Tea-flavored Romance

Huh? There's no water?

Stay calm and composed. You're no longer some greenhorn just entering society; you're Boss Wang now! You can definitely handle all of this successfully!

Mr. Wang silently encouraged himself. A soft knock came from outside the office door, and his assistant politely asked:

"Mr. Wang, the person you requested has arrived."

"Yes, let her in." His tone was neither humble nor arrogant, sounding very much like a big shot.

A short while later, the office door was gently pushed open, revealing a cute face that looked slightly wary.

"Miss Jiu Jiu~ You're here~ Please have a seat! Would you like tea or coffee? Or a beverage? Oh, I heard that girls don't drink much beverage these days, hahaha, is it because they're afraid of gaining weight? How about tea then? Miss Jiu Jiu, what kind of tea do you like? Da Hong Pao or Tie Guan Yin?"

Upon seeing this face, President Wang's carefully maintained CEO demeanor vanished instantly. Lu Hanhan was startled by the guy's obsequious attitude and waved his hands repeatedly, saying, "Plain water is fine."

"Okay, no problem." Mr. Wang picked up the internal phone in his office, and the fawning expression on his face immediately disappeared.

"Xiao Li, pour me a glass of water."

"Okay, Mr. Wang."

The female assistant came and went, bringing a tea set and a pot of boiled water. Throughout the process, she seemed to be under immense pressure from President Wang, not daring to utter a sound. After pouring the water, she quietly left.

President Wang coughed lightly, skillfully switching into fawning mode in front of Lu Jiujiu: "I wonder if there's anything you need me to do for you, Miss Jiujiu?"

Lu Hanhan held his cup in silence for a while, then asked cautiously in a low voice, "You...you wouldn't tell Lu Tianjiao that I came here, would you?"

"Don't worry, Miss Jiu Jiu. Although I am Chairman Lu's subordinate, since you told me in advance not to reveal anything, I will never divulge a single word!" President Wang said seriously, "I used to run a game studio. You have to trust the beliefs of an old game developer."

"Following the rules of the game is what we veteran game developers insist on."

Lu Hanhan looked at the middle-aged man with a majestic expression in front of her with great vigilance. Although she was usually silly, she was exceptionally sharp when it came to the intuition of being betrayed by her own family.

I have a feeling this guy doesn't seem very reliable when he talks...

Chapter 120: The Peerless Sword Immortal - Gu Guanxue

Despite the imposing expression of the middle-aged CEO Wang, a seasoned gamer, Lu Jiujiu still felt he was a bit unreliable. Thinking it over, she figured it would be too late to find someone else to handle the matter, so she suppressed her wariness and whispered, "Um... I have a few questions for you..."

"Is your company... a game developer?"

President Wang thought to himself, "Does a game company not make games anymore, or do they turn to pimping?" If someone else had walked into his office and asked him this question, President Wang would have definitely called security to drag her out.

However, he only dared to think about such a thing. If he dared to kick Miss Lu out of the company, he would probably be dismissed and kicked out the next day because of his heavy breathing.

"That's right, our company was formerly a studio called Tide Games, which used to have a great reputation in the industry. I, Wang, used to be the second-in-command at that studio... Miss Jiu Jiu, would you like to try out our new game? We recently developed a brand new game called 'Classic of Mountains and Seas,' which is really fun! If there's no character selection screen at the start, you can..."

“Please wait a moment…” Lu Jiujiu raised her hand to interrupt President Wang’s incantation and explained, “I’m not here to play games.”

"Second question... Will your company participate in game expos?"

President Wang paused for a moment: "If it's the publicity phase, we'll definitely go. But for our company at this level, we usually only go to major exhibitions in first-tier cities."

Will we participate in the game expos here?

President Wang couldn't quite figure out what the young lady was thinking. Seeing that she seemed nervous, he carefully replied, "Sometimes I do participate, but it mainly depends on the game's marketing strategy..."

Did your company participate in the game expo in June this year?

President Wang pondered for a moment, took out several folders of documents, rummaged through them, and finally replied with a hint of delight, "A new department's game has secured a booth. It's in our city!"

"What kind of game is it?!" Lu Jiujiu quickly asked.

"Fantasy/martial arts genre."

Lu Hanhan nodded thoughtfully: "Would you invite cosplayers to game expos?"

"This..." President Wang stammered awkwardly. He only knew that there were many competitors in the Xianxia game industry, making it a red ocean market. It was impossible to participate in well-known domestic exhibitions to gain experience. As for other specific promotional strategies, he hadn't really paid attention to them.

If a CEO is so interested in games that are just for new departments to practice, then either he's crazy, or the world is crazy.

"Does Miss Jiu Jiu have a favorite cosplayer she'd like to invite to the event?" President Wang's mind clicked, as if he had figured something out: "If that's the case, then I can contact the departments below immediately and have them invite her. Even if it means poaching her, I'll definitely bring her back for you."

Lu Hanhan waved his hand and said sadly, "I don't have a favorite cosplayer... I just don't like them doing cosplay, but it's not that I don't like him doing cosplay. Actually, her cosplay has little to do with me... Do you know what I mean?"

President Wang: ? ? ?

Middle-aged people really don't understand the world of you young people... Are all girls these days riddles?

"Forget it, you wouldn't understand even if I explained it to you." Lu Hanhan sighed. "Could you show me the list of those cosplay pre-selection candidates...?"

"Hold on."

It was another internal call. President Wang, speaking with an air of authority, instructed his assistant, Xiao Li, to bring in the person in charge of the marketing and promotion for the fantasy game project, along with a tablet.

"Mr. Wang, here are the materials you need, they're all in here."

