Chapter 245 There’s a Restaurant that Promoters Haven’t Found?

"Don't worry, tell me the truth. How many customers have visited the restaurant in the past two days? How many people dined here? How many people pre-ordered food?" Pei Qian asked patiently and systematically.

Lin Canrong answered truthfully. "A total of eight customers came over the past two days. Three of them dined here. One of them pre-ordered dinner for tomorrow."

"Hmm… eh?"

When he heard the first two numbers, Pei Qian was happy. These numbers were practically negligible. In a few days, Zhang Zuting would make a new Weibo post. This Weibo post would be pushed down, and even these few customers would be lost.

Yet, one of the customers had actually pre-ordered dinner for the next day? There were many rich people indeed.

Pei Qian pondered for a moment and asked, "What did he pre-order?"

Lin Canrong reported the man's orders to Pei Qian. Among these were Tomahawk Steak, caviar, and Matsutake. He had not ordered a lot; it looked enough for two or three people. However, all of these dishes added up to over ten thousand yuan.

What's more, this customer had already paid 20% of the bill as a deposit.

Pei Qian was silent. He really did not understand rich people.

Although Pei Qian would also wolf these dishes down and invite his employees to do the same while he was at it, it was only because he was trying to spend as much money as he could! If he could finish spending all the money, he would be able to benefit from the System. What's more, the System would replenish his funds. Those were the only reasons that Pei Qian could spend without restraint.

However, if Pei Qian had been asked to spend his own money on this food, he would find even a common home-cooked dish costing three to four hundred yuan expensive!

Yet, this customer had ordered more than ten thousand yuan worth of dishes.

Pei Qian was positive at first. Until now, the number of customers who had visited Ming Yun Private Kitchen was in the single-digits. The situation looked ideal. He did not expect a baller to be hidden among these few customers.

At that moment, Pei Qian felt confused.

Seeing Boss Pei fall silent, Lin Canrong became confused as to what the latter was thinking.

This should be good news, right? Why isn't there even a hint of a smile on Boss Pei's face?

Pei Qian pondered for a moment and then asked, "Can you identify the man's accent?"

After thinking, Lin Canrong replied, "He spoke Mandarin, but he had an accent. I don't think he's from Jingzhou. I think he's from Pingcheng." A coal boss?

That was Pei Qian's first reaction.

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However, he quickly looked on the bright side. He was not a local of Jingzhou. Perhaps he was here on a business trip. He probably would not be staying here for a long time.

Since that was the case, it was good.

Even if he was a baller, he could not come here frequently. At most, he would entertain his guests here and only make reservations when he had to host business meals. Thinking about it this way, it should not… generate too much revenue for Ming Yun Private Kitchen, right?

At that thought, Pei Qian relaxed slightly. He felt like he had been panicking and treating everyone as an enemy recently. Ever since he opened this private kitchen, he had been treating his own employees to meals here. How could he expect it to remain completely hidden from the outside world?

Having a few ballers eat here had been in Pei Qian's original plan anyway. In the long-term, this private kitchen would still incur losses.

Thus, there was no need to get so nervous.

When he heard that the baller was not from Jingzhou, Pei Qian relaxed considerably. Both of them chatted about the daily operations of the private kitchen until Little Sun's car drove into sight.

"That's that for now then. Remember what I told you about the service. Even if they're ballers, do not break the rules. Just ask the waiters to treat them like ordinary customers.

"Also, do not spread the name of our restaurant."

Pei Qian left some more instructions before boarding the car.

After seeing Boss Pei out, Lin Canrong tried to decipher the hidden intention in Boss Pei's words.

"Is Boss Pei trying to tell us not to get too nervous upon seeing ballers because there will be tons of such ballers in Ming Yun Private Kitchen in the future? If we break the rules for one baller, when more ballers visit us in the future, the rules would be useless.

"Mm, that makes sense!

"Boss Pei is far-sighted indeed. He has already thought about what Ming Yun Private Kitchen would look like when business picks up in the future. He's really well-prepared. "Boss Pei is also reminding me not to be easily satisfied. How can I become so excited over just a single baller? I'm a branch manager after all; I have to remain calm. When more ballers come and visit us in the future, I must maintain my composure.

"That is how I can pass down Boss Pei's spirit to the employees."

Lin Canrong saw a bright future for Ming Yun Private Kitchen. Happily, he returned to share the good news with the others.

August 21st, Saturday…

Ming Yun Private Kitchen was setting up for a dinner.

Qiao Liang planned to walk around Jingzhou in the morning and have some fun. He would work overtime and play Repent and be Saved from the afternoon. Boss Pei had been so nice to him. He had to make sure that he completed the job properly.

Over at Shang Yang Games, research and development for Bloody Battle Song: The Powerful Version was already complete. They were now running final tests. Then, they could officially advertise it and publish it.

Today was Saturday. According to Boss Pei's instructions, they could not work overtime on weekends.

As the director, Lin Wan tried to persuade everyone to return home in the beginning. However, the thought of the game's publishing date approaching made Wang Xiaobin and Ye Zhizhou restless at home. They insisted on working overtime, and Lin Wan had no choice but to allow it.

Of course, Lin Wan could hardly sit still either.

Thinking about the game they spent so much time on being officially published for gamers to try in a week made everyone feel agitated and apprehensive. In the end, they kept the size of Bloody Battle Song: The Powerful Version's mini-client to 370 MB. This was far more than anyone expected in the beginning. Initially, Bloody Battle Song was a browser game that people could open whenever they wanted to play. Mini-clients for most browser games could be kept under 5 MB. A few web-based games' mini-clients added up to 30 to 50 MB.

Any bigger than that, and they would not be called mini-clients. Taking web-based games as the standard, it would take far too long to download 370 MB worth of data. Gamers would probably be better off downloading client-side games. Most web-based gamers would find it hard to tolerate downloading 370 MB of data.

However, Lin Wan did not have a better solution. According to what they agreed on earlier, Bloody Battle Song: The Powerful Version would be changed from a two-dimensional to a three-dimensional game. The art resources had been redone. No matter how they tried to compress them and improve them, they could not lower their size any further.

They had spent a lot of effort compressing and improving the resources to get the game to 370 MB.

There was a huge risk, but what was done had already been done. There was no turning back. They had to look on the bright side. Perhaps they could rely on the far-superior quality and fair gameplay to forcefully change the taste of traditional web-based gamers.

What's more, Boss Pei had personally crafted the advertisement.

Lin Wan had no idea what to expect, but she trusted that Boss Pei had it all planned in advance.

