Chapter 116: New Segment: “Products of the Gods”!

In a mere one-odd hour, Qiao Liang had already completed his first run of the game. Evidently, this game encouraged multiple tries; after one finished the game once, he would then be returned to the very first room and start from the beginning. What was different was when the second try began, players would get some initial funds based on the previous play(s).

Some unique game genres in the game like MMORPG required a huge sum of development funds. When players who just started out tried to choose this genre, unless they made every single choice correctly, if not; the chances of success were zero. They would fail because of a lack of funds.

However, with some initial funding from the second try, the rate of success would be higher for such larger-scale genres.

Qiao Liang did not immediately start on his second try but actually sunk deep in thought.

This game… was rather special!

It was hard to describe this feeling.

When the game had first begun, Qiao Liang was stunned. It kept on picking on his inertial thinking and threw all his supposed game knowledge out of the window. The game's name was Game Designer; the content was as such. Gamers had to take on the role of a game designer and design a game that would be assessed and evaluated by the games market ultimately.

When he had first entered the game, there weren't many things that stood out to him; Qiao Liang actually wanted to quit.

Although this game supported using both a mouse and a joystick, players could only at most move around or change their viewpoint. The entire gameplay comprised running around continuously; even doors were opened for them, and they didn't even need to interact by opening the doors, much less having any fighting elements to it.

After running into a room and choosing one of the doors, that meant the game had proceeded to the next key segment. If it wasn't that this game's artistic style was indeed outstanding and the scenes within each room were very on-point, Teacher Qiao felt that he would have stopped playing right at the beginning.

Something else that irked people was… the voice-over.

Originally, Qiao Liang had thought the voice-over was only simply narrating the background story of the game. However he played, he realized that this voice-over was actually around the whole time. It kept on making its presence known as well.

It kept on laughing at me; it has never stopped!

After entering a room and making a choice, the voice-over would use that cheap and provocative tone to suggest something.

For example, when selecting between low and high paywalls, the voice-over would try his best to insinuate players to choose the high paywalls option. The worst was this voice-over was probably a professional management trainee; his sarcasm was extremely on-point!

If he didn't go along with the voice-over suggestion, he would be mocked. If he went according to it and ultimately still failed, he would still be mocked.

All in all, this voice-over's presence was to give bad ideas and then continuously attack the players' self-confidence. Its words were extremely venomous while it really triggered people to want to beat it.

Many a time, Qiao Liang had been so infuriated that he actually wanted to yank the voice-over out from the computer screen and beat it up good.

Qiao Liang was very puzzled; what was the point of this voice-over's presence?

Was it just to disgust players? That did not make any sense!

Confusion and anger… these were Qiao Liang's first impressions of the game.

However, as he progressed in the game, Teacher Qiao actually felt something different. He discovered that that teasing voice-over was actually the hidden essence of this game! If one purposely did not choose according to the voice-over among the array of choices available, the voice-over would have different responses.

At the beginning, the voice-over would not seem to care and just pretend to be a little helpless. Slowly, the voice-over would start to grow a little irritated and start to explain to players what the consequences of not listening to it were. Then, the voice-over would become angrier and vexed as its words would become sharper and harsher, and it wouldn't hold anything back. After being enraged, it would then explode just like thunder.

Until the end, where the voice-over would enter a stage of resignation and indicate that the player was useless as it would adopt an 'I'll quietly watch and see what other stunts you can pull' stance.

At every concluding scene, the voice-over's response would be very interesting.

If players listened to its recommendations but failed, the voice-over would mock them coldly; it would mock them for being people-pleasers and without their own opinion, that they deserved to fail. If players did not listen to its recommendation and failed, the voice-over would still mock coldly and indicate that if players had listened to it, they would not have failed; and they deserve it. If players did not listen to the voice-over and still succeeded, the voice-over would become adamant that if its advice had been taken, players could have gotten a greater success!

Although no matter what the sarcasm would still come, the difference was when players succeeded, the voice-over's tone would be rather sulky; it was very interesting.

