“How is your brain even wired? How do you come up with so many ideas?” After a long moment, Lin Shuwen finally let out a helpless sigh and teased.
“It just came to me—a sudden spark of inspiration, and boom, I had it.”
“How come I never get those sparks?”
“Maybe I’m just a genius!” Luo Ming quipped casually.
Lin Shuwen, however, took him quite seriously and said, “You know, maybe you really are one. Genius is one percent inspiration and ninety-nine percent perspiration, but sometimes that one percent matters way more than the ninety-nine.”
“Uh, you actually believe that? I was just kidding around.”
“Never mind, that’s not important. Luo Ming, the real issue between my cousin and me has always been on my side. When I was little, my parents were always comparing me to her, so I ended up not liking her very much and kept avoiding her. Now that I’m older, I want to mend our relationship, but I have no idea where to start. You actually helped me out with that, so I should really thank you.” Lin Shuwen said with a wistful look.
“Your cousin probably wants to patch things up with you too. I was just a bit more upfront with my thoughts from the get-go, and she was super proactive—she took me out to eat and even introduced me to Sa Ning and Director Zhu.”
“Seems like I’ve been too caught up in my own head all this time. By the way, you said you got along great with Teacher Sa too?”
“Yeah, pretty well!”
“Why though? I get Director Zhu—you came up with such a brilliant variety show idea for him, it’d be weirder if he didn’t show some appreciation. But how did you win over Teacher Sa as well?”
“I told him I’m a huge fan of his show, and we chatted a bit about mystery and detective fiction.”
“Mystery and detective fiction? Ah, right—Teacher Sa graduated from law school, so it makes sense he’d enjoy that kind of literature.” Lin Shuwen murmured to herself.
“Do you like mystery and detective fiction?”
“Sort of! I’ve read all the famous ones—Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes series, the Ellery Queen novel The Greek Coffin Mystery, Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None, and Haruki Murakami’s The Miracles of the Namiya General Store—I’ve read them all.”
“Then you probably wouldn’t mess up a conversation with Teacher Sa either.”
“Yeah, if we just stick to those, I’m sure I’d be fine. Oh, by the way, Luo Ming—we’ve made it to Level 3-6 of Plants vs. Zombies these past few days, and the art team has finished the textures up to 3-2 and are starting on 3-3 now.” Lin Shuwen shifted the topic.
Luo Ming was a bit surprised. “That fast?”
“That Senior Zhao you brought in is putting in serious work—he’s the last one to leave every single day.”
Luo Ming smiled faintly. He wasn’t really surprised that Senior Zhao was working so hard.
After all, it was about his own career—of course he’d give it his all!
But making a game wasn’t something Senior Zhao could power through alone. Luo Ming had the advantage of knowing Plants vs. Zombies inside out, since he’d copied it before, but Senior Zhao didn’t have that experience.
How was he keeping up such a rapid pace of development?
Had Senior Zhao somehow managed to win over the entire team in just a few days?
“Luo Ming, why’ve you gone quiet?”
Lin Shuwen’s voice snapped him out of his thoughts. Luo Ming shook his head and said, “Nothing, I just didn’t expect the game to move along this quickly!”
“Hehe, you ain’t seen nothing yet! Luo Ming, I’ve pretty much got the basics of programming down over the last few days.”
“Huh? For real?”
“Of course! Ask me anything if you don’t believe me!”
“Which programming language did you pick?”
“C++.”
Luo Ming fell silent at that. When you’re starting out with programming, the first step is choosing a language—common options include C, C++, Java, Python, PHP, JavaScript, and so on.
The easiest one is definitely Python.
Java is mid-tier in difficulty but widely used, so it’s a popular choice for beginners—though it’s also super competitive because so many people learn it.
C++, on the other hand, is notoriously hard to get into—its learning curve is almost like digging your own grave.
And Lin Shuwen had chosen C++?
Luo Ming then casually asked her a few basic questions about syntax and concepts—variables, conditionals, loops, that sort of thing.
She answered all of them correctly.
Luo Ming went quiet again. In the capital, there are plenty of programming bootcamps that promise to teach you a language in 30 days flat.
But those places mostly teach Python, PHP, and JavaScript—the easier ones that you can pick up quickly for a fast track.
Yet Lin Shuwen had managed to get started with C++ in just five days—six at most—which was insane!
No wonder she, someone who came into the entertainment industry with zero background or training, could still make such a splash there.
“So, Luo Ming, what do you think? I’m officially a beginner now, right?” Lin Shuwen asked smugly.
“Yeah, you’ve definitely got the basics of C++ down.”
“So what should I do next?”
“Try writing a small program on your own—like a simple calculator, for instance.”
“A calculator? Got it. I’ll give it a shot tomorrow!”
Knock knock. “Wenwen, are you asleep?” A knock came from outside the door.
“Sounds like Sister Shan. I’ll hang up now.” Luo Ming said.
“Sister Shan doesn’t usually bother me this late—something must be wrong. You should go check it out.”
“Okay, I’m heading over. You get some rest.” With that, Luo Ming ended the call.
He slipped his phone into his pocket, jogged to the door, and opened it.
The moment he did, he saw Sister Shan’s face—dark as coal.
He’d never seen her look that grim before.
“Sister Shan, what happened?” Luo Ming asked cautiously.
“Something huge! Zhou Ping got hit by a car!”
“What? When?”
“Half an hour ago.”
“How did he end up getting hit?” Luo Ming scratched his head and asked.
“From what I heard, Zhou Ping had some buddies in the capital. He went out to a bar with them tonight, had a few drinks, got carried away, and even hopped on stage to sing a couple of songs. That’s when people recognized him. The bar was full of his fangirls, and when Zhou Ping saw the crowd swarming toward him, he sobered up instantly from sheer panic. He made a run for it with his friends covering for him. But a few persistent fans kept chasing him, so he decided to just dash across the road to shake them off. He didn’t expect a car to come out of nowhere and send him flying.”
“Wait—doesn’t the road there have a footbridge?”
“Yeah, there’s one about two hundred meters ahead, but he didn’t know that. Plus, he was still drunk and not thinking straight. Only a few fans were chasing him anyway—there was no need to run like that in such a panic.” Sister Shan said, looking both frustrated and disappointed.
“What about the concert…”
“You’re still thinking about the concert?! His right calf is shattered, he’s got two broken ribs, and a skull fracture. He’s lucky to be alive and still have his face intact. The concert’s canceled, plain and simple.”
“So, Sister Shan, are you upset because the concert got called off?” Luo Ming probed.
“Part of it, yeah, but more than that, I’m worried sick about him. You know Zhou Ping was one of my artists, and we’ve always had a good relationship.” Sister Shan replied with a complicated tone.
