Li Yunhui’s persuasion was successful.

His pie-in-the-sky promises were big and round, successfully capturing his brother’s attention.

Although his brother still held some doubts, he ultimately nodded hesitantly.

With that one nod, Li Yunhui’s room for maneuvering immediately opened up.

Every morning, he had a reason to follow his brother into his room after breakfast.

Starting with an enthusiastic “I’ve thought of a great idea!”, he would throw out the small inspirations he had gained from the news, videos, or life the night before, kicking off an excellent project-related conversation topic.

When the topic was unrelated to extreme sports and that day’s events, and he could keep the conversation heated, he could win back his brother’s attention, and he could once again have his brother’s smile.

Every noon, he also had a reason to enter his brother’s room after his nap. While the doctor was treating his brother’s ankle, he would pull his brother into a discussion about the project.

—What type of game should they make? How large of a team would they need to hire? Were there any perfectly suited planners on the market they could poach?

There were many questions, all of which Li Shuyun had never encountered before.

Li Yunhui could then take this opportunity to fully display the teamwork and social skills he had honed from his time as student council president, and in return, receive his brother’s sparkling, adoring gaze.

Every evening, after dinner, he would pull out the wheelchair and take his brother outside to enjoy the breeze and the moonlight, and incidentally discuss the story background and content of the game project.

His brother said he hoped to simulate an air force parachute jump in the game, simulate an army car race, simulate a navy’s underwater survival after their warship was sunk, and simulate the experience of falling off a cliff after being cornered by enemy forces in a war.

Li Yunhui thought his brother’s ideas were so damn good! They were exactly to his liking, deeply resonating with him.

Hearing them made him want to continue perfecting the ideas with his brother—after all, he didn’t need to consider the budget, and implementation was a problem for the professional team they would hire in the future to consider.

He just needed to reach an agreement with his brother, try his best to make his brother a little more addicted, a little more forgetful of his old love, and let this endlessly researchable, massive project capture his brother’s attention, washing away the “extreme sports” that shouldn’t exist in his brother’s mind.

Everything was so perfect.

It didn’t take more than a few days for Li Yunhui to fully realize the functional perfection of this project.

Of course.

He was there every step of the way, guiding his brother.

After all, he couldn’t let his brother’s attention shift without also shifting his own, which was supposed to be the most important.

So, while the VR project occupied his brother’s mind and time, it also kept Li Yunhui incredibly busy.

Friend A: “Brother Li, the Capital City Racing Championship is about to start. Let’s go together?”

Friend B: “Ah Hui, there’s been no fun lately! When are we going to have a party and all have a good time? How about this weekend? XX is also coming back from abroad!”

Friend C: “Yunhui, about that investment inspection we agreed on…”

Li Yunhui: “…So busy! No time! Next time for sure!”

What a joke.

Massive amounts of reference books were still piled up in his room.

This knowledge was as vast as the sea, but it was essential to support his image as the “all-knowing,” “great older brother” in front of his brother.

These people who didn’t have a younger brother to raise, a younger brother to guide, would never know how many hours of secret preparation were hidden behind every easy answer to his brother’s casual questions!

When a person gets busy, time seems to fly by.

Time quietly slipped into July, and his brother’s ankle recovered without him even noticing.

Li Yunhui was very satisfied to see that in the week after his brother’s ankle recovered, he hadn’t once suggested going out to do extreme sports with him.

He would only occasionally accept an invitation from a “friend” and go out for half a day.

But more often, his brother would stay at home, amidst a pile of materials and books, rummaging through them in search of that one spark of inspiration they could use.

At times like these, Li Yunhui liked to watch his brother from the side.

When his brother, after burying his head in thought, came up with a good plan, his eyes would light up, shining like stars before him. He would run over with a joyful smile and call out, “Brother, brother, I have a great idea!”

—His brother was back.

He would think this countless times.

Of course, this also made Li Yunhui more demanding of himself.

His brother was a smart person who read very quickly, so fast that it even startled him. So, in order to maintain a sufficient knowledge advantage in front of his brother, he always had to secretly work overtime at night, taking shortcuts to stay ahead.

So much so that during this period, when the underlings he had hired to investigate the case came to him for help because their progress was stuck, Li Yunhui decisively chose to postpone this matter, which he had only started because he was bored, to the future.

He solemnly said to his underling, “I’ll definitely get to it after I’m done with this period. Right now? My brother is summoning me. Talk to you later!”

He hung up the phone and turned to welcome his brother into the room.

Li Shuyun had come to him with his laptop. As soon as he entered the room, he said very seriously, “Brother, I think the war scenes they came up with are too fake. What I saw when I was with Dad was clearly not like this!”

Li Yunhui: “?”

Li Yunhui glanced at the many annotations Li Shuyun had made on the initial draft submitted by their newly recruited production team and said, “They’ve never seen a real battlefield, after all… but that’s fine. Since you’ve seen it, just change it for them, right?”

But he saw his brother shake his head vigorously in frustration.

Li Shuyun: “I wasn’t with Dad for very long. I’ve seen war, but only a few glimpses… That’s not enough, brother.”

