CHAPTER 372: CHAPTER 362: LIFE IS NOT A FIXED NUMBER

Swim with the tide, or you’ll get crushed.

Chen Rui didn’t want to become the new Evil Dragon, nor did he want to give up everything he had now, so he had to confront it head-on.

From the inception of the platform, he had mentally prepared himself, and the day had finally arrived. Maybe it would happen in a year or two, perhaps in three to five years, but as long as the company continued to grow, it would inevitably come to a head with them.

"There’s another thing..."

After communicating with Chen Rui for a while, Qin Guanglin looked back at the living room and said, "A friend of mine wants to draw comics... about the same level as Yu Le. Do you have any good advice? Or... um... he’s Iron Crown from the comic ’Wife’... Yeah, that’s him. What if we spin off their story into its own series? Is there any potential in that?"

Chen Rui pondered for a moment and said, "If it turns out well, it’s no problem, but if it’s a flop, it will somewhat affect ’Wife’—and their plotlines work great as side stories, but as the main storyline for a spinoff... it’s a bit weak. I’m not very optimistic."

After a pause, he suggested, "Why not let your friend start by drawing fan comics to practice and also test the waters, see if it’s viable? If it succeeds, then we can talk. After all, as long as you give the authorization, it’s fine."

"Okay, I’ll talk to him about it, and we’ll contact each other on WeChat if there are any issues."

Qin Guanglin considered it feasible and hung up to discuss it with Xiao Yu in the living room.

Xiao Yu naturally agreed. He had a 10% share of the profits from the comic ’Wife,’ which was considered Qin Guanglin’s personal work. He was just making a cameo inside, and he had no issue with drawing fan comics now. After analyzing the selling points and considerations with Qin Guanglin, Xiao Yu asked about everything he didn’t understand and went back eagerly to prepare himself for a trial run.

"You didn’t even have a proper full-moon celebration; remember to set a few tables for the first birthday party."

Before leaving, Xiao Yu took out two small boxes from his bag and handed them to Qin Guanglin, "This is from Zhou Nan and me for the kid, remember to raise my daughter-in-law to be fair and beautiful."

"Get lost, hurry up!"

Qin Guanglin made a shooing gesture with his fist the size of a sandbag, "Don’t let me catch your stinky kid within ten meters of my daughter again!"

After seeing Xiao Yu out, he tossed the boxes lightly and handed them to He Fang before planning to go back to watching TV.

"Hey, do you know who wanted to buy your rights initially?" he asked, holding the door and looking back.

"Who?"

"I need to talk to you about that."

Qin Guanglin slid back in, sat on the edge of the bed, and started telling He Fang about the afternoon’s events. As he talked, he squeezed onto the bed and snuggled into the covers.

"So your company... crap, your previous company is going to go bankrupt?"

"What? Why would it go bankrupt?"

"A company targeted by a behemoth either gets suppressed or gets acquired and merged... There hasn’t been an exception yet," He Fang blinked, "And in the future, I haven’t heard of your crappy company either."

"...Chen Rui probably wouldn’t get acquired; maybe on that timeline, he hadn’t started to grow and was brought down by Sun Wen, right?"

Qin Guanglin frowned in thought and said, "The look on Chen Rui’s face when Sun Wen left, sitting in Sun Wen’s place... That incident hit him hard. Being stabbed in the back by someone he trusted, maybe if I hadn’t gone back, he might have just disbanded the company in disheartenment."

"So he should be thanking me, right?" asked He Fang.

"Why isn’t it me who should be thanked?"

"Without me, you’d still be squatting at home drawing broken pictures, not finding a damn job."

"Seems like it..." Qin Guanglin regretted his artist identity for a moment, then turned his head and pushed those thoughts aside, "Let’s not talk about that now. Can we..."

"No, we can’t."

...

...

School started in April, and Qin Guanglin gave He Fang a thousand reminders before sending her out the door, then retreated back to his home to be a stay-at-home dad.

"Daughter, it’s just the two of us at home today, don’t cry, okay..."

No sooner had he finished speaking than Anya burst into tears, and Qin Guanglin was, well, in a panic... not pleased, patting her back gently while he picked up his phone to dial.

"Hurry back! As soon as you left, the baby started crying and I can’t soothe her..."

He Fang, who had just gone downstairs, helplessly touched her forehead and turned back upstairs.

"You see, she just needs to eat a little and she’ll be fine. You can’t go on like this; let’s get her a bit bigger, then you can go back to work," Qin Guanglin desperately pleaded with He Fang.

He was still a bit flustered about taking care of the child alone, and without breastmilk, he didn’t know how to calm her when she cried; just patting her back wasn’t enough...

"I’m not gone for the whole day, I’ll be back by noon... Alright, I’ll see if I can extend my leave a bit."

While nursing the child, He Fang fiddled with her phone, and so they ended up staying home through the May Day holiday.

After the May Day holiday passed, He Fang, who had completely recovered, officially returned to school, becoming Teacher He again—from her first year on the job until now, having become a mother, she hadn’t changed much, still young and pretty, but with an added touch of mature charm.

Qin Guanglin, on the other hand, had become almost unrecognizable from before. Despite doing pushups at home to try to lose weight, it was ineffective against the march of corpulence, his belly slowly bulging out, the six-pack abs gone, transforming into a state of singular rotund satisfaction.

Men are strange creatures; no matter how tall or handsome during courtship in their youth, once married with kids, they’re prone to gain weight, and to balding... Fortunately, Qin Guanglin was just putting on weight, his hair still luxuriant.

He blamed everything on He Fang, who not only made him drink soups all the time but also constantly stuffed snacks into his mouth and liked to drain his yang energy, resulting in his current puffiness—she was undeniably the chief culprit.

"Come here, let’s look in the mirror together."

After playing with his daughter all day at home, and awaiting He Fang’s return from work, Qin Guanglin pulled her in front of a large mirror to compare their reflections, then looked at the photo on the table from when they played at the beach, feeling melancholic.

That spirited young man with the merman lines had been eroded by marriage...

"Why is it so unfair, I’ve become a fat nerd." He dejectedly pinched the flesh on his belly, as his dream of being a handsome father shattered right then.

"Go work out then; really, I don’t think your gym buddies would recognize you anymore," He Fang found this appearance somewhat more pleasing to the eye. Although she initially resisted the plumper version of Qin Guanglin, she got used to it after a while.

It felt comfy to cuddle against something meaty, giving a sense of security.

"Oh, I ran into Yuan today, and she greeted me." She went over to the baby carriage to lift out their daughter, then turned her head to Qin Guanglin.

"Yuan, huh... She must be in junior high now, right?"

"Yeah, she’s grown up, turned into a tall and slender young lady, quite pretty."

Somehow, the couple had stopped mentioning that thing that would happen in a few years, as if it never existed, just peacefully living their own little lives.

But Qin Guanglin knew He Fang hadn’t moved on yet; only when the Prophet’s predictions expired could she truly let go and embrace a new life—a completely new, unknown life that neither of them had experienced before, new times.

Only by stepping out of the shadows of this period could one truly be reborn.

"Looking at it now, you succeeded," Qin Guanglin touched his belly and turned around, saying, "I feel like I need to work hard to repay you."

"It’s been several years, success is certain," He Fang smiled relaxedly, "You better stay a good cook, go make dinner, I’m starving."

She had already succeeded once, which gave her confidence. As long as she was careful, Qin Guanglin could live safely.

Let fate and all that go to hell.