Only After I Was Reborn Did I Realize That I Had Childhood Sweethearts - Chapter 191: Wheres Our Bonuses? (2)
“The remaining 50,000 yuan year-end bonus is for Guo Yun. I believe everyone should understand what she has done… This is the share our Ximilu Studio’s lead artist deserves this year.”
“How can I take so much? Can we distribute more to everyone instead…?”
Guo Yun felt embarrassed about taking away more than half of the year-end bonus.
“If you want to treat others to a meal, feel free to do so. But when it comes to our team’s game development business, we must emphasize clear rewards and punishments.”
Mei Fang placed both hands on Guo Yun’s shoulders and earnestly told her, “You are the only artist in the entire company. You handle all the scenes, characters, and UI icon resources. How hard you work and how much effort you put in, even if others don’t understand, as the person who coordinates with you, I am well aware…”
Art is the skin of a game, but it’s not just about the surface. Good art goes beyond exquisite drawings and forms a unique art style, akin to shaping its very soul.
Having a distinctive art style not only attracts players’ attention, but it also adds more sophistication and artistic appeal to the overall presentation of the work. It even extends to the entire company’s products, which revolve around this art style, forming their own brand culture and value.
Teams with such unique art styles often have high recognition in the market, like Atlus[1] with their works, such as the Shin Megami Tensei[2] and Persona[3] series, or Supergiant Games[4] with their acclaimed works like Hades[5], Transistor[6], and Bastion[7].
Their works can be easily recognized at a glance, demonstrating a strong brand value effect.
This is what they refer to as “It is easy to find programmers and designers, but difficult to find a talented lead artist.”
Nurturing Guo Yun was one of the most important career paths that Mei Fang had been laying the groundwork for since middle school, so naturally, he treated her with great importance and respect.
If the entire team were characters in a card game, the other members might be common R cards or SR cards.
But Guo Yun was a genuine SSR, an unexpected precious talent that Mei Fang discovered during his middle school days.
During their collaboration, Mei Fang realized that Guo Yun was not only versatile in art but also gradually exploring her unique art style. The new project of Ximilu Studio was tailor-made for her.
More importantly, Guo Yun had talent without arrogance. She never complained about Mei Fang’s demanding requirements and only worked hard to meet his high standards, aiming to meet his expectations.
Therefore, her loyalty to the team and to herself was especially important, and naturally, Mei Fang would give her the best treatment in order to keep her devoted.
Guo Yun had never been so close to Mei Fang before, and just locking eyes with him made her blush instantly.
She stuttered and mumbled for a while, but finally gathered the courage to raise her head and meet Mei Fang’s gaze. She then smiled faintly and said, “For the new project… I will work hard… I won’t let you down, Mei Fang… and everyone’s expectations.”
Amidst the applause and cheers from everyone, Guo Yun returned to her seat. Mei Fang took the opportunity of the gathering coming to an end to speak with everyone again. This time, his words were more gentle and encouraging, acknowledging the team’s efforts from the previous year.
He also reminded everyone not to easily disclose this money to their parents and advised them to open a personal account to save it. If their family situations were not good, they could come to him or Xia Yuan to discuss it, and it would be more appropriate to use the pretext of borrowing money to make the payments.
On the one hand, parents would worry about the impact on their studies, and on the other hand, the trio did not want their involvement in game development to be exposed too early. Once exposed, the three of them would bid farewell to a normal high school life.
After the visual impact of the 80,000 cash and all of Boss Mei’s various boasts and promises, the entire team now appeared united as one.
Everyone no longer viewed game development as just a dream from their student days, but as a dream related to their future career. Even Zhang Ming started seriously considering dropping out of the science experimental class, in order to free up time to assist Mei Fang with writing design documents and learning more about numerical data planning.
After the gathering dispersed, Mei Fang, Lin Youxi, and Xia Yuan bid farewell to everyone one by one. It was already past dinner time, and the three of them had informed their families beforehand that they wouldn’t be coming home for dinner. They decided to stroll around the night market in Baimei County together.
As they walked along the street, they chatted about various topics.
Lin Youxi didn’t show much enthusiasm at the KTV since she never enjoyed crowded places. She was only there because of Mei Fang’s insistence, but now she had a lot more to say.
“Speaking of which, Ah Fang hasn’t given me and Yuan Yuan our bonuses yet…”
“Yeah! Where’s our bonuses?” Xia Yuan linked her arm with Mei Fang’s and swayed it playfully. “Ah Fang, you didn’t come unprepared, did you? The way you talked about giving Guo Yun her bonus didn’t seem like a spur-of-the-moment decision. It was clearly prepared in advance, right?”
Mei Fang scratched his head and said, “I asked you before if you wanted it, and you told me you didn’t. But if you want it now, it’s not too late. How much do you want?”
Xia Yuan felt a little sulky after listening. “Are Youxi and I the type of people who care about that kind of bonus?”
