TGDS Chapter 83.1

The Good Dad System (Arc 11) Chapter 83.1: A Patriarchal Family (19)

Time always slips away unnoticed. In the blink of an eye, many of the people around us have changed. A decade or so has passed, and we’ve entered the 20th century. S City, originally a mix of old and new, has been completely transformed. Over the past ten years, the city has been repeatedly dismantled and reorganized, becoming full of technology and a futuristic feel. Due to the economic prosperity, the streets are filled with hurried, silent pedestrians who strive to live here, hoping to one day accumulate enough wealth to settle down and make a living in this city.

In the center of the southern district of S City, there stands a landmark high-rise building, built as an office building. It has 65 floors, all rented out to various companies. Every night, it is brightly lit, and the entire building is packed with people. Of course, due to its advantageous location, the rent is quite high, and companies with insufficient funds generally do not choose to work there.

The neat office area was divided by blue partitions, each workstation containing a computer. This was a well-known mobile game development studio in China. In recent years, the studio had released several games that were widely known and generated high profits. Only the best of the best among recent graduates could receive an offer from the company; it was a gathering of elites and highly skilled individuals.

“Xiaoping, Xiaoping, take a look at this software.” Lin Xiaozhen, from the copywriting team, had just finished her project and was starting her usual slacking off, which was allowed by the company. She quickly recommended it to her friend Pei Xiaoping, who had joined the company at the same time. “It’s a software for testing the auspiciousness of names. It can also analyze the goodness or badness of names. It’s much more useful than looking at horoscopes.” Since her breakup, she had become a professional superstitious person, always checking horoscopes or calculating birth charts. She had even dabbled in tarot before, and now she had come full circle to traditional character analysis and name reading.

Pei Xiaoping had just finished writing a section of the story. She leaned back in her chair, looking helplessly at her friend: “These things are all set up by backend algorithms, how can they be accurate?”

“How can you say that?” Lin Xiaozhen immediately retorted. She cleared her throat and began reading the explanation, “Look at my name. ‘Xiao’ means dawn, like the rising sun, full of vitality. ‘Zhen’ represents treasure…” She muttered to herself, completely unaware that this information could be found in a dictionary. “I used to always ask my parents how they chose my name, and they said they made me look it up in a book. Honestly, it’s nothing like other people’s names, which are often excerpts from ancient poems, so meaningful… You don’t know either, do you? Why don’t you look it up?”

“No need, I know.” Pei Xiaoping refused. She was a young person raised under socialism, and although she still participated in religious ceremonies during festivals, it didn’t mean she believed in these things. “My dad told me the meaning of my name.”

“What?” Lin Xiaozhen was extremely curious. She had assumed that Xiaoping, like her, had chosen her name randomly. After all, she had encountered countless names containing the character “Ping” throughout her life.

Pei Xiaoping smiled as she recalled the past— her younger brother had always loved asking questions. When she was in the second year of junior high school, he was only in the third grade. At that time, she didn’t know if he had learned some text or if some classmates at school had talked about it, but he came home and asked his father what the meaning of his and his sister’s names was. Pei Xiaoping couldn’t help but look over curiously. Perhaps every girl has a dream about having a nice-sounding name?

Back then, “non-mainstream” and “Martian language” were quite popular, and novels were full of Mary Sue stories. Many of my female classmates secretly wrote down new names for themselves in their notebooks, like Meng (Dream), Die (Butterfly), Yu (Feather), Lei (Tears)… and so on. They paired these with surnames commonly used by female protagonists in novels, such as Ouyang and Shangguan, or single-character surnames like Gu and Su… She was tempted to join in several times, after all, Xiaoping’s name was rather ordinary and didn’t have any special meaning. So, under the guise of a pen name, she circled several names for herself, like Ouyang Piaopiao and Su Dieyu. Now, she just wanted to erase those memories.

Then her father grabbed her younger brother and smiled slyly: “Guess what your name means?”

“I don’t know!” Pei Zihao stopped, taking it for granted. He was only in third grade, why should he know the meaning of his name? The character “Hao” was super difficult to write. He had wanted to argue with his father many times, why couldn’t he be called Pei Zi? If they had children in the future, he would definitely name them Yi Yi!

“The name is simple; it just means my son is a hero,” Pei Naochun immediately gave, clearly just joking and giving a literal translation.

“Is it that amazing?” Pei Zihao, however, believed him completely, his eyes sparkling. He ran to the sofa to sit with his father, shaking him. “Will I be a great hero someday?” Lately, besides Ultraman Tiga, which was frequently on TV, he was obsessed with war dramas, always completely engrossed, wishing he could jump into the TV and fight alongside them.

“That depends on your performance,” Pei Naochun said helplessly, his head spinning from being shaken. This kid was always clueless at crucial moments.

“What about my sister!” Pei Zihao hadn’t forgotten his beloved sister. After asking himself, he immediately raised his hand, asking about his sister as well.

“Your sister…” Pei Naochun smiled as he looked at his daughter. He had thought about it many times, and had mentioned it to his wife and mother once. At least for the rest of his life, he didn’t want his daughter to feel like a rootless duckweed, nor did he want her to be saddened by the name he had chosen without much thought.

“Xiaoping, are you still keeping me in suspense?” Lin Xiaozhen was a little annoyed.

