When Tengda was started, Assistant Xin was also the one who took care of recruitment and finances. The administrative team only worked under her.
However, as the company expanded, Assistant Xin became unable to cope. She very smoothly split the administrative team into the human resources and finance departments.
The recruitment jobs and other tasks related to human resources were handed over to the human resources department, or the HR department for short.
"Call Little Hao over, then. I'll brief Little Hao about future recruitment drives."
"Alright." Assistant Xin nodded and left.
Pei Qian leaned back in his chair, falling into deep thought.
Now that he thought about it, he had belittled the HR department before. That might have been his mistake. He might have done this because of some prejudice that he had against that department.
Some people said that HR departments in big companies could be compared to espionage or royal guards of ancient times.
HR departments were often heavily involved in big company scandals, such as forcing a sick employee to retire, firing without giving compensation, and the like.
Although the boss would definitely have been the one who thought about forcing sick employees to retire, the HR department would have been the one who executed this thought. Naturally, they became scapegoats. At the same time, HR departments would pick on people's flaws and reduce the offering salary as much as possible during interviews. Ordinarily, they would also invite outsiders to run courses for employees and order professionals around. That was why Pei Qian found them extremely annoying. In his former life, Pei Qian was an ordinary employee. Of course, he felt disgusted at the thought of the HR department.
However, Pei Qian finally realized at that moment that he had been wrong.
At the end of the day, the HR department did the boss' dirty work.
Whether an HR department was good or bad did not depend solely on its staff's professional integrity. Instead, it depended more on the type of company and boss the HR department was working for.
Heartless companies could make use of their HR departments to reduce their employees' salaries. However, Boss Pei could also use his HR department to achieve his aim of shortlisting slackers!
If he could train his HR department well so that they could offer candidates higher salaries than they asked for and select candidates who did not enjoy working, wouldn't they be doing Boss Pei a huge favor?
Thus, Pei Qian decided to meet this Little Hao to impart Tengda's spirit to him or her and clarify Tengda's recruitment model.
After a few minutes, someone knocked on the door.
Hao Yun entered the office looking a little nervous.
She was a lady of average height and looks, who looked to be in her twenties. Her face was round, her eyes were large, and she looked like an ordinary employee in the company. She was also much younger than Pei Qian had imagined.
However, this was normal. After all, when Pei Qian hired his first batch of employees, he chose a bunch of newbies without any experience.
Thus, most people in the management level of Tengda were young.
Little Hao did not look as overbearing as Pei Qian expected HR staff to be. He had a pretty good first impression of her.
What's more, Little Hao did not seem to have much of a presence. Pei Qian tried very hard to recall who she was, but he could not recall when he had ever seen her in the office before. Obviously, she normally blended into the background.
"Boss Pei, are you looking for me?" Hao Yun asked timidly.
"Yes, take a seat. I have a very important task for you."
Hao Yun sat opposite Pei Qian, feeling slightly apprehensive.
All this time, she had been receiving instructions from Assistant Xin. Now, she was talking to an even more senior NPC. Naturally, she was finding it hard to adjust.
"The HR department is very important. I'm sure you know that. Tell me the main responsibilities of the HR department," said Pei Qian.
Hao Yun quickly nodded. "Yes, Boss Pei. The HR department is supposed to assess all applicants' potential based on their experience and merits. At the same time, we are supposed to ensure the working environment is relaxed and harmonious, and employees' passion for their work doesn't
die."
Hao Yun said all of these things in a single breath. She wanted to briefly describe the HR department's job scope, but since Boss Pei did not stop her, she continued until he did.
Pei Qian remained silent for a while and said, "That's exactly right!"
He wanted to be polite and play up the importance of the human resources department. However, he had no idea what to say. That was why he allowed Hao Yun to explain her job scope first.
Hao Yun ended up answering the question so well that Pei Qian felt bad stopping her.
"All in all, the HR department is extremely important. That's why I hope that your department would better understand Tengda's culture. It would help you to recruit new employees and manage current ones.
"At the moment, you're shortlisting candidates based on their resumes. How's that going? What do you think about it?"
Hao Yun perked up.
Coincidentally, this was among her responsibilities!
"We first read their resumes once through. Since we have received many resumes and we don't need to hire many people, we can afford to be a bit stricter with our shortlisting process.
"First, we shortlist applicants based on their educational background, the school they graduated from, their work experience, their project experience, and other similar factors. This would filter out over eighty percent of applicants.
"After that, we would invite the remaining applicants to be interviewed.
"There would be two rounds of interviews. The first round would be conducted by the department head, and the second round would be conducted by the HR department.
"Finally, we would discuss the starting salary with the shortlisted applicants and select those that can agree with the company on a suitable figure."
Hao Yun briefly explained the entire recruitment process.
As Pei Qian listened, his frown grew deeper. This was the process that ordinary HR departments would go through. However, Boss Pei would definitely not be satisfied with it!
Most applicants with weaker educational backgrounds, less work experience, or who graduated from lesser schools would be filtered out at the resume stage. Wouldn't that greatly reduce the chances of Tengda hiring slackers?!
If things went on like this, the company would be filled with hard workers. Wouldn't Boss Pei have difficulty eating and sleeping then?
This could not go on!
Pei Qian remained silent for a while and said, "The process sounds very good, but… I don't think it fits Tengda's recruiting standards."
Hao Yun looked slightly nervous. "Ah, is that so? Boss Pei, what do you think the process should look like?"
Hao Yun quickly took out a notebook and prepared to take down notes. Pei Qian was very satisfied with obedient employees like Hao Yun. He began to explain to her the employee-selection criteria that he thought about earlier.
"Tengda wants to hire unique talents!
"How can we belittle others just because they have weaker educational backgrounds, insufficient work experience, bad resumes, and graduated from lesser schools?
"We can't do that!
"We have to view everyone who submits their resumes equally. We have to give them a chance to compete fairly!
"That's why we have to stop shortlisting applicants based on their resumes. We will accept anyone who submits their resumes and seeks a job." As Hao Yun scribbled in her little notebook, she became filled with confusion. "Huh? But Boss Pei, that'll be too much work. We can't finish interviewing them all."
Pei Qian shook his head. "You don't have to interview every single one of them. We'll look for a suitable time and venue to host a closed-book, written examination for all of them.
"Then, we can invite the top-scoring candidates to be interviewed."
Hao Yun still looked confused. "That'll still require a lot of money. In order to host a large-scale examination like that, we would need to rent a venue, set the questions, hire invigilators and markers, and so on.
"As more people apply, we would have to spend more money. Given how passionate people currently are about applying to Tengda for a job, I'm afraid hosting a large-scale written examination like that would not be cheap…"
It would not be cheap?
That's perfect!
Pei Qian said solemnly, "This is necessary expenditure; we cannot save on it."
"Er, alright." Hao Yun nodded and quickly scribbled notes in her little notebook.
Once she was done, she scanned the contents of her little notebook and asked, "Will we ask the various department heads to set the questions and grade their respective sections?"
