After sending the person up, Li Xuan's bottle of water had just run out. The nurse took away the needle and reminded him that he would have to hang another bottle in six hours. Li Xuan's face immediately turned dark.
"Sent away?" He saw Qi Boyuan.
"Let's go." Qi Boyuan waited for the nurse to leave and closed the door. "How do you feel?"
"What do you think?" Li Xuan asked back.
Qi Boyuan groaned for a moment and said, "It's a little different from what I thought. This guy is quite interesting. You said that you made such a scene this morning. Most people might think that you were pretending to be him and trying to intimidate him, but he insisted on sending you to the hospital. Well, I really can't tell whether it's true or not. It's half and half... I'm asking you, why are you passing the buck to me again?"
"The more you care, the bigger your heart." Li Xuan said succinctly, "The benefits are all on the table."
"What kind of evaluation is this? Is it okay or not?"
"It's hard to say. Let's wait and see."
Sitting for too long while receiving an IV, my back is numb. Li Xuan stood up and stretched. Qi Boyuan thought that this was as good as saying nothing, and walked to his side: "Whether it is Song Wen or not, I really need to discuss this financing with you again. What do you think?"
“Not melting for now.”
"What about the new game?"
No matter how good the momentum of "One Corner" is, they can't always rely on one mountain. Last week, Li Xuan had already held a private meeting with Chu Tianheng. He had already set up the general framework for the later updates of "One Corner", from planning to programming. In the next two weeks, the remaining several important scene maps will be completed, which can basically guarantee the content for at least the next year. When the peak season of the mobile game market in summer is over, "One Corner" will be handed over to Chu Tianheng, and his own work focus will shift to the development of new games.
The new game was tentatively named "Against the Tracks". Li Xuan had no idea about it beforehand. By the time the meeting started, the first draft of the plan had been completed. Qi Boyuan didn't know where he found so much time every day. Unlike "One Corner", which was a small and exquisite route, "Against the Tracks" chose the direction of the most competitive action adventure category in the market.
"What do you mean?" Li Xuan pulled the corner of his mouth, "Didn't you listen to the meeting?"
"I've carefully calculated the accounts." Qi Boyuan said, "The current revenue of "Yi Yu" can basically cover the daily operations of the company. We can squeeze out some money and put it on the new game. But Li Xuan, action games are too expensive, and you even made a demo for "Yi Yu" at that time. It's so early now, and it will take at least a year to go online. In this year, it will only bring in money and not spend money, and it will not generate any income."
"Half a year." Li Xuan glanced at him, his tone casual but firm, "In half a year at most, I can launch it online."
"Are you kidding?" Qi Boyuan was surprised.
"Funny?" Li Xuan asked back, "I told you to stop caring about it and just focus on Yi Yu."
"You're the boss, how can I control you?" Qi Boyuan frowned and glanced at Li Xuan to make sure he wasn't joking. "It's not going to be done in six months."
"What have I said that has not come true?"
At least not at work.
"Okay, okay, okay." Qi Boyuan was speechless. He took out his mobile phone calculator and clicked away for a long time. "That's also very tight. Even if it's six months, even if Yi Yu maintains its current growth rate, there will still be problems with funding." He couldn't help but sigh: "Do you think I'm willing to accept investment? Don't I know that once the investors come in, they won't have so much freedom in operation? ... Or, we can put the new game off for a few months and wait until the beginning of next spring. There is no studio of our size that would develop a new game just after the first game was launched for more than a month. How many people can stick to one game until they die..."
Qi Boyuan had mentioned this in the last meeting. Li Xuan was as firm as ever: "We can't delay. How many game studios are there in the market now? Not to mention next year, the situation is changing every month and every day. Others can make a living from one game until they die, so what does it have to do with me? Besides, I don't think many of them can live to old age, as they are basically dead. If you want to join a company that provides retirement care, why bother starting a business with me? With your conditions, even if I offer you a salary twice as high as mine now, it's easy to find one outside that pays you twice as much."
He raised an eyebrow: "You are not here to live with me in my old age, and I will not allow this to happen in Yuanyi."
