Losing Money to Become a Tycoon: Starting with Games
Chapter 343: This Matter Is Definitely Not Simple
November 29th, Monday.
Pei Qian arrived at Tengda as usual to make his rounds.
The moment he walked in, he felt that the atmosphere in the company seemed a bit different from before.
As for exactly how it was different…
Pei Qian observed carefully and realized that everyone seemed busier than before.
"Is that bug from earlier fixed yet?"
"Yeah, it's fixed."
"Then why did it show up again?"
"That can't be right? Let me check. Huh? That's weird."
"Holy crap, even Turn Back Before It's Too Late has bugs now!"
A chorus of wails filled the office.
It seemed that not only was GOG, which was still in development, riddled with bugs, but even older games like Turn Back Before It's Too Late and Game Producer—titles whose bugs had been deeply buried—were now seeing one hidden issue after another suddenly surface…
Everyone was being driven frantic by the bugs, completely lacking the calm, unhurried atmosphere they'd had before.
Pei Qian couldn't help but smile.
Very good! Excellent!
Bugs meant that development progress would be slowed down, and the overall quality of the game would drop.
Pei Qian's requirement for development schedules was simple: just finish within the time mandated by the system.
However, as more and more games were developed, budgets grew larger, and everyone's experience became richer, development efficiency also kept increasing.
That led to an awkward problem.
A game that was originally scheduled to take more than four months to develop ended up being finished in just over three months!
So what then?
The game was already finished, he couldn't very well force it to stay unreleased, right? There was no reasonable excuse.
As a result, the game launched early, and he made a ton of money.
But now, with bugs cropping up everywhere and development time being extended, Pei Qian finally had a legitimate reason to demand that the release be pushed back a little.
That way, he could more precisely time it to just one week before settlement, earning nearly a whole month less money before the settlement period!
This was absolutely crucial. Earning one month less might very well save his life!
Thinking of this, Pei Qian picked up Yin Tang, who was napping nearby, and forcibly gave it a couple of pets, then walked toward his office in high spirits.
Sure enough, after adding a "halo effect" to the company, he felt much more at ease!
Tang Yishu had been reading at her workstation. When she saw Pei Qian walk by, she wanted to say something, but before she could open her mouth, Pei Qian had already passed her.
She opened her mouth, then closed it again. In the end, she didn't have the nerve to stop him, thinking that there would be plenty of opportunities in the future, she'd wait for a better moment to ask.
Disturbed from its nap, Yin Tang ran over to Tang Yishu's feet, meowing in protest, perhaps even cursing Pei Qian under its breath.
...
...
Not long after Pei Qian sat down in his office, there was a knock on the door.
Hao Yun came in and said, "President Pei, the arrangements for the recruitment exam are basically complete."
"The test papers have all been prepared and are currently sealed. They'll be opened on the day of the exam."
"The exam venue has been set at a hotel ballroom. The hotel will help us arrange it as an examination hall, enough to accommodate several hundred people."
"And according to your earlier instructions, for applicants coming from other cities, we'll arrange accommodation for them."
"The invigilation and grading work have also been discussed with some graduate students from Handong University. The pay has been negotiated as well, 300 yuan per day."
"If there are no other issues, we can set the date and send out the notifications."
Pei Qian nodded. "Thanks for your hard work."
To be honest, he wasn't in a rush about this matter, but the efficiency of the Human Resources Department was indeed quite high. Everything had been prepared a little faster than he had expected.
From start to finish, it had taken less than a month for everything to be finalized.
Although Tengda's recruitment email inbox was practically overflowing, the number of people who would actually show up for the exam probably wouldn't be very large.
That was because the recruitment process Pei Qian had set up was simply too long. After the written test came grading, then the release of results, followed by interviews. Only after all that would candidates be officially hired by Tengda.
And even then, they still had to pass the Tengda Spirit Compatibility Test.
This entire process was clearly written on the recruitment website when candidates printed their admission tickets.
For many applicants from out of town, applying to Tengda meant a lot of back-and-forth travel—at least two trips: one for the written test and one for the interview.
Although Tengda would reimburse accommodation expenses, the time cost was still hard to bear.
After all, many job seekers were already employed. Taking leave wasn't always easy, and after going through all that trouble, there was a very real chance they wouldn't even pass the written test, making the whole trip a complete waste.
In the eyes of experienced job seekers, taking this kind of exam didn't give them much of an advantage over fresh graduates, so their willingness to participate would naturally be greatly reduced.
As a result, the scale of this first recruitment wouldn't be very large.
Pei Qian glanced at the calendar. "Let's set it for next Monday."
"It's a bit rushed, but we can't delay any longer. Try to finish the recruitment work in December."
If they dragged it out any further, once the annual meeting was over and year-end bonuses were paid out, more and more people would start looking for jobs, and the probability of recruiting real talent would increase significantly.
Hao Yun nodded. "Alright, President Pei. I'll send out the notifications to the applicants based on this schedule."
Not long after Hao Yun left, Li Yada came in.
"President Pei, there are two matters."
"First, for some reason, a lot of bugs have been appearing recently. And it's not just the GOG project that's still in development, many older games have also been found to have quite a few issues."
"Could we slightly increase the overtime allowance for the design team?"
Pei Qian instinctively wanted to refuse, but then he reconsidered. What if the development progress really slowed down too much and the game couldn't be finished before settlement?
