Liang Qingfan was stunned. A moment later, he said, "Boss Pei, this is a bit sudden. I need to consider it properly..."
Pei Qian smiled and nodded. "Of course."
He turned to look at his driver, Little Sun. "Make some time to bring Mr. Liang around Jingzhou to play over the next few days. Allow him to have a good appreciation of Jingzhou's culture and people. Over the weekend, bring Mr. Liang to Ming Yun Private Kitchen for a meal. Host him well for me."
Little Sun quickly answered, "Alright, Boss Pei."
Pei Qian turned to Liang Qingfan. "Mr. Liang, please get some rest. Travel around Jingzhou and collect some inspiration. All of your expenses during this period will be borne by Tengda.
"I want to open more Sloth Apartments at the end of the money. Then, I would have to trouble you once more."
Liang Qingfan looked overwhelmed by Boss Pei's favor. "No problem, Boss Pei!"
Being appreciated like that made Liang Qingfan feel like he had met someone who could truly treasure his talents.
As a young designer, what did he need most?
A stage! Opportunities! Gaoling Construction and Design Co., Ltd was a first-tier design company in the country which was being led by a giant in the industry, Zhou Nanling. He would have many chances to take part in large-scale projects.
However, as a young designer under thirty years old, he had very slim chances of being put in charge of large-scale projects himself.
To designers, good projects were opportunities, chances at fame, and a stage to prove oneself. Without good projects, what use would all of one's talent be? How would talent be developed? Who would know about them?
It was just as well that there were opportunities where Boss Pei was. There were many, many opportunities!
What's more, Liang Qingfan could sense that Boss Pei's mindset was quite similar to his own on a certain level.
For example, Boss Pei was one who chased being elite.
As an architect, Liang Qingfan was familiar with a lot of styles. He was adept at creating custom-made designs that suited each property owner's requirements. However, the problem was that, as he absorbed everybody's requests, Liang Qingfan thought deeply about the artistic aspect as well. Yet, not many people could understand that artistic aspect.
The fact that Boss Pei was so happy with his designs—so much so that he had even tried poaching Liang Qingfan-proved that Boss Pei had a similar view and understanding of art as he did.
Both of us want to chase being elite!
It was for that exact reason that Liang Qingfan almost spat out 'I will!' However, it would look unrestrained of him to agree on the spot, and he might have come across as being rash. Thus, Liang Qingfan decided to symbolically ponder about it for a few days. At the same time, he would deal with a few matters in his current company before officially transferring to Tengda. Pei Qian walked around the room, feeling very happy with every corner. He wanted to recruit Liang Qingfan because of his ability to understand him. In fact, Liang Qingfan could understand Boss Pei much better than most of Tengda's employees.
One of Pei Qian's most important considerations in selecting his employees was the extent of their imagination.
For instance, Lu Mingliang did not have much of an imagination. He was a good employee who did whatever Boss Pei asked of him. Men like him were becoming few and far between!
Yet, Pei Qian had found a shadow of Lu Mingliang in this designer, Liang Qingfan. To achieve extreme minimalism, Liang Qingfan had willingly given up storage space which most would find absolutely necessary.
To spend every cent of the budget, Liang Qingfan had spent over two hundred thousand yuan on a limited edition television set.
All of those things showed that he had tried his best to fulfill Boss Pei's requests without using too much of his own imagination.
At the same time, he was not so famous as to attract people's attention, and he had a certain level of skill that would guarantee whatever Boss Pei wanted would be done well.
All in all, he was a perfect candidate!
Three hours later, Pei Qian was done moving houses.
He got rid of his original house, packed his clothes and shoes, and then moved them to the new house. The other things that he did not need were left in the rented apartment that he had at first.
Simply put, he moved in with minimal baggage.
Little Sun went back and forth, helping Pei Qian to move his few pieces of luggage to the new house. Soon, the packing was complete. Pei Qian had no plans to clutter the house with all sorts of random items. He would only do three things in this house:
Sleep, game, and snack.
Each day, he would wake up naturally, have a meal at Fish-Catching Internet Cafe's Handong University branch, walk around at the office, and then go home to snack, drink, and play games. He would be living the dream.
Of course, the building also needed a butler and two cleaners.
The butler would be in charge of the manpower and random errands that Boss Pei would need to run. The cleaners would provide similar services as in hotels-cleaning, laundry, rubbish collection, and refilling of snacks and drinks in the refrigerator.
Lastly, Pei Qian had to take care of the publicity problem.
Normally, various real estate agents would frantically start making calls once rental apartments were advertised online. They would resort to all sorts of ways and means to bluff people into renting an apartment.
On the surface, they would use all sorts of flowery language, claiming to want to help their customers.
However, in reality, they would only be interested in monopolizing the market, preventing customers from renting an apartment directly or contacting the landlord, and thus earning the agent fees. Pei Qian had no plans to do any advertising for Sloth Apartments. Houses like that would be rented out to those who were fated to stay there. If one could not find it, they could blame it on their own fate. How could Pei Qian rent the apartments to such people? Of course, not advertising the apartments did not mean that Pei Qian would be completely safe.
In the beginning, Pei Qian had avoided publicizing his own games as well. Still, people had found them in the end.
For extra security, Pei Qian planned to observe the situation for a month. If the apartments remained hidden for the next month, it would mean that Pei Qian was using the right strategy. Then, he could be bold. He could buy more buildings, turn them into Sloth Apartments, and let his employees occupy a portion of the empty apartments!
May 6th, Friday...
Fish-Catching Take-Out's first independent shop, which was also Fish-Catching Take-Out's Gourmet Laboratory, was officially open.
Rui Yuchen stood at the entrance, watching the crowd go by and feeling only one thing:
'I'm finally going to spread my wings!' A month ago, Boss Pei personally instructed him not to let Fish-Catching Take-Out rely on Fish-Catching Internet Cafe anymore. Instead, he was to allow the business to be independent and expand it to various big cities.
At the same time, he had been told to set up a Gourmet Laboratory and come up with an extensive menu.
Rui Yuchen had immediately started preparations and planned to open twenty branches.
Among those twenty branches, five would be in Jingzhou—including Fish-Catching Take-Out's Shop Number One—which was the Gourmet Laboratory. Another five would be in other cities in Handong Province, such as Lincheng and Luzhou. The remaining ten would be in first-tier cities like Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Shenzhen.
