Only After I Was Reborn Did I Realize That I Had Childhood Sweethearts Chapter 418: Energy from My Wives

After wrapping up the hustle and bustle of the Spring Festival, i Fang, Xia Yuan, and Lin Youxi returned early to Pengcheng on the sixth day of the lunar new year.

Although Peng University wouldn’t start classes until the sixteenth day of the first month, the three of them, besides enjoying the convenient identity of being university students, also bore the more important identities of company CEOs.

Of course, this massive Yuanxi Studio, though nominally co-owned by the three heads, was currently still managed mostly by i Fang. Xia Yuan and Lin Youxi were each only busy within their own domains.

Lin Youxi was occupied with the developnt of the foundational frawork for the “Project: Endga.”

Although it was her first ti attempting an action frawork for a troidvania-type ga, Yuanxi Studio now had many top-tier developers. Lin Youxi didn’t shy away from her identity and directly asked for help. The pure tech-heads, of course, shared everything without reservation.

As for Xia Yuan, she was mainly imrsed in the creation of a new album. This ti, she didn’t plan to rely on i Fang’s assistance but intended to rely entirely on her own lyric and composition skills to develop the album. The the also returned to the most familiar elent of [childhood sweethearts] — the sweet song genre — and she hoped to achieve so breakthrough this ti.

In addition, Xia Yuan would also livestream on C Station once a week under her virtual strear identity Yuan-chan. Each session lasted two hours and mainly featured singing and ga testing. Xia Yuan’s cheerful and optimistic personality was fully unleashed under the Yuan-chan avatar, often resulting in various hilarious antics. She was, without a doubt, the top livestrear on C Station.

As for i Fang, who ca from a producer background, his current primary focus was actually on company organizational managent. Only a small portion of his ti was spent pushing forward the developnt of Project: Endga.

The mont the three returned ho, they each dove into their respective tasks, and didn’t share much intimate ti together.

Co the eighth day of the lunar new year, however, there was still one very ceremonial thing they had to do — arrive at the company early to prepare for handing out the back-to-work red envelopes.

In Pengcheng, handing out these envelopes was called pai li shi [派利是/pài lì shì], because it was a homophone for good fortune affairs, symbolizing the wish for everything to go smoothly and for a prosperous start to the work year.

This little tradition was sothing the elder predecessor of Yuanxi Studio — the “Penguin Empire” — had adhered to for decades. One might even have a chance to receive a red envelope directly from Brother Pony himself.

After arriving at the company, i Fang, Xia Yuan, and Lin Youxi joined i Yue and the administrative HR team to get everything prepared before dividing up the tasks.

Yuanxi Studio was still renting office floors in a comrcial building — their actual headquarters was still under land developnt.

They occupied four floors from the 20th to the 23rd. i Yue was assigned to distribute red envelopes on the 20th floor, while i Fang, Xia Yuan, and Lin Youxi each took one floor. The three big bosses stood at the elevator lobbies, handing out New Year’s blessings and envelopes together with several HR staff.

“Happy New Year.”

“Whoa whoa, Boss, Happy New Year!”

The HR staffer nad Chengzi, who had previously had a strange misunderstanding with i Fang, was now working alongside him to distribute the red envelopes. Upon seeing her, i Fang imdiately called her by her nickna and asked about the batch of interns they interviewed together last ti.

“Two of them resigned for personal reasons, but the rest are still interning in the respective planning departnts of the project teams. They’re doing quite well — all received A in their monthly evaluations.”

“Mm, that’s great then.”

i Fang nodded. “Make sure to treat the interns with the sa respect and benefits as full-ti staff. These young people have strong pride. They work actively, enthusiastically, and have lots of ideas. But once they feel ignored or not valued, they’ll get really upset — and might just fire us as their boss.”

“Understood, Director i.”

“Ah, don’t call that… ‘Director i’ always sounds like you’re cussing soone out. Just call Station Chief, isn’t that fine?”

“R-right, sorry, sorry… I’m just not used to it.”

Chengzi scratched her head awkwardly. “Station Chief, you ca back to the Pengcheng office so early — not spending more ti at ho with your family?”

“This year there’s quite a lot of work. Even though we’ve grown this big, we’re still a startup, right? That can’t be helped.”

Listening to i Fang complain like any regular coworker, and then seeing him greet every arriving employee with a bright smile, Chengzi couldn’t help but feel a natural closeness and admiration for this legendary young boss.

i Fang’s managent philosophy had always centered on building a young, harmonious, and friendly workplace environnt. Because of this, even though he didn’t often show up at the company, anyone who interacted with him quickly beca drawn in by his charisma and gave their best to support him.

