YA Ch67: Pressure

Lu Yu looked pitifully at Ming Yan as he walked over. “Why are there Lu everywhere? It’s like cockroaches.”

The surrounding staff didn’t dare make a sound, and Yang Chen looked at him with a complicated expression. “Aren’t you a Lu as well?”

Lu Yu glared at Lao Yang. “Mind your own business.”

Ming Yan smiled and ruffled his hair, which had been flattened by the game helmet. “I only said I wouldn’t see any of the Lu family, but you extended it to avoiding anyone with the surname Lu. It seems like you don’t really want to win.”

That’s right; it was just me bragging for no reason, making up stuff about keeping all the Lus away.

Lu Yu suddenly hugged Ming Yan’s waist. “No, I just wanted to show off. We can’t change the rules.”

Seeing Lu Yu acting like a little dog panicking to protect its food, Ming Yan couldn’t help but laugh and rubbed his head again.

After Ming Yan repeatedly promised that the rules hadn’t changed, Lu Yu finally felt at ease and told the content team to hurry up and make adjustments. He didn’t want to see anyone with the surname Lu in front of him again. Even Lu Tianba, who had already logged out, had a patch added, and during the afternoon live stream, a minor official registering corpses would mutter, “Ground-boring Tiger, real name Wang Hu.”

After organizing everything, Lu Yu, still a bit shaken, posted on social media.

[Han Di Ba Yu: People with the surname Lu are so annoying. Fortunately, I married into my wife’s family, so I’ll take my father-in-law’s surname from now on.]

Netizens who had watched the morning’s live stream rushed in to laugh at him. By now, the whole internet knew that Lu Yu, in order to get a kiss from President Ming, would retreat at the sight of anyone surnamed Lu.

Netizen A: Hahahaha, Han Di Ba Yu, you’re so spineless!

Netizen B: Why can’t he see anyone with the surname Lu? What’s the deal?

Netizen C: Is it because he has a bad relationship with the Lu family? Maybe President Ming got mad and banned him from seeing Lus.

Pearl Nini: Lu Yu, don’t go too far!

The netizens were just watching for fun, but Lu Zhenni was furious and immediately commented. Lu Yu deleted her comment in seconds and banned her for a week.

Yang Chen also saw the post and made a sincere suggestion during lunch: “Usually, when you marry in, it’s only the children who take the father-in-law’s surname. If you’re also going to take his surname, that seems a bit much. Why don’t you call me Dad and take my surname?”

“Get lost!” Lu Yu stuffed a piece of braised pork into Lao Yang’s mouth. “You talk too much!”

The piece of meat was the size of an egg, and Yang Chen nearly choked, rolling his eyes. He drank two gulps of water before swallowing. “This meat is too greasy. The top donor isn’t eating here today, and you’re giving me this cheap food.”

“This is the price for the meals we get. If you don’t want it, buy your own.” Lu Yu pushed Ming Yan’s lunchbox farther away to prevent Lao Yang from stealing it. It was food he had specially ordered for Ming Yan, just enough for him alone.

Yang Chen was too lazy to complain about Lu Yu’s favoritism anymore. “I’m starting to need the top donor too. By the way, wasn’t he supposed to work a full day? Why did he leave halfway?”

“He said he had something to do at home,” Lu Yu answered vaguely.

In reality, the top donor had gone home to explain the situation with Countless Tech. to his brother. For now, it was still the Hong Wuyang family’s private matter, so Lu Yu couldn’t talk about it publicly.

After lunch, Lu Yu gave up on napping again and went to Lu Dayu’s office to look for the project proposal he had quickly glanced at before.

If his top donor successfully negotiated with Hongxiao Capital, this project could restart, and Lu Yu wanted to review it in advance. The proposal detailed how to acquire an AI manufacturing company and integrate it with Tomorrow Watches.

Last time, he had only skimmed it, but this time, as he read carefully, Lu Yu was surprised to find that the proposal had several versions. This document software allowed for multiple versions to be stacked together, and he opened the history to look through them one by one.

To his surprise, the earliest version was from five years ago.

From the beginning of this company’s creation, Lu Dayu had been working on this plan.

The initial plan was to first expand and strengthen the AI assistant business, get it listed within three years, and then use the money to acquire an AI manufacturing plant, handing over the processing of AI watch chains and casings entirely to Tomorrow Watches.

