April 3rd, Sunday.
Slackin’ Internet Café, Handong University branch.
Pei Qian and Lin Chang sat silently, drinking coffee, looking at each other wordlessly.
These past two days were the weekend, and Pei Qian could finally rest with a clear conscience, putting all his worries aside to enjoy a brief period of happy life.
But today, Lin Chang had come to Jingzhou, so they had to meet.
However, after exchanging greetings, both fell into silence.
Thinking back to a few months ago when they had planned and strategized together, believing they were already halfway to success, only to have both the game and the phone become wildly popular, with Lin Wan becoming unprecedentedly arrogant, even starting to show off and draw hatred in her family group chat…
Both men felt somewhat uncomfortable.
But just looking at each other in silence seemed inappropriate, too.
The problem still needed to be solved!
After a moment of silence, Lin Chang reluctantly spoke first: “Mr. Pei, things haven’t gone smoothly with the game and the phone… Didn’t we make thorough plans?”
The corner of Pei Qian’s mouth twitched slightly.
The thorough planning was mainly done by Pei Qian, and it somewhat had the feeling of “planning fiercely like a tiger, but ending up profiting like a dog.”
But Pei Qian felt indignant too. Lin Chang, are you saying you don’t bear any responsibility at all?!
If you hadn’t taken it upon yourself to promote “Beautiful Tomorrow,” the movie wouldn’t have become popular, the advertisements in it wouldn’t have been studied, and the OTTO phone wouldn’t have had such a good start…
In short, you share some of the blame!
You can’t push it all onto me!
Pei Qian sighed and said, “You promoted ‘Beautiful Tomorrow,’ arranged so many screenings, which resulted in OTTO phones establishing a high-end image in consumers’ minds before they were even released. This disrupted my plans too.”
Lin Chang looked incredulous: “How is that possible?”
“Mr. Pei, didn’t you write the script for this movie? You must have known about the OTTO phone advertisements in the film. The quality of the movie was excellent, with such rich spiritual connotations—you know better than anyone. Would this movie not have been popular without my promotion? It still would have been! It was bound to succeed!”
“If you told me other movies succeeded because of promotion, I’d believe it. But ‘Beautiful Tomorrow’? Promotion was just the icing on the cake!”
Lin Chang had swiftly thrown the blame back.
Pei Qian: “…”
He couldn’t accept it internally, but thinking carefully, it was somewhat difficult to refute.
Now, “Beautiful Tomorrow” was regarded as a high-quality work with profound implications, and most people believed that while marketing contributed to a good work’s success, solid quality was the key factor.
And regarding the solid quality… although the primary blame lay with Zhu Xiaocai, Pei Qian also seemed to bear a bit of responsibility.
Pei Qian even had some self-doubt.
According to Lin Chang’s reasoning, was all of this predetermined?
The two fell into another brief silence.
Lin Chang looked suspicious and whispered, “Mr. Pei, you wouldn’t happen to be doing this deliberately, would you?”
“On the surface, you let Wan be responsible for these seemingly doomed businesses, but did you know all along that both the game and the phone would be hugely successful? Otherwise, why would you have other businesses fully support them?”
“As far as I know, you oversaw the promotional activities for ‘BE QUIET,’ and the phone’s advertisements and various benefits also benefited from other businesses.”
“Could it be… You don’t want Wan to leave?”
Pei Qian’s face darkened: “Absolutely not!”
Lin Wan is the director of two departments and is familiar with all the other department heads. She naturally has the authority to request benefits from various departments and coordinate overall.”
“As for ‘BE QUIET’… that was an accident.”
“Mr. Lin, believe me, I want Lin Wan to go home more than anyone else.”
Pei Qian’s expression was extremely sincere.
Lin Chang looked at Pei Qian without speaking, but his eyes held a hint of doubt.
This was normal—if someone had earnestly promised you something but repeatedly failed due to “objective reasons” or “unexpected factors,” you would also have such doubts…
However, Pei Qian was the most wronged person at this moment.
But at this point, explanations seemed unlikely to have any effect…
They could only continue to set the next stage of goals—this time, they had to persuade Lin Wan to quit!
However, while Pei Qian was considering the next goals, Lin Chang’s words completely caught him by surprise.
