YA Ch12: Memorizing

Lao Yang was quite helpless: “Alright, alright, I’ll give it back to you. With bank savings interest of 2%, ten years of interest is 0.7 yuan, making a total of 4.2 yuan.”

After he finished speaking, Lu Yu’s smart brain received a transfer of 4.2 yuan, and he couldn’t help but click his tongue in wonder: “Wow, your math is pretty good now; you calculated it so clearly.”

Yang Chen: “Get lost; when has my math ever been bad.”

“Hehe, I’ve struck it rich.” Lu Yu happily wrapped his arm around Lao Yang’s neck and said, “Come on, come on, I’ll treat you to lunch; I’ll buy you three old popsicles.”

“What kind of sin have I committed to end up with someone like you?” Lao Yang cursed and swore.

In the end, the three of them didn’t get to eat anything good. Because they had a livestream next week, there was too much work to do. Lao Yang was so busy he barely had time to breathe, so he just grabbed a quick bite at the company canteen and rushed off.

In the afternoon, while working, Lu Yu lounged in Ming Yan’s office, reading a novel.

He needed to finish reading “Shooting the Heavenly Wolf” quickly. The novel was four million words long, and he had less than seven days to read it, meaning he needed to read 600,000 words a day. Theoretically, this was an impossible task, but since it was a novel he had written himself, he knew what was important and what was filler, so skimming through it was no problem.

Ming Yan looked at the guy slumped on the sofa like he had no bones: “Why don’t you go to your own office?”

Lu Yu looked up and grinned: “Working together is more efficient, by myself I tend to slack off.”

He’s reading a novel, how much more could he slack off?

Ming Yan was helpless and ignored him, continuing to draw on his own.

The characters and scenes in the simulator needed to be drawn in advance, and the level of detail required was very high. Shen Yu had an exceptionally large art team that worked overtime every day to draw, and all the important illustrations had to be reviewed and modified by Ming Yan to ensure consistency in the art style.

As for the protagonist, Hua Wenyuan, Ming Yan drew him personally.

The stylus traced on the electronic screen, depicting a young general in red, bending a bow and nocking an arrow, full of youthful spirit. Spreading two fingers apart to zoom in on the drawing, he added a simple flower at the metallic end of the bow. Zooming out, the flower became nearly invisible.

Ming Yan was very satisfied and looked up, only to be startled.

The guy who was supposed to be on the sofa had somehow ended up leaning over his desk, staring at him with bright eyes.

Ming Yan glanced at him: “What are you doing?”

Lu Yu looked at Ming Yan’s long eyelashes, feeling a tickle in his heart: “Senior, is there really nothing going on between you and Lu Dayu?”

“What do you think?” Ming Yan lowered his head and continued to refine the details.

Lu Yu pouted: “He shouldn’t be that useless, right? He hasn’t managed to win you over in ten years.”

Ming Yan paused his pen: “People’s feelings can change. You liked me at eighteen, but maybe you won’t like me at nineteen.”

“Impossible!” Lu Yu refuted without thinking, “I’ll still like you when I’m ninety-eight!”

Ming Yan looked up at him.

Lu Yu suddenly fell silent, his face slowly turning red.

He just realized, “You liked me at eighteen,” meant that his crush knew about his feelings back then.

Actually, when he had boasted to Lao Yang, claiming that Ming Yan accepting his commission meant he liked him, he was just bragging. He wasn’t sure if his crush understood his feelings, maybe he really just saw him as a client commissioning an illustration. But now, it turned out Ming Yan knew everything.

An indescribable joy spread in his heart. Before Lu Yu could flip in joy, his nose, which had turned red, was suddenly tapped by Ming Yan’s stylus.

“Boasting will make your nose grow,” Ming Yan propped his chin with one hand, half-smiling.

Lu Yu’s nose tingled from the touch, but his heart felt uneasy. The senior he knew was proud, difficult to get along with, and had a temper that kept people from daring to ask for his WeChat. Now, he was more like a restrained, somewhat sorrowful neighbor, which was very wrong.

If it were before, someone like Zhao Yanqing would have been splashed with coffee by Young Master Ming.

He’d rather Ming Yan be stern with him, telling him to go away, than hear him speak such melancholic words.

Lu Dayu, you’ve done all sorts of bad things!