Pei Qian shook his head. "The various department heads will only be responsible for setting one part of the paper.
"The written examination will be split into two papers. The first paper would be a basic skills test. It would emphasize on applicants' basic skills, including their basic knowledge, judgment, reasoning, data analysis, exposition, and the like. The second paper would be a specialized knowledge test. The various department heads will set the questions in order to test applicants' relevant knowledge and skills for the job that they desire.
"At the end of the examination, we will rank them according to their overall grade.
"During the interview stage, we will mix up their sequence and allow the various department heads to conduct cross-interviews."
Hao Yun asked, "Huh? What do you mean by 'cross-interview'?"
Pei Qian explained, "The head of the games department would interview employees for Upwind Logistics. The head of Fish-Catching Take-Out would interview employees for Fish-Catching Internet Cafe… we will decide which department head would conduct interviews for which employees by ballot."
Once again, Hao Yun looked confused. "Boss Pei, would that work? After all, different professions are different worlds."
Pei Qian smiled. "That's easy to deal with.
"The interview questions and answers should be prepared beforehand. For instance, imagine that the head of Tengda Games would be interviewing employees for Upwind Logistics. Even if the former isn't familiar with the latter's business, he would be able to tell who performed well during the interview if he has the answer script in front of him."
Puzzled, Hao Yun asked, "What meaning would there be?"
Pei Qian was caught off-guard, but he recovered quickly. "The meaning… would be immense! For example, this could help prevent nepotism[1] and cliquism[2]!
"It can prevent corrupt hiring practices, which is rampant in other large companies!"
A realization dawned on Hao Yun as she nodded, noting all of these down. Pei Qian continued, "After interviewing all the applicants, calculate each applicant's overall score by adding the interview and written examination results together. The top scorers will pass this stage.
"However, there will be a third stage: the test of one's compatibility to the Tengda Spirit!
"I will come up with the questions for this stage. Everyone will sit for another examination, and the papers will be graded electronically.
"Only those who pass this test will be hired.
"Whoever fails this test can only join the company for a one-month internship. Although we will pay them appropriately, they would not be allowed to take on any key tasks during their time here. They must focus on learning and understanding the Tengda spirit.
"After their one-month internship, they can take the Tengda Spirit compatibility test again. If they fail, we would have to regretfully postpone their recruitment. We'll only allow three postponements before we would have to apologize, compensate them appropriately, and invite them to leave."
Hao Yun could not help but feel emotional as she furiously noted these things down.
Boss Pei was indeed Boss Pei. He had come up with so many stages for the recruitment process!
It sounded like a very rigorous process at that!
Although Hao Yun felt that there were more steps than necessary, she also knew that Boss Pei had his own reasons for doing so. Thus, she did not overthink the matter.
What's more, Boss Pei did seem to be making sense.
Pei Qian himself was satisfied.
If they stuck with the original recruitment process, Pei Qian could be sure that the human resources department—which Assistant Xin had personally nurturedwould do their jobs competently. What's more, every department head seemed to love stabbing Boss Pei in the back. The new employees they hired would surely be formidable, and Pei Qian would have a hard time fending against them.
Although Pei Qian could not completely prevent the above with this new process, he could at least minimize the negative repercussions!
First, they would not shortlist applicants based on resumes. Everyone would have a fair fighting chance. That would prevent uneducated, inexperienced people from being filtered out.
On top of that, only half of the written examination would focus on applicants' knowledge. The other half would test their basic skills, which would have nothing to do with their desired jobs. Once again, this would be of great help to those who were good at writing but bad at working. The department heads would also conduct cross-interviews. Outsiders would pick employees for each department, thereby minimizing the chances of them selecting outstanding talents.
cro
Last of all, Pei Qian could select slackers using the Tengda Spirit compatibility test. He would pay the hard workers and persuade them to leave. Not only would he be able to spend money, but he would also make sure only reliable people took the available roles.
It was perfect!
Of course, this process did not match Pei Qian's expectations perfectly.
However, he could not go overboard. He could not possibly write 'slackers' as his recruiting standard.
This was as much as the rules allowed. It was the best recruiting process that Pei Qian could ask for.
Soon, Hao Yun finished writing down everything. A few pages of her little notebook had been filled with her handwriting.
Pei Qian nodded, obviously pleased. He said, "The HR department's main task now is to coordinate with the other departments as soon as possible and get this process running.
"You should settle things like the venue and arrangement for the examinations, the number of roles available in each department, and so on.
"If you need money to settle these problems, just let me know. Don't be afraid of spending money!
"Take registration for example. If you think reading resumes would be too troublesome, spend some money to create a website specifically for recruitment. Registration, printing of admission tickets for the examination, and other steps can be fully automated.
"I'll emphasize this again: don't be afraid of spending money! "The talents are the root of any business' success. This mechanism will help us with recruitment in the long-term. We'll do the work now but enjoy the benefits for a long time. Do you understand?"
Hao Yun nodded. "Yes, Boss Pei! I understand!"
She paused for a moment, realizing that she overlooked one problem. "Er, Boss Pei, at which stage should we decide on their starting salary?
"Must we try and reduce it?"
According to the way ordinary companies worked, the HR department should discuss applicants' expected salaries during the interviews. In their discussion, the department would normally be required to push the figure down as much as possible.
This was a common tactic used by most companies.
However, this seemed to be missing in Boss Pei's recruitment process.
Sternly, Pei Qian replied, "Bargaining does not fit into Tengda's culture!
"If applicants can pass the various stages and examinations, it shows that they're talents we are looking for. "Of course, we should honor them accordingly. How can we still try to bargain with them?!
"In an attempt to save mere hundreds of dollars a month, we would be making these people unhappy, causing them to take their work lightly—thereby affecting their productivity. Wouldn't our company suffer in the end?
"That's why we should never bargain!
"We would be acting like hooligans if we ask the applicants to suggest their starting salary and then bargain with them!
"We'll pay them according to the upper limit in the market. We have to make sure that Tengda's salary remains competitive. Once the employees pass the Tengda Spirit compatibility test, we can distribute their first salary.
"We must pay our employees enough money to ensure that they work hard for Tengda!"
[1] This refers to hiring based on familial bonds like preferring relatives. [2] This refers to having a certain clique that excludes others outside the circle.
Chapter 316 Boss Pei's Script
A single sentence from Boss Pei could undo ten years of education.
Hao Yun felt as if everything she learned about human resources management in school had become useless. They did not fit at all with what Boss Pei required!
However, that was the way Tengda and Boss Pei operated! Boss Pei had always been unique. Obviously, he also had a unique theory and method of managing his employees.
Hao Yun nodded. "Alright, Boss Pei. Leave these things to the HR department. We will get everything done properly!"
Hao Yun had just received an epic, long-term mission from this NPC. Filled with renewed motivation and determination, she left.
Pei Qian took a short break and then continued to work on the movie script.
November 2nd, Tuesday…
At 10 AM sharp, Pei Qian walked into the office. He opened his laptop, opened a document, and then began making final edits to the movie script. He wanted to complete the script today and then send it over to Huang Sibo and the others.