Lin Chang sighed gently: “Alright, Mr. Pei, I didn’t come here to pass the blame. There’s something else.”
“To be frank, the situation has changed again.”
“These past few days, Lin Wan has been showing off in our family group chat, especially since the OTTO phone successfully sold at the 8,000 yuan price point—a price point that my eldest sister, who is responsible for flagship phones, hasn’t achieved. Although the sales volumes are worlds apart, Wan has only been making phones for a few months, while my eldest sister has been doing it for several years…”
“In short, the situation was quite chaotic at one point.”
Pei Qian thought for a moment: “Then… would the old master allow her to act like this?”
Lin Chang responded with a laugh: “Mr. Pei, you’ve immediately hit the core issue, which is also the key to how the situation has changed.”
“Not only is the old master not angry, he’s very pleased.”
“To be honest, Mr. Pei.”
“Previously, when Wan ran away to work out of anger, the old master was very displeased. He was well aware of the state of most enterprises outside and felt that Wan was wasting her time. That’s why he kept demanding that Wan return to inherit the family business.”
“Before, Wan was just making games without achieving anything significant. Although the mobile game made money, it wasn’t particularly prestigious, so the old master’s attitude hadn’t changed.”
“But this time, when Wan mentioned in the group chat that she had made an 8,000 yuan phone… the old master suddenly became interested!”
“So he had someone look into the OTTO phone and Tenda Group in detail, and guess what happened?”
The corner of Pei Qian’s mouth twitched slightly, and he had a very bad feeling: “What happened?”
Lin Chang’s expression was somewhat complex: “The old master pondered the process of how the phone became popular and sold for 8,000 yuan, and he couldn’t stop praising you, Mr. Pei!”
“Boldly employing Chang You, establishing a high-end positioning from the start, subtly promoting the brand through the movie, using Tenda’s other businesses to protect the phone, thereby breaking through in the mobile phone market where countless domestic brands had already divided up almost every price point…”
“Any misstep in the above could have led to the failure of the OTTO phone!”
“Especially the launch event—even the old master was very surprised, since domestic manufacturers had never done anything like this. The old master said that just this launch event alone saved OTTO phones at least hundreds of thousands in marketing costs!”
“The old master knew that most of the credit belonged to you and Chang You, but as the director, even if Wan was only responsible for a small part, she would certainly gain tremendous growth.”
“After that, the old master also briefly learned about Tenda Group’s other businesses, including Headwind Logistics, Slackin’ Internet Café, and so on…”
Pei Qian felt increasingly uneasy: “Just tell me the outcome…”
Lin Chang paused, then said: “The old master has changed his mind.”
Pei Qian: “?”
“Changed his mind?”
“He doesn’t want Lin Wan to go back anymore?”
Lin Chang’s expression was complex: “Yes.”
“The old master originally wanted Wan to return because he thought outside companies weren’t reliable and that working at these companies was a complete waste of time.”
“But after seeing Wan’s excellent results, the old master’s prejudice against these companies disappeared… well, that’s not quite accurate. I should say, only his prejudice against Tenda disappeared.”
“The old master greatly admires you, Mr. Pei. He believes Wan will learn many things working under you, and letting her train here for a few more years before returning to inherit the family business might not be a bad idea.”
Pei Qian: “??”
Train for a few more years before returning? That might not be a bad idea.
This wasn’t “might not be a bad idea”—this was a terrible idea!
If she remained a director for a few more years, who knew what state his company would be in!
What did this mean? The “Lin Wan going home united front” was ruined and collapsed because of one insignificant success?
Old Master Lin, couldn’t you be a bit more resolute?!
Pei Qian quickly asked: “What does Lin Yu say about this?”
Lin Chang shrugged: “What can she say? Once the old master speaks, everyone must listen to him.”
“Now the old master’s attitude is that since Wan can learn things here, staying longer is fine. Moreover, the old master has hinted that during this period, we siblings should cooperate well and give her career a boost…”
Pei Qian: “???”
Brother, if a behemoth like Shenhua decided to “give a boost,” that was no joke!
They might well snap my arm right off!
Think about the past:
Lin Yu helped promote the “Passionate Battle Song” mobile version on Shenhua’s app store.
Lin Zhou waived the rent for Shenhua Haojing.
