“Wavin’ Flag” in Luo Ming’s previous life was the Chinese theme song for the 2010 South Africa World Cup.
Calling it a “Chinese theme song” was really just a nicer way of putting it — Coca-Cola had originally produced the song as a Chinese promotional track.
But even Coca-Cola never imagined that “Wavin’ Flag” would spread just a tiny bit further than expected — like, a billion times further.
Within two months of release, the song had been performed in seven languages worldwide, and it went on to spread across more than 150 countries and regions.
For a while, it even overshadowed the official World Cup theme song, “Waka Waka.”
So much so that many people subconsciously forgot it was only ever meant to be the Chinese theme song.
Since Old Huang’s melody sounded so much like the opening of “Wavin’ Flag,” Luo Ming figured he might as well produce the song.
Not today, though.
Today, Luo Ming didn’t even have the strength to hold a guitar.
“Wen-jie, are we going to submit to this World Cup theme song search as individuals?” Chen Junmiao asked tentatively.
“Miaomiao, if you have an opinion, just say it. No need to hold back.”
Chen Junmiao chuckled. “Wen-jie, I was thinking — compared to submitting as an individual, it might be easier to get selected as a team or a studio.”
“So you want to expand the Long Ye persona into a studio?”
“Yeah. Going forward, Wen-jie, you’ll definitely use the Long Ye persona to write more new songs. When that happens, the company will probably send someone to reach out to Long Ye. With a studio as a shield, it’ll be harder for the company to trace things back to CEO Luo. And it’ll be more convenient for handling official accounts and transactions later on.
If the company traces the money flow between us and the Long Ye Studio account, it’ll be easier for them to believe our explanations.”
“Fine. I’ll leave this to you then.”
“Huh? To me? I—I can’t do this! I don’t have any experience in this area.”
“It’s fine. Everyone has a first time. The studio can pay you an extra salary going forward. Do a good job — I believe in you.” With that, Luo Ming patted Chen Junmiao on the shoulder and got up to head to the kitchen.
After chatting with the two of them for a while, he was feeling a bit hungry.
“Jie, does this count as a promotion?” Chen Sichu asked with a grin, clearly enjoying her sister’s predicament.
“Shut up, you!”
——
Back to Lin Shuwen’s side — she’d had a wonderful day.
Every two or three minutes, Lin Shuwen would refresh the backend of Steam and Zhuoguang’s official website, watching Plants vs. Zombies’ sales figures creep up bit by bit. The smile on her face was almost impossible to suppress.
“This feels even better than when I made 4 million!” Lin Shuwen thought to herself.
After work, Rong Mu came over and asked, “Erming, are we still going to practice your social skills today?”
Practice social skills? Did Luo Ming have plans like that recently?
To avoid blowing her cover, Lin Shuwen instinctively agreed.
Seeing “Luo Ming” agree, Rong Mu grinned. “Erming, then you’d better bring plenty of cash.”
Lin Shuwen was completely confused. What did practicing social skills have to do with cash?
Were they going to some kind of disreputable place?
For a moment, all kinds of colorful scenarios flashed through Lin Shuwen’s mind.
In that instant, Lin Shuwen felt both angry and excited.
Angry because that bastard Luo Ming dared to mess around behind her back! Excited because she’d never been to places like that before! Everyone’s curious, right?
With extremely complicated feelings, Lin Shuwen got into Rong Mu’s car.
When the car stopped, Lin Shuwen was dumbfounded.
Practicing social skills at a mahjong parlor?
Something seemed off, but Lin Shuwen couldn’t quite put her finger on what.
“Erming, what are you spacing out for? Get out! Today I’m going to crush you completely.”
Lin Shuwen instantly perked up at that. Crush her completely?
From the day she learned to play mahjong, Lin Shuwen knew she was the grandmaster of the tile world — the undefeated god of war at the mahjong table.
Crush her completely? Ha!
“Let’s go! Bring it on!”
Two hours later, Rong Mu stared at “Luo Ming” with bloodshot eyes.
“You—you—you! Erming, you’re despicable! Last time you said you didn’t know how to play mahjong and deliberately lost a few hundred yuan to me — all so you could catch me off guard today, didn’t you!”
“What are you talking about! It’s called strong learning ability.” Lin Shuwen counted her winnings with a smile.
“I don’t believe it! What beginner can identify tiles by touch alone?”
“Ahem! That’s not important. Mutou, today I’m treating you to a big meal!”
“Using my money to treat me — you really are something…”
“Hey hey hey! You can’t say that! What do you mean your money? I won it, so it’s my money.”
“I want roasted lamb chops!”
“Eat! Eat as much as you want!”
After eating and drinking her fill, Lin Shuwen hummed a tune as she returned home.
She was just entering the door code when the door suddenly opened.
Lin Shuwen froze. When she saw who was inside, her expression changed drastically.
In that instant, countless thoughts raced through Lin Shuwen’s mind — her brain was about to overheat.
Finally, Lin Shuwen decided to strike first. “Who—who are you? What are you doing in my home?”