There was no other way about it; Pei Qian had always worked swiftly and decisively.
With the story's earlier framework as the foundation, Pei Qian perfected the details. The more details he came up with, the less likely Huang Sibo and Zhu Xiaoce would misunderstand his intentions.
First, he had to add more sci-fi elements.
Pei Qian pondered for a moment and decided that it would be best to avoid adding complicated, commonplace sci-fi elements.
That meant no space warships and time traveling Why was that?
That was because Pei Qian's primary aim was to spend as much money as possible on special effects. If the special effects ended up being too well done, the audience might think that they were worth paying for to watch. What would Pei Qian do then?
Boss Pei had to ensure that while he spent money on these special effects, the audience would not enjoy them.
It would be best to avoid things like time travel because Pei Qian was coming up with an incomplete script. There was a chance that Huang Sibo and Zhu Xiaoce—these imaginative b*stards-would be able to change it beyond recognition.
There would be a lot of room for them to get creative with things like time travel. This worried Pei Qian.
He did not want them to come up with a script that ended up being only about one person, in which the protagonist recorded himself, slept with himself, killed himself, or married himself.
Thus, after some thought, Pei Qian decided to carry out wicked deeds under the banner of virtue. He would give the movie a sci-fi appearance but not film any huge scenes involving sci-fi. The movie would purely revolve around everyday life.
When advertising the movie, he would call it a 'locally-produced sci-fi film' with a 'moving plot' and 'beautiful special effects'. That would give the audience high expectations.
They would enter the cinema and realize there were no special effects, no cool scenes, and very few sci-fi elements. The movie would just be a modern story wrapped in sci-fi packaging On top of that, the plot would be extremely toxic.
It would piss them all off!
The angry audience would immediately cry for refunds.
As for how to make the plot as toxic as possible, Pei Qian had to keep coming up with details.
The male protagonist was going to be a bootlicker who would end up with nothing. This general framework could not be changed. However, how exactly should he bootlick and end up with nothing?
Pei Qian had to rack his brains to come up with this.
If he came up with something too subtle, the plot would not be toxic enough, and people would not be repelled strongly enough.
Thus, he had to ramp up the intensity!
Now that he had the general framework for the story, Pei Qian felt inspired to write the rest of the details. He quickly tapped away on his keyboard, expressing all his thoughts in words.
Technology would have flourished in the future.
Robots would replace humans and take over most of the manual labor. Most manual laborers would lose their jobs and become poverty-stricken. Fortunately, they could depend on basic social welfare services for their food and lodging. The male protagonist was a jobless, poor man who had to depend on basic social welfare services and emergency relief to survive.
He lived in something like a capsule and could only sleep curled up. If he was not careful when he tried to sit up on his bed, he could knock his head against the ceiling He would receive instant food every day thanks to the emergency relief services. He would have to add boiling water into what looked like a gray flour paste. This would barely meet his daily nutritional needs.
There was a television in the capsule that the male protagonist lived in. This was the only form of entertainment available to him.
The television programs were filled with all sorts of advertisements, which he could not skip over because he had insufficient money.
He could play games and chat with others on the television, but he had to pay to do all of these. Since the male protagonist could not even afford to skip advertisements, he naturally also could not afford other forms of entertainment.
Thus, the male protagonist spent his days watching advertisements and television programs. Each day, he had three hours to leave his capsule and walk around outside.
This was because the outside space could not be freely enjoyed by humans.
Rich people could roam around outside from 6 am to 6 pm every day, ordinary citizens from 6 pm to 12 am, and poverty-stricken people like the male protagonist from 12 am to 3 am.
From 3 am to 6 am, the outside world would undergo mass cleaning, so that the rich people could enjoy it once again from 6 am onwards.
If poverty-stricken people went out or remained outside past their allocated time slot, they would be severely punished.
Most poverty-stricken people's body clocks were completely messed up as a result. They treasured the time slot that they were allocated to roam around outside. To them, this was the most important part of their days.
Of course, strictly speaking, poverty-stricken people like the male protagonist were not completely jobless.
They were allowed to watch their favorite television programs and vote for them.
Depending on how long they spent watching these programs, they would be paid some fictitious money that could be used to purchase certain items. These included nice clothes, delicious food, tasty drinks or alcohol, and the like.
Every television program would also contain a quiz. If one decided to spend their money on these quizzes and ended up winning, they could earn even more fictitious money.
Some programs would even invite ordinary or rich people, who rose out of poverty by earning money through quizzes, to share their experiences during the program.
The male protagonist was very into this. He won some and lost some, but he was quite gifted. Thus, he would win small sums from time to time and reward himself with some beer.
One day, the male protagonist ventured outside once again.
By chance, he met the similarly poverty-stricken female protagonist. The female protagonist was not especially beautiful or charming, but she was pure and adorable. To the male protagonist, she was uniquely attractive. He began to fall in love with her.
The male protagonist struck up a conversation with her using his innate sense of humor. He defeated other competitors and won the female protagonist's heart.
From that day onward, they would meet in their allocated three hours to eat good food or spend money on cheap forms of entertainment.
Both of them quickly developed a romantic relationship.
The male protagonist began to scrimp and save and carefully take part in quizzes, for fear that he would lose all of his hard-earned money.
He wanted to save enough money to buy a space where both of them could live together.
Since his heart was set on this, he did not buy the female protagonist any gifts or treat her to feasts for a long time.
The female protagonist did not get upset. Instead, she was very forgiving and expressed understanding and support for the male protagonist. That was until one day, the male protagonist finally saved enough money to buy a capsule big enough for the two of them.
It was then that the female protagonist suggested that he had been earning money too slowly for them to ever become ordinary citizens. She said that she wanted to take part in a talent show, so that they could earn money much faster if she was given a chance to star in it.
The male protagonist refused, and they had their first quarrel.
The next day, the male protagonist felt immensely guilty. After considering for a long time, he decided to give the female all the money he had saved up, so that she could chase her dreams.
On the day that the female tried out for the talent show, the male protagonist-as her loved one—was awarded an entire day free of advertisements. That meant he could watch the entire episode from beginning to end without being interrupted by any advertisements.
The female tried to display her talents while on stage by singing and dancing. The male protagonist watched closely but did not think that the program was that interesting at all.
The female protagonist finally ended her performance, but only one out of the four judges gave her the nod.
According to the rules of the competition, participants would only succeed if they got three or more nods.
The other judges ruthlessly pointed out the female's problem: she was too stiff when she danced, making her look like a clumsy bear. Her singing technique was also wrong, her breathing was unsteady, and she was out of tune. She was also too nervous on stage, so that she lost her stage presence.
The only one who gave her the nod was a male judge who only thought her dress looked nice. They had spent a huge sum of money to rent that dress for the show, so that the female protagonist would look like the innocent girl-next-door.
She left the talent show, feeling extremely disappointed.
Yet, the male protagonist inwardly celebrated. That was because he knew that if she had succeeded, they would only grow further and further apart.
