Push Me Away When I Come, Don't Hold Me Back When I Leave - Chapter 102

Chapter 102: Am I a Player??

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After the incident in the parking garage, the relationship between Xia Ruoming and Xiao Qinghan seemed to have progressed further, with occasional intimate contact at home, but both Xia Ruoming and Xiao Qinghan were no longer as shy as before.

That night, Xia Ruoming suddenly remembered that she was the one who had flirted with Xiao Qinghan first, otherwise, Xiao Qinghan might not have forcefully kissed her at the restaurant, and the subsequent events might not have happened.

“Oh no, have I become a player?”

At that moment, she felt like she was indeed a player, making the joke she had shared with Xu Fengwu come true, even worse than a typical petty pink-haired villain.

Even though she didn’t consider herself a player, she seemed to be doing things that players would do.

How could she make such a wonderful sister Qinghan fall in love with her at first sight, she really deserved to die.jpg

However, that feeling of guilt quickly disappeared in the busy daily routine. Before school started, Xia Ruoming was so busy she could barely keep up, which left her no time to think about whether she was really a player or not.

Qin Wuyue was as strict as in her previous life. After Xia Ruoming asked Qin Wuyue to continue training her in combat, Qin Wuyue would call her at 6 AM every morning to exercise, being far more responsible than any paid personal trainer. During running sessions, he would follow on a bicycle, requiring Xia Ruoming to run at least as fast as the bicycle, just like those scenes from old tokusatsu shows where the Jeep alien trained fighters without the alien part.

However, Xia Ruoming didn’t complain much. Going to bed early and waking up early actually made her feel more energetic. Additionally, her body in this life was far better than in her previous one. Often, Qin Wuyue would be panting heavily while cycling behind her, while Xia Ruoming would be running ahead shouting, “Hey teacher, why are you cycling so slowly?”

After about 3 days of training, Xia Ruoming had completely regained her feelings from her previous life. She could even frequently force Qin Wuyue against the ropes on the boxing ring and deliver a beating — though she was also often beaten badly by Qin Wuyue. What should have been proper training matches turned into something like no-rules fighting, with both of them never fully recovering from their injuries. After practice matches, both would be grimacing in pain.

It was also the first time she realized what Qin Wuyue was like at full power. Apparently, although he had always said there was gender equality in the boxing ring, he had actually been holding back quite a bit before.

If Xia Ruoming hadn’t told Xiao Qinghan and Jiang Ruhua that she was practicing boxing, seeing her bruises and bloodstains every day would have made them think that Xia Ruoming’s money came from robbery.

After morning training, she had to rush to Raspberry’s development department to monitor progress. After all, whether it was Raspberry Video or the gaming department’s games, the creative ideas came from her. She was even responsible for the original artwork and some of the underlying code, since the recruited staff were all just a bunch of programmers preparing to lose their hair. Xiao Qinghan didn’t know much about games, so while she could help supervise Raspberry’s development, she couldn’t help at all with the gaming side.

Seeing their supposedly very wealthy boss come to the company to work alongside employees, all staff members felt a surge of enthusiasm. They felt that money wasn’t so important anymore, they just wanted to see their names on the credits list of their boss’s grand plan. Like those ancient pedantic scholars, if they could leave their mark in history, they wouldn’t mind eating simple meals every day — although Xia Ruoming was actually paying them quite well, far exceeding the average salary level for programmers in Hangzhou, but the spiritual satisfaction was irreplaceable.

Their willingness to work overtime until 11 PM left Xia Ruoming dumbfounded. Some even refused overtime pay, showing such intense competition that even the top competitors from her previous life would shake their heads. Xia Ruoming was worried someone might literally work themselves to death.

To prevent such an extreme culture from developing, Xia Ruoming made a sweeping declaration that overtime pay would never be reduced, and the company would never have so-called “voluntary overtime.” This sparked an “”old-timer overtime pay explosion” trend at Qinghan Culture’s Hangzhou headquarters.

