Chapter 266

Chapter 266: A New Year’s Party

The news of Mei Fang developing games had already reached his parents after the promotional video was aired.

Xiang Xiaoxia was initially very upset about Mei Fang’s lack of focus on studies and various other non-academic activities. She even discussed with Liang Meijuan about having her supervise Mei Fang.

Mei Fang initially tried to persuade her and later used his NOIP results to calm her down, promising to maintain his grades in the final exams.

Now he had developed a significant generation gap with his parents. While his father, Mei Lijun, didn’t seem too concerned, it was much harder to deal with his mother.

Mei Fang wasn’t a child anymore. He knew that his parents would likely view his actions as unproductive given their perspective. There was no point in getting angry at his mother over this.

However, there were subsequent issues that troubled him—

How could he tell his mother that his son was now a millionaire internet tycoon?

He always felt that she might think he had joined some strange organization or was being used by someone else.

In the end, he might still need Xia Yuan or You Xi to help him handle his mother…

Looking back at Mei Fang’s legendary experience during his first semester of high school, many of his identities had been exposed, making it impossible for him to remain an ordinary high school student enjoying a simple romance story.

Sometimes, the pressure from all sides made it hard for him to breathe.

But fortunately, he wasn’t fighting alone; his companions were growing together.

After Zhang Ming bid farewell to his past self, he chose to transfer to a parallel class voluntarily after the summer vacation. During holidays, he showed increased work enthusiasm and began to discover his talents.

With a strong math background, he had a decent understanding of numerical concepts. Although his gaming experience was limited, it was deep enough for him to progress from a general planning role to a basic numerical planner.

After the “Cloud Journey” project ended, Mei Fang allowed Guo Yun some time off to improve her academic performance.

Guo Yun’s aspiration was to get into one of the eight major art academies, but her family knew little about this field. Mei Fang helped her with some preparation plans, and now she was working towards this goal.

Yue Xinyi, after handling the aftermath of the CP breakdown, focused on C Station affairs. Though officially she was the operations director, she was actually learning from experienced team members. The Penguin staff also provided Yue Xinyi with advice and support.

As for Peng Xue, apart from gloating briefly after Xia Yuan’s victory, she disappeared alongside Yue Xinyi. Only her C Station account remained active, posting bass-playing tutorial videos.

Liu Xiaoyu spent most of her time helping Xia Yuan with music composition. Mei Fang rarely had opportunities to be alone with her and mostly learned about her through Xia Yuan.

After being caught a few times, Mei Fang sometimes felt awkward around Liu Xiaoyu, but they both understood and never mentioned it.

In a blink, 2012 came to an end, and 2013 arrived.

The official public announcement of C Station and Penguin’s financing plan was an early year event. The market viewed this partnership as Penguin’s move into the secondary realm and its challenge against the capital behind A Station, Shengda Network.

Of course, this confrontation wouldn’t last long because Shengda Network, once at its peak, would soon fragment into struggling remnants.

Its game and tech industries would become independent companies, Shengda Corporation and Shengqu Games;

Its game platform, Biaofeng Games, would stand on its own with the thriving San Guo Sha OL;

And its online literature layout, Shengda Literature, would conclude, becoming Penguin’s most important IP incubation headquarters after leaving Shengda Network—

This was the origin of the well-known Yuyan Group.

For Mei Fang and his peers of the same age, Shengda Network was a part of their lost youth.

At one time, Shengda Pass was a crucial virtual asset for domestic gamers, not far behind the status of Penguin accounts. Many of Penguin’s achievements in the entertainment industry were built upon the downfall of Shengda.

The old game industry titan declined, while the new one rose, and as a reborn individual, Mei Fang, starting from Xia Yuan’s ten yuan, had barely kept up with the tide of the times, though he couldn’t ride the waves like the trendsetter. Still, he followed Penguin in riding the waves.

Thereafter, C Station needed to face direct competition from A Station and the brutal copyright wars. To do so, it required some transformative changes.

The most critical update plan for C Station was the live streaming function, which was a new trend in the internet industry.

In the near future, the first version of Doyu, the former “Live Broadcast,” would be released under Chen Shaojie’s leadership.

Doyu’s early success largely relied on A Station’s traffic, and it was originally a section of A Station.