Lu Jiujiu took the tablet and started scrolling. The images on it were all of the pre-selected cosplayers for this game expo, both male and female, along with their respective cosplay photos. The handsome men and beautiful women all seemed to be living vibrant lives in their meticulously edited worlds, making one want to exclaim in exasperation:

I'm fine now, I can do it!

The girl flipped through the pages one after another, not so much choosing as searching for something. Suddenly, she stopped scrolling and stared blankly at the girl on the tablet.

In the photo, Gu Guanxue is dressed in flowing white robes, a sword in her right hand, her black hair cascading down like a waterfall. Her gaze is cold and sharp, as if her eyes hold an aura that keeps people at a distance. If the world of immortals and heroes truly exists, then this girl is undoubtedly the peerless swordswoman in many people's hearts, whose sword can chill fourteen provinces with its frost-like power.

She was already beautiful, but in the retouched photos, she was almost out of this world. Lu Jiujiu stared at Gu Guanxue in this color and couldn't help but freeze in place with an extremely complicated look in her eyes.

Gu Guanxue's eyes are usually not like this... Is this her acting?

Why is she so good at cosplay? She can do everything she wants to do... and all of it is so perfect.

The girl gently touched the screen, her face clearly showing some disappointment... This girl is really amazing, so excellent and perfect in every way, no wonder Ning Yuan likes to play with her...

Ning Yuan is also very outstanding. Is this the attraction between outstanding people?

Lu Hanhan: I'm so bad at this... (；′д｀)ゞ

For the first time, Lu Hanhan felt a sense of envy and admiration. She had never felt this way before, because her grandmother had taught her to be content with what she had and that getting what she could was enough. Growing up with this kind of education, she had never envied others for being better off than her.

She suddenly realized that the reason she hadn't envied others before wasn't because she was well-behaved, but because she hadn't found someone worthy of her envy.

She has found it now.

Seeing Miss Lu's dejected and melancholy expression, President Wang's mind naturally began to work. This girl had clearly come for the cosplayers' information, meaning she knew someone among them.

Why do I need to sneak over here without my dad's knowledge, and why can't I tattle on him?

Could it be that... Miss Lu is in love!

My boyfriend is a cosplayer!

This news is absolutely astonishing!

President Wang remained calm and cautiously probed, "Miss Jiu Jiu... are you planning to select cosplayers to participate in our game?"

Lu Jiujiu came to her senses, remained silent for a while, and then asked in a low voice.

"May I?"

"of course can."

“Then I want to choose her.” Lu Hanhan handed the tablet to President Wang. He took the tablet and almost popped his eyes out when he looked at it.

It's a girl!?

Oh wait... in the cosplay community, it's normal for genders to be ambiguous... maybe this is actually a boy...

Take another close look at the information...

Okay, it really is a girl. Our Miss Lu is in love... but her boyfriend is a beautiful young lady!?

If Chairman Lu finds out, will he just kill me?

President Wang wiped the cold sweat from his forehead, feeling that May was getting hotter and hotter.

Chapter 121: It's Your Dove

Although it didn't seem like something a high-level employee like him could get involved in, President Wang still did his best to call the project manager over and give instructions.

The person in charge reviewed Gu Xihua's information and said that adding such a young lady was not a problem. The key issue was that we hadn't chosen her before, and she had probably already found another company by now... If the two parties had already agreed on the specific details of the cooperation, we might have to help pay some breach of contract fees.

Lu Hanhan was immediately triggered and produced nine bank cards.

"How much?"

The person in charge looked at President Wang with a bewildered expression. President Wang coughed twice and said in a deep voice, "Go find this young lady quickly. We can pay the penalty for breach of contract. The key is that she's a talented person."

"Be natural when doing things, and don't be too hasty."

Mr. Wang casually gave the order. Seeing this, Lu Jiujiu seemed a little uneasy and gave some more instructions. Although the person in charge was confused, he had no choice but to comply.

After doing all this, Lu Hanhan breathed a sigh of relief, left a bank card, and kept her mission accomplished. Before leaving, she made sure not to tell her father that she had been here... President Wang looked at the bank card and was both amused and exasperated, thinking to himself, "How could I dare to accept your reward?"

This is a hot potato; no one dares to take it on.

A thought struck him, and he picked up the tablet again to examine Gu Guanxue's photo closely. He felt as if he had seen this girl somewhere before...

Is it Shanghai or Beijing?

I guess I'm getting old; my memory's failing me. I should have known better than to type so much code when I was younger...

……

Thanks to Lu Hanhan's actions, Ning Yuan, Gu Guanxue, and Lin Xiaoya had barely sat down at the target game company and hadn't even uttered a word when the staff member in charge of negotiations received a phone call. Upon returning, he gave a strange look and said:

A friend asked me to make sure you stay with their company. Would you like to consider it?

Master Ning: ?

Why are Gu Guanxue and I so popular?

Nothing more to say, I'm just proud.

Since no contracts had been signed yet, and cosplayers weren't exactly a strategically scarce resource, the staff member in charge of the negotiations simply did them a favor, giving them the contact information of the three people before seeing them off. Ning Yuan was somewhat confused but didn't investigate further, continuing to lead Gu Xihua and Lin Xiaoya towards the game company called Tide Interactive Entertainment.

Upon entering the company, after asking the receptionist some questions, I followed the receptionist to the conference room.

Hello.

"Hello."

A young man wearing glasses walked in from outside the meeting room, shook hands with Ning Yuan, one of the three representatives, and invited everyone to take their seats with a smile.

"Since you've come all this way, I won't waste any more time. Let's get straight to the point..."