Missing out on such a great publicity opportunity… I can only say this surprise came way too suddenly…”

“…”

Sun Lili watched as Zhang Yang’s expression became conflicted.

He seemed quite frustrated, as if something completely unexpected had happened.

She watched him finish the call, look around the room, and then gaze out at the distant road before letting out a long, heavy sigh.

“President Zhang, what’s wrong?” Zhao Hang stood up instinctively when he saw Zhang Yang’s expression.

“Something troublesome came up. The plan’s been thrown into chaos,” Zhang Yang said, shaking his head.

“What happened?”

“The Little Heavenly King, Zhou Yang, is coming here for a visit. Our place is such a mess, he won’t even have a place to sit. Sigh, wasn’t he supposed to go to Bluebird Technology? Why is he running over here? This is just creating more trouble! Our corporate image is probably going to be ruined…” Zhang Yang’s voice was filled with helplessness. Looking at the cluttered office, he seemed even more speechless.

“???”

Sun Lili was absolutely stunned after hearing this!

Wait!

What was he saying?

The Little Heavenly King, Zhou Yang?

Which…

Which Zhou Yang was he talking about?

Could it be that one…

Ten minutes later!

When a commotion drifted in from outside, a dazed Sun Lili looked out the window.

And then…

She witnessed a shocking scene that she hadn’t even dared to imagine in her dreams!

(End of Chapter)

Translator’s Notes