Though Bilibili did not exist, this era’s A Station wasn’t much better than Mei Fang remembered. The discarded child of this era’s A Station might eventually follow a lonely path, presenting both opportunities and challenges for C Station.

Currently, C Station still maintained a relatively strict membership registration system. Only formal members could upload videos and send unrestricted bullet screens. Non-formal members currently had limited functionalities, and Mei Fang was trying to attract more casual users.

Despite Mei Fang’s cautious steps towards commercialization, opening up bullet screen permissions to non-formal members caused a trust crisis among core users.

Recently, users had begun discussing whether the “young mistress” had lost her original intentions due to Penguin’s financing. In the end, Mei Fang mitigated some of the negative sentiment by limiting the number of daily bullet screens non-formal members could send.

Regardless, running a company and working was truly difficult.

But after enduring so much, it was finally bittersweet, and the efforts this year hadn’t gone to waste.

After the semester ended, Mei Fang didn’t rush back home. Instead, he organized a year-end party for Lin Xi Technology, preparing generous prizes to attract more talent. He invited everyone to a fancy hotel and gave a brief speech on behalf of the three leaders of C Station.

Mei Fang disliked complicated social interactions and organizational structures. This year, besides acknowledging everyone’s efforts, he promoted a small batch of technical backbone members to lead various functions of the website. However, the manager position remained vacant. Now, he could only hope that Sister Yueyue could summon such powerful assistants to help him execute his plans.

This Jiangcheng year-end party included Liu Xiaoyu and Guo Yun, who were already employed in the company, as well as Wan Chaoxiong and Zhu Nai from the same class, giving them a taste of the real world.

C Station employees thoroughly enjoyed the year-end party organized by their teenage boss. The benefits bestowed upon each employee would foster a sense of belonging, and they believed that working with the station leader would bring a brighter future.

Regarding year-end bonuses, the company would directly deposit them into employees’ accounts. As for those he personally trained, Mei Fang planned to distribute them similarly to last year. This special treatment would ensure that Yue Xinyi and Peng Xue, who didn’t attend the party, wouldn’t feel left out.

After the party, everyone started making arrangements to return home for the New Year. Liu Xiaoyu had a train back to Bai Mei County today, so attending the party was rather rushed.

Before leaving, Liu Xiaoyu approached Mei Fang to inquire about the bonus distribution and made a small request.

“Can I get my bonus in advance?”

“Yes, you can, but I’m afraid you won’t have enough cash to carry it all. You’ll need a backpack.”

“Not… not in cash.”

“Haha, just kidding.”

Seeing Liu Xiaoyu’s urgency, Mei Fang contacted the finance department to transfer the money to her account. Afterward, he asked her, “Is something wrong at home?”

Liu Xiaoyu shook her head. “No, nothing… I just want to use this money to pay off some debts and lighten the burden a bit.”

“Okay… if you need any help, let me know.”

Liu Xiaoyu smiled. “I don’t need to… I’ve already received a lot of help from you. Being able to contribute to something as amazing as this, I am really grateful.”

“Don’t say ‘you’ and ‘us.’ Your contributions are part of these amazing achievements. Don’t be too distant.”

Although Mei Fang gave preferential treatment to friends, he never tolerated idlers in the company. He was satisfied with Liu Xiaoyu’s work attitude and efficiency and believed she deserved this recognition.

Thinking about this, Mei Fang pondered for a moment. “However, if you ever tire of assisting Xia Yuan and want to achieve something on your own, we can provide you with more independent development opportunities. This is what Xia Yuan also looks forward to.”

Liu Xiaoyu waved her hands repeatedly. “I won’t get tired of working with Xia Yuan! I feel I can learn a lot…”

“Haha… just an example. But the knowledge you gain should be showcased on a better stage.”

Mei Fang continued, “I remember you mentioned being interested in Xia Yuan’s band before. If you have ideas, I will support you like I did for Peng Xue… Of course, you already have some savings now. Ultimately, it depends on your career planning. I think it’s time to consider these things.”

“Mm… I understand. I will seriously consider it.” Liu Xiaoyu lowered her head and then looked up at Mei Fang with a slight smile. “Thank you, Mei Fang.”

Good job, writing on time.

(End of Chapter)