When it comes to work, Li Xuan can always easily convince Qi Boyuan. Many times, he doesn't even have to say too much. His absurdly idealistic ideas and arrogance make you suspect that he is a lunatic, and at the same time, you first suspect that you are ignorant.
If he wasn't an IT genius, he would probably become a pyramid scheme leader.
"If you insist on opening a new game, that's fine." Qi Boyuan gave in, just like every time before. He pressed the calculator twice again, and the screen was in front of Li Xuan's eyes, "Then we have to prepare at least this amount."
Li Xuan tilted his head to take a look, his expression relaxed: "That's about right."
"What do you mean almost? You vote yourself?"
Li Xuan rubbed his temple and simply hummed. It's not like he didn't do the math. He had worked tirelessly on a lot of outsourcing projects during his college years, and he still had some cash, stocks, and real estate, which could basically cover the gaps that would be created by the new game.
"You better tell me you can get twice that."
"No."
Li Xuan answered straightforwardly. Facing Qi Boyuan's frustrated expression, he added slowly: "If I tell you now that I have twice as much, you will definitely ask me for three times. This is an endless cycle. There is no need."
Qi Boyuan's mind was filled with alarm bells: "Why not? Don't you have a safety cushion? We are so tight now, we can't have any accidents." He sighed, thinking that it was a big mistake to volunteer to take on the financial role. He adjusted his glasses: "Not to mention that Yuanxin is still watching us. Didn't you tell me last time that there might be other things? If it really happened, who can withstand it? ... Our server was attacked again last week, right? You thought you solved it all, but I didn't know anything about it?"
"Yes, it can be solved. I can handle any of them." Li Xuan remained calm and said lightly, "What safety do you want? Fortune and wealth are found in danger."
"You are not seeking wealth. If you want wealth, you should accept the investment and stop. You are just looking for excitement."
"Is it exciting?" Li Xuan smiled, his eyes like a wolf seeing its bleeding prey in the wilderness.
Qi Boyuan felt uneasy when he saw his expression, but he had to admit that he decided to give up studying abroad and continuing his studies and start a business with Li Xuan precisely because of Li Xuan's reckless attitude.
"Don't worry about your account." Li Xuan yawned lightly with his hands covering his mouth. "The company doesn't need to recruit any more people in the second half of the year, and the budget can be further reduced."
"You're not hiring new people?! It's been online for half a year, and you wrote it all by yourself? You have 48 hours a day?"
"If I can't finish writing, I'll force you to do hard labor." Li Xuan smiled, "If you really want to count, you might as well count how much you have left. If you think it's really not enough, you can use it as a buffer. It's time to sell the stocks."
Qi Boyuan knew he was joking: "You say others have many tricks, but I see you have eight hundred tricks on you. Why don't you include the tricks in your senior's hand?"
"It's already calculated." Li Xuan tapped the number on his mobile phone screen.
Qi Boyuan was completely speechless: "... ... You really are, even a senior as steady as me falls for your tricks... ... Okay. I can't win the argument. Can you give me a chance to make a closing statement at the end, please? Opponent?"
Li Xuan made a gesture to invite him to go ahead.
"If you really don't want to accept the investment now, forget it. But I think we can still keep in touch with the investors, just in case. If, I mean just in case, the capital chain is tight, it's better to have it than not. If we put it off until then, we will be in a passive position." Qi Boyuan pulled up the information for him to see. "The managers of the two venture capital firms you rejected last month have been contacting me. Let's talk about our intentions, just like today."
"Okay." Li Xuan nodded, "You can contact him."
"Is it possible that I'm talking about you?"
"No. It's too much to meet one. Don't argue. Whoever proposes it should do it." Li Xuan said decisively, "Is there anything else to discuss? ... Then go back to the company first and don't wait here. There are too many things to do. Senior can't finish it all by himself."
Qi Bo was speechless. This was indeed true. It would be unfair to leave it all to Chu Tianheng: "Alright."
"Remember to ask someone to bring my laptop to me when you get back."
"Your hand..."
"The finger is fine again."
It's not that it's okay, it's just that the cut was shallow and didn't need to be sutured.
