“Woohoo~ This is way too easy!” Lin Shuwen jumped out of bed excitedly.
There’s a saying from an ad: “No pain, easy every month.”
Lin Shuwen didn’t get it before, but now she believes it’s the absolute truth!
Even though she felt a little bad for Luo Ming, at this moment she even had the urge to burst into song.
In the end, out of humanitarian concern, Lin Shuwen didn’t sing—she just hummed a couple of lines.
Meanwhile, Luo Ming didn’t even have the energy to call Lin Shuwen and complain. He took two ibuprofen and went back to sleep.
Lin Shuwen arrived at Zhuoguang and made her way to the meeting room like it was second nature, ready for the weekly meeting.
Clearly, the Zhuoguang employees were all looking forward to this week’s meeting. By the time Lin Shuwen arrived, everyone except the new guy Tong Mingwei was already there—even Sister Shan was sitting in the audience.
“President Luo, we’re all waiting on you!” Zhao Ningyuan said with a smile.
Lin Shuwen nodded, took the head seat, and said to Rong Mu: “President Rong, let’s begin!”
“Alright, the last weekly meeting of 2013 starts now. First, let me share our company’s game sales from last week.
Plants vs. Zombies launched globally on the 24th—”
Sister Shan’s mouth twitched at this. Rong Mu really knew how to flatter himself. “Global simultaneous launch”—please, it was just a domestic release alongside Steam.
“Due to time zone differences overseas, our domestic data covers five days from the 24th to the 28th, while overseas data covers four days from the 24th to the 27th. Everyone, please look at the PPT.”
As soon as Rong Mu finished speaking, everyone turned to the PPT slide: “Domestically, as of the 28th, five-day sales total 685,700 copies. Overseas, as of the 27th, four-day sales total 482,800 copies.”
Zhao Ningyuan looked at the data on the PPT with a shocked expression: “In less than a week, domestic and overseas combined sales are already approaching 1.2 million?”
“Team lead, didn’t you say before that selling 500,000 copies domestically in a month would be a huge hit? What do you say now?” Xu Jiale asked with a hint of teasing.
“What’s there to say? I misjudged. But this also proves our company’s game is excellent enough.”
Su Qing, the art team lead, was also stunned looking at the PPT data.
This was way too much!
She’d worked at her previous animation company for over three years and had never seen such a profitable project.
No, wait—she should say that Zhuoguang’s game had already surpassed the total money her previous company had made over all those years of operation.
“This time I probably won’t lose my job a second time,” Su Qing thought to herself.
Lin Shuwen already knew the backend data, so she wasn’t surprised.
Neither was Sister Shan. The two inadvertently exchanged a glance, and Sister Shan couldn’t help but frown.
Why did President Luo’s eyes look so strange? Like he was showing off something to her.
No, not just strange—there was something familiar about it.
The next second, Lin Shuwen’s face appeared in Sister Shan’s mind. Whenever Lin Shuwen had a small achievement, she would look at her with exactly that kind of expression, seeking praise.
Sister Shan shook her head vigorously.
She must not have woken up properly. How could she possibly connect these two people?
“Knock knock~” A sudden knock at the door interrupted everyone’s thoughts.
Li Yunting, who was sitting near the door, got up and opened it. Tong Mingwei walked into the meeting room with an awkward expression—he had genuinely forgotten about today’s weekly meeting.
And the moment Sister Shan saw Tong Mingwei, she shot up from her chair with a “whoosh.”
Only then did Tong Mingwei notice Sister Shan. He was completely stunned—Qian Shanshan was here!
The two stared at each other for about ten seconds, and in the end, neither said a word.
After the meeting ended, Sister Shan called Tong Mingwei into Luo Ming’s office.
“President Luo, do you know who he is?” Sister Shan asked, pointing at Tong Mingwei.
Lin Shuwen felt a little guilty. She avoided eye contact and replied that she knew.
“You knew and you still dared keep him in your company? Aren’t you afraid Wenwen will be caught in the crossfire from President Tong?”
“Sister Shan, don’t worry. I won’t drag anyone into this,” Tong Mingwei spoke up.
“You—”
“Sister Shan, only Brother Wang, Miss Lin, and Miss Lin’s assistant know about me being here. Now you’re the fourth. None of the other three will say anything. As long as you don’t say anything, Sister Shan, my dad can’t possibly find out.”
“Then how did you get out?” Sister Shan asked, rubbing her temples.
“Had a fight with my dad.”
Hearing this, Sister Shan understood. Tong Mingwei leaving the company was something President Tong had tacitly allowed.
The fight was President Tong’s way of expressing that tacit approval.
That was fine, then.
“President Tong really has it rough! At his age, he still has to play along with this hopeless kid’s act.” At this thought, Sister Shan didn’t want to look at Tong Mingwei for another second. She waved her hand and said: “Go, go, go—just get out of here.”
Tong Mingwei didn’t care about Sister Shan’s attitude at this point. He immediately turned and left.
“President Luo, you really dare keep just about anyone!” Sister Shan said expressionlessly after Tong Mingwei left.