Now that the female's dreams were crushed, he could hope for a future together
When they met again, the male protagonist comforted the female and then began to save up money again in order to buy a capsule that they could live in together.
He spent more time watching different television programs and studying their ways, so that he could carefully take part in the quizzes.
He had to make sure that he won every quiz he took part in.
Subsequently, the female protagonist became increasingly distracted on their dates. She often zoned out while the male protagonist was talking and nodded while in a daze.
The male protagonist did not overthink this. Instead, he wrote it off as the female protagonist being crushed about her dashed dreams and was certain that she would recover one day.
At last, the male protagonist earned enough to purchase a bigger capsule. He happily announced this to the female, saying that they could finally live together.
However, the female protagonist lost her temper for the first time, becoming hysterical towards the male. She kept shouting 'you don't know anything' and suggested they broke up.
Confused and on the verge of breaking down, the male protagonist suddenly realized that the female had a small baby bump.
The female protagonist came clean with him and admitted to having an affair with that judge from the talent show the entire time.
Chapter 317 It Would Definitely be a Masterpiece!
The judge had his own bungalow, and he could bring girls out in the day. The female protagonist had already seen a more beautiful world. That was why she did not care to live in the cramped, two-man capsule together with the male protagonist.
She had wanted to come clean with the male protagonist earlier and get together with the judge, but the judge had suddenly stopped contacting her a few days ago. She had not heard a peep from him.
The male protagonist knew that the female had already been dumped. Perhaps the judge just wanted to try something new; he probably did not plan to spend the rest of his life with the female protagonist.
After calming down, the male protagonist decided to accept her.
However, the female turned him down and left.
From that moment on, the male protagonist's life seemed to lose all its color. He used the sum of money he had saved to rent a bigger space for himself. He also paid to get rid of the advertisements in his television programs, purchased more forms of entertainment, and bought a bunch of junk food to cheer himself up. With what was left of his money, he tipped the female host of the television program he had been watching in exchange for a 'thank you'. He went back to living a blurry life. Instead of carefully taking part in quizzes, he chose to pour all his money into quizzes with high rewards. Sometimes, he won big and went on shopping sprees. Other times, he lost everything and lay in his bed like a corpse for several days.
This went on for five years.
One day, the muddle-headed male protagonist had been watching television programs as he normally did.
All of a sudden, he realized he had won a quiz that he had staked everything on. He received more than ten times the money he had put in!
His bank account now had much more money than it did before; one could say that he had become an ordinary citizen!
The male protagonist was overjoyed at this turn of events. He could not wait to share this good news with the female protagonist.
However, he could not find her. He had no choice but to search high and low for her during his allocated three hours, in the hopes that the female protagonist had not left the city.
Just like that, the male protagonist spent more than a month searching for her. At last, he still could not find any traces of the female protagonist. Since he had no other choice, the male protagonist thought of an idea. He decided to spend some money to take part in a talent show. There, he would profess his love for the female protagonist and tell her that he had been waiting for her this entire time… and that he hoped she would return to his side.
Talent shows had a wide reach. Once the show aired, the female protagonist would probably see his message.
Thus, the male protagonist ended up on the stage of a talent show.
As he stood in the spotlight, the male protagonist stared at the ruthless judge who stole his girlfriend and then dumped her.
The male protagonist's only intention had been to profess his love for the female protagonist and tell everyone how much he missed her. He had only wanted to talk about all the beautiful memories they shared. However, after seeing the judge's sanctimonious expression, the male protagonist lost all control.
He picked up his microphone and ranted to the audience about how sanctimonious the judge was. He accused the latter of being a wolf dressed in sheep's clothing and explained how the judge had shamelessly stolen the male protagonist's beloved before dumping the kind-hearted girl.
He cursed and swore at the judge with the ugliest language that he knew, releasing pent-up feelings of indignance, regret, and rage.
The entire place grew silent.
After that short silence, everyone burst out with applause!
Even the judge who had just been cursed and sworn at clapped as he laughed and held up his thumb towards the male protagonist.
The female judge next to him looked deeply moved. Wiping her tears, she immediately hit the button in front of her to express her approval of the male protagonist.
Four circles lit up in front of the judges.
That was four votes. The male protagonist had made it.
The lights immediately began to flash, and multi-colored smoke appeared on the stage, along with other special effects.
This meant that many people watching online had been moved by the male protagonist's performance and were tipping him from where they were.
The male protagonist looked at the dazzling numbers on stage. Thanks to these tips, he had earned much more in the past few minutes than he had in the past few years.
The judge whom he cursed and swore at highly praised his performance. The former explained how it had been a long time since he had watched such a satisfying talk show.
The judge extended a symbol of peace to the male protagonist, expressing his wishes to help the male protagonist create a television program.
The male protagonist knew very well what this would mean.
It would mean that he would have unimaginable wealth and fame as his television program reached hundreds of thousands, or possibly even millions, of people!
He could live like the other rich folk. He could roam around outside during the daytime and live in a huge bungalow. He could wait as his female servants knelt beside him and fed him freshly-picked grapes.
The male protagonist thanked the judge profusely, savoring the moment.
At that very moment, he was the main star on stage.
That night, after the television program ended, the male protagonist was served very well by two hot, fair, and young ladies. He moved into a bungalow, drove a luxurious car, and lived the life that he had always dreamed about.
One day, someone requested to meet him. The female protagonist had really watched his television program and expressed her hopes to meet the male protagonist again and pick up where they had left off.
The male protagonist immediately invited the female to his house.
He was now a rich man. He could invite anyone to his bungalow at any time in the day to meet him.
When the female protagonist saw him, her eyes welled up.
However, with one young girl in each of his arms, the male protagonist coolly mocked the female for having the cheek to turn up at his bungalow.
She crumbled, knelt on the ground, and begged for the male protagonist to give her some money so that she could raise her son up.
The male protagonist felt even more irritated when he heard the word 'son', but he refrained from kicking her out immediately.
After some consideration, he decided to transfer a sum of money to her and asked her to stop looking for him.
After dealing with this matter once and for all, the male protagonist leaned back on the sofa, sipped his red wine, and heaved a sigh of relief.
He had not transferred her the sum of money because he felt bad or because he still had feelings for her.
Instead, he did it because he still had to film his television program that night and emotionally narrate his and the female protagonist's love story.
He knew that the audience did not really care who the female protagonist was. If they managed to find her, they might quickly lose interest in the television program.
The female protagonist would look the most beautiful as a question mark in the audience's mind.
If the audience was allowed to see how haggard she really looked, the image of the 'dream woman' that the male protagonist had worked so hard to create would fall apart at once.
Before stepping onto the stage, the male protagonist saw the judge.
He had once hated the judge to the core. However, the latter was now his financial backer and his Bole. He had given the male protagonist a new lease of life.
Thus, the male protagonist now respected him immensely.
The judge congratulated him, telling him that today's episode would be extremely important and that he hoped the male protagonist would perform well.
