21: Chapter 21 Mistaking Best Friend for Thief, Wife Arrives with Knife on the Road

This was bad.

No one could ever find out about the five-day timeframe.

If these chat logs leaked or were seen by Su Qingxue, his disguise as a noob game designer would be completely shattered.

Making a smash-hit game in five days?

What kind of concept was that? That was something only a genius could pull off.

If Su Qingxue found out, she would probably lock him in the game studio and make him churn out ten games a year, then integrate those game resources into the Guanghui Mobile platform.

He had to smooth this over.

Lu Li's fingers tapped rapidly on his phone screen, making crisp clicking sounds:

"How could it possibly be five days? What are you guys thinking?"

Once the message was sent, the group chat fell quiet for a moment.

Lu Li continued typing, talking absolute nonsense with a straight face:

"With that kind of massive workload and sophisticated algorithm, how could it possibly be finished in five days? Actually, Tech Director Dou Bao and I had already been secretly developing it long before the studio's location was even chosen and established.

We pulled all-nighters for a whole year, wrote over a million lines of code, and lost a ton of hair to get the results we have now. The five days you saw was just the final integration and testing phase."

After sending this long paragraph, Lu Li even deliberately attached a "weary man lighting a cigarette" meme.

The group chat was silent for a full ten seconds.

Immediately after, the screen was flooded with messages, filled with "epiphany" memes and exclamation marks.

"Holy crap! So that's how it is!"

"I knew it! With this kind of workload, how could it only take five days? It scared me to death; I thought we'd encountered The Alien."

"666! The Alien is too abstract, but putting it that way makes total sense, hahaha!"

"Indeed. Although the scale of that code logic isn't as large as a AAA game, its precision is extremely high. It couldn't have been polished without half a year to a year."

"Thank you for your hard work, Boss! Thank you for your hard work, Great Tech Director Dou Bao! So you two sacrificed so much behind the scenes!"

"Sob, sob, this is so touching. Boss exhausted his mind and body for the studio, yet we were actually on vacation."

Seeing the tide turn, Lu Li nodded in satisfaction.

As long as everyone thought this game was difficult and time-consuming to make, he would be safe.

"Awesome! Do we get any bonuses? Boss, even if we don't, it's fine. It's an honor just to participate in this kind of project. I'm just asking!" someone asked tentatively.

Seeing this, Lu Li smiled slightly.

Money?

The thing he lacked least right now was money.

This game had already generated 4 million in revenue in just two days. Its earnings for the next month were simply unimaginable.

Tapping his finger lightly, he sent a line of text with grand generosity:

"Of course there's a bonus! A ten-thousand-yuan reward for everyone! Transferring it right now!"

The group chat instantly exploded.

"Holy crap! Long live the Boss!"

"Boss is so generous! Wishing you good health, Boss!"

"I'm sticking with President Lu for the rest of my life!"

Lu Li leaned back in his gaming chair, enjoying his employees' adoration.

He had made nearly 4 million, so taking out 200,000 for bonuses was just a drop in the bucket.

Besides, these employees would be of great use in the future. Winning them over now would help him better... slack off later.

When the time came, he could just release a game every few years to appease his wife, allowing him to live off her forever.

Everything was progressing in the best possible direction.

Although his wife had noticed a few clues, it was limited to him being a "tech enthusiast."

Fortunately, he wasn't completely exposed. If his wife knew he had developed those things himself, he would be done for.

However, as long as he acted as the middleman contacting that fictional team, he should be fine.

Unless they discovered Tech Director Dou Bao, but that was impossible. Ordinary people couldn't crack his computer password.

Just as he was deeply immersed in his roles as a conscientious boss and a legendary freeloader, unable to extricate himself...

His phone suddenly vibrated violently.

A name popped up on the screen that made his heart stop—Wife.

It wasn't a call, but a WeChat message.

But even through the screen, Lu Li could feel the overwhelming murderous intent coming at him.

Su Qingxue: "Lu Li, I asked my high school classmate to help you get familiar with the product manager role. Why did you strip her clothes off? And even tie her up and hand her over to the security guards???"

Su Qingxue: "She's crying and calling me from the villa district's security office right now, saying you're a pervert!!"

"..."

The smile on Lu Li's face instantly froze, and his entire body stiffened in place as if struck by lightning.

What the hell?

That sneaky woman who was peeking through the window and had her clothes ripped off by his fishhook...

Was actually Su Qingxue's high school classmate?

And she was here to help him?

He was doomed.

What kind of crazy plot twist was this?

Images flashed through Lu Li's mind of the woman covering her chest with both hands, and of the security guards taking her away...

Lu Li broke into a cold sweat.

Lu Li typed and deleted, deleted and typed, and finally squeezed out a weak, pale explanation:

"Wife, if I said I thought she was a thief here to steal things, and that the fishhook moved on its own... would you believe me?"

Su Qingxue: "..."