“No, I was just daydreaming.” Pei Xiaoping repeated what her father had told her back then, “Xiao means to know, hoping I can see and understand more about this world. Ping means the fruit of the duckweed, which used to represent auspicious fruit…” After that, she was happy every time she wrote her name. Isn’t that wonderful?

“Wonderful.” Lin Xiaozhen was extremely envious. She reaffirmed her belief that her name meant precious! “That’s right, that’s it.” “By the way, Xiaoping, is your brother going to pursue a master’s degree?”

She and Pei Xiaoping were classmates in graduate school, and she knew that she had a younger brother who was quite a figure in university, studying civil engineering. Because of his handsome looks and good fashion sense, many girls pursued him from the moment he entered the university. However, his straightforward, almost masculine, thinking style left many disappointed and choosing to give up.

“Yes, he should.” She nodded. Her brother was always someone she could confide in, sharing all his worries with her, including his anxieties and plans regarding his future studies.

Lin Xiaozhen hesitated for a moment, then lowered her voice: “Then who will pay for your brother’s graduate school tuition?” The Pei siblings, though dressed carefully, opted for a simple style, looking no different from ordinary college students. She had heard that many of her graduate school classmates had their tuition covered by their older siblings. Her friend had just graduated and didn’t have a high income, so she couldn’t help but worry about her friend. This concern stemmed from a friend’s heart; otherwise, who would want to offend someone so easily?

“The family will arrange it,”

Lin Xiaozhen breathed a sigh of relief. “But you also need to think about yourself.” She spoke earnestly, “Save some money, buy a car, make a down payment on a house, so you can be self-sufficient if you get married.” She was an only child, but she often read news online and was afraid her best friend would become a brother-obsessed child.

“Okay.” Pei Xiaoping knew her friend was concerned, but she just smiled and pinched her cheek. Her brother wouldn’t spend her money; he was always worried she didn’t have enough. Besides, if her brother dared to ask for money and their parents found out, he would definitely get a good scolding.

“I’m not talking to you anymore, I’m going back now. I’ve been slacking off for too long and I’m losing my touch.” Lin Xiaozhen didn’t linger and went straight back to her workstation, leaving Pei Xiaoping to continue working.

She was like a sponge, absorbing the knowledge around her with all her might, waiting for the day when she had learned enough to return to her family company and run the animation brand that her family had been running.

Yes, in fact, Pei Naochun’s doll products business has already expanded its reach quite far.

Centered on the early boutique, the company later expanded to include factories producing dolls, stationery, and accessories, undertaking wholesale and production tasks. After accumulating its first batch of wealth, Pei Naochun began investing in the animation industry. The animations he produced were very popular and aired on many cartoon channels. Now, a new animated feature film is released every year, generating considerable revenue.

The various characters created around the animation business have been used to support the doll products, becoming the logo with original copyrights. With the rise of e-commerce, Pei Naochun did not withdraw. Despite opposition, he led the entire company into the e-commerce industry. Several stores are thriving. Starting this year, the doll products boutique has launched a sub-line with a simple and affordable style, and there are already corresponding stores in many cities.

Many people who have studied the industry call doll products a prime example of making a fortune quietly. After all, no one would imagine how much profit is hidden in a small doll or jewelry shop. Tang Zhaodi has been on television several times because of her factory management and is now a well-known female entrepreneur. Wu Guizhi, on the other hand, is now only responsible for inspecting the shops due to her age. She spends more of her time developing her colorful extracurricular life. Just last year, she even performed the guzheng at the community’s Mid-Autumn Festival party.

Even as the family company grew bigger and bigger, the Pei family never interfered with their children’s future choices. Instead, they supported them in pursuing their dreams. Pei Xiaoping found a balance between her dreams and family. She liked writing and creating, so she decided to intern at a game company first. Later, she could go back and help the family’s animation company design storylines and develop games based on the animation IP. Pei Zihao, on the other hand, was different from his sister. He chose civil engineering, which he loved, and had no intention of going back to the company. He never came back until he hit a wall, and now he often complains about his miserable experience of “working as a laborer” on social media.

Pei Xiaoping didn’t have much work on her hands. After all, it was close to the Spring Festival, and even big bosses wouldn’t dare to push too many tasks onto their employees, otherwise they’d be torn apart by their angry staff. She calmly finished everything, and it was time to leave work. She took the subway home. Given S City’s traffic, taking the subway wasn’t slower than taking a car, just a little more crowded. Weaving through the crowd, she arrived home in no time. As soon as she opened the door, she heard the crackling sound of something frying inside.

“Sis, you’re back?” A head quickly popped out from the kitchen. It was Pei Zihao, holding a bowl almost as big as his face, eating freshly fried food. It was so hot that he was grimacing and making exaggerated faces.

“Yeah, I’m back.” Pei Xiaoping couldn’t stop laughing as she changed her shoes, almost bending over with laughter.

“Sis, what are you doing? I’m warning you, don’t make fun of me!” Pei Zihao was very wary, glaring at his older sister.

“No, I wasn’t laughing at you.” Pei Xiaoping said this insincerely. In fact, she was laughing at her younger brother. Pei Zihao’s internship was at a nearby construction site. He was hardworking and willing to work, accompanying the workers rain or shine. And so, he went from being a plump little bun to a skinny, charred black mess. Now, the way he was eating with such gusto, he looked like he had just come back from mining coal. Compared to her younger brother before, secretly spraying mousse and styling gel on his hair at home, she found it funny.