The judge also said that he had prepared a surprise for the male protagonist. The male protagonist tried to recall what the occasion was and realized that it seemed to be his birthday.
When he stepped onto stage, the male protagonist began to speak in a tearful voice. He described his and the female protagonist's love story and chatted with a couple of lucky fans, to whom he explained the true meaning of love.
Then, the connection broke, and the image of the male protagonist mocking the female in his living room appeared on the screen.
The male protagonist began to panic. He kept trying to block the screen, but it proved to be useless during the livestream because the video was being fed directly to the audience's screens. The male protagonist's panicky behavior was only making him look more like a joke.
The audience began to get worked up. Many angry viewers scolded and cursed at the male protagonist in the channel's column.
The male protagonist's reputation and image were completely destroyed.
The judge showed no intention of helping him out of his predicament. Instead, he instructed a lawyer to retrieve the contract they had signed at the beginning. The male protagonist's behavior had gravely affected the company's image. Thus, he had to compensate the company with a sum that he would spend his entire life trying to pay.
As he looked at the male protagonist who had just lost everything, the judge smiled treacherously.
Not only had he taken revenge for the time that the male protagonist cursed and swore at him on stage, but he had also increased his television program's viewership and rose to fame in the process.
He pulled the beautiful, young woman beside him closer and arranged for her host the next episode of the program.
The camera panned. The male protagonist was lying in bed in a tiny capsule, looking at the ceiling, which he could reach out and touch. He looked just like a zombie.
After he finished writing the script, Pei Qian read it once through. It looked quite good, considering that this was his first time writing a script.
The story was complete, at least! He had achieved all the goals that he had set in the beginning
Take the male protagonist for example. His life was pitiful at first. He was lucky to chance upon a lady that he fancied. Then, he began his brown-nosing journey. In the end, the female protagonist's heart was stolen by the judge, making a cuckold of the male protagonist.
The male protagonist continued brown-nosing until the female protagonist completely gave up on him and asked for a clean break.
Subsequently, the male protagonist won a huge sum of money and tried looking for the female protagonist once more. While on stage, he lashed out at the judge and released his pent-up frustrations.
However, the judge soon managed to buy him over. The male protagonist willingly cheapened himself for money and behaved in a completely opposite manner compared to before. He became despicable.
When the female protagonist finally returned, the male protagonist threw away every last bit of warmth and kindness left in him. He mocked her and gave her money in exchange for her promise never to look for him again.
In the end, the male protagonist fell for the judge's trap. The wealthy, blissful life he had always dreamed about had been right under his nose, but it was reduced to dust in an instant. Not only did he become penniless like before, but he also owed a huge debt now. His life was devoid of all hope. Wasn't that absolutely miserable?! Wasn't that absolutely cruel?!
Even Pei Qian felt that the plot was extremely toxic. It was so tragic!
The male protagonist was not just a brown-noser, but he was also a coward and a despicable man. The female protagonist was not any better. They deserved to live with each other for the rest of their lives.
All in all, this plot would definitely disgust the movie's viewers.
It housed all toxic points!
Pei Qian read his script again and again and found one last flaw-it was not long enough.
He pondered for a moment and then added one more line at the end of the script.
'If the script is too short, lengthen the part where the male protagonist watches television programs and advertisements in his room.'
By doing this, Pei Qian would have no problems diluting the plot until the movie lasted two and a half hours, much less one and a half!
It worked!
Of course, Boss Pei was a benevolent man. He only wanted to dissuade the audience from buying tickets. He did not really want them to develop hatred for the movie.
Thus, he decided to be kind to them and limit the movie's duration to an hour and a half.
Pei Qian had no intention to come up with the other contents, like the characters' names, the exact lines, actions, backdrops, and transitions. He decided to leave these things to Huang Sibo and the others completely.
As long as they did not mess up the story, there should not be any problems!
Pei Qian had just completed his task and earned a hundred thousand yuan!
He could not help but feel moved. It was getting easier and easier for him to earn money!
At Fei Huang Workspace…
Huang Sibo had just received the script from Boss Pei.
"Boss Pei is so efficient!"
Huang Sibo was filled with respect once again.
Other scriptwriters normally took three to five months to write scripts, even if it was urgent. If they were aiming to produce an excellent movie, they could even take up to a year and a half.
Of course, this did not include scriptwriters who were full of stunts and who improvised during filming.
Yet, Boss Pei had written an entire script in just two to three days!
Strictly speaking, what Boss Pei had written was merely an outline of the story. It was a long way from being a perfect script.
Still, coming up with a story outline was no easy task!
Huang Sibo quickly called Zhu Xiaoce over, and they read the script together.
After seeing the script's unconventional format, Zhu Xiaoce became slightly light-headed.
Huang Sibo quickly said, "Boss Pei works in the game industry. Naturally, he wouldn't know the format for movie scripts. That's understandable.
"The format isn't important. What's important is that we draw what we need from Boss Pei's idea."
Zhu Xiaoce pondered for a moment, realized what Huang Sibo had said was true, and then quickly adjusted his attitude.
Both of them read the script once through, from beginning to end.
Huang Sibo felt slightly dizzy. "This… why do I feel like this story would depress the audience?
"The male protagonist is a penniless brown-noser. He works hard throughout the movie and almost attains bliss, but then he is immediately thrown from heaven to hell.
"The female protagonist is equally miserable. She's dumped by the judge and has a tough time raising her child. She works hard to locate the male protagonist but then is shamed.
"The most infuriating thing is that both of them practically asked for it. They had their chance to live a better life, but they wasted it.
"How can that be?"
He turned to face Zhu Xiaoce.
Zhu Xiaoce did not respond immediately. Instead, he remained quiet for a long time before he suddenly held up his thumb and shouted, "It can!
"This script is great!
"The story is deeply moving and invokes deep reflection. It criticizes how consumerism leads to exploitation, how the bourgeoisie suppresses humanity, and how wealth alienates people. It's extremely deep!
"The events in the story are unexpected but reasonable. The twists and turns would make the audience applaud the movie in the end!
"Boss Pei could actually come up with such an exciting story in just two or three days…?
"I can only say that Boss Pei is extremely gifted. No matter which industry he's placed in, he shows that he's entirely worthy of honor!"
Huang Sibo looked slightly confused. He had not expected Zhu Xiaoce to have such high praises for the script.
"Until now, we have only produced jocular and humorous short videos. Are you sure our audience would like this story?"
Zhu Xiaoce nodded confidently. "I'm very sure!
"After reading this script, I feel like I have a telepathic connection with Boss Pei. I think I can see what Boss Pei is truly driving at. The audience might not like it, and that would mean the movie might not sell very well.
"However, in the eyes of people who can understand it, the movie would definitely be a masterpiece!"
Chapter 318 Dream Realization Ventures
Pei Qian felt great relief after settling the movie script.
However, it was not time to relax yet.
Boss Pei already had 1.8 million yuan. He had enough money to buy a new house for his parents.
As for where he would say he got the money from…
That was simple. He could say that he was now working in the management of Fei Huang Workspace. Since the company had made quite a large sum of money from their short videos, he was given a huge bonus as?well.