“I had no choice. He came to me on his own. I couldn’t exactly chase him away!”
“Why did he come looking for your company?” Sister Shan asked with a frown.
Lin Shuwen told Sister Shan the whole story.
After hearing it, Sister Shan was deep in thought for a long while: “President Luo, I’m leaving him in your hands. Try to keep him steady and let him stay here for a while. In the future, when I ask you about how he’s doing, just tell me directly.”
“Okay.” Lin Shuwen agreed without a second thought.
“That’s settled then. I’ll help smooth things over on President Tong’s side.”
“Thanks for the trouble, Sister Shan.”
“You do know it’s trouble! I must have owed you people in a past life. Good thing I’m heading back soon.”
“Click~” Just as Sister Shan finished speaking, Rong Mu pushed the door open and walked in.
“Sister Shan, this is a token of appreciation from me and Luo Ming. The PIN is six sixes. Please take it!” Rong Mu handed a bank card to Sister Shan.
“Ooh! Is this my paycheck?”
“Yeah, both of us are really grateful for your help these past few days, Sister Shan.”
“Since you’re so thoughtful, I won’t decline. I’ll take it.” Sister Shan didn’t ask how much was on it and just put the bank card in her bag.
“My flight is booked for the afternoon of the 30th. If you have any issues, bring them to me while I’m still here.”
“Sister Shan, there are actually some things I need your help with.”
“Then let’s go!”
“Er Ming, we’re heading out first.”
Lin Shuwen nodded.
After Rong Mu and Sister Shan left, Lin Shuwen pulled out her phone and called Luo Ming.
The busy tone rang six times before Luo Ming picked up.
“Luo Ming, are you okay?” Lin Shuwen asked cautiously.
“I’m half dead from the pain,” Luo Ming answered weakly.
“That bad?”
“When I was about five or six learning to ride a bike, I hit my head and needed six stitches. That was the worst injury I can remember—the pain was unforgettable. But compared to what you’re going through, that feels like nothing.”
“Uh, did you take the ibuprofen?”
“You said it helps somewhat. The ‘somewhat’ part is way too small.”
“Is it possible that you just have low pain tolerance? I feel like when I’m in pain, it’s not this bad.”
“I don’t want to argue about this right now. Oh, by the way, why does my chest feel uncomfortable too? Like a swollen, achy feeling?”
“Uh, that’s because hormonal changes cause chest tenderness. It should be fine by tomorrow.”
Luo Ming glanced at the time. Damn, it was only 10:50. There were still 13 hours until the next day!
“Luo Ming, maybe you should call Chuchu and have her put aside her work to come make you some brown sugar water or something?”
“Forget it. I’ll just sleep some more.” With that, Luo Ming hung up.
Lin Shuwen scratched her head, at a loss for what to do.
As a woman, for the first time she experienced what it felt like to take care of a “girlfriend” during that time of the month.
But Lin Shuwen didn’t worry for long, because development on the Plants vs. Zombies mobile game was already underway, and she had plenty of work on her plate.
Now back to Luo Ming’s side.
Luo Ming lay in bed until 2 p.m., and he didn’t feel hungry the whole time.
Maybe the pain had replaced the feeling of hunger, combined with lying still and not burning much energy.
At this point, Luo Ming finally understood why women lose their appetite and don’t want to eat during their period. With this much pain, who could be in the mood to eat?
At 3 p.m., there was a knock at the door.
The Chen sisters had arrived.
The Chen sisters had been with Lin Shuwen for a year, and they both knew that during the first two days of her period, Lin Shuwen didn’t work—that’s when they stepped in.
The Chen sisters handled any unimportant matters themselves. Only things they couldn’t handle would they bring to Lin Shuwen.
Luo Ming forced himself to get up and open the door, then collapsed onto the sofa with Chen Sichu’s help.
“Wen-jie, are you okay? You seem even worse today than yesterday,” Chen Sichu asked with a worried expression.
“I’m fine. You two probably came here to discuss actual business, right?”
“Yeah, Wen-jie, this is the MV script for ‘Qingming Rain.’ The company put it together. Please take a look.” Chen Junmiao handed a small booklet to Luo Ming.
Luo Ming took the booklet and flipped through it briefly.
Huayue’s story was a romance-oriented one, depicting two partings—one in a past life and one in the present.
The past life was set in ancient times, while the present was set in modern times.
The MV featured two female leads—one ancient, one modern.
The ancient protagonist was Lin Shuwen, playing a woman seeing her fiancé off to war.
The modern MV’s protagonist was Mr. Zhu’s precious trainee, playing a girlfriend seeing her boyfriend off to join the army.
Two different eras, the same spirit of protecting one’s homeland.
You had to hand it to Huayue—they really knew how to play to the times.
After reading the script, Luo Ming felt it was passable, but he couldn’t make decisions over Lin Shuwen’s head. So he said: “I’m not really in the mood to review scripts right now. Just leave it here for now.”
Chen Junmiao nodded.
“Wen-jie, have some water.” Chen Sichu brought over some brown sugar water.
Luo Ming took the cup and took a sip. Whether it was psychological or not, he felt slightly better.
