On the afternoon of New Year’s Eve, Xie Xinghe went to the kitchen to prepare the New Year’s Eve dinner.

Luo Hang rolled up his sleeves, wanting to help, but was blocked at the door by Xie Yunfan: “Go rest. You’ve come all the way back from abroad; you need to adjust your jet lag. My brother and I are enough in the kitchen.”

Luo Hang had been on a flight for over a dozen hours and was indeed a bit tired. Hearing Yunfan say this, he didn’t insist further and said, “Then I’ll go sleep for a while?”

“Sure, I’ll take you to the guest room.”

Xie Yunfan led him to the guest room upstairs and found him toiletries and a bath towel. After showering and shaving off his stubble in front of the mirror, Luo Hang finally went to sleep.

It was a deep, heavy slumber, and it was already dark when he woke up.

He tidied his clothes and headed downstairs, only to find Xie Yunfan wearing an apron in the kitchen, chopping vegetables. His knife skills were quite good; the shredded green onions he cut were fine, long, and even. Xie Xinghe was cooking, and the two brothers worked in perfect harmony.

Luo Hang pushed the door open and, seeing the feast covering the counter, said, “Thank you for your hard work. There’s so much; the three of us won’t be able to finish it, right?”

Xie Xinghe laughed, “It’s New Year’s Eve dinner—it doesn’t matter if there are leftovers. It symbolizes ‘abundance year after year’!”

As he spoke, he brought the final fish dish out of the pot. Xie Yunfan cooperated by sprinkling the green onion shreds on top and pouring a ladle of hot oil over them. With a “hiss,” the hot oil hit the onions, and the aroma instantly filled the air.

Luo Hang praised, “It smells so good.”

Xie Yunfan smiled: “My brother is a great cook; you’re in for a treat today.”

Xie Xinghe said: “Wash your hands! Time to eat!”

The table was packed with a rich variety of chicken, duck, fish, and meat.

Luo Hang felt a bit embarrassed: “I’ve come to bum a meal, I’m putting you to trouble, Brother. You’ve been busy all day, haven’t you?”

Calling him “President Xie” in private felt too stiff, like being in a meeting. Since Xie Xinghe was older than him, Luo Hang found the title “Big Brother” (Da Ge) rolled easily off his tongue.

Xie Xinghe waved his hand with a smile: “Don’t be so formal. Even if you didn’t come, Yunfan and I would still be having New Year’s Eve dinner every year. It’s even livelier with you joining us.”

As he spoke, he turned to pour three glasses of red wine and raised his glass: “Wishing everyone a Happy New Year.”

Xie Yunfan and Luo Hang also raised their glasses: “Happy New Year.”

After clinking glasses, the three of them buried their heads into the New Year’s Eve dinner. Big Brother’s cooking was indeed excellent. He was usually too busy with work to cook, but since he had a distinguished guest today, he rarely showed off his skills, preparing many elaborate dishes.

After trying several dishes, Luo Hang sighed: “The texture of food in games is still too far from reality.”

Xie Yunfan replied: “True. The five-sense system in your game pods needs careful debugging. Just tasting sweet, sour, bitter, and spicy is far from enough.”

Luo Hang said: “Later, I’ll have the engineers taste all kinds of cuisines, record detailed data on the texture of different dishes, and refine the system repeatedly. Reaching a level close to reality will require a massive amount of experimentation.”

Xie Xinghe: “…”

Good grief. These two workaholics talk about game pods even while eating. It’s a talent to be able to turn any topic in life into a conversation about games! It was clear that both of them were truly passionate about making games; Xie Xinghe had to admit he couldn’t keep up.

The meal ended amid these strange topics. In the end, the two bosses decided to find an opportunity to let their engineers taste cuisines from all over and create a complete menu and corresponding flavor system, preparing for future food-related games. Xie Xinghe didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.

After dinner, the three returned to the living room to watch television. There wasn’t anything good on, so Luo Hang simply sat to the side and took out his phone to check the feedback on the studio’s official blog.

