The layoff notice that Lin Youxi received was as unpredictable as the sudden downpour today.
Mei Fang accompanied Lin Youxi to clean up the things at the workstation, and the colleagues in the same project team showed an uncomfortable look.
Some people were absent-minded at their workstations, some were holding hands and bidding farewell to each other, some were squatting by the bed talking on the phone, and some were sobbing with their heads down.
You should know that these employees are at the top of the list of Internet workers in Pengcheng.
But if even a big company like Penguin is experiencing such fierce internal competition and it is impossible to stay for a long time, is the only way to end my job is to take the civil service exam
It was difficult for Mei Fang to say anything to comfort Lin Youxi at this time, because whatever he said would sound so pale.
However, Lin Youxi was not as devastated as Mei Fang had imagined. Perhaps it was because Mei Fang was still here with her, which made her seem less lonely in this empty office area.
The two of them sat cross-legged by the large French window, watching the merciless rain ravage this city that was born only for struggle.
"Afang."
"how."
"sorry."
Lin Youxi swayed and leaned on Mei Fang's shoulder. "You accompanied me to work overtime for so long, but there was no result. I promised you so confidently, but I failed your expectations."
"It's nothing. That's what working is like."
Mei Fang told Lin Youxi about her own affairs:
"I used to work very hard with my boss, and the company was getting better and better, and we made more and more money. At that time, my boss and I were thinking about taking the company public, and we were aiming for financial freedom in one go."
"Then the Internet bubble burst, and all the projects my boss invested in went bankrupt. He laid off more than half of his employees. Now he's making a rubbish mobile game that changes skins and pays to play. It's no different from making a pile of shit. He's still alive."
Mei Fang's words made Lin Youxi laugh. She rubbed her eyes and smiled, "How can the game you made be so bad?"
“It’s not my kind of game anyway.”
Mei Fang sighed, "But it doesn't matter. We still have "White Plum Time", and you should have received a lot of severance pay, so you can take a break for a while and don't have to work so hard."
Penguin gave Lin Youxi a severance pay of 2N+1. Lin Youxi actually worked at Penguin for a total of five years, but during that time she resigned and was hospitalized in a mental hospital, so she could only receive a severance pay of half a year's salary.
Of course, Lin Youxi’s salary base is there, so this amount of money is not a small amount.
However, without the various welfare subsidies from Penguin, the daily living expenses of the two of them, mainly the rental subsidy, will be a huge expense, so Lin Youxi does not plan to sit idle.
She patted her cheeks gently, then looked at Mei Fang seriously, with a look of determination.
"After I get home today, I'm going to start writing my resume and looking for a new job!"
"Are you in a hurry to find a new job so soon? Take a gap year first."
Mei Fang touched Lin Youxi's head and said, "Wouldn't it be better if we polish our "White Plum Time"?"
"No, no, making independent games is my dream, work is my life, and I have to support you."
"Didn't I say I'll support you? Although my salary isn't high, I still have some savings. Let's figure out a solution together."
Lin Youxi shook her head repeatedly after hearing this, "That money is your wife's capital, how could I possibly use it?"
"… "
After hearing what Lin Youxi said, Mei Fang seemed a little unhappy and just kept staring at Lin Youxi.
"… "
"Are you angry?" Lin Youxi stuck out her tongue.
"What do you think?"
"I won't be your wife."
Lin Youxi pinched Mei Fang's cheek and said, "Although I look good... I am a psychopath. Why do you keep thinking about me?"
"Money can't buy my love."
"Alright, alright... If you like it, then you like it - wait until I get sick next time, and I'll torture you to death!"
Lin Youxi said as she started tickling Mei Fang.
The joy of the two people formed a sharp contrast with the sad scene hanging over the workstations.
The heavy rain surrounding the Penguin Building showed no signs of stopping.
Lin Youxi's job search was not smooth, because firstly, her qualifications were not high enough for executives, and there were not many suitable positions.
Secondly, the salary she wants is unaffordable by ordinary companies, and the companies that can afford it do not have flexible working hours like Penguin, which is not conducive to her bipolar disorder and hypersomnia.
So under Mei Fang's suggestion, Lin Youxi could only keep lowering her expected salary. For Lin Youxi, less money didn't matter, but she just wanted the work not to be too busy.
In this way, Lin Youxi finally found some companies that were very close to issuing offers and completed all the interview processes.
But Lin Youxi never received a formal offer, and all she got were regretful rejection letters—
The reason was that a history of mental illness was discovered during background check.
In fact, bipolar disorder does not appear to be a very serious disease. It does not affect intelligence and rarely occurs to affect other people.
