YA Ch27: Checklist
Although the G country people are money-grubbing, they are quite punctual. The next day, they flew over with hardware to repair it.
Three people came, led by the engineer with golden-brown hair who video called Yang Chen that day, named Felix. The other two young men were his assistants.
“Felix? It does seem like quite a hassle.” Lu Yu stood outside the machine room, looking at the slow-moving brown hairs, feeling very annoyed.
Yang Chen sighed, “There’s no choice. They are paid by the day for their work here. The more days they work, the more we pay. We can’t rush them. Now I understand where the term ‘slow work’ comes from.”
Lu Yu bared his teeth and pulled old Yang inside, “I’ll speak, you translate.”
“Huh?” Yang Chen, bewildered, was dragged in front of the three brown hairs.
Felix was not happy, “Yang, I said, this is not as simple as replacing a board. We need to check each part, rushing won’t help.”
Lu Yu greeted them briefly and glanced at their workflow chart, “How long do you estimate it will take?”
“It’s hard to say. If there are no surprises, it will take about four to five days,” Felix said uncertainly.
Lu Yu frowned. Even if they finished in four days, it wouldn’t be in time. The tech department still needed to debug: “Here’s the deal. If you can fix it within two days, I’ll have the PR department accompany you here for a week, and all the time will count as working hours.”
Felix’s eyes lit up but hesitated to accept. Agreeing would imply they were deliberately dawdling before.
Lu Yu thoughtfully gave him an out: “But if you delay my livestream, you won’t have food to eat for the next few days.”
Lao Yang, whose mouth worked faster than his brain, translated this directly. The three brown-haired workers widened their eyes. One of the young assistants protested, “That’s illegal.”
“Heh,” Lu Yu gave a sinister smile, “Do you know who I am? I’m the eldest son of the Lu family. In this S City, our family has overwhelming influence.”
Yang Chen’s mouth twitched, and he whispered, “Isn’t the Lu family running an electronics factory? How do they have overwhelming influence?”
Lu Yu gritted his teeth, keeping his expression unchanged, and muttered, “Just translate what I say, no need for extra comments.”
Lao Yang had no choice but to stiffly translate, causing the three foreigners to look terrified.
“Of course, I’m not a villain. If you do a good job, there will be great benefits for you. I will introduce you to big orders,” Lu Yu opened the light screen, showing them the trending topic about Chaoxi Mill, “They always like to imitate us. If we livestream on time and their product doesn’t launch, they will be forced to buy your equipment. You can get many kickbacks then. See that boss? Covered in gold rings, he has plenty of money.”
The three brown-haired workers got excited. Felix nodded repeatedly, indicating they could work overtime.
In the end, the repair was completed in a day and a half.
The tech team, art team, and livestream team were all happy, having ample time to prepare.
Ming Yan sighed in relief. Successfully livestreaming was the first step for the company to get through its debt crisis. He no longer worried about this matter and focused on preparing the art materials needed for the livestream with his team.
Lu Yu, on the other hand, resumed his relaxed routine of working out while listening to audiobooks. He moved some small, portable equipment to Ming Yan’s office and worked out there when he wasn’t using the larger machines.
During breaks from drawing, Ming Yan looked up to see Lu Yu busy with sit-ups and balancing on an exercise ball, giving him the impression that he had a seal in his office.
Just as things were moving in a positive direction, the police brought new information.
Officer Chen called Lu Yu, who was doing push-ups, to inform him that the interrogation of Xiao Zhou had a breakthrough. The person who hired Xiao Zhou was likely Lu Chaoxi, but there wasn’t enough evidence yet, and the investigation was ongoing.
“Keep an eye out for any new clues and inform the police immediately,” Officer Chen said.
Lu Yu agreed and then asked, “If there’s not enough evidence, can you scare Lu Chaoxi into compensating me for my losses?”
Officer Chen: “…We are legitimate police officers, Mr. Lu.”
Lu Yu finished his last set and sat on the carpet, speaking righteously, “I’m not asking you to extort him. I mean, if you can send him to jail, great. If not, at least make him pay up. This is also an act of legal justice.”
