How to raise a random guy's wife

Kobayashi Sora pressed pause. "Well... that's roughly the situation."

"They're so welcoming!" Kobayashi Megumi said curiously. "What's this...?"

"I didn't hire this person," Kobayashi Sora replied truthfully. "To be honest, I didn't expect it to have such a good effect before this."

Eri Kashiwagi, Shiko Kasumi, Liella!.

The combined appeal of the three was quite astonishing, with box office revenue exceeding 60 million yuan in just three days of preview screenings.

This is a preview screening, which is a screening method that is only shown to a small number of viewers, celebrities, and other businesses before the movie's premiere and official release. The purpose is to gain a good reputation and publicity for online sales.

The film's production cost is around 800 million yen, and at this rate, it's absolutely impossible for it to lose money.

The initial target box office was 2 billion yen, but now it looks like it will be at least 4 billion yen.

No wonder so many people love making movies; it's a really lucrative business.

Kobayashi Megumi chuckled, "I believed your plan would work from the very beginning."

Halfway through her sentence, she suddenly noticed that Eriri's condition was not right.

"Eriri?" Kobayashi Megumi looked at Eriri with concern. "What's wrong?"

Eriri's emotions were clearly a bit off.

"They're probably just feeling the pinch," Kobayashi Sora lightly tapped her forehead. "Tsk... Toho and Hongzhu Planning took the lion's share. Who told us we didn't have enough working capital... It's fine for Hongzhu Planning to make a little money, but Toho..."

Making money is fun, but it can really affect your mood if others earn more than you.

"No, that's not it," Kobayashi Megumi pinched Kobayashi Sora, "Eriri must have something on her mind, right?"

"Hmm...hmm?" Eriri seemed to just come to her senses. "No...nothing..."

That means it exists.

Kobayashi Sora stood up. "I'll go tell the production team that I'll take them out for a celebration after get off work."

"Hmm." Kobayashi Megumi watched her husband leave, and only after Kobayashi Sora closed the door did she continue to ask, "Is something bothering you?"

"Well..." Eriri's lips moved slightly, "It's just..."

Looking at Kobayashi Megumi in front of her, Eriri suddenly had an idea, "I have a friend!"

Kobayashi Megumi: "......"

This is the same standard opening line.

It's a bit too standard.

"You're worried about your friend," Kobayashi Megumi nodded gently. "That means your friend is in trouble or has some worries, and you don't know how to help her?"

“Yes!” Eriri nodded vigorously. “That’s it.”

What exactly is causing you this trouble?

“Well…” Eriri paused for a moment, “This friend of mine has a friend who is… well, not really a friend. We’re just acquaintances who live together, but we’re not particularly close. We often argue.”

"I see." Kobayashi Megumi understood.

Kasumigaoka Utaha.

Her smile became even gentler, and Kobayashi Megumi had a very subtle feeling.

We were just talking about a movie involving hundreds of millions of yen, and now we're discussing the troubles between girls.

This stark contrast creates a rather unique psychological experience.

While revenue of hundreds of millions is certainly gratifying, talking about friends' troubles feels much more intimate.

“They used to work together, and then they started living together for convenience,” Eriri said, trying to avoid reminding Kobayashi of her description. “Then, because of some things, my friend… well, she’s my friend’s friend, and she stopped working with my friend and started doing other things, and then they started sleeping together…”

Kobayashi Megumi: "Hmm?"

Chapter 679 The So-Cold War

Hearing Kobayashi Megumi's questioning voice, Eriri realized she might have said something inappropriate. "No, we didn't... I mean... they didn't sleep together, they just slept in the same bed..."

Isn't that just sleeping together?

Eriri explained somewhat flusteredly, "My friend didn't mean it. It's because my friend's friend drank alcohol, and last time they drank, they slept together..."

Kobayashi Megumi was stunned. "Drunk and disorderly..."

"It was just after drinking! Nothing went wrong!" Eriri hesitated again. "It was a little chaotic, but nothing illegal happened..."

"I see..." Kobayashi Megumi thought for a moment, Eriri and Kasumigaoka Utaha seemed to have slept together before, "This shouldn't be a serious matter, right?"

"Is...is that so?"

"Yes, you just mentioned them. Since they are all girls and friends, as long as they don't have any ulterior motives, sleeping together and getting close is not a big deal."

"Ah...ahahaha...that's true." Eriri chuckled dryly. "I...that's what I thought too...that's what I told my friend."

Kobayashi Megumi felt sorry for Eriri, so she went straight to the point, "So, what you're worried about right now is something else, isn't it?"

“Hmm…” Eriri pursed her lips, “It’s just that after sleeping… after waking up! Didn’t I just say that my friend… my friend’s friend was doing something else? And my friend wanted to help, but my friend’s friend didn’t want her to help, so after waking up, my friend said… that sentence seems a bit harsh.”

"and then?"

"And lately you haven't been talking much..." Eriri paused, "So I wanted to ask on behalf of my friend, how did you handle the cold war with Sora?"

"Oh..." Kobayashi Megumi looked a little troubled. "Now that you mention it, I just remembered that we don't think we've ever had a cold war."

"Oh right... what about arguing?"

"There's nothing to argue about..."

