The Return

Over the last five days, the two spent every moment in joy.

Liu Yao took Jiang Chen to all the famous attractions. They did everything from surfing at Wuzhizhou Island, enjoying the sunlight at Yalong Bay, wandering along the beach, to leaving names on a couple lock. Liu Yao engraved Jiang Chen’s name, but Jiang Chen left Chen Lele’s name.

The happiest time was always the briefest, but it was pleasant.

Until they went their separate ways, Jiang Chen didn’t see any more sorrows or tears.

"Sir, would you like a cup of coffee?" The flight attendant's gentle voice disrupted Jiang Chen’s thought.

"I’ll have one please."

"Ok, please wait a moment."

A cup of steamy coffee was soon in front of Jiang Chen. He stared at the rising steam and smiled.

[That was a pleasant trip after all. I wonder if I will ever meet her again.]

He thought about it some more, and an even bigger smile appeared on his face. He didn’t know why he wanted to smile.

He glanced at the pristine cloud outside the window and the middle-aged professional sleeping beside him. Jiang Chen finished the still steamy cup of coffee.

It was bitter, but a little sweet.

The brief Sanya vacation came to an end. Jiang Chen walked out of the Wanghai airport with his luggage.

The noisy metropolitan.

He took in a deep breath of the smog-filled air and flagged down a taxi.

"To Bailian."

Sitting on the passenger side, Jiang Chen took out his almost outdated Samsung phone. He was about to call Xia Shiyu when he noticed a message popped up.

Weibo?

He opened the Weibo app that he hasn't opened for a while. He was surprised to find out someone @ him.

<A pleasant trip, thank you for your company @Jiang Chen>

Along the text was also a picture of an airplane taking off. Jiang Chen noticed that it was his flight.

[This girl, she went to my terminal without telling me.] Jiang Chen smiled. They said goodbye at the airport, but he didn’t expect her to be there to watch him depart.

With a bit of narcissism, Jiang Chen swiped the screen up with his finger. The comments on the bottom consisted primarily of people wondering who Jiang Chen was. To begin with, she was not a famous actress, so there were only a few comments.

He thought about for a moment before half-joking replied.

<Haha, I really enjoy your superb acting skill. How about invest in a movie and ask you to be the female lead? : )>

<Deal. You said it!>

[Instant reply.]

"Hey man, are you on Weibo?"

"Oh? Do you have Weibo as well?" Jiang Chen asked the taxi driver.

"Of course, it is pretty fun watching people make memes online. You are looking at a celebrity’s Weibo right?"

"Hehe, yes, how do you know?" Jiang Chen curiously asked.

"There is a special symbol beside their name. Look closely." The taxi driver skillfully guided Jiang Chen, "Though to be honest, these celebrities’ Weibo are boring. They are too busy to reply to you. You must be new on here."

Jiang Chen smiled in agreement.

He wanted to reply <There is no way you believe my joke right?>, but that post was gone.

"What happens if a post is gone?"

"They deleted it, it's common." The taxi driver rolled his eyes as if he was an expert.

Deleted?

[This girl.] Jiang Chen sighed. The situation was funny to him.

It’s only a movie after all, how much would it even cost?

Inside the Jade Restaurant, Jiang Chen quietly waited at the table. His eyes lit up as soon as he saw a graceful figure approach him. He signaled for the person to come over.

"You finally appeared. You don’t even pick up your phone." Xia Shiyu gave him a hard stare. The grin on his face made Xia Shiyu irate.

She has been taking care of the company in the past few days. She even used her own money to make sure everything could be finished on time. To ensure she completed Jiang Chen’s task, she had to find lawyers, bureaus, and banks. She even went to their future office.

However, he was nowhere to be seen. Jiang Chen left all the dirty work to her and went on a vacation by himself.

She took in a deep breath to stop an almost inevitable emotional explosion.

"Don’t be so emotional, I’ll bring you next time. Sanya is a beautiful place." Jiang Chen grinned with no signs of guilt.

"This is your company. You have to at least show up to something. You should come with me to the bureau this afternoon. I have all the documents here. Take a look." She placed the bag on the table and ignored Jiang Chen’s invitation.

"Thank you so much." Jiang Chen didn’t pick up the documents. Instead, he genuinely stared at Xia Shiyu’s emotionless face.

"At least you have some conscience," she hissed at him. Although her face still looked cold, Jiang Chen felt she was no longer angry.

"I’ll go with you in the afternoon. Let’s not talk about work. Order whatever you want, this one is on me. Oh, you paid for the fees right? The company will reimburse you for it."

Xia Shiyu was not humble and immediately ordered a few dishes. She glanced at Jiang Chen but did not even see a slight change in his grinning face. She was frustrated.

[That was ineffective.] She thought as she didn’t manage to vent her anger.

Jiang Chen didn’t notice her intention.

He still had one hundred thousand dollars left which far exceeded his expectation.

"Is there something bothering you?" Although she kept a stern face, Jiang Chen still noticed she was slightly distracted.

"Yes, I am worried about the company’s future." Xia Shiyu dived straight into the problem, "If our strategy is to use advanced technology, we have no way of gaining a competitive advantage as a newcomer."