Qiao Liang suddenly grew intrigued by this dubbing person and was curious how he managed to do this. How had he managed to grasp voice-over so well and knew the different levels of each emotion confidently!

While being teased by the voice-over, Qiao Liang once again found many interesting points of this game.

After close investigation, the artistic style of this game was not only 'not bad', but 'very outstanding'! The snapshots in each setting were especially good at boosting the atmosphere. Together with the perfect music and sound effects, the realness of the setting would be enhanced. By looking at both settings big and small, this was evident.

The unique artistic style made this game's artistic feel very strong; it was very classy. From the second try onwards, after trying different combinations in choices, Qiao Liang reached a different ending; however, it was all a huge surprise to him!

The first try, as he had listened to the voice-over's advice and had chosen a high paywall, the game's reputation had become bad. Although he earned money, the sustainability of the game was called into question and mocked by the voice-over.

The second try, Qiao Liang became obedient as he chose a benign and less expensive method. Ultimately, as the game did not have enough revenue due to players paying too little, he could not recoup his costs and was mocked once more.

The third door, Qiao Liang completely listened to the voice-over. This time, it was even worse; and the voice-over had mocked him bitterly.

Qiao Liang was really so angry he wanted to smash his joystick.

This was really messed up! Why was it that every decision led to a bad ending; was this game playable? However, after facing many setbacks, Qiao Liang took his time to learn from them and found the depth of this game.

Players were game designers in the game. What Qiao Liang had experienced… wasn't that the daily lives of game designers in real life?

That hateful and detestable voice-over; that could be viewed as one's internal greed or even keyboard warriors and bystanders on the sidelines. Some of the voice-over's suggestions were coincidentally good and accurate; some were completely wrong.

As a game designer, it was hard not to face interference. If he didn't have his own opinion, he would definitely fail. If he was adamant on his way and didn't listen to suggestions, he would probably fail as well.

Only if he took it in advance and analyzed carefully and seriously, making the best decisions numerous times, could he achieve great success!

Actually, not only game designers… but any producer or developer in the cultural sector all were like this, right? On this route they have chosen, it was a very lonely one for creators. It was tough but precise… so that the final achievement and success was so sweet!

Without realizing, Qiao Liang found out that the corner of his eyes had gone damp.

Qiao Liang himself was also a content creator. Making videos and games were both a form of cultural production; it was actually very similar in terms of mentality. Qiao Liang couldn't help but recall all that he had experienced.

He had poured in his heart and soul into one episode; it had flunked. In order to survive, he had no choice but to accept some sponsored partnerships and—as a result—was scolded badly by fans. He didn't dare to show his face for a few days. Every time when fans sent him private messages in long chunks that expressed how disappointed they were with him, he would be a little sad.

However, he soon grew used to it. After all, nothing lasted forever. He welcomed new fans, tried to be loyal to old ones; if someone really left his fan group, he would wish them well and all the best.

Perhaps in a certain video he made, he had caught onto something popular and had gained in popularity which was seemingly attributed to him being lucky. However, it actually had a lot to do with the huge amount of experience and work he had prior.

In Game Designer, Qiao Liang resonated with all these. He realized that the producer of this game was a genius! This game seemed to be crude, disgusting, and tyrannical. However, wasn't that a clear reflection of life?

In reality, many game producers had suffered much; who among them had not been laughed at and mocked at before finally achieving success?

Some had been so exhausted that they quietly quitted. Others forged ahead, not forgetting their passion and drive. Some gave up on their ideals and became the most hated version of themselves.

Every single mentality had been introduced in this game; only one who thought deeply would realize that!

It was just like a cup of top-grade tea. Initially, it might taste a little biter. Slowly, one would then taste a sweet aftertaste. After taking time to enjoy this flavor, one would then realize this was like life, the fickleness of it. After finishing the tea, one would still be filled with memories about it.

Qiao Liang sat in front of his computer as his heart was suddenly filled with emotions.

