CH 70

There was a rush of heat inside the car.

Pei Yi fell into the hot kiss, his consciousness like a kite without a frame, flung limply into the clouds, tumbling and spinning.

And Bo Yueming’s hands gripping his waist was the only thread controlling his direction.

Bo Yueming heard his barely audible moan, and their breaths entangled, hot and passionate.

Redness spread from the corners of his eyes, staining his cheeks and ears, burning all the way down.

The fierceness began all the more wanton over time, and a sense of suffocation suddenly surged up. Pei Yi put his arms around Bo Yueming’s shoulders, and didn’t know whether to pull him close or release him.

Anxiety pressed on his nerves, and he was like a fish that had been dried up by the heat.

“Er, Er-ge……”

The voice that just came out was swallowed again.

There was no telling how long it took before Pei Yi’s oxygen-starved brain stopped buzzing.

His eyes were watery, and he stared at the person in front of him with unfocused bewilderment, the low sound of his breathing very pleasant to the ear.

Looking at the person in his arms, Bo Yueming resisted the urge to kiss him again, and reached out to touch the tips of his eyes.

“Little Sir, who is the one kissed to tears?”

“……”

It took a few seconds for Pei Yi to react.

Unwilling to admit defeat like this, Pei Yi tilted his head back slightly and suddenly put his lips around Bo Yueming’s fingertips, biting him lightly as if in punishment.

The tips of his teeth touched soft fingertips, bringing a light tingling like an electric current.

Bo Yueming’s eyes darkened a bit, and instead of pulling away, he pressed down slightly with his fingers as if to provoke and punish, letting people’s imaginations run wild.

“Mmm.”

Pei Yi whimpered a little and quickly let go. Conscious of his big defeat, he avoided Bo Yueming’s gaze.

He put his face on his lover’s shoulder, in a bad mood, and wiped the mist from the corners of his eyes. “You kissed me for too long.”

“Was it not you who swore you were going to kiss me to tears tonight?”

Bo Yueming tilted his head and kissed his red ear. “Little Sir, didn’t I cooperate with you just now?”

He usually looked serious and called him by his full name, but at times like this, it was either “Kitten” or “Little Sir,” which particularly touched the bottom of his heart.

Pei Yi just barely resisted his temptation, and murmured, “It’s still numb.”

Bo Yueming changed his method, and smoothed down his kitten’s fur. “But you’ve improved a lot recently.”

Pei Yi was induced into a good mood by him, and said with a voice muffled by the material of the other’s shirt, “What improvement?”

Bo Yueming answered teasingly, “Isn’t there no altitude sickness tonight?”

“…….”

Pei Yi recalled how foolish he acted after the first confession and kiss, and his face grew hot again—

Of course he knew his own “position” in this relationship, and admitted it in his heart but was stubborn with his mouth.

In terms of height, stature, and kissing skills, he was not as good as Bo Yueming. In any case, no matter how he thought about it, he felt that it was impossible to suppress him in reverse in this life.

Pei Yi gave in to reality, and couldn’t help but call out, “Er-ge.”

Bo Yueming encircled him again. “En? What is it?”

“Although we haven’t been dating for long,” Pei Yi said cautiously, “Don’t you want to try it with me?”

“…….”

Bo Yueming’s breathing was inadvertently disturbed. He motioned for his lover to look at him again and said, “You really want to?”

Pei Yi was uncomfortably hot. “I, I just think we should sooner or later, and……”

Bo Yueming lightly rubbed the tip of his nose. “And what?”

Pei Yi asked uncertainly, “And on the premise of mutual respect and mutual liking, it’s actually normal for couples to do this kind of thing, isn’t it?”

He wasn’t too conservative, but he also wasn’t wildly uninhibited.

Pei Yi thought that as long as it was based on liking and respect, and as long as he protected himself sufficiently, it wasn’t impossible for it to happen naturally.

“Er-ge, I actually don’t have much experience.” Pei Yi surreptitiously confirmed his thoughts, shy but straightforward, “But I would like to learn to kiss, and slowly accumulate experience with you in every way.”

Bo Yueming was defeated by his frankness. His lover seemed to be like this all the time—

Whether he was dealing with work and life or a romantic relationship, he would always think clearly and not carelessly hesitate.

Pei Yi looked at him and added, “By the way, there’s one more thing.”

Bo Yueming asked with a smile, “What is it?”