Wang Xiaobin knocked on the door gently. "Director Lin, we have finished initial preparations for advertising. At the moment, we plan to place advertisements on various websites, including novel websites, video websites, game websites, comic websites, and website navigation sites.

"According to what we agreed, we will not use pop-up windows and Psoriasis-style[1] advertisements. People will only be transported to the game's registration and download page after they click on the advertisement."

Although these are considered common ways of advertising-at Lin Wan's insistence, the more irritating styles of advertising were done away with.

In fact, there were still all sorts of messy advertising methods out there, such as windows that pop out of nowhere and Psoriasis-style advertisements in the bottom right corner of webpages. These were considered run-of-the-mill advertising. Many of them also destroyed netizens' gaming experience.

Still, one had to admit that these unashamed pop-up windows were the most effective.

Rejecting methods like that would reduce the effectiveness of advertisements. At the same time, it would not help with the game's reputation at all since netizens might not even notice the conscious avoidance of such methods.

Still, Lin Wan discussed this with everyone and decided to avoid using such advertising methods.

After all, Shang Yang Games was not the same as before. They had to differentiate themselves from web-based game manufacturers with no bottom line.

After hearing Wang Xiaobin's report, Lin Wan felt satisfied. "Thank you. Our next task is to continue working hard on the game. It might be hard to change gamers' taste, but at least we can say we tried our best."

Wang Xiaobin nodded, fully agreeing with Lin Wan's words.

Although Director Lin had not micro-managed the entire research and development process for the game, this positive and uplifting spirit was definitely similar to Boss Pei's. It was very rare indeed.

"Everyone can make the necessary preparations then. In about a week, we will run final tests. We'll invite old gamers to try the game out and give us some feedback. A week later, the game will be published officially. The advertising work will then start in full force!"

At night, in Ming Yun Private Kitchen…

"Look, I told you that this is an excellent restaurant, but you didn't believe me. Do you believe me now? The promoters you found are not professional enough!"

Xue Zhebin sat cross-legged with a huge grin on his face. He felt especially proud of himself. He had really earned from the meal he pre-ordered yesterday!

The moment they walked through the door, Xue Zhebin felt the difference. The decorations, dining table, and cutlery in the private room had all been changed!

Xue Zhebin had chosen that private room in the afternoon because there were not many people in Ming Yun Private Kitchen at the time. However, since he did not make a reservation, the decorations in the private room were all ordinary. The environment was good, but there was nothing special about it.

Things were different today. Xue Zhebin had made a reservation in advance. Thus, the decorations, table, and cutlery had all been laid out according to his orders. Everything was of the same style, including the tablecloth and the decorations on the table. The restaurant had obviously been meticulous in setting this up.

All in all, his eyes lit up the moment he walked?in!

The young man seated opposite Xue Zhebin looked slightly older than him but still under thirty years old.

He was a direct contrast to Xue Zhebin's nouveau riche vibe. This young man was dressed in a suit, and he looked entirely business-like. At first sight, one could tell that he was the cream of the crop in the business world.

At that moment, he was tasting the food and looking confusedly at his reviewing application on his phone.

"Jingzhou City has a private kitchen of such good quality, and yet our promoters did not manage to find it. How did you find it?" The map on the reviewing application displayed this location as an empty plot of land. There was not supposed to be anything here.

Xue Zhebin smiled, elated. "Why do you care how I found it? You lost the bet; this meal is your treat!"

The young man seated opposite him was called Wang Peng. He was one of the creators of Quanmin Reviews.

As one of the winners of the close competition among various websites, Quanmin Reviews had been expanding quickly from first-tier cities to second- and third-tier cities. Jingzhou City was one of the key cities in this expansion.

In order to speed up the expansion of their market and rope in more businesses, Wang Peng suggested introducing promoters in every city. These promoters' jobs would be to find shops that haven't been discovered yet and persuade them to partner with Quanmin Reviews.

Promoters have achieved good results indeed. Quanmin Reviews was expanding quickly in Jingzhou. At the moment, most businesses were already partners of Quanmin Reviews.

This was especially so for high-end restaurants with outstanding dishes. After successfully negotiating with owners of these restaurants, promoters would be paid a significant commission. Thus, Quanmin Reviews' promoters worked hard to find restaurants like?that.

Even if businesses were not willing to partner with Quanmin Reviews, Quanmin Reviews would at least mark these businesses out on their website. The map should not show an empty plot of land like it was doing now.

For this reason, Wang Peng did not believe Xue Zhebin. He even felt quite indignant.

He did not think that a high-end restaurant like that, which was outstanding in almost every way, would remain undiscovered by Quanmin Reviews' promoters in Jingzhou.

The waiters smiled as they remained by the side, waiting to be of help.

Wang Peng asked, "How long has your restaurant been open?"

A waiter smiled as he answered, "Slightly over half a month."

Wang Peng was even more confused.

He could not figure this out. Quanmin Reviews had so many promoters around Jingzhou. Each day, they were sent out to look for businesses that had not yet been discovered. Yet, this restaurant managed to remain hidden from the public for over half a month. Promoters had not managed to find it, but Xue Zhebin had instead.

This was ridiculous.

Wang Peng asked, "What's the name of your restaurant?"

He thought about talking to the boss of this restaurant and discussing a partnership with Quanmin Reviews.

Still smiling, the waiter answered, "Sir, our restaurant doesn't have a name. We hope that what you'll remember would be this place's beautiful environment, meticulous service, and memorable food-not its superficial name."

[1] This is a common Chinese description for advertisements that are stuck in a certain position on the screen.

Chapter 246 The Restaurant's not Big, but There are So Many Rules!

"No name?"

"This…"

Wang Peng turned to look at Xue Zhebin and found that he looked just like the waitersmiling, but not saying anything. Wang Peng felt like he was being looked down upon. They were treating him like a country bumpkin who had never seen the world.

"That's not right. How can this restaurant register without a name? Are you keeping the restaurant's name a secret from customers as part of some kind of strategy?"

Wang Peng felt even more defeated. As one of the creators of Quanmin Reviews, he had gone to many restaurants and seen many unique ones, too.

However, this was his first time experiencing something as strange as this.

Normally, even low-key private kitchens would have names. Some would take their house number to be their names and come up with things like 'Kitchen Number 45' or 'Restaurant Number 78'.

No matter how low-profile a restaurant tried to be, it had to have a name. Otherwise, nobody would know how to describe the restaurant they were eating at. That would be unnecessarily troublesome.

What's more, not having a name would hinder the restaurant from becoming known and reputable. Unless the restaurant's boss did not care about fame nor had extreme confidence in his own restaurant, he would not make this move.

