In the conference room, newly hired employees were all earnestly answering questions. After selecting each option, they would type a few keystrokes to input explanatory information, with responses varying in length.

Wu Bin was supervising the exam and couldn’t conveniently look at these specific questions and answers, because in principle, the Tenda Spirit compatibility test was confidential. At least, openly looking at exam questions in the testing room wouldn’t create a good impression.

So Wu Bin could only wait until after the exam to privately inquire about changes to the questions, and then mentally deduce Mr. Pei’s deeper intentions behind these modifications.

Soon, the test ended.

Because the number of questions had been deliberately adjusted, the overall testing time remained unchanged. The new employees submitted their answers one after another and checked their test results.

Some employees’ screens showed “passed,” while others displayed “keep trying.”

Wu Bin roughly scanned the computer screens he could see. Although he couldn’t make out the small text of the questions, he could generally see the final results.

Only a small portion of new employees hadn’t passed the test. After all, this was just the first test, with three more opportunities to come. As long as they passed any one attempt, they would be successfully hired.

This pass rate didn’t differ much from previous batches of employees.

Wu Bin frowned slightly, analyzing a few clues.

“Results still come out immediately after the test, which means the scoring is still automatically calculated by the system based on objective answers, and those explanations don’t count toward the score.”

“Then… what’s Mr. Pei’s intention with this change?”

“Could it be that he wants to see if these new employees have any misunderstandings about the Tenda Spirit?”

“Or is there some longer-term plan that I can’t figure out?”

…

Meanwhile, Pei Qian was in his office reviewing the results of this test.

He carefully examined all the results, both from employees who passed and those who didn’t.

Each test result showed not only the selected options but also the employee’s explanation for that choice.

Pei Qian picked out two of the most representative questions to examine.

The first question was: It’s already quitting time, but you still have one task that hasn’t been completed. What should you do in this situation?

For this question, selecting “argue with your supervisor based on principles” would add 5 points, while choosing “deal with it tomorrow” would add 4 points.

Pei Qian’s original intention with this question was to establish the concept of “never work overtime” among employees. The stronger this belief, the more the employee would meet Pei’s requirements.

Among these new employees who passed the test, quite a few had indeed chosen these two options.

But looking at their explanations for these choices, Pei Qian’s brow furrowed tightly.

“The Tenda Spirit means no overtime, so no overtime.”

“Leaders would never require overtime, so the ‘argue based on principles’ option is invalid. Departments automatically lock doors at closing time, so we can only wait until tomorrow.”

“There’s no overtime quota; even if I wanted to work late, I couldn’t.”

“Rest is for better work. If overtime today affects rest, work efficiency decreases tomorrow, creating a vicious cycle. Resting well today allows for efficiently completing all work tomorrow.”

“An excellent Tenda employee shouldn’t face situations requiring overtime. If such situations arise, one should first consider if their efficiency is too low and work to improve it, rather than using tactical diligence to cover strategic laziness.”

“The Tenda Spirit emphasizes work-life balance and long-term goals. If it’s not an urgent task, there’s no need to rush. As long as it doesn’t delay the overall project timeline, there’s no need for performative overtime, especially since Tenda doesn’t support this approach.”

After reading these explanations, Pei Qian’s head was filled with question marks.

???

Some of these explanations seemed to understand the Tenda Spirit, but upon careful consideration, they completely missed the essence!

While there was evidence of “everyone doesn’t work overtime, so I don’t either” groupthink, indicating that “no overtime” had become a trend within Tenda, digging deeper into the foundation of this trend revealed it ran completely counter to Pei Qian’s original intention!

Most people chose not to work overtime simply because they believed that rather than working extra hours, they should focus on improving efficiency, resting was for completing work more effectively.

This way, whether they worked overtime or not, these people were fully utilizing their work capabilities!

Many companies required employees to work unpaid 996 overtime, but whether employees actively slacked off or passively suffered from fatigue-induced efficiency drops, most employees’ work efficiency would greatly decrease in a 996 state, perhaps down to 50-60% at best.

But Tenda was exactly the opposite—strictly prohibiting overtime and 996 culture—yet employees’ work enthusiasm was fully mobilized. Some people were even spiritually inspired and motivated, reaching peak performance states with greatly improved efficiency.

All things considered, Tenda’s work completion rate might be much better than some 996 companies!

Pei Qian’s expression instantly turned serious.

He seemed to have found the problem!

His original intention was for everyone to slack off, coast, and enjoy themselves more, but everyone had interpreted it as Mr. Pei wanting them to have more fun so they could complete their work better!

