Yacht Party

Before they knew it, a week had already passed since the start of the semester.

Jiangcheng University had settled back into its familiar rhythm.

Early-morning classes, roll calls, assignments, lines in the cafeteria, and fighting for seats in the library.

For most students, the first week of a new semester was always the hardest. The post-holiday slump had barely worn off when the professors began introducing new material, while assignment notifications kept appearing one after another in the class group chats, making everyone’s scalp tingle.

But Su Bai had spent the week in complete comfort.

In the mornings, he accompanied Chen Yusheng to class. At noon, he watched her investigate which cafeteria stall had the spiciest chili. In the afternoons, he would occasionally stop by the company to check on the progress of Chen Yusheng’s laboratory.

The rest of his time was spent mostly at East Lake Clubhouse.

Zhou Jialu kept the clubhouse running in perfect order. The Wan Sisters were busy experimenting with new dishes and making small renovations, while Lu Yuning had delivered several newly made loungewear sets for everyone to try on.

Liu Chenyang dropped by from time to time as well.

After returning to dressing as a girl, she had clearly become much more relaxed. When she used to wear men’s clothes, there had always been a hint of awkwardness about her; even the way she walked and spoke had seemed carefully restrained. Now that she wore skirts and tied her smooth hair back, her smile was sweet and gentle.

With so many people at East Lake Clubhouse, there was never a shortage of liveliness.

After dinner, they would gather in the living room to watch movies, play games, and have a little to drink. Zhou Jialu could always dig something new out of the liquor cabinet, while Wan Xinyan liked to hug a bag of snacks and scoot over beside Su Bai.

On the surface, Chen Yusheng still maintained her usual cool and distant demeanor.

But as soon as night came and they returned to their room, she became especially clingy.

Ever since they had returned from camping, she had clearly been taking the matter of trying for a baby more seriously.

She had even secretly looked up quite a few baby products.

One time, Su Bai came out of the shower and found her curled up on the bed, studying something intently on her tablet.

“What are you looking at?”

Chen Yusheng’s hand jerked. She hurriedly tucked the screen against her chest.

“Nothing.”

Su Bai walked over and casually took the tablet from her. He glanced at the screen.

It was unmistakably a review video of high-end baby strollers.

Chen Yusheng’s ears immediately turned red.

“Don’t look at that.”

“What’s wrong with looking at it?” Su Bai sat down beside her and casually pulled her into his arms. “Doing your homework in advance. That’s pretty sensible.”

“I was just taking a look.”

“Just taking a look, and you’ve already moved on to luxury strollers?”

“That’s because you said so.” Chen Yusheng pressed her lips together and muttered softly, “If we have a child in the future, we can’t just make do.”

Su Bai lowered his head and looked at her.

Chen Yusheng grew uncomfortable under his gaze and reached up to push him.

“What are you staring at?”

“I’m looking at the mother of my future child.”

“Su Bai!”

The room was bathed in warm light.

Chen Yusheng’s usually cool little face flushed bright red at his words. Her lips refused to admit anything, but her body honestly leaned into Su Bai’s embrace.

That week, the two of them devoted nearly every night to trying for a baby.

Chen Yusheng didn’t know whether it was actually helping.

In any case, every morning after waking up, she would first record the date in the memo app on her phone, keeping track of it even more diligently than she recorded her experimental data.

Friday night.

The men’s dormitory.

Su Bai had made a rare trip back to the dorm.

Chu Mingzhe had gone out to eat with some friends, while Xue Tao had said he was accompanying Huang Ran shopping. That left only Su Bai and Wang Haoran in the room.

Wang Haoran sat in front of the computer with a headset over his ears. Half a bottle of soda and two bags of potato chips sat on the desk.

On the screen, a familiar anime-style character was battling away.

“Brother Bai, hurry, hurry! Someone’s on the left!”

“I see them.”

Su Bai leaned back in his chair, his fingers flying over the keyboard.

The game Wang Haoran had created was now completely different from what it had been before.

At the beginning, the studio had only a few people, its office had been cramped, and the project budget had been painfully tight. Although the game had shown some promise, everything had been short on funding—the graphics, music, servers, and publicity.

Later, Su Bai had invested directly.

The office building in Jiangda’s industrial park had provided the studio with ample workspace. The equipment was replaced, the staff was expanded, and the servers were upgraded. As for publicity, they spread the word through the anime club and various other channels.

The game had been doing very well lately.

Its revenue was steadily rising.

Its player base continued to grow.

Most importantly, it had built a good reputation.

Many players on the forums praised the game for releasing updates regularly, treating its story seriously, and maintaining high-quality character art. Even the lag issues that had frequently drawn criticism in the past had improved considerably after several rounds of optimization.

Whenever Wang Haoran talked about the game now, he seemed far more energetic than before.

“Brother Bai, take a look at this new character’s skill effects.”

During the loading screen, Wang Haoran excitedly handed over his phone.