Xue Zhebin saw the confusion in Wang Peng's eyes and felt extremely content. A strange sense of superiority filled his heart.

"Stop thinking so much-just eat. The food's getting cold," rushed Xue Zhebin.

Wang Peng nodded. He would cast these questions aside for now. He whipped out his cell phone to take pictures.

The waiter was just about to tell Wang Peng not to, but Xue Zhebin spoke first. He pointed at the sign on the dining table and said, "You cannot take pictures."

Wang Peng was confused. The private kitchen was not big, but there were so many rules!

Wang Peng had heard of restaurants not allowing pictures to be taken, but they were extremely rare. What's more, most of them were overseas.

It felt almost inhumane for local restaurants not to allow their customers to take photos. It had almost become customary for people here to take photos of their food before eating. If they weren't allowed to take photos, how could they show off to others?

They spent a ton of money on the food but were not allowed to take photos and show off to their friends. Wouldn't that be as good as not coming here at all? Of course, they could not enforce a 'no photographs' rule. If a customer insisted on taking his cell phone out to snap a photograph, the waiter could not possibly destroy one's phone. They could only remind one not to do so politely. If one insisted, there was nothing they could do.

Then again, it would already affect the customer's dining experience to have a waiter walk up and remind them not to take photographs. Most waiters would not do something that stupid.

What's more, if customers took more beautiful photographs of the delicious food, it might draw more people to the restaurant. It was akin to publicizing the restaurant for free. Why wouldn't the restaurant want that?

Thus, from any angle, it seemed extremely outrageous that a restaurant would forbid customers from taking photographs.

Wang Peng was puzzled. "What's the meaning of this? The food looks so good, but I'm not allowed to take photos? Isn't that a waste?"

He looked at the food in front of him. Every single dish looked colorful and perfectly-presented. It physically hurt him not to be able to take photographs of them to show off to others.

The grin on Xue Zhebin spread even wider. Wang Peng's confusion fed his sense of superiority. Thus, he decided to explain on the waiter's behalf.

"This is the amazing thing about this restaurant. The restaurant's boss thinks that taking photographs would distract one from the food's taste.

"If you keep thinking about how to get the best angle and lighting, you would not be able to focus on enjoying the smells and tastes of the food in front of you. You would miss on out many details about the food. "Put your phone down. Only then would you be able to focus on talking to your friends and tasting the delicacies. You would enjoy a relaxing time over all.

"When in Rome, do as the Romans do. I know you're busy at work, but having a meal wouldn't hinder your work too much. Keep your phone."

Wang Peng still felt sorry, but Xue Zhebin had already spoken. He would be considered a wet blanket if he insisted on taking photographs of the food. Thus, Wang Peng kept his phone and dug in.

Tomahawk Steak, Matsutake, and caviar… these were not cheap. This meal alone cost over ten thousand yuan.

What's more, Xue Zhebin had not ordered the most expensive dishes on the menu. His main intention was to check out if the dishes which needed to be pre-ordered would turn out to be a scam.

Wang Peng tried the dishes one by one, paying attention to the subtle flavors.

"Indeed, these are no ordinary dishes."

As a manager of a consumer review site, Wang Peng had tasted many delicacies before. After all, this was all part of his job.

How a dish tasted depended on the ingredients used, the chef's skills, the dining environment and atmosphere, and the diner's mood. Among these, the most important was the ingredients used.

After trying each dish, Wang Peng could tell that the ingredients were high-quality and worth every cent.

Of course, these ingredients were not the best of the best. This was because many precious foreign ingredients were put up for auction in their place of origin. Only a limited number of such ingredients would be produced, and they could thus only be sent to a small number of surrounding areas. There was no way they could send such ingredients to China.

Still, it was obvious that this nameless restaurant was making use of the best kind of ingredients obtainable in China.

Xue Zhebin watched Wang Peng's expression. "How's the taste?"

As a rich second-generation heir, Xue Zhebin had eaten a lot of good food in his lifetime. He could distinguish good-quality food from bad-quality ones, but he was no professional. He was still a far cry from Wang Peng. Wang Peng nodded, satisfied. "Not bad. I think it's even better than what we ate the last time.

"Take the caviar for example. Thirty percent of the caviar in the world is produced by our country. Of 26 three-Michelin-starred restaurants in Paris, 21 of them serve premium caviar produced in China.

"Our country's farmed caviar is easily comparable to wild caviar. I've been to restaurants in Beijing and Shanghai as well. The ingredients that they use are similar. Yet, for some reason, the caviar served here tastes even better.

"Could it be the psychological effect of the cutlery and dining environment here?"

Xue Zhebin thought about the change he noticed in the private room and said, "Speaking of which, they did newly decorate the private room. From the decorations to the dining table and cutlery, everything looks different compared to the last time I visited."

He turned to face the waiter beside him. "Why did you change all of these things?"

The waiter smiled and answered, "Our boss thinks that the environment is a crucial aspect of one's dining experience.

"In ancient times, when learned men drank wine, they used different cups for different wines. There were also many complicated and detailed procedures. These were not just customary. Instead, appropriate cups can bring out the special characteristics of different wines. They can also work to create special atmospheres."

Wang Peng was speechless. He silently nodded and commented, "Particular."

If he had heard this somewhere else, Wang Peng would have scoffed. He would also have thought this was fussy and meaningless.

Changing the decorations, dining table, and cutlery in the room based on dishes served would just be superficial at best. If the dishes themselves turned out to be badly done, all these things would be pointless.

However, what would come after having good-quality ingredients and excellent chefs?

They were using top-notch ingredients in this restaurant. The chefs who worked here were also the cream of the crop. Compared to other high-end restaurants, this one would not be inferior… but also not particularly superior.

Then, what would leave the deepest impression in the hearts of customers would be the minute details.

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Among these were the special dining environment, meticulous service, appropriate cutlery, and the like. What's more, people were not allowed to take photographs in this restaurant. Everyone would focus on the food in front of them. Subconsciously, this would create the illusion that food here was more delicious than elsewhere.

This meant that even if two restaurants served identical dishes, customers would still have differing impressions of them both!

"How much does this meal cost?" Wang Peng asked.

Xue Zhebin smiled. "Thirteen thousand yuan."

Wang Peng could not help but feel moved. "It's quite worth it."

Walking out of Ming Yun Private Kitchen, Wang Peng felt like he did not want the experience to end. Although he had been 'stabbed' by Xue Zhebin today and he had spent more than ten thousand yuan on a meal, he thought that it was all worth it.

If not for Xue Zhebin's recommendation, Wang Peng would not have known that such a high-end restaurant existed in Jingzhou.

