Xiao Xun looked at the ingredients inside and imagined the best-selling Eight Treasure Congee on the market. Coincidentally, everything was there except for the rice.
He scratched his head sheepishly, "I'm really sorry, my mom must have seen it on some website. She likes to follow health and wellness content when she has nothing else to do."
To his surprise, Mu Jiahe picked it up and drank it. "It's fine, it tastes pretty good. You should try some too!"
Xiao Xun wasn't sure if Mu Jiahe was mocking him or if it genuinely tasted good. After taking a sip, he found it indeed quite palatable, and the tension in his brows eased.
However, he still called his mother. As soon as she answered, she fired a barrage of questions: "Mom, what kind of recipe did you send me! Just adding rice turns it into Eight Treasure Congee, did you send it to me according to that recipe?"
His mother hadn't expected her son to call her to task for this. "You ungrateful brat, the restaurant is busy, and you're calling me about this."
Xiao Xun raised an eyebrow. "Mom, aren't you planning to sell the restaurant and come live with me?"
"Sell what? Who told you? Your dad and I are doing fine with the restaurant, why would we come to be your servants? You're so rich, can't you hire two nannies yourself? And you're complaining about me sending you an Eight Treasure Congee recipe, can't you search for it online yourself? Anyway, gotta go, more customers arrived. Second sister, get a box of beer for private room number three..."
The call ended, leaving a bewildered Xiao Xun behind.
Glancing at the time, he realized he still had some time. He turned to Mu Jiahe and said, "Mr. Mu, there's something work-related I need to discuss with you."
Mu Jiahe stretched. "Still talking about work when we're home? Aren't you tired?"
Saying that, she stood up. "Right, you're not tired, you spent the whole day playing games. But I've worked all day and I'm almost dead tired." With that, she turned to go upstairs, but Xiao Xun grabbed her hand.
Xiao Xun himself hadn't expected to be so bold as to grab Mu Jiahe's hand.
Mu Jiahe looked at her hand being held and snapped, "What are you doing?"
Xiao Xun couldn't afford to care anymore. "Mr. Mu, this is very important. Please listen to me."
Mu Jiahe had never seen Xiao Xun so focused before. She gestured for him to let go and then suggested he sit down to talk.
Xiao Xun released her hand, and they went to the living room and sat on the sofa. "Alright, speak. You haven't been to work for two days, what could possibly be so important on the job?"
"While playing games today, I suddenly thought of something. If we could port PC games to mobile, it would be much more convenient for people to play. The online playtime would definitely surpass PC games, and we could use the same profit models as PC games for mobile games. PC online games require an internet connection, but mobile games only need data, or even Wi-Fi to play."
The more Xiao Xun spoke, the more excited he became, as if he were about to make a fortune.
Seeing Xiao Xun's demeanor, Mu Jiahe said earnestly, "What you're saying is a good idea, but we don't have a dedicated game development team. You make porting PC games to mobile sound simple, but it's essentially creating a new game. Only the basic framework would be the same, and the workload is huge. Most network companies are unwilling or afraid to attempt it. Popular games have copyrights, and copying them easily leads to lawsuits. Developing new games has too low a tolerance for error; a lot of data modeling needs to be redone. If the quality isn't good and few people play, it's a guaranteed loss.
Xiao Xun pulled out a card. "I've already discussed my idea with Director Liu. He said if you agree, he'll do his best to find professional talent in the industry."
He then stood up and placed the card into Mu Jiahe's hand. "There's at least three hundred million on this card. I don't know how much it costs to develop an online game, but if you're willing to approve it, I hope we can use the most popular game on the market as a template. If it fails, the loss is mine. If it succeeds, I'll take thirty percent of the net profit. How about it?"
Mu Jiahe picked up the card. "Is this an investment?"
Xiao Xun said decisively, "Yes."
Mu Jiahe's expression turned very serious. "This isn't child's play; it's a gamble. Aren't you afraid of losing everything?"
"No!"
Mu Jiahe thought for a moment. "Alright! But I have something to tell you too. Your resignation letter has been approved by the board of directors. So, from now, or rather, from yesterday, you are no longer an employee of St. Roman Company."
Xiao Xun was stunned at first, then asked, "What does that mean?"
Mu Jiahe stood up. "Our company's rule is that we never deal directly with individuals in any business cooperation. If you are truly interested in making this happen, you should establish your own company, and then come talk to me after you have a project proposal."
At this point, a crucial issue arose for Xiao Xun. "But I've never started a company! I don't understand anything, won't that be a guaranteed loss?"
Mu Jiahe patted her chest. "Yours truly, the Outstanding Entrepreneur of the Year... As my most trusted partner, I won't charge any consultation fees for answering your questions. What do you say? Am I taking good care of you?"
"Yes, yes... So, our esteemed Mr. Mu, since you put it that way, what should be my first step?"
Mu Jiahe pointed upstairs. "The top priority right now is to rest and recuperate. Don't forget, there's a competition waiting for you in that world."
