20 years of restarting life

Chapter 3575 Jiang Caiping

Zhao Chang'an had some impression of this game because Wu Yue in his previous life liked to play it and even had a virtual wedding with a female online friend. The two of them also had each other's phone numbers.

Back then, mobile phone numbers weren't registered under real names. This was a phone number Wu Yue used specifically for playing games, but Wu Yue never used the call function; instead, she used it to send text messages to the female player.

At that time, Zhao Chang'an was pestered by Wu Yue, so he played the game on and off for a while. His username was "Just Playing Around". He met the female player, whose in-game name was Catherine the Great. However, they weren't close, since Zhao Chang'an rarely played the game.

After getting married in the game, the female player kept trying to meet Wu Yue in real life. Wu Yue, who was insecure about his leg, kept refusing. Later, the female player went to Shancheng and stayed in a hotel, sending text messages saying that she would stay there indefinitely until Wu Yue showed up.

Having no other choice, Wu Yue called Zhao Chang'an and asked him to help arrange a meeting. Zhao Chang'an initially refused, but Wu Yue made it clear that if he didn't help, they wouldn't be brothers anymore.

Zhao Chang'an had no choice but to return to Shancheng from Zhengzhou. Wu Yue wanted to dress Zhao Chang'an up to be handsome and dashing for the date. Zhao Chang'an said that if she really had no idea, the more sloppy he dressed, the better. But Wu Yue insisted and bought all of Zhao Chang'an's clothes and shoes. She gave him a new cell phone worth more than two thousand yuan, put the phone number in it, took him to a hair salon to get his hair done, and bought him a large bouquet of red roses.

In reality, Zhao Chang'an was overthinking it. The female player was indeed very beautiful, named Jiang Caiping, and was a college student. However, she only needed a few words to figure out that Zhao Chang'an was not the real person, but a low-level player in the game who was just "playing around".

For those two days, Zhao Chang'an accompanied her to eat local snacks and famous dishes in the mountain city, and they went to Peach Blossom Lake and Chicken Cry Mountain. He said he would take her to Ling Mountain, but Jiang Caiping asked Zhao Chang'an, "Will my wish come true?"

Zhao Chang'an remained silent.

After that, the phone and landline belonged to Zhao Chang'an, and Jiang Caiping stopped logging into the game "Phantom Spirit". The number was a China Mobile number with no monthly fee, and Wu Yue put several hundred yuan into it.

The phone was kept in Zhao Chang'an's rented room in Zhengzhou. When it ran out of power, Zhao Chang'an would fully charge it and put it in the drawer. However, there were no more calls or text messages. Several years later, when Zhao Chang'an returned with his students from a summer study tour, he saw the outdated phone that had run out of power and was turned off. He never charged it or turned it on again.

Therefore, Zhao Chang'an knew that this marriage system was indeed very powerful, but the backlash was equally severe, especially in this era when traditional values ​​were still prevalent.

The game, Phantom Spirit, had over 50,000 concurrent players shortly after its launch, approaching the initial standards of top-tier online games. It was also very successful in its first two years of operation. However, it only enjoyed its popularity for those two years before becoming largely ignored.

The game features features such as customizable martial arts, the ability to teach others, turn-based gameplay, and a marriage system—it certainly has many highlights. However, the rough 2D graphics and the illogical game structure ultimately limit its longevity and potential.

Creating your own martial arts skills sounds impressive, but it also turns the game's skill system into a mess, lacking a clear and unified evaluation standard.

Zhao Chang'an definitely has to cut the marriage system. If removing this element would turn many of the game's designs into bugs, Zhao Chang'an would rather shelve the game altogether.

With the crackdown on online games, strict control over the number of internet cafes, and a ban on minors accessing the internet, the time when you need to show your ID card to go to an internet cafe is fast approaching.

During those few years, the profits of domestic online games were not actually high. Of course, the ratio of profits to investment was still astonishing. It wasn't until the widespread adoption of smartphones that playing online games no longer required going to internet cafes, and the regulation of internet cafes was somewhat relaxed. However, internet cafes had already declined.

Zhao Chang'an left the Legend Building and drove to Liu Chengzhen's place, still thinking about the game and the things between Wu Yue and Jiang Caiping from his previous life.

My brother's previous life was truly tragic. He had a crush on Xia Wenzhuo, but Xia Wuyue crippled his leg. In the game, he married a beautiful female college student player, but he was too ashamed to meet her because of his crippled leg.

And as Wu Yue jokingly said, would she marry me after we met?

It's highly unlikely she'll get married.

He finally managed to marry Jing Yuehong, a beautiful village girl, but she was driven away by his alcoholism. He became a troublemaker that the leaders of Tiedong District Hospital avoided, and an incorrigible scoundrel in the eyes of the people.

-

At the entrance of Liu Chengzhen's residential area, Zhao Chang'an bought a box of milk and a can of soybean oil. Although soybean oil was relatively cheap, Zhao Chang'an liked the aroma of cooking with soybean oil.

When we arrived at the Liu family home, my master and his family of three were already there, along with several elderly artist couples and their children. Luckily, the Liu family home was a villa with a yard, otherwise there really wouldn't have been enough room for all twenty-odd people.

After the cold air swept through, the sky over Mingzhu was cloudless and the sun was shining brightly. Everyone was outside sunbathing, playing cards and mahjong. Tang Li thought her cook wasn't good enough, so she specially hired a chef from the hotel with two helpers. She, on the other hand, chatted with the guests with a beautiful smile.

Zhao Chang'an's habit of carrying a case of milk and a can of oil with him when he visits someone's home is well-known. Seeing him carry them like that, everyone laughed.

That evening, Zhao Chang'an, being a junior and the center of attention, drank quite a bit of alcohol, so he couldn't drive. His master, mistress, and several other vigorous veteran artists wanted to play mahjong all night, so Tang Li had to arrange for Zheng Xi and Zhao Chang'an to sleep in the villa. Fortunately, there were enough rooms, so it wasn't a problem.

After taking a shower, Zhao Chang'an sent Zheng Xi a text message while lying in bed:
"What are you doing, senior sister?"

"She's almost asleep."

"I can't sleep in a particular bed, so I came over to chat."

“This is not appropriate at Aunt Tang’s house.”

Zheng Xi's concerns were not without merit, so Zhao Chang'an did not insist any further. The bedroom door, which was not locked, should have been locked before going to sleep, but he was too lazy to get out of bed to lock it at this point, so he simply went to sleep as well.

In the middle of the night, in the darkness, he vaguely heard the door lock being gently turned. With the Brownian motion of the air molecules, Zhao Chang'an immediately smelled a familiar fragrance.

-

"Wow~"

The sound of mahjong tiles clattered in the room. Two mahjong tables were set up in the room. Liu Chengzhen had taken naps in the morning and at noon to prepare for tonight's game, and now she was full of energy from winning money.

Meanwhile, Yuan Qianru, sitting opposite, gave the three teams plenty of opportunities to win, becoming increasingly resentful with each loss.

Tang Li walked back to the card room with a radiant glow and sat down next to her husband.

"Snapped!"

Liu Chengzhen triumphantly slammed the two of dots he had just drawn onto the mahjong table and excitedly shouted, "Self-draw!"

Yuan Qianru glanced at Tang Li, and Tang Li, seeing her best friend looking at her, also looked back. The two smiled at each other, knowing exactly what was going on.

(End of this chapter)