It was not just a question of delicious food.

The restaurant was hidden and low-profile. The place was decorated in a classy manner. The service was meticulous. In addition, they were not allowed to take photographs. Obviously, this place had what it took to be pretentious.

This restaurant was perfectly suited for hosting business meals.

It was expensive, but Wang Peng could look more stylish. What's more, his business partners would get to enjoy good food and feel highly-regarded. It would all be worth it!

What's more, Wang Peng had taken a look at the food's prices on the receipt and found that they were within an acceptable range. High-class food was expensive to begin with. In addition to expenses for professional chefs, a good location, special dining tables and cutlery, and waiters… It was kind of them to set prices like these!

Wang Peng only felt sorry that he did not manage to get the contact details of the restaurant's boss.

When he was settling the bill, the branch manager with a surname 'Lin' politely approached them, asking for feedback. He wanted to know whether there was anything he could improve on for the restaurant. Wang Peng took the chance to ask for the boss' contact details, hoping to rope him in as a partner of Quanmin Reviews. However, Branch Manager Lin turned him down.

Strictly speaking, it was not Branch Manager Lin who turned him down. Branch Manager Lin had just turned down the request on behalf of the restaurant's boss. He gave Wang Peng his own contact number, but not the boss'.

Branch Manager Lin also turned down the invitation to work with Quanmin Reviews on behalf of his boss. He did not even want to expose the name of the restaurant.

Wang Peng thought it inappropriate to push him. After all, from the restaurant's location and advertising strategy, Wang Peng could tell that the boss behind the scenes was low-profile. It was fitting that he was not willing to share his contact details.

Thus, Wang Peng only took down Branch Manager Lin's contact details. This way, he would be able to make reservations if he wanted to bring his business partners here in the future.

He was just sorry that he could not rope this restaurant in on behalf of Quanmin Reviews.

However… just because they were not partners, did it mean that Quanmin Reviews could not display this restaurant on its site?

Of course not.

Quanmin Reviews had an 'add store' function. Users were allowed to add information about stores they visited on their own.

Of course, they had to fill in the store's name as well. He would need his employees to help him with this.

Wang Peng noted the location of the restaurant and then called his technical staff. "There is a high-end restaurant at this location. Update our website. I'll personally write a review later on.

"There's no name; just leave it blank."

Chapter 247 The Roses in Her Hand, the Flavor in Mine

It couldn't be denied that Quanmin Reviews' employees were rather efficient. Two minutes later, Wang Peng refreshed the application and found that the empty shophouse had appeared at the restaurant's location.

However, there were no details on it; no content whatsoever.

Other pages on Quanmin Reviews were all done-up nicely. There were pictures, name of the shop, ratings, reviews, average spending, exact location, etc.

However, this place only had a blank profile; it had nothing on it.

Wang Peng thought for a while and started to enter some information on it. He left the name blank. As for average spending, according to the meal he had, it was five thousand-odd.

Regarding ratings, this was a little more problematic.

Wang Peng had wanted to give a 4.8 rating. However, after searching all the restaurants in Jingzhou that had 4.8 ratings, he realized that all these restaurants couldn't hold a candle to this nameless private kitchen.

Regardless of taste, atmosphere, or service; awarding a 4.8 rating was a little inappropriate. I'll give it full marks then!

Wang Peng immediately inputted a 5/5 rating for all criteria.

He didn't have any pictures to share; the restaurant had not allowed any.

Wang Peng did manage to take a picture of the entrance. However, it became that of a nondescript villa that didn't say anything about how amazing things were inside. He did not think it was meaningful to post a picture of the entrance and decided not to upload anything.

After that, Wang Peng started to get serious and to leave a review. "All in all, this is at present the poshest restaurant in Jingzhou; there is no other. I ordered three to four dishes. The ingredients were basically the best one could find in the entire country and had to be preordered one or two days beforehand. The dishes taste superb, and chefs from other places have probably been hired due to the variety of dishes.

"The atmosphere is very quiet, and arrangements would actually be made to accommodate each type of dish; much effort has been put into this.

"Service is excellent; I basically do not need to do anything at all, and the wait staff would take care of everything. However, I do not feel overly disturbed or annoyed; it is rather magical.

"Also, this place is very strict on decorum; no photos are allowed at all. However, this actually allows people to better experience the delicacies in front of them.

"Basically, what I want to say is that my friends based in Jingzhou are in for a treat."

Wang Peng didn't have to overdo his review; he just truthfully wrote down his experience.

However, as he was using his Red V account[1] to send out this review, his review would carry much more weight than ordinary comments.

That night…

Soon after Wang Peng had sent out this review, he had received a massive amount of comments and likes!

As the co-founder of Quanmin Reviews, Wang Peng's reviews account had the Red V verification while Quanmin Reviews employees would be biased towards his account internally. If two accounts reviewed the same restaurant, Wang Peng's review would definitely be more visible.

At the same time, Wang Peng was also someone that had a stronger presence and sense of duty; he would always seriously review every restaurant he went to.

Hence, Wang Peng's account had tens of thousands of fans. After his review was sent out, his fans immediately saw it.

However, after seeing the details page of this restaurant, all these netizens were flummoxed.

There were no pictures; the restaurant didn't even have a name! The name portion of the page was blank; the page looked very hastily made. Below that, the 5/5 rating as well as the average spending price also shocked everyone.

"Is this an official recommendation?"

"Has the site taken a liking to this restaurant? I feel that it will soon gain in popularity!"

"I recall that Boss Wang is always very critical with his reviews. He had actually given a full rating? Could this be an official publicity effort?"

"Who has managed to enlist Boss Wang to do publicity? This person must be a big-shot!"

"Why doesn't this restaurant have a name? Is there a system bug?".

"Only Boss Wang has left a comment; it doesn't even have a picture."

"Five thousand per person? I can't afford this! Boss Wang is really rich; we commoners can only silently watch…"

"Jingzhou's high-class restaurants' standard is still far from Beijing, and Shanghai's; could it really be so expensive?"

Everyone suddenly grew excited. Although they couldn't afford the meal, they could hang around and debate about it, right?

Many Jingzhou natives were stumped. Since when had such a high-end restaurant appeared in Jingzhou? Why have they not heard of it before?

As for ballers from other places, they started to grow interested in this place. If Wang Peng could give a 5/5 rating, this restaurant would definitely not be half bad. If they had an opportunity to head to Jingzhou for work next time, they were determined to try this place.

Many ardent fans all left comments on Wang Peng's review while Wang Peng was also delighted in responding to them. "I know that quality reviews need at least three pictures. However, as this restaurant does not allow pictures, I don't have any to provide."

