636. Gagging
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Two months after the wedding…
The festive mood has slowly faded away, and Chen Yao and Lin Nan are back to their previously tranquil daily lives.
Chen Yao’s little game studio finally released their game! Huzzah!
But alas, it’s not quite the fairytale ending. Despite the labor of love Chen Yao poured into it, the reception was…well, let’s just say it wasn’t exactly fireworks and confetti.
In a desperate bid to salvage the game’s reputation, the whole studio has adopted a grueling 997 work schedule—because apparently “work-life balance” is so last season.
Meanwhile, Lin Nan is busy plotting her own future—she’s got the wedding gift money and intends to start a tutoring class in the provincial city.
Investing in real estate is the name of the game when you have cash, and while the property prices in the provincial city are sky-high, they’re still not as insane as those in L Island, where the school is. Lin Nan figures that even if she buys now, the value should appreciate over a few years—or at the very least, it won’t plummet too much.
But the reality is that, while a couple hundred thousand seems like a lot, it barely covers a down payment.
Previously, she was driving back to the county town for work every day, wasting three hours of her life stuck in traffic. Now, with a little money, she dreams of cutting out the daily grind.
Plus, after a stellar performance by her students in the college entrance exams, including one overnight miracle who got into Tsinghua, Lin Nan feels ready to take on the world and start her own tutoring class.
Imagine the riveting ad: “A genius-level English teacher who produced a Tsinghua student in just one year!” Surely the parents would line up with cash in hand, yes?
The visions in her head are sparkling and rosy, but the reality smacks her hard—the formal process of starting a tutoring class requires approval from the education bureau and a business license. And she’s still deep in paperwork hell before even opening her doors.
After quitting her job, Lin Nan has taken over the culinary responsibilities for Chen Yao, which is…well, let’s just say she’s still figuring it out.
One night, after a long day of running around, Lin Nan returned home utterly exhausted.
Her first obstacle in getting that elusive business license? Finding a venue.
She’s never rented a place by herself. In college, she just inherited a rental from Zheng Qian, and once moving in with Chen Yao, all the house-hunting stress was his. She lived there for years without even knowing what the landlord looked like.
Now, faced with the task of finding a place, Lin Nan combs through countless online rental horror stories, but when push comes to shove, negotiating with landlords turns out to be a not-so-hidden talent of hers—meaning she has none.
Every crummy apartment looks like a palace according to the landlords, and the prices? Don’t even get her started. They see her youth and think, “Fresh meat!”
Some landlords were straightforward, but their brutal honesty sent Lin Nan running for cover.
So there she sat, plopped on the couch, devoid of energy and almost stuck to the upholstery.
After contemplating life for a solid ten minutes, Lin Nan finally dragged herself up, yawning dramatically. She opened a bottle of milk, and at that moment, the faint smell turned her stomach—cue the gagging!
Furrowing her brows, she made her way sluggishly toward the kitchen.
There’s just been something off lately.
But every time they…you know, GHS, she used Purification Magic as a safety measure, so logically, she should be in the clear. After all, Lilith has been partying it up for ages and hasn’t gotten pregnant.
Must be the stress of it all, right?
Diving into the deep end of entrepreneurship is perhaps not the most rational decision. The pressures of starting up have her losing sleep, and although Chen Yao reassured her that losing it all would be fine, Lin Nan can’t shake off her anxieties about her capabilities.
The 80/20 rule applies to every industry, but entrepreneurship? The odds are even worse—out of ten, nine fail, and the last one? Who knows if they’ll even make a profit.
Pulling a frozen chicken drumstick from the fridge and tossing it into warm water to defrost, Lin Nan’s mind was still swimming with worries.
Finding a job again wouldn’t be too daunting; after all, she did manage to create a Tsinghua student from her tutoring class, and there’s only one in the entire county!
Slowly coming back to reality, she picked up a few drumsticks to debone.
Just as she sliced through, a wave of dizziness hit her, and the kn*fe slipped—oops! Right into her finger!
Lin Nan, a kitchen warrior by practice, winced but managed to grab a kitchen towel, applying pressure to the wound like a boss, before prowling through the coffee table drawer for a band-aid.
The cut wasn’t too severe, but boy, was there a lot of bl**d flowing!
As she crouched behind the coffee table on the hunt for her magical band-aids, she heard a light “ding” from the front door.
She looked up to see a tired Chen Yao shuffle in.
“Off work early today?” Lin Nan said, unable to find her prized band-aid and grimacing as she wrapped her finger in the kitchen towel.
“The studio is kaput,” Chen Yao announced nonchalantly, slipping on his indoor slippers. “I told them that game wasn’t going to fly. Now look, it tanked, and the studio’s gone poof.”
He approached Lin Nan, noticing her slightly panicked expression. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing!” Lin Nan quickly stood up, hiding her left hand behind her back.
But as Chen Yao turned, he spotted a trail of bl**d leading from the kitchen to the living room. And there was Lin Nan with the pathetic towel-wrapped finger.
“I told you to be careful while cooking!” Chen Yao said in exasperation, frowning as he headed to the shoe cabinet. He opened the top cabinet and retrieved a band-aid.
The couple settled onto the couch, and Chen Yao delicately positioned the band-aid over Lin Nan’s finger and asked, “Does it hurt?”
“Not too bad? Cutting your hand is just a rite of passage in cooking. Why the dramatic concern?”
“I’ll cook tonight. We’ve been working 997 for ages. The studio’s shutdown could be a blessing; now we can take it easy and work on that tutoring class together.”
After securing the band-aid, Chen Yao inspected it a little too closely before finally relaxing. He grabbed the remote and turned on the TV, offering Lin Nan a highly rated movie. “You just relax and watch something.”
“Sure!”
Lin Nan, still covering her finger, watched as Chen Yao got up and reached for the milk that had been sitting unopened on the counter.
As soon as she raised it to her lips, an uncontrollable wave of nausea hit her again.
Chen Yao’s eyes widened as he turned back to see Lin Nan bent over the trash can, dry heaving.
“Not sleeping well lately?” she stood up quickly, rubbing her sore eyes and trying to explain.
“Oh… right…,” Chen Yao nodded, a bit bewildered. He considered heading to the kitchen again but pivoted to the shoe cabinet and pulled out a curious-looking white electronic device before returning to the couch, regarding Lin Nan with utmost seriousness. “Have you started your period?”
“My period?” Lin Nan thought hard, “Um… seems stable enough?”
Chen Yao’s face fell dramatically.
“But, yesterday was the day it should’ve started, and there’s been no sign. What if… am I, like, pregnant or something?” Lin Nan joked, trying to ease her own tension, but we all know jokes aren’t funny when they get real.
Chen Yao’s eyes lit up; he bobbed his head eagerly.
“Not possible! I have magic, like, does pregnancy happen on command?”
“Maybe the magic has a glitch?”
Lin Nan shot him a playful kick and narrowed her eyes, “No way!”
“Shall we hit the hospital tomorrow for a check?”
She hesitated, peering down at her flat belly, brows knitted tightly. Eventually, she slowly nodded.
Could she really be pregnant?!
Imagining a little demon child causing chaos like some over-the-top anime scenario sent shivers down her spine.
And for Pete’s sake, she’s only twenty-one! Only twenty-one!
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Finally, the updates owed are done! Starting today, this book will update daily, and after a few days of rest, I’ll start preparing a new one.
