164: Chapter 164 Renting a Room

After checking out, the two returned to their new home and unpacked the contents of their two suitcases.

Qiao Linlin stood before the six-meter-wide floor-to-ceiling window, overlooking the scenery below. Her expression was calm, but her heart was surging with excitement.

She was finally living in the house of her dreams—even if it was only rented and didn't belong to her.

But she believed that she would get everything she wanted, provided that Chen Fan continued to like her.

She couldn't guarantee that Chen Fan would always like her; after all, if she could offer herself up to him, other girls could do the same.

So, what she had to do was always present her best self—no, rather, the version of herself that Chen Fan liked most—to him.

"Let's go, I'll take you to the mall to buy some things," Chen Fan's voice interrupted her musings.

She turned around and nodded. "Mhm."

After four in the afternoon, the two left the mall and carried bags of all sizes home. The trunk and back seat were stuffed to the brim.

Back at Yicui Garden, they moved the things upstairs. Chen Fan carried a bag containing bedding in his left hand and several bags of clothes in his right; this weight was practically nothing to him. Qiao Linlin followed behind him with a few bags.

Once inside, the items were piled in the living room. Chen Fan lay on the sofa to rest while Qiao Linlin began tidying up. By the time she finished, it was past five. She clapped her hands, turned to look at Chen Fan, and smiled. "All done."

"Let's go out for dinner then."

The two headed out, and Chen Fan drove her to a Cantonese restaurant on Gaoxin Road. The environment was quiet with warm yellow lighting, and the tables were spaced far apart.

A waiter led them to a window seat and handed over the menu. Chen Fan flipped through it and ordered steamed sea bass, crispy roasted goose, poached choy sum, shrimp dumplings, rice noodle rolls, and a pot of fish maw chicken soup.

"Boss."

"Hmm?"

"How much did you spend today?"

"Over twenty thousand."

"That much? Aren't you afraid I'll spend all your money until you're poor?"

"You can try." Chen Fan set down his water glass. Let alone twenty thousand, even two hundred thousand was nothing to him; if it was spent, it was spent.

It was past eight in the evening by the time they returned home after dinner. Before Chen Fan could even speak, Qiao Linlin went to take a shower.

After her shower, she immediately changed into a set of sexy clothes and sat down in front of Chen Fan.

"Let's go to the bedroom, Boss."

Although Qiao Linlin was a girl, once she had experienced intimacy, she found it quite addictive, which was why she acted so proactively.

Chen Fan naturally wouldn't refuse and pulled her toward the bedroom.

...

The next day, Chen Fan woke up early in the morning.

Qiao Linlin was still sound asleep. After the exertion that lasted until midnight, she was truly exhausted. She was curled up in the quilt, with only a small section of her shoulder exposed.

Chen Fan didn't wake her. He washed up and went to the company.

In any case, he was the boss. Let alone being late, no one would dare say anything even if Qiao Linlin skipped work entirely.

Arriving at the company, Chen Fan immediately gathered the core staff for a meeting.

The first item on the agenda was for Chen Fan to introduce the newly recruited Lead Programmer for the team.

This Lead Programmer was someone Chen Fan and Zhou Min had interviewed last week. Technical Lead, thirty-three years old, graduated from Chang'an University of Electronic Science and Technology. Upon graduation, he joined the famous domestic game company Seasun and participated in the 'JX Online' project. Later, he jumped to NetEase and worked his way up to the T4 engineer level.

"Before we start the meeting today, I'd like to introduce a new colleague to everyone," Chen Fan said, patting Technical Lead on the shoulder. "This is Technical Lead, Engineer Li, the technical lead for our new project. He comes from NetEase and has participated in projects like 'Westward Journey Online II' and 'Fantasy Westward Journey.' His resume is very impressive. Everyone, please welcome him."

A round of applause rang out in the meeting room.

Technical Lead stood up with a wide smile, bowed slightly, and spoke with a resonant voice, "Hello everyone, I am Technical Lead. From now on, we are comrades in the same trench. Please look after me."

Chen Fan glanced at Zhang Tao's reaction and found that he didn't show any signs of dissatisfaction, which put his mind at ease.

While he hoped for competition within the team, he wanted it to be healthy, not malicious.

For now, it seemed Zhang Tao didn't care too much about having a new rival.

After the introduction, the formal meeting began.

First, they reviewed the current progress of Zhang Tao's team.

'defend the carrot' was still showing strong momentum. As of today, the 22nd, this month's revenue had already reached 15 million. It should have no problem breaking 20 million by the end of the month.

As for Zhang Tao's other project, 'happy elimination,' two-thirds of the subsequent levels for the first version were completed. After finishing and testing for a while, it could be officially launched.

The meeting lasted for an hour. After it ended, Chen Fan kept Technical Lead behind for a private talk.

At NetEase, engineer levels ranged from T1 to T6. For Technical Lead to reach T4 was already excellent. A resume like this would allow him to be a technical director at any small company.

The reason he came to Chen Fan's company was that his wife was in Chang'an, and he planned to develop his career there. He happened to see Chen Fan's company was hiring with decent benefits, so he came for an interview.

During the interview, Chen Fan was very pleased to hear about his background—his company finally had a high-level technical talent.

Zhang Tao's skills were good, but they were still a notch below Technical Lead's.

Besides Technical Lead, they hadn't hired enough for other positions like programming, art, and planning. Therefore, Technical Lead's task after joining was to first build up the team.

Chen Fan leaned back in his chair and tapped his fingers lightly on the desk. "By the way, you've been at NetEase for so many years. Is there anyone suitable over there we can poach?"

Technical Lead was stunned for a moment, then smiled and shook his head. "President Chen, people from NetEase aren't easy to poach. The salaries in Hangzhou are significantly higher than in Chang'an, and the city's development is better. They basically won't come to Chang'an."

"What if we offer a high salary?"

"Even with a high salary, it's difficult." Technical Lead closed his notebook and spoke frankly. "Unless the salary is doubled, but the cost would be too high and not worth it. Besides, Hangzhou has many big tech companies and plenty of options for job hopping. It's not just about the money."

He continued, "President Chen, there's no need to poach from NetEase. Chang'an might lack in other areas, but its university standards are among the best in the country. With two 985 and seven 211 universities, there's plenty of talent. As long as the benefits are right, we don't have to worry about people not coming."

Chen Fan was taken aback, then leaned back and tapped his fingers on the desk again.

He realized he had indeed fallen into a mental trap, thinking only about poaching from big companies while forgetting about the talent in Chang'an's universities.

"Alright, let's do as you said. Coordinate with Zhou Min on recruitment and build the team first."

"No problem, President Chen. But what project will I be responsible for?"

"Don't worry about the project yet. Once you've mostly finished hiring, I'll tell you the specifics."

"Understood, President Chen."

...