In the afternoon, Huang Sibo came to the company.

Although Pei Qian hadn’t been frequently checking up on him, Huang Sibo was very conscious of his responsibilities.

Having received the 1 million yuan, he couldn’t just spend it however he wanted. It was better to keep Pei Qian informed about many things in advance—he couldn’t betray Pei Qian’s cultivation and trust!

After catching up with everyone in the office area, especially Xiao Lü, Huang Sibo led a very young person who looked like a student into the meeting room.

“Mr. Pei, this is the director I’ve invited. He’s a fourth-year directing major from Handong University, named Zhu Xiaocai,” Huang Sibo introduced enthusiastically.

“Hello, Mr. Pei!” Zhu Xiaocai appeared to be in good spirits, showing no signs of nervousness or unease, very enthusiastic.

Pei Qian was quite pleased when he heard that the director was a fourth-year student.

If they had brought in a professionally trained director, Pei Qian would have had to consider how to pick flaws to reject him.

Now it was perfect—just a student. Even if he was studying directing, he was still tens of thousands of miles away from actually leading a significant project!

Directing was a very complex job.

Many directors toiled until their thirties or forties before they could make a name for themselves, and even then, they were still called young directors.

What kind of waves could a fourth-year student make?

“I heard you want to shoot short videos. Have you decided on the subject?” Pei Qian asked with a smile.

Huang Sibo nodded. “Yes. Mr. Pei, we want to shoot you!”

Pei Qian almost thought he had misheard.

“Shoot me??? What’s so interesting about me to film?”

Huang Sibo smiled. “Well, actually, I’m inserting some of my agenda here. I think you, Mr. Pei, are someone who is creating a legend, and that in itself is excellent material!”

“Of course, I don’t understand the specific content, that’s all Director Zhu’s responsibility. Director Zhu, please tell Mr. Pei about your ideas.”

“Ah, yes.” Director Zhu Xiaocai picked up the conversation. “I also heard about your achievements from Brother Huang and think this is excellent material! I’m planning to film some interesting events from your daily work.”

Pei Qian was confused. “My daily work… has interesting events?”

He thought carefully—what interesting things did he do at work?

Would slacking off count?

Would it count that during the entire two-month development process of a game, he only came to the company a handful of times?

There was nothing worth filming!

So why did Huang Sibo and Zhu Xiaocai want to film him?

Could it be they were trying to flatter him?

Hmm… most likely…

Pei Qian didn’t feel any resistance to the idea. After all, who wouldn’t like being showered with praise?

As long as they lost money!

If the subject was boring, it meant the short film wouldn’t generate much response once produced, making it impossible to attract advertising or collaborate with websites for promotion. The probability of losing money was high.

Sounded promising.

Zhu Xiaocai hurriedly said, “Mr. Pei, you don’t need to worry about the source material. Art originates from life but rises above it. When filming, I’ll incorporate some artistic processing techniques to symbolize your image.”

“Of course, I might use some special styles and storylines, but that depends on the inspiration during filming.”

Zhu Xiaocai rambled on about a bunch of professional terms, somewhat vague and cloudy, which seemed like a professional habit.

Pei Qian frowned slightly.

He felt something was a bit strange, like he was experiencing déjà vu.

But he couldn’t quite place where this feeling was coming from.

He didn’t have major objections to the subject matter, as long as it didn’t make money.

His main concern was whether this approach could use up the entire 1 million yuan.

If they were going to film Pei Qian’s daily work, they would be shooting in the work area.

In that case, venue fees would be saved, and props and costumes would all be unnecessary.

With such low costs, even if they lost money, it wouldn’t be much.

If they couldn’t spend the full 1 million, wouldn’t that be frustrating?

“With this approach, can you spend the entire million?”

“Don’t worry too much about the budget. If it’s not enough, we can add more. The primary goal is to make a good film, understand?” Pei Qian presented himself as someone who cared deeply about this film.

Zhu Xiaocai smiled. “Don’t worry, Mr. Pei! I’ve discussed it with Brother Huang. We’ll pay you and the other employees for your performances. Although I know you don’t need this small amount of money, consider it a token of our appreciation.”

“We’ll also pay you for the venue.”

“Besides that, we’ll spend some money on equipment purchases and post-production editing. The remaining funds will go into promotion. I’ve calculated it, and the budget is just right.”

“Payment for performances and venue?” Pei Qian was a bit surprised.

Zhu Xiaocai replied, “Yes, Mr. Pei. We’re planning to pay by episode. Each short video will only be one minute long. Your payment will be 1,000 yuan per episode, while others will receive 200 yuan per episode.”