Spring Festival is the best time for major games to launch events. This year, Yangfan Studio and Qihang Games jointly launched quite a few activities. For example, in the update for Ghost Realm, players could challenge the “Nian” beast boss to drop special magical treasures; Music Soul released music levels with a New Year theme. Meanwhile, Journey to the West gifted players New Year costumes for the master-disciple group and launched corresponding merchandise; the recent The Cases of Di Renjie and Holographic Script Sessions also introduced New Year-themed limited scripts.

In previous years, these events were planned by Operations and designed in advance by the production team. This year, because Luo Hang went abroad for agency negotiations, the Spring Festival events were all planned by Xie Yunfan. Luo Hang had been working nonstop abroad, and Xie Yunfan hadn’t been idle at home either. The Spring Festival activities on the various game websites were well-received by players.

Luo Hang looked at Xie Yunfan: “With so many games needing events, you must have been pretty busy, right?”

Xie Yunfan laughed: “It doesn’t matter if it’s a bit busy at the start; in the future, I’ll hand it off to other planners.”

Just then, Luo Hang’s phone rang. It was a video call from his father, Luo Tingyun. Luo Hang answered: “Dad, Happy New Year.”

Luo Tingyun asked: “Are you back in the country? Did you go to your grandmother’s house for the New Year?”

Luo Hang said: “No, I went to Yunfan’s house for the New Year.”

Luo Tingyun asked sternly: “Going to someone else’s house—won’t you be bothering them?”

Luo Hang said: “Yunfan is spending the holiday with his brother; they don’t have many relatives.”

Hearing Luo Hang’s conversation with his father, Xie Yunfan walked over and greeted him with a smile: “Hello, Chairman Luo, Happy New Year.”

Xie Yunfan had never met Luo Tingyun, the Chairman of Qihang Group, before. He wasn’t nervous, however, and politely offered his well-wishes. After all, Yangfan and Qihang were now partners, and since the man was Luo Hang’s father and the Chairman of Qihang, it was only appropriate to greet him during the holiday.

Luo Tingyun’s expression softened slightly, and he replied courteously: “Happy New Year to you too. Luo Hang running off to your place for the New Year must be a bother to you.”

Xie Yunfan said: “It’s fine. We are partners and also very good friends. Let Luo Hang stay at my place these few days; I’ll take good care of him, Chairman Luo, so please rest assured.”

Luo Tingyun nodded: “Mm. You are both busy with work; take a good rest during the holiday.”

Luo Hang said: “Okay, Dad, goodbye.”

After hanging up, Luo Hang looked at Xie Yunfan with a smile: “You just said, ‘Let me stay at your place during the holiday’?”

Luo Hang had bought a house in Rongcheng near the tech park. When he built the Qihang Southern Center in Rongcheng, he had been prepared for long-term work there. He originally planned to bum the New Year’s Eve dinner and then head back to his own place the next day. He hadn’t expected Yunfan to ask him to keep staying?

Xie Yunfan said: “If you go back alone, you’ll definitely just order takeout, and your schedule will be a mess again. It’s better to stay at my place and eat with us; adding an extra pair of chopsticks is easy.”

He paused, looking at Luo Hang: “The point is, I want to supervise you in adjusting your sleep schedule.”

Luo Hang touched his nose with a chuckle: “…Supervise me?”

Xie Yunfan nodded: “Yes. I’m quite experienced in adjusting sleep schedules. We’ll get your biological clock completely reset during this time. You’re not even 30 yet; if you stay up late often for a long time, your body will break down.”

Luo Hang thought for a moment and nodded: “Alright.”

He hadn’t cared about his schedule before, and staying up late to work was common. This time, after traveling abroad and fighting jet lag, staying up several nights in a row had really left his body feeling unable to cope. Yunfan was right—they were still young and had many games to make; they still needed to witness the arrival of the era of true holographic gaming together. Your body is your greatest asset.

That night, the three of them watched the New Year in until midnight. Xie Xinghe set off some fireworks in the yard with a sense of ritual, and only then did they go to sleep.