"But don’t new company have more growth opportunities?" With her concern in his mind, Jiang Chen replied.

"That’s for a company with a strong core competitive advantage." Xia Shiyu stared at Jiang Chen, who showed no sign of concern, with a look of defeat. "Do you know technology? You probably don’t even remember calculus."

"Is that even a question." Jiang Chen laughed. "Who remembers that stuff after graduation. Just because I don’t understand it doesn’t mean other people don’t understand it. You don’t have to worry about research and development. I’ll give you a hint. Every company have a focus, such as game development. We can just springboard off of this idea and enter the cell phone market following our success…"

"Stop right there." Xia Shiyu interrupted Jiang Chen’s speech. She rubbed her temples. "Cell phone games? Web games? Or Massive Multiplayer Online games on the PC end? Based on the current market condition, I recommend cell phone games. Regarding the cell phone market, it’s great that our founder has a vision for the future, but one step at a time is critical for sustainable growth."

"Of course, so we will do it one step at a time." He casually waved his hand. "Also, this is not only my company, but it is also your company. I’ll give you 5% stake in the company, so keep up the good work."

It was not only until years later did Xia Shiyu realize what tremendous amount of wealth was given to her. Of course, that was the aftermath.

In the afternoon, Jiang Chen went to the bureau with Xia Shiyu to take care of the paperwork. Xia Shiyu was indeed CEO (secretary) quality. Jiang Chen only needed to sign a couple of documents before it was approved. Xia Shiyu took care of the entire, tedious process.

Jiang Chen was extremely pleased. He didn’t study business administration, so his understanding in the area was extremely limited. The best kind of president, in his ideal world, was the kind who only needed to the set the direction of the company. A trustworthy CEO would take care of the rest. If he had to consider all the fine details, he would be frustrated to death.

Xia Shiyu did exceptionally well at this point. She prepared everything in advance.

They only needed a part time accountant to complete the tax process. Jiang Chen took Xia Shiyu’s recommendation to hire a part-time accountant. They only needed to pay 200 dollars in salary per month. Most of the new companies did this in the early stage.

After everything was completed. It was already 5 o’clock. Jiang Chen used the opportunity to treat Xia Shiyu again before they went their separate ways. With the stable income and debt crisis being resolved, Xia Shiyu moved back to her original apartment. Jiang Chen, also, headed back to his familiar apartment.

He took his luggage and returned to his apartment.

He refreshed his Weibo while lying on his bed a couple of time and teased Liu Yao for a bit before he got back into the real business.

He had a pleasant vacation, but his return time was also approaching. Therefore, preparation was necessary.

He looked on Taobao for food. Canned food was the primary choice because of the ease of storage. He ordered two boxes of beef, pork, and fish. Then, for a balanced diet, he also purchased cans of vegetables and fruits. Finally, he bought instant noodles and crackers as well. He was not going to eat it those himself, but it would be smart to sell it.

In addition, Jiang Chen purchased a bunch of female clothing. Don’t be confused, he had no weird fetishes. He ordered some for Sun Jiao and Yao Yao.

Within two days, a courier delivered the almost mountain high stacks of boxes to Jiang Chen’s place. He generously took out two hundred dollar bills, and the courier happily moved the boxes for him. It’s good that he didn’t have any furniture, for the boxes made it impossible to maneuver through his living room.

With sandpaper in his hand, he began to work.

He removed the manufacturing data and location on the can and threw it into the storage dimension. Although tedious, he had no other choice at this stage.

It would be better if he could directly receive shipments from the packaging companies without any pictures or logos.

The storage dimension’s size grew substantially. It managed to fit the size of half a living room’s worth of boxes inside. Jiang Chen guessed it had to do with the gene vaccine, and it was great news for him.

The storage of these boxes cost about two energy crystals, and it would cost the same to take it all out. There were around a couple hundred energy crystals inside the dimension, so the cost did not even slightly bother Jiang Chen.

He also purchased groceries from the supermarket. He bought an ample amount of rice, fresh vegetables, eggs, and meat. After they managed to fix the fridge in the mansion of the post-apocalyptic world, it can store plenty of food. Once they manage to move a few more fridges from the buildings outside, the food storage ability would grow exponentially.

Ideally, it would be more convenient if he had a walk-in freezer. He should check the restaurants in the post-apocalyptic world; they should be easy to repair.

Before he headed home, he remembered something. He walked out of the pet store with a hamster.

When he got home, everything was ready to go. Jiang Chen picked up his familiar backpack, but then raised his eyebrows and put it down again.

Since Sun Jiao already had a clue of what’s going on, it’s probably time to tell her and Yao Yao.

When they went to the Sixth Street, he didn’t carry toast with him. He stored the toast in the storage dimension. Sun Jiao must have noticed it, but she didn’t ask. Since she had a lot of trust in him, it was no longer necessary to keep things a secret.

[It’s better to confess to her. It will be easier in the future, and I no longer need to be secretive about things.]

Jiang Chen made up his mind. He’s prepared to selectively tell parts of his secret to Sun Jiao.

With the confused hamster in his hand, he sat on his bed and took a deep breath.

Apocalypse, I am back!