"It seems like… I have wrongly blamed Boss Pei…

"To be able to create this kind of game, how could he be a petty person?

"I want to do another video!"

Qiao Liang once again went to the Potato Web platform. He looked at his two segments now that were split into 'Trash Games Diss' and 'New Recommended Games'.

He hesitated; it seemed like these two segments were not appropriate.

After considering for a while, Qiao Liang created a new one.

"Products of the Gods"!

April 3rd…

Tengda Network Technology Co., Ltd….

Bao Xu, Lu Mingliang, and all other employees were paying close attention to Game Designer. The atmosphere in the company was very tense. Everyone looked very upset. Three days passed. Yet, judging from all aspects, Game Designer had a very bad start!

Not only did the game's initial publicity not have a positive and encouraging effect, but it had also discouraged many players from playing the game. The first group of players who experienced the game did not have great reviews for the game. The reviews were pretty mixed.

Game Designer was different from previous games. Ghost General and Ocean Stronghold had garnered immense popularity for the company. Therefore, many players had anticipated the release of Game Designer.

However, after going through the comments section, one would realize that many players did not care about the deeper intentions behind the game itself. After skimming over the game, many of them would leave a bad review and forsake the game!

"What on earth was that? It wasn't fun at all. Are you sure this is produced by the same R&D team as Ocean Stronghold? Why did the quality drop so evidently?"

"I think the game's only attraction is its graphics. There is only one game mode and that makes it quite boring. The voice-over especially. Was that made deliberately to gross us out?"

"I feel like I was cheated. This is not my cup of tea!"

"I can't understand the game. It seems as though it was produced by a primary school kid."

"Is the design team overconfident, or are the players not threatening enough? Did the success of Ocean Stronghold give them the illusion that the players would pay for anything that they produce?"

Everything else was similar to the above.

What made most players apprehensive was the initial experience in the game. Few players could truly persevere through the game and understand its deeper intentions. That caused the reviews for Game Designer to be at two ends of the spectrum. Many players rated it one and five stars!

Lu Mingliang felt an immense pressure on his shoulders. Did he screw up his first project after succeeding in Huang Sibo's executive planner role? He wouldn't be able to explain to his fellow coworkers and boss.

He looked at Bao Xu subconsciously. However, Bao Xu's expression made his mood even gloomier. Bao Xu had an 'I told you so' look on his face! When Lu Mingliang talked to Bao Xu, he had asserted that there would only be two possible results for the game.

It would either be an acclaimed masterpiece or a terrible failure.

That was because this game surpassed other works in their time. Its concept was too pioneering, and its intentions were too deeply concealed. Ordinary players would most probably lose their patience before they could truly understand the true intentions behind the game.

Lu Mingliang was even more apprehensive when he saw Bao Xu's expression. "Brother Bao. Looking at how things are now. What should we do?" Lu Mingliang was not confident at all.

Bao Xu heaved a sigh and said, "Let's wait. Boss Pei should have predicted such a situation. The only thing we can now do is to leave everything in god's hands. If this really doesn't work, we can only accept the consequences together with Boss Pei."

…

…

Qiao Liang had re-watched the video that he made from the beginning to the end. He was very satisfied with it!

This video strongly resonated with him, and the game content itself was very rich. Therefore, Qiao Liang had a lot of motivation as he produced the video. He sacrificed his sleep to complete the video within three days and had edited it multiple times to achieve perfection!

This episode would be the first episode for a brand-new production called 'Products of the Gods'. Qiao Liang had a feeling that this series will become very popular and even more so than Trash Games Diss!

However, before he released the video, Qiao Liang had to settle one issue.

That was… how could he provide an explanation for the previous video?

He had released two consecutive videos that were related to Game Designer. People would have doubts about that. He did receive a commission for the previous video. However, the second video showed his true thoughts towards the game and was very content-heavy.

The issue was if his fans would believe him.

Qiao Liang squeezed his brain juices to resolve this issue.