Eriri: "......" That's right. Both Kobayashi Megumi and Kobayashi Sora are rational thinkers. They use the little bit of emotional thinking they have left on being affectionate. There's no room left for arguing or cold wars.

“Although I have no relevant experience,” Kobayashi Megumi chuckled, “I can ask Sora Ao; he should have a solution.”

"Yes!" Eriri immediately felt much more relieved. "Then..."

"You can continue with your previous work. I will discuss it with you again after Kong Qing comes up with a solution."

"Thank you, Megumi!" Eriri's voice was much lighter. "I mean, I'm thanking you on behalf of my friend."

"Okay~" Kobayashi Megumi replied with a smile.

-

"I see." Kobayashi Sora said after listening to Kobayashi Megumi's account. "That's how it is."

"I was wondering why Utaha and Eriri hadn't gone to see Ranran together lately. Turns out they had a falling out," Kobayashi Megumi remarked. "How cute."

This is the art of speaking.

High EQ: So cute

Low emotional intelligence: acting like a child

"It feels different than before," Kobayashi Sora mused. "We used to argue a lot, but our relationship seemed really good. Now we don't argue anymore, but instead..."

“In the past, it was just bickering at most, and even if it got intense, it was only superficial.” Kobayashi Megumi twirled her raised finger. “This time, she must be heartbroken.”

"Hmm...hmm?" Kobayashi Sora didn't quite understand this difference in emotion.

“Eri saw that Shiho was having a hard time, so she mustered up the courage to help her, but was flatly rejected. As a result, Shiho couldn’t sleep that night, so she went to Eriri’s room again.” Kobayashi Megumi further explained, “Although there was an element of anger in her words, from Eriri’s perspective, she could have helped Shiho more, but Shiho treated her like a pillow, only serving the purpose of keeping her company while she slept.”

Kobayashi Sora murmured, "Is it a misalignment between self-perception and how others perceive me?"

"On the other hand, Shiho wants to work hard on her own, whether for her own growth or to prove her abilities. Although she really needs Eriri's help, she resists the temptation and tries to face things alone," Kobayashi Megumi analyzed seriously. "But deep down, she still wants to rely on Eriri, which is why she went to Eriri's room to sleep after getting drunk. As a result, Eriri misunderstood this behavior as 'being useless except for sleeping with her'."

Kobayashi Sora understood something: "The resentment of having one's good intentions misunderstood instead of being appreciated."

Kobayashi Megumi chuckled, "Don't you know that perfectly well?"

"I only understood after hearing your explanation." Kobayashi Sora thought of a method. "How about we just get straight to the point and have a chat?"

“It’s not that simple. The so-called cold war is just because people don’t want to communicate.” Kobayashi Megumi used two index fingers to represent both sides. “It’s a contradictory and complex psychology. One side has subjective guesses about the other’s thoughts, but at the same time, they don’t want to express their emotions, lest they seem too petty, yet they can’t let go. The less the other person communicates, the more they feel their guesses are correct, and the less they want to express their emotions. But if they take the initiative to communicate, on the one hand, they will seem petty, and on the other hand, they are afraid that their guesses will be proven correct, and they will have to face the breakdown of the relationship.”

"There was doubt and lingering affection between the two of them," Kobayashi Sora seemed to understand. "In the end, it manifested in their actions as simple inaction, and this inaction on both sides turned into a cold war."

“That’s why this situation is so difficult…” Kobayashi Megumi put down her hand. “Outsiders shouldn’t interfere, but the longer it drags on, the more troublesome it becomes.”

"It really can't be delayed... Huh?" Kobayashi Sora thought of something that had just happened. "Then, should we just make them realize the importance of communication?"

“That’s true,” Kobayashi Megumi tilted her head, “but how exactly do we do it?”

"When I went out just now, I discovered this..." Kobayashi Sora briefly recounted what happened, "Although the details are slightly different, the feeling is similar."

"I can't believe this happened..." Kobayashi Megumi frowned slightly. "Will this affect the subsequent production?"

“It would have been before I knew,” Kobayashi Sora smiled, “but it won’t be now.”

Chapter 680 The Spinach Rule

"We've exhausted all our strategies!!!"

Kasumigaoka Utaha was returning from a field trip when she overheard the production manager's wailing in the studio.

These people... Kasumigaoka Utaha remembers them as members who were in charge of producing another RER anime.

Judging from this, they must have run into some trouble.

Such situations are perfectly normal during animation production.

Ideally, when the first episode airs, the fourth episode is already playable; the fifth episode completes audio-visual synthesis; the sixth, seventh, and eighth episodes complete recording; the ninth episode is edited; the eleventh episode completes visual synthesis; and the twentieth and thirteenth episodes are colorized.

In other words, the original artwork for episode thirteen was already completed before the first episode of the anime had even aired.

But this is the ideal situation.

In practice, from planning, editing, setting, storyboarding, design drafts, original drawings, in-between drawings, color specification, coloring, compositing, editing, post-production recording, audio-visual compositing to the final completion, if the beginning is not done well, the rest cannot be carried out.

In other words, if any one step goes wrong, the subsequent steps will come to a standstill.

Once the problem is solved, there won't be much time left for the subsequent steps.

When time is tight and the task is heavy, mistakes are bound to happen, which in turn will affect the subsequent steps.

Finally...

"All strategies have been exhausted!"