It would be very problematic to set up branches in foreign cities because it was beyond their influence. If the branches were not being manned by anyone they trusted, there would be no point in setting them up.
However, the good thing was that Fish-Catching Take-Out had gathered a group of loyal employees after being in operations for almost a year. Rui Yuchen had picked several new branch managers from the group of employees and offered additional benefits for the business trip. At once, many people jumped at the opportunity.
After selecting the branch managers, Rui Yuchen got to work on the series of tasks involved in opening new branches. That included looking for spaces, designing the spaces, soft renovations, applying or licenses, hiring local employees, and the like.
Every one of those steps was complicated. Since Fish-Catching Take-Out's Shop Number One was located in Jingzhou, every step felt familiar to Rui Yuchen. Thus, it only took him a month to complete.
The progress in the other cities was obviously slower, but they should be completed in another month or so as well.
A total investment of three million yuan or so had been poured into all twenty branches. The rent and manpower expenses would add up to another six or seven hundred thousand yuan per month.
Rui Yuchen had already carefully considered the locations, renovations, entrance design, furniture, and equipment. To avoid embarrassing Tengda, he had stuck to the best quality for each of those items.
Still, even then, the initial investment did not look like much. That was mainly because all the shops were relatively small.
Boss Pei had emphasized before that, at the end of the day, Fish-Catching Take-Out was meant for take-out. Thus, the shops did not have to be huge. Five or six seats for diners to dine-in would be sufficient.
Those twenty branches were only meant to test the waters at the beginning. Rui Yuchen had bigger hopes for the future.
In any case, Boss Pei had already said that he could spend as much money as he wanted. What was there to fear?
He could open new branches to his heart's content!
Rui Yuchen had analyzed this before. Fish-Catching Take-Out had never generated profits, but Boss Pei had never once complained about it. Obviously, Boss Rui was not concerned about whether the business could generate profits or not; he had other intentions for the business.
Yet, what were they?
Everyone's ultimate aim was to earn money, but some people looked further than others. Boss Pei must be intending to dominate the market for delivery. He would burn money now but earn money later!
Why did he want to separate Fish-Catching Take-Out and Fish-Catching Internet Cafe this time? It was precisely because Fish-Catching Internet Cafe was severely impeding Fish-Catching Take-Out's expansion.
Thus, Rui Yuchen thought that twenty branches were not enough. He had to open even more.
Those twenty branches were meant as a test to see how popular Fish-Catching Take-Out would be in other cities. From there, Rui Yuchen would decide how much he would invest and where he should focus on the next time.
Of course, the observation period might be quite long. Rui Yuchen could not afford to rush things.
At the same time, he kept in mind Boss Pei's requests for the Gourmet Laboratory.
Boss Pei had not given clear instructions on what the 'Gourmet Laboratory' was meant to do yet. However, he had said that it would be used to research new flavors and new dishes. It would also provide custom-made fitness meals for Deposit Fitness.
One could tell from its name that the laboratory would be isolated from the rest of the world.
Yet, after some consideration, Rui Yuchen felt that would be inappropriate. Ordinary laboratories had to be cut off from the rest of the world because they researched dangerous items or secret projects.
However, the Gourmet Laboratory would be researching food items. If it was cut off from the rest of the world and located far away from customers, how would they test the food after conducting research?Thus, Rui Yuchen decided to turn Fish-Catching Take-Out's Shop Number One into the Gourmet Laboratory.
They could forget about generating profits with this branch. It would purely be used to test the latest delicacies and collect feedback from customers. Of course, there was a nutritionist and chef designated here. Each time a new dish was created, the number of calories and nutritional content would be scientifically-tested.
Things could be done in reverse as well. The number of calories and nutritional content could be set first before the dishes were designed
Now, a new dish had just been placed in front of Rui Yuchen.
This was the first product by the Gourmet Laboratory, and it was made exclusively for Deposit Fitness as the second version of fitness meals.
Before this, Deposit Fitness' fitness meals had been prepared by Fish-Catching Take-Out as well. However, those fitness meals were not much different from the fitness meals on the market.
They were made up of ingredients like greens, brown rice, and chicken breast. They were nutritious and healthy, but not delicious.
Thus, the Gourmet Laboratory's research into the fitness meals 2.0 was aimed at solving that biggest problem: the fact that they were not delicious.
Chapter 511 The Very First Secret Service Conference
Rui Yuchen took a pair of chopsticks in hand and picked up a piece of pan-fried sole fish from Fitness meal 2.0 and put it into his mouth.
He then ate small pieces of dragon fruit, eggs, cherry tomatoes, corn kernels, purple sweet potatoes, shrimps, kelp shreds, and the like. He found new surprises with every flip of his chopsticks.
Moreover, Rui Yuchen discovered that these ingredients were not simply cut after putting it into his mouth. They had undergone some form of cooking.
For example, the healthiest way to eat shrimps would be to boil them with a small amount of salt or use a small amount of oil to stir-fry. However, these shrimps were obviously pickled and had a special fragrance.
Similarly, eggs were not simply boiled. They had a hint of tea fragrance, but they are not as heavily fragrant as ordinary tea eggs. Street vendors who sold tea eggs often used tea leaves that had been used many times and added a lot of soy sauce which was very unhealthy. However, Gourmet Laboratory obviously took this point into consideration. They only slightly let the taste enter and did not cook them for a long time.
The ingredients were made into a salad after all they were processed. It was indeed a great improvement in taste compared to Fitness meal 1.0.
Rui Yuchen's plate bottomed out in no time.
The waiter asked cautiously, "Boss Rui, does it taste good?"
Rui Yuchen nodded. "Still alright."
The waiter asked again. "Then... can we promote Fitness Meal 2.0 to the various stores?"
Promoting a dish meant that the chefs in all stores had to master the method and make similar dishes.
On the one hand, it was necessary to control the quantity and cooking time of various ingredients very accurately. On the other hand, it would also require repeated practice by the chef himself.
Therefore, it would take some time before it could be officially introduced to various gyms as fitness meal 2.0 after being promoted to various stores.
Rui Yuchen put down his chopsticks. "No."
The waiter was stunned since he saw Rui Yuchen had eaten the entire fitness meal in front of him. He obviously felt that the fitness meal was delicious.
Why wouldn't it be promoted to stores now that the requirement of 'good fitness meals' had been met?