Lin Chang promoted “Beautiful Tomorrow.”
And thinking about the future…
With the three of them responsible for phones, real estate, and entertainment, if they all joined forces, Lin Wan’s career would indeed soar rapidly. Wouldn’t Mr. Pei’s money-losing enterprise die on the spot?
Pei Qian immediately refused firmly: “Not necessary!”
Lin Chang nodded: “Right, that’s what I told the old master, too!”
Pei Qian: “Huh?”
Lin Chang had an expression of “I’m Mr. Pei’s confidant”: “I told the old master that you, Mr. Pei, built your business from scratch, have extraordinary talent, and have always been very averse to such help. Since each of your decisions is already strategically planned with sufficient odds of success, our meddling would only add complications and would be quite unnecessary.”
Pei Qian nodded very happily: “Exactly!”
Indeed, Lin understands me well. Your words make me feel much better!
Although your understanding of “strategic planning” has some issues, as long as you don’t complicate things, we’re still good friends!
Pei Qian thought for a moment, then asked: “So, Mr. Lin, did the old master give any hint about when Lin Wan could return?”
Lin Chang considered for a moment: “Judging from the old master’s current attitude… probably when Wan’s abilities are sufficient to stand on her own.”
Pei Qian quickly said, “I think her abilities are already sufficient to stand on her own!”
Lin Chang shook his head: “Obviously, the old master doesn’t think so. Mr. Pei, from the old master’s perspective, Tenda’s scale is still a bit small. The current sales and profits of OTTO phones don’t even match those of an ordinary OEM phone from Shenhua’s mobile business sub-brand. With this level of achievement, she’s still far from the ‘stand on her own’ in the old master’s eyes.”
“At the very least, the business Wan is responsible for needs to rank very high in its field to catch the old master’s eye…”
Pei Qian’s face darkened.
Rank very high?
For a phone to rank “very high,” wouldn’t the company’s market value need to be at least tens of billions?
Aren’t you joking with me?
Pei Qian thought for a moment: “What about other businesses? For example, if we achieved a world-class ranking in a specific category of the gaming industry, would that count?”
Lin Chang considered: “It probably would. The old master has no prejudice against the gaming industry, but mobile games like ‘Passionate Battle Song’ definitely wouldn’t be enough. Beyond profitability, it must also have sufficient influence.”
Pei Qian nodded, understanding now.
Just assign Lin Wan to be responsible for ioi’s China server, and that’s it!
With the same goal of “letting Lin Wan return to inherit the family business,” the previous approach was to try to make projects fail, but now it was to try to make projects hugely successful.
Of course, huge project success contradicted Mr. Pei’s ultimate goal, but success didn’t necessarily mean earning a lot of money—it could also mean high popularity!
Pei Qian had been worrying about who should be entrusted with the ioi China server project, which would succeed even if left alone.
Now it was decided—give it to Lin Wan and Shangyang Games!
This move was beneficial in at least three ways:
It would prevent Shangyang Games from making more critically acclaimed and commercially successful single-player games, as they had already proven their ability with “BE QUIET.”;
No matter what, ioi’s China server would likely be highly successful. Since this fact was unavoidable, they might as well throw Lin Wan into be gilded cage. After the project succeeded, they could quickly have Old Master Lin come to take her back;
Finally, the success of ioi’s China server could also eliminate GOG, that thorn in his side. Tenda Games and Shangyang Games—two of their own game departments fighting each other, with the younger brother beating the older brother—it would surely be a spectacular scene.
Thinking of this, Pei Qian nodded: “Alright, I’ll try to have the old master come to pick her up in half a year!”
If it were about ensuring a project’s definite failure, Mr. Pei would truly have no confidence.
But if it were about making a project successful, especially a reliable project like ioi… Mr. Pei did have some confidence in that.
Seeing how quickly Mr. Pei’s expression changed, Lin Chang looked suspicious: “Uh… Mr. Pei, seeing how you’re strategizing, you have a plan in mind and are confident.”
“So… your previous talk about wanting Wan to fail was just to fool me, right?”
“Could it be that you already guessed that as long as Wan’s career was successful enough, the old master would change his mind?”
Pei Qian: “…”
“Mr. Lin, if you keep making wild guesses like this, you’ll eventually lose my friendship.”