Alpha, Straight To The Crematorium - Chapter 9
9: Gift
Perhaps the scene of the two frozen in place was too strange, the waiter standing beside Li Yuan called out softly to her twice upon seeing this, “Guest, guest?”
Li Yuan blinked, as if trying to figure out whether she was really hallucinating. How come today, opening the door twice, both times she saw Si Rong?
Si Rong saw her completely stunned at the doorway and couldn’t help but chuckle. She stood up, walked to the door, and gestured for the waiter to leave first. Then she reached out and waved her hand in front of Li Yuan’s eyes. “What? Dumbstruck?”
At this moment, Si Rong slightly squatted down to meet Li Yuan’s eyes at the same level, so Li Yuan was once again enveloped in the aura that belonged to Si Rong.
Seeing her still frozen at the door, Si Rong had no choice but to take hold of her sleeve and lead her inside. Li Yuan followed Si Rong obediently like a puppet, and eventually the two sat down in chairs.
“If I’m not mistaken, you’re Lin Yue, right?” Si Rong asked while pouring a cup of tea for Li Yuan.
“Uh… yeah.”
“Then let’s introduce ourselves properly again.” Si Rong curved her lips, straightened her posture, and solemnly extended her right hand. “Hello, I’m Si Rong, the head of the gaming department at KN Group.”
Li Yuan looked up at her in a daze, then extended her right hand and gently grasped the other’s. The warmth from the other’s palm felt like it was going to scald her entire body. “Hello, I’m Lin Yue, also Li Yuan.”
Si Rong smiled and subtly withdrew her hand, pushing the poured tea cup toward Li Yuan. “Try this tea. It’s sweet aftertaste, you should like it.”
Li Yuan obediently picked up the tea cup and gulped down a big mouthful. Only after the hot tea went down did she seem to fully wake up.
The person KN sent to negotiate with her was actually her blind date, and she even had some feelings for this blind date. This was truly fate!
Li Yuan swallowed. “I didn’t expect it would be you handling Enchantment.”
“I also didn’t expect that the one who unified the aesthetics of everyone in our company would be my blind date.” Si Rong tucked a stray lock of hair by her cheek, without the slightest hint of panic from lying.
Hearing this, Li Yuan felt a bit embarrassed and fidgety as she picked up the tea cup and took a sip.
Si Rong knew she wouldn’t recover right away, and what she wanted was precisely this moment to cut through the mess quickly. So she took out a document from the bag beside her. “Although our relationship is a bit different, I still have to do my job. You understand, right?”
“Mm-hmm, I understand.” Li Yuan nodded obediently.
Si Rong smiled upon hearing this and reached out to tidy a stray strand of Li Yuan’s bangs. “No need to be so nervous. You weren’t like this when we first met yesterday. Rest assured, as a friend, I’ll support all your decisions.”
Hearing this, Li Yuan quietly let out a sigh of relief. She wasn’t the type to refuse friends. If Si Rong asked her to take on KN’s project in a personal capacity, she absolutely couldn’t say no.
And Si Rong’s words just now completely dispelled her concerns. Her fondness for Si Rong also rose another level because of them.
“Of course, whether you accept it is one thing, I still have to complete my work.” Seeing her relax, Si Rong reached out to flip open the document and handed it to her. “We still hope you can take on this project. For that, the highest compensation we can offer is five times the original base, which is 100,000.
All you need to deliver to us are the initial character art and the advanced character art. We’ll provide the design drafts for the character, and since it involves the game’s subsequent development, you’ll also need to sign a confidentiality agreement.”
“B-But why would you want me to draw the character art? Game companies rarely outsource this kind of artwork…” When Li Yuan heard the number, she almost suspected she’d misheard.
This price was enough to commission a top-tier illustrator in the industry. She couldn’t help but doubt whether her art was really worth that much.
Si Rong flipped the folder further back and showed two images to Li Yuan. “These two images—one is from your dark series that you posted online before, and the other is the character art we designed for this role previously. This character is a particularly important NPC in the game’s side story, so the character art has been revised many versions. Every version had someone dissatisfied, until everyone saw your painting online.
That was the fastest vote I’ve ever seen from them. Everyone in our gaming department unanimously approved the proposal to outsource this character’s art to you. That’s why I said earlier that you single-handedly unified our company’s aesthetics.”
After hearing this, Li Yuan fell completely silent. This was the first time she so directly felt the success of her shift in art style. She carefully examined the two images, and in some profound way, she saw a fit between them.
The tea room grew quiet, with the two’s breathing clearly audible. After an unknown amount of time, Li Yuan gently pushed the document a little toward Si Rong.
She still refused.
Si Rong lowered her eyes, a trace of coldness and irritation flashed quickly in her gaze before disappearing, replaced by an expected sense of relief.
She let out a soft sigh, reached out to put the document away, and asked softly, “Li Yuan, may I ask why? As a friend.”
Li Yuan could sense that Si Rong meant no harm and understood that her last words meant she didn’t want a perfunctory answer. So the excuses she’d given Jin Qin earlier, like her schedule being full, simply couldn’t come out.
“I-I’m not good at original art. That style was my first attempt, maybe I just got lucky, and only that one painting met your requirements…” Li Yuan’s voice grew smaller as she spoke, until she fell silent again.
“Then why not try again? What if you get lucky once more and satisfy everyone?” Si Rong looked at her with a bit of pity and suggested softly.
