Losing Money to Become a Tycoon: Starting with Games
Chapter 391: Who Else?
That computer was right next to Zhu Anxing's workstation. The moment anyone looked up, they could see the screen clearly—it was basically under everyone's watchful eyes.
Cui Geng had noticed earlier that there was indeed an extra computer in the room, but at the time he thought it was just spare equipment and didn't think much of it.
Only now did he realize what it was actually for!
Sure, you could watch movies or play games on that computer, but that also meant doing it right under the noses of the chief editor and all the other authors.
Binge-watching dramas?
Yeah, right. Dream on.
With so many people watching you, how could you shamelessly hog the computer to binge shows or watch movies? This thing was shared by all the authors; other people needed it to gather reference materials too!
Cui Geng originally wanted to say that one shared computer wasn't enough and that Zhu Anxing should prepare a couple more.
But then he thought about it and realized even he didn't believe that excuse himself.
After all, 80–90% of the information could be searched on their own computers.
The writing software's "black room" mode even came with a Qiandu search engine and web browser—though it couldn't play videos or download software, and some sites and forums were blocked, like Infinite Chinese Web, Terminal Chinese Web, Tieba, Weibo, and so on.
So it was impossible to read web novels or browse forums all day in the black room.
Just that search function alone covered most research needs.
In the rare cases where you needed to pull material from movies, you could simply download the film on the computer next to Zhu Anxing's desk and drag the progress bar to the specific scene you needed. It wouldn't take long.
And since this computer was a shared resource, most people wouldn't have the nerve to occupy it for too long. Everyone's usage efficiency would be pretty high.
So, sharing this single computer was fine, it wouldn't delay any real work.
But for Cui Geng, whose true goal was to slack off, this was pure torture!
He sat down silently and recalled the agreement he had signed earlier.
No wonder the contract only specified working hours and didn't set any required word count!
Ma Yiqun's intention was crystal clear: even if you're stuck and write zero words all day, that's fine, we don't care. As long as you can face the "black room" wall for a whole day without mentally breaking down.
Cui Geng was speechless.
He'd been played. Totally set up!
His first instinct was to leave. At worst, tearing up the contract would just mean he couldn't enjoy those perks anymore, there was no penalty clause anyway.
Being locked up like this for a month? That was way too brutal.
But then he thought again—it didn't feel right.
He had traveled all the way to Jingzhou. Was he really going to tuck his tail between his legs and go back just because of this?
If the news spread among his friends, other authors, and his reader groups, what would they think?
Everyone else in the training camp was grinding seriously, and I'm the only one who ran away on day one…
That would sound terrible.
After weighing the pros and cons, Cui Geng calmed down a bit. He decided to hold off for now, even if he was going to quit, he should at least stick it out for a couple of days as a token effort.
Besides, he'd taken a day off yesterday and still hadn't updated today. He really should post one or two chapters to half-heartedly appease his readers.
After much deliberation, Cui Geng let out a soft sigh and, feeling utterly helpless, prepared to start writing.
…
…
In the office, Pei Qian flipped through his notes while thinking about recent work.
Over at the Shared Phone Booth, the phone booths commissioned for production these past couple of days should all be delivered soon and would be set up one after another in the major malls around Jingzhou.
After the weekend, Pei Qian planned to tour the malls a bit to check on how those booths were doing.
Although judging from last time, this thing was completely ignored by the public, it was better to be safe than sorry, who knew if it might suddenly make a comeback?
He couldn't afford to let his guard down.
As for Shared Top Student, he had already arranged for He Desheng to handle it. There were quite a few companies that specialized in making educational software; just contacting one at random and having them whip up a simple app first shouldn't be too much trouble.
But making a simple app wouldn't cost much money.
Pei Qian planned to spend more on promotion when the time came—run ads, hand out flyers, and throw in some red-packet subsidies. That alone would easily burn through a decent chunk of cash.
There was also… he wasn't sure how things were going with President Li's "Mingfu Family Banquet."
Right now, Pei Qian was really hoping this upscale restaurant would gain traction quickly and successfully siphon off some of the customers from Mingyun Private Kitchen, so that Mingyun Private Kitchen wouldn't keep making so much money.
Pei Qian and Li Shi had each other's contact info, but Pei Qian had been too lazy to reach out. The few times they'd met before were all chance encounters at Moyu Internet Café.
But this time, Pei Qian couldn't help calling Li Shi.
The call connected quickly.
"Hello? President Li—oh, nothing special, just calling to chat. By the way, I wanted to ask, how's Mingfu Family Banquet doing? Is it so popular that you've been super busy lately?"
Pei Qian sounded sincere, full of expectation.
From the other end came Li Shi's helpless, tired voice:
"President Pei, don't tease me."
"With how well-informed you are, how could you not know about this?"
"Problems started popping up on the second day after opening. Quite a few of the first batch of customers were dissatisfied. We gave discounts and comped meals, but it still had some impact."
"These past few days, all we can do is try our best to minimize the damage…"
Pei Qian froze.
Problems everywhere?
That couldn't be right. The chefs President Li had hired were all experienced. Even if they couldn't match Mingyun Private Kitchen's level, it shouldn't have been a disaster, right?
Suddenly, Pei Qian remembered something.
Last time they went for a group meal, he'd brought Tang Yishu along!
Back then, everyone had eaten happily, and nothing seemed off, so Pei Qian had instinctively ignored it.
Now it seemed the "effects" had all happened in the kitchen!
What a mess.
Pei Qian suddenly felt really bad for President Li. He'd gone there intending to support the business but ended up causing collateral damage instead.
He hurriedly asked, "It's not too serious, right?"