Lin Shuyue blinked, clearly not expecting the man at the door to pull this move.
“Sir, this isn’t your home, is it? This is clearly my uncle and aunt’s place.”
“My uncle and aunt’s place? But the person who lent me this apartment was—”
“Lent? You’re saying someone lent this apartment to you?”
“Yeah, I’m a business partner of the homeowner’s— wait! Who are you anyway! What gives you the right to interrogate me?” Lin Shuwen deliberately put on a righteous tone.
“My name is Lin Shuyue. I’m Lin Shuwen’s cousin. Here’s my business card.”
“Lin Shuyue? Cousin? This…” Lin Shuwen gave a hundred percent performance in that moment, perfectly mimicking Luo Ming’s surprised expression.
Lin Shuyue naturally didn’t suspect anything. She raised an eyebrow and asked, “What? You don’t believe me?”
“I didn’t at first, but I do now. You two have very similar eyes — especially that eyebrow-raise. It’s like you were cut from the same mold.”
Honestly, this was the first time Lin Shuwen had noticed any resemblance between herself and Lin Shuyue.
When Lin Shuwen first entered the entertainment industry, she filmed a TV drama for Director Liu.
She wasn’t classically trained, and her acting was terrible at first. To keep her facial expressions from looking too stiff, Lin Shuwen practiced various expressions in front of the mirror over and over.
She’d done that eyebrow-raise who knows how many times. Seeing Lin Shuyue do it now, Lin Shuwen instantly thought of herself.
Their eyes really were too similar. If you covered their faces with a veil and only revealed their eyes, Lin Shuwen figured even their parents couldn’t tell who was who.
When Lin Shuyue heard that comment, her expression softened a little. Their eyes really were alike — this man probably did know Wenwen. But Lin Shuyue wasn’t about to let her guard down so quickly. She asked “Luo Ming”: “Sir, you just said you’re Wenwen’s business partner? Do you have any proof?”
“I do!” Lin Shuwen immediately pulled out her phone, opened Weibo, went to Lin Shuwen’s profile, and after some scrolling, found the posts Chen Sichu had made about Zhuoguang.
Lin Shuyue quickly scanned through them and basically confirmed “Luo Ming’s” identity.
She stepped aside and let “Luo Ming” in.
Having barely passed the first hurdle, Lin Shuwen had only one thought in her head: “Why is Lin Shuyue here?”
Meanwhile, Lin Shuyue was secretly sizing up “Luo Ming,” her feelings incredibly complicated.
Lin Shuyue had come back to Shanxi for a filming assignment — a special feature on Fenjiu liquor that required shooting in her hometown. So her colleagues had asked her, as a local, to help show them around.
After the shoot wrapped, it happened to be almost New Year’s Day holiday.
Lin Shuyue simply took two extra days off and combined them with the New Year’s holiday.
After seeing her colleagues off at the airport, it was already quite late. Lin Shuyue had planned to find a hotel, but then she suddenly got a call from her uncle — Lin Shuwen’s dad.
Lin Shuwen’s dad had probably seen in the “Happy Family” group chat that Lin Shuyue was back in their hometown and still in Bingzhou, so he’d specifically called to tell her to just stay at the apartment he’d bought for Lin Shuwen.
Lin Shuyue couldn’t refuse, so she came over.
But what Lin Shuyue hadn’t expected was that when she entered the door code and walked in, she clearly noticed someone was living there — and judging by the size and style of the slippers, it was a man.
Lin Shuyue felt something was off and immediately tried to contact Lin Shuwen.
But Lin Shuwen’s phone wouldn’t go through — which led to the scene just now.
Lin Shuwen sat on the sofa, looking at her cousin, not knowing what to say.
She was also worried about Luo Ming.
Normally, if her cousin discovered a man living in the apartment, she’d definitely call Lin Shuwen, and Luo Ming would explain things — the scene just now never would have happened.
But it did happen.
Which meant Luo Ming’s phone probably wasn’t going through.
Could Luo Ming have passed out from the pain?
At that thought, Lin Shuwen desperately wanted to call Luo Ming and ask what was going on.
Just then, Lin Shuyue’s phone rang. She glanced at the caller ID and saw it was “Lin Shuwen” calling. After a moment’s hesitation, she put it on speaker and answered.
“Hello~” “Lin Shuwen’s” somewhat weak voice came through the receiver.
“Wenwen, what’s wrong with you?”
“Auntie Flo came today. I took some medicine and dozed off for a bit.”
“No wonder your phone wasn’t going through! Wenwen, did you lend your Bingzhou apartment to someone?”
When Luo Ming heard Lin Shuyue’s question, he’d been a little groggy from just waking up — but now he was instantly alert.
If Lin Shuyue was asking that, she’d almost certainly arrived at Lin Shuwen’s Bingzhou apartment. At this hour, she might have even already run into Lin Shuwen.
At that thought, Luo Ming spoke in as calm a tone as he could manage: “Yeah! I lent the apartment to my business partner. Jie, I mentioned this before — didn’t I tell you I started a game company with someone? This person is the boss of the game company.”