“What do you both want then?”
“We’ve been childhood sweethearts for so many years, you should know what we want!”
“It’s because you two want too much that I couldn’t make up my mind… So, in the end, I prepared this.”
Mei Fang took out two small cards from the lining of his coat and handed one to Xia Yuan and one to Lin Youxi.
“This is——” Xia Yuan got super excited after reading the contents of the card. “A wish coupon that can make any wish come true? We used to do a lot of these. Ah Fang, you’re so childish, hahaha!”
“It’s not like any wish can come true, check the back.”
Xia Yuan and Lin Youxi looked at the content on the back.
【Restricted to wishes that high school students can fulfill. Mei Fang has the final say.】
Lin Youxi shook her head. “Since the final decision is all up to you, what can we do?”
“It’s true that it’s up to me… but after all, it’s a wish coupon,” Mei Fang smiled slightly. “So, I can adjust the scale of your wishes a little bit if it’s too much…”
“How much is a little bit?”
“Well… it depends.”
“Yue Xinyi is right, Ah Fang is really a dog,” Xia Yuan made a funny face on the side.
Lin Youxi smiled. “Can I use it now?”
“Are you in such a hurry? Well, that’s fine… Tell me, what do you want?”
“In that case…” Lin Youxi returned the wish coupon she had just received to Mei Fang. “I want you to book a hotel room, and I want to sleep together with you in the hotel tonight.” Lin Youxi added, “Remember to book a room with a big bed.”
“…”
“Ah!”
“Hey hey hey!!!”
Xia Yuan was shocked by Lin Youxi’s wish and quickly shook Mei Fang back and forth.
“Ah Fang, is that okay? Will you agree?”
“Well…”
Mei Fang is now already 16 years old, so booking a hotel room is allowed.
He asked Lin Youxi, “You just mean lying on the bed and sleeping, right? Not doing anything else?”
“Of course, we’re still high school students, our minds are focused on studying,” Lin Youxi smiled. “There’s been some unrest at home recently, and I just want a quiet place to review my homework.”
“Well… alright. I’ll figure out how to deceive my family… Oh, I can say that I’m going to an internet cafe overnight with Zhang Ming. But how are you going to explain it? I’m not responsible for dealing with Uncle Lin.”
“I’ll just say I’m staying over at Yuan Yuan’s house. I’m grown up now, and my dad trusts me. He won’t investigate.”
“Wait, wait! How did you two plan everything on your own?”
Xia Yuan pulled Mei Fang closer to her and stuffed the wish coupon into his hand. “I have a lot of homework left to do. I also want to study with you guys.”
Mei Fang already knew Xia Yuan wouldn’t just sit and watch. He turned his head towards Lin Youxi.
“Youxi, what do you say? Are you willing…”
Here, Mei Fang wanted to pass the decision to Lin Youxi. If Lin Youxi said she was unwilling, it would make Xia Yuan unhappy, and then everyone would consider other wishes.
But if Youxi was willing, then the responsibility would fall on her. Mei Fang himself wasn’t trying to play both sides.
However, Lin Youxi shook her head and smiled. “I won’t express my opinion. Ah Fang, you make the decision.”
“Hey… Since you made the wish, don’t you want to share your thoughts——”
Lin Youxi extended her finger and covered Mei Fang’s mouth. “Don’t forget, Ah Fang has the final say. The responsibility lies entirely with you.”
“I…”
Xia Yuan felt a bit helpless seeing Mei Fang’s indecisiveness. “If Ah Fang is unwilling, then forget it… I’ll think of something else——”
“Oh… Yuan Yuan, don’t be like this. I didn’t say I’m unwilling. I’m just embarrassed.”
I can’t bear to see our Yuan Yuan feeling sad…
Mei Fang put his arm around Xia Yuan’s shoulder to comfort her and said exaggeratedly, “Let’s go, let’s go together… I’ll book the room. Ah, if we get caught… well, forget it, I’ll die if I have to. If anyone’s going to be dead, it’ll be me. Everyone must be looking forward to me getting killed.”
Upon hearing this, Xia Yuan quickly covered Mei Fang’s mouth and softly admonished him, “It’s New Year’s, don’t talk nonsense, got it?”
Mei Fang nodded.
“Just wait a moment, let me wipe your mouth.”
Xia Yuan kept rubbing Mei Fang’s lips with her hand, making kissing sounds incessantly. She would also lick her own lips occasionally, and her eyes seemed to reveal various terrifying things, sending shivers down Mei Fang’s spine.
Sigh, this year-end bonus is a bit…
Right at the beginning of 2012, Mei Fang was facing the most terrifying and challenging test since his rebirth.
Translator’s Notes:
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atlus↩︎
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Megami_Tensei↩︎
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Persona_(series)↩︎
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supergiant_Games↩︎
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hades_(video_game)↩︎
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transistor_(video_game)↩︎
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bastion_(video_game)↩︎
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