Only After I Was Reborn Did I Realize That I Had Childhood Sweethearts

After wrapping up the hustle and bustle of the Spring Festival, Mei 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 Mei Fang. Xia Yuan and Lin Youxi were each only busy within their own domains.

Lin Youxi was occupied with the development of the foundational framework for the "Project: Endgame."

Although it was her first time attempting an action framework for a Metroidvania-type game, 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 immersed in the creation of a new album. This time, she didn't plan to rely on Mei Fang's assistance but intended to rely entirely on her own lyric and composition skills to develop the album. The theme also returned to the most familiar element of[childhood sweethearts]— the sweet song genre — and she hoped to achieve some breakthrough this time.

In addition, Xia Yuan would also livestream on C Station once a week under her virtual streamer identityYuan-chan. Each session lasted two hours and mainly featured singing and game testing. Xia Yuan's cheerful and optimistic personality was fully unleashed under theYuan-chanavatar, often resulting in various hilarious antics. She was, without a doubt, the top livestreamer on C Station.

As for Mei Fang, who came from a producer background, his current primary focus was actually on company organizational management. Only a small portion of his time was spent pushing forward the development ofProject: Endgame.

The moment the three returned home, they each dove into their respective tasks, and didn't share much intimate time together.

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

This little tradition was something 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, Mei Fang, Xia Yuan, and Lin Youxi joined Mei Yue and the administrative HR team to get everything prepared before dividing up the tasks.

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

They occupied four floors from the 20th to the 23rd. Mei Yue was assigned to distribute red envelopes on the 20th floor, while Mei 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 named Chengzi, who had previously had a strange misunderstanding with Mei Fang, was now working alongside him to distribute the red envelopes. Upon seeing her, Mei Fang immediately called her by her nickname and asked about the batch of interns they interviewed together last time.

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

"Mm, that's great then."

Mei Fang nodded. "Make sure to treat the interns with the same respect and benefits as full-time 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 Mei."

"Ah, don't call me that… 'Director Mei' always sounds like you're cussing someone out. Just call me 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 came back to the Pengcheng office so early — not spending more time at home 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 Mei 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.

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

Having come from a working-class background in his past life, Mei 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 meaningfully 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, resentment will naturally arise.

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

Most of these management strategies Mei Fang had learned through exchanges with the "Penguin Empire." Rumor had it that their benefits could form a full deck of playing cards. Mei 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 tremendous traffic volume but was still weak in monetization channels, relying mainly on the continuous revenue fromXimilugames.

But in Mei Fang's eyes, that problem would be solved this year with just one game.

After handing out all the red envelopes, Mei Fang told the exhausted Xia Yuan and Lin Youxi to go home and rest first. He then gathered the management team ofXimilu Gamesfor a meeting to understand the localization progress ofFate/Grand Order, orFGO, as it was more commonly known.

This project was currently being led by Uncle himself. Mei Fang emphasized the importance of this game to him and also asked theFang Libraryunder Uncle's management to prepare a collaboration event withFGO.

"TheFateseries is the gateway drug for many in the ACG subculture, and a third of the Fang Library's fan works are based on theFateseries.FGOcan elevate the IP's influence while drawing traffic to the Fang Library."

"Our next writing competition theme can beFatefanfics — to warm up for the launch ofFGOin 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 streamer department, we've proposed a few models. Would you like to take a look—"

Mei Fang had been working all day from morning till evening before finally driving home.

"Damn it, I don't wanna work a single day more of this damn job."

Work is, after all, unpleasant.

Even as a boss, Mei Fang would sometimes 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…

Mei 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 management and CEOs to socialize with.

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

Although Mei 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 peoplenotcovet them?

After fuming in the car for a while, Mei Fang drove home.

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 mental exhaustion.

But — that was just talk.

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

"Ah Fangfang, come home for dinner tonight, okay?"

"Youxi and I made lots of delicious food for you! Including your favorite — radish and beef brisket stew. I simmered it until it's super fragrant!"

"That's making me tear up. Did Youxi help you cook too?"

"Don't believe in my cooking, huh? Youxipersonally tastedit and said it was yummy!"

"Alright, alright, I'm coming right now!"

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

Beep beep beep.

As soon as Mei 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 demeanor extremely attentive.

But before Mei 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 domestic housewife mode, was about to ask whether you wanted to eat dinner first or eatmefirst?"

"Then I'll eat you — I need to recharge with YuanYuan Super Energy."

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

"Alright, alright… Work was tough, huh? Come with me — I have a surprise for you."

Mei 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 Mei Fang had given her for her birthday, and her black work outfit showed off her graceful curves.

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

"Do you like my new hairstyle?"

Lin Youxi asked softly. Mei Fang only nodded gently, then sat down beside her to examine her new cut. The medium-length style with a few loose strands had a free-spirited look to it, but Mei 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 me? You don't actually like it?"

"No no, I do like it."

Mei Fang chuckled. "It kinda reminds me of elementary 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 Mei 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 remember 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 Mei Fang was nagging Xia Yuan about that, Lin Youxi also got up and slowly sat down on Mei Fang's lap.

"Ah Fang, don't just talk to YuanYuan — look at me 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 Mei Fang's shoulder. "I've finished my batch of requests. Give me more assignments."

"You finished such a big framework already?"

Lin Youxi was displeased by Mei 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 home. 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 Mei 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 management—"

"An assistant is necessary — it's just a matter ofwhobecomes one."

Xia Yuan leaned on Mei 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 department, I hope you'll trust me and let me take full charge."

Lin Youxi spoke softly. "If I'm unsure, I'll come ask you."

"Same for me. 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, Mei 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 me recharge with somewife energyfirst."

"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'trecharging energyyour idea in the first place?"

"Maybe so, but—"

Before Xia Yuan could finish, she noticed Mei 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 time for dinner.