It wasn’t that Xia Ruoming really wanted to be this busy, many things could be handled at home. However, Jiang Ruhua was staying at her place recently, and she didn’t want to live in the dormitory, nor did she want to have any too-intimate contact with Jiang Ruhua.

Although she never blamed Jiang Ruhua, once bitten twice shy — she had developed psychological trauma from such things. Every word Jiang Ruhua said would make Xia Ruoming vigilant.

Li Wuya was also amazed by this junior’s wealth, whom he had only known for a short time. He had inquired and found out that this junior didn’t seem to be from a wealthy family, yet she had invested nearly 2 million in two game projects, not to mention the Raspberry project, where Xiao Qinghan had taken over the management of 200 million in investment funds from Xia Ruoming.

Xia Ruoming herself knew that constantly interfering with company affairs wasn’t good. Although she had ideas and creativity, when it came to actual planning and production, Li Wuya and Xiao Qinghan were more suitable. Xia Ruoming also planned to become a hands-off boss after this busy period was over, since she had already witnessed Li Wuya and Xiao Qinghan’s capabilities in her previous life.

After returning home, Xia Ruoming had little time to rest. After quickly eating a few bites, she would immediately dive into her art studio and begin drawing character illustrations for her “【Japanese Mahjong 2D】” game, as well as writing background stories and settings for these characters.

Xia Ruoming hadn’t told Li Wuya about these yet, as this was her true plan in the gaming industry. The previous projects were just stepping stones, and it didn’t matter if they were leaked.

Jiang Ruhua also quietly watched Xia Ruoming, observing her immersed in her own artistic little world. Unfortunately, Jiang Ruhua never saw those previous scenes again. After several days, Jiang Ruhua herself had almost forgotten about those things, assuming she had just experienced stress-induced hallucinations.

“Whew, it’s finally ending, and I can start my college life.” After another busy day, Xia Ruoming tossed her shoes aside and collapsed on the sofa. These days had left her mentally exhausted when she returned home, and she was physically worn out like a dog.

Xiao Qinghan, who had returned with Xia Ruoming, smiled helplessly at her state and picked up her shoes to place them on the shoe rack. Although Xia Ruoming said she would be a hands-off boss, over these past few days, she had worried about far more things than Xiao Qinghan. Seeing Xia Ruoming looking so listless, Xiao Qinghan felt quite heartbroken, but she didn’t know what to do, since she had no experience in the area that Xia Ruoming was so passionate about.

“Ruoming, what would you like to eat tonight? You’ve finally finished being busy, you should take a good rest.” As she spoke, Xiao Qinghan walked to the sofa and placed Xia Ruoming’s head on her lap, massaging her while speaking.

“Sister Qinghan~ I want to eat rock sugar white fungus lotus seed soup~” Since living together, Xia Ruoming felt like she was sinking into Xiao Qinghan’s gentle embrace, as if there was always a gentle big sister waiting for her at home who would prepare everything for her, and occasionally let her act spoiled when she was under a lot of pressure.

“Alright, alright, I’ll make it for Ruoming soon. Ruoming should rest for a while first.” As she spoke, Xiao Qinghan took out a silk eye mask for Xia Ruoming to use for blocking light while resting.

“How old are you, still acting like a little girl?” A somewhat disdainful voice came from behind Xia Ruoming.

Jiang Ruhua, who was reading Xiao Qinghan’s manuscript, looked contemptuously at Xia Ruoming lying on Xiao Qinghan’s lap. She kept saying Jiang Ruhua was the little princess, but she was actually the one. Unlike herself, who was so mature and steady.

“Mind your own business, little princess. If it was just little princess alone, you’d probably be worse than me.” Xia Ruoming hummed while retorting, since she knew Jiang Ruhua’s personality too well from her previous life. When it came to acting like a little girl, no one was more childish than the little princess.

“Hmph! You’re still calling me little princess, you’re the little princess!”

Bickering with Jiang Ruhua every day, with Xiao Qinghan constantly mediating, Xia Ruoming felt this lifestyle was truly happier than when she lived in the dormitory in her previous life. Back then, she had no one she could truly confide in.