Sweet slice-of-life love story: Wife, Let's love again
Chapter 254 - 250: I Have a Bold Plan

Chapter 254: Chapter 250: I Have a Bold Plan

Early in the morning.

He Fang hummed a tune with bright spirits while she prepared breakfast, carefully arranging the plates and even freshly squeezing a cup of carrot juice before calling Qin Guanglin to get up.

"Time to wake up, hurry up and have breakfast before work."

"Oh, oh."

Qin Guanglin sat up like a wilted cabbage that had been uprooted, taking a moment to wake up before sluggishly getting out of bed to wash up.

"How can anyone feel more tired getting up on a Monday than they do working overtime on the weekend..." He yawned and sat down at the table, and couldn’t help but reach behind and rub his lower back as he saw He Fang glowing with health.

Life’s not fair, the creator.

"Whose fault is that?"

He Fang snickered while sipping her milk, "You brought it on yourself."

"This won’t do, I need to find something to do... Hmm, I’ll add... twenty... thirty squats at the gym tonight, and also increase the weight on the bench press, can’t be so idle."

Women are truly the bane of men... Qin Guanglin thought ruefully, now having a deeper understanding of that saying.

No wonder the ancients had such short lifespans, without any recreational activities, once it got dark, they had to stay home and sleep with their wives, it would be odd if they could live long.

After quickly eating breakfast, Qin Guanglin wiped his mouth and, as usual, carried He Fang’s bag downstairs to the car, quickly driving her to school for work, and then heading to the company.

Ever since Sun Wen’s incident, the company had cut back on a lot of the fancy perks, and the once every two months outing was changed to once every six months, all converted into hard cash as part of the salary.

Chen Rui had made up his mind for a major overhaul, including a comprehensive revision of the employment contracts, much more detailed and strict than before, and the company began to grow rapidly over that half year, even acquiring another studio. The previously empty office space was now somewhat crowded, with nearly forty employees, no longer resembling a small studio but now a real company.

Qin Guanglin was worried that Chen Rui was overreaching and might screw up, he had advised him a few times, but to no avail, so he just focused on doing his job well without fretting about other things.

"Brother Lin, I’ve finished this batch of drawings. I’ve put them here." Yu Le said, placing a stack of drafts at the corner of Qin Guanglin’s desk.

Chen Rui had already passed on most of the work, aside from drawing, to Qin Guanglin. Now that the company was not short of people, they mainly worked on two important projects, while the rest of the work, done in collaboration by others, was first reviewed by Qin Guanglin. Only after he approved and requested any changes, was the work sent out.

Qin Guanglin took a look and casually asked, "Rushed over the weekend again?"

The work on Friday had been completed, and being only Monday morning, it was likely finished over the weekend.

Yu Le scratched his head and laughed, "Well, I had nothing else to do at home anyway."

"You sure have a lot of free time... but you’ve indeed made significant progress, keep it up."

Qin Guanglin nodded appreciatively at the first few pages. After coming back, whether out of guilt or something else, this guy had been working diligently, his skills noticeably improving, both in overall composition and attention to detail.

"Shouldn’t be any problems, go ahead and get busy. I’ll call you if there’s anything."

"Okay, Brother Lin."

It wasn’t until almost noon that Chen Rui lazily strolled into the office, yawning with a lethargic and under-rested demeanor.

"What have you been busy with lately?" Qin Guanglin felt a sense of déjà vu looking at him, as if he had seen that same expression in the mirror. After a moment of thought, he smiled and said, "Let me guess, you’ve got a girlfriend?"

"Find a girlfriend, my ass. Who’s got the time for that?"

Chen Rui rubbed his eyes and pouted, "Even if I had the time, I wouldn’t bother. It’s pointless."

"..."

Qin Guanglin turned his head to take in the office, noting there weren’t many women, and a sudden suspicion crossed his mind, "You’re not... into guys, are you?"

As he said this, he slid his chair a bit farther away.

Chen Rui was startled, seeing the suspicious look in his eyes, he burst into laughter, "Get lost! You’re the one who likes guys!"

"Really not?"

"What the hell, how do I seem like that? Come on, tell me, how do I seem like that?"