"You are really strong-willed despite your disability." Qi Boyuan shook his head. When he reached the door, he heard Li Xuan calling him again. He said helplessly, "What else can I do for you? The laptop is not powerful enough. I will find two poles to carry the main unit for you."
Li Xuan ignored his mockery and said, "If you want to contact the management, you can continue to contact Song Wen. You don't have to say anything final... It's your strength to be polite. He is more interesting than those professional managers."
"I thought you were praising me." Qi Boyuan cursed in his heart, slapping him and then giving him a sweet date, "Got it."
Qi Boyuan had not forgotten to bring him the meal before leaving. When it was delivered, Li Xuan was reading the recent comments on "One Corner" on the game forum.
He didn't care when the waiter put down the lunch box, but continued staring at the screen. He took the bowl and drank some soup, and his brows immediately frowned.
Hospital meals are either light or nutritious. What Qi Boyuan ordered for him was obviously the latter. The soup was stewed with pig stomach and dragon bones, angelica, white peony root, and a bunch of blood-tonifying herbs... He also knew someone who loved to stew such soup. Whether it was the restaurant or the kitchen, the smell of Chinese medicine was always wafting in the air.
"You must take more supplements to get better." Shu Xin always said this.
Li Xuan stood up and rushed to the bathroom, holding his throat and vomiting everything out.
He hadn't eaten much to begin with, and vomiting made his stomach even worse. He leaned against the sink to rest for a while, and the nausea finally subsided. After leaving the Li family, he seldom thought of Shu Xin. Compared to Li Mingge, Li Xuan always thought she was not as crazy.
But perhaps it was this bowl of soup that Shu Xin's eyes suddenly appeared in his mind. Her thin face was deeply sunken, and the way she looked at him was suffocating.
"I know she loves me very much, but sometimes I feel like she actually hates me." Li Xuan heard that voice again, "But if I can't get off the operating table tomorrow, I still hope you can take care of her for me."
What he said came true.
Li Xuan shook his head vigorously. He had already paid back what he owed. These memories had nothing to do with him anymore.
He took out his phone and looked at the date. It had been nearly a month since the last "greeting". During this period, the server of "Yi Yu" had encountered three hacker attacks of varying sizes. The other party had invested a lot of money, and the people they hired each time were considered experts. Fortunately, he had done sufficient security protection beforehand.
A tall tree attracts the wind. Li Mingge is not the only one who is eyeing "Yi Yu". However, it is hard to do what he wants when there is no grudge between them and someone who is willing to spend so much effort to trip them up.
Li Mingge did not give up forcing Li Xuan to go back, and kept waiting for him to give in, because Shu Xin needed him as her "son".
Without anyone reminding him, Li Xuan never forgot the sword hanging above his head, but he also never really cared about it.
So what if there is a threat. Li Xuan's expressionless face was reflected in the mirror. Qi Boyuan's worries might be justified. Now is not the right time to start a new game, but he has decided on the path he wants to take. Anyone else, anything, including Li Mingge, is just a small pawn. If they want to come, they will come. No one can make him change.
The whole bowl of soup was poured into the bathroom. The gauze on my hand got a little wet, so I called a nurse to change it.
"How can you touch raw water?" This was a different doctor from the previous one. This was a middle-aged woman who kept talking about precautions while changing the clothes. She was even more strict than the doctor who sewed the stitches.
"Have you changed? ... ..Thank you." Li Xuan interrupted with a headache, "I want to rest for a while."
"Then go to sleep." The nurse misunderstood his intention and put away the medical kit. Perhaps because she saw that he was alone and felt that it was pitiful that he was injured and had no one to take care of him, she kindly closed the curtains for him.
Li Xuan had no intention of sleeping, but as the light dimmed, he began to feel sleepy after not having a good rest for a few days. He did not go to bed, but fell asleep quickly while leaning against the chair.
I slept soundly, but my posture was awkward, and I couldn't say I was sleeping soundly. When my cell phone rang, I was almost immediately awakened, but my eyelids were still heavy and it was difficult to open them. After a while, I finally found my cell phone in a daze. I fumbled to press the call button, and the voice on the other end was familiar: "Hello, Li Xuan?"
His sleepiness immediately dissipated. He took the phone away and looked at the caller ID again: "... Yang Xu?"