He was certain that if this issue was not resolved, it wouldn't matter if he had released the second video or not. Most players would not scrutinize the content of the video and would still scold him terribly. However, if this issue was resolved aptly, he would be able to whitewash his first video! In that way, he would receive both fame and profit. Didn't that sound amazing?

How could he reverse the reviews?

Qiao Liang pondered hard. Suddenly, he slapped his thigh. He had finally thought of a brilliant method! The previous video was released on April Fool's Day. The timing is apt.

Potato Web was his main battlefield. He had the most loyal fans on that platform who would be willing to hear his explanation. The venue is apt.

Moreover, he wasn't the only person who published the video. Many other content creators did that, too. Their scripts were completely identical! The people are apt.

He had the right timing, venue, and people. Now, he only had one key question left to answer: Why would Tengda's Boss Pei do something that took a lot of effort but yielded less than satisfactory outcomes?

After contemplating for a long time, Qiao Liang finally thought of a possibility. It could be explained as a large-scale April Fool's performance art!

According to its definition, performance art was a modern art form. It was a set of behaviors and events that were carefully planned and presented by the artists themselves. Through communicating with people, the performance would gradually develop into an end result.

That completely coincided with this incident!

All the content creators produced their videos based on the same draft directly provided by Boss Pei. After the video was published, it dealt huge damage to their fans. The video became a completely failed marketing case study. In this incident, both Boss Pei and all the other live streamers were performance artists!

This performance art had a strong influence…

Now that he thought about it, everything seemed to make more sense. Their originally absurd behaviors seemed to become much more reasonable! However, this was merely an assumption.

Qiao Liang needed more evidence.

To justify his thoughts, Qiao Liang opened the Potato Web, ignored the massive volumes of comments and private messages, and started searching for justification. He realized that after three days of insane bombardment and continuous development of events, a meme called 'Qiao's words' or rather 'Qiao-logy' had become popular! Moreover, many people uploaded videos and held an unofficial imitation competition!

They spoke in a mixture of Chinese and English and had pet phrases such as 'wow' and 'awesome'. There were also many discourse fillers and onomatopoeia.

They had all become a meme!

The 'Qiao-logy' phenomenon was especially evident in unboxing videos in the digital channels. On one hand were the horrible results for Game Designer. On the other hand were the popularization of 'Qiao-logy' and the revelry of the netizens.

Qiao Liang's hands were shaking from excitement.

As I had expected, my guess was correct!

This was indeed a large-scale performance art, and it was an incredibly successful one!

Boss Pei, I've guessed it correctly!

He opened the video editor immediately and added a segment at the beginning of the completed video.

After finishing that, Qiao Liang could finally be satisfied with the video that he uploaded.

"Yes. Only this current video can befit the name series' name 'Products of the Gods'!

Although Qiao Liang was currently facing the biggest crisis in his career, he was certain that after the incense stick had burned three-quarters, no wait, after a few hours, his reputation on the internet would take a drastic turn!

At 8 PM that night, a brand-new series and a brand-new video had successfully passed the auditing process. The first episode of the 'Products of the Gods' series: Game Designer and a Large-Scale Performance Art!

Teacher Qiao's fans were stunned. What was happening? Wasn't he pretending to be dead? After playing dead for three days, was he back to commit the offense despite the eyes that were on him?

Moreover, was it a paid video for the same game? He was trying to cause a commotion!

Recently, 'Qiao-logy' had surprisingly become popular on many video websites. Although other content creators posted similar videos, Teacher Qiao was the first to do that. Therefore, he became the main person held responsible for those videos.

Given the current situation—as expected, the comments section was bombarded by people who were posting about that meme.

Was he… going all out since he had nothing to lose?

Since there was no way he could salvage his reputation, maybe he was trying to maintain his popularity by building a notorious reputation? Maybe he wanted to ride the wave of the popularity of 'Qiao-logy' and profit from that?