Rui Yuchen didn't explain much. He just said: "This dish can be considered to be added to the staple meals. As for how to do fitness meal 2.0... I have to think again."
Rui Yuchen left, leaving the waiter to clean up with a blank face.
Rui Yuchen walked aimlessly on the streets, passing by restaurants after leaving Fish-Catching Take-Out Number one store.
Rui Yuchen was half-full but was still tempted, smelling the fragrance wafting from the restaurants. "The fitness meal is indeed delicious but... I still feel that it was not enough. It's not bad to have an occasional meal, but it seems like no one would be able to accept it if they were to eat it every day.
"Why was that?
"It's not because it's not tasty, but because of salad... doesn't meet the eating habits of the Chinese people, and it doesn't seem to be a necessity.
"What are the Chinese people used to eating?"
"First, it must be hot, and the salads are usually cold, which will make people feel that it is not a serious meal. Second, it must be fully flavored; the weak taste will cause instinctive resistance and rejection. Finally, there must be more meat.
"Normal healthy salads would not make the cut.
"Therefore, in fact, 99% of people will give up even though they are clamoring to lose weight, to be healthy, and expect to eat healthy meals every day to lose weight. Even if they eat delicious and healthy meals, they can't keep going "That's because it is completely contradicting our dietary instincts.
"Hm... this problem is serious, very serious! It may even affect Boss Pei's overall plan!"
Rui Yuchen suddenly became alert.
He had already guessed in the early days when Boss Pei tried to vigorously branch out Fish-Catching Take-Out that it must be to appeal to the consumers to live a healthy lifestyle through diet.
Tengda could also use this opportunity to make arrangements in advance to lay a solid foundation for the future development of various other industries.
It was precisely because of this that Rui Yuchen could boldly open branches and ask for money from Boss Pei.
That was because he knew that Boss Pei would support such a method.
Boss Pei got Fish-Catching Take-Out to provide fitness meals that were bundled with the Deposit Fitness. It was obviously to achieve better fitness effects.
Rui Yuchen originally felt that the problem with the Fitness meal was very easy to resolve. Wouldn't it be enough to increase its deliciousness?
However, he suddenly realized today that it was not enough to just improve on its taste! If he did not think about how 'local Chinese would not be able to accept taking salad' and promote Fitness meal 2.0 to the gym. It might cause dire consequences. Such a fitness meal would not only not be of any help to the gym but would also cause clients to leave!
Such a fitness meal might be healthy, but it was contradictory to the eating habits of most people. Only very few could be determined to stick to it.
If it was not bundled with the gym, then at the very most, they could eat something else without affecting the gym.
However, Deposit Fitness and the fitness meals were bundled together directly. One would have no choice even if one did not want to eat it. That would cause many customers to leave.
As far as Rui Yuchen knew, some of their customers had indeed asked for refunds so far. He did not know just how many of them were due to the fitness meal though.
That meant to say that if Rui Yuchen did not notice this point and allowed the promotion of the fitness meal, the Deposit Fitness might not be able to make a profit. Boss Pei's plan might be seriously implicated!
Of course, that could not be blamed on Boss Pei. Boss Pei had always been busy at work; how could he dictate how the fitness meal should look like?
Rui Yuchen felt that solving this problem should be within his own scope of works.
"How lucky, I nearly caused huge trouble with this near miss! Wouldn't I become the culprit if Deposit Fitness were to fail because of the fitness meal? That would completely disappoint Boss Pei's expectations in me!"
Rui Yuchen hurriedly walked towards his office, ready to spend a few days to fully correct the mistake with the healthy meals!
May 7th, Saturday...
The soft sound of waves rang in Pei Qian's ears, awakening him.
This was part of the smart home designed by Liang Qingfan. Compared with a traditional alarm, the sound was much softer and gentle on the ears.
Pei Qian wanted to continue sleeping but suddenly remembered that it was the first conference with the Manage Loss Trainees.
He could only fumble around and pat the transparent control panel beside the bed.
The floor-to-ceiling windows became transparent, light entered softly, spilling over the entire room.
Pei Qian turned over and sat up. He yawned and glanced at the bedside mirror that could be used as a control panel. He found a dark circle below his eyes.
Pei Qian was very satisfied with his new residence after moving in for two days. He had no qualms at all. His dark circles were not due to uncomfortable living and lack of rest, but because of playing games till late yesterday.
He could not help it; the large television was simply too alluring.
Shenhua View, conference room on the 16th floor...
Pei Qian's gaze swept across Tang Yishu and the other 17 Manage Loss Trainees. He suddenly felt an inexplicable sense of comfort as though he was sneaking around doing something bad trying not to be caught.
It felt like the thrill he felt when he sneaked to the internet cafe during high school.
Could my employees feel the same way when they were secretly working overtime?
Pei Qian could not help but link that thinking in his mind.
En... very likely!
Why would they be so hyped about working overtime then?
The Manage Loss Trainees, on the other hand, felt that Boss Pei must have been working extremely hard recently when they saw the dark circles beneath his eyes.
Pei Qian glanced at Tang Yishu, and Tang Yishu got the message immediately. "Start reporting." The 17 Manage Loss Trainees had been inserted into the different departments of Tengda Corporation and began reporting in the order of their seats.
Of course, they picked their seats randomly. All of them had to report anyway so there was no difference who went first. listened silently,
Pei Qian-on the other hand ready to ask questions.
Pei Qian raised his hand to stop the trainee from the fifth department which was from Deposit Fitness.
"Have the four departments you are in established large-scale spending plans like increasing salaries, optimizing benefit structure, improving office environment, business expansion, and upgrading?"
Pei Qian looked at the four Manage Loss Trainees who were done with their reporting.
All four Manage Loss Trainees nodded. A few other Manage Loss Trainees started speaking, too.
"Senior, the same with our department."
"Dream Realization Ventures, too."
"Zhongdian Chinese Network has something similar planned as well."
Pei Qian was shocked.
He did not feel anything out of the ordinary when the first Manage Loss Trainees started reporting. There was nothing to be alarmed about by spending some money. However, so many departments were actually making plans to spend money at the same time?
This was very strange.
Pei Qian scanned the entire place and found that the only one without such a plan was Upwind Logistics which Lu Mingliang was responsible for.
What was the reason? Have they all consulted each other?
Upwind Logistics...
Pei Qian's eyes brightened as he thought about it.
Yes, the Tengda Cornerstone Award!