Just one additional step, but the ultimate purpose became completely different!

Pei Qian quickly found another question.

This question’s stem seemed unchanged, still about reaching quitting time, but this time it involved a task personally assigned by Mr. Pei, asking what one should do.

The standard answer this time was to work overtime to complete the task, with an extra point awarded for requesting double overtime pay from Mr. Pei.

Again, many people selected the correct answer, but their reasoning once more deviated from Pei Qian’s original intention.

“Any request from Mr. Pei must be executed without fail.”

“Tasks personally assigned by Mr. Pei must be extremely critical. Even if it means going through fire and water for Tenda, they must be completed perfectly!”

“Tasks specifically entrusted by Mr. Pei certainly have deeper meaning. One must contemplate thoroughly, dig into Mr. Pei’s underlying thoughts, understand his thinking, and then perfectly complete the task. It’s not excessive to ask for a bit more overtime pay based on merit.”

“Be confident in yourself. After taking Mr. Pei’s overtime pay, you can earn more money for the company as repayment in the future. Being afraid to ask for overtime pay shows a lack of confidence in your abilities, which doesn’t align with the Tenda Spirit.”

Seeing these responses, Pei Qian felt 10% reassured and 90% worried.

The reassuring part was that employees seemed to have an obsession and consensus about completing tasks assigned by Mr. Pei—they would definitely complete them on time. This way, Pei Qian basically didn’t need to worry about projects not being completed or system settlement delays.

But… what was this “taking Mr. Pei’s overtime pay and earning more money for the company as repayment” nonsense?

Pei Qian was speechless. Who the hell asked for your repayment?

Stop making wild guesses!

Mr. Pei always did good deeds without expecting anything in return. This made things very difficult!

After reviewing the answers to these two questions, Pei Qian realized a very serious problem.

The original intention of the Tenda Spirit compatibility test had been severely misinterpreted!

Pei Qian’s original idea was simply to let employees rest more, slack off more, work less, and earn less money for the company, without overthinking it.

But somehow, most people had indeed understood the “rest more” part, but strangely added another step: resting more was for working better.

This completely changed the flavor!

From the original slacker spirit to a work-hard mentality.

“No wonder we’ve been making money to the point of a brain hemorrhage lately.”

“No wonder the Tenda Spirit compatibility test hasn’t filtered out a single workaholic so far.”

“So this set of questions has been completely misinterpreted!”

Pei Qian held his head in his hands, feeling somewhat speechless.

The question now was, what should be done?

From the answers to these test questions, it was clear that workaholics had infiltrated Tenda’s new employees, and not just a few.

The problem was that Pei Qian couldn’t do anything about them, since they had passed the Tenda Spirit compatibility test fair and square.

Ultimately, Pei Qian felt that his screening method had some issues, causing everyone to misunderstand his intentions.

Of course, Pei Qian didn’t think the blame lay entirely on his side. Something must be happening in the company without his knowledge.

Even if everyone had misinterpreted the Tenda Spirit that encouraged slacking off, how could they all be so consistent, as if they had coordinated?

Someone must be stirring things up behind the scenes, unifying everyone’s thinking!

Pei Qian closed the Tenda Spirit compatibility test backend and began considering countermeasures.

First, he needed to change the question bank!

The current question bank no longer meets the requirements. Many new employees could perfectly pass the Tenda Spirit test with a completely misinterpreted understanding of the Tenda Spirit. This misinterpreted Tenda Spirit had instead become an obstacle, significantly improving employees’ work efficiency!

So Pei Qian felt he should add some new questions. Building on the original question bank, he needed to distinguish between genuine slackers and workaholics.

For example, adding questions like “Do you think it’s more important for the company to grow and prosper or for individuals to earn high salaries?” or “Do you think it’s more important to do something grand and impressive or to live a stable life?”

Those workaholics who had passed the Tenda Spirit test would choose options like doing something grand and impressive or helping the company grow and prosper.

Of course, the specific questions would need careful consideration. The intention couldn’t be too obvious. Key questions needed to be hidden among many confusing questions to avoid easy detection of the pattern.

To prevent raising alarms, even if someone selected these options, they would still pass the Tenda Spirit compatibility test. However, Pei Qian would find some excuse to reassign these people.

He would tell everyone that, based on test results, some people would be selected and assigned to other projects.

For instance, places like the Thrilling Hostel or Headwind Logistics.

In short, he needed to minimize the impact of their ambition on Tenda as much as possible!

Beyond this, how the Tenda Spirit had gone astray had to be thoroughly investigated. This matter absolutely could not be left unresolved!