Chen Sichu and Chen Junmiao were both completely stunned by what Luo Minglu had just done. It took them a good long while to snap out of it.
“Wow! Wenjie, you’re amazing!” Chen Sichu couldn’t help but exclaim.
“No wonder you graduated from a top-tier university—it really shows,” Chen Junmiao chimed in with admiration.
Both sisters were community college graduates. Chen Junmiao studied makeup artistry, while Chen Sichu majored in online and new media. They were the same age, twenty-two.
After graduating, they teamed up to run a content aggregation account on Youku, where they clipped and edited videos from foreign variety shows. They also had a Weibo account dedicated to dishing celebrity gossip.
If they’d started back in 2016, when self-media was really taking off, they might have actually built something substantial.
Unfortunately, the current environment wasn’t as forgiving. After running their accounts for a while, their follower growth stalled. That’s when Sister Shan “came down from the heavens,” as they put it, and brought them into Lin Shuwen’s team.
Lin Shuwen was absolutely a great boss. She’d never once delayed their paychecks, gave out plenty of bonuses during the holidays, and even covered their housing.
The sisters now lived in an apartment just one street away, with the 2,800 yuan monthly rent fully paid by Lin Shuwen.
Over the course of a year, each of them managed to save nearly a hundred thousand yuan.
On top of that, Lin Shuwen never put on any celebrity airs. Being by her side, the sisters had seen plenty of other stars’ attitudes toward their assistants—not that they’d get physically abusive, but their language was often far from clean, treating assistants like underlings they could scold at will.
Lin Shuwen had never spoken a harsh word to them. Whenever issues came up, they’d talk things through and resolve them together. So the sisters genuinely respected and trusted her.
Today, Lin Shuwen had once again shown off her scholarly side, which only deepened the admiration the two self-proclaimed academic underachievers felt for her.
“Are the poems I need to recite all good now?” Luo Ming asked with a frown.
“All good. Wenjie, if you’re really not feeling well, why don’t you get some rest?”
“Mm. You two head back first. Don’t disturb me today.”
“But what about your lunch and dinner, Wenjie?” Chen Sichu asked.
“I don’t think I’ll have much of an appetite. Don’t worry about it.”
“That won’t do…” Chen Sichu started, but her sister tugged at her sleeve.
“Then we’ll be off, Wenjie.”
Luo Ming nodded.
Once they were outside Lin Shuwen’s place, Chen Sichu grumbled in dissatisfaction, “Sis, why did you pull me back? Wenjie can’t just skip meals.”
“Didn’t you notice how awful she’s feeling today? Put yourself in her shoes—do you really think she’d have any appetite for anything you made right now? Don’t bother her; let her rest properly. That’s the right call.
If you’re really that worried, we’ll come over early tomorrow morning and you can make her some porridge or something.”
Chen Sichu thought it over and figured her sister had a point. She muttered to herself, “I don’t remember Wenjie having issues with menstrual cramps, though. Why’s she so off today?”
“Who knows? Maybe her routine’s been out of whack lately. Last week was fine, but the week before, her schedule was totally different from usual.
She used to be in bed by 11 p.m. sharp, but that week she stayed up past midnight, and she’d wake up about an hour later too.”
“Now that you mention it, Sis, I noticed something off about Wenjie that week too. She kept complaining that the food was too bland, and she’d slack off during runs.”
“Probably stress from writing songs. Wenjie came up with two original tracks—who knows how much effort she put into them behind the scenes.”
Chen Sichu thought about it and figured that explanation made sense.
In the industry, there were artists who’d do some pretty outrageous things when they hit creative blocks.
Luckily, Wenjie only changed a few daily habits because of her work. It wasn’t a big deal—they’d just have to be more accommodating going forward.
“Chuchu, what are you daydreaming about? Let’s hurry up. Isn’t it cold out here in the hallway?”
Chen Junmiao’s voice snapped Chen Sichu out of her thoughts, and she suddenly felt a chill run down her back.
November in Shanghai wasn’t exactly warm anymore.
Back inside, Luo Ming was lying on the couch, slowly closing his eyes.
The best way he could think of to ease the pain right now was to distract himself.
As it happened, the memories from his past life in his memory palace were about to finish consolidating.
Might as well use that to take his mind off things.
Meanwhile, over at Lin Shuwen’s side, today marked the official first day of the company. And on the first day of any company’s existence, there had to be a meeting.
Lin Shuwen sat at the head of the conference table, looking calm and composed on the surface, but internally, she was a nervous wreck.
Fortunately, Rong Mu knew that “Luo Ming” wasn’t great at handling these situations. Aside from having “Luo Ming” say a few opening remarks at the start, Rong Mu took over the rest of the presentation.
Lin Shuwen discreetly sized up the people in the room. There were twelve people total at the table.
Three from the art team, five from the tech team, plus Lin Shuwen and Rong Mu as the two bosses. As for the remaining two, Lin Shuwen had no idea what they did—Luo Ming hadn’t told her.
After the meeting adjourned, Lin Shuwen called out to Rong Mu and pointed at the two, asking, “Rongmu Zong, are these two also company employees?”
“Yeah! Didn’t you check the message I sent you?”
Lin Shuwen pulled out her phone at that.
“You really didn’t look at it, huh. Alright, I’ll just tell you directly. The woman is Li Yunting—she’s our receptionist, handling front desk and registration duties.
The guy is Ying Qianlong. I brought him in after signing a representation agreement with Huaju Law Firm. He’s our in-house legal counsel—makes things easier when we’re negotiating contracts and stuff.”
“Oh, I see. That’s really thoughtful of you.”
“Speaking of which, besides the two of them, we also have two non-staff members.”
“Non-staff? Who?” Lin Shuwen asked curiously.
“Two cleaning ladies.”
Lin Shuwen rolled her eyes. This had to be Rong Mu getting back at her for not reading his messages!
Rong Mu laughed heartily and headed off to his own office.
Lin Shuwen couldn’t be bothered to argue with him and made her way to the office at the very end.
She pushed the door open, and a tidy workspace came into view.
The office wasn’t large—maybe about twenty square meters—but it had everything it needed.
Right inside the door was a sofa and a coffee table, likely for receiving guests.
Behind the sofa sat a desk and an executive chair, with a computer and a telephone on the desk.
Lin Shuwen pulled out the chair and sat down, feeling absolutely pleased with herself. This, right here, was also her kingdom now.
