OFR – Chapter 148 Anxious waiting.

Mu Bai looked at the message from Xu Jinhuan, replied with a confirmation, then hailed a taxi and headed toward her home.

In Nanjing, Mu Bai didn’t particularly like driving around.

He found the city’s transportation to be quite convenient, and taking a taxi was often easier than driving—especially since he didn’t have to worry about finding a parking spot.

After all, in a second-tier city like Nanjing, many bustling streets and prime locations made parking a real challenge.

Now seated in the taxi, Mu Bai gave the driver the address and then continued chatting with Xu Jinhuan on QQ.

…

Time quickly passed, and soon it was 12:30 PM.

In a modest apartment next to the Nantong branch of a courier company, a beautiful and gentle Xu Jinhuan sat on the sofa, her large eyes fixed on the screen of her phone.

She was around thirty years old, an age where, in theory, a woman’s prime beauty had already begun to fade.

However, rather than diminishing her charm, time had only enhanced her allure.

She was like a perfectly ripened peach, exuding an irresistible and mature elegance.

At this moment, Xu Jinhuan sat on the sofa, feeling a little anxious.

Because the young man, Xiao Mu, who had discussed investing in her game yesterday, was finally coming over.

If he really invested over a million yuan, then the game studio she had built from scratch might finally have a chance to turn things around.

Yes, she desperately needed that one million yuan!

Xu Jinhuan’s studio, Past Memories Game Studio, wasn’t very large—just a team of a dozen people.

It had been profitable at first, but in the past six months, the studio had invested heavily in developing several games, all of which failed miserably.

Even the best-rated game among them hadn’t earned enough revenue to cover its costs.

This streak of failures had thrown the studio into a severe financial crisis.

They were even behind on the rent for their office space for the second half of the year.

Fortunately, her employees—who had been with her since the beginning—were loyal and reliable.

Even in this tough time, none of them had chosen to leave. Instead, they continued working hard on game development.

This loyalty moved Xu Jinhuan deeply.

Now, after nearly six months of effort—during which even she personally took part in game design—her team had finally created a political strategy game called “Power and Prestige.”

Everyone in the studio, including Xu Jinhuan herself, had placed great hope in this game.

They believed it was their last chance to turn losses into profits.

However, Xu Jinhuan had been in the gaming industry long enough to understand one harsh reality: no matter how good a game is, it won’t succeed without proper marketing and distribution.

Without sufficient funding for early promotion and support from major game distribution platforms, even the best game could struggle to gain traction.

In the gaming industry, player traffic is the lifeline that determines a game’s fate.

That was exactly why Tencent, which controlled online traffic, could dominate the gaming market so effortlessly.

Now, as she waited anxiously for Xiao Mu’s arrival, she prayed he wouldn’t turn her hopes into disappointment.

She glanced at the clock in the living room and realized it was already lunchtime.

Wanting to leave a good impression on Xiao Mu, she stood up from the sofa and walked into the kitchen to start cooking.

She figured that if she could serve him a meal, discussing business over food might increase the chances of a successful investment.

As for meeting in a hotel or café?

Honestly, Xu Jinhuan would have preferred that too, but financial constraints made it impossible.

Her studio was already behind on rent—how could she afford to take a client out for an expensive meal?

Holding the meeting at home was her only option.

With that helpless thought, she focused on cooking.

Half an hour quickly passed.

By then, she had already prepared several side dishes and was just about to start on the main course when the doorbell suddenly rang.

“Ding-dong!”

The chime made Xu Jinhuan put down what she was doing.

She knew it must be Xiao Mu.

Her heart filled with a mix of excitement and nervousness as she quickly ran to open the door.

Sure enough, when she opened it, the young man who had visited once before was standing outside again.

As Xu Jinhuan looked at him, she noticed that he was still as handsome and refined as ever.

However, for some reason, her instincts as a woman told her—

This boy had undergone a dramatic transformation since the last time he was here.