I am a Big Player
Chapter 207 - 205, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (Third Update)_1

Chapter 207: 205, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (Third Update)_1

Since last night when Yang Xi checked out the No.4 Middle School forum, she knew Ren He was in Class 5 of the first year, which is why she mentioned having a small request to the old principal this morning.

The principal would never agree to anything underhanded, but changing classes was a trivial matter, especially with a legitimate reason like admiring Yang Lan’s teaching style. In reality, Yang Xi didn’t even know who Yang Lan was; she just made up a lie after a quick search on the official No.4 Middle School website. She was actually worried about being exposed just now.

Yang Lan also heard about this and thought to himself, I didn’t expect I’d become famous. It seems writing books is useful after all... As he was feeling self-satisfied about his rising popularity, he had no idea he was just being used as a shield...

Standing gracefully at the podium, Yang Xi smiled and said, "Hello everyone, I’m Yang Xi. For a considerable time in the future, we will be studying and growing together. I ask for your kind care."

As she spoke, her gaze kept drifting towards Ren He, her eyes brimming with pride: You dare to attend No.4 Middle School, and I dare to continue being in the same class as you.

However, she couldn’t be capricious when choosing her seat, plus Ren He, with his height, sat at the very back. It would be too obvious if Yang Xi deliberately chose the back row as well.

Jiang Haoyang, Ren He’s deskmate, said, "Bro, this is a god-sent opportunity. We saw clear as day yesterday that you must like Yang Xi. You wouldn’t have stirred up such a big scene to sing a duet with her otherwise. The fuss was too big, you know? Since you like her, you should put all your effort into winning her over. Liu Bing is right, the honor of us No.4 Middle School guys rests on your shoulders!"

What’s this about men’s honor? What a mess of things. Ren He paid him no mind.

Although No.4 Middle School was rather open-minded about dating, as long as you don’t flaunt it, no teacher would specifically meddle in such matters. Organizing an event to sing a duet wouldn’t raise any suspicion among the teachers, but if you made it known to the whole school that you were dating Yang Xi, Su Ruqin would definitely hear about it.

So the two of them still had to keep a low profile at school. It was alright to participate in clubs or activities with a group, but hanging out just the two of them was not okay.

For Ren He and Yang Xi, being able to see each other every day was already satisfying enough, certainly better than being hundreds of kilometers apart.

During breaks, Yang Xi interacted with her classmates like any ordinary student, joking and playing around, and everyone quickly accepted her new identity: classmate.

In the eyes of the No.4 Middle School students, the aura around Yang Xi slowly faded, and they suddenly realized that she was still the same old Yang Xi, unchanged and without any airs despite being a celebrity.

She was still a regular student, just a particularly outstanding one.

At that moment, someone suddenly noticed a very serious issue: the same guy who sang "Prague Square" with Yang Xi at the welcome party was actually in the same class as her!

It was clear as day; if someone wasn’t especially fond of Yang Xi, they would never have caused such a fuss, right? Who knows, now that he’s in the same class, he might launch a fierce offensive? This guy has some serious guts!

By now, several people were keeping an eye on Yang Xi, including quite a few senior students from the second and third year. As a result, Ren He occasionally noticed hostile glances cast his way while walking around campus...

However, these had no effect on Ren He at all; the more he saw the hostile looks, the more amused he became. They didn’t know the truth. If they knew the truth, they’d be even more hostile toward me...

...

After school started at No.4 Middle School, Ren He continued studying without much attention, spending more time writing during class. Whenever he had the chance, he saved drafts of his novel, ensuring he wouldn’t miss an update even if he couldn’t write later on.

Next was assisting with some Dota production issues from afar. Watching Dota come together piece by piece delighted him, but of course, his wallet was quickly deflating. Just setting up the server project cost him several million yuan. Including the salary payouts during this period, Ren He would hardly have any money left if it weren’t for the endorsement fee from TK.

A high-end blade server starts at a hundred thousand yuan, and to support hundreds of thousands of people online at the same time, you’d need dozens of them. When Dota really takes off, having robust servers is absolutely essential. So, Ren He’s mental budget for server setup was around ten million yuan, aiming for the best.

Domestically, when entering the market, it was critical to have solid servers to prevent players from constantly disconnecting and cursing, but abroad, that became the operators’ problem. It was up to them to deal with the headaches.

Ren He scrutinized Kunlun’s financial reports daily. The concurrent online user count had rapidly burst through the game planners’ estimated threshold of 200,000, and the sale of in-game items was also bringing in a substantial sum.

Now, Kunlun’s daily revenue was around 400,000 yuan. Barring operational costs, Ren He could very well join the ranks of China’s youngest multimillionaires within a year thanks to Kunlun. What an idea this was—he truly started from scratch, which was entirely different from second-generation rich kids who use their parents’ money to start a business.

However, Ren He didn’t plan on touching that money for the time being; he wasn’t in urgent need of it, and there would come a time when money would be necessary. By then, Ren He had already begun to consider investing in a Courtyard House in the Capital to renovate as his headquarters. After all, in 2006, the prices of Courtyard Houses were still reasonable. Wait another two years, and a brick in a Courtyard House at the foot of the Imperial City would be worth more than gold...

After enrollment, club activities finally began to liven up. Liu Bing and Jiang Haoyang were discussing which clubs to join.

In No.4 Middle School, some clubs were very secretive. Not only did the school receive donations from successful alumni, but those truly outstanding clubs also received donations from alumni.

For instance, Lin Zhichen and Su Tiexi, who were mentioned in Liu Jiamin’s post as having led a summer trip to Africa, were the president and vice president of the Travel and Study Club.

The mission of the Travel and Study Club was to "read thousands of books and travel thousands of miles." Therefore, every winter and summer vacation, they would organize trips. Not just during vacations, even in their first and second years of high school, the club organized weekend trips to explore famous historic sites.

This Travel and Study Club was a completely student-initiated and inherited organization, without school approval, and the school never interfered.

Liu Bing wanted to join the drama club because there were many beauties in it, while Jiang Haoyang surprisingly wanted to join the chess and card club. Only then did Liu Bing and Ren He find out that Jiang Haoyang was an amateur 6-dan chess player, a rank exclusive to those who placed in the top six in provincial or national amateur Go competitions.

Many professional chess players retired at around 6, 7, or 8 dan.

This certainly earned Ren He’s respect. Jiang Haoyang became animated when talking about Go and physics, clamoring to challenge the masters at the chess and card club.

However, after playing a game against the senior-president of the club, Jiang Haoyang was deflated. Even Ren He, who knew nothing about Go, felt it was a sorry sight, watching him get decimated by his opponent.

In the end, the club president simply commented, "Not bad at all, welcome to the chess and card club."

Jiang Haoyang intended to show off, but ended up being outshone.

While comforting Jiang Haoyang, Ren He couldn’t help but chuckle. No.4 Middle School truly was full of hidden dragons and crouching tigers!

...

An extra update as a token of gratitude.