“After all, you’re the lead actor with more screen time.”

“We currently plan to shoot three seasons with 10 episodes each, taking a quick and concise approach. This means your total payment will be 30,000 yuan.”

“As for the venue fee, we’ll give you 50,000 yuan. Is that acceptable?”

“I know it’s not much, and you might not need it, but it’s mainly a gesture of appreciation. We can’t let everyone work for nothing.”

Suddenly, Pei Qian had a realization.

Wait a minute.

They’re paying me for my performance?

Something seemed off.

Let me think through this.

I gave Huang Sibo 1 million yuan to invest in whatever he wanted.

Then Huang Sibo used that 1 million yuan to hire me as the main character in a short video series and pay me a performance fee…

My own money made a circle and came back to my pocket—I’m paying to hire myself…

That’s crazy!

Huh?

No, wait.

That doesn’t seem right!

Pei Qian suddenly realized something was wrong with this situation.

It wasn’t about paying to hire himself.

This was converting system funds into personal property!

That 1 million yuan was originally system funds that he had invested in Huang Sibo as a dream fund.

And the performance fee that Huang Sibo and Zhu Xiaocai were paying him would count as personal property!

The system only stipulated that, as the boss, he couldn’t use company account money in any way to pay himself a salary.

But the system never said other people couldn’t pay him!

Just like when Pei Qian’s family sent him living expenses, the system didn’t interfere!

Once the money went to Huang Sibo, it was equivalent to system funds already being spent.

And as an actor in the short film, it was reasonable for Pei Qian to receive a performance fee. This belonged to normal labor income and wasn’t within the system’s scope of violations!

Pei Qian suddenly became energized.

Who said I don’t need a performance fee?

I need it very much!

Pei Qian silently asked in his heart, “System, can I accept the performance fee?”

The system screen displayed a line of text: “Income earned from the host’s labor is considered legitimate personal income, which the system will not deprive. However, the premise is that system funds cannot be maliciously converted, and the compensation must be within a reasonable market price range.”

It works!!!

Pei Qian waved his hand grandly. “Let’s forget about the venue fee; you can spend that money elsewhere. As for the performance fee, since it’s your gesture of goodwill, I’ll gladly accept it.”

“That’s… wonderful.” Zhu Xiaocai was naturally pleased. “Thank you, Mr. Pei!”

Venue fee of 50,000 yuan?

Pei Qian didn’t care about that.

The key was that money wouldn’t reach his hands anyway!

The venue fee would certainly go to the company, and once it entered the company account, it would become system funds.

Pei Qian couldn’t bypass the system to collect this money because the venue was company property.

In contrast, as an actor, Pei Qian was establishing an employment relationship with Zhu Xiaocai and signing a contract with the subsidiary company that Zhu Xiaocai and Huang Sibo had established.

This was independent of Tenda Group, didn’t need to go through the company account at all, and was justified and reasonable. Therefore, the system had no jurisdiction over it!

It was just like if Pei Qian were willing to work as a waiter at some restaurant and the restaurant paid him a wage—the system wouldn’t have any say over this money either, provided that Pei Qian wasn’t colluding with the restaurant to maliciously exploit the system.

What would count as maliciously exploiting the system?

If, for example, Pei Qian agreed with Ma Yang to invest 1 million yuan, then Ma Yang opened a restaurant and took out 300,000 yuan a month to hire Pei Qian to wash dishes—that would be maliciously exploiting the system.

First, the money Pei Qian received must roughly correspond to the labor he provided.

Second, this money must have no direct relationship with the company account.

Pei Qian couldn’t use the company account to pay himself a salary, not even 0.1 yuan.

But, like this arrangement, after the money changed hands once and had no direct relationship with the company account, and he had provided reasonable labor, it was acceptable.

Therefore, the system determined that Pei Qian receiving a performance fee was not a violation!

Pei Qian had previously gone to such great efforts and only converted 20,000 yuan.

This time, each episode of the short film was only one minute long, and shooting 30 episodes would earn him 30,000 yuan. Very cost-effective!

Why hadn’t I thought of this operation earlier??

Pei Qian was delighted inside. Plan successful!

“Very well, Mr. Pei, let’s sign the contract!”

Zhu Xiaocai took out a contract from his backpack and handed it to Pei Qian.

“Let me confirm one more thing: your short film isn’t called ‘Never Expected,’ right?” Pei Qian asked casually.

Zhu Xiaocai was a bit confused. “No, it’s not.”

Pei Qian was relieved.