Upwind Logistics won the Tengda Cornerstone Award previously, which made the rest of the departments eager to win the same!
Obviously, the other departments were jealous!
Did they finally understand the meaning of the sixteen words on the trophy I awarded to Upwind Logistics? Did they finally realize that I was actually encouraging them to spend money?
Why would all of them spend money at the same time otherwise?
Moreover, there was content supplementing the salary structure, raising wages, and optimizing the working environment in these spending plans. That shows that they had finally got the hang of it!
They must have been feeling imbalanced and were now pissed off!
Great!
It was great for these departments to begin losing more money!
They should be encouraged!
Pei Qian noted this down happily, planning to introduce a new policy when he goes back to work on Monday, to help them burn money faster and reduce the burden on him.
Pei Qian did not show much expression after he recorded it down. He only signaled the Manage Loss Trainee in Deposit Fitness to continue.
Pei Qian had met him before and knew that he was working as a planner in the Deposit Fitness Flagship store. He held the data of the entire gym.
"Senior, Deposit Fitness is still in a state of operating loss. Moreover, four more students asked for refunds this week."
Pei Qian could not help but be delighted. Good news!
I knew Deposit Fitness would not let me down!Continue working hard and dissuade all the students!
The Manage Loss Trainees continued reporting. "Also, Personal trainer Yaling brought another 16 students last week."
Pei Qian kept silent with question marks above his head.
16?
Again? How many had she brought in total? This person was really problematic!
Pei Qian increased his alertness but felt happy at the same time. He would have been kept in the dark until things happened previously. It was totally different now; Boss Pei had a Secret Service team!
None of your actions could escape my eyes!
Pei Qian's eyes became sharp. Something had to be done about this tumor!
Chapter 512 Traveler Bao Xu
Pei Qian recorded the fact that Yaling was pulling customers to Deposit Fitness silently. He would do something about her next week. A dozen clients would be far from enough to affect the loss situation of the Deposit Fitness, but one can never be too careful.
Boss Pei was a cautious person. Yaling had proven to be popular. Anyway, these people probably came out of curiosity. They could be bewitched by her face, or a very small portion of people might want her body. No matter what, she was liked by customers.
If that was the case, then she should not be in the flagship store.
It was Fish-Catching Take-Out's turn after two other Manage Loss Trainees were done with their reporting
The Manage Loss Trainee of Fish-Catching Take-Out was the waiter in the first store. That meant that he could know about the profit and loss situation of Fish-Catching Take-Out and also the latest products of Gourmet Laboratory.
"Senior, the Fish-Catching Take-Out has been expanding rapidly recently. They have planned for twenty stores which would be officially open soon, covering many cities across the country. Boss Rui seemed to be planning for a large quantity of stores after a certain period of observation as well.
"Other than that, he had also invested a large amount of capital into the development of the Gourmet Laboratory.
"The first result of Gourmet Laboratory is the Fitness meal 2.0, but it did not satisfy Boss Rui so that progress had been halted and is currently awaiting Boss Rui's commands."
Pei Qian's eyes lit up.
Yes, all of them were good news!
The opening of stores in large quantities was instructed by Pei Qian, but for it was rather unexpected that Rui Yuchen was able to understand his intent to this extent.
Rui Yuchen did much better than Lu Mingliang on this note.
Lu Mingliang was a little too obedient. He only dared to branch out more Upwind Courier stations when Boss Pei dictated him to; otherwise, he did not dare to do so. The entire department was still in huge losses after all.
However, Boss Pei obviously hoped that these loss-making departments could exert more subjective initiative and carry the heavy task of burning money. He did not want to always enforce things with a whip.
Rui Yuchen frantically began to prepare for a new store and spend a lot of money on the Gourmet Laboratory and research and development after receiving Boss Pei's orders. It felt as though he was not distressed about spending other people's money!
That was a great sign, worthy to be praised.
Boss Pei needed talents like him who were daring to spend money!
It seemed like Gourmet Laboratory's progress was very slow since there had been no results so far for Fitness meal 2.0. He probably did not need to worry about it for the time being.
All the Manage Loss Trainees completed their reports in no time. Tang Yishu listened carefully and created minute meetings. All these contents were kept on her.
Pei Qian's consideration was that some problems might have appeared, but he might not have judged it accurately because of his negligence or because he might have insufficient information.
After a while, it might be necessary to review the contents of this meeting again.
A successful project would certainly not emerge out of thin air. Look through these reports and find out how it performed when it first showed signs so that it could at least provide a reference for the future.
Pei Qian coughed slightly. "Not bad, everyone did well. I'm very satisfied. Please keep it up.
"Finally, I'll emphasize two points.
"First, remember that you should never mix any personal opinions in your reporting and make sure that the information you gave is objective enough; otherwise, it might affect my judgment.
"Secondly, if you encounter something that you felt is very important to report to me, you can submit it to Little Tang without waiting for the next meeting. She will report it to me."
Pei Qian emphasized these two points so that the effect of the Secret Service would not differ too much.
These Manage Loss Trainees might be loyal to him, but strictly speaking, the rest of Boss Pei's employees were also very loyal to him. Loyalty did not mean he would not be stabbed in the back.
Ie
These people were from poor backgrounds and had accepted help from Pei Qian. They treasured this opportunity.
If they were allowed to exert their own initiatives, they would definitely report more worries and less good news as time went by.
These Manage Loss Trainees thought that they were looking out for signs of things that might cause losses after all. Who would have thought that Boss Pei was actually asking everyone to look out for the signs that might cause profits?
Therefore, the reports by them had to remain objective. Otherwise, Boss Pei would still continue to be blind.
In addition, Pei Qian emphasized that they could report any suspicious things at any time, also to prevent unexpected situations during the time in between meetings like this.
It was not realistic to have weekly meetings. On the one hand, there was not too much content to report. On the other hand, Pei Qian himself had to rest during weekends.
Boss Pei should not promulgate 'no overtime' and yet work overtime himself every Saturday. Wouldn't that be ridiculous?
These Manage Loss Trainees could report at any time, which meant that Boss Pei could still enjoy his weekends and yet not lose his sight of the departments.
May 8th, Sunday...
Pei Qian put down the controller and collapsed on the sofa extremely comfortably in the afterglow of the sunset.
He had to say that this huge TV was too sensual. He could not stop playing once he started. He turned off the game and opened a variety show at random. He then took out some fresh fruits from the refrigerator and ate them while watching TV.
