Snowing (Bonus Chapter 5)

Leaving Chen Dongqing's office, Fatty was still immersed in joy. With Chen Dongqing as his protector, they would definitely be able to get by more easily in Luo Mei, which was also his ultimate dream.

Just then, Haozi walked in from outside and said, "Fatty, Ding Han, want some roasted sweet potatoes? Come on, one for each of you."

"Thanks, Haozi."

I took the sweet potato from the Haozi, but I didn't really want to eat it, so I put it on the table.

After finishing his work, he finally couldn't resist picking up his phone and sending Lin Qingying a message: "Want to have dinner together tonight?"

She did not reply.

Nearly half an hour later, she finally replied, "No, I've been busy with the New Year's Day promotion plan lately, so I've been working overtime almost every day. Maybe next time?"

"Good."

I didn't say anything more, and she didn't reply.

After get off work, I take the bus home.

After eating a bowl of noodles outside the residential area, it was already getting dark when I walked out of the noodle shop, but the residential area was still lively. Li Xiang and a few friends were showing off their skills on the arcade machines in front of the convenience store.

"Brother Ding Han!"

He spotted me immediately and said, "Zhang Yuhang, move aside and let Brother Ding Han play. He has a strange ability to move!"

"Wow?"

The kid looked like he'd seen a ghost and immediately moved away. After I took over his Sha Seng from Journey to the West), I quickly gathered my energy and defeated the Carp Spirit – a clean and efficient move!

After giving Li Xiang a look that said "If you're bad, practice more," he continued to lead him through the levels, all the way to the final level, until they defeated the Bull God and cleared the level.

Around six o'clock, I asked, "Li Xiang, where's your grandpa?"

"I'm at home, I've already eaten. Shall we go skateboarding?"

"OK!"

So, Li Xiang rushed home, carrying his Night Meteor in his arms.

Downstairs in the apartment complex, more and more children gathered. Li Xiang his skills like crazy, while I stood beside him, holding a roasted sweet potato and watching with a smile.

Soon, the aunties who usually do square dancing also started.

It wasn't until 10 p. m. that the aunties finally got tired and went home, while Li Xiang was covered in sweat from playing.

"Alright, hurry home, it's so late, don't let your grandpa worry!"

"Okay!"

Li Xiang said, "Shall we practice wave manipulation together tomorrow?"

"Let it be!"

"Good!"

Li Xiang, holding his skateboard, clasped his hands in a gesture of respect like a chivalrous knight-errant before dashing home.

"Phew~~~"

I breathed a sigh of relief; the weather was unusually cold today.

Looking up at the sky, I suddenly felt something gently fall on my face. Then, one, two, three, four, and more and more fell. Countless white cotton-like flakes were floating in the sky.

It's snowing!

Huaining City is a southern city in the Crimson Dragon Country. The temperature is relatively high, and it doesn't snow every year. But I never expected that the first snow of this year would come to me so unexpectedly.

It's snowing~~~

In the distance, the sound of children's laughter could be heard.

Wow, it really snowed...

Some people opened their windows and shouted with delight.

I stood downstairs, letting the wind and snow fall on me, and looked up at the sky. Under the streetlights, the outlines of each snowflake became clearer, and the snow was falling heavily and rapidly.

For a moment, I couldn't help but shout with a laugh towards the balcony of apartment 401: "Zhang Wansen, it's snowing! Did you see that?"

After shouting, I felt inexplicably much better.

At that moment, I felt as if someone was behind me.

Turning around, I saw Lin Qingying, wearing a wool coat, looking at me with a helpless expression.

"You're back?"

"Um."

She took out her keys and locked the car. A few meters away, the Bentley's lights flashed briefly in the snow, then she looked up at the sky and exclaimed, "The snow is so heavy..."

"Yes."

Looking at her thin figure, I said, "It's too cold. How about I treat you to a bowl of mutton soup to warm you up?"

"No, I don't want it."

She gently shook her head. "I ate dinner at the company; eating a late-night snack would easily make me gain weight."

I didn't insist. "Let's go home then."

"Um."

The two walked upstairs side by side.

"Oh, Xiaoying's back?"

On the first floor, Grandma Li craned her neck to look and laughed, "You've made up?"

"Ah?"

Lin Qingying was slightly taken aback, then looked at me with some doubt.

"That's right, seize the opportunity!"

Grandma Li gave me a warm, aunt-like smile, Lin Qingying still looked puzzled, and I was completely dumbfounded.

Back at my lodgings.

Lin Qingying took out her work computer again and started an online conference call. She also opened WeChat on her phone for collaborative work. I excused myself and went to take a shower.

After taking a shower, he sat next to Lin Qingying, took out his phone and scrolled through Douyin for a while, laughing frequently.

"..."

At this moment, Lin Qingying turned to look at me, giving me a reproachful look.

"Okay, I'll turn my voice down." I quickly turned the phone volume down a bit.

Lin Qingying continued to assign tasks.

Around 11:30, she finally closed her laptop, turned to me, and said, "Ding Han, do you remember the condition I gave you for staying here for free?"