Lu Yu planned to find out what had happened over the years. The best person to ask was Lao Yang, but asking directly would make Lao Yang think he had dementia, and he couldn’t say he was a time traveler. He’d have to get Lao Yang drunk to get the information.

But that would have to wait until he finished reading “Shooting the Heavenly Wolf,” which was too urgent.

“Achoo—” In the next office, Yang Chen, who was frantically coding, suddenly sneezed, “Feels like someone is thinking about me.”

Not wanting to disturb Ming Yan, Lu Yu quietly read his book at Ming Yan’s desk.

He first skimmed through the plot summary.

Hua Wenyuan was the young master of a family of military generals. The Hua family always claimed he was in poor health and wouldn’t live past eighteen. In fact, they didn’t want him to go to the battlefield, as all his uncles and brothers had died in battle. At that time, the court was corrupt, with internal strife and external threats, and the people were suffering.

The story’s beginning finds Hua Wenyuan reborn. He knows this dynasty is doomed, and he must seize military power first, settle internal strife, and then repel external threats. He no longer wants to be a loyal minister to a corrupt regime. If this world won’t let him live, won’t let the people live, then he will rise in rebellion and bring peace to the land!

Hua Wenyuan’s specialty was archery; he was the best archer in the world. He was upright, brave, and decisive, cutting through obstacles without hesitation…

Lu Yu stroked his chin, feeling there was some metaphor in the character’s creation. He wondered if Lu Dayu was optimistic and ambitious when he wrote about such a brave young general, or if he was indecisive and hoped to be as decisive as Hua Wenyuan.

This was Lu Dayu’s last book, and perhaps between the lines, he could find the reason for his eventual downfall.

Thinking this, Lu Yu started reading from the beginning.

The beginning was about the past life.

In the late Zhou Dynasty, disasters were frequent, external enemies surrounded the borders, and corrupt eunuchs and ministers caused internal strife. The people were suffering greatly. Hua Wenyuan, as a great general, defended a pass for three years but was betrayed. The emperor issued nine decrees, demanding his return to the capital for trial. With supplies cut off and soldiers exhausted, Hua Wenyuan rode out alone with a resolve to die, and the great archer general perished under a rain of arrows in the snowy pass, dying with open eyes.

Upon awakening, he was back on the eve of his forced marriage at sixteen.

Lu Yu read with enthusiasm, completely absorbed, and couldn’t help but exclaim, “This is written so well, the author is truly a genius, the writing is superb!”

Ming Yan was so startled by this shout that his hand shook, giving Hua Wenyuan a little mustache. Unable to bear it anymore, he put down his pen and chased the annoying fellow out of his office.

Lu Yu, having been thrown out of the office, didn’t dare to go back. He slunk to the company gym, listening to an audiobook while exercising. He set the speed to triple, making the mechanical voice read faster, and his running speed also increased.

When Ming Yan came to find him after work, Lu Yu was sprawled on the abdominal machine, as limp as a wet rag, but still persistently memorizing:

“8335927, senior likes salted crispy chicken, 6421970, Hua Wenyuan attacks Phoenix City at night, Eunuch Zhang Yong burns the grain, soldier Pan Qi achieves great merit…”

Ming Yan listened, his head aching, and asked, “What are these numbers you’re memorizing?”

Lu Yu tilted his head back to look at him: “Lottery numbers. According to my analysis with Que De, if Lu Dayu goes back, we will switch back soon. When I go back, these will be my first bucket of gold. I’ll buy the first ticket, and let Lao Yang buy the second one, then we both get rich, hehe.”

Quite the plan. Ming Yan walked up to him, bent over with a smile, and looked at him: “What do you plan to do with your first bucket of gold?”

Lu Yu counted on his fingers: “First, pay back the Lu family’s money, then buy a house to live with you, get a kiss every morning, hehe… ow, I got a stitch!”

Lu Yu, who had been laughing arrogantly, suddenly stopped.

Writhing on the abdominal machine like a worm, he finally caught his breath and cursed bitterly, “Lu Dayu, you useless fool!”

Ming Yan watched the energetic Lu Xiaoyu, his eyes flashing: “What if you can’t go back?”

“If I can’t go back…” Lu Yu looked up at him, then suddenly reached out and wrapped his arms around Ming Yan’s neck, “I want a kiss right now!”