Although one project was allowed to remain unfinished before settlement this month, there were other projects besides games that might not be completed either—such as the phone.
So development progress still had to be guaranteed. Delays before settlement were unacceptable.
Pei Qian nodded. "Alright. We can relax the overtime limit a bit. But the exact amount of overtime must be recorded clearly—not just for overtime pay, but also to ensure everyone gets proper rest. Work and rest must be balanced. Understood?"
Thinking about it this way, Tang Yishu's aura not only slowed down development progress a little, but also caused him to spend extra money on overtime pay. What a great deal!
Li Yada nodded. "Got it. The second matter, Master Ruan Guangjian is coming to Jingzhou. Should we make some arrangements to receive him?"
Pei Qian frowned.
Ruan Guangjian?
"What is he coming to Jingzhou for?" Pei Qian asked.
Li Yada explained, "We've been cooperating with Master Ruan Guangjian for quite some time now. This time, the character design work for GOG is also being done in collaboration with his studio."
"However, during the hero design process, Master Ruan felt that remote communication was somewhat inefficient. A lot of details couldn't be conveyed clearly, and he's worried that the finished character illustrations won't properly express our original intent."
"After all, this game is different from the previous ones. Many of the original hero designs are quite complex, and there aren't any existing reference images to rely on. It's very easy for a tiny deviation to lead to a completely different result."
"So he plans to come over for face-to-face discussions and take the opportunity to meet you as well."
Pei Qian: "..."
"Of course we'll receive him!"
"Arrange Mingyun Private Kitchen, and throw in the full roller-coaster package while you're at it!"
"Stimulating activities like that are sure to inspire his creative spark!"
"And make sure you don't notify him in advance, give him a surprise!"
Li Yada: "O-okay…"
Pei Qian leaned back in his boss's chair, extremely pleased with himself.
Ruan Guangjian was actually coming to Jingzhou?
Hmph. Once you're on my turf, let's see how I arrange things for you!
…
Pei Qian watched dramas for a while, but soon started to feel bored.
Recently, there really wasn't much for him to do.
All kinds of products were still in development, so there was no way for him to get directly involved.
The only exception was Feihuang Studio, where he could occasionally interfere with the movie production.
But after he had accidentally "guided" things last week—and somehow ended up improving Lu Zhiyao's acting instead—he didn't dare go back again.
Pei Qian felt utterly dejected.
Suddenly, he thought of Tang Yishu, and wondered whether the girl had gotten used to working here.
With the spirit of caring for his employees, Pei Qian sent Tang Yishu a message, asking her to come to his office.
Half a minute later, a figure appeared outside the door. She hesitated, lifting her hand and then lowering it again, as if mustering the courage to knock.
"Come in," Pei Qian said.
Tang Yishu carefully pushed the door open, lowered her head, and fiddled with her fingers. "S-senior."
"Nice down jacket, it looks good," Pei Qian complimented casually. "Are you getting used to the work here?"
Tang Yishu nodded and said softly, "Yes. I-it's just… a bit idle."
Pei Qian thought about it for a moment. Yeah, that was true.
Cats were the kind of pets that didn't require much care, scooping litter once a day and refilling food every couple of days was enough.
After thinking for a moment, Pei Qian said, "Then if you see any stray cats in the future, you can bring them here. Of course, you'll need to take them to a pet hospital first for deworming and vaccinations. If there are any expenses related to that, just submit them to Finance for reimbursement."
Tang Yishu replied, "O-okay, senior."
Pei Qian's intentions were simple, he wanted to take advantage of Tang Yishu's "aura effect." Judging by the results so far, the effect was extremely obvious, and the money spent on her was more than worth it.
Since Tang Yishu felt idle anyway, they might as well raise a few more cats. After all, scooping litter is scooping litter—whether it's one cat or two makes little difference.
Pei Qian was just about to let Tang Yishu go back when he suddenly noticed that her expression seemed a little conflicted.
It looked like she clearly wanted to say something, yet was hesitating.
"Is there something you want to say?" Pei Qian asked.
Tang Yishu hesitated for a few seconds, then gathered her courage and said, "S-senior… will there be people in the company who s-steal commercial secrets?"
"Steal commercial secrets?" Pei Qian was stunned for a moment, then laughed. "What are you thinking about? There's absolutely no need to worry about that."
Tang Yishu let out a long sigh of relief. "Okay, then I'm fine, senior. I-I'll head out first."
Watching Tang Yishu leave, Pei Qian couldn't help but smile and shake his head.
This girl was really a bit too simple-minded. Stealing commercial secrets? Has she been watching too many TV dramas?
A regular game company like theirs—what commercial secrets would there even be to steal?
Pei Qian went back to watching his shows.
Suddenly, he felt that something was off.
"Wait a second… Tang Yishu only started working here last week. Why would she be worried about someone stealing commercial secrets?"
"Could it be that she ran into someone acting suspiciously?"
"That doesn't seem right either. During normal work hours, everyone's at their desks working seriously. No matter who Tang Yishu saw, she wouldn't immediately associate it with stealing commercial secrets, right?"
"Then why would she even worry about someone stealing company secrets?"
"…Hold on."
"Could it be that she saw someone over the weekend?"
Pei Qian suddenly became alert. This matter might look trivial on the surface, but it was definitely not as simple as it seemed!
<+>
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