But the most difficult point on Lin Youxi's current resume is that she has a two-month history of mental illness.
Although Lin Youxi tried hard to explain the reasons to the HR, she still failed to get the other company's approval.
She also didn't have a supervisor like her manager at Penguin who understood her situation and recognized her abilities.
As for Lin Youxi's former manager in the Penguin project, it is said that he is now planning to sell his house in Pengcheng and return to his hometown to live.
During the job-hunting period, Lin Youxi became increasingly anxious and often started to chat with Mei Fang at any time. Mei Fang would reply immediately once she saw her message, helping her analyze the problems with her resume and also helping her find some ways. Unfortunately, her responses were always in vain.
Every day when Mei Fang returned home, she would almost always see Lin Youxi sleeping on the sofa. She had filled the coffee table with various documents and interview materials. She was trying very hard to find a job but had not received any response.
Mei Fang also couldn't bear to see Youxi continue to be so anxious, as this would not be conducive to the stability of her bipolar disorder.
So he found an opportunity to talk to Lin Youxi about this:
"Penguin has laid off so many people recently. You are competing with your former colleagues."
"I think, why don't we wait for a while and make a demo of "White Plum Time" first. If the game is successful, I will quit my job and we can become independent game producers together. This way, we won't be disgusted by those bosses."
"Well, I don't want to be mad at those bosses anymore."
Lin Youxi raised his head and looked at Mei Fang with a worried look on his face:
"Ah Fang... do you think we can do it?"
"Although it may sound a bit boastful, this is my own work after all. I know how good it is and I am quite confident."
Mei Fang said as he hugged Lin Youxi to comfort her, "By the way, there will be a Nuclear Fusion independent game exhibition at the end of this month. I have already registered to participate. This is also the first time we will announce our plan to the public."
"Why didn't you tell me in advance? If so, I would have to check the code carefully to see if there are any bugs."
"There won't be any bugs in Youxi's code."
"Do you look down on programmers? How dare you say such frivolous things!"
Lin Youxi and Mei Fang made a fuss on the sofa for a while, then Mei Fang picked Lin Youxi up and held her close to him for a while, and then laid her down on the sofa.
"Okay... It's time to take your medicine. I'll go get it for you."
"Um."
"By the way, it looks like you're running low on olanzapine. Let me buy some for you."
"No, no need... I can buy it myself. You can't buy these prescription drugs without your medical records."
"Then I'll transfer the money to you. If you run out of money, tell me."
"It's not like I have no savings at all. I still have half a year's salary to spend. Don't look down on me."
Mei Fang pinched Lin Youxi's nose and said, "But your rent will cost you a lot of your salary every month! We are sharing the house anyway, so just think of it as me paying you the rent, okay?"
"Well... if you must give it to me, I will save it for you. It's your wife's money."
"How can there be such a cheap wife, who only costs several thousand yuan a month?"
"If I weren't sick, I'd definitely be able to—"
Perhaps realizing that he was giving Mei Fang an opportunity by saying this, Lin Youxi suddenly shut up.
At this time, Mei Fang smiled at Lin Youxi:
"So, you still want to be my wife, right?"
"What the hell, huh!"
Lin Youxi stretched out her legs and pressed against Mei Fang's stomach, "Go and feed me the medicine."
"I know, I know."
While preparing for "White Plum Blossom Time" at home, Lin Youxi had more time, so she tried to do some housework to reduce Mei Fang's workload.
From the simplest cleaning, mopping the floor and flushing the toilet to washing and drying clothes and doing a general cleaning.
In fact, she used to do a lot of housework by herself, but Mei Fang's arrival turned her into a homebody.
call…
How did I become like this
While cooking noodles, Lin Youxi was thinking about every little thing that happened after she and Mei Fang were together.
They have been living together for more than a year.
But it felt like a very long time, much longer than her muddled student days.
She initially contacted Mei Fang just to complete the "White Plum Time" project, but the two of them got along better and better the more they talked. Although they did not officially confirm their relationship as a couple, everything they did was almost the same as that of a couple.
Therefore, Lin Youxi had indeed thought about what kind of life she and Afang would live if she were not mentally ill
It's just like those common young couples, shopping together, eating together, watching movies together, and making plans for the future together.
Lin Youxi has never felt the warmth of maternal love since she was a child. Instead, she hopes to become a mother and bring such happiness to her children...
Come to think of it, it was Yuanyuan who wanted to be a mother the most when I was a child.
When she and Lin Youxi played house, she always played the role of Lin Youxi's mother. Although she never took the initiative to say the reason, she probably did that because she thought Lin Youxi was pitiful because she didn't have a mother...
