Chapter 92 – Can’t Get Around Mom’s Routine

Shen Deyou and Zhang Xiaoru are sitting in the living room getting high on melon seeds.

On the table are two cut mooncakes, open-skinned pomelo, and a variety of festive snacks and fruits.

The oversized TV was playing a programme, and the couple only glanced at it occasionally, mostly using the sound of the TV as background music, which was currently playing a love soap opera that old aunties love to watch.

The man and the woman are kissing and the old couple are watching expressionlessly from in front of the TV. Think of the old days when their son was young and they used to blindfold Shen Yu whenever the TV showed this image.

“Lao Shen, how long has it been since you’ve kissed me?” Zhang Xiaoru asked.

“I thought you were a little girl, shame on you for saying that ……” Shen Deyou hurriedly took the remote control and changed the channel.

“Eh how come I can’t mention it?” Zhang Xiaoru is not convinced.

“If you keep your voice down, they’ll hear you, and we won’t even need our old faces.” Shen Deyou quickly peeled a grapefruit for her to soothe her.

Zhang Xiaoru pushed him away in disgust and stared down the hallway at the room with the door firmly shut.

“What do you think they’re both doing in there? They went in after lunch and closed the door to their room and haven’t made any noise until now.”

“You ask me who I’m asking.”

The couple watched the room in silence with small thoughts, speculating on what Shen Yu and Asaba Li Xiang might be doing in there.

“What would you have done if you had been locked up in this house with a beautiful girl when you were younger?” Zhang Xiaoru asks him.

Shen Deyou replied guardedly, “It’s not like you didn’t know me before, how could I have the heart to do anything with a little girl?”

Zhang Xiaoru then hit him a few times and complained, “Your son has inherited your wooden nature!”

“So you’re not responsible? When he was still a student, who nagged him every day not to fall in love, that it affected his grades and was a waste of time?”

“Did I say that?”

“…… Then I remembered wrong.”

The two men sat in silence for another half hour, the room inside froze without any movement.

Zhang Xiaoru, unable to resist, stood up quietly, walked gingerly to the door of the room, put his ear to the door and gave Shen Deyou a wink and a gesture, indicating that he should turn up the sound of the TV to provide cover.

……

Shen Yu started working on the split-screen files based on the script sections and sketches, while Asaba Li Xiang worked on the art materials, including the physical movements of the characters, the condition of their clothes, etc.

A precise cg artwork, if Li Xiang did it by himself, it would take about five to seven days, Shen Yu looked at the script, there are at least ten or so such cg artworks, and the rest can be fine-tuned, but the overall time spent on art is estimated to be more than two and a half months.

Shen Yu couldn’t have waited for her to draw it all before creating the program. It also took time to implement the script and subplot into a concrete executable game and to build a usable game system.

After discussing the matter, they planned to make the cg drawings of the male and female protagonists first, and then make the sketches needed for each sub-screen, so that Shen Yu could have a visual standard and basis for making ui and modeling, and let Li Xiang take his time to draw the art.

There is not much Shen Yu can do about this, but to go to a resource site and buy it.

“Shen Yu, what do you think of this pose?”

“…… as you like it”

“What about you, what about you?”

“I don’t know anything about this”

“I think it’s super sweet!”

Zhang Xiaoru, who had been eavesdropping at the door for most of the day, finally heard the unmistakable sound of voices coming from the room.

Shen Yu and Asaba Li Xiang had been in the room for most of the day, but there was no sound, and they were alone, not talking, so they sat on the edge of the bed together.

Hearing this conversation, Zhang Xiaoru’s eyes widened and even his breathing became cautious ……

In the room, Asaba Li Xiang is approaching Shen Yu with his computer, showing him a sketch he has just sketched.

The sketch shows Lance resting on Arya’s lap, sleeping with his eyes closed, while Arya looks down at Lance with affection.

“What’s so sweet about this ……”

Shen Yu looked at the sketch, the costume, the background, the hair colour and so on had not been filled in yet, he could not really feel any sweetness with this simple sketch of inspiration alone.

“Just try to imagine it, like you’re on the roof right now looking at the distant stars, she’s humming softly, you’re in a soothing mood, resting on your beloved girl’s lap as she reaches out and gently strokes your hair ……”

Asaba Li Xiang doesn’t know what came to mind and got himself carried away.

Shen Yu also tried to imagine that he was resting on the soft and sweet lap of a girl, and when the night breeze blew across his face, he slowly opened his eyes and saw that the girl was Li Xiang! He was so scared that he didn’t dare to think about it any further.

There was no toilet in the room, so he got up and opened the door to go out, but when the door opened, Zhang Xiaoru almost lost his footing as he held the door open.

“Mom, what are you doing??”

“I …… I’m looking for Li Xiang!”

Zhang Xiaoru hurriedly explained that he thought these two were doing something in the house, but it turned out that they were just tinkering with two computers?

I didn’t expect that letting Li Xiang live with Shen Yu would not bring him back on track, but rather that he would pull Li Xiang down the wrong path.

” Is Li Xiang busy? Do you want to cook dinner with your aunt?”

“Yes, yes, yes!”

Asaba Li Xiang then followed Zhang Xiaoru to the kitchen to prepare dinner, leaving Shen Yu in the dark.

Today is Mid-Autumn Festival and dinner is much more substantial than usual.

When the four of them eat together, it is almost always Shen Deyou and Zhang Xiaoru talking to Li Xiang, while Shen Yu silently eats his own food.

After dinner, Zhang Xiaoru brought out some joss sticks and candles for moon worship and asked Shen Yu to carry an eight immortal table to the balcony, set up autumnal fruit and moon cakes and so on, and offer the moon in the east just as the moon was coming out of the horizon.

In town, these processes are naturally kept simple, and in fact many families no longer worship the moon.

Asaba Li Xiang was very enthusiastic about this activity and Zhang Xiaoru was happy to teach her, like a mother-in-law and daughter-in-law, how to set the plates, how to light the candles and how to pray for blessings.

Shen Yu was about to go back to his room to continue his work when Zhang Xiaoru pulled him back and shoved two movie tickets into his hand, one into his hand and one into the hand of Asaba Li Xiang.

“Don’t stay in your room all the time, it’s not like that. Li Xiang came all the way here and can’t go back for Mid-Autumn this year, so you have to take her out for a walk!”

“These two tickets happen to be left over from your dad’s company giving away Mid-Autumn benefits, I just remembered, why don’t you two go and see it together, it’s over at Culture Square, after the movie you can also enjoy the fireworks and lantern festival.”

“I didn’t ……”

Before Shen Yu could finish his sentence, he felt the murderous look in his mother’s eyes – a murderous look directed at his computer.

“I didn’t realise there were so many activities ha …… go go go, I’ll take her there now!”