Pei Yi told him earnestly, “I used to have a pessimistic view toward relationships, but now that I’ve decided, I want to be with you.”

“Whether the process is good or bad, whatever the outcome is, I’m ready to deal with it. I hope you won’t feel too burdened in this relationship, okay?”

Pei Yi still remembered last time when Bo Yueming apologized after he relieved him with his hand.

Looking back now, that was not what he wanted to see.

Bo Yueming met Pei Yi’s sincere gaze and lightly kissed the tip of his nose, not denying it. “I’m really afraid that the process will make you feel uncomfortable.”

“You have an honest attitude toward me, and I have my respect for you.”

Bo Yueming didn’t feel any burden in this relationship that had just begun, but on the contrary, he really enjoyed the earnest and clumsy liking of his kitten.

“That……”

Pei Yi hesitated to speak.

Bo Yueming understood his lover’s unspoken hesitation, and leaned closer to his ear to answer, “I also want to, I really want to, but the timing was wrong, so I could only wait.”

Pei Yi didn’t understand for a moment. “Huh? Why?”

Bo Yueming asked back, “Haven’t you been really busy lately?”

Pei Yi nodded. “Of course. The Last Fog is launching soon.”

Bo Yueming nodded, hinting meaningfully, “Little Sir, I feared you would be late for work the next day.”

“……”

Pei Yi suddenly understood the huge amount of information in those words, and the heat that had just subsided surged up again.

Bo Yueming caught a glimpse of the figure approaching outside the car window, and kissed his lover’s earlobe again. “Lao Fu is back, do you want to continue sitting on my lap?”

Pei Yi suddenly jumped up and sat back in his seat, but he was still a step too late—

Opening the car door, Lao Fu caught Pei Yi sitting down at the last second and said unsurely, “Little Sir, are you all right?”

“I’m fine.” Pei Yi stubbornly opened the car window. “It’s, it’s rather hot.”

“……”

In the middle of winter? It was very hot?

Could it be that he came back at the wrong time and interrupted Mr. Bo and Little Sir’s good deeds?

Lao Fu stopped where he was, thinking, should he find an excuse to go out for a while?

Bo Yueming said calmly, “Lao Fu, is your child all right?”

“She’s fine, she’s getting an injection now,” Lao Fu replied briefly, not wanting to delay his own work. “Mr. Bo, shall we return now?”

“En.”

Having confirmed his boss’s opinion, Lao Fu quickly got in the car and started it, driving away.

Bo Yueming watched Pei Yi being blown by the wind for a minute or two before saying seriously, “Pei Yi, roll up the window, be careful not to catch a cold.”

“Oh.”

Pei Yi had stabilized his temperature, and obeyed honestly.

He glanced guiltily at Lao Fu in the front seat, and planned to talk about a serious topic to ease the lingering feelings in his heart. “Er-ge, is the Old Madam better?”

“En, her situation has stabilized.”

Bo Yueming saw through Pei Yi’s small considerations, but was still willing to share this serious matter with him.

“I said before that it was the wrong time, and there are also reasons for this.”

“Ah?”

Pei Yi was taken aback for the moment. 

Bo Yueming pointed out in a low voice, “The old lady still hasn’t recovered her health, but she still has her vigorous temper, and she can’t put up with a certain person anymore.”

Pei Yi’s eyes lit up at once. “The Old Madam really wants to do something to him?”

Him?

Bo Yueming raised his eyebrows slightly and said, “To them.”

Over the years, Old Mrs. Bo had treated everyone in the Bo family fairly, but received very different treatment in return.

She had always been the most clear-headed and independent strong woman, and after this incident, those with malicious intentions could no longer use “family affection as an excuse.”

Bo Yueming said cryptically, “It’s not convenient for Grandma to come out now. She asked me to help make arrangements in secret, and when the time is right, someone will naturally fall.”

Pei Yi heard his deep meaning, and couldn’t help but ask, “When is the right time?”

Bo Yueming said, “The general shareholder meeting.”

Every year around New Year’s Day, Bo Group would hold a year-end general shareholder meeting, at which time almost all the shareholders, large and small, would attend.

With more people and enough grandeur, it would make a good show.

Pei Yi thought of what Cheng Yangshan had done during this period of time, and a trace of anticipation flickered in his eyes. “It’s a pity I’m not a Bo Group shareholder, and can only rely on you to relay the story to me.”

He was an outsider, after all, and should not get involved with such a serious occasion as a shareholder meeting.