“The art team just finished revising them yesterday. The lead planner says they’re planning to make her the featured character in the next version.”

Su Bai glanced at it.

The character art was indeed exquisite, and the skill animations were smooth enough.

“Looks good.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. Just don’t focus only on selling power,” Su Bai said. “The game has to be fun first. If players are willing to stay, and willing to recommend it to their friends on their own, the revenue will naturally follow.”

Wang Haoran nodded repeatedly.

“Boss Du says the same thing. He’s practically about to hang those words on the office wall.”

Su Bai smiled.

He had invested in the game in the first place without any urgent desire to make money.

He had more than a billion yuan in cash on hand. Buying a car, purchasing a house, or renting out an entire venue now and then would earn him more in system rebates than the game ever could.

But games were different.

If done well, they could genuinely make players happy.

When he and Chen Yusheng had first teamed up at an internet café, it was gaming that had brought them closer. Later, games had also been the easiest topic of conversation when he was getting along with Wang Haoran, Chu Mingzhe, and his other roommates.

Being able to create a game and have more people enjoy it really was pretty interesting.

“Brother Bai, watch out!”

Wang Haoran suddenly shouted.

Su Bai came back to himself, only to find that the character on-screen had already been surrounded by the opposing team.

“How did you get distracted again?”

“I was looking at your character model.”

“Seriously?”

“Seriously. It’s ugly in a very distinctive way.”

“Damn it!”

Although Wang Haoran cursed, his hands never stopped moving.

The two of them coordinated and launched a counterattack. Su Bai’s character held the front line and absorbed a wave of damage, while Wang Haoran circled around to the side and dealt damage. A few seconds later, the last enemy character, already low on health, fell, and a victory notification appeared on the screen.

Wang Haoran pulled off his headset and slapped the desk.

“That was awesome!”

He turned toward Su Bai, his face full of excitement.

“Brother Bai, if we recorded a match like that, we could definitely edit it into promotional material. The timing of that engage was incredible.”

“Stop flattering me.”

“I’m giving an objective assessment.”

As they were talking, the dormitory door opened.

Xue Tao staggered in.

He was dressed more carefully than usual that day, and he had clearly styled his hair. He held a cup of milk tea in one hand, and his face was filled with barely concealed smugness.

“Well, well. You two are still gaming?”

Wang Haoran glanced at him.

“Weren’t you out shopping with Huang Ran?”

“We finished.” Xue Tao set the milk tea on the desk and pulled out a chair. “There’s an event tomorrow, so I need to get back early tonight and recharge.”

Su Bai turned his head.

“What kind of event?”

At the mention of it, Xue Tao immediately sat up straight.

“A yacht party.”

“Huang Ran has a friend whose family is pretty well-off. They’re throwing a yacht party by the river this weekend. I heard a few rich kids from school are going too—the kind who usually drive supercars and hang out at nightclubs.”

Wang Haoran blinked.

“A yacht party? You can get in?”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Xue Tao immediately bristled. “I own four properties here in Jiangcheng. What’s so strange about me going to a yacht party?”

“Those four properties of yours can’t exactly sail out onto the river.”

“I’ve also got a Passat.”

Wang Haoran fell silent for two seconds.

“That’s even less capable of sailing.”

Su Bai couldn’t help laughing.

Xue Tao’s face darkened. Pointing at Wang Haoran, he cursed, “Ever since you started hanging around Brother Bai, you’ve gotten more and more vicious.”

Wang Haoran pushed up his glasses.

“I’m merely stating a fact.”

Xue Tao snorted and let the matter drop. He turned to Su Bai, curiosity in his voice.

“Brother Bai, do you know much about yachts?”

“Not really.”

Su Bai’s answer was straightforward.

He had indeed had little contact with yachts in the past.

He had driven luxury cars, owned an RV, and even built the enormous and lavish Donghu Club.

But a yacht—a pure luxury toy meant for leisure—was something he had never bought.

Seeing that even Su Bai admitted he wasn’t familiar with them, Xue Tao immediately became animated.

“I heard Huang Ran say that the yacht tomorrow is pretty big. Just renting it for a day costs a fortune. It has a bar, a sound system, and a dedicated lounge area.”

“She also said that truly rich people don’t buy yachts to make money by taking them out. They buy them for the prestige. Whether it’s getting together with friends, fishing offshore, or throwing a party, standing on the deck just feels different.”

Wang Haoran listened with a hint of longing.

“Fishing offshore?”

Su Bai raised his eyebrows as well.

He possessed grandmaster-level fishing skills.

If he really got a yacht, taking Chen Yusheng and the others out to sea in the future—to fish, watch the sunset, and throw parties on the water—would certainly be more refreshing than staying at the club all the time.

Besides, yachts were anything but cheap.

Leaning back in his chair, Su Bai lightly tapped his fingers against the tabletop. Suddenly, he found himself rather interested.

After all, the cashback from splurging on a yacht ought to be incredible.