"It is indeed expensive. However, the ingredients, culinary skills of the chefs, atmosphere, and service all make this pricing worthwhile. If any of you have a certain longing for any special delicacy, you can splurge and have a meal here. The dining experience here will not disappoint you."

"As for recommended dishes, this is hard to do. I had only casually ordered a few dishes, and all were superb. I feel that other dishes should not be that shabby either. After all, this restaurant prizes quality over anything else."

"This isn't collaboration. Actually, the owner of this restaurant is a little too low-profile. I had wanted to discuss a partnership with them but was rejected. I just felt that as a member of Quanmin Reviews, I had a duty to recommend such a good restaurant to everyone. This has always been the mission of Quanmin Reviews."

After selecting a few passionate fans and replying to their comments, Wang Peng put down his cell phone satisfactorily.

Quanmin Reviews' mission since founding had been that all information would come from the masses, to serve the masses, and to provide honest reviews for all restaurants and eateries so that no good place would be left unknown while all poor places would be exposed.

As the co-founder of Quanmin Reviews, Wang Peng felt that at this moment, he had fulfilled his duty.

As the saying went, the roses in her hand, the flavor in mine[2].

Helping this nameless private kitchen to do some publicity might actually make the owner happy. Perhaps the owner might be amenable to working together with Quanmin Reviews?

Wang Peng thought satisfactorily.

August 27th, Friday…

Pei Qian tossed his controller as he massaged his slight sore shoulders.

Tiring!

He had suffered for a week. Although he was getting a hang of the game-as Pei Qian was someone who found it very hard to find enjoyment from suffering, this was still a form of torture to him.

"If it wasn't for the sake of making a loss, I wouldn't be working so hard…".

Pei Qian took a look at his game character on the screen. He was holding 'Pudu' and had already reached the entrance to the six realms of rebirth and existence. Pei Qian had to fight many grueling battles in the days to come.

Fortunately, at this pace he was going, Pei Qian would be able to complete this ending before the official launch of the game.

"I can go take a look at how Teacher Qiao is doing." Pei Qian shut his computer down, stood up, and prepared to head to Fish-Catching Internet Cafe.

Last weekend-after having a meal with Teacher Qiao at Ming Yun Private Kitchen, Pei Qian had never gone back to Ming Yun Private Kitchen again yet.

As there were rules regarding entertainmentwhile Pei Qian could receive a guest there once, he couldn't do so persistently; the system would not allow that.

Hence, Pei Qian had thought that as a week had gone by, he could find an opportune time and come up with some pretext this weekend to head to Ming Yun Private Kitchen for another meal.

As for what this pretext would be…

This was easy. He could ask Teacher Qiao to offer his opinions on making changes to the game. That could be considered as making stellar contributions to Tengda, and it would be reasonable to have a meal at his private kitchen.

Fish-Catching Internet Cafe, Handong University branch…

Qiao Liang had just taken a pause in the game as he leaned into his chair and ordered two cocktails. He was very pleased.

After playing for a month, he realized that he had slowly gotten a hang of the game!

It had been very hard at the beginning. However, it wasn't entirely just a problem with the difficulty-level of the monsters but rather a difficulty with adjusting to a new gaming format.

If gamers could not adapt to this gameplay, they would find it very difficult. However, after doing so, the difficulty level would naturally be reduced.

Normal RPG games were very accommodating of players; they would not overtly penalize any mistakes by players, and players have gotten used to this. They felt that they were only going to let the monster hit them twice and that it wasn't going to be consequential. However, Repent and be Saved required gamers to be fully focused while fighting weak monsters as well. They must always be mindful of every monster's attack pattern and speed as well.

After making this change in mindset, Qiao Liang realized that the game wasn't that difficult. He even felt that such a game was even more attractive than others.

"Sigh, I have really maligned Boss Pei previously. Repent and be Saved is a game for true hardcore gamers. It is filled with many novel elements and definitely had not been created purely to irk players!

"If it was just to repulse players, the game design could just have been changed to make it too onerous and difficult. Boss Pei evidently had ten thousand ways to make the game impossible to complete. However, he had not done so and had given all players a way forward by grinding and working hard.

"I had even suspected Boss Pei previously; I shouldn't have!"

Qiao Liang increasingly felt that the game was very interesting. In the early days, he had thought that playing this game was a form of torture. Now, it felt like a challenge; and he was filled with motivation every day! Furthermore, he also felt that life in Fish-Catching Internet Cafe was very peaceful!

The computers here were even better than his own high-end computer at home. Not only were the specifications good, but even the keyboard, mouse, earphones, and controllers were all the best.

For a relentless game like Repent and be Saved where players could be killed in a second, a high frame rate and stable connection were essential. As the computers here were running so smoothly, he almost couldn't stop playing.

Besides these, Fish-Catching Internet Cafe also had coffee and cocktails available. While the daily dishes were all comfort food, they were nutritious, healthy, and tasteful. It was completely different from the ordinary greasy food served in eating establishments.

Qiao Liang was living rather comfortably here; he felt that this place was probably heaven to internet or gaming addicts!

Of course, the only downside was that this place was rather pricey. However, taking the comfortable environment into account, this pricing seemed rather reasonable. [1] This is a personal, verified account with a viewership of more than a thousand.

[2] Helping others will benefit yourself as well

Chapter 248 Humbly Listening to Teacher Qiao's Thoughts

Pei Qian silently went to the second floor of Fish-Catching Internet Cafe. He wanted to see how Teacher Qiao was doing.

After all, seeing Teacher Qiao suffer was very important to Pei Qian's dreary life. It was also his source of motivation to continue playing Repent and be Saved.

However, Pei Qian was disappointed.

Teacher Qiao wasn't staring at the screen in disbelief like the last time. He was casually drinking his cocktail as he leaned into his chair; he looked rather relaxed.

The computer screen was foggy yellow, and there was a thick mist emanating on it. Pei Qian immediately recognized that this was the scene of the Road to the Underworld; Teacher Qiao was about to arrive at the Bridge of Forgetfulness and River of Forgetfulness.

What the f*ck? What's happening…? His progress is only a little slower than mine? No, wait. He's faster than me!

Pei Qian was stunned.

At present, Pei Qian had fought his way to the entrance of the six realms of rebirth and existence. From the game design, after passing the River of Forgetfulness and the Bridge of Forgetfulness, one would reach the Home-Viewing Pavilion and Three-Life Stone. Finally, either Yama's palace or the six realms of rebirth and existence followed after the Three-Life Stone.

