It was 9 pm when I exited my room and saw a beautiful woman carrying a stack of documents sitting on a sofa. She rose to her feet and greeted me with a smile, “You’re back. President Xu and everyone are already waiting for you at the meeting hall. You should visit them with the big miss now.”
“Mn. What is this about?”
“It’s about the contract signing. Have you forgotten?”
“Oh, right. Thank you. We’ll be there immediately!”
……
I knocked on He Yi and Lin Yixin’s doors and brought them out of the game. Then, I went to Xinran’s room and saw her lying on the bed and fiddling with her gaming helmet. When she saw me, she immediately broke into a wide smile and said, “You finally came, big brother!”
“What’s wrong?” I asked in surprise.
“I was worried you would abandon me here and run off somewhere!” Xinran answered seriously.
He Yi chuckled at that. “Don’t worry, he won’t.”
I walked up to Xinran and carried her to her wheelchair. After I covered her legs with a blanket, I began pushing her toward the meeting hall. Almost everyone was present even though it was nighttime already. They were all waiting for the contract to be signed.
……
There were two empty seats at the head of a long, long meeting table. Xu Ning pointed at them and said, “That is where you and the big miss will be sitting, Lu Chen. You two are the true masters of this place now.”
This was not the time to act courteous, so I didn’t. After I helped Xinran into her seat and took my own, an employee set down the contracts in question in front of us. We each got five copies, and he said, “Please read the documents carefully. It will have a legal effect after you’ve signed them.”
I nodded. Honestly, I didn’t understand the documents very well, and I didn’t really care about becoming the biggest shareholder of Eternal Moon Corporation. However, it was a matter of Xinran’s future, and so deserved my full attention. After I passed a copy of the contract each to Lin Yixin and He Yi, I began studying the contract word by word. Less than five minutes later, He Yi pushed her copy forward and said, “I see no problems with it.”
Lin Yixin also nodded. “Agreed.”
I shot the contract another glance before saying, “Well, truth be told, I have no idea what I’m looking at, but it sounds cool…”
“It’s okay, we understand…” they replied kindly.
Me: “…”
The signing part went much smoother than the reading part. It only took me a short moment to jot my signature on all 10 contracts. The same couldn’t be said for Xinran though. It took her a considerable amount of time and effort to write her own true name, Dong Xinran on the documents. It was one thing to see the characters in the game and another to write them in the real world after all. It didn’t matter if her words were ugly though. As long as she could write her name, then all was well.
……
Xu Ning checked the contracts briefly before rising to his feet. He shook my hand and said, “Congratulations, you are now the biggest shareholder of Eternal Moon Corporation. Let’s hold a shareholder meeting at New York next week.”
I frowned. “Let’s have the shareholder meeting in China instead. Also, we should have the main headquarters be transferred to Beijing.”
“Er…”
Xu Ning hummed for a second before nodding. “Sure, we can do that. I’ll bring it up during the board meeting. It should be fine since 34% of Eternal Moon’s total shares are in China right now. Even the Americans hold only 16% of the shares, which means that they have no say in this. Yeah, this will even improve the economic development of Beijing to a certain extent.”
I smiled. “Good to hear. At the very least, I won’t need to fly back and forth.”
Not far away from me, Ling Xue flipped through the contract for a bit before saying, “Speaking of which, is there anything you would like to add, Lu Chen? You’re the boss now. There are a total of 179 servers in China, but only 71 of them are set up in southern China. As a result, there are often lag, unclear images and other issues due to player congestion. In my opinion, this is a good time to shift some of our focus from the main headquarters to the southern headquarters.”
Beside me, He Yi rose to her feet and said, “I suggest that we construct another 100 servers or so in the southern cities.”
Xu Ning nodded. “No problem. Henry Company will provide the technical support.”
However, He Yi shook her head and said, “No, we’ll do it. There are too many bugs in Henry Company’s code[1] right now. At least a dozen bugs have been discovered near Dragonbone Mountain Range just last month[2]. With that in mind, I would ask you to give us the relevant contact.”
At the end of the meeting table, a fat man immediately argued, “You can’t just take the contract from us like that! Who gave you the right?”
He Yi narrowed her eyes and smiled beautifully at him. “I believe I have the right because I wish to make the game even more perfect than it is, and because my employees’ skill is far superior to yours. They were all the elites of GGS before they joined Raincube. If I may be so rude, where was Henry Company when GGS took the world by storm?”
The fat man slapped the table and jumped to his feet. “So what? The server building contract has been ours since forever!”
Xu Ning let out a cough and interrupted, “Please mind your manners, President Wang.”
He Yi pursed her lips and continued, “I’m aware that President Wang was one of the founders of the China server during Spirit of Grief. I’m also aware that you are the brother-in-law of the former CEO. I am not asking you to surrender your existing servers to us; I am simply asking that all future servers of the Eternal Moon series be built by Raincube. Without exaggeration, I believe that our technology and skill are at least 10 years ahead of yours. We absolutely can perform your job better than you can!”
The fat man repeated, “Again, so what? Who gave you the right?”
This time, I rose to my feet and patted He Yi on the shoulder. Then, I placed both hands on the table and smiled at President Wang. “President Wang, I know very well that Raincube is more than up to the task. Ling Xue and Shusheng are well aware of their prowess as well. Therefore, I hereby declare that a joint venture proposal between Eternal Moon Corporation and Raincube to be drafted immediately, and that I will sign it myself when it is ready. Any further questions?”