Li Yunhui looked at his brother’s troubled but not confused expression and asked, “Then what do you want to do?”

His brother smiled embarrassedly and said softly, “I… I want to take advantage of the time before school starts in September to go stay with Dad for a while, see it with my own eyes, and then come back to continue working on it. The game made this way will definitely be more realistic, right? …Huh? Brother, what’s wrong with you?”

Li Yunhui didn’t know how terrible his face must have looked at that moment.

The words slipped out of his mouth: “No way, don’t even think about it!”

Li Shuyun was stunned, staring blankly at his brother.

Li Yunhui held his forehead, feeling his vision go a little dark.

Li Yunhui took a deep breath, trying his best to keep his tone calm. “…War-torn areas are dangerous. You never know when you might run into a street fight. If you really want to explore the reality of war, just asking Li Zhengshen or Uncle Zhao and the others is enough. Don’t go taking risks yourself!”

His brother seemed completely unaware of the danger of this matter.

He said, troubled, “But brother, I haven’t seen Dad in a long time either. I also want to take this opportunity to see him.”

He paused, then said hopefully, “If Dad agrees, and I have Dad to protect me when I’m there, it shouldn’t be dangerous, right?”

Li Yunhui: “…”

Li Yunhui’s gaze hardened. “You asked Li Zhengshen?”

Li Shuyun said embarrassedly, “Yes. Just before asking you, brother, I also sent Dad a message.”

As soon as he finished speaking, a cheerful ringtone sounded from Li Shuyun’s phone.

Li Yunhui looked down and saw on Li Shuyun’s phone a video invitation from a somewhat unfamiliar profile picture.

Li Shuyun was pleasantly surprised. “It’s a video from Dad!”

For a moment, Li Yunhui felt as if he were in another world.

…When was the last time he had a direct verbal conversation with Li Zhengshen?

And when was the last time he had seen Li Zhengshen (even if only online)?

Last year? The year before? It couldn’t have been the year before that!

Countless unpleasant memories flooded his mind. Li Yunhui abruptly stood up from his chair, the chair scraping harshly against the floor.

He pursed his lips tightly and said, “Then you go ask Li Zhengshen. I still have some things to do…”

The ringtone stopped abruptly.

His brother’s finger was already on the phone screen.

He looked back at Li Yunhui in confusion and asked, “Hmm? Brother, do you have something you need to take care of first? Then, how about saying hello to Dad first?”

His brother’s gaze was pure, his smile natural. He seemed to have no other thoughts when he said this. As soon as he finished speaking, Li Shuyun turned the phone’s angle.

Caught off guard, Li Yunhui came face to face with the seventy-percent unfamiliar man on the phone.

Li Yunhui: …

Li Zhengshen: …

Their eyes met, and the atmosphere was strangely quiet for three seconds.

In the end, it was Li Shuyun who spoke in a gentle voice, calling out, “Dad, long time no see. I was just discussing the project with my brother.”

The middle-aged man in the video was sitting on a genuine leather sofa.

His legs were crossed, one arm casually resting on the armrest. A fresh bandage was wrapped around his neck, but the bandage did nothing to diminish his aura. The faint red seeping through it, set against his calm face, actually made him seem very dangerous.

The middle-aged man’s tone was steady as he responded, “Mm.”

Then his gaze shifted, falling on Li Yunhui, and he asked in a calm tone, “Afraid to see me?”

Lin Chen: “…”

Li Yunhui: “…”

The familiar, detestable tone fell upon his ears.

Li Yunhui abruptly closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He repeated in his mind: my brother is here, I have to set a good example for my brother, don’t fight, don’t fight, don’t fight…

Li Shuyun’s voice softened. “Dad, why are you suddenly being harsh to my brother?”

Li Zhengshen’s gaze returned to him, his tone unchanged.

Li Zhengshen: “I haven’t scolded him, nor have I hit him. That’s called being harsh?”

However, Li Zhengshen’s words didn’t seem to expect an answer.

As soon as he finished speaking, with almost no pause, he went straight to the point, asking Li Shuyun, “What did you want to see me about? Just say it.”

The system was silent, suspicious. “Has Boss One really read the script you gave him?”

Lin Chen replied calmly, “He probably just remembered the line ‘act naturally’.”

Lin Chen secretly observed and lamented to the system, “But look. This is truly someone who deals in dangerous business. His facial expression management doesn’t relax for a single moment.”

Li Shuyun nervously pinched the corner of his clothes and expressed his desire to go abroad and stay with him for a while.

But before he could finish, having only just revealed some of his thoughts.

Li Zhengshen spoke calmly, interrupting, “No.”

Li Zhengshen left no room for negotiation, saying bluntly, “Just work on the project properly in the country. If you need money or people, tell me. Is there anything else?”

Li Shuyun was at a loss, subconsciously looking to his brother for help. “Brother…”

From the moment the video call connected, Li Yunhui’s feet had been nailed to the ground.

The seventy-percent unfamiliar face, with its high-and-mighty, commanding tone that he particularly detested, had appeared before him once again.