1990s: Spring Water Family

Chapter 216 A Heartwarming Lunch: I'm Jealous, You Only Look at It and Not Me

"Shh, keep your voice down"

Hu Qin glanced at the president's office subconsciously and gave him a shushing look.

The door to the CEO's office was not closed; it was ajar, and the CEO's rather stern voice could be heard coming from inside.

It sounds like a colleague has done something wrong and is being reprimanded.

"Cough cough."

Yang Meng's heart skipped a beat. He pretended to cough twice, tiptoed, and carefully slipped past the office door.

Seeing that he was acting like a thief, Hu Qin smiled helplessly, then turned around and went to the restroom.

-

16th Floor, Area A, Xinghe Changyou Games Company.

Six months ago, Gu Bin returned to Shanghai and immediately began preparations to establish a game company. From registering the company to recruiting staff, it took about a month.

The company location was also carefully chosen, not far from the riverside residence, and it only takes about ten minutes to walk from home to the company.

Lin Xiyu initially did not approve of him starting a business so quickly and wanted him to rest at home for a while longer.

However, Gu Bin was a restless person. Even at home, he often stayed up late, typing away on the computer day and night, studying game development.

Before the game company was officially established, he actually created a match-3 puzzle game, released it on a gaming platform, and it became a minor hit, attracting a lot of attention.

Several game companies extended offers to him, inviting him to join their teams.

Gu Bin politely declined their offer and began to plan his grand undertaking.

Since its inception, Galaxy Games has positioned its games as high-end, using 3D modeling instead of traditional 2D graphics to give players a better sense of immersion and engagement.

3D modeling has both advantages and disadvantages. It takes longer to develop, is more difficult to produce, and is significantly more expensive.

Since the end of March, when Galaxy Games officially began developing its first shooting game, Galaxy Curiosities, by early September, the game had been in development for almost half a year, with an investment exceeding everyone's expectations.

From purchasing equipment and software to employee salaries and daily expenses, every aspect of maintaining the company's normal operation costs money.

In order to save money, Wu Meng, the financial manager, did exactly what Gu Bin had said before: she did the work of three people, taking on all the tasks of buying meals, running errands, and doing odd jobs.

-

"The food is here. Everyone, take a break and let's eat."

Wu Meng rushed into the company gate with a lunchbox in hand, her loud voice instantly attracting everyone's attention.

Besides her, the other eight people in the company were all hardcore gamers, ranging in age from 23 to 28. They were excited and talkative when they talked about games, but in real life they were unkempt and had unshaven beards.

Eight men, eight men with the potential to become diamond-level bachelors, have yet to find a wife.

Wu Meng was the only bright spot in Xinghe Changyou. Although her voice was as loud as ever and not so gentle, it sounded exceptionally clear and pleasant to her colleagues.

"Sister Meng is back?"

"You bought so much delicious food?"

"Let me help you carry it."

"Aren't your arms tired or sore from carrying so much stuff? Do you need me to massage them for you?"

Several of her younger colleagues perked up at the sound of her voice, jumped up from their chairs, and came over.

"You're the most glib-tongued one."

Wu Meng rolled her eyes at one of them: "If you're so good at talking, why don't you manage to win over a girlfriend?"

"I've dedicated my entire youth to the company."

The man's name was Li Hao, and his colleagues jokingly called him "Mouse."

"Haozi dedicated his entire youth to the world of anime and manga."

Another colleague, Zhang Shan, who knew him well, joked with a smile: "He had a spiritual relationship with the female protagonist in the game world, which made it impossible for him to find a suitable girlfriend in real life."

"Can you blame me?"

Li Hao said confidently, "Girls in the two-dimensional world are so beautiful, they're like fairies. In the three-dimensional world, they're all shrewish, ugly and fierce. If you look at her too much, she'll get excited and sue you for sexual harassment."

"Let's eat."

Wu Meng couldn't stand it anymore and stuffed a lunchbox into his mouth: "No wonder you don't have a girlfriend. With such a sharp tongue, you deserve to be single forever."

"I just don't want to get married."

Li Hao didn't take it seriously: "Living a lifetime in the world of anime is pretty wonderful too."

"Ignore him, he's gone mad."

Zhang Shan rolled her eyes at him with disdain, took the plastic bag from Wu Meng, and helped her distribute the boxed lunches.

"Why only 8 portions? No one from the boss's team?"

When he was the last person to receive his plastic bag, he looked at the empty bag and was a little puzzled.

"His meals are not my responsibility."

Wu Meng said with a smile, "Someone will bring him food."

"Another charity lunch?"

