“Live together?”
My heart skipped a beat as I shot Beiming Xue a sidelong glance. “Why do you have to put it like that? I mean, it"s technically true, but the meaning"s completely different.”
Beiming Xue turned red and lowered her head. “I don"t mind if it"s you, boss…”
“f.u.c.k!”
I stopped her before she could go any further. “Your brain must"ve short-circuited or something! Anyway, there are two very simple reasons as to why I want to move out of the base.”
“What are they?” Beiming Xue looked at me with a hopeful expression.
“One, I"m not very used to the operating style of a club. When the number of people in an organization grows past a certain threshold, the efficiency of work being done starts dropping drastically. It is a fact that it takes nearly an hour just to form a party these days, so I personally think we can do much better as a smaller workshop. Two, I don"t want any harm to fall on you. I"m sure that Chen Sheng isn"t done with you yet, and sure, there are more than enough people here to protect you at almost all times. But as the saying goes, it"s better to have been robbed than have a robber waiting for a chance to rob you. Not to mention this guy may be able to find an opportunity to harra.s.s you and disrupt your daily life. That would be terrible, am I right?”
Moved by my concern for her safety, Beiming Xue sniffled once before placing her face on my shoulder. “Big bro, do you treat every girl this good?”
I shook my head. “Of course not. I"m the reason you came to Suzhou, so I have a responsibility to ensure your wellbeing.”
Beiming Xue smiled. “How many "sisters" do you have exactly?”
I trembled from head to toe. “Does it matter? They"ve all wed themselves to tears…”
“...”
……
It was night. A total of eight core members of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls had gathered including Gui Guzi, Beiming Xue, Yamete and so on.
He Yi was leaning against the window and watching the lights outside with a distant look on her face. The way her hair swayed when a breeze touched her hair on occasion was a sight I could watch until the end of times. For some reason, I thought I saw a glimmer of uncertainty behind her eyes.
It was at this moment Murong Mingyue pa.s.sed He Yi a cup of hot coffee. “Here"s your drink, leader!”
“Heh…”
He Yi accepted the coffee and finally looked at me. “Are you sure about this, Lu Chen?”
I nodded seriously. “Mn. There are too many people in the gaming base, and life here is hectic and fast-paced. Personally, I prefer a slower and more relaxed lifestyle.”
Murong Mingyue looked between me and Beiming Xue. Then, she said, “Will you be taking Beauty Beiming with you as well?”
“Yes, because you know…” I started hesitantly.
Thankfully, He Yi immediately understood my meaning and smiled. “It"s a good idea. At the very least, that hooligan wouldn"t know where to look for Beiming Xue. However, I have a request to make…”
I wasn"t expecting her to say something like that. “What request?”
He Yi smiled. “I still have another half a month or so before my holiday runs out, so is it okay if I move in with you while I"m still here? Just like you, it"s been a headache for me to manage the base day and night.”
Murong Mingyue said hurriedly, “If you"re going to stay with Lu Chen then I"m coming as well!”
Xu Yang interrupted in shock. “Wait a second, who"s going to manage the base if you"re all gone? Trouble is bound to happen if the base is left without a head…”
He Yi put down her cup and smiled at him. “Xu Yang, I officially appoint you as the CEO of the base of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls Club! From this point onward, you are responsible for everything in this place!”
“Ah?!” Xu Yang"s jaw hit the floor. You could probably stuff an elephant inside his mouth if you tried. Shocked and happy, he stared at He Yi and clarified, “Boss, did I hear you right? Am I finally going to be an officer?”
He Yi nodded at him with a smile. “Yeah. Your salary will be doubled, and you"ll need to submit a report to Mingyue every week. If that"s okay with you, then it"s settled. You"ll be in charge of everything inside the base.”
Xu Yang was positively bursting with joy. “A CEO! I"m a CEO! The t.i.tle alone sounds cool as h.e.l.l! The highest post I"ve ever gotten was a door locker at primary school, but now I"m finally successful enough to report back to my dad!”