Considering Teacher Qiao's current circumstances, it was hard for his fans to not have such thoughts. The netizens were prepared to roast him as they opened the video with anxious or worried feelings. Some onlookers just wanted to join in the chaos.

However, Teacher Qiao's first sentence in the video shut them up.

"Hey, y'all. I am still your Teacher Qiao. I know what everyone wants to say. Before you guys start roasting me, I want to announce something really regrettable.

"Three days ago, on the first of April, on April Fool's Day; we conducted a large-scale performance art and achieved incredible success. However, the results of this art experiment were really upsetting.

"That's right. The theme of this performance art was: in the digital age, what content will become popular more easily—an intentionally silly short video or a high-quality game that cost millions and was rich with content?

"After our experiment, I am here to announce a really regrettable result.

"The former won."

Many people wanted to start roasting him, but the opening speech stuffed their words back into their mouths. Only confusion was left.

What? Performance art? What show are you acting?

They continued watching on with confused feelings.

Teacher Qiao continued introducing the act in the video. He explained the concept and definition of performance art and the motive for the performance art that he participated in. According to him, this performance art was started by Teacher Qiao. Its purpose was to explore a really deep theme.

In the digital age, people were bombarded by information. This was an age when an explosion of information and a lack of information existed concurrently.

Information explosion referred to the huge volumes of information that everyone saw online every day. An insignificant incident at the corner of a small city could be popularized within one night for an unknown reason. The very next day, everyone in the country would know about the incident.

The lack of information referred to the scenario when information that possessed true value and meaning was buried by the huge volume of fast-paced, entertaining, and sensationalized information trash.

Therefore, this performance art did a comparison.

Teacher Qiao and many other content creators would upload their respective videos. The content of the videos was simple and utilized exaggerated tones and words to lick their boots. Everyone's video was largely similar and used the exact same script.

In order to capture audiences' attention, the video did all that it could. For example, it did things that instigated their distaste such as by mixing Chinese and English together in their speech and used huge amounts of discourse fillers.

The video itself was pointless and meaningless. However, since many video UP Masters uploaded them concurrently—coupled with the video's sensationalized and attention-drawing content, netizens would ride the wave naturally. That instantly produced a unique trend on the internet!

The rise of 'Qiao-logy' proved that point.

An intentionally silly short video became popular and turned into a popular meme because it was stupid enough and that many people followed the trend. That proved that in this age, many events that one thought had unexpectedly become popular were actually planned by someone in the dark!

On the other hand, Tengda's new Game Designer was an unpopular work. It had really deep, concealed intentions and required players to be patient enough to dig it out. It exposed the state of the industry currently and satirized the chaos within the industry. Its voice-overs, graphics style, and game modes were all filled with creativity and sincerity.

However, what is the state of this content-rich game now?

It had mixed reviews. The players did not recognize the game! Most players did not even explore the game further and quitted after five minutes into the game.

The comparison between the short videos and this game was the crux of this performance art. This was already ironic enough in itself.

Many viewers were dumbfounded as they watched up to that part. So that was what happened? To think of it, it seemed pretty reasonable.

Which games companies would be that stupid to make the content creator promote the game so deliberately and disgustingly? Wouldn't that affect the company's image and the image of its products, too?

Although Teacher Qiao wasn't very ethical, one could tell that he devoted his entire heart into his videos from the videos that he had previously released. Why would he utilize such a cheap method for his sponsored partnerships?

It wasn't that the act didn't befit his morals. It was mainly inconsistent with his wits.

Moreover, Teacher Qiao was not a special occurrence. There were so many content creators, and they had all used the same publicity script. How could one explain this then? Could it be that those content creators approached him and copied Teacher Qiao's script on their own accord?

No way!

The only plausible explanation was that Tengda had given them the same script! Why would the big client want all the content creators that it had paid to use the same script? Moreover, the script was so badly written.

Wouldn't it be better for them to create their own content? They would be able to achieve better publicity results with the same amount of money. Why wouldn't they do that?