Of course, Su Qingxue didn't believe Lu Li's ridiculous excuse.

However, to smooth things over, she still had to make several phone calls on Lu Li's behalf to apologize to her classmate.

"Great, now I have no choice but to learn how to be a good product manager..."

Lu Li replied, "I'm going to offer a humble apology right now," and sheepishly put away his phone, getting up to walk toward the villa's main door.

At the entrance of the villa.

The woman who had just been mistaken for a thief stood before the door once again.

She had changed her outfit.

On the inside, she still wore that tight black yoga outfit, the fabric clinging to her body, accentuating all her curves. But on the outside, she was draped in Su Qingxue's beige coat.

The coat was a bit oversized and hung loosely on her, which actually made her slender figure stand out even more, and the section of her calf exposed below was dazzlingly white.

However, her exquisite face was currently written all over with "I want to kill someone."

Lu Li took a deep breath, put on a harmless smile, and went to greet her:

"Oh! You must be Qin Ya, right?"

"Look at my memory! I was wondering why you looked a bit familiar. So you're Qingxue's old classmate! You came to our wedding back then, right? I'm really sorry about earlier. It was a misunderstanding, a complete misunderstanding..."

Qin Ya glanced at him coldly, her voice icy:

"Lu Li, I was busy on your wedding day. I didn't go at all."

"..."

Awkward.

Extremely awkward.

Without changing his expression, Lu Li immediately changed his tune:

"It's mainly because you're too beautiful. I was afraid Qingxue would get jealous. I don't dare to look twice at good-looking women, which is why I didn't recognize you!"

This flattery was highly skillful.

It not only explained why he hadn't recognized her, but also indirectly praised her beauty, while establishing his persona as a good husband.

He also understood Qin Ya.

She had come to help with good intentions, only to have her clothes ripped off before she even set foot inside.

Anyone would have blown a fuse. If it were him, not immediately throwing punches would already show extremely high self-discipline.

The tight corners of Qin Ya's mouth relaxed slightly.

Who didn't like hearing nice things? Especially right after experiencing a massive social death.

"I came this time mainly because our company has a partnership with Guanghui Technology, and Qingxue asked me to come. Otherwise, I would have called the police to arrest you, you hooligan, a long time ago."

Qin Ya snorted in annoyance and walked straight into the villa in her high heels.

As she passed by Lu Li, she added, "Speaking of which, Qingxue is taking a really big step this time, even investing in our company. I really don't know where she gets her confidence, actually letting you manage product."

The two walked into the living room.

Lu Li didn't take her mocking bait. Instead, he gestured for Qin Ya to sit and poured her a cup of tea himself.

"Beautiful Qin, what happened earlier was indeed my fault."

Lu Li pushed the teacup over with a sincere look on his face, launching a direct monetary offensive:

"How about this? To express my apologies, whether it's compensation for mental distress, reimbursement for that outfit, a meal at any Michelin-starred restaurant you want to calm your nerves, or even whatever bag you have your eye on—just say the word, and I, Lu Li, will never bargain."

"No need. We're old classmates, so let's just let it go," Qin Ya said as she sat on the soft sofa. She pulled a laptop out of her bag, regaining her capable and poised demeanor.

"Alright, Qingxue asked me to teach you the basic logic of a product manager. Time is tight and the task is heavy, so let's begin."

As she spoke, she prepared to open a PowerPoint presentation.

Seeing this posture, Lu Li's scalp went numb.

A lecture?

Listening to a lecture?

If he actually learned all this, wouldn't Su Qingxue drag him into conversations about work, system architecture, and user experience every single day?

How was he supposed to live off his wife then?

Absolutely not.

Quick with his hands, Lu Li pressed down on the lid of Qin Ya's laptop just as she was about to open it:

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, Beautiful Qin, let me discuss something with you!"

Qin Ya frowned at him, pulled her pressed fingers back, and gestured for him to continue.

"Actually, I have no interest in being a product manager. I just want to make games at home and be a slacker."

"How about this? I'll pay you a salary, as a consulting fee for hiring you.

When Qingxue asks later, just tell her I'm incredibly stupid and don't meet the requirements to be a product manager at all. What do you think?"

"Name your price. Ten thousand a day? Twenty thousand? Anything works!"

As long as he could stay comfortably at home, what did spending a little money matter?

Lu Li was calculating the benefits rapidly in his head.

To his surprise, Qin Ya suddenly stood up, staring down at him with a trace of anger at his lack of ambition:

"Do you have any idea what Qingxue is facing right now?"

Lu Li was stunned for a moment. "What?"

"You actually don't know?" Qin Ya sneered. "Guanghui Mobile's new system was originally scheduled for release next month, but a lot of people from their core R&D team were poached by competitors! They even took a portion of the underlying source code with them!"

"Right now, Guanghui Mobile's new system version is completely stalled!"

The smile on Lu Li's face vanished.