Having co from a working-class background in his past life, i Fang understood very well what employees needed.

First, of course, was satisfactory compensation. Nothing is more important than a paycheck. Only on this foundation can other needs be aningfully addressed.

Second was the emotional need to be respected. Workers might be there to earn money, but they are still honorable laborers. If a boss doesn’t treat their employees like people, resentnt will naturally arise.

Thus, small benefits provided regularly were indispensable. Even sothing as minor as weekly afternoon tea, or stuffing cabinets full of snacks, or handing out company rchandise from ti to ti — all of these could significantly improve the employee experience.

Most of these managent strategies i Fang had learned through exchanges with the “Penguin Empire.” Rumor had it that their benefits could form a full deck of playing cards. i Fang deeply admired this kind of company atmosphere and often battled with Yueyue-jie, who was in charge of HR and welfare, over these issues.

Of course, all welfare programs were contingent on the company making a profit.

Right now, Yuanxi Studio bore trendous traffic volu but was still weak in monetization channels, relying mainly on the continuous revenue from Ximilu gas.

But in i Fang’s eyes, that problem would be solved this year with just one ga.

After handing out all the red envelopes, i Fang told the exhausted Xia Yuan and Lin Youxi to go ho and rest first. He then gathered the managent team of Ximilu Gas for a eting to understand the localization progress of Fate/Grand Order, or FGO, as it was more commonly known.

This project was currently being led by Uncle himself. i Fang emphasized the importance of this ga to him and also asked the Fang Library under Uncle’s managent to prepare a collaboration event with FGO.

“The Fate series is the gateway drug for many in the ACG subculture, and a third of the Fang Library’s fan works are based on the Fate series. FGO can elevate the IP’s influence while drawing traffic to the Fang Library.”

“Our next writing competition the can be Fate fanfics — to warm up for the launch of FGO in the national server.”

“Got it, we’ll start drafting the campaign plan right away and show it to you soon, Station Chief.”

Uncle nodded, then added, “As for the idol industrialization plans for the virtual strear departnt, we’ve proposed a few models. Would you like to take a look—”

i Fang had been working all day from morning till evening before finally driving ho.

“Damn it, I don’t wanna work a single day more of this damn job.”

Work is, after all, unpleasant.

Even as a boss, i Fang would sotis get so overloaded that he fell into depressive spirals.

I’m already this rich — why the hell am I wasting my life tinkering with this and that every single day…

i Fang fell into a deep spiral of self-doubt.

How the hell was he supposed to enjoy college life at this rate?

There were still tons of things waiting to be handled tomorrow and the day after — countless upper managent and CEOs to socialize with.

As a superstar in the internet industry, i Fang’s legendary resu never stopped drawing attention, catching the eyes of many capital giants. Everyone wanted to know more about this boss who always seed one step ahead — and to do business with him.

Although i Fang really wanted to turn down all the social events, at his level, public relations duties couldn’t be delegated. If he didn’t show up himself, the other bosses would feel snubbed.

The only peers at his level within Yuanxi Studio were really just Xia Yuan and Lin Youxi.

But as a man, could you bear to let your wives suffer through that kind of thing?

One hated crowds, and the other was so pure.

The key was — they were also beautiful. How could people not covet them?

After fuming in the car for a while, i Fang drove ho.

In truth, the pressure he faced now was only a fraction of what he experienced in his previous life, but his habit of not expressing stress was hard to break. He didn’t like dumping emotional trash on his wives and causing ntal exhaustion.

But — that was just talk.

While waiting at a red light, i Fang glanced at his phone and opened a voice ssage from Xia Yuan.

“Ah Fangfang, co ho for dinner tonight, okay?”

“Youxi and I made lots of delicious food for you! Including your favorite — radish and beef brisket stew. I simred it until it’s super fragrant!”

“That’s making tear up. Did Youxi help you cook too?”

“Don’t believe in my cooking, huh? Youxi personally tasted it and said it was yummy!”

“Alright, alright, I’m coming right now!”

Hearing that his wives had cooked for him, i Fang imdiately patted his cheeks, and once the light turned green, he floored it back to his apartnt complex.

Beep beep beep.

As soon as i Fang unlocked the door with his fingerprint, he saw Xia Yuan walking over with a radiant smile. She first took his briefcase, then handed him a pair of slippers, her deanor extrely attentive.

But before i Fang could even change into his slippers, he buried his head into Xia Yuan’s embrace.

