“Wen-jie, you haven’t acted in a while, but I feel like your acting has actually improved!” Chen Junmiao said while helping Lin Shuwen remove her makeup.
Hearing this, Lin Shuwen muttered to herself: “Who says I haven’t been acting? I’m literally playing a different person every other week, and it’s the kind where I absolutely can’t slip up. Of course my acting would improve!”
“Wen-jie, Mr. Zhu had a deluxe boxed meal sent over. He said it’s for the filming crew. What do you think—”
“If he sent it, then go ahead and eat without worry.”
Chen Sichu acknowledged and turned to leave, relaying Lin Shuwen’s message to everyone.
At noon, the filming crew had a good meal, and in the afternoon, full of energy, they finished shooting the remaining scenes for the “Initial Dream” MV.
“Director Zhou, is that relative of mine doing okay working here?” Chen Sichu asked, sidling up after filming wrapped.
“He’s quite creative. His storyboarding and use of camera language are very professional—doesn’t feel like a fresh graduate at all,” Director Zhou replied after thinking it over.
Chen Sichu smiled at this. This Liang Hanwen really does have something going for him!
Back in the nanny van, Chen Sichu told Lin Shuwen what she had found out.
“Since this Liang Hanwen is pretty good in every way, there’s no need to keep watching him. When your friend—what’s her name again?”
“Zhou Qiutong.”
“Right, when Zhou Qiutong’s injury heals, we’ll start filming. We don’t need to interfere with the shooting process—just drop by to check on things when you have time. As for who should sing that song—”
“Ring ring~” The sudden phone ring interrupted Lin Shuwen mid-sentence.
Lin Shuwen glanced at the caller ID and saw it was Sister Shan. She immediately picked up.
“Wenwen, I heard you had a falling-out with Old Zhu?” Sister Shan asked.
“I wouldn’t call it a falling-out. He wanted to swap out my MV at the last minute, and today CCTV—”
Lin Shuwen explained the whole situation to Sister Shan, who sighed helplessly after hearing it: “Wenwen, you were too impulsive. I know you’re good at reading people’s intentions, but Old Zhu is the company’s CEO now. You can’t be sure he won’t make things difficult for you down the road.”
“I don’t want to just swallow my pride, though. If it comes down to it, I’ll just go home. It’s still not too late to prepare for next year’s grad school entrance exam.”
“What grad school? Do you even think you’d pass? Just focus on your career in entertainment! Oh, by the way, here’s some good news—Plants vs. Zombies is selling really well overseas too,” Sister Shan deliberately changed the subject.
“How well?”
“We sold nearly 70,000 copies yesterday alone. And that’s just the beginning. Once people who bought the game try it out and word of mouth spreads, barring any surprises, Plants vs. Zombies’ overseas sales will only keep getting better.”
“Sister Shan, we owe this to you.”
Sister Shan shook her head: “Without me, there’s no way we’d have achieved this domestically, but overseas is a different story. Luo Ming had plans for Plants vs. Zombies to go global from the start.
Before the game launched, he embedded an algorithm called D-Encryption into Plants vs. Zombies.
This algorithm effectively prevents piracy. Luo Ming probably intends to use it as leverage in negotiations with Sony, taking advantage of the PS4 launch in Japan to open up that market.
I just used some tricks from our circle to open up the overseas situation ahead of schedule.”
“Sister Shan, you can’t say that! Whether Luo Ming’s idea will work is still up in the air. Right now, you’re the one who genuinely helped Plants vs. Zombies open up overseas sales. Luo Ming and Rong Mu are definitely grateful to you.”
“I did it to help you. Whether they’re grateful or not doesn’t matter to me.”
“I know, I know! Sister Shan is the best!” Lin Shuwen said in a sweet, squeaky voice, imitating the tone Luo Ming had used before.
Sister Shan immediately got goosebumps: “Act normal! Don’t ever use that voice again.”
With that, Sister Shan hurriedly hung up.
Lin Shuwen chuckled. She felt like she’d found a new way to handle Sister Shan.
Now back to Luo Ming’s side.
In Luo Ming’s office, Rong Mu was looking at the sales data from the past two days on his laptop, grinning from ear to ear: “Er Ming, our Plants vs. Zombies sold over 80,000 copies domestically today. Barring any surprises, that’s a solid 100,000 for today.”
“Sister Shan’s strategy is seriously awesome. Her move single-handedly opened up the domestic market for us.”
“Er Ming, do you think we should give Sister Shan a red envelope bonus?”
“Of course we should! The question is how much.”
“100,000… no, 100,000 is too little. How about 300,000?” Rong Mu offered after some deliberation.
“Let’s make it 500,000. First, she’s not our employee—she came to help out of goodwill for Wenwen’s sake. Second, setting aside the domestic sales plan, Sister Shan also helped open up overseas markets. My plan might not work as well as hers. And last but most importantly, Sister Shan’s idea about registering patents is really solid. If it works out, it’ll be a big revenue stream for our company. All things considered, 500,000 isn’t excessive.”
After hearing Luo Ming’s reasoning, Rong Mu agreed: “Then 500,000 it is! Tomorrow I’ll get a bank card and transfer the money.”
“Tomorrow is Saturday.”
“Then next Monday?”
