Chapter 165: Arranging a Health Checkup
“Head to the company once you’re out of the game. I told HR you took a day off. Come to my office when you get here.”
Bai Cha glanced at the time, discovering that a full day had passed.
In her previous game runs, waking up always placed her at the next morning, as if everything had merely been a dream.
This time, a whole day had been skipped.
Bai Cha looked thoughtful.
For some reason, she felt this was because she had found a job, switched to a new environment, and integrated into a new group.
As a newcomer, taking leave right after joining the company was naturally bad form.
However, since Shen Qingchen was the one who had cleared her leave, nobody raised any objections—they simply wondered… How did a fresh recruit get close to the boss so quickly?
Fortunately, the department Bai Cha belonged to didn’t harbor much office politics.
Only a few individuals were prone to behind-the-back gossip.
That “few” referred specifically to the team leader of the adjacent team.
A guy, muttering under his breath about whether Bai Cha was a backdoor hire, and how women in this line of work probably wouldn’t last long, among other things.
Bai Cha overheard it, but paid him no mind.
This company wasn’t particularly large, and the overall atmosphere was fairly harmonious—after all, it had a female executive in charge.
It was already vastly better than what her two roommates were complaining about in their group chat.
Bai Cha and Xiao Xiao exchanged the names of their respective cities, realizing they lived quite far apart.
Xiao Xiao was part minority, residing in a southwestern city where she worked as a tour guide in reality.
When Bai Cha mentioned that she had just started working, Xiao Xiao immediately advised her to focus on stabilizing her job first.
Xiao Xiao said she would see if she could squeeze out some time to travel over; if not, they could simply meet online or inside the Game Town as well.
Though framed as an offline meetup, it was actually just a signal of goodwill extended by Bai Cha.
After all… there was still Xu Shengsheng to consider!
If she could survive in the game for a long time, that would naturally pose no problem, but Xu Ming-wang stood as a glaring warning sign.
Was her method of destroying instances truly free from being targeted by the game?
If she were to die one day, having made a few acquaintances and friends inside the game would at least allow them to look after Xu Shengsheng a bit.
She disliked socializing, yet she had to admit that as long as she still cared about someone, she was bound to be incapable of keeping entirely to herself.
Bai Cha arrived at Shen Qingchen’s office.
Shen Qingchen wore a black suit jacket draped over her shoulders, with a burgundy fishtail dress underneath.
“Come over and fill out this form.”
Bai Cha caught a clear view of the screen on her computer and froze briefly.
“A health checkup form?”
“Yup. Didn’t HR tell you when you came for the interview? The company provides free health checkups. Plus, if you perform well, your salary can be bumped up to eight thousand in half a year. Work hard.”
Shen Qingchen looked at her with a beaming smile.
Bai Cha hesitated. “I thought health checkups were only done after passing probation.”
“Yeah, usually. Isn’t this just my excuse to take you out for a spin?”
Shen Qingchen raised a subtle eyebrow at her.
“A health checkup takes a whole day, you know. We can chat during the breaks in between—otherwise, do you actually have any other spare time?”
Bai Cha entered games at a very high frequency, and Shen Qingchen would also be entering games frequently moving forward. Balancing work under such conditions naturally left zero free time.
Since the checkup was free anyway, Bai Cha quickly filled out the form.
“Alright, scheduled for 9:00 AM tomorrow. Where are you staying right now? At school?”
“Mhm. I haven’t found a place to rent yet; I’ll look around these couple of days.”
“Sure. I’ll pick you up tomorrow morning. Once you find a rental later on, if I’m around, I can drive over and help you move your stuff.”
Just as Bai Cha was about to decline, Shen Qingchen had already waved her hand, dismissing her to get back to work.
She couldn’t bring herself to refuse any further.
Bai Cha stepped out of the office, stopping herself from speaking.
Seeing her return, the team leader from the adjacent team slithered over.
“What did Sister Shen tell you? What’s your relationship with Sister Shen?”
Bai Cha cast a glance at him and offered a distant smile.
