CHAPTER 55: CHAPTER 55: WHAT IS IT ALL FOR?

The food was brought over, and Qin Guanglin happily slipped his phone into his pocket.

The beans had already surpassed fifty thousand, but there was still a bit less than half to go. He had to be more cautious, especially since he could only play in high-stakes games now—where winning big and losing big were both possible. A stretch of bad luck could set him right back to square one.

Sun Wen frowned as he looked at the sour and spicy cabbage over rice in front of him, feeling even sicker than before.

Eating vegetarian and still having to argue, what kind of life was this?!

How did he end up like this?

"Eating vegetarian is good, healthy," Qin Guanglin saw his expression and knew what he was thinking, so he offered some advice.

"My body can’t survive on just vegetables."

Sun Wen sighed, pushed the vegetables to one side, and began eating his rice with just a little bit of vegetables.

This way, he could have an extra bowl of plain rice later—one portion of vegetables with two portions of rice would be filling enough.

Qin Guanglin watched and silently shook his head, feeling a bit sorry for him but unable to help.

He could invite Sun Wen for a meal, that wouldn’t be a problem once or twice, but it couldn’t be every day. Even if he offered, Sun Wen would never accept.

Complain as he might, he still had to maintain appearances. It was different from their school days when they could freeload some steamed buns with chili sauce for half a month. Now that they were working, those days were over.

"Later I will buy a lottery ticket, now my only chance is to win five million and turn things around," Sun Wen suddenly said, feeling melancholy while eating.

"You’d be better off spending that lottery ticket money on some meat," Qin Guanglin never believed in that.

There was only a five yuan difference between sour and spicy cabbage and pork with green peppers.

"Is it just those few bucks I’m missing? It’s five million I need," Sun Wen stuffed another mouthful of cabbage into his mouth, feeling upset, "Tell me, why do people live? Is it just for money?"

"How would I know what you live for?" Qin Guanglin wiped his mouth, "It’s just an argument, no need to elevate it to a philosophical level."

"I just suddenly feel so tired, what am I even living for?"

"Everyone is different, I live for comics," Yu Le finished his meal as well, putting down his chopsticks and waiting along with Qin Guanglin for Sun Wen.

"Really?"

"Should be..." Yu Le nodded.

Sun Wen thought for a moment, then lowered his head and continued eating, "Ah, I guess it’s just for money."

Qin Guanglin looked between the two, "What would you do without comics?"

"..." Yu Le thought for a bit, "Probably wouldn’t have much meaning then?"

"Would you not be able to live?"

"No, I would survive," Yu Le shook his head.

"There you go, if you couldn’t live without comics, then you could say you live for comics," Qin Guanglin then turned to Sun Wen, "If you couldn’t live without money, then you could say you live for money."

"Look at that guy, his throat was ruined, couldn’t sing, couldn’t go on living, and took his life—that’s living for music."

"You can’t say it like that," Sun Wen felt that was flawed logic, "That, that..."

"Anyway, it’s not right." He stuttered but couldn’t come up with a rebuttal and bowed his head to continue eating.

"First you need to be alive, then you can pursue what you want" Yu Le said.

"So, living is just for the sake of living," Qin Guanglin laughed, "Everything else is incidental; it’s not so loaded with meaning."

"There’s always something worth sacrificing your life for," Yu Le shook his head.

"Really?" Qin Guanglin asked.

"Definitely," Sun Wen nodded.

"So what would you give your life for? Money?" Qin Guanglin scoffed, "You can’t take that with you into the coffin."

"For... for..." Sun Wen got stuck again and lowered his head to keep eating.

"For comics!" Yu Le’s eyes blazed.

"..."

"..."

"Enough, enough, let’s stop talking about life and death," Qin Guanglin couldn’t understand the second-hand adolescent ideas.

This must be the generational gap...

To him, living was fundamental, devoid of complex meanings. Everything was built on the premise of living; people couldn’t just stop living due to a lack. If that happened, it would likely be considered an illness, one that needed treatment.

After Sun Wen added another bowl of rice and finished eating, the three got up together and left the fast-food restaurant to return to the office for a lunch break.

From an employee’s perspective, a lunch break was completely unnecessary. It would be more practical to scrap it, extend the afternoon hours, and finish work an hour and a half early.

Unfortunately, rules were rules. To prevent employees from dozing off in the afternoon and affecting work efficiency, no employer would think of canceling it.

"How do you feel after two days on the job?" Chen Rui, having finished his meal and having nothing better to do, wandered over to Qin Guanglin.

"It feels pretty good. All this seems interesting," Qin Guanglin pointed at the manuscript.

"That’s good to hear," Chen Rui smiled. "If you have any problems, you can talk to me or to Sun Wen. He’s also been here for a while. It’s good to exchange ideas now and then."

"Yeah, no problems so far."

Qin Guanglin paused, "I might need to take a few days off next week."

"Just let me know when the time comes." Chen Rui didn’t really mind since Qin Guanglin wasn’t involved in any major projects at the moment. "How many days approximately?"

"Maybe two or three days," Qin Guanglin said uncertainly. If He Fang was enjoying himself, staying there a couple more days would be quite normal.

"Sure, that’s fine."

Chen Rui looked around; two people hadn’t come back yet. He continued chatting with Qin Guanglin, "You free this weekend?"

"I’m busy."

He didn’t want to work overtime or do anything else. Why wouldn’t strolling with He Fang be enjoyable?

"Uh... okay." Chen Rui didn’t expect such a straightforward answer from Qin Guanglin and paused before jokingly asking, "Going out with your girlfriend?"

Caught off guard for a reason, Qin Guanglin nodded and admitted, "Yeah."

"No worries, it’s just a small activity this weekend. It’s voluntary," Chen Rui’s gaze drifted to Sun Wen, "Sun Wen always goes out with his girlfriend. He hasn’t attended even once."

"Activity?" Qin Guanglin was curious.

"Yeah, I’ll mention it later." Chen Rui turned as two people entered from the door. Once everyone was back, he walked to the front and clapped his hands.

"Attention, please." He cleared his throat, as if about to announce something significant.

Everyone in the office stopped what they were doing and turned to look at Chen Rui, waiting to see what he had to say.

"The company has decided..."

Chen Rui’s voice deepened as he paused dramatically, his expression serious as he scanned the room. Then he suddenly relaxed, showing a bright smile, "This weekend, we’re taking everyone on a day trip to Luobei, that should be okay, right?"

"Wow!"

"Great!"

"No problem!"

The atmosphere suddenly heated up, filling the office with a jovial air.

Qin Guanglin clapped along with everyone else, then lowered his head back to his original pursuit—oh, studying Dou Dizhu, not his father-in-law.

Luobei was near the source of the Luo River. Although it was a great spot for a picnic, it wasn’t very far, making him wonder why they were so excited...

"Hey, big guy, you don’t seem too happy?" Jiang Lingling curiously looked at him.

Qin Guanglin dismissively lifted his head, "Really?"

The opposing party had just captured the landlord title and was super doubling the stakes; how could he possibly be happy about that?

Jiang Lingling nudged her chair forward, sliding up to him, "You still play this, huh? Oh dear, you’re about to lose!"

"I know."

"Bomb him!"

"Bombing now will make me lose even more," Qin Guanglin helplessly looked at her. "Aren’t you supposed to be napping?"

How did this girl get so familiar?

"Just a sec, just checking." Jiang Lingling chuckled and slid her chair back.

It was surprising that the boss played these games and even got upset about losing. The contrast was kind of cute.