Who was Cai Haoyu?
Co-founder, CEO, and chairman of miHoYo.
Back in 2011, he and a few dormmates had founded the miHoYo studio in a dorm room at Shanghai Jiao Tong University. By 2022, he would enter the top hundred of the rich list on the strength of a personal fortune exceeding fifty billion yuan.
But right now — he was still just the founder of a game studio with no particular reputation.
And if you knew this company well, you’d know that in 2015 they’d release Honkai Impact 3, and the moment that game came out, miHoYo would rocket into the sky. [TL: 崩坏3, the third Honkai title — the breakout hit that transformed miHoYo from a small studio into a major player.]
For Xu Ye, this was quite simply a fortune of heaven-shaking proportions falling out of the sky and landing on him.
He’d suppressed his excitement for the entire half-hour-plus conversation with Cai Haoyu, and finally the two of them walked out of Starbucks together and waved goodbye.
Once Cai Haoyu had gotten into a taxi and left, Xu Ye nearly leapt into the air on the spot.
If he could seize this opportunity, it would be worth more than opening ten trading companies. But the crucial question was — if Cai Haoyu agreed to his terms, how was he supposed to scrape together five million yuan?
Go home and sell the house? No — his mom would break his legs.
Borrow from someone? Also not really viable. The wealthiest friend he had was Zhang Xinzhou, but his father kept him on a tight leash and would never hand over that kind of money, and Xu Ye couldn’t bring himself to ask anyway.
But even stretching himself to the absolute limit, he could only put together two million. Selling off the fruit shop might fetch two or three hundred thousand at most. Together, that wasn’t even half.
Before this, it had never once occurred to Xu Ye that with a seven-figure balance sitting in his brokerage account, he could still find himself this short of money.
He thought about it the whole way back, and finally returned to school in a distracted daze.
At seven-thirty in the evening, Old Xu and Zhang Hong called on video together again.
Xu Ye obediently picked up.
Zhang Hong: “Son, have you eaten?”
Xu Ye: “I have.”
Zhang Hong, smiling warmly: “When does your school let out for the holiday?”
Xu Ye pushed the money problem to the back of his mind for the moment. He knew that when his mom asked this question, it meant she missed him and wanted to know when he’d be coming home.
If you asked “what single sentence can instantly devastate a woman,” the correct answer would surely be: Mom, I’m not coming home for New Year this year.
Xu Ye forced a smile. “Isn’t New Year in mid-February this year? School should let out in early February.”
Zhang Hong: “Come home early once the holiday starts.”
Xu Ye: “I know.”
Zhang Hong: “Is the living allowance your dad sends you every month enough?”
Xu Ye: “1,500 is plenty. My roommate only gets 1,000 a month.”
Zhang Hong’s brow immediately furrowed. “Fifteen hundred? Your dad only transferred you fifteen hundred?”
Xu Ye asked, puzzled, “Yeah. Is there a problem?”
At that point Mom and Dad vanished from the screen entirely, and all that could be heard was Zhang Hong’s cursing and Old Xu’s cries of pain.
“Old Xu, you absolute bastard — I told you to transfer 1,700 to our son every month, and you dared skim 200 off the top—”
“Didn’t you hear him say 1,500 was plenty?”
“Where’s the money?”
“Well… last month Old Wu at the office treated me to a foot massage, so this month I treated him to one.”
“Foot massage, is it? Go to the kitchen and get me the steel wool scrubber! I’ll wash your feet!”
“Who washes feet with a steel wool scrubber?”
“Don’t argue with me!”
“Ah! It hurts! It hurts! It hurts!“
“I’ll teach you to go to foot massage parlors! I’ll teach you!”
“…”
Xu Ye listened for a while, then quietly hung up.
He sighed, and thinking about the five million, his expression gradually clouded over with worry again.
Zhang Xinzhou, behind him, heard the sigh and asked curiously, “Xu Ye, what are you sighing about?”
Xu Ye asked, “Is there any way to raise a sum of money quickly, in a short time?”
“What do you need money for? Hasn’t our company been profitable for a while now? And the fruit shop’s profits all go to you too.”
Xu Ye explained, “I’ve got my eye on a project I want to invest in. It needs several million.”
“That much?!”
