Losing Money to Become a Tycoon: Starting with Games
Chapter 461: This Is the Friendship Between President Pei and Master Ruan
After a brief moment of shock, Pei Qian quickly calmed down and decided to pretend he hadn't seen anything at all!
At a time like this, he absolutely could not allow something that had already been decided long ago to interfere with him and disrupt his train of thought!
Although there were less than two weeks left before settlement, from the current situation, the overall trend had already become very clear.
Pei Qian waved toward a waiter, who immediately understood and brought over his personal laptop.
Because Pei Qian especially liked sitting in this café while simultaneously thinking through business matters and contemplating life, he had specifically kept an ultrathin laptop here for office work.
Of course, "office work" mostly just meant casually recording some thoughts in documents.
None of it was particularly important, and he often deleted everything after organizing his thoughts anyway, so there was no need to worry about leaks or confidentiality.
Pei Qian opened the computer, created a new document, and began organizing his thoughts.
Although the next cycle would only begin in April, Pei Qian believed in preparing ahead of time.
If he planned out new strategies in advance, then when April arrived he wouldn't end up scrambling in panic.
Currently available emergency money-burning methods included:
The four annual prize pools for high-level GOG players;Issuing employee bonuses according to the normal plan based on TPDb ratings, while continuing to provide benefits such as subsidies and health checkups;Starting long-duration celebration banquets so employees could help him spend part of the company's money;Fright Hostel, which could consume huge amounts of funding all at once.
After thinking things over, Pei Qian still felt it wasn't entirely safe enough.
Although things currently looked roughly sufficient, there were still less than two weeks remaining before settlement. During that time, the PC version of Glory of Gods would also launch, and he needed to prepare for the incoming revenue from that as well.
So Pei Qian added another item.
Moyu Internet Café, ROF PC assembly services, Against the Wind Logistics, Moyu Delivery, Terminal Chinese Web, and similar businesses…
Burn money for an entire week!
Operating under the philosophy that "even if you lose money, you don't necessarily need to earn publicity," they would simply subsidize everything like crazy.
For example, with the Terminal Chinese Web, they could subsidize both sides simultaneously—readers would receive subsidies for reading books, while authors would also receive subsidies for writing books.
Instant double happiness!
Pure self-entertainment, and somehow money would magically disappear just like that!
The system would classify this kind of behavior as promotional spending, so it was allowed.
Of course, while this would make losing money during the current cycle much more stable, it would also make the opening phase of the next cycle much more difficult.
Therefore, he needed to think of a way to eliminate certain hidden dangers!
Starting from the next cycle, completely new measures had to be implemented!
Pei Qian started a new line in the document and continued thinking about countermeasures.
The Top-Ranking Elimination System already seemed somewhat unable to hold the line anymore.
However, Pei Qian had no intention of abolishing it altogether. After all, this system had indeed helped eliminate certain hidden dangers for him. Without it, Tengda Group's gaming department probably would have earned even more money…
What he needed was to supplement and improve the system.
Pei Qian typed several words into the document:
"Periodic Shock Therapy."
Now, President Pei had too many industries under his control.
There was simply no way for him to personally manage everything anymore.
If he threw all these businesses to other people while lacking the time and energy to monitor them, it could easily lead to extremely severe consequences.
Therefore, Pei Qian decided that these departments needed to periodically enter a state of "shock"!
During any given cycle, only part of Tengda Group's departments would remain operational, while another portion would enter a dormant shock state.
Of course, the system stipulated that under no circumstances could he intentionally slack off or produce absolutely no products at all.
So… he would need to negotiate with the system a bit.
Based on Pei Qian's understanding of the system, this matter was not entirely without room for negotiation.
"System, if a certain department has made exceptionally outstanding contributions to the company, then for the purpose of helping them study, improve themselves, and make even greater contributions in the future, giving the entire department several months of long vacation for personal skill development… that should be perfectly reasonable, right?"
Very quickly, Pei Qian received a positive response.
However, there were restrictions:
At present, only one department could enter this state during each cycle, and only necessary operational expenses could be maintained for that department. No investment of any kind was allowed.