However, as Pei Qian had gotten Pudu, he had already taken a shortcut and had immediately skipped the Bridge of Forgetfulness, Three-Life Stone, etc.; right from the Road to the Underworld and arrived at the six realms of rebirth and existence.

Taking this into account, Teacher Qiao had indeed gone through the game much faster than Pei Qian.

"No, this is not right…"

Pei Qian felt a little faint. He realized that he had underestimated Teacher Qiao's endurance of suffering and his gaming abilities!

As a game UP Master, Teacher Qiao's gaming standards were not top-notch. His past videos only took stock of games and explained what they were. Hence, Pei Qian naturally assumed that Teacher Qiao would have a crazily hard time while playing Repent and be Saved.

However, Pei Qian now realized that he had underestimated Teacher Qiao's standard.

Come to think of it, as a gamer that could endure eight hours of driving, no matter how terribly he died in Repent and be Saved; it would probably be more meaningful than driving, right? Furthermore, from Teacher Qiao's expression, he had already learned how to find joy amidst the bitterness; he even seemed to be enjoying himself.

Pei Qian was a little flustered.

Now that Teacher Qiao was not suffering anymore, Pei Qian lost his source of motivation and joy!

How was he going to continue from now on?

Naturally, this was not the main reason.

The main reason was if Teacher Qiao could progress to this stage based on his hard work and perseverance, did that mean that the difficulty of the game wasn't high enough yet? If it wasn't, it would be hard to force players to quit; and the game's sales would not drop. The game might actually make money.

That would be deep trouble!

Seeing Teacher Qiao's expression, Pei Qian instantly thought of the worst-case scenario. No way; this can't be it!

Boss Pei was adept at making remedies. Now that he had already noticed a crisis, how could he sit and do nothing?

Pei Qian thought for a moment and had an idea.

Qiao Liang was sipping his cocktail as he thought about how to continue progressing in the game when he realized that Boss Pei had come.

"Boss Pei!"

Qiao Liang was full of smiles. After his 'misunderstanding had been cleared', he viewed Boss Pei akin to his relative and was especially warm.

Pei Qian smiled slightly as he pulled a chair over. Although he had no warm feelings for Teacher Qiao at the moment, he still tried his best to maintain a smile outwardly.

ze more

After all, he still had to squeeze more value out of Teacher Qiao. A week had passed since Teacher Qiao had arrived in Jingzhou. Besides the weekend, he would have played around forty-odd hours of the game.

Repent and be Saved's game content wasn't as varied as the Souls series. Based on his preliminary estimates, more seasoned players would be able to complete the main game story in thirty-odd hours.

If it were players who were perfectionists and they wanted to finish the entire game and go through every single detail and aspect of it, the required gameplay time could be extended to fifty to sixty hours.

If a player was a newbie… the amount of time needed would be very long.

As Teacher Qiao had not been used to the game at the start and kept on dying repeatedly and getting lost while he was also a perfectionist, he had only progressed till the current stage after over forty hours of gameplay. He had finished about 60% of the game now.

However, his current understanding of the game was much deeper now.

"How does it feel?" Pei Qian smiled slightly and asked.

Qiao Liang grew energized. En? Boss Pei asked the same question as before!

He remembered clearly that Boss Pei had asked him the exact same question the previous time. His feeling back then had been there was something wrong with the game's difficulty level. However, Qiao Liang now understood that nothing was wrong with it; Boss Pei had purposely made the game so difficult! During this time, Qiao Liang had also slowly felt the unique appeal of such a high-level difficulty game. Hence, his answer was naturally different now.

"It feels great! It has been a long while since I felt so challenged while playing a game," Qiao Liang said energetically. Indeed, this is not good…

Pei Qian's worries were confirmed. He worked hard at maintaining his indifferent attitude as he continued, "How about the difficulty level of the game? If I ask you to rate the difficulty levels of each stage of the game, how much would you give? Also, what would be your ratings for the little monsters and weapons?"

Qiao Liang was very happy. It seems like Boss Pei values my opinions! He is asking in so much detail!

As the conversation was about the specifics of the game, Qiao Liang was filled with passion as he started to answer.

"As for the difficulty level, I feel that the starting village and towns' difficulty is the hardest; the difficulty level drops after that. Of course, it might be because after walking out of the town, I had already gotten used to the game and felt that it wasn't as difficult as before…

"Regarding the weapons, the chopper is the best weapon at the start. It is nimble and can be used swiftly while its attacking damage is significant and could be used from the early to mid-stage of the game. As for the crescent blade, it is particularly useful at vertical hacking. This vertical hack could be used to get rid of ninety percent of monsters…"

Qiao Liang didn't suspect anything and spoke frankly about his understanding of the game.

Pei Qian quietly noted these things down. Actually, he didn't know much about these weapons. However, since Teacher Qiao felt that these specific ones were very useful, then they must be so.

Qiao Liang wasn't a very skilled player at maneuvering and attacking. However, his stamina surpassed that of 99% of players while his game intellect was also superior to 70% of others. As for his skills at movement, he might be considered in the middle range.

Since that was the case, wouldn't Teacher Qiao be similar to ordinary players?

Qiao Liang spoke what he wanted to say and gave his opinions frankly; he had never felt so satisfied before.

Previously, he could only diss online and talk within his fan group; game developers didn't bother with him at all.

However, a game developer was sitting in front of him and was seriously listening to his advice. He had to perform at his best!

"En… this is more or less it. All in all, difficulties abound in the game. However, if these weapons are used judiciously, all problems could be surpassed!" Qiao Liang still felt as if he had much more to say. Pei Qian nodded, 'En, these are good suggestions. I'll head back and make sure revisions are made to the game!"

From Boss Pei's serious expression, Qiao Liang actually felt a little overwhelmed.

Of course, he didn't decipher how much Boss Pei had said was just civilities. After all, when gamers gave feedback to the customer service hotline, the latter would have a standard reply that 'your suggestion has been taken into account, and we will submit your comment to the design team'. However, no one knew in the design team would act on any feedback at all.

Hence, Qiao Liang didn't take this too seriously. He just felt that Boss Pei's attitude was rather moving.

After all, such a successful game designer was humbly listening to his thoughts; Boss Pei was akin to stooping to learning from his subordinates.

Indeed, Boss Pei's success wasn't without reason!

Returning to the office, Pei Qian typed furiously on his computer as he swiftly noted down what Teacher Qiao had said. Teacher Qiao had felt that the village and town had been the hardest stages.

Actually, the plan had been to elevate the difficulty level of the game as it progressed. However, Lu Mingliang and company had neglected something: players' tolerance for suffering would increase as well.