Officer Chen: “…If mediation is needed, we’ll notify you.”
Lu Yu agreed enthusiastically, but before he could say more, the call ended. This Officer Chen was really quick-tempered. Pouting, Lu Yu got up, grabbed a piece of paper from Ming Yan, and started drafting a compensation list at the desk: “If Lu Chaoxi is willing to pay according to this list, I might consider signing a settlement agreement.”
Ming Yan glanced at his list:
– Simulator repair: 20 million
– Engineers’ travel expenses: 1.2 million
– Informant reward: 1 million
– New security system: XXX million (temporarily left blank)
– Media gifts
– Buying trending topics
– Gas for gouging eyes
– Special overtime pay for Xiao Jiang
– Defamation of Han Di Ba Yu…
“Haha, are you planning to get a new security system?” Ming Yan didn’t discuss the absurd list but asked about the security system.
“Yes, now everyone knows cutting power can damage our servers, we need to fix this soon.” Lu Yu acted immediately, calling Lao Yang.
“What? Make it quick, I’m so busy my heels are kicking my head, I don’t have time for chit-chat.” Yang Chen was swamped, with people constantly talking around him.
Lu Yu cut to the chase: “We need to upgrade the security system. Find the best one.”
Lao Yang was stunned: “Where’s the money for this?”
Lu Yu: “Don’t worry about that. Save where we can, spend where we need to. Get high-tech security. A security system shouldn’t cost more than twenty million.” Some expenses are necessary, and these will be included in the compensation list for Lu Chaoxi to pay.
Lao Yang saw the sense in this and said he’d check after finishing his current tasks.
That evening, back home, Lu Yu pondered over the quote Lao Yang sent him: “Maybe we should just let Lao Yang stay in the server room as a guard for now.”
It was too expensive!
The merman ball floated over, glanced at the quote, and suggested, “Father, you can put me in the server room. I can float around and monitor everything.”
Lu Yu grabbed the merman ball and squeezed it, “Have you ever heard of using a dumpling to guard against dogs? You’re more precious than the simulator. If a thief sees you, they might end up stealing a child instead of just pulling a switch.”
Ming Yan laughed at the idea, “Let’s have someone watch for now. Once Hua Wenyuan is online and making money, we’ll deal with it.”
Lu Yu shook his head, “The security system is urgent. Let’s take another ad. If necessary, we’ll accept the Blue Pill ad. I’ll add a subplot for the supporting character. The lines shouldn’t be read by Lao San, let the supporting character read them. If all else fails, I’ll do it.”
Imagining himself reading the ad, he decided to add “Lu Yu’s mental distress for reading Blue Pill lines” to the compensation list.
On the fourth day after the power outage incident, the police arrested Lu Chaoxi and a high-level executive from his company for allegedly hiring someone to sabotage production, causing over 20 million in losses.
The news pushed the “power outage and eye gouging incident” to its peak, once again exploding on trending topics. At this moment, Chenyu Technology announced:
[We will be livestreaming tomorrow morning at 9. Please tune in on time.]
On the day of the livestream, everyone arrived at the company early, busying themselves from six in the morning. Even the three remaining brown-haired G countrymen joined in the excitement.
Lu Yu ran into Ming Yan’s office, mysteriously closing the door: “I’ve got something good to show you.”
Ming Yan glanced at the time: “It’s almost time to head to the studio. What do you want to show me?”
“Hehe,” Lu Yu walked up to Ming Yan, leaned against the desk, and lifted his T-shirt. “Look, I’ve got V-lines now.”
To move freely during the livestream, he wasn’t wearing his usual shirt and suit but a loose T-shirt, easy to lift.
“Though my abs aren’t back yet, the V-lines are. So when you draw clothes on me in the simulator, even if the alignment isn’t perfect, I won’t be embarrassed,” Lu Yu said, biting the corner of his shirt and pulling Ming Yan’s hand towards his waist. “Try drawing some abs on me later in the preparation room.”
At that moment, Lao Yang burst in: “What are you two doing? Hurry up… What the hell, what are you doing in broad daylight?!”