At that time, Lu Dayu had been quite optimistic, and he couldn’t help but add personal comments while writing the plan.

[When this AI is produced, it’ll be called Tomorrow AI! Hahaha, why does it sound so doomsday-ish? Ptooey, ptooey, I shouldn’t say that. It should sound futuristic.]

[When I go public and ring the bell, reaching the pinnacle of life, I’ll go find A-Yan and tell him I’ve got a billion-dollar deal to discuss with him. Wait, no, that sounds misleading. A-Yan might think I’m trying to sugar daddy him…]

However, while the dream was rich, reality was skinny. It took two years just to produce the first product, the “Assistant Dongdong,” and the proposal had been revised multiple times.

Still, the overall content remained the same. Lu Dayu even systematically studied AI manufacturing and earned an on-the-job degree.

Looking at the blue hardcover degree certificate in the drawer, Lu Yu felt complicated. “This guy, he really put in a lot of effort.”

Glancing at the certificate and then at the professional materials on the computer, Lu Yu believed that if you gave Lu Dayu an AI manufacturing company now, he would manage it very well. But the problem was that right now, he was Lu Xiaoyu, a sophomore. Not only had he not earned this AI manufacturing degree, he hadn’t even obtained his degree in artificial intelligence, his actual major.

It was truly enough to make one’s hair fall out.

Feeling the sudden pressure, Lu Yu sighed. He too had to start studying, and it was going to be for two fields of knowledge. The road ahead was long and arduous.

During the afternoon livestream, to vent his learning stress, Lu Yu decided to give himself a cheat that would make him a martial arts master, leaping onto the city walls and slaughtering everyone.

With the zither across his horse, Lu Yu quickly typed:

[Hua Shengmi has gained the temporary “Peerless Martial Master” skill and can leap across rooftops and walls.]

Just then, a warning tone sounded in his ear: “Warning: This exceeds the scope of world rules and is not supported.”

“Second Uncle, what are you doing?” Hua Wenyuan looked at him curiously.

Lu Yu cleared his throat and put away his seven-string zither. “I wanted to pull a Zhuge Liang and act like a master to scare them, these ignorant mountain bandits. Never mind, never mind.”

Because Ground-boring Tiger had just died after a brief face-off with Hua Wenyuan, the bandits on the city walls were in complete disarray, and no one paid attention to Zhuge Yu’s performance.

Lu Yu raised his hand, signaling the infantry to advance.

With Hua Wenyuan, a master archer, on the scene, no one dared stick their heads out to shoot arrows, and the infantry advanced directly to the base of the city.

Lu Yu shouted under the city gates, “Surrender your city at once! When the battering ram arrives and we break down the gates, none will be spared!”

The leader was dead, but the second-in-command, still wearing thick armor, crouched on the battlements and taunted, “I know General Hua’s rules. By our crimes, we’re all doomed to die. Surrendering the city won’t save us. If you’re capable, come and attack the city!”

After he finished shouting, various defensive measures were set up, and they started throwing boiling water and stones indiscriminately.

However, even if he shouted bravely, the soldiers below didn’t think the same, and the citizens inside the city certainly didn’t agree either.

Lu Yu ordered all the soldiers to shout in unison, “Rebels in the city, hear this! Only those who have committed serious crimes will be killed. Those who open the gates and surrender will be spared! Citizens, do not be afraid, General Hua is here!” After half an hour of shouting, the city started to descend into chaos on its own.

Dust billowed at the gates, and not long after, someone opened them. The massive wooden doors creaked open with a roar, but no bandits rushed out. Inside, they were still fighting amongst themselves.

Hua Wenyuan was amazed at his second uncle’s assessment of the situation. He had thought that even in the best-case scenario, it would take two days and one night to capture the city. They had no large siege equipment and could only rely on the citizens inside to set fires and cause chaos at night to open the gates.

Lu Yu patted Hua Wenyuan on the shoulder. “This is the power of knowledge. Second Uncle has always told you to study more, but you didn’t listen. Now do you understand?”

At the mention of “study,” Hua Wenyuan’s handsome face immediately scrunched up.

Lu Yu grinned from ear to ear. The pressure of studying wouldn’t go away, but it could be shifted!