On the other end, President Li chuckled politely.
"It's not serious, just small issues."
"The restaurant's quality is still solid, so we won't be losing money. But in the short term, it's impossible for it to blow up."
"Honestly, if I hadn't opened a restaurant myself, I never would've known there were so many nuances to this business."
"I used to think that opening a high-end restaurant was just about having enough money. Now I realize I was oversimplifying it."
"President Pei, you always looked so calm and effortless before, like running a high-end restaurant was a piece of cake. Turns out that was just smoke and mirrors, misdirection!"
Pei Qian: "…?"
What did I even do? How did this pot of blame get dumped on my head?
When Mingyun Private Kitchen opened, I really didn't manage it much at all, it somehow blew up on its own! I'm innocent too!
How did this turn into me misleading you?
After thinking for a moment, Pei Qian said, "President Li, take it easy. I think running a high-end restaurant is a technical job, it takes experience to build up. Mingfu Family Banquet is just lacking a bit of that experience right now. It's temporary; things will definitely get better."
"How about this, I'll book the place again next week and help bring you some business!"
Pei Qian thought about it and realized there wasn't really a good way to make it up to him. He couldn't exactly tell Li Shi that the rocky start at Mingfu Family Banquet was all because of one of his employees, right?
How could you possibly put something that superstitious on the table for serious discussion?
So the only thing he could do was bring his employees to eat there a few more times, as a small way to make up for it.
Of course, this time he definitely couldn't bring Tang Yishu again. If Mingfu Family Banquet actually went under, that wouldn't benefit him at all.
He also couldn't bring the same people from this week's team dinner. The same department eating together too frequently wouldn't pass the system's checks.
So this time he'd switch to another department, maybe Feihuang Studio or Against the Wind Logistics.
This was one of the perks of having a big company: you could rotate departments and go eat in shifts!
Pei Qian's thoughts started to wander. If the company eventually grew to over thirty departments, and if each department had one team dinner a month, wouldn't that mean he could go out for a fancy meal every single day?
Hmm… honestly, that sounded pretty nice.
There was a brief silence on the other end of the line before President Li spoke with some emotion,
"Thank you, President Pei."
"Before, when you didn't want to cooperate with us to open a restaurant, I had a tiny bit of misunderstanding about you."
"Now I get it. Business is business, personal relationships are personal relationships. President Pei draws a very clear line between the two."
"In any case, I'll remember this kindness. If I get the chance in the future, I'll definitely repay you properly!"
Pei Qian: "?"
Please don't overthink this. I'm literally just going to eat a meal and spend some money!
Even if I didn't eat at your place, I'd still go to Swan Lake Restaurant. This has nothing to do with our relationship, it's just that your place happens to be more expensive!
Also, we don't even have any personal relationship to speak of, so please don't read too much into it!
Inside Pei Qian's head, ten thousand alpacas were stampeding. But he couldn't voice any of this. He swallowed it all back down, to the point he almost felt like burping from holding it in.
"President Li, it's just a meal. You really don't need to take it so seriously. If you really want to thank me, just run Mingfu Family Banquet well, make it thrive, and surpass Mingyun Private Kitchen as soon as possible!"
Pei Qian spoke with heartfelt sincerity.
Li Shi: "Heh."
"President Pei, I'll get back to work now. You're welcome to drop by anytime."
After hanging up, Pei Qian felt gloomy.
He hadn't expected that what started as a kind gesture—taking everyone out to support the business—would end up accidentally hurting friendly forces, leaving Mingfu Family Banquet in not-so-great shape too.
Nothing was going smoothly!
It felt awful, but seeing that it was already Friday afternoon, there wasn't much he could do anymore.
"Next week I have to do something to turn this around!"
"And next Monday, I must remember to go check on how the Shared Phone Booth is doing."
He muttered it to himself a few times to drill it into his memory, then went back to reading and reviewing.
…
6:00 p.m.
A pleasant chime rang out.
Yet the dense clatter of mechanical keyboards showed no sign of stopping. Many authors were still completely absorbed in their screens, hands flying across the keys.
Zhu Anxing stood up and clapped his hands.
"Alright, work's over. Everyone wraps things up quickly. In ten minutes, the computers will shut down and the power will be cut automatically."
"Please plan your time well tomorrow too, try to stop the moment it hits six o'clock."
Sitting in the very back, Cui Geng let out a long breath, leaned back into his ergonomic chair, and stretched.
He glanced at the word count on his screen.
8,177 words.
Cui Geng sighed inwardly. Who would've thought that a chronic procrastinator like me would one day achieve the milestone of writing over 8,000 words in a single day?
Although he could see his word count in real time, it still felt a bit unreal at this moment.
Because he honestly felt like his efficiency today had been pretty low.
Not being able to browse the web, watch videos, or play games made him feel restless all over, like something was just… off.
Moreover, even though the desk and chair were comfortable, the monitor was big, and the keyboard felt great to type on, it still wasn't his familiar environment. Naturally, his state of mind was affected to some extent.
He even got stuck for a while midway through writing.
If he'd been in this kind of condition at home, Cui Geng felt that managing to write four thousand words would already count as a pretty good day.
Yet here, he'd actually hammered out over eight thousand words!
Cui Geng felt ridiculously proud and really wanted to shout: "Who else can top this?!"
Just then, the two authors sitting across from him stood up.
"Honestly, writing together in a place like this really does boost efficiency a lot."
"How much did you write?"
"Just hit ten thousand, nothing special. You?"
"Thirteen thousand."
"Damn, that's insane!"
"Eh, not really. I think I can still push it higher."
Cui Geng: "..."
He could only silently bury the words he'd wanted to brag with deep in his heart.