The two bickered about Chen Rui’s sexual orientation for quite a while before Qin Guanglin reluctantly believed that he was indeed more normal—although he liked anime characters, they were at least female, not male.

"So... been busy recently?" After the joking, Chen Rui steered the conversation back on track.

Chen had indeed been spending much less time in the company recently. With sufficient staff, he, as the boss, no longer had as much to do.

The company had grown, and logically the workload should have been shared and reduced, yet Qin Guanglin was busier than ever: Though he did less drawing, the workload had increased in different ways. The title of supervisor hadn’t been officially given yet, but in reality, he was acting as one, managing the affairs of a large part of the company. He had to review others’ completed drawings like Yu Le did, send back storyboards if there were issues for revisions, and return colorings if they weren’t right, overseeing everything with both mental and physical effort.

Tired as he was, Qin Guanglin had no complaints, saying nonchalantly, "It’s alright, just a bit, I can handle it."

With the company developing at breakneck speed, he was transitioning to management, and as the company grew, so did he, like a rising tide lifting a boat. His position and benefits were much better than those of a mere lead artist.

Even if the company faced problems one day or if he left for some reason, he could use his management experience to apply for senior positions at other companies. A lateral move would be easy; being a supervisor here could at least land him a deputy position at a comparable company.

Compared with the actual salary received, these potential earnings were also vital.

As for his career planning, Qin Guanglin already had an outline in his mind.

"Keep it up; in a little while, I’ll have to temporarily leave it all in your hands."

Chen Rui sat casually on the desk, patted Qin Guanglin on the shoulder, and his words left Qin stunned, "What about you?"

"I’ll be busy with other things, of course." Chen Rui smiled, "Did you forget what I first told you?"

"What?"

"We’re going to create our own platform."

Seeing Qin Guanglin’s puzzled look, Chen Rui took out his phone, tapped a few times, and said, "Forget it, let me explain properly... Right now, our small website doesn’t get much traffic, so we’ve always published on all platforms, signed agreements for revenue sharing with those platforms, some even on a free basis, making money from advertisers..."

"Stop, stop, stop!" Qin Guanglin hastily signaled for a pause, "I’m just a simple artist; I don’t understand all that you’re saying. Just tell me the simple stuff, see if there’s something I can help with."

"Jeez..."

Chen Rui shook his head with a laugh, "Simply put, we can build our own platform now, not just that little broken website, but a proper, big platform."

He gestured with his hands and continued, "That little broken website was started with a ready-made source code, which was tough to redevelop, the functions weren’t all there, mainly just a nice-looking interface—what we do now, once it’s done..."

"Hold on, what does this have to do with you? Aren’t you also just an artist? Do you know how to build?" Qin Guanglin looked at him skeptically.

It sounded too all-rounded, instinctively unreliable.

"Does the company have a better designer than me?" Chen Rui shrugged, "For UI design and such, I have to take full control to produce the best."

"Have you been busy with this recently?"

"We are still in the preparatory phase, waiting on a few people. Once everyone’s on board, we’ll officially start—then, once it’s built, we’ll move all our company’s past work there to bulk up the content, and once these projects are done..." Chen Rui gestured around the whole room, "We’ve gained some fame by now. Any new projects will exclusively premiere on our platform, which should help attract traffic."

He looked at Qin Guanglin and paused, seemingly hesitant. After a moment, he pursed his lips and said, "Actually, I have another plan, but..."

Qin Guanglin was not at all excited about the grand plans Chen Rui described, as he didn’t fully understand these operations. He subconsciously felt that Chen was trying to reach for the stars without learning how to walk. Now, hearing that there was yet another plan, he showed little interest, leaning back in his chair with arms crossed lightly in front of his lower abdomen, and said, "Go ahead, I’m listening."

The two looked as if they had switched roles, one sitting on the desk looking down, the other sitting in the chair looking up, it seemed as though Qin Guanglin was the boss, with Chen Rui reporting to him.

Chen Rui didn’t mind, gently tapping his index finger on the desk, creating a rhythmic knocking sound, and after a quiet stare at Qin Guanglin, finally said, "For this matter... we’ll have to sign a long-term contract with the company."

"Tell me what it is first." Qin Guanglin had grown accustomed to Chen’s occasionally overdramatic behavior, casually spinning his chair while asking.

"Becoming a creator."