Strictly speaking, there was nothing wrong with saying that. Boss Pei was indeed in the management of Fei Huang Workspace, and he had earned a lot of money from it.
Pei Qian decided to make some time to go home and explain these things to his parents.
However, before that, he had to make sure that everything was settled for the company. The settlement cycle was going to last five months this time. It sounded long, but it would pass quickly. This was because everything that Pei Qian was going to work on during this cycleproducing a movie, starting a cell phone business, and so on-would take some time.
Take the movie, for example. Even though the contents were simple and there would not be many special effects, it would take at least a month to prepare, two months to film, and another month to edit and tidy it up. The movie would be produced barely in time for settlement.
Luckily, Pei Qian had gained some benefits after the System was upgraded to version 2.0. He was now allowed to carry one unannounced product over to the next cycle.
If he could not complete the movie in time for this cycle, settlement would not be affected. He could carry it to the next.
Then, he would definitely have to release it before settlement.
Still, Pei Qian thought it would be best to finish whatever he could within this cycle.
He decided to take this particular benefit as his security net instead. Otherwise, if he made too big a deal out of it and purposely slowed down work on his projects, he could mess everything up in the end.
Pei Qian flipped through his notebook and turned his attention to Ma Yang. Although he did not want to incessantly bother this good friend of his, he had no other choice.
The able were bound to get more work!
Ma Yang had been in charge of Fish-Catching Internet Cafe and had mildly stabbed Pei Qian in the back during the previous cycle. However, Pei Qian knew that it had not been his intention to do so.
Fish-Catching Internet Cafe's success could mainly be credited to Boss Pei's Repent and be Saved. Ma Yang had done nothing to earn any of it.
Also, Zhang Yuan—not Ma Yang—had been the one to start the computer-installation brand, ROF.
Thus, Pei Qian could still trust Old Ma. He was one of Boss Pei's most important employees indeed!
However, at the rate things were going, Pei Qian decided that he had to separate Ma Yang and Zhang Yuan now. Pei Qian was already certain that Zhang Yuan was a traitor. On the surface, he looked like a mere genius from Tieba. However, problems in his thinking were beginning to surface.
If Pei Qian allowed him to continue brainwashing Old Ma, the situation could worsen. Pei Qian began thinking hard. He could either leave Old Ma in his current position and give Zhang Yuan something else to do or leave Zhang Yuan in his current position and give Old Ma something else to do.
After much consideration, he decided that the latter would be better.
This was because the new business direction that Boss Pei had in mind would best bring out Ma Yang's potential.
Pei Qian did not feel safe handing this business over to anyone except Ma Yang!
He wanted to start an investment firm.
In fact, he had thought about this a long time ago. However, because of some cash flow problems, he never got around to it.
Before this, Tengda's cash had been poured into manufacturing. A lot of money had been spent on producing games and physical shops, so that they did not have much spare cash left in their account.
Taking everything into account, he had a total of three or four million yuan left. Of course, he could have started an investment firm, but it would have been meaningless. He had been better off opening a few more Fish-Catching Internet Cafes and Upwind Courier stations.
Things were different now. The side effects of spending as much money as he could in the previous cycle were going to hit him soon. He could no longer depend on the same methods of spending money.
Thus, Pei Qian thought about opening an investment firm.
Of course, he was not entirely willing to either.
Investing could be very risky, but if he succeeded, he could earn a terrifying windfall.
Pei Qian knew his own luck very well. Every time he had tried to create rubbish games, they succeeded. He guessed that even if he invested in pants, he would probably profit as well.
However, now that things were the way they were, he hardly had any other choice. Pei Qian could barely finish squandering off all the System Funds on his own. He needed help.
Therefore, after much deliberation, Pei Qian reluctantly decided to start an investment firm.
As for why he could not manage it on his own…
On one hand, Boss Pei was already very busy. He had to personally keep an eye on the other businesses. If he put himself in charge of the investment firm as well, the other businesses would probably betray him like crazy.
On the other hand, Boss Pei seriously doubted his own judgment. That was why he decided to put Old Ma responsible. He was not even asking for Old Ma to lose everything. He was only asking for Old Ma to make a few investments and incur some losses. That would be enough.
October 3rd…
Fish-Catching Internet Cafe…
"Brother Qian, we're depending on you! Quick, quick, quick…"
Ma Yang stared at Pei Qian's screen, shouting more excitedly than anyone else. Yet, the words 'GAME OVER' appeared on Pei Qian's screen. The latter became speechless.
In their last team war—as the talented Boss Pei pushed a lane, his team members tried to fight the enemies one by one and ended up dying. Boss Pei was left to fight the four enemies alone.
Ma Yang had not been the first to feed the enemies. In fact, he had been the last.
If Ma Yang had survived, he could have worked together with Boss Pei to fight the four enemies. They would have had hopes of winning.
However, Ma Yang ended up trying to fight the enemies on his own as well. Once left alone, Pei Qian only managed to kill two enemies even after exhausting all his means. Then, he could only stand by and watch helplessly as their base exploded.
"Ai, what a pity, Brother Qian. Let's go?again!"
Ma Yang was just about to start another game.
Pei Qian quickly stopped him. "Wait! I have some important matters to discuss with you."
"Oh, alright." Ma Yang reluctantly exited Gods Rising
Pei Qian had come to Fish-Catching Internet Cafe today to brief Ma Yang about his plans to start an investment firm. However, when he arrived, he felt the urge to play online games with Ma Yang for a while.
In the end, he completely lost the drive! Although Pei Qian was frustrated about losing, he knew he had to look at things objectively. Negatively put, Pei Qian had lost the game. However, positively put, Pei Qian had confirmed that Old Ma was still as reliable as ever!
Both of them moved to the resting area, and Pei Qian called Zhang Yuan over as well.
Zhang Yuan had been kept busy by ROF's business.
After 1024 Digital Day, ROF's prices reverted to normal. However, since word of the brand had already spread, many locals of Jingzhou continued to place orders.
Thus, Zhang Yuan had been kept busy while Ma Yang remained free.
Pei Qian faced Zhang Yuan first. "You will be the CEO of Fish-Catching Internet Cafe from now on. You will be solely in charge of the internet cafes and ROF."
Zhang Yuan was stunned.
I'm the CEO now?
Isn't that a little rash?
What's going to happen to Boss Ma?
Ma Yang's huge face immediately drained of color.
"Brother Qian, I… I just didn't play well in the previous game. You don't have to fire me, right? I haven't achieved much, but I've worked hard…"
Ma Yang had thought that Pei Qian was upset about being played in the previous game.
Pei Qian did not know to laugh or to cry. "What are you talking about?! I have another task for you, and it's very important!
"Tengda is going to start an investment firm soon. I'm thinking that you're the most suitable person to act as CEO for this investment firm!"
