63 Chapter Sixty-Two

◎ Li Yingqiao, welcome to the Boyfriend System. ◎

Zheng Miaojia's "Electrical Appliance Alliance" has become a hit online.

However, it wasn't because the comic was too crazy, but because two fans and haters of a certain rice cooker brand were arguing in the comments section—one mocked the other for being a nobody who didn't understand smart home technology, while the other ridiculed the other for being so knowledgeable about smart home technology that he must have connected toilet water to the rice cooker and used toilet water to cook, and that his mouth was so foul.

The two argued for over 400 floors, uttering witty remarks and frequently coming up with hilarious jokes, which propelled the comic to the top of the trending searches.

Zheng Miaojia was already used to this; after all, she was a comic book blogger with millions of followers, and she had seen all sorts of things. But just as she was preparing to serialize the second chapter, "The Temptation of the Refrigerator," she discovered that the comment section had been completely overrun. No one cared about her comic at all, and various appliance brands had jumped on the bandwagon, promoting their own appliances in the comments section.

However, when she woke up, the comment section had nearly reached hundreds of thousands of posts, and the tone had completely changed, filled with all sorts of complaints:

"Is no one complaining about air conditioning fans? Where exactly do they cool you? Where do they cool you down?!"

"It'll be cool when you pay your electricity bill at the end of the month."

"A collection of people who want to curse air fryers."

"Why isn't anyone clearing the mines from the tanks? Is it because they can't find the link?"

"Electrical Union" has unexpectedly become a hit, reaching a much wider audience than the previous "Ape Conference," since everyone owns home appliances. While everyone is recommending and warning against various brands of appliances, many of Zheng Miaojia's longtime fans have noticed that this comic seems to be a collaboration with a scenic spot called Xiaohuacheng.

"Madam, so there will be actual locations for taking photos?"

In the almost completely flooded comment section, Zheng Miaojia finally found this reply and said: "Yes, it is a cyberpunk-themed scenic spot. Once it is completed, everyone is welcome to come and check it out."

"Wow, cultural tourism projects these days all have to create their own IPs, right? They're even getting into cyberpunk."

Zheng Miaojia ignored the sarcastic comments and turned to call Li Yingqiao. The latter was on a business trip in the provincial capital and had just finalized an agreement with an advertiser for a large-scale advertising campaign at a train station for the second half of the year. Stepping back into her room on the wool carpet, she collapsed onto the bed as if she had lost her spirit: "What's wrong, Miaojia? I'm in the provincial capital."

Someone was showering in the bathroom, the sound of water coming in fits and starts. Li Yingqiao, holding her phone, glanced at the bathroom from her bedside, a slight smile playing on her lips, before turning her gaze back to the window. She heard Zheng Miaojia on the other end of the line, self-deprecatingly telling her, "Right now, everyone online is recommending and debunking all sorts of appliances. You should take this opportunity to order a rice cooker; you might as well use this data."

“Okay, we’ll see in a bit, but let’s take it slow. Some things can’t be rushed,” Li Yingqiao comforted her. “This is a good thing. Convey Capital’s due diligence will take another month to complete, and all major decisions for Xiaohuacheng are currently suspended. Even if the due diligence is completed and the contract is signed immediately, we still need to wait for approval and registration from the China Securities Regulatory Commission, which will take at least three months. Moreover, during this initial integration process, Convey will definitely send observers to Xiaohuacheng, which means all decisions will have to be discussed with Convey headquarters. The actual implementation plan for this project cannot be realized in the short term.”

Zheng Miaojia wasn't in a hurry, but she didn't know that Li Yingqiao had a bet with Zhang Zongxie, so time was actually very tight. Her only regret was missing out on this current pool of traffic; who knew when she'd get another chance like this?

The implementation will actually be quick; the infrastructure will be completed in at most a month: "You really want to make an acquisition? It's so annoying. I was going to recommend someone to you, that friend Yu Jinyang. I was drinking with him at a food stall the other day, and we talked all night long, wow. He has some ideas about deconstructing art spaces. If possible, we can ask him to build the actual set, but if we have to wait until the acquisition is finished, he said that after he finishes designing the ice cream cone, he will go back to Chicago to continue his studies."

"You chatted all night?" Li Yingqiao glanced at the bathroom again subconsciously, sat up, took off her high heels, and threw them in the entryway. "You didn't just talk about Kiefer's aesthetics of ruins, did you?"

They were both academics, but when two academics could reach a consensus on aesthetics, their dopamine levels would be so high they'd fill the sewers. Not to mention the mental climax. Zheng Miaojia rarely met a man as obsessed with industrial ruins as she was. She said, "Qiaoqiao, I think Zhong Su's brain is very sexy. Can you understand me?"

Li Yingqiao, of course, didn't understand how the brain could be sexy. She lacked the talent for music, painting, dance, or any other art-related activities. From a young age, she was only sensitive to numbers and geometry. Understanding such abstract and emotional concepts was very difficult for her.

"Never mind, you wouldn't understand." Zheng Miaojia knew her well. "Then do you think Yu Jinyang is sexy?"

"Miaojia, my understanding of sexiness is very one-sided... you know what I mean."