Zhang Shan realized: "I'm so envious I'm drooling."

"My sister-in-law is truly beautiful inside and out, and she's also good to the eldest son."

Li Hao also showed an envious and jealous expression: "If I had a wife like that, I wouldn't need to date anime girls."

"What you think is beautiful."

"Daydreaming."

His colleagues all glared at him with disdain.

"hey-hey."

Li Hao joked about himself: "You guessed right, I only dare to dream about this."

"Cut~~"

His colleagues were all exasperated by his shamelessness and looked away in disgust.

-

Downstairs in the office building.

As Liu Rushi drove out of the underground parking lot and turned onto the main street, she saw a slender and graceful figure in her rearview mirror.

Lin Xiyu walked slowly from the opposite street, her dark green belted long dress swaying gently with her steps. Her calm and serene temperament made her look as if she had stepped out of a painting of a lady, her beauty otherworldly.

Liu Rushi's pupils suddenly contracted, and her cheeks twisted for a moment with jealousy and hatred.

Lin Xiyu ignored the car parked on the side of the road, looked up at the sign on the office building entrance to make sure she hadn't gone to the wrong place, and went inside with her lunchbox.

"You will all get your comeuppance. Xiaoqian died such a tragic death, so don't expect to live a good life either."

Liu Rushi glared venomously at her retreating figure, gripping the steering wheel tightly with both hands, forcibly suppressing the maddening malice spreading deep within her heart, so as not to slam on the gas and rush past.

"Drip."

Another car drove out of the parking lot, and the driver behind it, growing impatient, honked his horn to urge her on.

Liu Rushi glanced at the car in the rearview mirror, muttered a curse at the driver, turned the steering wheel, and drove into the congested avenue.

-

16th floor, Area A.

Lin Xiyu took the elevator to Xingyao Changyou. The moment she pushed open the glass door, the noisy company instantly fell silent.

"Xi Yu, you've arrived."

When Wu Meng recognized her, her eyes lit up and she couldn't contain her joy.

Lin Xiyu pointed to the lunchbox in her hand and exchanged a knowing glance with her.

Wu Meng understood immediately, and the two best friends went to her finance manager's private office for a private talk.

"I have 100,000 here. Take it; it should last you a while."

Lin Xiyu entered the office, took out a bank card from her handbag, and handed it to Wu Meng.

"Where did you get the money?"

Wu Meng looked surprised: "Didn't you sell all the stocks? Where is the cash?" "This is some savings I had before I got married."

Lin Xiyu didn't want her to make wild guesses, so she didn't hide anything.

Does Gu Bin know?

Wu Meng frowned slightly, feeling quite uncomfortable.

"There's no need to bother him with these trivial matters."

Lin Xiyu smiled understandingly: "Let him focus on doing what he wants to do. I'll figure out the money. If all else fails, we can sell the apartment near East China Normal University."

"The house cannot be sold."

Wu Meng panicked and hurriedly stopped her: "Don't be foolish. House prices are rising so fast now, it would be a waste to sell it."

"I don't want to sell either."

Lin Xiyu sighed and rubbed her forehead in exasperation: "There's nothing we can do about it. I should have known better than to buy the office building. I was too greedy. I thought the office building would appreciate in value, which is why I encouraged Gu Bin to buy the entire 16th floor. It cost nearly 200 million yuan, which has led to our current financial difficulties."

"Just buy it."

Wu Meng, as expected of the finance manager, was quick to calculate: "The current rate of increase in housing prices is higher than the annual revenue of a small company. Even if game development doesn't make money, the income from housing prices will support us and we won't lose money."

Lin Xiyu chuckled awkwardly, "You don't need to comfort me."

"I'm not just trying to comfort you, it's all true."

Wu Meng was full of confidence: "Believe me, as long as we get through this period and have a game demo, we will be able to attract investment."

"Demo, what does that mean?"

Lin Xiyu raised an eyebrow, her eyes showing confusion.

"It's an abbreviation for Demonstration."

Wu Meng patiently explained to her: "It refers to an incomplete version released by the game company before the official release, which extracts the most representative part of the game and showcases it to attract investment or platform recommendations."

"Oh, is that so?"

Lin Xiyu suddenly realized, and praised with a smile: "You already know a lot about game production. You talk about it very knowledgeably, and it sounds very professional."

"I can't do it, I'm just an amateur."

Wu Meng was unusually modest: "I only talk the talk, I really know nothing about making games."

"Better than me."

Lin Xiyu laughed awkwardly: "I've never played any games. Sometimes I really feel embarrassed. Listening to Gu Bin talk about game development is like listening to gibberish. I can't get a word in edgewise."