In other words, salaries could still be paid, but funding new projects was prohibited.
Pei Qian was extremely satisfied.
As expected, it was possible!
Then there was no need for further discussion—next cycle, Feihuang Studio would be the first department to enter shock therapy!
One movie had already earned tens of millions. At their current pace, if they produced three or four films per year, wouldn't they practically ascend into the heavens?
Additionally, Pei Qian had already realized something else.
Although the Top-Ranking Elimination System was very effective, it also had one tiny flaw:
It tended to stimulate employees' fighting spirit.
Therefore, Pei Qian felt it was necessary to also reward those excellent departments—excellent in President Pei's eyes—that consistently lost money.
This would become the supplement to the "Top-Ranking Elimination System":
The "Last-Ranking Reward System"!
Pei Qian had long since decided who should receive this award.
Against the Wind Logistics.
Ever since its establishment, Against the Wind Logistics had diligently and conscientiously lost money for President Pei. Even after Lu Mingliang took over, it still hadn't managed to become profitable, earning deep trust from President Pei.
As for the name of the award, Pei Qian had already decided that too.
It would be called:
"The Tengda Group Cornerstone Award."
On the surface, this could be forcefully explained as recognition for Against the Wind Logistics' hardworking support of other departments, making it the cornerstone that enabled Tengda Group's rapid growth.
Of course, the real reason was simply that they lost a lot of money.
Pei Qian hoped this award would send a clear message to all departments:
Even if your department keeps losing money, that's perfectly fine. Not only will you avoid punishment, you may even receive rewards instead!
The matter couldn't wait.
Pei Qian felt that the Cornerstone Award could already be distributed during this current settlement cycle.
Finally, Pei Qian felt that the various companies and departments cooperating with Tengda Group could also receive additional spending.
All along, Tengda Group had maintained business relationships with many outside companies—such as art outsourcing resources for the game department, ingredient procurement for the internet cafés and restaurants, the supply chain for the phone division, decorative props for Fright Hostel, and so on.
Modern society emphasized specialized division of labor. Only through close cooperation with other companies could truly good products be created.
And according to the well-known Tengda Group spirit, every Tengda department had always adhered to the principle of paying the highest prices in exchange for the best goods.
At first glance, expenses in these areas already seemed maxed out.
But precisely because they had reached the limit, Pei Qian intended to apply reverse thinking and continue throwing even more money at them!
Take ingredient procurement as an example.
On top of already offering the highest prices, they would forcibly add another 10% premium and require suppliers to provide ingredients specially reserved for Tengda Group.
Obviously, suppliers could only further handpick ingredients that were already top quality. The actual difference from the original ingredients would likely be extremely small—perhaps even completely unnoticeable after cooking.
However, the procurement costs would indeed be genuinely spent.
The same principle applied to the company's other businesses as well.
In short, Tengda Group would force partner companies to establish an even higher "Tengda Standard" above existing top-tier standards and aggressively stuff more money into their pockets!
After finishing everything, Pei Qian reviewed the document from beginning to end and nodded in satisfaction.
Yes.
He finally felt much more at ease!
He immediately sent the document to Assistant Xin and instructed her to break the plans apart and distribute them to the relevant departments so they could begin preparations.
Afterward, Pei Qian deleted the document from the computer and handed the laptop back to the waiter for safekeeping.
Just as he stood up and prepared to leave, he saw Ruan Guangjian and several others chatting and laughing as they crossed the street and entered the internet café.
The moment they saw Pei Qian, everyone's eyes lit up.
"President Pei!"
A smile also appeared on Ruan Guangjian's face.
"My studio has officially moved across the street now. President Pei, feel free to drop by anytime when you have time! If there's anything work-related, just let us know at any moment. As far as concept art is concerned, you can completely leave it to our studio!"
Pei Qian chuckled dryly.
"Of course. I have absolutely no doubts about your abilities…"
The blood-soaked wounds on my back are the best proof of that…
"Alright, I still have things to do, so I'll head off first. You all take good care of Guangjian for me."
Pei Qian glanced at Lin Wan, Chen Kangtuo, and the others.
