Chapter 18: I like her.

Has Li Yi returned to the company?

Last time Song Ye called him, he said that Li Yi should contact him when he was ready to come back.

Since Liang Yun became the executive lead planner, all the planning proposals have followed Song Ye’s requirements.

Even so, they still failed to meet his expectations, and he got scolded in every meeting.

Every time Jiang Nanshu saw Liang Yun, his face looked worse than before.

He was probably feeling extremely frustrated, but there was nothing he could do.

Everyone around was buzzing with excitement.

Early in the morning, they were jolted awake by the news of Li Yi’s “resurrection,” making even overtime work feel less exhausting.

The project team had a high turnover, but some people had stayed since the beginning, like Li Junyi.

Li Junyi sounded slightly excited: “To be honest, I’m really looking forward to his return.

His planning proposals were much more interesting than the current lead planner’s.”

“Hehe, me too,” Zhou Jiale said excitedly.

“If he comes back, we’ll have another handsome guy in the project team eye candy for us!”

“……”

Li Junyi was speechless for a moment before continuing, “The lead planner position is hard to keep.”

Jiang Nanshu glanced up and saw Liang Yun walking over with a dark expression.

She quickly covered for them: “Shhh, shhh, the lead planner is here.”

Everyone immediately fell silent.

Liang Yun had been scolded harshly early in the morning.

The worst part was that everyone in the project team saw it, making it an utter humiliation.

His face was as dark as the bottom of a pot.

He stopped in front of his workstation and swept a cold glance at everyone.

Jiang Nanshu secretly glanced at his thick hair, thinking to herself: “So it really is a wig…”

A few seconds later, Liang Yun left with a dark expression.

Everyone followed his gaze and saw him heading to Song Ye’s office.

Inside the office, Song Ye was still on the phone with Li Yi.

Li Yi hadn’t slept all night and had been venting his anger.

All the frustration he had held in for the past month had finally been released, and now he was feeling exhilarated.

As the project producer, Song Ye had to consider the bigger picture no matter what.

Li Yi’s outburst had even embarrassed their boss.

Li Yi had vented his frustrations, but now Song Ye had to deal with the two senior executives.

Song Ye warned him, “Enough is enough.”

“Fine, I’ve already said everything I wanted to,” Li Yi replied.

After his rant, he felt every pore in his body breathing freely, as if a huge weight had been lifted.

“I’ve been holding this in for almost a month.

Before returning to the company, I had to reclaim my dignity.

Slipping back quietly wouldn’t be my style.”

Song Ye sneered, “So, do you need someone to carry you in on a sedan chair?”

“…That works too,” Li Yi said, genuinely considering the idea.

Song Ye couldn’t be bothered to argue with him anymore and got straight to the point.

“When are you coming back? Don’t make me chase after you again.”

Li Yi was starting to feel sleepy and yawned, mumbling, “Tomorrow.

Let me catch up on sleep first.”

“Fine. Hanging up now.”

Just as Song Ye was about to hang up, Li Yi suddenly said, “Hey, bro, the project team has a lot of new people now, right?

There’s someone named Jiang Nanshu in the operations team, isn’t there?”

Song Ye opened the player survey that Jiang Nanshu had just uploaded and casually responded with a “Hmm.”

“Her name sounds really familiar, like I’ve heard it somewhere before,” Li Yi mused.

He had an excellent memory—if he felt something was familiar, then he must have seen or heard it before.

But the past few months had been a blur for him, and he was struggling to recall where.

“She’s the only one who liked my planning proposal.

It was from over a month ago.

She must really appreciate my talent.”

Song Ye didn’t respond.

Then, out of nowhere, Li Yi declared, “I like her.”

“……”

Song Ye’s expression instantly turned cold.

After a two-second silence, he icily said, “She doesn’t need you to like her.”

Then, after taking a deep breath, he chuckled coldly.

“Don’t bother coming to the company anymore.”

With that, he hung up the phone.

At that moment, a knock sounded at the door.

Annoyed, Song Ye said, “Come in.”

Liang Yun stepped in.

Originally, he had intended to have a calm discussion with Song Ye.

But seeing Song Ye’s indifferent and irritable face, he dropped all pretense and got straight to the point.

“Is Li Yi coming back to replace me?”

Song Ye looked up at him, leaned back in his chair with his arms crossed, and said emotionlessly, “That depends on how well you write your future proposals.

For me, it’s all about ability.”

Liang Yun’s fate wasn’t solely up to Song Ye.

He was one of the boss’s people, so even if he wanted to leave, he had to get approval first.

Song Ye had two reasons for wanting Li Yi back.

First, Liang Yun was clearly not suitable for this project team.

Keeping him as the lead planner would slow down the team’s progress and increase Song Ye’s workload.

Second, when Li Yi was forced out, Liang Yun played a role in it.

Now, Song Ye was simply giving Li Yi a chance to reclaim his dignity.

If Li Yi could push Liang Yun out, all the better.

“Li Yi is your cousin, of course, you’d take his side,” Liang Yun said angrily, his face turning red.

“Don’t think that Mr. Hu hired you because he truly believes in this project.”

Song Ye gave him a casual glance, chuckled indifferently, and tapped his fingers on the desk.

“……”

No matter how frustrated Liang Yun was, as the lead planner, his biggest failure was not submitting a proper proposal.

A few minutes later, everyone saw Liang Yun leaving Song Ye’s office.

Not long after, a meeting was called.

The player test was scheduled for the 30th, and there weren’t many days left.

The test version still had bugs to fix, so Song Ye gathered the team to run through it and collect internal feedback.

During the meeting, Song Ye was even colder than usual.

Perhaps because of the chaos caused by Li Yi, he was visibly displeased.

As the producer, he had to manage internal team dynamics, even if he didn’t like Liang Yun.

After the meeting, Lu Xiaowei, the head of the operations team, instructed, “Someone should check with the developers about the finalization time for the test version.”

Zhou Jiale hesitated, “Can I do it later? I need to discuss character profiles with the writing team first.”

“I’ll go,” Jiang Nanshu offered.

Lu Xiaowei looked at her and said indifferently, “That works.

You’re on good terms with the devs.

Gao Yukun always lights up when he sees you.

Maybe your request will make them work faster.”

Jiang Nanshu looked surprised.

“Did you break up with the lead developer?”

“……”

Lu Xiaowei’s face darkened instantly.

She gritted her teeth. “No. We’re fine. We’re getting engaged tomorrow.”

Jiang Nanshu nodded nonchalantly.

“Oh. Then the one closest to the dev team should be you, right?”

“Forget it. I’ll do it myself,” Lu Xiaowei snapped and turned away.

That evening, Li Yi showed up at the office.

Wearing a black bomber jacket, he walked in confidently and lazily greeted everyone.

“Hey guys, long time no see.”

Jiang Nanshu, on her way to get water, stood by the door and curiously observed him.

He looked similar to Song Ye, especially the sharp jawline, slight smirk, and his bright, energetic aura.

Behind her, a cold voice suddenly asked, “What are you looking at?”

Jiang Nanshu turned around and met Song Ye’s gaze.

She blinked. “Looking at Li Yi.

I’ve never seen him before, so I was curious.”

Song Ye glanced at Li Yi and asked indifferently, “Is he good-looking?”

Jiang Nanshu didn’t answer.

She turned back to look at Li Yi and muttered, “He looks a bit like you.”