"You are already very virtuous."

Wu Meng patted her shoulder, offering comfort in the manner of a best friend: "With your silent support behind him, Gu Bin can focus on doing what he loves without distraction. You could say you are his capable assistant, holding up half the sky in the company."

"Alright, let's stop praising each other here."

Lin Xiyu couldn't stand it anymore, picked up her lunchbox and was about to leave: "You continue with your work, I'm going to check on Gu Bin. He didn't come home last night, he probably stayed up all night again."

"These guys are all night owls."

Wu Meng pointed outside and laughed jokingly, "They're sleepy during the day but wide awake at night. Staying up all night is commonplace for them. Otherwise, they wouldn't all have such unshaven faces and worrying appearances; it's all from staying up all night."

"No, I need to let Gu Bin get a good night's sleep."

Upon hearing this, Lin Xiyu picked up her lunchbox and hurriedly left: "We can't let him be influenced by their bad influences and become like them."

"Pfft."

Wu Meng couldn't help but burst out laughing.

-

CEO's office.

Gu Bin was wearing headphones and his fingers were rapidly tapping on the keyboard.

He was so focused that even when someone pushed open the door, entered the office, and came to his side, he didn't notice anything amiss.

A hand removed the headphones from his ears, blocking the screen. He then looked up at the person who had approached him, blinking blankly.

"I'm jealous of it."

Lin Xiyu pointed to the computer, her voice tinged with resentment: "You look at it all day but not at me."

"hehe."

Gu Bin snapped out of his highly focused thoughts, momentarily stunned, before realizing that his wife meant the game when she said "it," and let out a joyful laugh.

"dare you laugh?!"

Lin Xiyu glared at him, feigning displeasure.

Her face, which seemed both shy and angry, posed absolutely no threat.

Gu Bin smiled jokingly, then pulled the person into his arms with a strong tug.

Did you stay up all night again last night?

Lin Xiyu sat on his lap, feeling a bit uncomfortable, and shifted her body, trying to make herself more comfortable.

"Don't move, let me hold you for a while."

Gu Bin pressed his forehead against her shoulder, inhaling the intoxicating fragrance of her hair, and closed his eyes.

"Don't sleep yet, eat your food. Not eating is bad for your stomach."

Seeing that he was extremely tired and wanted to sleep as soon as he closed his eyes, Lin Xiyu subconsciously nudged him a few times.

She heard soft snoring and looked down to see that the person had fallen asleep with their head resting on her shoulder.

"Ugh."

She smiled helplessly and could only lift him off the chair and lay him flat on the sofa.

To prevent him from rolling off the sofa, she carefully and considerately placed his head on her lap so that he could sleep more soundly and comfortably.

-

Gu Bin slept soundly until dusk, when he finally woke up.

"you're awake?"

Lin Xiyu tried to move her legs, which were already sore, numb, stiff, and almost numb.

"What's the time now?"

Gu Bin glanced at the dimly lit office and was momentarily stunned.

It's already 6 o'clock.

Lin Xiyu rarely saw him so sleepy, and couldn't help but want to laugh.

"It's so late, you haven't left yet?"

Gu Bin was a little annoyed: "It's all my fault. I slept in so late and made you late picking up Rui Rui from kindergarten."

“I’ve already called Zhao Yuncheng to pick her up, and Grandma will be with her too, so don’t worry.”

Lin Xiyu smiled and said that she was more concerned about Xiao Rui Rui's health than Xiao Rui Rui: "You slept all afternoon on an empty stomach, are you hungry? Do you want to eat something? Lunch is cold, I'll go home and make you a new one."

"There's no need for that."

Gu Bin didn't want her to go through all that trouble: "Just heat up the leftovers from lunch in the microwave."

Lin Xiyu objected: "Eating leftovers is not acceptable."

"If I haven't eaten it, it doesn't count as leftovers."

Gu Bin's sophistry was utterly righteous.

Lin Xiyu laughed in exasperation: "You hurt your stomach because you don't care about anything."

"With you serving me the best food and drinks every day..."

Gu Bin's eyes showed emotion: "I've been drinking health-preserving soup all the time, and my stomach is much better now; it doesn't hurt anymore."

Lin Xiyu said coquettishly, "I was just feeling a bit better, and you're making a fuss again. What am I supposed to say to you?"

How about this?

Gu Bin rubbed his sore and numb neck and got up from the sofa: "Don't cook tonight. Let's invite Grandma and Xiao Rui Rui and go out to eat."