"The call for new GOG heroes seemed to have gone on for nearly a week. It seemed like a new hero design manuscript would be selected today.
"Which player would be so lucky to be selected?"
Pei Qian opened his cell phone and jumped to the mobile terminal of the official website through the GOG login interface. He then entered the forum where calls for heroes were ongoing
He found the post soliciting for heroes in the top area of the website.
"Special Contributors Area Player Contribution: Traveler Bao Xu (Adopted]!"
Pei Qian clicked into it immediately. The body of the post read. "This character design was inspired by the characteristics of outstanding employees in the special contribution area.
"Hero name: Traveler Bao Xu. The character background was a traveler from the East. Its appearance is similar to Ma Chao in 'Ghost General' and is a centaur with oriental characteristics.
"Positioning: Warrior. "What interested me, in particular, is that, as a determined otaku, Bao Xu had repeatedly received paid vacations because of his excellence in performance. He had to leave his footprints all over the world.
"His reluctance and forced travels left a huge impression on me.
"Passive skills: A traveler forced by circumstances.
"Bao Xu's blue bar is a rage bar; the difference is that neither attacking nor being attacked would increase the rage bar. When Bao Xu stood still, he would obtain an energetic effect.
"When moving, his rage bar would begin to increase and continue after a while before it became full, and then the hero would enter a rage state. "Energetic effect: In reality, Bao Xu can play games for several consecutive nights. It can be seen that his energy is very strong when he is still. The traveler Bao Xu in the game can obtain a certain reduction in the percentage of damage when he stands still.
"He would gain a certain health regeneration bonus while standing still. The lower the health bar, the higher these two values would be. At the same time, the rage bar would be cleared immediately. "Rage state: All of Bao Xu's stats would be enhanced in this state, but it would be cleared immediately after using the skills or stopping movements. They would then re-accumulate while moving "First Skill: Rush.
"Traveler Bao Xu's core output skill. In a non-rage state, this skill will perform a short rush displacement and immediately maximize the rage value. In the rage state, this skill will gain a further advance effect, causing additional damage, and force a small displacement to the enemy. The enemy who shows weakness or the enemy with his back towards him will suffer more damage."
"Second skill: Situation Judgment.
"Traveler Bao Xu would use momentary in-depth thinking and situational judgment to interpret the enemy thinking until he comes up with a way to turn the situation around. He would be able to greatly increase the recovery value of the energetic effect in a non-rage state. In a rage state, this skill would show an enemy's weakness in the surrounding area."
"Third Skill: Stealth.
"To avoid the suffering of traveling, Bao Xu could only make himself less noticeable. It can only be used in a non-rage state. He would become translucent and would be difficult to find. However, he will suffer area damage.
"At the same time, he would be able to move while maintaining the energetic effect and accumulate rage points. When attacking or being attacked, he would leave the rage state, and the stealth effect would disappear. His energetic effect would disappear, but his rage value would remain.
"Ultimate Skill: War Expert "Bao Xu in real life is an expert at games. Traveler Bao Xu is a war expert. Activate ult in a non-rage state, and the energetic effect would be improved. The effect can be superimposed with the second skill and the rage state.
"Rage value recovery speed will be greatly increased during the ult activation. The surrounding enemies will periodically refresh weaknesses randomly, and Bao Xu's damage will be significantly increased."
Pei Qian could not help but sigh after reading the introduction of this hero.
How befitting...
Wasn't this the burden Bao Xu who always wanted to escape from holidays and give him a stab in the back immediately after his trip?
He felt offended.
However, Pei Qian's thoughts changed since this hero seemed to be controlled by Modest. It needs to refresh its weaknesses or attack from the back to maximize its damage, and Modest was immune to injury when it suffered an attack from the back while also releasing damage skills.
In addition, Traveler Bao Xu needed to keep moving since he would still be affected by area damage in stealth mode. Modest had limited movement skills and area damage skills.
Pei Qian could not help but feel a little delighted when he thought about that.
Bao Xu, eh Bao Xu, you ain't my opponent no matter in real life or in-game!
He had to say that the players had brilliant thinking. They actually designed Tengda's employees as heroes!
Pei Qian flipped through a few sections and found that many people had sent their designs; some of them were excellent.
There might be no corresponding design for Traveler Bao Xu, but Min Jingchao chose it as the next hero because of its skills and mechanism.
This post quickly became popular after being selected officially. It became a huge place for discussions.
"Fu*k, this hero looks so fun! Its mechanics are so special!" "Thinking out loud about the gameplay. Should we keep still and receive damage or sneak up behind the enemy and give them a stab behind their back?"
"Impressive Big boss, 5% of skin profits!" "Hurry, make this hero! I cannot wait to play it!"
Chapter 513 It was the Right Decision to Move the Workspace to Jingzhou!
Pei Qian browsed the posts and could not help but fall into deep thought.
The players are amazing...
Even a porter might not be able to defeat those players.
Pei Qian could remember many heroes, but the heroes in each MOBA game were closely related to the characteristics of the game itself. Take DOTA, LOL, and Heroes of the Storm for example. Each one of their heroes had characteristics that would clash with other games' mechanisms.
After being revised again and again, GOG was now vastly different from a lot of MOBA games that Pei Qian remembered. It would not be appropriate to move other games' heroes over to this one.
What's more, Pei Qian only remembered the heroes' names, designs, and their general skills. On the other hand, the gamers were providing proposals that were outstanding in their own ways.
Some contributed beautiful concept art, which was enough to win on appearance alone. Some designed heroes based on Tengda's employees or existing character IPs and thus made them more popular as characters in the game. There were also skills and mechanisms designs, which were comparable to the heroes that Pei Qian had moved over from other games.
After some thought, Pei Qian decided to just move one hero over.
The gamers were so enthusiastic and lively, and they must have spent a huge amount of time creating those heroes. Although 99% of those proposals would not be accepted, they were still enjoying their work.
Since GOG had already become crowd-sourced, the designs of the in-game content should be left to the gamers. It would be best if the game did not turn into a second LOL, or it would be meaningless.
If Pei Qian moved more than ten LOL heroes into GOG, there could only be two outcomes. Firstly, Pei Qian could win all the rewards and leave nothing for the gamers. Then, he would be letting the enthusiastic and supportive gamers down. Although Pei Qian found the gamers annoying for throwing their money at him constantly, he still could not bear to see their efforts go to waste.
