YA Ch11: Speculation

Ming Yan smiled and extended his left hand: “Give it here.”

Lu Dongdong obediently placed his hand in Ming Yan’s palm. His nails, still sharp claws from using his power earlier, were retracted as he clenched his fist, softening and rounding them instantly.

Ming Yan raised the pencil and lightly sketched on that slender, fair index finger: “This ring, I designed it when I was studying abroad. I always thought I should draw it into the character’s illustration.”

President Zhao, watching from the side, felt his eyelids twitch. Interacting with virtual world monsters and talking seriously, Ming Yan seemed a bit eerie.

Sensing the bad situation, Yang Chen desperately gave Lu Yu a look, but Lu Yu was only focused on watching his wife draw, ignoring his teammate’s plight. Helpless, Lao Yang could only force a laugh: “Surprise! This is an interactive segment I set up. Surprised?”

President Zhao’s lips twitched, but he also sighed in relief: “Surprised, really surprised. If you hadn’t said anything, I would have thought the paper characters had come to life.”

The other three paused simultaneously.

Lu Yu suddenly turned his head stiffly, like a stuck record, and said in a sinister tone, “How could that be? Maybe the three of us have become paper characters.”

“Ah!” Zhao Yanqing jumped in fright.

“Pfft…” Lao Yang couldn’t help but chuckle, earning an elbow from Lu Yu, who whispered, “You’re so mean.”

“Cut it out; your wig is falling off.” Lu Yu sneered, turning back to watch Ming Yan.

“Damn!” Lao Yang touched his cool head, realizing his system wig had somehow disappeared, probably during the turbulence on the flying carpet. “This is too realistic; even the wig falls off.”

As Ming Yan finished the last stroke of the ring, he rotated the pencil end and tapped the ring. The gray-white sketch instantly transformed into a crystal-clear sapphire, encased in an intricate and luxurious platinum ring.

Ming Yan slipped the ring off and drew a small stick figure merman inside the band before putting it back on Lu Dongdong’s finger.

“It’s beautiful!” Lu Dongdong raised his hand. The sky was overcast without the sun, so he snapped his fingers. The clouds dispersed, and sunlight streamed through the gaps, making the sapphire ring gleam brilliantly.

Ming Yan watched the merman, who kept admiring the ring with a tender smile in his eyes.

At this moment, a distinct hand reached out.

Lu Yu extended his hand, imitating Lu Dongdong’s tone: “Ge, I want a ring too.”

Ming Yan looked at his hand, didn’t say anything, and didn’t take it either.

President Zhao: “Ugh—”

Barely recovered, he was scared again by Lu Yu and couldn’t help but vomit again.

Lao Yang patted President Zhao’s back: “I understand you. I can’t stand their atmosphere either.”

President Zhao glared at Lao Yang, wanting to say something but couldn’t. Opening his mouth only led to: “Ugh.”

“It’s time to go back.” Ming Yan said it expressionlessly.

Lao Yang nodded and started the ejection process.

Lu Yu persisted in holding out his hand, eagerly watching Ming Yan. Ming Yan still didn’t take his hand, but while the other two weren’t looking, he quickly drew a simple pig’s head on the back of Lu Yu’s hand.

“Why does Dongdong get a gem, and I only get a pig’s head?” Lu Yu muttered, treasuring the pig head drawn on his hand.

Lu Dongdong waved with a smile: “Goodbye, Daddy and Father.”

“Hmm?” Lu Yu looked up at Lu Dongdong, and the next second, the scene shifted back to the game pod.

President Zhao quickly opened the safety latch, rolling and crawling out of the game pod to vomit on the floor.

He had vomited inside the game pod earlier, and the perverted game helmet even had a place to catch the vomit. When he opened his eyes and noticed this, he felt like vomiting again, but his stomach was empty, and he could only dry heave.

Professional game pod maintenance staff quickly came to clean the equipment. Secretary Xiao Jiang promptly handed over a wet towel and some water: “President Zhao, have a sip of water to rinse your mouth.”

President Zhao rinsed his mouth, took a new cup to drink water, and finally caught his breath: “This Xiao Jiang is really good. Mr. Ming, could you let him transfer to my side? My secretary is dull and not half as smart as Xiao Jiang.”

Ming Yan, also wiping his face with a towel, glanced at Xiao Jiang, whose smile was perfectly curved, and his mouth twitched slightly: “I’m afraid that’s not possible.”

“Don’t tell me Xiao Jiang is Mr. Shen’s man. I’ve seen your top-level list, and there’s no such person as Mr. Shen.” Zhao Yanqing, tormented by the holographic novel simulator, was very upset. But since the other three seemed fine, he couldn’t complain without losing face, so he took out his anger on the fictitious Mr. Shen.

Ming Yan sighed: “Xiao Jiang is Shen Baishui’s secretary.”

“Shen Baishui?” Zhao Yanqing found the name familiar but couldn’t recall it.

Secretary Xiao Jiang adjusted his gold-rimmed glasses and sheepishly pulled out a pocket square from his suit jacket. The pocket square, which looked like high-quality silk with only a corner visible, fully revealed a cartoon version of Shen Baishui once entirely pulled out: “I am Shen Baishui’s secretary in life and his electronic secretary in death.”

President Zhao: “…”

Lu Yu suddenly understood. This Xiao Jiang was actually a fan of Lao’er.

He had roughly understood the plot of “Golden House.” Shen Baishui had an omnipotent secretary who did everything with extreme precision, including his smile’s curve, and was highly valued by Mr. Shen. Xiao Jiang probably modeled his working style after that secretary.

