Offside game

"Xiao Yi, you're too kind." Seeing Su Yi take out such a valuable jade pendant, Mo Jianfeng immediately declined, but faced with Su Yi's insistence, he stopped being coy and told Mo Fei to wear it.

By this time, lunch was ready, and Mo Yuqing came over to call everyone to come and eat. Lunch was very lavish, with a full table of food laid out.

After Su Yi and Mo Jianfeng, along with Mo Fei and Jin'er, finished setting off the firecrackers, the whole family took their seats. At this moment, Su Yi also saw a gentle and quiet woman, who was Mo Jianfeng's wife.

The meal was enjoyed by everyone. After the meal, Su Yi took the two children out of the car and took out the fireworks and firecrackers he had bought earlier. Amid cheers from Jin'er and Mo Fei, they set them off together in the yard. Then they returned together to wait for the annual Spring Festival Gala, a must-see program for every Spring Festival.

The scene of the family sitting together was very warm, which inevitably reminded Su Yi of the time when his parents were still alive. Fortunately, Jin'er was sitting in his lap and acting coquettishly towards him, which eased some of his worries.

Mo Yuqing's house has many rooms, and she specially prepared a guest room for Su Yi to stay in temporarily. Before going to bed, Mo Jin'er, wearing cartoon bear pajamas, ran into Su Yi's room and insisted on sleeping with her father. Mo Yuqing's persuasion was ineffective, so she had no choice but to give in to her.

In Su Yi's arms, Jin'er was like a happy little elf, telling him about the fun things at school one moment and asking Su Yi to tell him stories the next. Seeing Jin'er becoming more and more lively, Su Yi felt very gratified, so he racked his brains to tell him stories, and they kept going until very late before finally falling asleep.

In the middle of the night, the little girl was awakened again by the sound of firecrackers, and he had to comfort her for a long time.

The next day, Su Yi got up early and looked at little Jin'er, who was curled up in his arms like a kitten, still fast asleep. He carefully put her down, trying not to wake her, and quietly got dressed. He went outside, checked his watch, and saw that it was already past seven o'clock.

As soon as Su Yi stepped out the door, he saw Mo Yuqing sitting alone in the living room watching TV. Mo Yuqing also saw Su Yi come out, found him some new toiletries, and after he finished washing up, she heated up some dumplings for him and put them on the table.

"Where are your uncle and aunt?" Su Yi asked while eating hot dumplings.

"I went to visit my old comrades for the New Year. My brother and sister-in-law also went to visit them, and they even got Xiaofei up and took him with them. I'm leaving myself at home to look after things. Is Jin'er still sleeping?"

"Yeah, she didn't sleep well at all last night because of the firecrackers." Su Yi said, eating another dumpling.

If others saw this scene, they would definitely think that they were a young married couple...

After dinner, Su Yi and Mo Jin'er sat on the sofa again, watching TV. People came to visit them from time to time; many left gifts, exchanged a few words, and left once the elders were no longer there.

The door was knocked on again, probably another person coming to wish him a Happy New Year. Su Yi went to open the door and saw a middle-aged man in a suit. The man was also taken aback when he saw him. Su Yi invited him into the house. However, he noticed that Mo Yuqing's expression was a little strange when she saw this man, and she greeted him rather awkwardly.

After introductions, Su Yi learned that the man, around thirty years old, was named Zhang Cheng. Zhang Cheng seemed to be quite familiar with Mo Yuqing's family. As they were talking, they heard Jin'er calling from inside. Mo Yuqing apologized to Zhang Cheng and hurriedly went in to check on them, leaving Su Yi and Zhang Cheng sitting in the living room.

Zhang Cheng took out a business card from his clothes and handed it to Su Yi, asking, "Brother Su, where do you work?"

When Su Yi saw the title on the business card, "Director and Deputy General Manager of Shenzhou Computer Software Co., Ltd.", he casually replied, "I'm still in school." Su Yi knew about Shenzhou Software; it mainly distributed computer games, distributing many well-known titles from Taiwanese and overseas game companies. These included popular titles like Counter-Strike, the classic Diablo series, StarCraft, and Red Alert—games with a very wide player base—all distributed in mainland China by this company. However, due to rampant piracy in the country, sales weren't particularly high, but it was still a very capable company.

Su Yi chatted casually with Zhang Cheng, but for some reason, he always felt a little uncomfortable. Perhaps it was because of the superiority complex that the other party showed, that self-important attitude of an elite.

When Mo Jin'er came out rubbing her slightly blurry eyes, she called out to Su Yi, "Dad," and snuggled into his arms. Zhang Cheng's expression was quite interesting. Only after learning that Su Yi was just Jin'er's godfather did he seem relieved. This rather contrasting behavior made Su Yi realize something.

Not long after, Mo Yuqing's family returned. They greeted Zhang Cheng warmly and insisted he stay for lunch. Later, Su Yi learned that Zhang Cheng was the man Mo Yuqing's family had originally chosen for her marriage, and also the son of one of her father's comrades-in-arms. He had grown up with Mo Yuqing in the same compound, but she had always treated him like an older brother. After Mo Yuqing married her ex-husband, he also married, but his wife died in childbirth the following year, leaving him with a son named Zhang Dun. Knowing about Mo Yuqing's divorce, he frequently visited her family; his motives were self-evident.

After lunch, Su Yi told Mo Yuqing that he had some things to attend to, bid farewell to everyone, and drove away from the Mo family home. Upon arriving at the guard post outside the compound, he inevitably had to go through another round of formalities.

The server operating system that Su Yi named "Kuafu" is now nearing completion. He has been working on adding the final functional modules recently, and then he will have the Kesai ship test the entire operating system's operating environment to find any potential vulnerabilities.

During the Spring Festival, Dream International implemented a shift system for employees to work in shifts, and those who remained on duty received substantial overtime pay. The company also paid for a lavish New Year's Eve dinner at a nearby seafood restaurant, which employees and their families could enjoy for free. On the second day of the Lunar New Year, Su Yi visited the company and personally distributed red envelopes to each employee. He personally paid for each envelope, giving each employee, regardless of position, 800 yuan as a token of his goodwill.

Mechanical Civilization sold 3.8 million copies in its first month, including 1.7 million in Asia and 2.1 million in Europe and America. Tiandi Software and Yubi have already transferred their revenue shares to Dream International's account. While this performance doesn't quite match the success of the first game, *Evolution*, it's still a very impressive achievement. The reason for this success is that Blizzard also released the highly anticipated *Diablo II* expansion, *Lord of Destruction*, in the same month, which had some impact on sales. However, according to statistics, Mechanical Civilization's sales still far exceeded those of the original game.