Lin Youxi was immersed in some happy memories of the past and fantasies, and before she knew it, she realized that smoke was coming out of her noodle pot.
…
Although the noodles were mushy, Mei Fang still ate them with gusto, looking like she was enjoying the meal.
"If you don't think it tastes good, don't eat it."
“What’s the difference between delicious and undelicious noodles… They all taste the same.”
Mei Fang happily slurped Lin Youxi's noodles while chatting with Lin Youxi about tomorrow's Nuclear Fusion Independent Game Expo.
"I originally wanted to invite Guo Yun and Peng Xue to participate, but one of them had social phobia and didn't want to go out, and the other was busy with work so they couldn't go. I went to our company to ask, and several planners under me said they would help me set up the venue. The boss said he could lend me his car, so I could transport all the peripherals and notebooks over."
"By the way, that biggest poster board in the house, was that drawn by Guo Yun for us? It looks like it took quite a while to make, it's really exquisite."
The promotional poster drawn by Guo Yun is also equivalent to the promotional picture of the game. The male protagonist in the poster is holding a girl with pink hair and a girl with long black straight hair on his left and right.
The setting sun infinitely lengthened the shadows of the three people, and the surrounding streets and street scenes were all pixelated renderings of the real scenes of Baimei County. Then the pixel font of "Baimei Time" was designed right above the poster.
"Yeah... She also told me that this is not my money, but an apology for not coming to Pengcheng to participate in the exhibition."
"She's really quite reserved."
Lin Youxi smiled and said, "She's just a girl with a very good personality. If someone had discovered her shining points earlier, she might have been more confident."
As she spoke, she looked at Mei Fang again.
However, if he wants to be worthy of our Ah Fang, he is still a little bit short...
"Brother Fang, Brother Fang!"
At around eight o'clock in the morning, the boss, Brother Xu, brought three or four people from the company to the neighborhood where Mei Fang and Lin Youxi lived. He helped Mei Fang and the others move the props for decorating the venue into the car, and then handed the car keys to Mei Fang.
"I was originally planning to go with you, but I have to discuss cooperation with the bosses of several companies today, so you guys better do your best, hahaha."
"Yeah, thank you, Brother Xu—"
"Thank you, Brother Xu."
Even Lin Youxi, who usually doesn't like to say hello to others, expressed her gratitude to Mei Fang's boss Brother Xu.
Brother Xu patted Mei Fang on the shoulder and said, "Come on, work hard. You are a very talented young man. I believe your independent game will be a success."
"Brother Xu, I'm not young anymore."
"You're still young if you're under 30, right? Hahaha!"
Brother Xu patted Mei Fang's shoulder vigorously and said, "As the saying goes, men are young until they die. When the company gets through this painful period, I will also make an independent game to play with. Haha, that's the fun of making games."
Xiao Cao, who was moving things nearby, couldn't help but complain: "Boss, you have to keep your word. We have wanted to make a pigeon for a long time."
"What kind of porn! If we want to make a game, we should make a galgame, a game for beautiful girls!"
"Yeah yeah yeah, long live Brother Xu!"
Although everyone knew that the boss was just talking nonsense, no one could hide their excitement.
We should always have dreams, what if they come true one day
Nuclear Fusion is one of the few exhibitions in China that focuses on gaming. Other exhibitions are basically based on COS comic exhibitions and fan exhibitions.
In addition to the works of some big-name manufacturers, many independent game studios will also choose to participate in activities at this time just to promote their own game works.
However, in this era, the craze for independent games has passed. After experiencing the distrust brought about by many early access games, domestic independent games are more often stagnant.
Mei Fang knew this when he started working on "White Plum Time", so he never actually expected that the game he made would become a hit. This gameplay is not a hit genre, it is really too niche.
I just hope I can make Youxi happy.
Make up for her regrets.
Regarding the development progress of "White Plum Time", Mei Fang has actually always maintained a contradictory attitude.
On the one hand, he hopes to fulfill Lin Youxi's wish as soon as possible, but on the other hand, he is also worried that after the "White Plum Time" project is completed, they will lack the inseparable bond between them.
Although he originally hoped that the relationship maintained by spending time together day and night would make Lin Youxi dependent on him, now it seems that he is more immersed in this relationship.
Oh... this is really difficult.
Mei Fang, Lin Youxi and their colleagues from the company began to set up the venue.
Baimei Shiguang's game exhibition was in the corner of the exhibition hall. After all, the studio had never been well-known before, so it was basically impossible for it to get a good position. But of course it didn't matter, everyone knew it.
Mei Fang also specially asked her mother to send the school uniform of Baimei No. 1 Middle School from her hometown, and invited Lin Youxi to be the poster girl for the exhibition.