Zhang Xinzhou thought it over. “Then your only option is a bank loan. A personal loan probably won’t get you that much, but we could apply as a business now. Though even that’s uncertain — we were only just founded, and we’re a micro-enterprise. We probably can’t borrow that much either.”
“Hm?”
A loan really was the most sensible option. Even a higher interest rate wouldn’t matter — if he could invest in miHoYo, that five million would multiply several times over within a year.
Thinking about loans, Xu Ye naturally thought of Chen Qingqing’s father, Chen Hansong. He was exactly the right person to ask about something like this.
Since their last meeting, Xu Ye felt relations between them had eased considerably. Chen Hansong had since come to him several times to ask after Chen Qingqing, and Xu Ye had always told him honestly.
He figured that if he reached out now, Chen Hansong would reply.
But until Cai Haoyu contacted him, there was no need to rush. Rushing led to mistakes.
Xu Ye plugged in his charger and went to shower first. When he came out, Zhang Xinzhou reminded him, “Your phone rang earlier.”
Xu Ye put his dirty clothes in the bucket, walked over to the desk, and picked up his phone — a voice call from Chen Qingqing. He replied on WeChat: “Give me twenty minutes, I’m going to wash some clothes first.”
Chen Qingqing: “Oh.”
Xu Ye had meant to just rub some soap on them and be done with it, but remembering what Chen Qingqing had said last time, he picked up the Blue Moon laundry detergent Zhang Xinzhou had bought, poured a little into the bucket, stirred it a couple of times, and could soon smell the fragrance of it. [TL: 蓝月亮 (Blue Moon), a major Chinese household detergent brand — a callback to Ch. 149, where Qingqing noticed he smelled of soap and told him he clearly couldn’t get his clothes properly clean.]
It took a quarter of an hour to finish the washing. Xu Ye wiped his hands with a tissue, took his phone, and climbed up to the top bunk to lie down.
Earphones in, blanket over him, he called Chen Qingqing.
Chen Qingqing: “Exactly twenty minutes. You almost ran late.”
Xu Ye: “And what would happen if I’d been late?”
Chen Qingqing: “Then I’d have waited twenty minutes before answering your call.”
Xu Ye: “You’re too ruthless.”
Xu Ye: “Who does that.”
Chen Qingqing: “It’s the weekend again tomorrow.”
Chen Qingqing: “This week went by pretty fast.”
Xu Ye: “I won’t come tomorrow. I’ll come the day after — over in the morning, back at night.”
Chen Qingqing: “Why?”
Chen Qingqing: “Are you out of money?”
Chen Qingqing assumed Xu Ye was choosing to come later in the weekend because he couldn’t afford a hotel. She very nearly offered to book a room for him — but Xu Ye quickly explained, “Tomorrow I need to stay at school and keep an eye on the campaign. Monday through Friday there’s always someone missing, and the weekend is the one time everyone’s together. If I leave, they’re short a person who can make decisions.”
Hearing the explanation, Chen Qingqing simply said, “Oh.”
Xu Ye quickly changed the subject with a laugh. “Let me test you with a brain teaser.”
Chen Qingqing: “Go ahead.”
Xu Ye: “There’s a person named Lili who always sings off-key. But the moment she goes traveling, her singing instantly becomes beautiful. Why?”
Chen Qingqing: “I don’t know.”
Xu Ye: “Think about it some more. It’s got to do with music. If you can’t get it, you can ask Zhang Ruowei and the others.”
Chen Qingqing thought for a while and still couldn’t come up with the answer.
She did in fact put the riddle to her three roommates. They heard it out, looked at one another, and were all completely mystified.
Chen Qingqing: “They don’t know either.”
Chen Qingqing: “What’s the answer?”
Xu Ye: “Because ukulele.” [TL: the pun is untranslatable in English — 尤克里里 (yóukèlìli, “ukulele”) sounds identical to 游客丽丽 (yóukè Lìli, “tourist Lili”). Hence: a Lili who is traveling is a “tourist Lili,” which is to say, a ukulele — an instrument, and therefore musical.]
Chen Qingqing sat blank for two seconds, then, once it clicked, collapsed onto her bed laughing out loud.
About three minutes later, Qin Zhiwei sent Xu Ye a message.
Qin Zhiwei: “Bro, let me test you with a brain teaser. There’s a person named Lili who always sings off-key, but the moment she goes traveling her singing instantly becomes beautiful. Why?”
(End of Chapter 156)