Bo Yueming understood his lover’s melon-eating curiosity, and thought to himself, “I have shares in Bo Group. Although they aren’t many, I’m still a shareholder no matter the size.”

“If you want to go, I can speak with Grandma, and use my…..”

Pei Yi understood BoYueming’s unfinished meaning, and stopped him with a smile. “Don’t bother.”

“Just to let me watch a show, you’ll give me such lucrative shares? Even if you’re willing to give them, I don’t want them.”

He didn’t stay with Bo Yueming for the Bo family’s property and shares in Bo Group.

Pei Yi looked at his always excellent lover and cleared his throat, not to be outdone. “Bo Yueming, don’t forget, I also have a game studio!”

Bo Yueming cooperated, “En, it’s time to start calling you ‘Little Boss Yi.’”

Pei Yi corrected, “Remove the ‘little,’ Pear Garden is the only ‘little.’”

Hearing Pei Yi’s strange competitiveness, Bo Yueming pampered him, “Okay.”

“By the way, are you still going to keep your eyes a secret?” Pei Yi thought of this important matter, and complained, “My brother found us out today.”

Bo Yueming was helpless. “Your brother is a retired special forces soldier, after all, so if we wanted to hide from him, we would have to put in all our energy.”

In the hospital corridor today, his thoughts were all on Pei Yi, and he had probably leaked a clue to Qin Yishun in a moment of inattention.

“Anyway, there’s only half a month left before the shareholders meeting, so I’ll let it take its course.” Bo Yueming picked up the guide glasses off the front shelf and rubbed the edges of the frame.

The figure he noticed outside the parking lot not long ago appeared in his mind, and he had already quietly cast the bait. “I’ve only leaked a few weaknesses. Perhaps they can force out some people with extreme ambition.”

Pei Yi felt that there was some sort of deep meaning in his words, but before he could discern them carefully, Bo Yueming asked, “What about you?”

“Me?”

Pei Yi considered the current situation—

The group of people who already knew the truth were people he trusted, and he was also going to take the time to explain to Shu Wan and Pei Yuan.

As for whether outsiders knew, it really didn’t matter to him. On the contrary, he had been relying on “playing the fool” to go outside for a long time, which was still very convenient at times.

Pei Yi came back to his senses and gave the same answer, “I’ll also let it take its course.”

“All right.”

. . . . . . .

At night.

The door to the villa’s study shut heavily.

Bo Guancheng walked quickly to the mahogany desk and looked at Old Mr. Bo and Bo Lihui. “Grandpa, Dad, I just got some news—”

“Bo Yueming’s eyes have probably improved!”

Bo Lihui’s expression changed when he heard this. “What?!”

Bo Yueming had to rely on his assistant to help him commute to and get off work every day, and he still wore those lousy glasses on his face. How could he have improved?

Cheng Yangshan frowned, and asked calmly, “Guancheng, speak clearly, where did you hear that?”

Bo Guancheng said bluntly, “Young Master Pei told me.”

“Pei Huan?”

“En, he called me just now and said that he saw Bo Yueming return to the car alone without any help. The guide glasses were in his hand, and he didn’t wear them at all!”

It was their carelessness!

Bo Yueming was playing them all!

Cheng Yangshan and Bo Lihui exchanged glances, and the latter panicked first. “Dad, what should we do now?”

“Guancheng was sabotaged and can’t return to the firm for the time being. If we let the other shareholders and employees know that Bo Yueming’s eyes have healed, won’t they be completely partial to him?”

Looking at the entire Bo Group, who didn’t know that Bo Yueming was trained by Old Mrs. Bo herself?

Even when Old Mrs. Bo’s accident had just happened, there were rumors and gossip that—

Bo Yueming would become the new leader of Bo Group!

It was only because Bo Yueming’s eyes were injured that the main branch took the lead first.

But ever since Bo Yueming won the Wencheng project and returned, the advantages their main branch were able to take were less and less, and on the contrary, the advantages Bo Yueming and Bo Jiao teamed up to get for the second branch were more and more.

Bo Yueming’s temperament was cold and calm as he advised on projects, and Bo Jiao’s temperament was explosive as she actively confronted everyone.

The brother and sister pair maintained their positions of chief and deputy general managers, and simply didn’t take him seriously as the chairman!

Bo Guancheng said bluntly, “Grandpa, we can’t wait any longer. We must take advantage of this year’s shareholder meeting to completely drive Bo Yueming out of the group!”