As it was their first time seeing the monsters in the village and town, it had been hard for them at the start. As gamers grew used to the game's tempo, the raised difficulty level of the game subsequently didn't affect them much.

Since that was the case, Pei Qian had to increase the difficulty level of the subsequent stages!

Regarding the weapons, didn't Teacher Qiao love the chopper? I'll ax it! Didn't he mention that the crescent blade's vertical hacking was very useful? I'll reduce its effectiveness!

All in all, whatever Teacher Qiao felt was good to use in the game would be things that all new players would think of as well. They all would be altered.

Pei Qian was going to strike where it hurt. After all, the changes wouldn't affect Boss Pei; Boss Pei used a special weapon. Pei Qian made a list and handed it straight to Li Yada.

"Do some adjustments according to this list," Pei Qian instructed simply.

Li Yada received the list and took a look. It was rather detailed.

For example, the crescent blade's vertical hacking, specifically, had to be reduced in its power. The instructions were very specific. "Alright, Boss Pei, we'll get to it immediately!"

Li Yada sighed emotively. Boss Pei was really seeking perfection.

Whenever she had gone to report to Boss Pei recently, Boss Pei had always been using 'Pudu'. He didn't know when Boss Pei had found the time to try out all the other weapons one by one.

Evidently, Boss Pei had attained such great success today precisely because of his hard work behind the scenes that no one could see or knew about.

Li Yada held onto the list as she focused on Boss Pei's instructions.

Pei Qian sat in his chair. He suddenly felt a little guilty towards Teacher Qiao.

Although it was for the sake of raising the difficulty of the game-as he was reducing the effectiveness of weapons that Teacher Qiao loved the most, that seemed a little too much.

Since that is the case, I'll treat him to another meal as a form of compensation!

Teacher Qiao had made significant contributions to Repent and be Saved. In order to express his thanks, inviting him to have a good meal at Ming Yun Private Kitchen shouldn't be too much, right?

Thinking about this, Pei Qian took out his cell phone and dialed Chef Lin's number.

"Help me to book dinner for tomorrow night."

Over the phone, Lin Canrong was in a daze for a moment. "Err, Boss Pei, someone has made a reservation already."

"En?"

Pei Qian was a little surprised.

Was it that return customer?

"In that case, I don't need the biggest private room; I only need a small one."

Lin Canrong coughed a few times. "Boss Pei, all the seats have been reserved."

"???"

Pei Qian felt a little faint. He had a premonition as he said, "How about the day after tomorrow?"

Lin Canrong answered truthfully, "Boss Pei, don't talk about the day after tomorrow. We are fully booked till the week after next…"

Pei Qian was completely dazed.

What the hell?!I have only not gone there for a week; what has happened to Ming Yun Private Kitchen?

Chapter 249 TPDB ratings

Pei Qian felt a little faint.

I had opened this restaurant; I can't even make a reservation myself?

Lin Canrong reminded: "Rest assured, Boss Pei. According to your request, the 20th of every odd month is completely blocked out while the biggest private room is always reserved for you the first and third Sundays of each month."

"Hence, next Sunday, September 5th, you can come over and have a meal." Pei Qian, "…"

He had indeed made such arrangements. He would book out Ming Yun Private Kitchen during the 20th of every odd month as a company cohesion dinner while he would reserve the biggest private room every first and third Sundays of each month for potential client entertainments.

Come to think of it, this now seemed a little conservative; and he should reserve a couple more days for his own use.

Most importantly, Pei Qian had never thought at the moment that Ming Yun Private Kitchen would become like this.

Pei Qian had thought that even if Ming Yun Private Kitchen had a fixed group of customers —as Ming Yun Private Kitchen had so many private rooms serving two meals a day, he could just reserve a private room occasionally.

However, reality had given him a tight slap in the face!

How on earth had information about this place leaked?

Could it be Lin Wan causing trouble again? Pei Qian thought about it. Most of his treasured employees had been recruited from him and nurtured from the beginning; none of them had prominent backgrounds, and they shouldn't have such capacity.

The only possible person was Lin Wan.

However, Shenhua Corporation didn't have much influence in Jingzhou. Their properties were mainly in Shenzhen; where could they have found so many people to come and have a meal at Ming Yun Private Kitchen?

Could it be… other enemies had appeared?

Pei Qian didn't speak for a long while. He hadn't recovered fully from such a heavy blow while he was also thinking where he had made a misstep.

Hearing Boss Pei grow silent for a long time, Lin Canrong actually thought that Boss Pei was extremely happy with Ming Yun Private Kitchen's explosive popularity as he hurriedly sucked up to Boss Pei.

Wait, no, this couldn't be considered sucking up. What he intended to say was all the truth; there wasn't a single lie in his words.

"Boss Pei, I have to say that you asking us to focus on the private kitchen and ignoring any publicity efforts was such foresight! It was the right thing to do!

"You have gotten a good grasp on the wealthy segment of Jingzhou, their attitudes, and thought processes. Every step had been so accurate; I am really impressed."

Pei Qian, "???"

What are you talking about? I don't understand anything at all.

Pei Qian knew that Lin Canrong was bootlicking; he wasn't interested in such things and was actually very repulsed.

Such bootlicking was putting salt on Boss Pei's wounds!

However, Pei Qian couldn't not-listen. He had to find out from Lin Canrong's bootlicking, where he had gone wrong with Ming Yun Private Kitchen!

Lin Canrong had not realized Boss Pei's change in attitude and happily continued talking.

"Come to think of it, my understanding of rich people is really shallow. Jingzhou doesn't have that many rich folks. Furthermore, most of them recognize that our private kitchen is specifically targeting them. Hence, you deciding not to do any publicity was the accurate move.

"That is because information spreads so rapidly within this small circle!

"That customer Xue Zhebin had seen Zhang Zuting's Weibo message and started to look for this place. He had then found Quanmin Reviews' Wang Peng; Boss Wang told him about this place. In the end, Boss Wang had left his ratings and review on Quanmin Reviews; and Ming Yun Private Kitchen's popularity had skyrocketed! "I didn't think that it was so simple for a low-key restaurant like ours to become so popular so fast! "Of course, your other strategies had also complemented this. "Ming Yun Private Kitchen didn't have a name. As such, Boss Wang had not left a name on Quanmin Reviews. This immediately showcased the uniqueness of Ming Yun Private Kitchen and triggered a debate!

name

"Furthermore, as we didn't have a name, every time someone left the name column blank and searched for keywords; they would all find our restaurant. That was how our visibility had been raised!