Moved, Lu Yu patted Xiao Jiang on the shoulder and interjected at the right moment: “Don’t worry, Xiao Jiang, the treatment here is definitely up to Shen’s standard, above the industry average. If you accidentally die one day, I’ll write you into a side story so you can apply to be Shen Baishui’s secretary and join his setting.”

Xiao Jiang’s eyes lit up instantly, and his smile’s curve exceeded the usual standard, looking very happy: “Thank you, Mr. Lu; I’ll work hard.”

President Zhao gritted his teeth: “Don’t go too far!” If it wasn’t that everyone in this company was crazy, then they were conspiring to embarrass him.

Lu Yu looked at him curiously: “What’s wrong? Want me to write one for you too?”

Then, Lu Yu really pulled out a piece of paper from his pocket, which was the inquiry letter that Zhao Yanqing had handed to Ming Yan in the morning. He reached out, and Xiao Jiang handed him a pen, which he uncapped and quickly filled in the “Is Mr. Ming Yan’s and Mr. Lu Yu’s marriage still ongoing?” column with “ongoing.”

Lu Yu patted the inquiry letter on Zhao Yanqing’s chest and said with a smile, “It’s getting late. Stay for lunch.”

Ming Yan sighed helplessly and came over to stand beside Lu Yu: “Lunch is already arranged. President Zhao, please join us for a meal.”

Zhao Yanqing held the inquiry letter, glanced at it, and sneered: “No need, I just threw up; no appetite, maybe another time.”

Everyone saw off President Zhao at the company entrance. President Zhao raised his hand: “There is no need to see me off. We’ll discuss the investment further.” With that, he gave Ming Yan a deep look and then left.

Watching President Zhao’s luxury car roar away in anger, Ming Yan frowned with concern.

“Don’t worry, even if he doesn’t invest, we can earn it ourselves.” Lu Yu stretched out his arm, reaching Ming Yan’s distant shoulder, looking like he was hugging him.

Ming Yan glanced at the paw hanging on his shoulder: “Livestreaming the modification of Hua Wenyuan’s data requires you to be very familiar with the plot. ‘Shooting the Heavenly Wolf’ has four million words. There’s only one week left. Can you do it?”

Lu Yu’s temple twitched, and he gritted his teeth: “How can a man say he can’t? Of course I can.”

Standing a little further away, Lao Yang didn’t hear their conversation clearly and tried to interject: “What do you mean, of course you can?”

Lu Yu glanced at Lao Yang, whose few strands of hair were fluttering in the wind, and let go of Ming Yan to wrap his arm around Lao Yang’s neck: “Not about that, let me ask you, on November 7th, ten years ago, we ate spicy hot pot; do you remember?”

Yang Chen was speechless: “How would I remember that?”

Lu Yu counted on his fingers to help him recall: “That day we had potatoes, shrimp paste, crab sticks, chicken wings, and cabbage.”

Yang Chen nodded: “Of course, that’s what we always order, sometimes with fish tofu.”

Lu Yu raised his hand from around Yang Chen’s neck and slapped his head: “That day, you dog, to prevent me from drinking, only brought 20 yuan in cash. You ended up eating three bowls of rice, and the meal cost forty-seven. I paid twenty-seven.”

Yang Chen dumbfoundedly nodded: “I don’t remember; is there a problem?”

“I paid 27 yuan, so you owe me three and a half. Tell me, did you pay me back?” Lu Yu stared intently into Yang Chen’s eyes.

Yang Chen was stunned: “Are you serious, Lu Yu? After ten years, you’re still asking for that?”

“Clear accounts among brothers,” Lu Yu pointed to Yang Chen’s left wrist, “check if you paid me back; otherwise, I’ll lose sleep thinking about it.”

“What the…?” Yang Chen couldn’t understand this behavior but obediently opened his smart brain and checked the old chat software for transactions. They used to use this software for transactions during their school days. “Ming Yan, didn’t you give this guy pocket money? This is too much.”

Ming Yan pursed his lips. He roughly knew why Lu Yu was asking this. He wanted to verify if Lu Dayu had traveled back. If he had, he wouldn’t remember this and wouldn’t ask Lao Yang for the three and a half.

After searching through the old chat software’s transaction records from November and December 2023, there was no such 3.5 yuan.

Yang Chen sighed: “You’re amazing, remembering this. Is your brain rejuvenating?”

This tease didn’t make Lu Yu laugh. He let go of Yang Chen’s neck and said quietly: “Lu Dayu really traveled back.”

Ming Yan sighed: “Maybe you thought it was a small amount and didn’t plan to ask for it.”

“Impossible!” Lu Yu said firmly, “I was so poor in college that every penny mattered. Both Lao Yang and I were doing part-time jobs to earn money; we remembered every cent.”

Back then, Lao Yang was a poor student, and Lu Yu had fallen out with his family and had no living expenses. Money was very tight for them.

Yang Chen, who had heard the latter part, became nostalgic: “Yes, we were really poor back then. Thinking about it, time flies, and things are so unpredictable.”

Reflecting on his poor childhood and youth and looking at his current achievements, even though he hadn’t yet succeeded in going public, earning billions, or writing an autobiography, he couldn’t help but feel emotional.

Moved, Lao Yang patted Lu Yu on the shoulder: “Lu Yu, honestly, I’m very grateful to you. You encouraged me to write small programs in college to make money, giving me a decent life. You also led me to start a business. I can say that without you, there wouldn’t be today’s me.”

Saying this, the nearly thirty-year-old Yang Chen was moved to tears.

Lu Yu patted his shoulder: “We’re brothers; there’s no need for words. Just pay me back the three and a half.”

Lao Yang: “…”