Even if it was through coercive means and strategic decisions, in this world, the winner was king!

Cheng Yangshan naturally understood this truth, but there was still one last trace of hesitation in his heart. “But with your grandma’s situation……”

“Grandpa, Bo Yueming hasn’t let us see Grandma for a long time. How do you know he isn’t hiding the truth?”

Old Mrs. Bo hadn’t been seen for almost eight or nine months, and outsiders had no way of knowing whether she was dead or alive. If they wanted to know, didn’t they have to rely on a family member to announce it personally?

Bo Yueming was likely hiding like this because Old Mrs. Bo’s condition was not good, and he was afraid of outsiders finding out that his only backer had disappeared.

“Grandpa, you and Grandma are legally husband and wife, and what’s hers is yours! We’re family too!”

Bo Guancheng bit out that last string of words hard, and they directly hit Cheng Yangshan’s last line of defense.

How could Cheng Yangshan fail to hear his grandson’s deep meaning?

The complex expression in his eyes changed again and again, and in the end, he ruthlessly made up his mind. “Okay!”

After waiting for so many years, he couldn’t wait any longer!

The night scenery was immersed in a chill.

Bo Guancheng finished discussing with Cheng Yangshan and Bo Lihui, and returned to his bedroom. He picked out a bottle of strong whiskey, unscrewed the bottle cap, and took two gulps.

The resentment accumulating in his heart all this time burned fiercely with the scorching spirits, and it was only at this moment that he found a breakthrough. 

First, he was detained for ten days, and after finally leaving the police station, he found out that that night—

The news of him soliciting prostitutes had quickly spread on the internet, and it was even widely circulated among the wealthy families in the Imperial Capital. He had become a proverbial joke overnight.

Without the position of general manager, he had even lost his most precious reputation, forced to sit on the pedestal of moral shame with nowhere to go.

This was all because of Bo Yueming!

Even though Old Mr. Bo had been persuaded to remove Bo Yueming at the general shareholder meeting, Bo Guancheng still couldn’t feel at ease when he thought about the latter’s cunning tricks.

He took a couple more sips of alcohol, and a figure inadvertently appeared in his mind.

“…….”

The silence swept in evil thoughts.

The gloomy light in Bo Guancheng’s eyes suddenly condensed. He picked up his phone and searched through it, quickly dialing a series of unremarkable numbers.

. . . . . . .

A week later, at YWY Studios.

Pei Yi, Li Yuan, and a group of staff sat around the meeting room, staring at the test data portrayed on the projector. 

After nearly four months of preparation, version 1.0 of The Last Fog had officially launched!

The game adopted a bi-directional mode of single-player gameplay + overall rankings on the network. On the basis of maintaining the original game worldview, the gameplay was simplified to the mode of card collection and card battles, which was easy to understand and maximized the age range of players.

And the most ingenious point was—

The art team, led by Lou Yang, had created more than forty character images for NPCs, as well as two different card face modes, the regular version and the Q version.

That is to say, once the player completed one “card-collecting mode,” they could also save and start another set of card-collecting.

The game was officially launched the previous Friday, and the weekend was the peak traffic period. For this reason, Pei Yi, Li Yuan, and GM discussed and doled out marketing and publicity expenses wisely—

They bought hot searches on all major social platforms, and added a link to a gameplay assistant. Even without downloading it or logging in to an account, gamers could experience the trial game for half an hour.

At this moment, Pei Yi stared at the real-time data on the interface, and the corners of his mouth lifted slightly—

Less than six days after its launch, the popularity of The Last Fog continued to rise.

The number of active users on Friday had remained at 500,000, rising steadily to 2 million and 4.8 million on Saturday and Sunday! 

At its highest peak, it reached 5 million, with a retention rate of active users the next day reaching as high as 80 percent!

During these three working days, although the number of active users would decrease, the average value still stabilized overnight.

Seeing this string of data, Li Yuan also let out a sigh of relief. “The increase in this wave of data is pretty good.”

Although it wasn’t a blockbuster game, it was strong enough.

For the Dawn Games that Li Yuan struggled to maintain the past few years, their most popular game barely reached one million players, which lasted for less than half a month before dropping again and again.

“About 60 percent of the source of new users is through shared links, and 40 percent is from searches.” Xiang Nansheng analyzed the data. “The marketing links we invested in are useful.”