Lin Youxi, who was wearing Mei Fang's school uniform, looked very embarrassed. She knocked Mei Fang's head angrily, "Am I not just pretending to be young when I say this?"
"What do you mean by pretending to be young? You look very young in this outfit. It looks good."
This is Mei Fang’s high school uniform jacket, which is signed with the names of her high school graduation classmates.
Lin Youxi looked at the names on the school uniforms and said, "I don't even remember the names of your classmates."
"Our class isn't a very good class to begin with, so it's normal that you don't know him."
Lin Youxi asked curiously, "Is your high school crush among them? I saw the name Zhang Ming written on your chest, is it her?"
"This is a man, my gay friend..."
"Do you have any close friends of the same sex? Why haven't you ever asked him out to meet up with you?"
"He worked for Huaxing Company and is now assigned to Uknan. I haven't seen any updates from his Moments in the past two years."
"In Ukonnen? There's no way back now."
"Not necessarily."
Mei Fang smiled and said, "My friend may not have any other shortcomings, but he is very lucky. Maybe after a bloody battle, he will become a top soldier in Uknan and return."
"What novel setting is this... You should just go distribute the game flyers. We won't be able to attract anyone to come and see our place from this location."
"Okay, you should do your best too."
Mei Fang gave Lin Youxi a thumbs up, and the two looked at each other and smiled.
If "White Plum Time" can continue like this -
It's not that bad actually...
Mei Fang was handing out flyers at the entrance of the nuclear fusion exhibition with a brochure. It was actually not a good idea to exhibit a story like Mei Fang's at the nuclear fusion exhibition. After all, the learning cost for everyone to understand the story line was very high, so it would be more efficient to use some fun co-op games.
You can see that many booths of happy co-op games and action games are crowded with players queuing up to try out the games. A player took the "White Plum Time" flyer distributed by Mei Fang, wiped his hands with it, and then threw it into the trash can.
…
Don’t be angry. Don’t be angry. This is the norm for newbies organizing exhibitions.
There are some players whose hometowns are near Baimei County. They have heard of the name of Baimei County, so they are curious and want to go and see the games made by Mei Fang and others.
The first half hour after the exhibition was open was when the flow of customers was the highest. Mei Fang stood at the door and worked hard to distribute flyers. She was busy until she had distributed all the flyers in her hand before returning to her own exhibition.
By the way, let’s see if my wife is trying hard to fulfill her duties as a good-looking model.
…
Mei Fang walked quickly towards his booth, only to see that there were only one or two players trying out the game at "White Plum Time". It was quite deserted.
However, in front of Lin Youxi, a girl in a brightly dressed skirt was greeting Lin Youxi enthusiastically in dialect.
"Isn't this school uniform the uniform of Baimei No. 1 Middle School? I miss it so much! Are you from Baimei County..."
"Forehead… "
Lin Youxi nodded hesitantly. Looking at the other person's delicate features and face full of smiles and vitality, Lin Youxi even had a sense of misperception. She quickly greeted Liu Xiaoyu in dialect, "What a coincidence! Are you also an alumnus of Baimei No. 1 Middle School?"
"Yes, yes! Wait, wait... I think I know you... Are you Lin Youxi? The genius student in our grade who always gets first place in exams?"
"The God of Learning is—"
Before Lin Youxi finished speaking, the girl in a skirt grabbed Lin Youxi's hands and said, "Yes, yes... You are Lin Youxi! Fate is so wonderful. We are not only alumni and fellow townsmen, but also classmates from the same class."
The girl's eyes fell on Lin Youxi's school uniform. After seeing the crooked names on the uniform, she opened her eyes wide in surprise:
"Wait... the names on your school uniform... aren't they the boys in our class? Zhang Ming, Wang Zhi, He Mingfan..."
She seemed to remember something, and then smiled at Lin Youxi, "Could you please turn around? I want to see if there is my name on the back."
"Yeah... OK."
Lin Youxi turned around as instructed by the girl. The girl's expression suddenly became a little excited. She then placed her hand on the back of Lin Youxi's chest, on the shoulder blade. The three words "Liu Xiaoyu" were written in very beautiful handwriting on that position.
At this moment, she turned back suddenly and happened to meet Mei Fang's eyes, who was so surprised that he was speechless.
After a brief moment of astonishment, Liu Xiaoyu tilted his head slightly and greeted Mei Fang with a smile:
"Long time no see, Mei Fang."
I actually had a fever of 38.6 degrees today, but I still forced myself to finish writing it. I wonder if I have double positive.
(End of this chapter)