Ma Yang was absolutely stunned. His expression turned from bitterness to confusion, to pure joy and excitement. "Are you sure, Brother Qian?! I… I have always wanted to be an angel investor! Don't worry, Brother Qian. This job suits me to a tee. I won't let you down for sure!" Zhang Yuan watched this exchange in a daze. At that moment, he could not understand how Boss Pei decided which person would get the job.
Could he say that Boss Pei decided these things based on employees' merits? Yet, Boss Ma did not look cut out for running an investment firm.
Zhang Yuan had always thought that putting Boss Ma in charge of Fish-Catching Internet Cafe was ridiculous enough. Running an investment firm would be far more difficult than managing internet cafes. Was he up to the task?
Could he say that Boss Pei decided these things based on favoritism? Yet, that did not seem true either.
Zhang Yuan was not related to Boss Pei in any way, but he had been promoted as well. He had taken over Ma Yang's job as the CEO of Fish-Catching Internet Cafe.
Boss Pei did not assign this role to other people who were closer to him. Thus, Zhang Yuan could not say that he decided these things based on favoritism.
Zhang Yuan was left thoroughly confused. All he knew was that Boss Pei's ways were extremely complex.
Perhaps Boss Ma had merits that ordinary people could not appreciate…
Pei Qian turned to Zhang Yuan and said, "Alright, that's all. Go back to work."
Zhang Yuan nodded. "Alright, Boss Pei. I'll work hard to bring Fish-Catching Internet Cafe to greater heights!"
Pei Qian was speechless. "…"
Once Zhang Yuan was gone, Pei Qian cleared his throat and began briefing Ma Yang about the investment firm. Pei Qian had already decided not to find an assistant for Ma Yang this time. This was because Pei Qian had realized that Ma Yang would often agree with whoever spoke to him last.
Every time Boss Pei thought he had successfully influenced Ma Yang's decision, he would turn around and realize that someone else had changed his mind again.
Thus, he had to avoid hiring an assistant for Ma Yang at all costs. At the very least, he had to avoid hiring an assistant who would give Ma Yang random ideas.
He had to find someone who lacked independent thought. That way, Ma Yang would surely have to do things according to Pei Qian's suggestions.
Of course, all of these would be settled later.
For now, the aim was to brainwash Ma Yang anew.
"Our investment firm will be different from other investment firms."
Ma Yang listened very intently. "Hmm, what do you mean?"
Pei Qian said, "You should know how other investment firms operate, right?"
Nodding excitedly, Ma Yang answered, "Of course, I do! Investment firms give money to companies that they think would be profitable. After that, they would get a cut of the profits that those companies earn!"
Pei Qian was speechless. "…"
That was a common understanding, but it was not the answer that Boss Pei wanted to hear.
"Your understanding is too superficial! "Does Tengda lack money? Doesn't the company earn enough from games and the internet cafes?"
Boss Pei said these things through gritted teeth.
Ma Yang answered, "Er… Brother Qian, you mean…?"
Pei Qian tried to sound genuine as he said, "I'm not saying that our investment firm cannot make money, but making money will only be one of our many goals.
"Investing means putting our spare cash in places where it should be."
"What do you mean by 'places where it should be'?"
"Are companies with the potential to be profitable places where our money should be? Of course not!
"Many companies that truly seek to do good for society close down because of the lack of funds. Partners brought together by their common dream would be forced to go their separate ways. How pitiful is that?!
"That's why our investment firm will be called Dream Realization Ventures. Our aim will not be to generate profit, but to realize the dreams of small companies-whose very dreams are at risk of being dashed!"
Chapter 319 I Need an Investment Consultant Who Would Not Provide Any Investment Advice
Ma Yang looked slightly puzzled. "Er… why does it sound like we'll be doing charity?"
Pei Qian quickly shook his head and explained, "This isn't charity!
"Tengda will do charity in the future, but this firm is meant to be a legitimate venture capital firm. The difference is that we would never receive any money in return for doing charity.
"On the other hand, while we could incur losses by investing, we could also profit. Who would be able to tell?
"All I'm saying is, don't prioritize generating profit. Our priority should be realizing dreams, understand?
"If we end up incurring losses, it'll be alright. After all, providing venture capital is risky. I'm sure everyone appreciates that there will be risks involved."
Ma Yang was beginning to understand. "Well… Brother Qian, does that mean that we can invest in any dream that needs to be realized?"
Pei Qian nodded profusely. "That's right! Old Ma, I love that you're so fast in comprehending me!"
Ma Yang became even more excited.
At the beginning, he had thought that investment firms were where money bred more money.
However, after hearing Pei Qian's description, Ma Yang realized something else. Not only could investment firms generate profit, but they could also help businesses-on the brink of insolvency-to realize their dreams.
Thinking about it this way made Ma Yang feel like an angel in white, responsible for saving the lives of others.
At once, he felt much better about himself!
"Brother Qian, when do we start investing? I can barely wait!" Unable to sit still for much longer, Ma Yang immediately tried to jump to his feet.
However, Pei Qian quickly held him down. "Don't be too eager.
"In order to do a good job, we must have the best tools. I will look for a satisfactory assistant for you in the next few days."
Investing was complex and highly technical. Ordinary venture capital firms normally took many steps before deciding to invest in a particular company.
They had to shortlist the investment proposals provided by various entrepreneurs, review them, consider the investment projects from various angles, interview the ventures' managers, understand businesses' history, and engage in complicated negotiations and valuations…
Ma Yang could do none of these.
At most, he could read the investment proposals and decide how much to invest in each venture. However, he knew nothing about the concrete operations behind the scenes.
Of course, this was also why Pei Qian chose him to take over this responsibility.
However, in order for the venture capital firm to operate as per normal, he needed someone to take care of the miscellaneous tasks.
Even if Pei Qian did not hire an assistant for Ma Yang, Ma Yang would look for someone to help him once he realized that he could not handle everything on his own. Then, Pei Qian might end up with an unsalvageable mess.
Thus, Pei Qian decided to take the initiative!
He decided to hire a knowledgeable and experienced assistant for Ma Yang, who would do all the work but not interfere in Ma Yang's decisions.
It would be best if the assistant did not even answer Ma Yang's questions.
Pei Qian asked, "As a future venture capitalist, do you have any expectations of your job?"
Ma Yang confidently patted his chest and said, "Don't worry, Brother Qian! I know it all!
"Many businesses will hand their proposals to me. In turn, I will transfer them all to professionals, who would then brief me on which ones had potential and which ones didn't.
"I would filter out the scammers first! Then, I would ask them to point out to me the ventures that had the most potential and then invest heavily in those!"
Pei Qian was speechless."…"
Now that you said that, I don't want to hand the investment firm over to you anymore.
Ai, Old Ma… when will you finally understand your role?
Pei Qian shook his head. "You cannot do that. You cannot allow your assistant to shortlist the proposals. You must do it on your own!"
Ma Yang looked confused. "Huh? Why? I know nothing about this." Pei Qian said solemnly, "You might not understand the figures, but you definitely understand what a heart with a dream looks like!
"Think about it. How would small companies with lofty dreams have the energy to do up their investment proposals?
