Ninety Percent Bone, Ten Percent Rebellion

"Brother Sheng? Brother Sheng? Who gave you the right to call him that?"

Seeing Da Jiang return, Lu Bian immediately put on a fawning look:

"Come pay respects to your Godfather!"

Hearing Lu Bian's words, Da Jiang was first taken aback: "Huh? Why?"

Then his expression brightened: "Oh, I get it! Brother Sheng, you're treating us tonight!"

"It's bigger than treating us!"

Lu Bian waved Da Jiang over to sit, then repeated the situation Gu Sheng had just laid out, word for word, to Da Jiang.

"Holy shit!" Da Jiang exclaimed in surprise. "That's awesome, Brother Sheng! There's actually some sucker company willing to hire students like us?"

Gu Sheng shrugged.

Even he didn't know why Little Nezha had passed over so many experienced candidates to pick him as Game Director.

But the fact was what it was—a pie had fallen from the sky and landed right on his head.

"Not only did they hire me,"

Gu Sheng grinned:

"I'm even the Game Director of this company."

Whoa—

At that, the two brothers across from him erupted in uproar.

Brother Sheng's hundred résumés hadn't been wasted after all. That scattergun interview strategy had actually managed to reel in a big fish.

"But right now, I'm the only project lead in the company. Director and employee are both me—a one-man show." Gu Sheng added.

The two brothers nodded.

They could understand that. After all, it was a new game studio.

To put it bluntly, if the scale weren't so small, it definitely wouldn't have been Brother Sheng's turn to be Director.

Hiring the experienced over the green was the industry consensus.

But even so, this was already insanely impressive!!!

"I'm short on people right now. No Lead Programmer or Lead Artist,"

Gu Sheng said to Da Jiang:

"I already talked to Bian'er. He's planning to come with me as Lead Programmer."

"Now it's up to you—do you want to join me?"

This...

Da Jiang hesitated.

Da Jiang was a steady, honest kid. He didn't have the creative spark of his big brother Gu Sheng, nor the family backing of his second brother Lu Bian.

His parents were ordinary working-class folks with average connections.

Now, his family had finally pulled some strings to find him a decent enough job to scrape by. If he did well, he might spend the rest of his life working, marrying, and having kids back in his hometown.

So for a moment, Da Jiang wavered.

It wasn't that he was a coward—quite the opposite. It was his way of being responsible for his life.

On the road of life, there were many choices.

And growing up, influenced by his parents, Da Jiang always picked the safest path.

Just like his parents said: We don't expect you to be great. We just want you to live a healthy, steady life.

Seeing Da Jiang hesitate, the second brother Lu Bian clicked his tongue: "Tch, Da Jiang, what the hell are you hesitating for?"

"Making games, man!"

Lu Bian urged:

"Isn't this why we studied this major in the first place? So one day everyone could play the games we made?"

"Now the chance is right in front of you. Why are you still hesitating..."

Before Lu Bian could finish, Gu Sheng waved a hand to cut him off.

Then he patted Da Jiang on the shoulder:

"It's fine, Da Jiang. I respect your decision. After all, you're not like me—one person fed means the whole family's full."

"And you're not like Bian'er, who could coast through life and still have enough family money for two lifetimes."

"You have to be responsible for your family. I get it."

"If you want, I'll keep the Lead Artist spot open for you. Whenever you feel like things are stable here, you can come. No rush."

With that, Gu Sheng smiled.

Da Jiang looked at Lu Bian, then back at Gu Sheng.

The dormitory was silent for a long moment.

Then Dajiang took the half-smoked cigarette from Gu Sheng, took a deep drag, his face flushing red as he barely held back a cough.

After holding it in for a good while, he slowly exhaled the smoke and laughed:

"I've never smoked in my life. I thought I'd choke to death on the first puff, but it's really nothing..."

With that, Dajiang pulled the three packs of instant noodles he'd just bought from the plastic bag:

"How about we just make do with noodles for lunch? Otherwise, they'd go to waste."