Secondly, Pei Qian could lose to the other gamers even after moving so many heroes over. That was because they could be lacking in concept art, or their skills might not match the game's mechanisms. That would be awkward, and Pei Qian would feel sorry for the heroes' original designers.
After much thought, Pei Qian concluded that his life was now free of worry. What's more, he could earn hundreds of thousands of yuan by causing the company to incur losses. That was definitely much better than most gamers. He could afford to eat; there was no reason for him to be ugly and swallow the five percent share of profits from the sale of all skins.
What's more, the competition between GOG and IOI might be affected by that move. If he was not cautious, Lin Wan would not return home; he would be caught in an uncomfortable situation.
Thus, Pei Qian decided to stick to his original plan and move only one hero.
As for who he should move... Of course, he would move Yasuo!
The five percent share of profits from the sale of all skins was not important to Pei Qian. His only intention was to allow gamers to feel pure joy.
Pei Qian was very familiar with Yasuo's skills. In fact, he had memorized them like the back of his hand. Still, after writing two sentences, Pei Qian pondered for a moment and then deleted everything. Yasuo's Ronin image was too popular. What if GOG defeated IOI the moment the hero was released? Would Lin Wan still be able to go home?
After much consideration, Pei Qian decided that the five percent share of profits could not add up to much at the beginning.
That was because GOG's skins were cheap to begin with. What's more, the first few skins were going at a 90% and 70% discount respectively. Before GOG dominated the market, there wouldn't be too many players either. Thus, the five percent would not add up too much.
However, a good hero would significantly improve GOG's image in the initial period after its release. It could easily cause real damage to IOI.
Thus, after some thought, Pei Qian decided to be extremely stingy and only offer the hero's mechanism.
If the design team wanted to accept it, they could design the hero's outer appearance. Otherwise, Pei Qian could think about moving Yasuo's outer appearance over to GOG as well.
At that thought, Pei Qian began to type again. He did not enter the hero's name or characteristics. Instead, he only typed out all of Yasuo's skill mechanisms.
"Good. I'm done!
"I wonder if the team will accept it... Well, I'll leave it to fate."
Pei Qian had an account in GOG that was tied to his own identity. However, unless GOG's project team intentionally looked it up, they would not know that the account belonged to him.
May 9th, Monday...
Pei Qian woke up as usual and arrived at Fish-Catching Internet Cafe for his meal.
He switched on his phone and glanced at it. None of the posts that he had published had been accepted. Of course, none of the other heroes' designs had been accepted as well.
Pei Qian was very satisfied because it meant that none of the members of GOG's project team had worked overtime.
They would probably only see the posts when they officially resumed work today.
In any case, Pei Qian did not have to worry. He could wait patiently. After having his meal, Pei Qian ordered a cup of coffee. He sipped it as he basked in the comfortable afternoon sun.
Life is so satisfying.
If only my employees worked harder to incur losses for me. Then, it would be even more satisfying Just as Pei Qian was sipping his coffee, Ruan Guangjian walked in. Obviously, it was time for their routine coffee run. When Ruan Guangjian saw Boss Pei, he looked surprised. However, he soon grinned and sat opposite him.
"Boss Pei, you're a rare guest!"
He studied Pei Qian's expression carefully. "Boss Pei, that thing doesn't seem to be bothering you."
Pei Qian was befuddled. "What thing are you referring to?"
Ruan Guangjian confirmed that Boss Pei's confusion was genuine and not an act.
"That's right, Boss Pei. You're extremely busy. You probably didn't have time to keep an eye on those things. I'm referring to what happened to Tomorrow is Beautiful when it premiered overseas last weekend."
Pei Qian's hand trembled as he tried to maintain a firm grip on his coffee cup.
He was finished. Whatever was coming would come!
It was still early in the morning-oh no, in the afternoon—and he was already receiving such grievous news!
This had been delayed for a long time. After all, a movie had to go through a complicated process to be screened overseas.
In fact, it had been so long that Pei Qian had subconsciously forgotten about it already.
Yet, now, one sentence from Ruan Guangjian awakened all the fear Pei Qian used to have because of Tomorrow is Beautiful.
He still remembered the night that he had gone to watch the first screening of the movie. He had finished the entire bucket of popcorn and not uttered a single word.
After recovering from the initial shock, Pei Qian felt angry.
Good on you, Ruan Guangjian! Every time I see you, nothing good happens!
What's more, what has the overseas screening got to do with you? Even if I'm to be backstabbed, it should be by Huang Sibo and Zhu Xiaoce. Why are you snatching their jobs?!
Just draw your pictures and stop interfering in other people's business!
Pei Qian forced himself to remain calm. "Do you like watching movies, too?"
Ruan Guangjian nodded profusely. "Of course! I'm a loyal fan of this movie! I've watched it a couple of times! What's more, many of the actors in Struggle were bit-role actors in that movie, right? I needed to draw more materials, and so I ordered the movie online to watch it whenever I want."
Pei Qian: "..."
ev
You watched the movie multiple times and even bought it online? Are you afraid that I wouldn't die an ugly death?
Pei Qian was speechless. He did not want to speak to that fellow anymore.
Seeing Boss Pei's dark and listless expression, Ruan Guangjian could not help but feel shocked. "Er, Boss Pei... I thought you didn't know about what happened when Tomorrow is Beautiful premiered overseas.
"Judging from your reaction... how did you know that Tomorrow is Beautiful did not sell well when it was released?
"Could you have... guessed it? Did you expect this to happen?"
Pei Qian's dark eyes lit up at once.
"Eh?"
It did not sell well when it was released? The foreigners did not like the film? That was great! That was a pleasant surprise!
Pei Qian had been living in fear before, thinking about what he would do if the film made tens of millions of yuan once it was screened overseas.
However, from what Ruan Guangjian had just said, it looked like it had been a false alarm!
It looks like Ruan Guangjian has been observing how the film has been doing in overseas box offices. He found out that tickets were not selling well, and so he's bringing it up on purpose to comfort me. I've wronged him!
Pei Qian was elated. He immediately waved at the waiter and said, "Give me a cocktail! No, make it two!"
He had to celebrate this good news! The two cocktails were delivered almost immediately. Pei Qian handed one to Ruan Guangjian.
Ruan Guangjian waved and said, "Er, Boss Pei... I have to work in the afternoon. I can't drink."
