191 Terminal Chinese Language Network
It was not that Pei Qian was acting humble. The main problem was that he could not come up with things like themes for worlds. He could not even lay down hard and fast requirements for the design details for the game. He would wait for the design manuscript to be handed to him. Then, he would make some edits to ensure that there would be no problem.
Ma Yiqun listened very closely. After being put in charge of rewriting plot designs for the games, this was his first time being involved in the research and development process of a game from scratch. What's more, it sounded like Pei Qian had high standards for the game this time. Everything sounded extremely challenging.
He could not let Boss Pei down!
The general direction had been laid down, and Boss Pei had clarified his requests. Everyone began to leave the meeting room. Suddenly, Pei Qian asked Ma Yiqun to remain behind. Ma Yiqun could not help but feel excited.
Boss Pei is asking me to remain behind. Clearly, he wants to explain to me more about the plot!
That's great! Ever since I joined Tengda, I have been working hard at inferring and understanding Boss Pei's hidden intentions. To be able to discuss these things face-to-face with Boss Pei would guarantee deep learning points.
How would Boss Pei design Repent and be Saved's world theme? Any hint would be greatly appreciated…
Ma Yiqun could not help but overthink.
Looking at Ma Yiqun, Pei Qian smiled and said, "From tomorrow onward, you will no longer be a member of Tengda Games."
Ma Yiqun was stunned.
What's this? Have I not been doing my job well? Am I being asked to leave?
That can't be. Lu Mingliang and the other colleagues have given me very good feedback. Where have I gone wrong? Why is Boss Pei upset with me? Did I do a bad job of writing the plots? Is Boss Pei disappointed? Impossible—weren't the players' reactions pretty good?
Pei Qian smiled and continued speaking. "I want to give you a more important task. Tengda is going to start a website for webnovels. I know that writing webnovels has always been your dream and hobby. That's why I want you to be in charge of this website."
Ma Yiqun was even more shocked. His eyes widened as he became even more confused.
Bliss had come too suddenly! Ma Yiqun had no idea how to react! He had initially thought that he was being fired. Beads of cold sweat had formed on his forehead. Now, everything was clarified. He was not being fired. He was being transferred somewhere else.
From working with games, he was going to be working with online literature!
A realization dawned on Ma Yiqun. He never expected that… he would be able to work with online literature once again.
All along, he had thought that he was naturally gifted in writing. He had come from a family of scholars. As a result, he was well-nurtured and had a good, strong foundation in language. In university, he began to try his hand at writing. He also gained a significant following of fans who loved reading his work.
Ma Yiqun loved interacting with his readers. He also deeply enjoyed the feeling of others liking and validating his work.
However, the experience he had after graduating from university left a deep impact on him. It had not been easy for him to gain a following from scratch. In the end, less than a hundred people purchased his chapters. He nearly starved to death.
As a result, he had no choice but to give up his account on Limitless Chinese Language Network and go to Shang Yang Games to work instead. There, he began to plan plots for games.
Until now, it had been a year since he last touched online literature. Although he had still been reading popular writings, he had put his pen down a long time ago.
Ma Yiqun's voice trembled as he asked, "You're putting me in charge? What's… the status of this company now?"
Pei Qian smiled as he answered, "It's still in construction, but don't worry. Assistant Xin will take care of the finance and administration staff. You will only be in charge of the daily operations of this website.
"The office will be located upstairs. As for your staff… we have recruited a batch of newbies with majors in humanities from Handong University. In the online literature industry, it's not meaningful to talk about whether people are suitable for the job. You can assign them tasks as you deem fit. Give them any job that you find suitable."
Pei Qian was speaking the truth. These people were indeed newbies. Pei Qian did not even know if they read online literature.
However, Ma Yiqun thought differently.
Why was Boss Pei setting up a website for online literature all of a sudden? He is definitely not just following a trend. He must have a more important purpose in doing so!
Until now, Tengda had been developing in multiple different directions. Fei Huang Workspace and Fish-Catching Internet Cafe looked completely unrelated on the surface. However, they were all pieces of a much bigger puzzle!
If one saw Fei Huang Workspace as a venture in the filming industry and Fish-Catching Internet Cafe as a venture in the physical industry and then a website for online literature…
That would most likely be an important step towards the copyrights plan!
If they could produce good IP, Fei Huang Workspace would be able to make a film out of it. Tengda Games would also be able to create a game that revolved around this IP. In the future, this far-sighted set-up would prove to be extremely meaningful!
Although the website was just starting out, given Boss Pei's vicious strategies and Tengda's immense financial strength…
If Ma Yiqun messed this up, he could be thoroughly ashamed of himself!
The fact that Boss Pei had put Ma Yiqun in charge of such an important step in the plan without any hesitation greatly touched him. However, apart from feeling touched, he also felt a great deal of self-doubt.
"Boss Pei, you know my situation. I'm afraid I'm not cut out for this.
"I can't even write good novels on my own. If you put me in charge of others, I might lead them down the wrong path. Then, the consequences would be too huge for me to bear. I'm a bit…"
Pei Qian's smile widened.
Lead them down the wrong path? That's the way. Why do you think I put you in charge of this website?
Pei Qian knew that he could not stand by and do nothing once the website was ready. When that time came, he would have to buy a random batch of failed manuscripts and hire a group of full-time writers. These were things he had to do.
This was what worried Pei Qian. Given his own mysterious good luck, he would probably end up hiring a god of online literature. If he published a book that went through the roof in terms of subscriptions and made the website popular along the way, Pei Qian would be in deep trouble.
Given his experiences, he had to guard against something like that.
To Pei Qian, Ma Yiqun was premium insurance for this.
His consecutive failures showed that there was a big problem with his objective understanding of the way online literature worked. He had given the mainstream readers of online literature the exact opposite of what they wanted. He could not even satisfy a minority of the readers.
As for Pei Qian's seniors—even if they had read online literature before, they knew nothing about the internal creative process.
If they were all that good, they would have started writing online literature on their own a long time ago. Why would they still be unemployed now?
Ma Yiqun's own judgment and understanding were off, and yet he had to guide editors, examine manuscripts, give recommendations, and the like. That would make him all the more unreliable!
Then, the wrong manuscripts would be accepted, the resident authors would be full-time failures, and the readers would not be able to find good reads on the website. These would form a vicious cycle…
En, that sounded right.
To be honest, Pei Qian's considerations did seem overly ridiculous. Would it be that easy to succeed?
If he wanted to seriously create a website for online literature, Pei Qian could diligently look for experienced editors in the industry and pour huge sums of money into looking for incredible writers. Even then, there would be a huge chance that he would fail.
It was not easy to be profitable in this industry.
Since he could not change the ending, he might as well make some arrangements to allow Ma Yiqun to fulfill his dream.
What was money? Fulfilling his employees' dreams was Boss Pei's lifelong mission!