The girls all burst out in giggles at his display of happiness.
However, Gui Guzi, Du Thirteen, and Yamete looked a bit lost. Gui Guzi asked, “Boss, if you"re moving out with Lil Beiming, what about us?”
I thought for a moment before asking, “Would you like to come with me as well?”
Gui Guzi looked both wanting and reluctant. His reservation was due to He Yi, the club president herself, and Murong Mingyue"s choice to move out with me. He would have to restrain himself around them, not to mention that living together with multiple girls was bound to cause a number of inconveniences.
He Yi smiled. “Actually, I think Gongsun Gu, Du Thirteen and Ma Dai should stay in the base. Xu Yang will be alone after we"re gone, so it"ll be great if you can hang around to support him. There are only so many people who are of the same mind as us…”
Du Thirteen smiled. “Leader, we have no problems supporting brother Xu Yang, but… you"ll need to give us positions to match our authority…”
He Yi chuckled. “Oh, that"s easy. In fact, I"m going to a.s.sign all of your positions right away. Gui Guzi, you"re the manager of the base"s tactics department. From now on, you"ll be responsible for planning our strategies. Du Thirteen, you"re the manager of the logistics department. Do familiarize yourself with your new environment as much as possible while I clear things up for the former manager. Speaking of which, you"ll be in charge of the purchase department as well. Be sure to submit a report to Xu Yang every week. As for Ma Dai, hmm, I guess you can be the manager of the human resource department. The base can accommodate a total of 200 members, and they are the core strength of our guild. You"ll be responsible for adding, removing or replacing them as you see fit.”
A pause later, He Yi continued, “I will increase your salary to 15k RMB per month. Murong Mingyue and Xu Yang will inform you three on the exact details of your posts and responsibilities hidden therein later . I"ll ask a lawyer to draft your contracts right after this meeting, and you should be able to sign them in three days" time.”
He Yi"s decision couldn"t be considered wise, but everyone could hear the determination in her voice.
Gui Guzi accepted his appointment gladly.
Du Thirteen accepted his appointment gladly.
Mamate also accepted his appointment gladly.
The matter was settled then. Beiming Xue, He Yi, Murong Mingyue, and I would be moving out of the gaming base and living in our own accomodation.
It was at this moment Xu Yang rubbed his nose and said, “So in the end, the final result is Lu Chen robbing us of the three prettiest women in our base?”
I was embarra.s.sed, so I bowed my head and kept my mouth zipped up tight.
Murong Mingyue laughed. “Lu Chen was only going to take Beiming Xue away, okay? Eve and I are the ones who insisted on throwing ourselves to the wolf. It would be more apt to call this a beautiful misunderstanding.”
He Yi chided her. “Throw ourselves to the wolf? You couldn"t find a better way to describe this?”
Xu Yang smiled at me. “So, when are you leaving, and what kind of accommodation are you looking to rent, Lu Chen?”
I mulled over the question before replying, “I"m just going to look for a normal apartment with a rent under 5000 RMB. Anything more than that may be a bit too much for me to handle. I"m not going to use my savings to pay off the rent.”
Xu Yang nodded, but he said, “I"m going to have to remind you that an apartment with a monthly rent of 5000 isn"t really all that impressive. Boss usually lives in secluded villas, you know? Are you sure she"ll be able to adjust to her new home?”
His question caught me off-guard. I didn"t know what to say to that.
But He Yi came to the rescue and said, “So what if it"s only 5000 a month? When I entered society at the age of 19, I"ve lived in 400 RMB rooms before, the kind that don"t even have a bed. I can still remember the windows creaking every time there was a stronger wind. If I could live in a place like that, why would I mind living in an apartment that costs 5000 RMB a month?”
Xu Yang nodded in relief. “In that case, all is well!”