"It's alright. I'll drink it on my own." Pei Qian nonchalantly placed the two glasses of cocktail in front of him.
Ruan Guangjian hesitated and then took one of them. "Forget it. I'll make an exception today to accompany you, Boss Pei."
Seeing Boss Pei put on a strong front made Ruan Guangjian's heart hurt all of a sudden. He empathized very well. It was the overwhelming sadness that came with pouring one's heart and soul into one's work and then having it not be understood by others.
Tomorrow is Beautiful was an impressive film with deep meaning! It was even filmed in English so that foreigners would not need to read subtitles to have a smooth experience.
Yet, the film failed to become popular. That made Ruan Guangjian feel like Boss Pei was not getting proper recognition for his talents.
After they toasted each other, they sipped their cocktails and placed their cups back down.
After some thought, Ruan Guangjian comforted Boss Pei. "Boss Pei, don't take it to heart.
"Local films get very low row piece rates overseas to begin with. Local films made over the past few years, especially, are becoming less influential in overseas markets as well. Since we can't do extensive publicity overseas, it's only normal that local films wouldn't sell well.
"At least, based on what I know, Tomorrow is Beautiful has a pretty good reputation to the overseas audience. That means that the film is not the problem. Maybe there's another subjective reason for the outcome..."
Pei Qian could not help but rejoice inwardly.
Who cares what reason it was?! Everything's fine as long as I'm not earning more money.
Who would have thought that Ruan Guangjian would bring me a huge piece of good news today?
Huang Sibo and Zhu Xiaoce are still in shock therapy. I wonder if they're happy being 'shocked'. They probably already know about this, right? Yet, neither of them had reported it to me.
Yes, that's reasonable. After all, it's nothing worth being proud of.
Ruan Guangjian finished his cocktail, grabbed the bags of coffee from the waiter, and stood up to leave. "Boss Pei, I've been very busy at work. I'll make a move first." Pei Qian nodded. "Ah, alright."You just moved to Jingzhou not long ago, and you're already so busy? It looks like the move did not affect your work that much."
Pei Qian casually said this since he was in a pretty good mood.
Ruan Guangjian gave Boss Pei a knowing smile. "The move did affect us significantly. A few companies that we were working with in Shanghai stopped working with us due to problems with communication.
"Still, it doesn't matter. Boss Pei, your projects have been enough to keep our workspace alive."
Pei Qian: "?"
Still smiling, Ruan Guangjian said, "With the concept art for all the actors in Struggle, two new heroes per month for GOG, and so many new skins; our workspace has been forced to move at full speed now.
"Thanks to Boss Pei, our rent and various expenses have been cut, but our workload remains the same. What's more, we've received so many high-quality orders from Tengda. Our workspace's income has seen an obvious increase!
"It was the right decision to move the workspace to Jingzhou!"
Chapter 514 Boss Pei and Big Boss Ruan's Hidden Friendship
At the same time, at Tengda Games...
Min Jingchao browsed through the forums as usual, freeloading off the gamers' creativity. He had to admit that the gamers' wisdom was limitless.
Take the idea of the Traveler Bao Xu, for example. Just one glance convinced Min Jingchao that the hero would be excellent. It would have a wide range of skills, a warm image, and-most importantly-it fit Bao Xu's character.
Thus, he accepted the idea on the spot.
However, not many ideas were as good as that. After all, few gamers understood the mechanics of the game and design inside and out. Most designs were problematic to a certain extent.
Now, Min Jingchao was shortlisting ideas from the vast sea of suggestions that gamers were making daily. Whenever he found suitable ideas, he would send them to the design team to be improved on. Then, the development process would be kickstarted.
Min Jingchao kept to a few unspoken rules when shortlisting ideas.
For instance, the designers of the games department were not to participate in this event.
Min Jingchao had designed a couple of heroes himself, but he had not received any compensation. That was because Boss Pei was already paying him enough for doing his job.
What's more, he could earn rewards based on the game's reputation and initial investment. There was no reason for him to be doubly remunerated. It would be shameful to fight with gamers for a five-percent share of profits.
On top of that, Min Jingchao tried his best to choose hero ideas from different designers. Min Jingchao would only consider accepting two hero ideas from a single designer if a certain hero was obviously much better than the others, and Min Jingchao had to make use of the ideas.
That was because the event was meant for everyone to participate in. The number of heroes GOG could have was limited, as was the amount of money to be distributed.
If one person was rewarded too much, the others would feel less motivated to participate in the event. That would not keep the community healthy.
Of course, one also had to consider if each hero's mechanisms could fit into the overall game mechanism, whether each hero's defining characteristics would be obvious or not and whether they would repeat or clash with the existing heroes in the game or not.
Min Jingchao kept browsing the posts and suddenly spotted a post with a good number of likes. He subconsciously clicked on it and discovered that the idea was purely for the hero's skill mechanism.
The character's first skill was a short-range attack. After using it three times, it could cause enemies to fly back. The second skill was...
"Eh? These game mechanisms look quite interesting."
Min Jingchao thought hard about it. He decided that the hero's characterization was clear, and the mechanisms would be entertaining. The design team would just have to package the skills in the right hero, and it would likely be quite popular.
Yet, the problem was what kind of packaging they should give it.
If the enthusiastic gamer had written more about the hero's brief background story, perhaps they would have had a general direction. However, apart from the fact that he was a part-assassin and part-fighter, Min Jingchao had no other information about this hero.
Min Jingchao accessed the gamer's information, attempting to look for some inspiration.
After all, the idea was coming from this gamer. It would be perfect if the hero's appearance could have some sort of connection with him as well.
"Eh? He has all of Tengda's games? He's a veteran gamer of Tengda.
"Huh? He bought The Lonely Desert Road that early? He's an extremely old customer.
"Isn't this freaking Boss Pei himself?!"
If Min Jingchao had not looked into it, he would not have known a thing. However, after conducting a brief search, he now knew that this was Boss Pei's personal account! He checked multiple times and confirmed that it was indeed Boss Pei!
After that, Min Jingchao became deeply confused. If Boss Pei had wanted to create a new hero, he could have just told me, right?
Why did he go to so much trouble and create a post on the forum? What if the gamers didn't appreciate his idea and like his post? Wouldn't the idea have gone to waste?
Could it be that Boss Pei was so confident in his own design that he knew it would stand out even if he posted it among the other gamers' ideas?