"Of course I remember."

I put my phone away. "You said you'd let me grant you one request."

"Now is the time for you to keep your promise."

As she packed her things, she said, "Make sure you have tomorrow night free."

"Okay, and then what?"

I'll let you know when the time comes.

"Good."

The next day, early morning.

Lin Qingying still got up before me; by the time I was washing up, she had already gone downstairs to work.

Luomei Building.

Today, there's a rare lull in work, with very few appliances returned for repair. Only one car refrigerator isn't cooling, and Fatty is directing Xu Hao on how to fix it.

I, on the other hand, had a rare moment of leisure, frantically working while slacking off and writing. At this point, my book, <My 23-Year-Old Beautiful Boss>, was nearing its end, and the story of Ding Han and Lu Xiaobei was about to come to a close.

Of course, this was also partly influenced by Lu Xiaobei blocking me. Whenever I write about this character, I think of Lu Xiaobei, and I can't help but feel a bit choked up, so I don't really want to continue writing.

"Beep beep beep~~~"

While I was slacking off, my phone suddenly rang. It was the editor in charge of this book calling, "Ding Han, I have good news."

"What good news?"

"Here's the thing, a publishing house contacted us, hoping to obtain the rights to this book, 'My 23-Year-Old Beautiful Boss.' They will publish it in simplified Chinese, in volumes, each with 180,000 words. So they hope you can write 540,000 words, so that it can be published in three volumes in total. You'll get 20,000 yuan per volume, and if the book sells well, you'll get even more."

"Such a good thing?"

I was surprised. After all, having been in the novel publishing industry for a long time, I knew that publishing in simplified Chinese was very difficult, and the popularity of my book was actually quite average, with an average subscription of less than a thousand so far.

"Anyway, getting it published is a good thing. If you nod your head, I'll put the contract through for you."

"Okay, thank you, Sheng Xia!"

"Polite!"

After that, Sheng Xia quickly sent me the contract, and I took the opportunity to continue slacking off. In exchange for two Liqun cigarettes, I borrowed the printer from the HR department next door and printed out the contract.

What are you doing?

The fat man asked in surprise.

"Contract."

What contract?

"Publication contract."

"What?"

Xu Hao also came over, and the two of them stared intently at my contract. When I opened the contract and revealed the title of the book, "My 23-Year-Old Beautiful Boss," they were both shocked.

"Wow, you even wrote a book..." The fat man was dumbfounded.

"Certainly."

I smiled slightly, "I used to work in an internet cafe in Creek City. I would write whenever I was bored, and before I knew it, I had written more than 400,000 words. Pretty impressive, right?"

"Sharp."

Standing to the side, Xu Hao showed an expression of deep admiration. "Ding Han, I used to read web novels online a lot, but I never thought they could actually be published. You're amazing, much more talented than many other writers."

"Just luck."

I modestly declined, but Xu Hao had already categorized me as one of the "extremely awesome" people.

The day of slacking off passed quickly, and I left work on time, taking the bus home.

Downstairs, Li Xiang was indeed guarding the arcade machines.

But he didn't have much pocket money, so he just stood aside and watched a middle-aged man play Cadillacs and Dinosaurs.

Before long, the man had lost all three of his lives, so he got up and left dejectedly, muttering something like "the joystick isn't working properly."

Li Xiang and I quickly took over, chose the Knights of Valour game, and then started playing like crazy.

Today, Li Xiang performed exceptionally well. He actually made it to the final level with me without needing to collect any coins. After defeating Sima Yi, I used precise movement to collect all the health-restoring items that dropped, while Li Xiang was left with only half a bar of health.

"You!!!"

He glared at her.

"First come, first served; get it while you can, young man!"

"You're simply..."

"Don't speak, we've met Cao Cao!"

Immediately after a fierce battle, Li Xiang was instantly killed by Cao Cao's ultimate move, while I, relying on my superior items, successfully defeated Cao Cao and turned around to taunt him wildly. "Hahahaha, Li Xiang, you're still a bit naive. You think you can stand shoulder to shoulder with me? In reality, with your strength, you probably can't even see my back!"

Li Xiang stamped his feet and pounded his chest.

As I turned around, I saw Lin Qingying standing beautifully behind me, looking at me with a speechless expression.

"Come on, I'll treat you to mutton soup," she said.

"Really, Little Ying Sister is so kind!" Li Xiang cheered excitedly.

I was happy to freeload, so the three of us headed to the mutton restaurant together.

In the cold winter, the mutton soup was warming, while snowflakes began to fall intermittently outside.

Li Xiang finished eating and drinking, he was picked up by his Grandpa Li. Downstairs in the snow, only Lin Qingying and I remained.

"Ding Han."

She took out her car keys, turned on the ignition, and said, "Get in, I'll take you somewhere."

"OK!"

After getting in the car, Lin Qingying drove away from the residential area, taking me deep into the snow. About twenty minutes later, the car slowly drove into a building. When I looked up, I saw a company name and logo: Rolling Stone Music.

"???"

What does this mean?