Yet, Tengda chose a really stupid publicity method. It requested all the content creators to read off the script and achieve an almost completely opposite publicity effect!

This was indeed pretty unreasonable.

Now that they thought of it, Teacher Qiao's reasoning seemed to be the only possible explanation.

This was indeed a large-scale performance art! The events that followed had indeed validated this point. 'Qiao-logy' became popular, and yet Game Designer did not.

Didn't that prove that view? In the digital age, cultural works that encompassed true meaning were often buried while information trash filled up netizens' time!

The more they heard, the more reasonable it sounded. They continued watching the video. The topic of the video naturally went to Game Designer. That was Teacher Qiao's forte. The series name was called 'Products of the Gods'. It utilized a completely different commentary style from Trash Games Diss and New Recommended Games of the Month.

Teacher Qiao analyzed the reasons why Game Designer could be called a masterpiece.

"Many players think that the main ways to tell if a game could be considered a masterpiece were to analyze its graphics, game modes, story plot, game controls, ease of playing, and more.

"However, those merely differentiated 'great works' from 'ordinary works'. They had nothing to do with a 'masterpiece'.

"A 'masterpiece' must be able to have a huge impact within the industry. It must be rich with meaning. It must be able to withstand the test of continuous discussion and polishing. It must be able to resonate with our soul!

"Works that could not do that could only be considered to be great. They could not be called masterpieces.

"Game Designer is a classic masterpiece that fits the descriptions!"

Chapter 119: It is Destined that the Speaker will be Misunderstood

Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios

Teacher Qiao started analyzing the deeper intentions of Game Designer.

The voice-over represented one's greed and other's opinions on their path forward.

The game created an 'immersive' feeling via the first-person narrative and the surroundings. At the same time, it created a 'distanced' feeling using the voice-over. This atmosphere was truly worth reflecting on for the players.

The choices that the player faced each time completely duplicated the thoughts of game designers. Once one had played the game, one would then understand how hard being a game designer was!

Other than that, Teacher Qiao had elevated the intentions of the game to another level.

"When playing the game, I felt that it resonated deeply with me. Why is that so? I have never had any experience relating to producing games. When I probed into that, I realized that was due to the similarities between producing videos and producing games.

"Or rather, almost all cultural content creators had the same mentality.

"Loneliness.

"As the saying goes, it is destined that the speaker will be misunderstood. The content in Game Designer showcased this point. The performance art outside the game itself showcased that, too.

"Maybe, this is Tengda's motive for producing this game. They may have already predicted that the sales numbers will be a disaster and that they will not be able to recuperate their loss. However, they hope that they could achieve one thing: they want us to find serenity in this impetuous world. They want us to do things patiently and think patiently as well.

"Where did we come from, and where will we head to? In this impetuous society that we are in, how should we live? What exactly should we be pursuing?"

…

…

After watching this video, the viewers before their screens all sank into complete silence. So… that was what happened?

The ending question in the video pounded on their hearts like a heavy hammer.

When they saw Teacher Qiao's previous video, many thought that Teacher Qiao was a monkey; and they were the audience to his antics. Right now, they realized that it was actually the reverse. Everything was the reverse!

The viewers were the monkeys, and Teacher Qiao was the one playing with them!

A sponsored video that was so stupid and dubious managed to deceive all its viewers and created a new meme—'Qiao-logy'! All the viewers and netizens participated in this performance art unwittingly. After an experiment, the results were disappointing.

These were the netizens that would ride the wave without thinking deeper!

Very soon, the number of likes for the video skyrocketed. The number of comments increased exponentially, too!

Originally, 'Qiao-logy' had become a trend that was in fashion. Many netizens wanted to show off their 'Qiao-logy' and keep up with the gossip when they heard that Teacher Qiao had uploaded a new video.

Therefore, this episode received a lot of attention from the very beginning! When the viewers discovered the 'truth' behind the video, their mentalities turned 180 degrees. This could be seen from the comments.

