“President Luo, it’s a pleasure to work with you!”
“The pleasure is mine.” With that, “Luo Ming” shook hands with Professor Wu.
“President Luo, when will the first batch of research funding arrive?” Professor Wu asked.
“I’ll arrange it as soon as I get back. If all goes well, it could arrive as early as tomorrow.”
“Thank you so much, President Luo.”
“No need to be so formal, Professor Wu. This is mutually beneficial for both of us.”
As the two talked, Professor Wu couldn’t help but feel that today’s President Luo seemed much more confident than yesterday, carrying himself with a sense of ease and grandeur.
Yesterday, when President Luo met him, his demeanor had been far more modest—Professor Wu had even felt like he was talking to one of his own students.
“Can someone’s mindset shift this much in just one day? Or was yesterday’s President Luo deliberately putting on that humble act to lower my guard?” Professor Wu wondered inwardly.
Lin Shuwen, of course, had no idea what Professor Wu was thinking. She was simply interacting with him based on her own mental image of who Luo Ming was.
In Lin Shuwen’s mind, Luo Ming was just like her—23 years old, only four months older than her according to his ID card.
A 23-year-old fresh graduate who possessed programming skills impressive enough to earn the admiration of the tech department head at Huayue Entertainment, who could also write songs, produce variety shows, and had a vision for the internet that surpassed the times.
A genius like that should undoubtedly be confident and bold.
Geniuses should be a little flashy—otherwise, what would set them apart from ordinary people?
But Lin Shuwen didn’t know that Luo Ming’s skills weren’t innate talent, but rather the result of more than a decade of honing in a previous life. Those years of working had long since smoothed away Luo Ming’s rough edges. Even after transmigrating, Luo Ming’s mindset hadn’t changed much at all.
So much so that when Luo Ming interacted with people of higher social standing, he would instinctively lower his posture, lacking the “swaggering arrogance” that most young people had.
To be honest, Luo Ming had never felt there was anything wrong with how he dealt with people.
It wasn’t until now, watching Lin Shuwen communicate with Professor Wu in such a manner—completely seizing the initiative in the conversation—that Luo Ming realized he probably needed to make some changes.
The success of “2048,” “Light Years Away,” and “Snail” had already proven that things from his past life could take root in this world too. If that was the case, why should he continue being so cautious?
In that moment, Luo Ming had an epiphany. This “Longchang Enlightenment” of his own had completely transformed his mindset.
After leaving Professor Wu’s office, Luo Ming kept his head down and said nothing.
After seeing off Lawyer Qin, Lin Shuwen finally couldn’t hold back and asked Luo Ming, “Luo Ming, what’s wrong with you?”
“Nothing. I was just thinking about how I should interact with people from now on.”
“Huh?”
“Uh, let me put it this way—Wenwen, I’ve recognized my own shortcomings through you, and I think it’s necessary for me to make some changes.”
“Specifically what aspect?”
“How I deal with people, I suppose.”
Lin Shuwen thought back to how Luo Ming usually behaved, then it hit her: “Are you saying you feel like you don’t come across as confident enough?”
“Something like that.”
“You know, I hadn’t noticed until you mentioned it. Luo Ming, you’re so strange! You’re a huge genius—why are you so humble?”
“Maybe it’s because of my family background. My parents’ income was decent for a small county, but I have three kids in my family, and as the eldest, I had to make some sacrifices.” Luo Ming made up an excuse on the spot.
He could never tell anyone that he had transmigrated. Besides, even if he did tell Lin Shuwen, she wouldn’t believe him—she’d just think his brain had been fried from his earlier illness. No, not his brain—his soul.
“Oh, that’s possible! My cousin is also the eldest in her family. She has a younger brother and a younger male cousin. When she first came to the capital for school, she was just like you—no confidence.
No, wait—she wasn’t just lacking confidence. She was downright timid. That was actually the first thing I disliked about her.
She was a top student who fought her way out of Shanxi against so many other exam-takers to get into Peking University, and she could even win scholarships there. Yet she was such a coward, so careful with everything she said and did. If I spoke even a little loudly, she’d look like she’d been scared out of her wits—which always got me scolded by my dad.
On top of that, my parents were always comparing my grades to hers, which made me resent her more and more.
Later, when I left home for school and saw her again two years later, she had already gotten into graduate school and was interning at CCTV.
She was a completely different person by then. Not only had she learned to dress well, but that petty, small-minded air about her was completely gone. She had become a decisive, capable career woman. I stopped disliking her so much after that—I just never got the chance to repair our relationship.”
“Uh, if you put it that way, I guess I am a bit like your cousin. How did she become confident?” Luo Ming asked curiously.
“Probably because she suddenly realized that everyone around her was inferior to her!”
Luo Ming was taken aback for a moment, then broke into a smile. So it was that simple!
Then what was he still agonizing over?
On the way home, Lin Shuwen and Luo Ming stopped by the supermarket to buy some groceries, along with a bottle of red wine.
Lin Shuwen had bought it to celebrate.
She was 100% confident she could win over Sister Shan.
Securing Sister Shan meant there would be no more obstacles to releasing “Plants vs. Zombies.”
Add to that the contract signed today with Fudan University’s research team, and the patents related to big data algorithms were now within reach.
It was no exaggeration to say that Zhuoguang was about to take off from this very moment.
Wasn’t that worth a celebratory drink?
By the time the two got home, it was already past 5 in the evening. Following Lin Shuwen’s instructions, Luo Ming gave Sister Shan a call.
At 6:10, Sister Shan arrived with an “old acquaintance” in tow.
“Director Wang, we meet again.” Seeing his “fellow cultivator,” Luo Ming went up to greet him.
“Miss Lin, I heard you collaborated with someone to make a game?”
“I only invested money. I wasn’t involved in the game’s development.”
“That’s a shame. With your technical expertise, Miss Lin, it’s a pity you didn’t participate in the game’s development.”
“Ahem! Xiao Wang, I didn’t call you here to talk about that.” Sister Shan cleared her throat and cut off Wang Hongyu.
“Oh, right, right! Miss Lin, please bring out the game. Sister Shan asked me to help evaluate it.”
“Luo Ming, did you bring the game?” “Lin Shuwen” turned and asked.
“Luo Ming” nodded and took out a USB drive.
Wang Hongyu was briefly stunned—clearly, he hadn’t expected Luo Ming to pull out a USB drive.
“Sir, doesn’t your company have a server repository?”
“Our company was only founded less than a month ago. We haven’t had time to set up our own server repository yet. As for free public servers, both President Luo and I felt they weren’t secure enough.” “Lin Shuwen” took the initiative to answer.