It was at this moment Murong Mingyue stared at me and said meaningfully, “Ai, do you even understand how big of a sacrifice Eve is making, you sinful man! If the higher-ups ever learned about this, I guarantee you that their jaws would hit the floor with a clang…”
I looked at He Yi, and the girl turned slightly red. “What are you talking about…”
Murong Mingyue giggled before urging me, “Well, what are you waiting for? Start looking for an apartment online!”
“Oh, right!”
I turned on the computer and searched for a bit. I quickly spotted a Bailuwan 7th Project that just finished less than half a year ago. The apartments were all brand new, and they weren"t far away from the base or the university. There were both sales and rental advertis.e.m.e.nts, and I noticed that the rental fee for a 4-bedroom apartment was 7200 RMB per month. It was pretty expensive.
There were a total of 8 such apartments that were still available. I hesitated. The apartment seemed perfect, but it also exceeded my estimated cost.
So I frowned and started searching again. “f.u.c.k, is there anything else that"s below 5000? Let"s see…”
Suddenly, I felt someone putting a hand on my shoulder. It was He Yi sticking her face close and staring at the monitor. She gave me a smile before saying, “7200 a month isn"t too bad considering how insane apartment prices are these days. Our new workshop could definitely earn 7200 gold a month, right?”
“New workshop? Are we forming a new workshop?”
“Of course!” He Yi smiled at me before whispering beside my ears. “Three beautiful girls are going to form a new workshop with you. You"re not going to object to that, are you?”
My beautiful leader"s hair tickled my face and my heart. “No… nope…”
He Yi smiled. “It"s settled then. With this, the core workshop of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls is officially reformed. I"m not planning to invest any capital into this besides the initial rent. This way, our workshop could develop freely on its own. What do you think, Lu Chen?”
I nodded and declared confidently, “Considering our current strength, earning a living in Heavenblessed is no problem at all, so I guess 7200 a month isn"t really that much. Anyway, if we"re all in agreement, I"m gonna book the apartment. Okay? Okay. Now, gimme your online bank account number so I can pay the three-month deposit, Eve…”
He Yi fell speechless for a second before turning toward Murong Mingyue. “You, give me your online bank account number…”
Murong Mingyue: “What sin did I commit during my previous life to deserve this…”
……
The apartment was booked, and the deposit was fully paid at around 7 pm. We also called the proprietor and settled the deal. We could move into the place at 8 pm at the earliest.
I was in no hurry to move into my new accommodation, but for some reason the girls—especially He Yi and Murong Mingyue—were. Miraculously, they even managed to finish packing their belongings in less than 20 minutes.
We loaded our belongings onto Murong Mingyue"s A8 and He Yi"s Lamborghini and left that very night. Most people weren"t even aware of our departure, but it was fine as long as we didn"t abandon the guild inside the game. As the leaders of our guild, we didn"t have the luxury to abandon our posts whenever we felt like it.
The handover was officially completed at 8:30 sharp. The landlord was a middle-aged uncle who looked to be around 40 years old or so. When he gave us the keys, he stared at the girls for a moment before muttering from the bottom of his heart, “Wow, these girls are beautiful and cla.s.sy. They must be the daughters of some famous families or something…”
I was dumbfounded by how old-fas.h.i.+oned his thinking was. These days, anyone with enough worldly experience would look cla.s.sy. He Yi and Murong Mingyue were both impressive businesswomen in their respective industries, and their successes were evident in the way they carried themselves. Beiming Xue was a young woman who recently finished high school, so she possessed an innocent-like quality.
……
I was given the room closest to the front door. It was almost as if I was a.s.signed to be the apartment"s guard. He Yi"s room was right next to mine, and Murong Mingyue"s next to hers. Beiming Xue"s room was on the opposite of ours.
By the time we finished setting down everything and connected to the internet, it was past 11 pm in the night.
I clapped my hands together and declared, “Let"s go to sleep earlier and wake up at 7 am in the morning! It"s time to work hard and grab a piece of the world for ourselves!”
All three girls nodded in excitement. Unfortunately, they were also too excited to fall asleep immediately, so they dilly-dallied until midnight before they finally went to bed.