Rebirth: Saving the Lovely Girl from the Start

"No need," Gu Qingshan said lightly.

If his daughter hadn’t urged him, he never would have come to a place like this.

Gu Muxue felt that Xue Rui was still just a kid who would be at a disadvantage negotiating with these large companies, so she asked her father to go and back him up.

Of course, if Gu Qingshan himself hadn’t been willing, it wouldn’t have mattered how much Gu Muxue urged him.

...

Tech companies were often just ragtag operations on the inside. Bickering and squabbling between departments were common, and there weren’t many complicated rules.

Xue Rui loved negotiating with companies like this. The teams were young, and they had plenty to talk about.

But the moment Gu Qingshan arrived, the entire atmosphere of the dinner changed.

The aura he exuded, one that came from years of holding a high-ranking position, made many people feel ill at ease.

"Please, sit," Xue Rui said, warmly welcoming everyone.

It wasn’t that he hadn’t considered using this powerful connection as leverage, but he felt it was unnecessary as long as the process went smoothly.

Still, having Gu Qingshan here was a good thing for him.

’No wonder...’

’No wonder he registered so many trademarks. Turns out someone was guiding him.’

The group exchanged glances, understanding dawning on them in an instant.

They had been wondering how a high school student could have such a strong awareness of intellectual property rights. It turned out he had a "professional" elder on his side.

"Classmate Xue Rui, you’re quite the thinker. While everyone else is studying for their college entrance exams, you’ve created a blockbuster game. I imagine you must have an elder supporting you behind the scenes," Qingfeng said with a smile.

Calling him "Classmate Xue" was meant to build rapport; it was also his way of trying to determine who really called the shots at the company.

’Where did this big shot come from all of a sudden?’

"Without Uncle Gu’s support, I don’t know when my ideas would have ever become a reality." Xue Rui raised his teacup to Gu Qingshan in a toast.

...

After a round of probing small talk, Gu Qingshan picked up his chopsticks and reached for the plate of peanuts.

However, before he could grab one, the lazy Susan suddenly sped up, and his chopsticks closed on empty air.

Gu Qingshan looked up, stunned. He’d never had something like this happen to him before.

Seeing the change in Gu Qingshan’s expression, everyone held their breath. Their eyes darted around the table. ’Which moron did that?’ they thought. ’So completely clueless!’

Finally, their gazes landed on Lin Ruoxi...

Lin Ruoxi was blankly spinning the lazy Susan, completely engrossed. It was her first time eating at a table with a revolving tray.

She’d noticed that no one was eating and wanted to bring the plate of shrimp around so she could peel some for Xue Rui.

However, she was completely oblivious to the fact that someone was trying to get food.

Xue Rui quickly put a hand on Lin Ruoxi’s to stop her, pushed the lazy Susan back a little, and shot an apologetic smile at Gu Qingshan.

Gu Qingshan didn’t mind. He was only here to intimidate these people and keep the "kid" from being bullied. ’Still... how does this boy, Xue Rui, look so much like Xie Jianfeng?’

’Would this kid ever let himself be taken advantage of?’

"My apologies, something has come up at work. I’ll have to excuse myself." After a moment’s thought, Gu Qingshan felt his task was more or less complete, so he found an excuse to leave early.

Everyone instinctively rose to their feet.

"Director Gu, I’ll see you out," Lawyer Zhang said, quickly getting up to escort him.

Without turning his head, Gu Qingshan said, "Xiaozhang, have you forgotten why you’re here?"

"Yes, yes..."

After Gu Qingshan left, the atmosphere at the dinner gradually relaxed.

Lin Ruoxi, completely oblivious, just kept her head down, picking at the rice in her bowl and occasionally putting a choice morsel on Xue Rui’s plate. His plate was now piled high like a small mountain.

"What just happened? Why wasn’t anyone eating?" Lin Ruoxi asked, her face full of curiosity.

’These people are so weird,’ she thought. ’There’s a huge table of food getting cold, but nobody’s eating. And they keep staring at me for some reason.’

Xue Rui smiled helplessly. ’The boss reaches for a dish, and you spin the table...’

’In any other setting, it wouldn’t take a few days before someone made her life difficult—assigning her tons of useless work, shipping her off to some remote office to punch a clock...’

But Xue Rui thought it was better for Lin Ruoxi to stay a little naive. Life was easier that way.

’In this world, the thing with the shortest shelf life is innocence.’

"This must be the young lady who called me an idiot, right?" Qingfeng said in a joking tone.

This girl had blocked him so many times that he’d been holding onto a bit of irritation. But seeing her in person—so innocent and pretty—he found he couldn’t be angry at all.

"I... I... I’m sorry! I did it all by myself! It has nothing to do with Xue Rui!" Lin Ruoxi, not knowing how to respond, jumped to her feet and began bowing repeatedly in apology.

’He’s actually asking me,’ Lin Ruoxi thought. ’I can’t sell out Xue Rui. It really was me who called him an idiot. I should just apologize quickly, and it’ll be fine.’

Xue Rui’s brow furrowed. ’Isn’t that a classic case of protesting too much?’

’Did she just sell us both out with a single sentence?’ 𝙧𝙚𝙚𝔀𝒆𝓫𝓷𝙤𝓿𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝙤𝓶

The group stared in stunned silence for a moment before bursting into hearty laughter.

"Hahaha! This girl is hilarious! We have to poach her for our company. She’s a real character," someone said, laughing until their sides hurt.

Lin Ruoxi blinked her large, innocent eyes and looked at Xue Rui in confusion.

Xue Rui smiled and explained, "They’re saying you’re so smart they want you to come work for them."

