Chapter 50: Are They Coming?

Chapter 50: Are They Coming Over?

Many summers ago.

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

The glow of the setting sun shone on that classmate's face.

He looked extremely excited.

He said, "Chou Chou has a new song out, and I bought it!"

"Common Jasmine Orange is out, it's finally out!"

That classmate stood as if at the very forefront of a trend, feeling himself to be overwhelmingly fashionable.

Years later, Zhang Yang would always remember that expression of his.

His face was flushed, and he held the cassette tape as if it were a rare treasure.

He was always the first to arrive in class every day, and while the teachers hadn't come yet, he would slip the cassette tape into the boombox...

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

Zhang Yang was unimpressed. He didn't really like listening to songs, nor did he have much interest in pop music.

The heavy workload of junior high school and the pressure of entering a good high school weighed on him so much that he could barely breathe, making his future look bleak.

Later.

For some reason, cassette shops along the street were playing this song everywhere.

In the school broadcasting station's lounge, the lyrics played: "The taste of the Pacific saury..."

Even without buying the cassette, he was forced to hum along to a line or two.

Is this what pop music is?

Still later, during a class meeting between the second and third years of junior high, a pretty girl played an electronic organ in front of the whole class and sang this song once again.

That day!

Zhang Yang suddenly felt that this song was truly wonderful!

Unbelievably beautiful!

Years later...

Whenever he accidentally heard Common Jasmine Orange, that summer and that girl in a fluttering white dress would always surface in Zhang Yang's mind...

Suddenly, he realized that was probably the youth Zhang Yang had already lived through.

Early in the morning on July 10th.

"Got it!"

"And this too!"

The moment Zhang Yang opened his eyes as if struck by a sudden realization, he didn't even eat breakfast. He rushed hurriedly into his office, grabbed the computer keyboard, and started pounding away frantically.

…………………………………………

Morning.

At the old office of Universe Technology.

Ge Yumiao led the newly joined colleagues from the planning department to begin preparations for the new game.

Netizens had submitted a vast number of questionnaires. They needed to compile these questionnaires, conduct a series of analyses to find commonalities, and finally proceed with the planning, categorization, and filing of the game characters.

It sounded like a simple task, but the volume of work was immense...

When it came to information sorting, no task was ever small.

Since she had just joined the company and didn't have much else to do, nor did she need to draw yet, Sun Lili joined these people in doing this kind of work.

At first, she had little interest.

But later on, when she saw descriptions of ideal romantic partners and requested game background descriptions written by the official team, her horizons were broadened immensely...

There were studio lolis, aloof workplace imperial sisters, store owners with full figures and generous chests, easily flustered beast-girls, and bespectacled maidens...

When she saw what was clearly written by a male netizen wishing for an adorable, submissive male protagonist, her breathing hitched momentarily—especially the part describing how the two met and how they studied together in the bedroom...

Instantly, her face flushed red. Though she wanted to criticize it a couple of times, she still read on, bit by bit.

This was too thrilling!

She couldn't imagine how explosive this stuff would be if turned into a game!

Could it be that their God of Dating also had an 18-plus version?

Well, she wouldn't mind drawing that!

Not only did she want to draw it, but she even wanted to participate and play it herself...

She felt that the fujoshi attributes within her had fully awakened.

"Director Ge... should we put all the content from the netizens in?"

"Not quite. We'll first develop some of the content that netizens liked to test the waters. If the market response is good, we'll continue developing other content..."

"Director Ge, what if—I'm just saying 'what if'—what if there are slight, subtle hints portraying the friendship between boys, can we do that too?"

"This is a romance game, friendship doesn't exist. You're talking about boys and boys... Wait, what are you reading? Let me see!"

Director Ge—the Ge God himself—subconsciously clicked on Sun Lili's computer and saw that survey report titled The Encounter Under the Osmanthus Tree.

Halfway through reading it, his expression instantly turned as though he had swallowed a housefly; he was thoroughly disgusted.

Why was it written just like the gay romance pulp fiction on the market?

This...

"Director Ge, personally I feel that the fujoshi demographic is actually quite large... Should we appropriately..."

"Cough, cough, let's talk about it later. I need to go wash my eyes."

Ge Yumiao hadn't recovered from The Encounter Under the Osmanthus Tree even now. The mere thought of the text inside made goosebumps break out all over his body.

Imagining two guys being all lovey-dovey with each other...

Damn it!

This was just too agonizing!

After Ge Yumiao left, Sun Lili chuckled softly and obediently went back to organizing the netizens' questionnaires.

Watching and reading...

Two hours slipped by.

During this time...

She occasionally glanced toward Zhang Yang's office.

Zhang Yang's office was on the second floor.

Ever since Zhang Yang entered his office at seven in the morning, the sound of the printer inside had never stopped...

It seemed to be continuously printing something out.

Ten in the morning.

The sound of the printer abruptly ceased.

She saw Zhang Yang talking on his phone while holding a stack of bound A4 paper. Paying no heed to how messy his suit was, he hurriedly bolted out of the company.

"Where did President Zhang go?"

"No idea, he's seemed a bit secretive these past two days... Well, President Zhang must be handling something major, though. I rarely see him in such a rush..." Zhao Hang passed by, glanced at Zhang Yang's retreating figure, and felt somewhat puzzled.

Scarcely had their voices trailed off...

When they saw Zhang Yang, who had just left the company, walking back in.

"No way, didn't we agree to go to your company?"

"..."

"I don't think it's suitable. My place is a bit small here, really small, I'm not lying to you. If you guys come over, there might not even be a place to stay, and the transportation here is inconvenient..."

"..."

"The new company? Director Chen, let me put it this way: the new company doesn't even have desks and chairs yet! We can't very well sit on the floor, can we? Director Chen, why didn't you tell me earlier that they were coming..."

"..."

"How about this, Director Chen, can you wholesale me some desks and chairs first? And get some computers set up for me too? Huh? What do you mean, it's too late? You've already picked them up and are heading over here?"

"..."

"How long? Ten-odd minutes? That fast? This..."

"..."

"I was busy writing stuff just now, my phone was on silent, so I missed your call! They insist on coming to my company to talk? That's not right, my company really isn't convenient right now..."

"..."

"Journalists won't come, right? Journalists aren't coming? It'd be fine if they didn't, wait, no, that's not good either. Missing such a great publicity opportunity—I can only say this surprise came too abruptly..."

"..."

Sun Lili noticed that Zhang Yang's expression was somewhat conflicted.

He looked rather depressed, as though some completely unexpected event had occurred.

She watched as Zhang Yang finished the call, looked around the room, glanced at the distant street, and let out a lingering sigh.

"President Zhang, what's wrong?" Zhao Hang instinctively stood up upon seeing Zhang Yang's expression.

"Some tricky business came up, our plans got disrupted," Zhang Yang shook his head.

"What business?"

"Little Heavenly King Zhou Yang is coming to visit us. Our place is such a mess, he won't even have a place to sit. Hey, didn't we previously make an appointment to go to Bluebird Technology? Why is he coming over to look at our place? Isn't this just creating chaos! Our corporate image is probably going to be ruined..." Zhang Yang's voice was filled with helplessness. Looking at the cluttered company, he felt even more speechless.

"???"

After hearing this, Sun Lili was utterly shocked!

Wait!

What did he just say?

Little Heavenly King Zhou Yang?

This is...

Which Zhou Yang?

Could it be that...

Ten minutes later!

As a wave of commotion drifted in from outside the building, a dazed Sun Lili looked out the window.

And then...

She beheld a stunning sight that she would never have dared to dream of!