Pursuing Her Best Friend after Confession Failed-Chapter 127 - 96: Game Development, The Tricked Treasure Girl_2

Chapter 127: Chapter 96: Game Development, The Tricked Treasure Girl_2

The rest of the time was still focused on building the website. This would be followed by promotion, attracting traffic, and creating hype to draw in university student registrations.

For instance, Zhihu’s four main features at the time were the basketball and football communities—topics of great interest to male university students. Basketball was especially popular because Yao was still playing in the NBA, so it could definitely be used to drive traffic later on. The Confession Wall was geared toward female university students, who are more concerned with romance and emotional matters; this was another way to attract female users. As for the "Random Chatter" section, it was for all sorts of bizarre and trendy subjects where you could just "spin your story," so long as it was interesting and gimmicky enough.

In his office, Li Yuan continuously typed out his ideas on the computer.

Next door, Xia Zhijin was quietly tidying up the conference room, occasionally glancing in Li Yuan’s direction, lost in a daze.

I’m not any help to him at all.

Xia Zhijin felt a pang of disappointment. Only after truly entering this environment did she realize she was completely clueless about many things. The knowledge Li Yuan had taught her was so basic that, in a workplace filled with computer experts, she didn’t even qualify as a beginner—she was a complete novice.

That morning, besides having her distribute materials a few times when the meeting began, Li Yuan hadn’t spoken a single word to her. Instead, he had been deeply engaged in conversation with the other employees. They had common topics, talking about how to develop games and build websites.

Meanwhile, she felt like an invisible bystander with no role to play, able to do nothing more than silently clean the office.

Just as Xia Zhijin’s mind was racing with wild thoughts, Li Yuan walked into the conference room and called out sternly, "Secretary Xia, come to my office."

This was the first time Xia Zhijin had ever heard Li Yuan speak to her in such a tone. She jolted, her body trembling as she replied fearfully, "Oh, coming."

Seeing her reaction, Li Yuan almost couldn’t hold back a laugh. He coughed, took a sip of water, and beckoned to her.

"Come over. Sit across from me."

Xia Zhijin obediently sat down in front of Li Yuan, separated by the desk. She kept her head bowed, nervously fiddling with the hem of her clothes.

Li Yuan pushed a contract he had prepared earlier toward her. "Here’s your contract. Sign it," he said, his face expressionless.

Xia Zhijin numbly took the contract, feeling completely at a loss.

Li Yuan’s expression was very serious. "What, you don’t want to sign?"

Looking into Li Yuan’s stern gaze and then at the official red seal on the contract, Xia Zhijin was suddenly overcome with an immense sense of loss. It felt as if a heavy stone was pressing on her heart, and tears welled up in her eyes. She didn’t understand her relationship with Li Yuan. He had already done... *that* to her. But if they were boyfriend and girlfriend, why would they need to sign a contract?

Does he just see me as his employee?

With her eyes red, she quietly lifted her head for a deep look at the serious-faced Li Yuan before quickly lowering it again. With trembling hands, she picked up the pen. Without even looking at the contents, she signed her name.

Holding back her tears, Xia Zhijin pushed the signed contract toward Li Yuan. Her voice was low and dejected. "Director... Director Li... it’s... it’s signed."

Li Yuan seemed not to notice the change in how she addressed him. He spoke calmly, "Secretary Xia, press your thumbprint over your name."

Xia Zhijin’s eyes were red and shimmering with tears that looked ready to spill at any moment. She reached out with her soft, pale hand, dabbed it on the ink pad, and pressed her thumbprint over her signature.

Her voice trembled. "Director... Director Li... here."

Pretending not to see her pained, tearful expression, Li Yuan took the signed contract. He flipped to the middle and, seeing the special clauses he had intentionally added, couldn’t help but smile.

"Good, Secretary Xia," he said. "I’ll sign this special contract, too."

Li Yuan also signed his name and pressed his thumbprint next to hers.

Heh heh, perfect.

Li Yuan slowly stood up from his executive chair, gave a long stretch, and rolled his shoulders before walking over to the teary-eyed Xia Zhijin.

Seeing her on the verge of sobbing, he bent down and kissed her smooth, jade-like forehead.

Meeting Xia Zhijin’s panicked gaze, Li Yuan laughed mischievously.

"Classmate Xia Zhijin, now that you’ve signed this contract and stamped your thumbprint, you belong to me for life."

"From now on, I’m the boss of this company, and you are the boss’s wife, in charge of managing the company’s finances."

"Oh, and my dear Zhijin, the contract you just signed has a term of one lifetime. You’ll never escape my grasp now."

Caught off guard by Li Yuan’s sudden move, Xia Zhijin hadn’t even processed his words when she heard his triumphant laughter, like a schemer whose plot had succeeded.

She could no longer hold it in, and tears streamed down her cheeks, dripping onto the floor.

Seeing that she was truly crying, Li Yuan quickly stepped forward and pulled her into his arms.

Xia Zhijin’s mind went even blanker. She hadn’t expected Li Yuan to be so bold as to hold her right in the office, in plain view of everyone.

She shyly lowered her head, her voice barely a whisper. "Let... let me go!"

Ignoring her, Li Yuan simply tightened his grip, pulling her closer into his embrace.

"Zhijin, you’ve signed a contract with me. Our relationship is official now. What does it matter if others see?"

Xia Zhijin’s tears flowed freely. Being held by Li Yuan, all her worries, grievances, and fears vanished in an instant.

"Li... Li Yuan, I’m so scared. I’m afraid this is all a dream and that when I wake up, everything will be gone."

"And seeing you so busy... I can’t help you with anything."

Li Yuan gently stroked her hair. This girl, who appeared so delicate on the outside, was incredibly strong within.

"Silly girl, don’t overthink things. Just being by my side is the biggest help you can be."

"Besides, you’re just a freshman—no, your classes haven’t even officially started yet. What more could you do to help me? You’re already doing great."

"If you really want to help, then manage the company’s finances for me. I can’t trust anyone else with that financial authority."

Xia Zhijin’s body trembled. She asked hesitantly, "But I don’t know anything about finance."

Li Yuan smiled. "It’s simple. Finance is mainly about income and expenses. The company doesn’t have much income right now, so you just need to handle the expenses—paying salaries, buying office supplies, or getting milk tea and lunch, things like that."

"It’s almost noon. You can start by going to the mall downstairs and ordering lunch for everyone. Since it’s our first day, let’s all get together. We can have hot pot or all-you-can-eat barbecue."

"See, Zhijin? You have a lot of work to do. I’ll be relying on you from now on. So don’t ever think you’re useless or can’t help me, understand?"

"Mhm." Xia Zhijin lifted her head, her tone serious as she replied, "Li Yuan, I’ll work hard."

Suddenly, a knock sounded at the door. Li Yuan stroked her hair one last time, releasing her with some reluctance.

"Someone’s coming in. I’ll teach you how to manage the company accounts later."

Xia Zhijin shyly lowered her head. "Then I’ll go order lunch first."

As soon as Hu Zhenqiang entered, he saw Xia Zhijin scurry out with her head lowered. He chuckled to himself; it was obvious to everyone that the relationship between Director Li and Secretary Xia was anything but ordinary.

Hu Zhenqiang looked at Li Yuan with admiration. Despite his youth, his understanding and strategic planning for game development were incredibly farsighted. The fact that White Jade Capital studio’s first major project was a large-scale PC game particularly demonstrated Li Yuan’s extraordinary ambition.

Hu Zhenqiang handed a document to Li Yuan. "Director Li, I’m here to report on something. This is the work plan I drafted based on the major milestones of the development process. Please take a look."