Before bed, Xie Yunfan reminded Luo Hang: “No matter what time you fall asleep tonight, I will come to wake you up at seven tomorrow morning.”

It seemed his “supervision” was for real. Luo Hang smiled helplessly: “Alright.”

Luo Hang’s biological clock had been chaotic lately, and sure enough, he suffered from insomnia until the early morning. The next day at 7:00 AM, while he was still in the middle of a dream, he was suddenly woken up by Xie Yunfan. Luo Hang was shrouded in low pressure. If anyone else dared to wake him up like this, he would certainly have lost his temper. But facing Xie Yunfan’s smiling face… forget it, Yunfan was helping him adjust his sleep schedule.

Luo Hang suppressed his “morning grumpiness” and turned to eat breakfast. At noon, Xie Yunfan arranged an hour-long nap for Luo Hang. At night before bed, he even took Luo Hang to exercise, saying that consuming some physical energy would make it easier to fall asleep while fatigued.

There was a gym and standard equipment in the villa’s basement. As Luo Hang lifted a barbell in the gym, he said helplessly: “Yunfan, do I look like your student right now?”

Xie Yunfan laughed: “Students have to be obedient. Go take a shower and sleep obediently at 11:30 tonight.”

Luo Hang: “Alright.”

After working out and resting for a while, they watched some news. Luo Hang returned to his room punctually at 11:30. Xie Yunfan even wanted to watch him fall asleep and wouldn’t let him play on his phone. Luo Hang suddenly had the illusion of returning to his student days, being managed by his parents. But he didn’t feel any resentment toward Yunfan for managing him like this. If he didn’t care about him, hoping he’d be healthy—they were both adults, who would bother meddling in someone else’s life?

Whatever Xie Yunfan decided, he would see it through to the end. For the next few days, he became Luo Hang’s “human alarm clock.” Calling Luo Hang to wake up on time every day, urging him to sleep on time every day.

After being supervised by him for a few days, Luo Hang actually managed to adjust his schedule. He went to bed at 11:30 PM on the dot and fell asleep before 12:00. He woke up automatically at 7:00 AM; a biological clock was gradually forming. Luo Hang discovered that with a normal schedule, his state for the entire day was actually much more energetic than before. Keeping his nap time to half an hour for a light snooze left him feeling fully recharged for the afternoon.

The short Spring Festival holiday quickly passed. Xie Yunfan was very satisfied with the results of his supervision and advised Luo Hang: “You have to keep this up in the future. Don’t stay up late working overtime; we can slow our pace down a little.”

Luo Hang said: “Okay, I’ll listen to you.”

Having gotten used to being urged to sleep by Xie Yunfan these past few days, and with Xie Yunfan being the first person he saw every time he opened his eyes in the morning, Luo Hang felt a sudden reluctance as he was about to return to the company. This feeling of being “cared for and looked after” was addictive.

On February 19th, both Yangfan Studio and Qihang Group ended their Spring Festival holidays. On this day, Xie Yunfan and Luo Hang went to the tech park together to work. Before getting out of the car, Luo Hang suddenly turned back to look at Xie Yunfan and said: “If there’s no one to urge me to sleep in the future, what if I can’t fall asleep again?”

Xie Yunfan looked at him in surprise: “Didn’t you adjust your schedule?”

Luo Hang touched his nose: “What if it gets messed up again?”

Xie Yunfan said: “I have an idea—make a smart AI robot and have it urge you to sleep every day.”

Luo Hang sought his opinion: “Can I use your voice model?”

Xie Yunfan considered it for a moment and nodded: “Sure. For our games, we will also release these kinds of peripheral robot dolls in the future. We can use my voice as a sample first and make one; why don’t you try it out? It might actually help with sleep.”

Luo Hang smiled slightly: “Okay.”

Collecting Yunfan’s voiceprint to make a smart AI doll and putting it by the bedside to urge him to sleep every day—of course, this was an “internal test version” peripheral exclusive to him, not for public sale. Luo Hang made up his mind to have the Technical Department try it out as soon as they got back.