Chà Chà Novel

The Ji family was fiercely protective of its own.

Ji Shileng lowered his eyes and slowly smiled.

“Let it go. There’s no need to dwell on it.”

He had offered sincerity in exchange for sincerity, even if what Shang Jianli had given him in return had been next to nothing.

But that was enough.

He had never doubted the sincerity of a heart.

Unfortunately, a heart could change in an instant.

Chapter 6: Young Master Ji Gets Down to Business

His father, Ji Jie, nodded and settled the matter.

“Then we’ll let it go.”

Making too much of it would only suggest they thought Shang Jianli was worth their attention.

As an “orphan,” Ji Shileng had indeed married above his station.

But now that he had returned to the Ji family, he was someone Shang Jianli could never hope to reach.

At this moment, he understood with absolute clarity: those years with Shang Jianli had been an act of cruelty toward himself.

After all, there was very little Ji Shileng wanted that he could not have.

After several muddled days spent shut away at home, a new face appeared at the Ji family’s ancestral residence.

Su Ke hurried upstairs. When he opened Ji Shileng’s bedroom door, he found him draped bonelessly over the sofa, basking in the sun.

They had been born in the same residential compound. When interstellar terrorists attacked their aristocratic academy at the age of twelve, Ji Shileng had protected him.

Theirs was a friendship forged in life and death—a brotherhood that would last a lifetime.

Despite resting at home for several days, Ji Shileng remained listless.

“Shi, why didn’t you message me when you got back?”

Su Ke gave him a punch.

Ji Shileng did not even lift his head.

“Well, you know I’m back now, don’t you?” he replied lazily.

“Only because your eldest sister told me.”

Su Ke plopped down beside him.

“Oh, right. Isn’t it time you changed the ID on your game account?”

“My ID? Yes, it is.”

At last, Ji Shileng raised his head and set his bare feet on the rug. His ankles were as thin as bamboo stalks.

He picked up the laptop from the coffee table and launched the game he had not logged into for a long time.

The year he accepted Shang Jianli’s proposal, a video of him gaming had accidentally leaked. The newspapers had mocked him, declaring that the title of “best” supportive spouse could belong to no one else.

Shang Jianli had said nothing, but his mother had given Ji Shileng a thorough scolding. She had told him to mind his words and actions, since he represented both Shang Jianli and the Shang family.

After that, he had handed the account over to Su Ke, only occasionally logging in to spend money and lift his spirits.

Su Ke pinched his nose as he watched him change the name.

“You have no idea how angry I got running dungeons for you with that name over my head.”

[Are you sure you want to change “ShangNob.1” to “Shileng”?]

Ji Shileng clicked Confirm.

[Congratulations! Your character name has been changed. May you begin a new story in your struggle among the stars.]

After deleting and editing everything that needed changing, Ji Shileng told Su Ke:

“All done.”

Watching the traces of Shang Jianli disappear from the account, he felt as though those bleak, lightless days were finally receding into the distance.

Games and reality could not, after all, be treated as the same thing.

In the game, Ji Shileng’s account ranked first in combat power across the entire server.

He had named it “ShangNob.1.” He watched the character accept quests, hunt down space pirates, and deal dungeon damage far beyond the runner-up, comforting himself that Shang Jianli was just like that.

Shang Jianli was the Empire’s foremost general, too busy to spare him any attention.

Unfortunately, they were not the same after all.

He could control a game.

He could not control a person.

With the account sorted out, Su Ke still could not make sense of the tangled relationship between his friend and Shang Jianli.

Ji Shileng summed it up in a few sentences, then lost the desire to discuss it further.

“All right. I knew how to commit, and I know how to let go. It’s nothing I can’t handle.”

“Tch. Those scumbags got off easy.”

After everything that had happened, at least Ji Shileng’s drive to work had finally returned.

He logged onto the Empire’s government portal to examine the new gaming regulations.

“My sister said the Empire is preparing sanctions against Federation game companies operating there.”

“Yeah. Officially, they’re reforming the entire gaming industry. In reality, they’re targeting our Federation’s games.”

Su Ke was a shareholder in the company. While Ji Shileng had been away, he had still found time to visit the office every day, despite his usual lack of dedication to proper work.

According to the wording of the Empire’s latest draft, games with annual gross revenue exceeding ten billion would be required to pay an additional publicity and promotion fee of twenty percent.

In practice, every game earning over ten billion a year in the Empire came from the Federation. Not a single domestically developed game could compete.

“Twenty percent.”

Ji Shileng laughed unexpectedly.

Once, while Shang Jianli was speaking to a friend on the phone at home, the friend had asked how to impose effective sanctions on foreign gaming businesses.

Ji Shileng had overheard part of the conversation. Hoping to earn Shang Jianli’s praise and attention, he had done some calculations using Path to Stardom’s earnings in the Empire.

He had then suggested that, accounting for costs and the various distributors in the Empire, taking twenty percent of gross revenue would not bankrupt the major game companies, but would certainly make life unpleasant for them.

Shang Jianli had shown no particular reaction. He had merely told him to get some rest.

Now, looking at the draft, Ji Shileng thought: so Shang Jianli had been capable of listening to him after all.

Su Ke scoffed.

“Not a decent person in the whole Empire.”

“It doesn’t really matter. If the draft passes, we’ll just raise our prices by thirty percent.”

Ji Shileng finished reading the proposal carefully, his voice unconcerned.

If the Empire wanted to take twenty percent, they would sell at higher prices.

It sounded capricious, but he had only taken over the company because he wanted to play the game himself.

Besides, revenue from the Federation alone was enough to keep the company running.

Money was the last thing he lacked.

Likewise, just because he did not manipulate public opinion did not mean he did not know how.

——

Shang Jianli had only been home on leave for a few days when a major incident erupted in the Empire.

No one had expected the Federation’s game companies to push back so hard.

Rumors of sanctions against the Federation’s gaming industry had been circulating for some time.

Who could tolerate foreign games making more money than domestic ones?

“General Shang, the Federation’s game companies, led by Joker Studio, have announced they will retaliate if the draft passes.”

The moment the door opened, his friend Tang began speaking urgently.

He was the friend who had previously called Shang Jianli for advice.

Dressed in cotton clothes, Shang Jianli looked less severe than usual.

“Retaliate?”

“Joker Studio started it. They announced that if the draft passes, they’ll raise in-game prices for Imperial players by thirty percent.”

“With them taking the lead, the smaller companies have all followed suit.”

“Now domestic online gamers are unhappy. At the same time, Imperial game companies are testing the waters for price increases of their own.”

“Public opinion is in an uproar.”

“Mm.”

Shang Jianli turned and went inside, showing no particular reaction.

“You shouldn’t be discussing this with me.”

His responsibilities had nothing to do with Tang’s.

“I…”

Tang followed him inside, then steeled himself.

“To prove that twenty percent wouldn’t do any real harm to the game companies, I published the formula used to calculate it.”

Shang Jianli looked puzzled. After thinking for a few seconds, he retrieved the memory from a neglected corner of his mind.

Ji Shileng had calculated that twenty percent using the hugely popular game Path to Stardom.

Though Shang Jianli had no idea where Ji Shileng had obtained its revenue figures.