"The most crucial point was the rules you have set for our restaurant, such as no taking of photos and changing of the table setting and cutlery according to the dishes served, our wait staff's breezy and attentive service… all these aspects satisfied our customers' expectations. Among the ballers, everyone is praising all these!

"The good reputation of our restaurant among the ballers also had an impact on ordinary consumers. Although our dishes are rather expensive, most ordinary customers that came all felt that it was worth their buck. This was precisely because the ballers had sung their praises!"

Lin Canrong continued to praise Ming Yun Private Kitchen's success model; he wasn't just bootlicking Boss Pei but was also saying all these emotively. He had personally experienced everything. Initially, he did not understand Boss Pei's arrangements and had not been optimistic about the private kitchen's prospects.

Now, all his misgivings had all been cleared and Boss Pei's astute arrangements had worked! Pei Qian was lost for words. Lin Canrong's words came in from his left ear and left in the right ear; he didn't remember much of it. Two names, however, Pei Qian now remembered.

One was Xue Zhebin, and another was Wang Peng. These were the two culprits!

Xue Zhebin had come after seeing Zhang Zuting's Weibo message; that meant that Zhang Zuting was complicit as well!

Pei Qian now could only think of four words: it was impossible to guard against all sides!

There were too many enemies; he felt like he was completely surrounded.

Pei Qian sighed quietly. Aye, I have to add another three names to my notebook.

"In that case, help me to reserve the private room for next Sunday. Make some variations to the menu from the previous time."

Pei Qian said this a little feebly.

After hanging up the phone call, Pei Qian felt a mountain of pressure on him; he was not feeling very good.

According to the popularity of Ming Yun Private Kitchen now, it would definitely make money.

However, it won't make that much.

Ming Yun Private Kitchen had a limited seating capacity; the space was only that big. Even if it was packed for both lunches and dinners, it wouldn't be able to receive that many customers.

Ming Yun Private Kitchen's daily expenses were immense. Pei Qian had hired a few top chefs as well as well-trained wait staff, table movers, and ornament movers; manpower costs were significant.

Although the restaurant's dishes' prices were considered high, they were astronomically so. That was why Wang Peng had thought his meal had been rather worth it.

Hence, Ming Yun Private Kitchen would definitely make money. However, it was probably impossible for it to recoup all the initial investments in the short-term.

This was a small saving grace. Pei Qian had bought two semi-commercial villas that cost six million in total. The amount recorded in the System Funds would be six hundred thousand.

That meant that before Ming Yun Private Kitchen made five hundred and forty thousand, it was still worthwhile for Pei Qian.

However… it was only a matter of time before it became an issue for him.

Pei Qian felt so much pressure. It was going to be September soon, and it was already halfway into this cycle; there wasn't much time left till settlement.

He had two most pressing things to deal with now.

One was launching Bloody Battle Song: The Powerful Version and letting it flop, to give Boss Pei some reprieve and assurance.

Second was he had to start implementing his reputation-rating bonus system immediately.

Ever since he had this 'reputation-based reward' idea, Pei Qian had already formulated a concrete plan; it was more or less finalized.

The base figure for the prize money would be based on the early-stage investments into a project. A ranking and benchmark would be created based on the project's reputation. Once the base figure was met, the award would be given to all the project's members based on seniority and responsibilities.

The most important part of this system was how to determine a project's reputation.

If he wanted to use external website ratings, some gamers might continuously spam the same review; and so they might not be accurate.

For example, some rating sites might give higher points for a certain type of game while others might give the same game a lower rating; which rating should be used as the benchmark precisely?

Basing it on the combined ratings of all netizens wouldn't be reliable as well. They could actually be falsified by fake reviewers.

If it was a combined collation of authoritative media sites, gamers' opinions, and internal company feedback…

How would the last factor differ from him himself coming up with a rating?

Hence, Pei Qian considered this matter and felt that if he wanted to implement this system, he had to have a perfect internal rating system.

All in all, ratings had to be ascertained based on two things:

One was it had to filter out malicious intent, such as fake reviewers and trolls. Another aspect was that it had to be broad-based. Many movie and game reviews had the same phenomenon: the smaller the target base, the easier it was to get a higher rating.

As the target audience was specific, all die-hard fans were willing to give high ratings. Furthermore, before such films were released, those who were not interested in this genre or type would not interact with these videos and wouldn't give a rating as well. Hence, the ratings would be inflated.

Once these films were released, the ratings would naturally drop.

Hence, after taking into consideration all these elements, Pei Qian finally decided on a Tengda internal reputation-rating system. He had also thought of a more westernized name: TPDb, which was the acronym for Tengda Project Database.

This database would take note of all of Tengda's projects as well as conducting a holistic assessment based on the following criteria:

Tengda High-Level internal review, Tengda ordinary employee review, Authoritative media holistic review, Consumer review, and Netizens' review.

Every type of review would have different weights.

Tengda internal employees' opinions would weigh more than ordinary netizens. All employees' reviews had to use their real names, and only a small number of high-level executives (like Pei Qian) could see who had commented what.

While Pei Qian could not completely eliminate his employees giving troll reviews or friendship points to their comrades, at least everyone would treasure their right to review as these reviews could be traced and were recorded.

If they gave their own projects higher ratings to get a higher reward or if they purposely posted low ratings for their competitors' projects, Boss Pei would take all this into account as well.

Consumer reviews and netizens' reviews also carried different weights. For players who had bought a game and those who hadn't, the formers' views would be more highly prized.

Naturally, regardless of what system was used, some would feel that the ratings were not accurate.

If Pei Qian kept on giving the loss-making projects more rewards—while that would accelerate losses, the employees from other projects would definitely become suspicious. This would then seem unfair.

Hence, Pei Qian had thought of using TPDb as a professional rating database. As there were a rather holistic and fair system and benchmark in place with the reward given based on the ratings in the database and the initial investment amount of each project, everyone would be more appeased by this. At the same time, there would be differences in the release of rewards for different projects as well. The longer a project had been ongoing, the more times rewards would be given.

Take Upwind Courier stations for example. As Pei Qian intended for this project to last forever, he could consider giving a reputation-based reward quarterly.

For a game like Repent and be Saved which was a buy-to-play game, he could just give rewards twice or thrice. When a downloadable content was launched subsequently, Pei Qian could then give more rewards based on the downloadable content's reputation.

Of course, Pei Qian also had to achieve a balance among all his projects. Although Boss Pei was more biased towards projects like Upwind Courier stations that would burn money in the long run, he couldn't make his bias too obvious.

After finalizing all these plans, Pei Qian happily gave the proposal to Assistant Xin.

"From next month, all project bonuses would be based on these criteria."