Returning to the other world, Xiao Xun was still thinking about starting a company and how to steal top-secret intelligence, because stealing intelligence might not get him killed, but offending those people would surely lead to his death.
Most importantly, they had already found him and were monitoring his every move from hidden corners.
If he didn't comply with their wishes, his death wouldn't matter, but he feared they would commit acts of "exterminating the entire clan." This was not an exaggeration; news reports from a few years ago had covered similar incidents, but they were soon forgotten by the public.
Thinking about these things, even the most comfortable bed couldn't help Xiao Xun sleep.
He got up and stood by the window, looking at the blue moon outside. Sometimes he thought: Why not just leave like this? Whatever happens afterwards, it will be none of my business.
But as he stood on the windowsill, a gust of cool wind blew, making him shiver.
Mu Jiahe, who had appeared behind him at some point, said in a low voice, "Since you're not afraid of death, why not fight them? You're going to die either way, so perhaps you'll find life in death. What do you think?"
Xiao Xun turned to look at Mu Jiahe, his eyes already brimming with tears. He wasn't reluctant to leave this world, his parents, or the girl he liked. It was just that he didn't want to come and go shamefully.
"You're right. As long as we're alive, anything is possible."
Mu Jiahe extended her hand. Xiao Xun hesitated for a moment, then grasped it.
She took the opportunity to pull him towards her, yanking him off the windowsill.
As Xiao Xun stepped off the windowsill, he lost his balance and twisted his ankle. He then stumbled and fell into Mu Jiahe's arms.
Although Mu Jiahe held his hand, she didn't use her warm chest to cushion his fall. Instead, she sidestepped, causing Xiao Xun to fall heavily onto the ground.
Even though the carpet was thick and soft, the fall still hurt. He felt like the skin on his right cheek had been scraped off, and the soft fibers of the carpet felt like steel bristles.
"Your Majesty, couldn't you have caught me?"
He rubbed his ankle, sweat beading on his forehead from the pain.
Mu Jiahe crouched down and took Xiao Xun's foot. "It hurts! It hurts..."
"Endure it..."
It was clear that the bone was dislocated, but fortunately, it wasn't fractured.
"You're too out of shape! There's a gym in the basement, go exercise more when you have time. Although you're not overweight, your physique is too weak. Without a good body, how can you effectively run a company?"
As she spoke, a faint golden light emanated from her hands, resetting Xiao Xun's dislocated bone.
"There, done."
Xiao Xun indeed felt no more pain, as if he had never sprained it. "That's amazing! With your magical abilities, why should I exercise? Even if I broke something, you could fix it."
Mu Jiahe stood up. "That's for now. You can't expect me to be by your side forever. What if there's an emergency and I can't heal you in time? So, taking care of your own body is the most important thing."
Xiao Xun couldn't stand Mu Jiahe's nagging. "Alright, I get it. How did you learn her essence after meeting my mom for the first time?"
Mu Jiahe blushed, feigning shyness. "Really?"
Xiao Xun didn't know what Mu Jiahe was thinking, but he was sure she had misunderstood. He didn't know how to explain, so he decided to let it slide.
As dawn broke, Mu Jiahe got up and said to Xiao Xun, "Today is the second competition, and it starts quite early, so hurry up!"
Xiao Xun yawned. "Got it, I'll go after I eat something."
When he arrived at the venue for the second competition as directed, it was still crowded.
Since only over forty contestants remained, the audience constituted the vast majority, with a small portion being cheerleaders for these contestants.
The host for the second competition was still an elder from the House of Representatives, though not the Grand Elder from yesterday, indicating their decreasing importance for this competition.
"Today's competition item is woodcutting... Each person will randomly draw an axe, which can be a normal iron axe, a mountain-splitting giant axe, or a whirlwind divine axe. The target is the forest in the distant Migalier Mountains. Whoever chops twenty branches of the Laurel Moonwood will qualify for the next round. The branches must be thumb-thick and ten centimeters long. The end time is before sunset."
Upon hearing the elder's requirements for the competition, the crowd erupted in an uproar. The Moonwood trees were very difficult to find, and their branches were as hard as iron. If one drew an iron axe, even if they found a Moonwood tree, it might take until nightfall to chop off a single branch.
Moreover, the Migalier Mountains were vast. If one didn't stick to the main paths and ventured into the forests without a guide, they might not be able to find their way out.
The most terrifying aspect was the presence of man-eating beasts in the mountains, and there were surely beasts near the Moonwood trees, as their fruit was a favorite of these monsters.
However, Xiao Xun knew none of this. He only knew that after the rules were announced, some contestants immediately forfeited, while others thought they might get lucky and, by chance, chop enough branches, thus bringing them one step closer to marrying the Queen.
As the axe drawing began, the elder spoke again, "Once you come to draw an axe, it will be considered your consent to participate in the competition in the Migalier Mountain range. Withdrawal midway is not permitted."
With this statement from the elder, another five or six people who were already wavering turned and walked away.
The remaining twenty-odd people began drawing their axes one by one.