"Dreams are often up in the air and filled with emotions. How can one write them in detail and reduce them to cold, hard numbers so that they look realistic and pragmatic?
"If someone else filters the proposals for you, they would have to filter out all the small companies with lofty dreams, which really need the money!
"That's why you have to do this job on your own!
"Any well-knit, carefully-worded proposal with detailed and reliable figures is devoid of dreams! The beautifully-worded proposals with missing figures and infectious energy are the ones with real dreams! Dream Realization Ventures would only be investing in dreams if we invest in the latter type of ventures!
"You must remember this. Hidden inside every unreliable investment proposal is an even bigger dream!"
A realization dawned on Ma Yang, causing him to nod. "So that's the case. That makes
sense!"
Seeing that Ma Yang was becoming persuaded, Pei Qian kept working hard. "You must remember that the name of our investment firm would be Dream Realization Ventures.
"Whether we make money or not would not be important, but we must invest in dreams!
"We can relax on every other standard, but not on realizing dreams. We must insist never to invest in projects that do not contain dreams, understand?"
Ma Yang nodded profusely. "I understand!"
Pei Qian could tell from Ma Yang's expression that his brainwashing attempt had succeeded. As long as no one tried to correct Ma Yang's understanding, the latter would probably hold onto this mindset for a long time.
"Brother Qian, I'm going into seclusion for now, then. I'm going to buy some books on investment and try to get a good grasp of the relevant knowledge!"
Ma Yang looked very excited. Pei Qian was just about to stop him, but when he recalled how Ma Yang had performed even after reading technical books on game design, he immediately relaxed.
He decided to allow Old Ma to work hard. The harder he worked, the quicker they would fail…
When he returned to Tengda, Pei Qian approached Assistant Xin.
"Find me an investment consultant who has a good grasp of investment processes.
"Don't stipulate any other requirements except this: no matter what the boss asks, he is not to give any investment advice or influence the boss' thought process."
Assistant Xin's eyes filled with confusion.
"Find an investment consultant who will not provide investment advice? Then… what do you want a 'consultant' for?"
Pei Qian answered, "The consultant will just be in charge of administrative tasks."
Assistant Xin pondered for a moment and said, "We don't need to look exclusively for investment consultants, then. We can look for analysts or assistants with experience working in investment firms."
Pei Qian nodded. "That works!"
Boss Pei could not wish for anything more.
In true Assistant Xin fashion, she did not ask any more questions. "Alright, I'll find someone now."
Pei Qian did not care if the person Assistant Xin found would be an analyst, an investment assistant, or a director. As long as he did not provide Ma Yang with any advice, everything would be fine.
In the evening…
Hao Qiong had just gotten off work and was preparing to go home. He felt slightly fuzzy. He had spent the entire day at work playing horror games.
Director Lin even pulled down the curtains so that everyone could properly experience the horror games in broad daylight. The darkness added to the atmosphere and immersiveness.
All the employees at Shang Yang Games put on headphones and watched the big screen, fully immersing themselves in the horror games.
They ended up screaming constantly. What's more, the screams happened in waves. Every time someone got frightened and screamed, the people around the person would get frightened and scream as well.
It was almost infectious. The atmosphere was insane.
Hao Qiong had been terrified, but he had no other choice. Director Lin had given orders. Since their next project was going to be a horror game, every single employee had to play horror games diligently. That would ensure that their horror game would turn out frightening Just thinking about being tortured similarly over the next few days exhausted Hao Qiong.
Hao Qiong left the office and walked home. He had rented an apartment near the company. It was only a ten-minute walk away and very convenient for him.
As he walked, Hao Qiong heard someone behind him cough.
"Ah!"
Hao Qiong was terrified, thinking that he had just bumped into a ghost.
However, when he turned around, he realized that he had frightened the other person as well. Both of them jumped in the air, looking at each other in horror.
The person who had coughed behind Hao Qiong was a working adult in his thirties. At that moment, he looked every bit as scared as Hao Qiong.
Confused, Hao Qiong asked, "What are you doing?!"
The working adult looked even more puzzled. "…I only coughed. Why did you have to overreact?"
Hao Qiong fell silent and realized that he was right. He had played too many horror games at work and ended up overreacting.
"I'm sorry, I got frightened. I'm sorry, I'm sorry."
Hao Qiong apologized and left.
Suddenly, the working adult stopped him. "Er… Brother, please hold on. Actually, I came looking for you because I had a serious matter to discuss with you.
"Let me introduce myself. I work in the human resources department of Hengtu Games. My name is Wu Bin.
"Brother, are you intending to switch companies?"
Hao Qiong blinked and then realized that this man was a head-hunter. Although he was having a tough time playing horror games at work now, Hao Yun also received a high salary, huge bonuses, and feasts at Ming Yun Private Kitchen. With all these in mind, he shook his head decisively and said, "No."
Hao Qiong started to walk away, but Wu Bin quickly stopped him again.
"Brother! Brother, please hold on.
"You don't have to turn me down so quickly. We can go to a nearby coffee shop for a chat. As they say—even if the transaction falls through, we can remain friends. We're working in the same industry anyway. Let's get to know each other."
Hao Qiong still wanted to leave, but he was a weak-willed man. Unable to fend himself against Wu Bin's smooth tongue, he reluctantly agreed to go to a nearby coffee shop to chat with Wu Bin.
Both of them took their seats.
As Wu Bin wiped the perspiration from his forehead, he inwardly rejoiced about successfully bluffing someone into having coffee with him after working so hard.
Hao Qiong was not the first employee that Wu Bin had found.
Before this, Wu Bin had tried emailing, calling, and other means of contacting other employees in Tengda Games and Shang Yang Games.
However, no one paid any attention to him.
No one returned his emails, and everyone hung up on him after he introduced himself.
However, Wu Bin had a mission to accomplish. He was so helpless that he had to resort to the primitive way of standing outside the company's entrance to wait!
There were higher chances of success in poaching people if they interacted face-to-face.
He did some basic research and discovered that Hao Qian was an ordinary employee, who could be considered relatively marginalized in Shang Yang Games. Wu Bin did not think that it would be difficult to poach him.
Of course, Wu Bin did not dare to go after core workers like Ye Zhizhou or Li Yada. These people enjoyed fame and riches in Tengda. Not only could they produce good games, but they could also earn good money. How could Wu Bin poach them?
However, this man named Hao Qiong was only in charge of basic, miscellaneous roles in Tengda's subsidiary, Shang Yang Games. He was probably not paid that well either.
No matter how good Tengda's welfare and benefits were, Wu Bin guessed that a marginalized employee like Hao Qiong probably could not be treated all that well.
He should be able to poach Hao Qiong as long as he offered a generous salary, right?
Wu Bin had no other choice. His boss had given him orders to poach a few people from Tengda Games so that they could learn from Tengda's advanced endeavors.
At that thought, Wu Bin sorrowfully paid for both of their drinks and then prepared to display his gift of the gab. He had to seduce this naive-looking, young man to work for his company instead.