CHAPTER 54: CHAPTER 54: WHAT ARE SINGLE PEOPLE DOING

"Morning."

"Morning."

"Morning, Brother Lin."

After greeting the few people eating breakfast, Qin Guanglin, filled with energy, took his seat to prepare for the day’s work.

He had eaten at home before leaving, so there was no need to arrive at the office hungry and buy breakfast to eat upstairs. That’s the benefit of home.

"Lin, are you in for some good news?" Sun Wen asked as he came closer while eating breakfast. "You seem in much better spirits than yesterday."

"Really?" Qin Guanglin turned around with a smile, and then recoiled in surprise at the sight of Sun Wen’s neck. "Did you get into a fight yesterday?"

A red streak extended from his Adam’s apple downward, disappearing into his shirt, its length unknown.

"No, no."

Sun Wen subconsciously pulled at his collar, but his clothes were too thin to cover it. "It’s a cat scratch."

Qin Guanglin frowned. A cat scratch wouldn’t be that wide, but since Sun Wen didn’t want to discuss it further, he didn’t press the issue. "I don’t think I’m any different from yesterday."

"Not at all. They say happiness makes a person glow," Sun Wen pointed at him with a sly grin. "Did your girlfriend feed you well?"

"Get lost," Qin Guanglin chuckled. "Are you really okay?"

Sun Wen shook his head. "I’m fine. What could be wrong with me?"

Qin Guanglin looked at him silently; Sun Wen’s face was an open book. His thick eyebrows were not as relaxed as usual, and the corners of his eyes seemed droopy.

"Don’t you trust me? If anything were wrong, wouldn’t I tell you?" Sun Wen laughed, giving him a pat on the shoulder before returning to his desk.

This guy was too proud to admit when something bothered him, but Qin Guanglin was used to it by now. Eventually, if Sun Wen couldn’t handle something and needed help, he would ask for it.

"Boss, morning."

Jiang Lingling, just like yesterday, was the last to arrive at the office, not counting the boss.

"Oh, morning." He looked up. "You can just call me by my name."

’Boss’ sounded weird.

"Sure thing, boss."

"..."

Qin Guanglin was speechless. Was this a thing with all the young people at the company?

Jiang Lingling settled into her seat and then turned her head to ask, "Boss, your name is Qin..."

"Qin Guanglin."

Qin Guanglin realized then, she just didn’t remember his name. That explained it—how could they all be like this?

"Got it, boss. I’ll remember that."

"..."

Never mind, as long as the work gets done well, let them call him whatever. Qin Guanglin stopped fussing about it and started to pore over a sweet story he was working on.

These kinds of stories required a different approach from yesterday’s simplistic line work; they needed a cute and detailed style.

Perhaps it was because he had a girlfriend now, but the more he read these stories, the more fun they seemed to be. A smile crept onto his lips as he chuckled to himself, looking at the manuscript.

Maybe he should try this approach with He Fang...

"Boss, how does my drawing look?"

Jiang Lingling, his assistant, had finished sorting out the odds and ends and started to continue the rough sketch that Qin Guanglin had begun the day before.

"Quite good." Qin Guanglin nodded. The lines were simple and easy to replicate from the template.

"When I finish this part, I’ll send it to the editor to check it out," Jiang Lingling said, examining her drawing. "I think it’s pretty good, too. People these days love to critique, and this has plenty of points to criticize, from the content to the style."

"Yep, keep it up."

Qin Guanglin responded but said no more. He had only started the work, and how they proceeded was up to them. For now, he preferred to focus on these sweet stories he had on hand.

Soon it was lunchtime, and Qin Guanglin, who hadn’t moved his pen once, stretched lazily. He had spent the morning just reading stories; he’d start writing in the afternoon.

As usual, the trio went out to eat. Sun Wen was clearly not as lively as the day before, lost in thought with his head down. Yu Le noticed something was off but didn’t probe. Meanwhile, Qin Guanglin was busy on his phone, struggling to make a good impression on his future father-in-law.

"Lin, when you fight with your girlfriend, how do you make it up to her?" Sun Wen suddenly burst out with the question as they descended the stairs.

"Huh?" Qin Guanglin looked up, baffled. "We haven’t fought."

"..."

"..."