The fat man gritted his teeth. “This is blatant nepotism!”
I smiled. “I know, pot, I know. Now, the kettle suggests you shut up if you wish to keep providing service for the northern servers. Otherwise, I’m sure Raincube will be more than happy to take over all of the technical support of the entire China server.”
He Yi smiled as well. “Oh yes, we will…”
The fat man slowly sank back into his seat. “Very well. If that is your decision…”
Not far away, Ling Xue joked, “OMG, what a dark world we live in these days! Eve, remember to contact us after you get the contract, okay? Let’s strengthen the southern side of China together!”
He Yi nodded with a smile. “Mn!”
……
Meanwhile, Lin Yixin whispered beside my ear, “The China server has always been plagued by many bugs, and they were even criticized by the western servers as a result. Raincube’s takeover of the technical department will definitely improve things. Well done seizing another’s power within the first hour of your job, both of you…”
Me: “…”
The China branch CEO, Xu Ning said practically nothing throughout the contest of power. It was because the matter didn’t affect his interest directly. All he wanted was to keep his job as the CEO of the China branch. Of course, I had no intention of removing him since he was a subordinate of Xinran’s father. As for myself, Raincube’s involvement would give me the legitimacy I needed to truly integrate myself in Eternal Moon Corporation, and thank goodness for that. Otherwise, I would be terrified to accept my new position as my CEO of the entire Eternal Moon Corporation.
It wasn’t long before the meeting was over, and Shusheng and Ling Xue returned to their rooms while holding hands. Unfortunately, Xu Ning had held back the rest of us for midnight tea…
While pouring the tea, Xu Ning asked me, “Lu Chen, the big miss just woke up, and both her physical and mental state still require observation. So, what are your plans? Would you like to keep the big miss at Beijing and return to Suzhou first, or would you like to stay in Suzhou permanently and participate in the meetings the CEO of the Eternal Moon Corporation main headquarters is expected to participate in?”
I shook my head. “No. I basically know nothing about a CEO’s responsibilities, so I won’t be interfering with the management. Also, I wish to take Xinran back to Suzhou because one, it is where I live, and two, the capital city is too noisy and rather polluted. I don’t think Xinran will be able to recover properly if she stays here.”
“Really? Are you sure you don’t want to reconsider your decision? I’m not sure sending the big miss to Suzhou alone is…” Xu Ning was clearly reluctant to part ways with Xinran. He had watched her grow up after all. He might even think of her as his daughter.
Beside me, Xinran said, “It’s okay, Uncle Ning. I’m going wherever big brother is going. Otherwise, I would truly be alone in this world.”
Xu Ning chuckled at that. “As your wish, big miss. Lu Chen, how is your current residence in Suzhou? Ahem, don’t take this the wrong way, but I would like to provide the big miss with a comfortable home. Her health is no joke after all. Also, an expert and two nurses will be accompanying you back to Suzhou. They’ll be taking care of the big miss until she’s truly recovered.”
I hummed in thought and didn’t answer immediately.
He Yi said, “That’s not a problem. I’ll give Mingyue a call and tell her to buy a villa in the suburbs immediately. It will be done in 24 hours at most…”
Lin Yixin interrupted in a hurry, “Wait! I want the villa to have two floors and a garden. I would also like a room for myself…”
He Yi snorted in amusement. “Fine, fine, I’ll tell Mingyue about it. Don’t worry, the villa will be super luxurious if only for Xinran…”
Xinran looked at me and asked, “Are we going home, big brother?”
I nodded. “Mn. We’re going back to our true home.”
“Okay!”
Xu Ning smiled when he saw Xinran’s joyous expression.
……
We ate a small supper until past 10 pm before we returned to our rooms.
Or at least, I tried to. After I delivered Xinran to her room, she grabbed my sleeve and refused to let go. She watched me with her diamond-like pupils and said almost in a begging tone, “I don’t like sleeping alone, big brother. Keep me company, please?”
I shuddered. “Er…”
Both He Yi and Lin Yixin looked awkward as well.
“That’s not a good idea, Xinran.” I dropped to a kneeling position and held her hand. “In China, we have an old saying that goes something like: men and women should not touch hands when they give or receive things. You are my younger sister, it wouldn’t be right for me to sleep with you. Plus, you are a grown-up, aren’t you? You should be sleeping alone at your age.”
I shot Xinran’s breasts a glance after I said this. Yep, she was way too grown up for me to sleep with her.
However, Xinran refused to let go. “I don’t wanna! I want to be together with big brother! I don’t get your ancient saying whatever!”
He Yi shook her head helplessly. “Fine, fine. Yiyi, you sleep with them and make sure they don’t… cross the line, so to speak.”
Lin Yixin turned beet red instantly. “W-why me? You do it!”
……
Xu Ning’s old, wrinkly face was red as well. “What the hell is this dialogue? I can’t watch you people any longer…”
1. E/N: W-what? Both client and server side have to be coded by Eternal Moon. The fuq does their code have to do with anything? There’s no magical code to host a server on your machine, that is, you guessed it, on Eternal Moon’s side of code too. ☜
2. E/N: You mean to tell me that like a CMS suddenly made Eternal Moon’s code function wrong? What? ☜