“Aiyaaa… Ah Fang, what are you doing… I was still in my dostic housewife mode, was about to ask whether you wanted to eat dinner first or eat first?”

“Then I’ll eat you — I need to recharge with YuanYuan Super Energy.”

i Fang hugged Xia Yuan, pushing her against the entryway wall as they flirted. Xia Yuan didn’t resist, only gently stroked i Fang’s head.

“Alright, alright… Work was tough, huh? Co with — I have a surprise for you.”

i Fang was led by Xia Yuan into the living room, where the first thing he saw was Lin Youxi sitting by the window, basking in the quiet beauty of life.

“You’re back, Ah Fang.”

“Aaah… You, what the—”

Lin Youxi had abandoned her usual long twin-tails style and directly cut her hair into a mid-length style. She was wearing the star-shaped earrings i Fang had given her for her birthday, and her black work outfit showed off her graceful curves.

But to i Fang, this elegance also carried a unique charm—

“Do you like my new hairstyle?”

Lin Youxi asked softly. i Fang only nodded gently, then sat down beside her to examine her new cut. The dium-length style with a few loose strands had a free-spirited look to it, but i Fang still felt a tinge of regret.

“Such beautiful long hair — cutting it all of a sudden like this, my heart aches.”

“Then when you said you liked it earlier, you were just humoring ? You don’t actually like it?”

“No no, I do like it.”

i Fang chuckled. “It kinda reminds of elentary school — you and YuanYuan haven’t had short hair in ages.”

“If you like it, then have YuanYuan get one too.”

“No, no!” Xia Yuan pouted, tugging her long wavy hair. “I still can’t bear to part with my waves.”

YuanYuan snuggled beside i Fang and softly said, “Ah Fang, I’ve been super fired up lately. After the new year, I’ve been flooded with inspiration — probably can release my new album next month!”

“Just rember to fill out the form the company gave you before releasing it — protect the copyright of your digital album. Otherwise, there’ll be lots of annoying issues.”

While i Fang was nagging Xia Yuan about that, Lin Youxi also got up and slowly sat down on i Fang’s lap.

“Ah Fang, don’t just talk to YuanYuan — look at too.”

“I’m reporting work here — what’s with the jealousy, Youxi?”

“I want to talk about work too.”

Lin Youxi placed her hand on i Fang’s shoulder. “I’ve finished my batch of requests. Give more assignnts.”

“You finished such a big frawork already?”

Lin Youxi was displeased by i Fang’s tone of doubt, puffing her cheeks with a disdainful look.

“My tech skills were taught by you — aren’t you fully aware of what I can do?”

“I wasn’t doubting you! Just — just surprised—”

“More importantly… YuanYuan and I talked on the way ho. We want to take on more company responsibilities — not just act as mascots or poster girls.”

“But you guys already do work, don’t you?”

“That’s just the work within our own scope.”

Lin Youxi pinched i Fang’s ear. “You’ve got so much on your plate. Having a secretary or assistant is still better.”

“We talked about this before — I don’t need an assistant, I can handle managent—”

“An assistant is necessary — it’s just a matter of who becos one.”

Xia Yuan leaned on i Fang’s other shoulder. “From now on, when you’re working, Youxi and I will stay with you. Even if we can’t understand the technical talk, we can at least take notes, record key points of the day… I even took a secretary course as an elective in college.”

“Ah Fang, if it’s about the C Station tech departnt, I hope you’ll trust and let take full charge.”

Lin Youxi spoke softly. “If I’m unsure, I’ll co ask you.”

“Sa for . For Yuanxia Music… you don’t need to worry about all the communications anymore. I thought I could handle it myself. After all, there’s not much to manage. I can even work with Xiaoyu and Bingbing to see how our background music projects are going…”

Listening to Xia Yuan and Lin Youxi’s planning for the company’s future, i Fang felt a sudden warmth in his heart. He wrapped one arm around Lin Youxi’s waist and the other slid down Xia Yuan’s shoulder to rest on her belly, flopping onto the couch in a full-on slouch mode.

“What… too tired to keep listening?”

“Let recharge with so wife energy first.”

“Wife energy… what the heck is that! We’re not even married yet… Ah Fang is inventing terms again.”

Lin Youxi teased Xia Yuan from the side. “But wasn’t recharging energy your idea in the first place?”

“Maybe so, but—”

Before Xia Yuan could finish, she noticed i Fang had already dozed off with his eyes closed.

Looking at their childhood sweetheart’s peaceful sleeping face, the two girls didn’t disturb him. Instead, they each kissed him gently on the cheek, then nestled into his arms and napped with him until it was ti for dinner.