"Maybe... just win her some ’Joy Beans’ and that should do it?" He hesitated a bit, tentatively holding up his phone.

"..."

"Alright, asked the wrong person." Sun Wen was even more depressed.

"You should ask Xiao Yu for advice; he’s more reliable." Qin Guanglin pondered for a moment. "He should be able to give you some advice."

Sun Wen took out his phone and sent a voice message to Xiao Yu, and soon got a reply.

"Admit your mistake. If that doesn’t work, kneel on a washboard. If even that fails, buy a whip and let her beat you with it." Xiao Yu’s voice was a bit excited, clearly taking pleasure in Sun Wen’s misfortune.

"I knew it’d be no use asking him." Sun Wen curled his lip and put his phone away.

"Actually..." Yu Le thought for a moment, "to appease a girl, you just need to admit your mistake, apologize, and buy a gift, right?"

"That won’t work if it’s overused. You need to come up with some fresh ideas."

"Is this what’s troubling you?" Qin Guanglin looked at him. "Were you scratched by a person or a cat?"

"It’s not just this; it’s complicated," Sun Wen shook his head, still looking troubled.

"Alright, I can’t help you," Qin Guanglin turned back to his game, already at forty thousand beans—he was winning fast in the high-level games. Meeting his future father-in-law was already halfway to success.

"Kneeling on a washboard might be good." Yu Le stroked his chin and sized up Sun Wen. Such a tall guy kneeling on a washboard would be quite a sight.

"It’s useless," Sun Wen waved his hand dismissively.

Qin Guanglin looked up curiously, "Have you tried it?"

"No!" He quickly denied it, "How could I!"

"Oh~"

"Order our food, order our food." Sun Wen felt uncomfortable under their gaze and hurriedly walked a few steps into the fast-food restaurant.

Yu Le seemed to be quite enthusiastic about the matter, sitting to one side and thinking for a while after ordering the food, then spoke up again: "Shouldn’t you first figure out the reason? Start from the root. Tell us what’s going on, we can help you analyze it."

"It’s a long story, I’ll think about it myself. What would a single guy like you know?"

"Maybe it’s exactly those who are single who understand," Qin Guanglin took the opportunity to add.

"How so?" Sun Wen asked.

Yu Le was also curious to hear his answer.

"I’ve seen a question online before. It goes, ’Those who are in a relationship are busy dating, so what are single people doing?’"

Sun Wen and Yu Le looked at each other, "Doing what?"

"Giving others relationship advice," Qin Guanglin said.

"..."

"..."

Qin Guanglin felt he was right. "Think about it, isn’t it true? That Xiao Yu kid always loves giving advice, so enthusiastic."

Sun Wen looked at Yu Le and nodded, "Seems to be the case."

Yu Le felt like crying; why did it sound so pitiful?

"I think it’s more reliable to ask someone with experience for guidance." Sun Wen felt single people couldn’t help him.

Qin Guanglin pondered for a while before offering a contrary opinion, "No, I think you still have to ask single people for reliable advice."

"Hmm?"

"You see, there’s a saying, ’The spectator sees more of the game.’ Those in love tend to consider issues from an emotional perspective, that’s ’the spectator sees more of the game’. Single people are different; they are the spectators who can analyze problems from an objective point of view. It’s clear who is right and who is wrong, they can straighten out all the twists and turns and solve them specifically."

"Now that you say that, it does make sense." Sun Wen turned his attention back to Yu Le.

Yu Le looked around at both of them, "I don’t know anything."

He should have known better than to get involved; he felt somewhat offended.

Sun Wen opened his mouth as if to speak and then gave up, "This is too hard to say, annoying!" He raked his fingers through his hair, looking utterly frustrated, "So annoying!"

"Weren’t things fine yesterday?" Qin Guanglin asked.

"Yeah, things were fine," Sun Wen let out a long sigh.

"Damn it." He suddenly burst out, "Damn it!"

"Quarreling over some goddamn thing."

"Appease my ass, let her do whatever!"

Sun Wen cursed a few times and leaned back in the chair, "Never mind, just leave it at that."

Qin Guanglin and Yu Le glanced at each other and shook their heads.

Good thing I don’t fight with He Fang, thought Qin Guanglin.

Good thing I’m single, thought Yu Le.