Li Yuan lowered her head, seeming very resistant to the topic. She only said, “I’ll mess it up.”
Si Rong was speechless, but she knew she couldn’t continue pressing. So she raised an eyebrow, neatly packed everything into her bag, and swept away the quiet in the tea room. With renewed enthusiasm, she said, “Well, since we won’t have a chance to collaborate, we should have a chance to go shopping, right? Hmm?”
Hearing this, Li Yuan finally lifted her head. The first thing she saw was Si Rong with smiling eyes waiting for her response.
“Y-You’re not going to persuade me anymore?” Li Yuan was clearly surprised. Almost everyone KN had sent to negotiate before would spare no effort to persuade or beg her. But fortunately, their methods were very polite, otherwise, she wouldn’t have agreed to meet Si Rong.
Si Rong reached out and ruffled her hair, smiling brightly. “Didn’t I say it? You and I are friends, I support all your decisions. What I just said to you was as a business partner.”
Listening, Li Yuan slowly released her tightly bitten lower lip and gave her first smile since entering the tea room. “Thank you, Miss Si.”
“Alright, don’t call me Miss Si anymore. Call me by my name.”
“Mm!” Li Yuan nodded heavily, her big eyes staring straight at Si Rong.
Si Rong: “Okay, now can you go shopping with me?”
“Yes!”
“Alright, let’s go. We’ll stroll around Lin Yun Port and I’ll treat you to dinner there too, okay?” The two walked out side by side, and as they went, Si Rong turned sideways to ask Li Yuan’s opinion.
Li Yuan nodded and asked, “Do you want to buy something?”
Si Rong smiled and countered, “Do we have to buy something? Isn’t shopping a woman’s nature?”
Li Yuan smiled, fully agreeing with her view. “That’s true. My mom loves shopping too, but she’s too busy with work and has no time.”
Talking about this, Li Yuan seemed to open up a floodgate and chattered nonstop all the way until their car parked in the lot at Lin Yun Port.
Li Yuan didn’t like going out, so she’d only been to a large mall like Lin Yun Port, which had just been built not long ago, once or twice. She couldn’t say she was familiar with it, just that she wouldn’t get lost inside.
In contrast, Si Rong was like a fish in the sea—completely in her element.
Si Rong led the way into a home goods store first. It had a strong everyday life vibe, and there were quite a few pairs shopping together like them.
The store clerk spotted at a glance that this was an AO pair. She’d greeted countless newlywed couples like this, so she confidently approached.
“You two, is there anything I can help with?”
Although Si Rong had been to Lin Yun Port many times, this was her first time in the home goods store, so she needed the clerk’s guidance to buy things.
“Hello, can you show me your tableware?”
“Of course, please follow me, you two.”
The two followed behind the clerk. Li Yuan couldn’t help but quietly tug on Si Rong’s sleeve. “Why are you buying tableware?”
Si Rong tilted her head to look at her. “The tableware isn’t for me, it’s for you.”
“For me? Why?” Li Yuan looked puzzled.
“Did you forget that you invited me to your housewarming party? This set of tableware is, of course, a housewarming gift for you.”
As they discussed, the clerk stopped in front of a shelf and dutifully recommended, “If you two are buying tableware, I highly recommend this set. It’s one that sells very well among newlywed couples.”
The clerk’s words stunned both of them. Si Rong’s usually calm face seemed to crack for a moment, and Li Yuan’s cheeks performed an on-the-spot explosion of red.
“No, no! You misunderstood, we’re friends, not a newlywed couple!” Li Yuan hurriedly waved her hands in denial.
But the clerk had seen all types, she’d encountered plenty of thin-skinned little couples who hadn’t confirmed their relationship yet. Besides, the Alpha beside her hadn’t denied it.
Still, the customer is king, and she could understand some Omegas being shy. So she smiled and said, “Sorry, my mistake. But you two really should take a look at this set. The pattern is vintage, the colors are elegant—perfect for gifting or personal use.”
Li Yuan had no mind to listen to what she was saying. Instead, Si Rong seriously took the tableware from the clerk’s hands and examined it carefully.
After a while, Si Rong curved her lips and looked at Li Yuan. “Do you like it? I think it’s pretty good.”
“Y-You decide, anything’s fine with me.”
Hearing this, Si Rong nodded to the clerk. “This set, then. Wrap it up for me.”
“Okay, payment is this way.” The clerk was beaming, she knew it—these little Os are just shy, but in the end, the A still chose this set.
Si Rong went with the clerk to pay. Li Yuan hadn’t recovered yet and used the excuse of wanting to browse here, so she didn’t follow.
When she saw Si Rong return, she was carrying two bags.
She asked curiously, “Did you buy two sets?”
Si Rong shook her head, raised one hand with a bag, and extended the other toward her. “This one is your housewarming gift, this is a gift I bought for you.”
“Huh? For me? What is it?” Li Yuan took the paper bag, it was somewhat light, not very heavy.
Si Rong tilted her chin toward her. “Open it and see if you like it.”
Li Yuan obediently opened the paper bag. Inside was a fluffy little sheep plushie.
It was the little sheep doll from Bunnies by the Bay.
Li Yuan reached in and took the plushie in her hands. Then she heard Si Rong’s voice ring out in front of her.
“The first time I saw you, I thought you looked just like this plushie—equally cute.”