"What the f*ck? This is actually a large-scale performance art?"

"Why had game companies become so… 'innovative'?"

"I'm sorry, my dearest son. Dad had misunderstood you. I will like and forward your video immediately!"

"Teacher Qiao, a contemporary artist!"

"It is destined that the speaker will be misunderstood. I'm crying. What about you guys?"

"I have never expected that Game Designer had such deep intentions. I'll give it another try!"

Of course, some people thought that Teacher Qiao was trying to whitewash his reputation. However, those voices were quickly buried by other comments. That was because Teacher Qiao's explanation was more reasonable and appealed to the netizens' understanding!

Once the episode was released, many players who had originally quitted the game halfway decided to be patient and give it another try. Those who had yet to experience the Game Designer because of their distaste previously also decided to try it out. They wanted to see if the game that Teacher Qiao called a 'masterpiece' lived up to the title.

…

…

Swan Lake Restaurant…

Tengda Network Technology Co., Ltd. was having a company dinner celebration! Dinner celebrations after a game was developed and released had become a tradition for the company since Ocean Stronghold.

As for the reason why they chose the same restaurant…

They had no choice. It was the most expensive restaurant in the entire Jingzhou City. Pei Qian had wanted to fly to Beijing to have an even better meal, and yet the system did not allow him to do so.

He could only settle with this.

Pei Qian walked between the tables with a glass of red wine in his hand. He found that the others did not seem very excited. This was normal. The sales records for Game Designer had come to a standstill. How could they be in the mood for a dinner celebration?

This was different from the previous time.

Previously, they had the company dinner immediately after the release of Ocean Stronghold. They did not have much psychological pressure at that time and could hence enjoy their food. However, this time around, Game Designer had been released for three days; and the sales numbers and reputation were both lower than their expectations.

Therefore, other than Pei Qian, the rest were unable to eat to their hearts' content.

"This is our cohesion event! You guys should be enjoying yourselves! Why do I feel that you guys are in low spirits? Is the food not up to your expectations? Since you guys are in such low spirits, you should order the most expensive things on the menu. Waiter! I'll order three plates of bluefin tunas for everyone!

"My dear employees, you should be setting a good example. You have come here before and know what's expensive. Don't let me see anyone hugging and eating from a tub of ice cream!

"Furthermore, this is Ma Yiqun, our new member. He had great qualifications and is very knowledgeable. Make sure you guys take care of him, do you understand?"

Pei Qian was full of energy and seemed as though he had received good news. He was busy entertaining his employees and making sure that they were having a good time.

Some people were not drinking wine?

It's okay. Boss Pei would raise his glass wherever he went. It was hard for the employees to turn down their boss's toast.

Of course, Pei Qian's toast was a completely different concept from normal drinking cultures.

In traditional drinking cultures, the act of encouraging one to drink—especially when a leader forced his employees to drink—was to establish a sense of authority. The purpose was to make the employees feel miserable from drinking too much and therefore establish this submissive relationship.

However, that was not Pei Qian's motive.

They were drinking red wine which was less likely to make people drunk. Moreover, Pei Qian did not set a requirement for how much they had to drink. It was acceptable if his employees merely sipped a mouth.

His main purpose was to encourage them to eat more food. Everyone's mood was a little down. Drinking some wine would increase their appetite and could ease their moods. Of course, after a few rounds of drinks, the mood evidently turned for the better!

Pei Qian was very happy. He got some delicious food for himself and started eating to his heart's content.

He had never been so happy in ages!

Up to this point, everything was going smoothly. The internet cafe was losing about three hundred thousand yuan each month. There were no signs of any possible profits.

Although the short video became popular, he had declined all those little sponsored partnerships. He had yet to receive any bigger customized requests. Therefore, the revenue was zero.

The reputation of Game Designer was alright, and so were its sales figures. According to the current trend, there was no way the game would be able to recuperate its loss!

Pei Qian felt that his food seemed even more delicious due to that thought.

Happy!