Zheng Miaojia hung up the phone. The two of them really didn't have much in common when it came to art. Just like that night at the dock, Li Yingqiao and Yu Jinyang were actually a little sleepy and their minds were a bit hazy towards the end of their conversation, but they just felt like they still had so much to say, and neither of them brought up the idea of ​​leaving.

Actually, we talked quite a bit, but there were no more intimate gestures. We let the cicadas sing in the trees and let the roots buried in the soil grow wildly and entwine with each other.

They talked about their childhood, Liang Mei, Brother Si Yi, and their hobbies. Li Yingqiao frankly admitted, "I don't understand music, nor do I understand breaking or popping. I don't have Miao Jia's rich artistic talent. What you are interested in, I may not be interested in at all."

She was implying that they might not be a good match. Yu Jinyang thought that if Li Yingqiao was the reincarnation of the God of Love, then all the couples in the world would be in chaos. Who said that you have to have the same interests to be a couple? He was so annoyed by her at five in the morning that he laughed. No one understood the pleasure of being annoyed at this hour: "What are you trying to say? That we're not a good match?"

In the soft morning light, the mountains, catching a sliver of the sun, watched with interest the contest between the two adults. Yu Jinyang pulled her close, gripped the back of her head, and scanned her face before whispering, "Wi-Fi warning. I told you, don't bring this up unless you've thought it through. If you bring it up again, I'll take it as you really mean it. I'll say it again, and I'll really assume the Wi-Fi automatically connected."

Whether Li Yingqiao was sleepy or doing it on purpose, her gaze was like a lint ball stuck to clothes due to static electricity, unable to penetrate deep enough, yet impossible to shake off, lightly clinging to Yu Jinyang's eyes. He looked away, she followed, turned back, and stared straight at him. Then she said, "Yu Jinyang, who told me friendship lasts forever? It's not even the Lunar New Year yet."

He had nothing to say, of course, but gave her a cold glance and warned her: "Li Yingqiao, I'm warning you very seriously—if you flirt with me about this again, you're finished."

The next second, Li Yingqiao suddenly tilted her head up and kissed him on the cheek. Without making any further promises, she said, "Yu Jinyang, haven't I been obvious enough?"

At five in the morning, the small town of Xiaohua was gradually filled with rustling sounds. The nearby breakfast stalls were also setting up their stalls, and steaming hot steam was rising from the gaps in the steamers. But this steam also seeped into someone's heart, spreading a hot vapor in his chest, stickily enveloping his heartbeat and pulse.

He looked down at her, unsure: "Is it obvious? I can't tell, but I'm sorry, there's no going back now, you've already been forced to log in."

After saying that, he lowered his head again: "Li Yingqiao, welcome to the Boyfriend System."

“What about service hours?” she asked.

How long do you want to wait?

"What do you mean by how long?" she chuckled, her question carrying a deeper meaning.

Yu Jinyang abandoned his previous restraint and avoidance, instead meeting her ambiguous gaze directly, first letting out a heavy "Hmm?", then a soft "Hmm?".

He couldn't help but smile and lazily shook his head, saying, "I don't understand, I don't understand."

...

Yu Jinyang didn't know what normal couples were like, but after he became Li Yingqiao's boyfriend in name and in fact, she became more reserved towards him, as if she had put her mind at ease and suddenly began to return to her true self, focusing on her work all day long and not even willing to put her hands inside his clothes.

To use a somewhat inappropriate analogy, Yu Jinyang felt as if she had redeemed him from a brothel. From the moment she officially recognized him, even her behavior towards him became more serious.

After hanging up the phone, Li Yingqiao held a video conference with a few people from Xiaohua City. Yu Jinyang, with his hair completely air-dried, sat cross-legged on the carpet in the suite's small living room, seemingly searching for something.

Li Yingqiao went over, raised her arm without saying a word, and slipped directly into his arms, turning her head curiously to ask him, "Meow, what are you looking at?"

He glanced down at her, his hand unconsciously stopping, his voice teasing with obvious amusement: "What did you call me?"

She glared at him: "What? Can't I even meow?"

"cannot."

"Why?" she asked, shocked.

"What's the difference between that and before?"

This is what happens when you date someone you know. Everything has to be compared to the past. Li Yingqiao pinched his cheek: "Yu Jinyang, are you looking for a beating? What are you watching? What kind of competition is this? Are you going to participate? Do you want to become an internet celebrity?"

Yu Jinyang couldn't help teasing her. In the past few days, he had asked her almost every day if the system was fun.

“…If you ask one more question, I’ll force you to quit.” Li Yingqiao grabbed his neck and shook him violently back and forth.

He tilted his head back and laughed, his Adam's apple being pinched, making him feel ticklish and want to cough, but he held it in. After stopping laughing, he suddenly asked her in a low voice, "Are you done with your work?"

“Okay,” she said, “I’ll call Zhang Zongxie later and ask about the due diligence.”

"Before that phone call, hmm?"

Li Yingqiao has begun to have a conditioned reflex to his "hmm".

[Author's Note]

Damn it, I've had a pretty bad heatstroke these past couple of days, so I can't write much today. That's all for now. I didn't mean to get stuck!

This week's updates may resume every other day for now, but thankfully it's about the sweet daily life of a young couple, so it's not too heartbreaking.

I'll resume daily updates once I've recovered.

Volume 3 is relatively more exciting; I need to adjust my mental state first. [Poor me][Poor me]

See you next Friday for the next update!