Pfft—

After a pause, both Gu Sheng and Lu Bian laughed.

"I'll go boil water." Lu Bian stood up and headed to the water room.

"I'll grab a couple of sausages from downstairs." Gu Sheng patted Dajiang on the shoulder and got up too.

"Then I'll wait for you guys," Dajiang said, tearing open a noodle cup. "Don't you two sneak off to eat something good without me!"

Most of the time, the understanding between brothers needed no words.

It might look a bit rough around the edges.

But it was stronger than anything.

The next day!

Gu Sheng, Lu Bian, and Xu Dajiang arrived at Golden Wind on time to report in!

Since Senior Secretary Chu Qingzhou was at Pagoda-Bearing Heavenly King Li's office reporting on work that morning, only Little Nezha received them.

"Let me introduce you. Lu Bian specializes in program architecture and engine development—he'll be our Lead Programmer from now on."

Sitting across from Little Nezha, Gu Sheng introduced the two beside him:

"Xu Dajiang specializes in art modeling—he'll be our Lead Artist."

Looking at the two across from her, Shen Miaomiao's face broke into a satisfied smile.

A Director and Lead Designer wearing a Mickey Hoodie, looking like a sunny, cheerful big kid, his head full of abstract ideas and shady operations.

A Lead Programmer in a Plaid Pink Shirt, looking like a slacker little rich second-generation.

A Lead Artist, big and burly with shoulders like a mountain, looking like he might uproot a willow tree any second.

These three sitting there!

If no one said anything, who would guess they were executives at a game company?

They were practically a destined money-losing, big-brain development team!

"Excellent,"

Shen Miaomiao nodded:

"Let me introduce myself. I'm Shen Miaomiao, President of Golden Wind."

"At Director Gu's suggestion, we've recruited two talents with extraordinary potential to join the company."

"I hope that from now on, you'll fully assist Director Gu."

"And strive to make Golden Wind an industry benchmark!"

Then, she added silently to herself—

An industry benchmark for losses that everyone runs away from!

Just like that!

With Lu Bian and Xu Dajiang joining, Golden Wind's initial lineup was formed.

Shen Miaomiao, eager to lose money, quickly signed contracts with the two.

Her efficiency left Lu Bian and Xu Dajiang stunned.

Sitting in Gu Sheng's spacious, bright office, Dajiang hugged his contract with an annual salary of over two hundred thousand, unable to put it down:

"Haha, Brother Sheng, if you'd told me the salary was this good, I'd have come sooner!"

As for Lu Bian, he flipped through the contract repeatedly, his face full of worry:

"Old Gu, is this a legitimate company? Are they going to organize a Southeast Asia Tour for us next?"

Gu Sheng snorted dismissively: "Dajiang and I might worry about that, but you? Do your kidneys even need harvesting?"

With that, Gu Sheng clapped his hands:

"Alright, before we start work, let me say one thing."

"The president of this company, as you just saw, is that Little Nezha."

"She's young, inexperienced, and knows little about the gaming industry."

"But! She has full trust in our team."

Lu and Xu nodded.

The big boss of their company looked far from sharp, his face carrying a youthful, underage innocence. Just sitting there, he exuded a pure, foolish aura from the inside out.

He basically went along with whatever Old Gu said, trusting their team unconditionally, even willing to pour in full financial support.

"Then, whether for public or private reasons, we can't take advantage of a fool," Gu Sheng said, looking at the two of them. "No objections on that, right?"

Lu and Xu naturally nodded vigorously.

College students were all about a hundred pounds of body weight with ninety pounds of rebellious bone. The more you watched them work like they were guarding against thieves, the more they'd find chances to slack off! But the more you trusted and let them be, the more they'd make things flawless for you!

"Don't worry, Old Gu, we get that," Lu Bian nodded.

Xu Dajiang chimed in too: "With this salary, we can't afford any slip-ups in the work!"

"That's the spirit!"

Gu Sheng gave a thumbs-up: "Then let's cut the chatter. Come on, you two, feast your eyes—"

"On our new project!"