CHAPTER 353: CHAPTER 346: RETIRING AFTER ACHIEVEMENTS

Life was composed of countless choices, and at every stage, different choices would lead to different lives.

Qin Guanglin thought he had already passed the age of making decisions, and the rest of his life just needed to follow its course happily since there wasn’t much left to choose—schooling, career, marriage, having children, he had already made those choices.

Yet, in early September, the start of the school season, He Fang once again presented him with a choice.

"Resign."

Five months had passed and He Fang’s belly had grown large, like a basketball was stuffed inside, sitting on the sofa required some effort, necessitating a slight lean back—she had to tilt her head back just to make eye contact with Qin Guanglin who stood beside her, and this posture suited them just right.

Qin Guanglin listened to these two words for what felt like the thousandth time, unconsciously furrowing his brows, scratching his head, feeling somewhat incomprehensible, "You need to give me a reason, a reason other than not wanting change—changes that needed to happen have happened; it can’t be exactly like another timeline, this reason isn’t enough."

Seeing that He Fang didn’t speak, he sighed, squatting down and taking her hand, "Since we’ve started anew, it means a brand new life, we have to look forward. Didn’t you say before? You hoped I would do a job I love, and I really like this job. As a man, a man about to enter middle age, I can’t give up work..."

"You like drawing comics," He Fang interrupted. "Drawing in the company and at home are the same."

"I can’t draw at home!"

Qin Guanglin felt like pulling his hair out, why was it so hard to communicate with a pregnant woman?

Arguing logic with a Time Traveler + pregnant woman + wife of two lifetimes was driving him crazy; it probably was a unique case in the world—yet he had been bickering intermittently about such a trivial matter as work for years.

Time travelers, and his job, thinking about these two things together felt so awkward. Others went to save the world, why did she have issues with his job?

"There mustn’t be any accidents." He Fang stared at him without blinking. "It has nothing to do with starting anew or changing, I just want you to resign. Do you trust me?"

"Of course I trust you, but you need to give me a reason."

"In half a year, you’ll understand."

"..."

"You should stay at home. Just stay until next year, then you can go back to work all you want, but now you must resign and spend a good year at home with me."

He Fang gently massaged her slightly swollen legs, her gaze fixed on Qin Guanglin’s face, softly saying, "Listen to your wife, okay?"

Qin Guanglin was speechless.

"I want to give you and our daughter a better life," he said. "More and better than what the future me could provide."

"That’s never what I wanted," He Fang replied.

"..."

"You want to draw, I’ll arrange it for you."

She struggled to sit up, leaning forward slightly, reaching under the coffee table to pull out her novel, flipped through it quickly a couple of times, then handed it to Qin Guanglin.

"A few days ago, a publisher contacted me, someone offered two hundred thousand to buy the rights to adapt my comic, I didn’t sell."

He Fang never imagined this possibility, that her novel could spin off other works. In the past life, her writing collapsed halfway through, and no one had ever approached her to buy the rights.

Starting over, the direction of many things had changed.

Qin Guanglin was not focused on the two hundred thousand, he looked down at the cover, his mind reflecting on the scenes from the novel. After a long while, he silently set the book aside, paused for a moment then looked up at He Fang, "Do you really want me to resign?"

"Resign."

"If I took it on, the earnings might not even reach two hundred thousand."

"As long as you’re happy drawing, that’s enough."

Qin Guanglin didn’t say much else, he stood up to look at the huge frame hanging on the wall, inside it was the moment He Fang smiled charmingly at the beach on Green Island. Back then, she was youthful and radiant, in stark contrast to her current unkempt appearance with a bulging belly.

"Tomorrow at work, I’ll discuss it with Chen Rui."

...

...

On Monday morning, as Guanglin sat behind his desk at work, he pondered how to broach the subject.

He really didn’t want to resign.

In August, Xiao Yu had lent him some money to make a down payment on a house—since marrying Zhou Nan, they had been living with Xiao Yu, partly because they didn’t have much money, and partly because they were waiting for housing prices to drop. But now, with their child almost able to walk, housing prices were still climbing. The couple got anxious, scraped together whatever money they had, took out some loans, and combined it with Xiao Yu’s seven years of housing fund savings to get a small three-bedroom apartment.

If he quit his job now, and failed to achieve anything significant at home, he would have to live off his savings—not his existing savings, but the ongoing earnings from his previous works, which, although they had concluded, still generated some income. It wasn’t much, barely enough to cover daily expenses excluding pregnancy costs.

Besides that, they could only hope for the physical edition of "My Wife is Too Cute" to continue releasing new volumes, to ensure they wouldn’t starve without He Fang writing novels to support the family.

On one hand was a stable career that could last for the better part of a lifetime, on the other, the uncertainty of staying at home and drawing. Any smart person would know how to choose, yet encountering He Fang made him willingly play the fool.

"I’d like to discuss something."

After lunch at noon, during the break when colleagues were either napping at their desks or fiddling with their phones, Guanglin closed the door to his office, returned to Chen Rui’s desk, and after some hesitation, he began.

Seeing his demeanor, Chen Rui immediately had a bad feeling, "What is it?"

"The matter of resigning."

Unexpected, yet reasonable.

Chen Rui, upon hearing the word ’resign,’ wasn’t as surprised as one might think. He leaned back in his chair and paused for a moment, then said, "Have you thought it through?"

He gestured towards the office door and said, "All of this is what we’ve strived for together. Me as the boss and you as the director—it wasn’t easy getting the company on track. The platform has now stabilized and is growing popular. Are you really ready to leave all this behind?"

"You said this place is an artist’s home, right? I’m still an artist, just not a director anymore."

Guanglin tried to sound casual, nodding towards Chen Rui’s computer screen, "Just like him, his presence isn’t necessary here, as long as his work is."

The screen displayed data about a work partnered with the platform under a Contract B, which only required posting the work on the platform.

"You’re missing out on a great opportunity to reach the peak of your career," Chen Rui said with a laugh, poking fun at him.

It sounded like he agreed. Although if he hadn’t, Guanglin would have resigned anyway. But with no attempts to persuade or retain him, their straightforward and decisive manner always felt refreshing—they both preferred this work style, not liking anything prolonged and dragging.

Having already brought up resignation, it must have been well-considered rather than impulsive. To try and emotionally coerce in such a situation would be too manipulative.

Guanglin grinned, "Who knows, I might reach another peak in my life anyway."

Joining the company had involved just a simple discussion, and now his resignation was settled just as quickly, which left him feeling slightly peculiar.

"From now on, we will be true partners."

"We’ve always been partners."

"It’s different now. We still have a hierarchical relationship, but once I step down from director, it will be purely cooperative," Guanglin said, raising an eyebrow smugly.

Chen Rui didn’t respond, spinning his chair around half a circle and reflecting on the past years with a long sigh, "I should thank you. Without you, the company wouldn’t be what it is today."

Guanglin seemed like a mere passerby in the company, having joined when it was nothing significant, sticking through tough times, and stabilizing it with a work like "The Wife." He helped rapidly expand the company, securing a solid footing in the industry and achieving a respectable position before stepping down.

The company’s fortune was indeed Chen Rui’s fortune.

"Not at all, I should thank you. Without you, where would I get these keys? My Audi would have had to be replaced with an Alto," Guanglin felt lucky to have such a boss.

He had a car, a house, and a wife; it wasn’t just about capability but also the company providing a platform to showcase his talents.

Mutually beneficial cooperation, helping each other succeed.

"Let’s cooperate in a different way from now on—here’s to enjoyable collaboration!"