Chapter 1497 - 1486: The Cannon Fodder Big Brother in an Old-School Romance Novel
Ye Qiu had no idea what was going through Gu Wanqin’s mind, and even if he did, he didn’t feel like dealing with it. Sooner or later everyone would know that he and Nana were truly in love, and by then all the rumors and gossip would collapse on their own.
He was really busy now—busy with the new company’s business, busy dating Tan Nana. He had no time to clear things up, and there was no need to anyway. Living well himself was what mattered most; he and Nana didn’t care what others thought. Besides, once he became strong enough one day, people wouldn’t have "opinions" anymore, they’d only go along with his wishes and offer congratulations and blessings.
Ye Qiu had started an internet company. He planned to first make two small casual games and put them on the market. Even though in this life he’d chosen the Hacker God Skill, as the boss he couldn’t be the only one creating things. His first capable assistant was someone he’d won in a bet—this guy had lost miserably under his hand but still refused to admit defeat, so he ended up coming to work at Ye Qiu’s company.
The second talent was reeled in by his cooking. That guy was a total foodie, and he himself was a rich second generation, so money wasn’t an issue at all. Ye Qiu met him at a rich second generation gathering that Tan Nana had taken him to. Ever since eating Ye Qiu’s barbecue, he insisted on following him, saying he didn’t even need a salary. In the end Ye Qiu still paid him, and as for the promise of good food, it was only "when there’s time."
Finally, he spent a big sum hiring headhunters to bring in two experienced planners and an accountant. With that, this little company was basically up and running. Everyone was young, and with a big boss like Ye Qiu holding things down in front, each of them was full of passion. In just a single month, their first casual game was successfully developed.
At this point, they needed to make use of Tan Nana’s father. The Gu Family used to be in the newspaper and magazine business, then with the changing times they gradually shifted to the internet, mainly running shopping sites and dating sites. Although they couldn’t compare with the country’s number-one giant, their long-standing history meant they still had a very loyal user base.
Ye Qiu had already discussed it with Mr. Tan beforehand: if his casual game wasn’t too bad, they’d put it on the Tan Family’s dating site. A few days before launch, the Tan Family site only did a bit of light promotion; only those who were curious clicked in—and once they did, it was amazing.
Ye Qiu had made a very simple casual puzzle game like "match-3" to kill time. It was especially good for that. Every level you cleared came with unique music and a special title, making it super easy to fire up people’s competitive streak. Once you started playing, you just couldn’t stop.
In barely a month, this little game of theirs had attracted quite a lot of netizens and even brought a batch of new traffic to the Tan Family’s site.
Seeing this, those Tan Family shareholders who had previously been skeptical couldn’t sit still anymore. They took the initiative to demand strong promotion, and even gave very generous promo resources and benefits to Ye Qiu’s second casual game.
Once he had money, Ye Qiu started hiring aggressively. He couldn’t stay stuck making small casual games forever. From the start his sights had been set on online games, currently the most profitable sector. He wanted to build a truly distinctive online game. So he became even busier than before, to the point where he didn’t even have time to cook private meals for that rich second generation.
But that guy didn’t complain either, because the whole company’s atmosphere was tense like this now—it even gave him a sense of career ambition. Good food could wait, but if he messed up big boss Ye Qiu’s mood, he might not get any meal at all.
Everyone was insanely busy; even though they hired a whole bunch of people, they were still short-handed. In the end, even Tan Nana, who didn’t understand anything, got dragged in by Ye Qiu to be cannon fodder. She wasn’t good at anything else, but at least she could play games, right? So she ended up becoming a member of the testing department.
At this time, seeing that Ye Qiu really had no intention of turning back, Ye Zhiliang stiffened his resolve and began to groom Ye Yanting. Maybe Ye Yanting wanted to prove himself, or maybe he wanted to truly have his own career; this time he finally managed to endure. He was a smart person to begin with—otherwise he couldn’t have been the male lead—he’d just had a terrible temper before and could never settle down.
Now with motivation, everything began to go smoothly. Even his father-in-law started treating him more kindly and cordially.
Yet Ye Yanting wasn’t really happy. He felt his father-in-law was a snob: back when he had no inheritance rights, the old man looked down on him; now that his dad had put him in charge of the company, he suddenly had a good face for him. But for the sake of his wife, Gu Wanqin, he didn’t show his resentment, though he still didn’t know how to adapt or curry favor when visiting the Gu Family. Fortunately, their child with Gu Wanqin was gradually growing up. With a kid babbling between the adults, many conflicts and awkward moments could be lessened.
Even so, it didn’t stop him and Gu Wanqin from fighting. Mainly it was because Ye Zhiliang had indicated in a roundabout way that the future heir of the Ye Family would be him, so more and more women started flocking around him. On top of that, he was busy with work and busy socializing, with no time to coax Gu Wanqin. How could that not lead to misunderstandings?
What Ye Qiu hadn’t expected was that after fighting with Ye Yanting, Gu Wanqin would come to him. That day he happened to have just finished a small Task, so the whole company got off early, and he ran into her right at the entrance of the apartment complex.
Ye Qiu and Tan Nana exchanged a look, both of them confused as to what Gu Wanqin meant by this. But seeing that she’d been caught in the rain, they couldn’t just leave her there.
"Come up with us," Ye Qiu said with a sigh.
"Thank you," Gu Wanqin said in a muffled voice. "I know I shouldn’t bother you, but I don’t know who else to go to."
"Wipe off a bit." Ye Qiu handed her a new towel. Tan Nana added, "How about you come with me and change into a clean set of clothes?"
"No need," Gu Wanqin refused. "It’s inconvenient."
Tan Nana felt a breath stuck in her chest and really wanted to blurt out: So coming to my boyfriend in the middle of the night and going into his apartment is convenient?
Ye Qiu chimed in at the right moment: "There’s nothing inconvenient. Nana is my girlfriend—we’ll be family sooner or later."
Gu Wanqin’s body went stiff for a moment. She gave him a resentful look, then silently followed Tan Nana, looking as if she’d suffered some enormous grievance.
Ye Qiu felt a bit of a headache. How had he never realized before that Gu Wanqin had this kind of personality? He hadn’t been home for ages and barely kept in touch with the family. What was she doing coming to him?
Unable to figure it out, he simply called Ye Yanting: "Did you two have a fight? She got caught in the rain. It’s not convenient for her to stay at my place. Come pick her up."
On the other end, Ye Yanting’s expression tightened. "How would she end up going to my big brother?"
"How would I know?" Ye Qiu was baffled.
Ye Yanting took a deep breath. "Alright, I’ll come get her right now."
Ye Qiu couldn’t be bothered with the little couple’s drama. He’d already done enough and didn’t have the energy to deal with it. In his opinion, the two of them had too much time on their hands anyway. Weren’t they dead set on being together before? How long had it even been, and they’d already racked up so many conflicts? Grandma had said their fights were nothing new.