“I have work to do.”
Finding no traction, the guy let out a tsk and returned to his own workstation.
Because of the health checkup, Bai Cha skipped breakfast in the morning.
Shen Qingchen was already waiting outside her school gates early in the morning. Even though Bai Cha had stepped out exceptionally early—as she always reserved an extra half hour to prevent any unforeseen delays before reaching her destination—she still found her waiting.
Even if it was just stepping out of the campus gates.
“Sister Shen…”
“Alright, get in the car. You have no idea—the kid was crying this morning and woke me up. I dumped the child onto my husband and sprinted straight out.”
Shen Qingchen indeed wasn’t as exquisitely dressed as usual today, running a hand through her hair with a hint of exasperation.
“Kids are so hard to raise!”
Bai Cha hesitated. “You’re really married with a child?”
“Why would I lie to you? You’ve been with the company for several days now—didn’t you ask around? The company owner is my husband!”
Bai Cha indeed hadn’t inquired about it; after all, asking around about such personal matters felt rather strange.
She genuinely hadn’t seen the boss either.
“I’m just still feeling a bit surprised, that’s all.”
Given Shen Qingchen’s standing inside the game alone, the fact that she would still choose to give birth to a child in reality came as quite a surprise to her.
Shen Qingchen let out a soft laugh.
“Right? Truth be told, I never thought I’d have a child either. The two of us had firmly decided not to have children—I am destined to die, and he is destined to forget me.”
Shen Qingchen’s tone was calm, even lighthearted.
“But life is full of surprises, isn’t it…? Do you know the origin of my name?”
Bai Cha naturally didn’t, so Shen Qingchen continued speaking.
“My birth name was Shen Zhao-di.”
Bai Cha froze, looking at her with genuine surprise this time.
The aura and competence Shen Qingchen displayed today, along with her confidence and bold spirit, were truly difficult to associate with a name like “Shen Zhao-di.”
Because the shackles represented by those two characters were by no means something an ordinary person could break through.
“I didn’t like that name, so I later decided to change it. Human life in this world is like light dust resting on frail grass; why suffer so bitterly? I quite liked that line back then, so I renamed myself Shen Qingchen.”
“I also had a younger sister named Dai-di, but she died long ago—she passed away when my younger brother was born.”
“I had a dream about her when I was pregnant. Although getting gender checks wasn’t allowed, I still insisted on pulling strings to get one done anyway. Sure enough, it was a girl.”
And so, she gave birth to the child.
Bai Cha fell somewhat silent.
“Do you think I’m being irresponsible? I will disappear one day, after all.” Shen Qingchen turned to look at Bai Cha.
“I don’t know, but if it were me, I probably wouldn’t have given birth.”
She indeed felt it was somewhat irresponsible.
After all, giving birth and raising a child were two completely different matters.
Shen Qingchen broke into a laugh.
“If the father is responsible enough, things won’t turn out that bad. My husband is a very gentle person.”
When she brought up her husband, a gentle warmth flickered deep within her eyes—a topic that rendered Bai Cha even quieter.
“I’ve always believed that gentle people are the most formidable. No matter what situation they encounter, they can always resolve it calmly, at a steady and measured pace. He knows how to take care of himself, and he knows how to respect and love me. He will be an exceptional father.”
“Even if a day comes when I am no longer around, I believe he will be able to fulfill the duties he ought to fulfill, without letting the child suffer too much harm.”
“Just like right now—I am responsible for giving birth, and he is responsible for raising. He stays at home taking care of the child while I come out to work, and down the road, he will still be the one raising the child. It’s no different.”
Even though regret and guilt would still linger.
Bai Cha nodded.
“That’s nice.” After a moment’s thought, she added, “It’s quite rare.”
“Yeah… Which is why I always feel time passes too quickly… I’ve reached the point where I have no choice but to face my final moments.”
Shen Qingchen let out a sigh, a trace of exhaustion flashing through her eyes.
“Have you heard the claim that after reaching S9, one can completely clear the game?”
