CHAPTER 52: CHAPTER 52: GETTING A ROOM

According to the agreed time with Liu Mei, Chen Yiyang stayed at the store for a while before driving to the local Industrial and Commercial Bureau.

At this time, Liu Mei and the little accountant had already received the business license for the studio, just waiting for Chen Yiyang to come over so they could all go out for a big meal to celebrate.

"Let me introduce, these are my other two partners. Yang Dan, who’s in charge of art, and Xu Qing, who handles the programming."

Faced with Liu Mei’s enthusiastic introduction, Chen Yiyang awkwardly shook hands with Xu Qing and Yang Dan, then exchanged names as if they were meeting for the first time.

"Investor boss, let me add you as a friend." After getting in the car, Yang Dan proactively offered her phone, hoping to become friends with Chen Yiyang.

Chen Yiyang was about to scan Yang Dan’s phone, then glanced up to see Xu Qing subtly shaking her head.

So, Chen Yiyang simply took Yang Dan’s phone and called his own phone from it.

"I recently maxed out my WeChat friends. Let’s just exchange phone numbers. You can text or call me if you need anything."

"Can you really max out WeChat friends?" Yang Dan naively took back her phone.

"Yes, once you hit five thousand friends, you can’t add more."

Chen Yiyang explained while guessing the reason behind Xu Qing’s earlier head shake.

Was it because she feared that after adding each other as friends, Yang Dan would see the comments and likes he previously left under Xu Qing’s moments?

It was only now that he finally realized why he felt the woman’s voice was familiar the first time he met Liu Mei.

Back then, when he visited Xu Qing’s bedroom, someone knocked on the door in the morning, and it was Liu Mei talking to Xu Qing!

After arriving at a relatively quiet high-end restaurant, Chen Yiyang and the others went to the reserved private room.

As for celebration, honestly, Chen Yiyang didn’t have much to talk about with the others.

Chen Yiyang didn’t really know Liu Mei or Yang Dan, so he was unsure what to discuss with them.

He was familiar with Xu Qing, but since Xu Qing was pretending not to know him, it was awkward for him to strike up a conversation, making him feel rather uncomfortable.

However, the little accountant was chatting enthusiastically with the three girls. During a lively chat, she even removed her mechanical leg to show Yang Dan, hoping Yang Dan could design a cool outer shell for her.

Faced with this scene, Chen Yiyang could only quietly eat by himself, meanwhile planning this investment in his mind.

Originally, the thirty thousand was intended as a direct investment into the game, but now it had ultimately turned into an investment in Liu Mei and her studio.

According to Liu Mei’s estimation, the game would be officially launched by next week at the latest, depending on the time it takes for the Steam platform to approve the changes in the game’s payment methods.

Chen Yiyang’s thirty thousand investment had already been used as advertising expenses over the past few days, targeted at related gaming media and personal influencers.

This money was primarily for promotional investment before the game’s launch.

Once the game is launched and if it sells well, the studio will naturally have enough funds for future promotional investments.

Under Steam’s policy, the disbursement date for game developers’ earnings is usually at the end of the month.

At that time, the money will be directly transferred to the studio’s account in US Dollars, and if they want to convert it to RMB, they will need to exchange it.

Of course, since this is earned foreign exchange, it will be relatively easy to exchange.

This is where the advantage of forming a studio becomes apparent. If it were personal revenue, it would be limited by the annual exchange quota of fifty thousand US Dollars, meaning general bank cards couldn’t be used for collection, and they would need a professional receiving agency’s help.

Anyway, through this whole rigmarole, a game developer earning one hundred seventy RMB from a player would end up with about a hundred RMB in hand.

If further taxed, it would be even less.

So, Chen Yiyang had already thought of how to obtain this money with minimal loss.

One way was for Chen Yiyang to become an employee of the studio, receiving a salary from the studio every month.

Of course, the salary shouldn’t be too high, otherwise the taxes would be high as well.

Moreover, since Liu Mei and the others usually work in a rented house, they don’t have a commercial office space.

Thus, the studio’s registered office is actually on the second floor of Chen Yiyang’s shop.

Chen Yiyang can also collect rental fees from the studio in one go.

Finally, he can have Zhou Jianjun nominally sell his van to the studio, allowing them to include fuel costs and Zhou Jianjun’s driving fees in the studio’s expenses while receiving a sum of money.

It’s just a pity that this is a game studio, and Chen Yiyang is only one of the shareholders.

If it were his own company, he could register as an individual entrepreneur, casually create a dual branding and authorize it for company use. This way, the tax rate would be lower.

The Shabby House Inn he runs does it this way; the store’s trademark is personally authorized by him for use by the shop.

"I’m going to the restroom." Xu Qing said halfway through eating, getting up to leave for the restroom.

Then, before leaving, she lightly kicked Chen Yiyang’s chair.

Chen Yiyang immediately understood Xu Qing’s intent. A few minutes later, he also mentioned needing a restroom break.

The private room in this high-end restaurant actually had a lavatory.

But who would take a dump in the dining room’s lavatory while eating? Eating on this side, flushing on that side.

It’s likely that everyone in the room would lose their appetite afterward.

This was the only thing Chen Yiyang found peculiar about this high-end restaurant.

After stepping out, Chen Yiyang headed toward the restaurant’s communal lavatory. Halfway there, a private room door opened, and Xu Qing pulled him inside.

The one who pulled Chen Yiyang in was naturally Xu Qing.

While hugging Xu Qing, Chen Yiyang joked, "I thought you had amnesia. So, you recognize me again now?"

"Are you crazy, spending thirty thousand to woo a girl?" Xu Qing, snug in Chen Yiyang’s embrace, didn’t resist but softly asked him.

"No." Chen Yiyang hurriedly explained. "Though I think it sounds cool to say that, the money is for a legitimate investment."

Chen Yiyang had to fabricate a story for Xu Qing. He prided himself on sincerity and honesty, so he couldn’t let Xu Qing seriously think that the thirty thousand was invested just for her sake.

It’s better to keep emotions genuine.

Before today, he had no idea that Xu Qing was also part of this game project. No wonder she’s been so busy flying around every day since quitting.

"I met a friend while gaming. When your game’s demo version launched on Steam, he thought it had great potential and recommended it to me.

After playing, I also felt the game had immense potential. During our chat, this friend mentioned the game was seeking investment, so I contacted Liu Mei.

Before today, I had no clue that you were involved in the game."

"I’ll pretend what you’re saying is true." Xu Qing’s eyes remained fixed on Chen Yiyang without moving.

Being an honest person, Chen Yiyang didn’t shy away, and they just gazed at each other like that.

Then.

"Let’s go." Xu Qing tugged at Chen Yiyang.

"Where?" Chen Yiyang hadn’t caught on yet.

"Get a room." Xu Qing said curtly.

No wonder she’s a science girl.