Yes, judging from the outcome, that was true. Yet, if that had been the only reason, it still seemed lacking.
Once again, Min Jingchao fell into deep thought. After all, 'thinking more' was a habit that every employee of Tengda needed to cultivate.
Why didn't Boss Pei design the hero's outer appearance? Couldn't he do it? Of course, he could!
That means he had left it out on purpose!
After much thought, Min Jingchao finally came up with two reasons that could explain Boss Pei's actions.
First, Boss Pei had left out the hero's outer appearance to test the abilities of GOG's development team. He had wanted the development team to guess his intentions and supplement his idea with the hero's outer appearance and story background.
Second, Boss Pei was trying to remain impartial. GOG and IOI were competing intensely, and Boss Pei did not want to pick a side. That was probably why he did not offer any guidance to GOG and instead chose this subtle method.
In other words, Boss Pei did not want anyone else to know that he was helping with GOG's design in secret, and so he had to help them sneakily. This made Min Jingchao's heart feel warm. Indeed, GOG was Boss Pei's own flesh and blood!
Min Jingchao was sure that the five-percent share of profits would not mean anything to Boss Pei. Instead, the title as the designer of a hero would probably mean much more to him.
"I have to hide the fact that Boss Pei had designed the skill mechanisms for this hero and treat it as a design from an ordinary gamer.
"The next question to ask would be what kind of outer appearance we should give this hero. We already have a hero that's based on Boss Pei. Obviously, we have to base this character on someone else.
"Who should it be?
"Boss Pei must have someone in mind, but it was probably inconvenient for him to write it
out."
Min Jingchao seriously considered this question and discovered that this hero could be very complimentary to Modest. That was because Modest's second skill could close lanes and knock enemies back, and this knockback had the effect of launching enemies into the air and moving them away. Theoretically, it could follow up on the new hero's ult.
In other words, Modest could activate his second skill from the back, thereby closing off lanes and knocking key opponents back. Then, the new hero would use his ult.
Modest would maximize the absorption of damage, and both Modest and the new hero would deal as much damage as possible on their enemies.
Yes, they would be the perfect match!
Who was Boss Pei's perfect partner in reality?
Of course, it was Big Boss Ruan Guangjian!
What's more, the new hero's abilities matched Big Boss Ruan Guangjian's characteristics quite well.
The abstract image of an artist would be graceful and elegant. At the same time—while Ruan Guangjian looked ordinary on the surface, he had actually been deeply influenced by art. Every move of his carried the aura of an ancient literary genius.
At that thought, Min Jingchao felt inspired.
The new hero would be called: Literary Genius of the Winds, Ruan. Ruan was an ancient Chinese calligrapher and artist, and his weapon would be a huge paintbrush.
His first skill would be violent scribbling with his paintbrush. After three uses, he could summon a raging wind with his scribbling, causing all the opponents on the lane to fly into the air.
His second skill would be rapidly drawing a landscape painting of clouds and mist, which could block enemy projectiles.
His third skill would be wind-riding, which would allow him to pass between enemies. His ult would be creating illusions. He would create an illusion for all airborne enemies while riding the winds through thousands of miles to get to his target's side. Then, he would suppress and deal damage to the target.
After matching the hero's packaging to his skills, Min Jingchao intently checked everything once through and discovered that everything blended perfectly.
"Could this hero have been custom-made for Big Boss Ruan? Was Boss Pei just embarrassed to make it too obvious?
"Yes, that's very possible. After all, Boss Pei had increased the remuneration of outsourcing companies previously just to take care of Big Boss Ruan's workspace. He had done all that just to make sure that Big Boss Ruan made it through the initial difficulties after moving to Jingzhou.
"Ah, are all friendships between bosses so hidden?"
Min Jingchao could not help but fantasize about Modest and Ruan fighting side-by-side among all the heroes in the future.
Just thinking about it excited him!
At once, Min Jingchao began tidying up all of the requirements for Ruan's concept art. He wanted to send them to Ruan Guangjian as soon as he could.
Since the hero was based on Big Boss Ruan, Big Boss Ruan had to personally design this hero's outer appearance, of course!
Once the Traveler Bao Xu was released, it would be Literary Genius of the Winds, Ruan's turn!
Min Jingchao was highly efficient. In less than two hours, he had completed the list of requirements for Literary Genius of the Winds, Ruan. He sent the list to Ruan Guangjian immediately.
At Halo Workspace, Ruan Guangjian sipped his coffee and continued doing his work.
All of a sudden, the icon for the chat software flashed in the bottom-right corner of his screen. A pop-up window also appeared, displaying a document for download: 'Literary Genius of the Winds, Ruan – List of Requirements.xlsx'
"Eh?"
Ruan Guangjian was stunned. The next hero design was out so soon?
It was just last Thursday or Friday that he had started work on Traveler Bao Xu. Now, there was a new hero already?
Ruan Guangjian accepted the download, opened it, and became even more shocked. The hero's surname was Ruan, and he enjoyed calligraphy and painting... He began to suspect if the hero was based on him, but then he wrote off the thought for fear that he was being too narcissistic.
At that moment, Min Jingchao sent him a message.
"Big Boss Ruan, that's right. Boss Pei designed this hero based on you. I just added a few more details. However, Boss Pei seems to want to keep this low-profile. He doesn't want anyone to know that he was behind it. Don't make it too obvious; just take note of it in your heart."
Ruan Guangjian was speechless.
I just bumped into Boss Pei when I went to collect coffee earlier. In other words, just then, Boss Pei had already designed a hero based on me?
Yet, Boss Pei had not mentioned it at all at Fish-Catching Internet Cafe...
Hmm, that fits Boss Pei's restrained personality well.
Back when Halo Workspace moved to Jingzhou, Boss Pei had also appeared cool on the outside when he was actually warm on the inside.
He had not said much, but he had secretly increased the remuneration for outsourcing companies, thereby helping Halo Workspace to overcome its difficulties.
This time, he was being even more reserved. Without a single word, he had created a unique hero for the game based on me. Instinctively, Ruan Guangjian's mouth spread into a grin. He replied, "Don't worry. I'll make the concept art look very impressive!"
Min Jingchao said, "Well, for its first skin, design a combined event with Modest. It's in both of the heroes' background stories that they're good friends, alright?"
Ruan Guangjian smiled knowingly. "Of course. I couldn't ask for anything more."