When Pei Yi heard that the results were similar to what he had expected, he nodded slightly. “Pear Garden, you and GM’s operations manager should connect again. The online link marketing of the past two weeks cannot be stopped.”

It should be known that there were countless single-player games in the Chinese market right now—

Some well-constructed original games might disappear as soon as they were launched, with the number of daily users only in the two or three digits, a complete loss.

There were also some games that plagiarized foreign ideas at low cost, but made a lot of money with their unrestrained marketing.

Pei Yi believed in the wise saying that “quality goods need no advertising,” but he also understood that in this era of “site traffic wins,” they couldn’t just rely on the quality of the game itself.

Li Yuan nodded.

Another staff member of the operations team said, “Mr. Yi, some advertising media have said they want to add game advertisements. According to the number of active users playing our game…..”

If an advertisement was inserted each time a player failed to domesticate a mutant organism with their cards, they could watch the ad in order to get a free retry. 

That was an extra 1.5 million per day in ad revenue alone!

“Ads should be in moderation, as long as the basic income is guaranteed.”

“Our ‘Last Fog’ is not a short-term profitable game. If we want to go long-term, the most important thing is to increase users’ interest in the game.”

Pei Yi didn’t plan to put in too many spam advertisements. When he was in the real world, the game studio he ran at the beginning did a wave of online evaluations—

The majority of players indicated that if they saw the same ad more than five times, or if it was longer than thirty seconds, their interest in the game dropped.

Li Yuan understood Pei Yi’s concerns, and suggested, “Different ads can be placed on different user levels, with the overall number of ads within five times, and players can be given the opportunity to restart for free?”

Lou Yang followed up with a suggestion, “If the user stays for more than twenty minutes, thirty minutes, an hour, or two hours, can we distribute blind box cards that have been ‘tamed?’”

This was in order to prolong the time that users voluntarily stayed on the game interface.

As the technical director, Xiang Nansheng gave it some thought. “It wouldn’t be difficult. The program update can be completed by Friday.”

Pei Yi tapped the tip of his pen lightly and agreed.

Whether it was Li Yuan, Lou Yang, or Xian Nansheng, any one of them was sufficient alone!

Sure enough, meeting like-minded people to create games and start a business was a truly relaxed and enjoyable thing.

The first meeting after the game launched went well.

Pei Yi had initially disapproved of “overtime,” but now that the game had just launched, they must race against time for heat. 

The core members worked continuously for two days before launching the new functions ahead of the next weekend rush.

As partners, Pei Yi and Li Yuan specially ordered dinner on Friday night as a treat to reward all the studio staff.

Once the hustle and bustle at the dinner table started, there was no escape. Although Pei Yi tried his best to push it away, he still couldn’t avoid being given some alcohol.

When he got back to the car, drunkenness already suffused his face.

Lao Fu was concerned. “Little Sir, are you all right?”

Pei Yi fastened his seatbelt in a silent and well-behaved manner, and said with the last trace of reason he had left, “Go home, find Er-ge.”

Bo Yueming had been busy these two days with the year-end project summary and the preparations for the shareholder meeting, and was also exhausted. Pei Yi had deliberately prevented his lover from coming to pick him up after work tonight. 

Half an hour later, the car drove smoothly to Bo Manor.

Lao Fu glanced through the rearview window at the drowsy Pei Yi, and said carefully, “Little Sir, we’re almost there. 

“Hm?”

Pei Yi opened his eyes in a daze and glanced out the car window, then frowned uncertainly—

There seemed to be someone around the corner?

The car stopped at the garage of the independent villa.

Pei Yi was still immersed in his uncertainty, and Bo Yueming, who had been waiting outside the garage for a long time, took the initiative to open the door. 

Their gazes met.

“You drank?”

“En?”

Pei Yi’s wandering thoughts were pulled back, and seeing the handsome face in front of him, he laughed dizzily. 

“Er-ge, I’m back!”

Saying this, he moved directly from the seat into Bo Yueming’s arms and lingered there.

Seeing Pei Yi’s appearance, Bo Yueming knew that he was quite drunk.

He easily lifted his lover into his arms, intending to take him directly back to the master bedroom. “Was the dinner party just to fill you with wine? Does your stomach feel uncomfortable?”

“Do you want to eat something more?”

Pei Yi obediently put his arms around Bo Yueming’s shoulders, and his thoughts shifted again.

Taking advantage of his drunkenness, he said with presumptuous bravado, “Ah! I’ll eat you!”