"I... I’m not going." Lin Ruoxi quickly scooted closer to Xue Rui, her small hand gripping his arm.

"Tsk, tsk. Color me jealous. I didn’t realize Happy Elimination was a family business," Qingfeng teased.

Thanks to Lin Ruoxi’s little scene, the atmosphere became much more cheerful.

Qingfeng felt he had a good grasp of the situation now. The girl clearly had no say in anything. The old woman listed as the company’s legal representative was just a figurehead. Director Gu had only been there for intimidation. When it came to the game, Xue Rui and Xue Rui alone called the shots.

"President Xue, we’re a tech company; we value efficiency. We don’t need to lay everything out on the negotiating table. We came here to buy Happy Elimination. You should be well aware of our intentions," Qingfeng said seriously.

"Of course I am. The only question is, what’s your offer?" Xue Rui replied with a smile.

They weren’t the only company looking to buy his game right now.

"Fifteen million is our bottom line," Qingfeng stated seriously.

"Qingfeng!" someone shouted.

’Who negotiates like that?’ they thought. ’Revealing your bottom line right at the start!’

Back at the office, they had argued against Qingfeng coming. They had their own team of professional negotiators.

But the CEO trusted Qingfeng too much and had given him full authority.

Everyone watched Xue Rui’s reaction. ’Fifteen million is an astronomical sum,’ they thought. ’It’s enough to buy several apartments in a first-tier city. He has to agree to that, right?’

’He’s just a high school student, after all...’

But then they remembered the fleet of cars that had picked them up. ’Xue Rui’s background can’t be simple.’

Xue Rui’s expression remained perfectly calm. The price did indeed exceed his expectations; he would have been happy with ten million, and this was five million more.

’They’re certainly showing sincerity.’

But that wasn’t what Xue Rui was after. He said calmly, "Not enough."

"Did someone else offer more?" a woman asked.

Xue Rui smiled. "You must have done your market research. Right now, our game’s monthly revenue is over three hundred thousand. In another two years, when the mobile user base explodes, pulling in over a million a month across multiple platforms won’t be an issue."

Qingfeng gave a faint smile. "You’re describing a best-case scenario. There are countless competitors on the market. Once they start chipping away at your market share, how much will you have left? There’s already a similar game right below you on the charts."

Xue Rui’s expression didn’t change. He was well aware of this. His game only had a first-mover advantage. The moment latecomers started throwing money at the market, his share would be eaten away.

"Besides," Qingfeng added with a smile, "it seems your game’s level design has hit a bottleneck."

He was a veteran Happy Elimination player himself. The recent levels were noticeably repetitive, and the difficulty had spiked.

At this rate, the game’s life cycle would soon be over.

Xue Rui was taken aback. ’This guy understands my own game better than I do,’ he thought.

But that wasn’t his trump card. Xue Rui said, "Of course I know that. A two-person studio can only accomplish so much. But what if I hire people to design levels, manage operations systematically, and use the IP trademarks I hold as a protective moat? Earning fifteen million wouldn’t be difficult then, would it?"

Qingfeng gave him an admiring glance. Xue Rui was right. The two of them had already created a blockbuster. If they dedicated themselves to managing it, there was no telling what their limit would be. Moreover, the value of those trademarks would only increase in the future. Xue Rui knew what he was talking about.

"But how can you be so sure the user base will explode?" Qingfeng asked. "Right now, your main source of revenue is high-net-worth individuals—people who can afford iPhones."

Xue Rui shook his head and explained, "Our game is based on microtransactions—just a dollar or two at a time. It’s not tied to high-net-worth players. The target audience for this kind of game is the future mass market."

A glimmer of light flashed in Qingfeng’s eyes. He hadn’t expected the young man’s assessment to be identical to his own. "Oh? And what makes you so sure smartphones will become that widespread?"

Xue Rui smiled. "High school students are already using smartphones, to say nothing of college students. You’ve heard of the brand Xiaomi, right? They’ve already kicked off a new price war. Once they finish capturing the youth market, they’ll move on to the middle-aged and elderly demographics. A billion internet users in the future isn’t just a dream."

Everyone was shocked to hear this. ’What’s the total population, even? How can he dare to say a billion internet users?’

’If that’s really true, just how massive is the market for this kind of casual game?’

"4G has been commercially available overseas for several years, and I hear it’s set to roll out domestically this year. That will kick off another price war," Xue Rui said calmly. All of this information was readily available on the internet.

Qingfeng nodded, murmuring to himself. This matched his own predictions. Many of the industry’s top players were forecasting the same thing.

He shot Xue Rui another look of admiration. ’To have such a keen market sense while living in a backward city like Hedong is truly impressive.’

"Classmate Xue, I sincerely invite you to join us. I’m confident your starting salary would be at least a million a year," Qingfeng said with sincerity.

Xue Rui furrowed his brow. "Work for someone else? Working for someone else is impossible. I’ll never work for someone else in this life. I guess I can just scrape by making games..."

Qingfeng found the phrase strangely familiar. He couldn’t remember where he’d heard something similar, but it seemed like it was from a news interview with some criminal...

But since the kid didn’t want a job, he couldn’t force the issue.

"Then name your price. I’ll go back and discuss it with headquarters," Qingfeng said.

In truth, he also felt that a fifteen-million-yuan budget was too low. By his calculations, the future domestic market was worth at least tens of billions. With Happy Elimination’s foundation and Le You’s resources, they could capture at least half of that.

He had revealed their bottom line at the outset to show their sincerity. He was the one who understood this game best, and he knew Xue Rui’s ambitions went far beyond a simple payout.

"Don’t you guys have video conferencing?"