"We'll arrange a gathering at Mingyun Private Kitchen tomorrow. Remember to bring Guangjian along too. We'll set up a few extra tables and treat it as a welcome banquet."
Although Pei Qian harbored extremely strong grievances toward Ruan Guangjian, he still remembered to invite him along.
After all, one more person meant one more mouth. One more bite of food meant a little more money lost.
Under the grand objective of losing money, what did this tiny bit of resentment even matter?
President Pei was a magnanimous man.
After giving all the necessary instructions, Pei Qian bid farewell to everyone and left.
You didn't even need to think to know what they would discuss next.
They would definitely talk about how successful GOG and BE QUIET had become, how the phone booths personally illustrated by Ruan Guangjian had now turned into must-visit landmarks in Jingzhou…
If he didn't leave now, was he supposed to stay and let these people repeatedly whip his corpse?
Watching President Pei's departing figure, Ruan Guangjian felt a slight sense of disappointment.
Originally, he had wanted to share a few drinks with President Pei and reminisce a little.
But President Pei had left in such a hurry.
Lin Wan also found it somewhat regrettable, but she still invited everyone to sit in the café area. They each ordered coffee or drinks and began chatting and catching up.
At that moment, Lin Wan's phone vibrated slightly.
She had received a message from Assistant Xin.
Quickly scrolling through it, she realized it was a document personally drafted by President Pei, laying out a series of requirements for future work.
The document listed all sorts of reward policies that would make employees from other companies green with envy and furiously suck lemons in jealousy. But to Lin Wan, this was simply standard President Pei behavior—nothing particularly surprising.
Until she reached the final item.
"When cooperating with downstream enterprises and outsourcing companies, add an additional 10%–20% premium on top of the original procurement price in exchange for products or services exceeding the originally specified highest standards."
Seeing this line, Lin Wan froze for a moment.
After rereading the document from beginning to end, she took a screenshot of that specific section and handed her phone to Ruan Guangjian.
"Hm?"
Ruan Guangjian accepted it somewhat puzzled.
After reading it, his eyes widened slightly.
"This…"
Lin Wan nodded.
"I think this policy was probably arranged specifically for you, Master Ruan."
As everyone knew, whether Tengda Group purchased concept art or procured anything else, they always directly chose the absolute top-tier options. There was basically no additional room left for price increases.
And even if they forcibly added another 10%–20% premium, the actual improvement obtained would probably be extremely minor.
So why would President Pei deliberately introduce such a policy?
Obviously, one reason was the pursuit of perfection, which also aligned with the spirit of Tengda Group.
However, introducing such a policy precisely at the moment when Master Ruan's studio had just relocated to Jingzhou made the situation extremely thought-provoking.
Clearly, President Pei was worried that Halo Studio had only just arrived in Jingzhou. They were unfamiliar with the area, the studio staff had undergone changes, and the early phase would likely be rather difficult.
That was why he introduced this preferential policy—using this subtle method to provide assistance and support to Ruan Guangjian's Halo Studio!
This was… friendship that didn't need to be spoken aloud.
Everyone unconsciously smiled.
Although President Pei was extremely busy and lacked the time to personally dine with Master Ruan, it was obvious he still hadn't forgotten to care for this old friend of his, expressing his feelings in an exceptionally subtle way.
A smile also appeared on Ruan Guangjian's face.
The tiny bit of disappointment he had felt earlier instantly vanished without a trace, replaced by warmth and gratitude.
"I understand now. I'll definitely urge everyone in the studio to continue improving their artistic skills. We absolutely won't disappoint President Pei's expectations!"
"Next time, President Pei will definitely see even more outstanding concept art!"
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Tn: I updated the story once a day, but if you want to see more chapter of this story ahead of time, please go to my Patreon.
Latest Chapter: Chapter 536: Still Going with the "Bare Walls" Style[1]
Link: https://www.patreon.com/HannibalNotBarca/posts/losing-money-to-164800513?collection=1399284[2]
[1] https://www.patreon.com/HannibalNotBarca/posts/losing-money-to-164800513?collection=1399284
[2] https://www.patreon.com/HannibalNotBarca/posts/losing-money-to-164800513?collection=1399284