“Sure. Sister Shan probably won’t be back in Shanghai before New Year’s. Just get it done before New Year’s.”
“Got it.”
“Oh, Wood, there’s one more thing.”
“What?”
“Sister Shan suggested I go chat with strangers. She said my social skills are terrible. Do you know any good places for chatting?”
“Sure! Let’s go together tonight.”
“Tonight?”
“Yes! Tonight.”
“This is the place you said was good for chatting?” Luo Ming stared at the mahjong parlor in front of him, utterly dumbfounded.
“Er Ming, you just don’t get it! The mahjong table is the best place for strangers to have heart-to-heart conversations about life.”
“But I don’t know how to play mahjong.”
“No worries, I’ll teach you.”
Two hours later, Luo Ming had lost all the cash on him, while Rong Mu had won big, raking in a fortune.
“Er Ming, how do you feel?” Rong Mu asked while counting his bills.
Luo Ming didn’t want to talk. He looked around and spotted a perfectly straight wooden stick—no, wait, it should be called a holy sword!
“You ungrateful brat, today I’m going to teach you a lesson!” Luo Ming picked up the holy sword and, quick as lightning, whacked Rong Mu on the butt, then promptly dropped the sword and ran.
Rong Mu was stunned for about three seconds—clearly he hadn’t expected this ungrateful brat Luo Ming to actually dare hit him.
“Damn it, you ungrateful brat! I dare you to not run!”
Luo Ming didn’t even look back. He picked up his pace and quickly lost Rong Mu.
That guy Rong Mu had been hooking up with older and younger female classmates since college—his body was long since worn out. Outrunning him was a piece of cake.
Worth mentioning: the mahjong parlor provided meals. Luo Ming lost about 500 yuan, but at least his stomach was full. So when he got home, he didn’t cook—just took a shower and called Lin Shuwen.
Lin Shuwen was currently counting the days.
Lin Shuwen admitted she’d been partly trying to scare Luo Ming before, but her period still hadn’t come. Her feelings were complicated, to say the least.
If her period came tomorrow, that would be fine. If not, she’d be in pain all day Sunday, and when Luo Ming came over on Monday, she’d probably be completely “paralyzed.”
Lin Shuwen’s constitution runs cold. A girl with a normal constitution only hurts for about two days during her period. Lin Shuwen’s period hurts for four or five days, and the first two days are especially painful.
Last time Luo Ming came over, he experienced the weakened version. If her period doesn’t come tomorrow, then Luo Ming will get to experience the full-power version.
Lin Shuwen had been dealing with this pain for years and still could barely handle it—those first two days, her life was basically powered by ibuprofen.
If Luo Ming suddenly experienced that, would he just pass out?
“Ring ring~” The sudden phone ring interrupted Lin Shuwen’s thoughts.
She glanced at the caller ID and immediately picked up.
“Hey~ Wenwen, how are you feeling today?” Luo Ming asked cautiously.
“It hasn’t come!”
“No!” Luo Ming wailed internally as a familiar BGM played in his ears: “Snowflakes drifting, north wind howling~”
“Hehehe! I-it’s fine, I should be able to handle it.”
“I have ibuprofen at home.”
“Does medicine help?”
“It helps somewhat.”
“Somewhat? Doesn’t that mean the effect isn’t obvious?”
Lin Shuwen scratched her head and said nothing.
“Ahem, actually it’s not that painful. Let’s talk about serious stuff—how were game sales today?”
“Your subject change was way too abrupt,” Luo Ming complained.
But he still followed Lin Shuwen’s lead and told her about today’s game sales.
“Over 100,000 two days in a row—tomorrow should be doable too, right?”
“Yeah, tomorrow should be fine. I figure the day after probably won’t hit that number. My estimate is Plants vs. Zombies will sell about 600,000 copies in the first week.”
“If the remaining 1.4 million copies are spread over 25 days, that’s an average of over 50,000 a day. That seems pretty tough,” Lin Shuwen said.
“It is quite tough. The game’s popularity will basically fade after two weeks. By then, I estimate our sales will have just broken a million.
That’s when pirated versions will start appearing. Even with all sorts of fun DLCs, selling another million will be hard. My later goal of 2 million was set a bit too high.”
“It’s fine, it’s fine! Our original goal was 1 million a month! We’re already 100% guaranteed to hit that. Any extra sales beyond that are pure profit,” Lin Shuwen comforted him.
“True enough.”
The two chatted for a while longer. Just before hanging up, Luo Ming specifically reminded Lin Shuwen: “Wenwen, let me know when your period comes.”
But all day Saturday, Luo Ming didn’t receive any message from Lin Shuwen.
Sunday morning, Lin Shuwen’s period came.
Lin Shuwen was completely “sunk”—lying in bed, she didn’t want to move at all.
Even though she felt a bit bad for Luo Ming, right now she only had one thought: please let it be 12 o’clock soon!
Lin Shuwen felt like every minute was a year, and so did Luo Ming. At midnight, the two of them lost consciousness almost simultaneously.
The next day, the moment Luo Ming opened his eyes, the sharp pain from his lower abdomen almost made him roll his eyes and pass out.
“Holy crap, so this is what full-power bleeding + severe injury feels like? That’s terrifying!”
