Pei Qian closed the Academic Affairs website with satisfaction and stopped talking about grades.
Though one point was still historic progress, it wouldn’t make sense to keep bragging about it. Better to keep it quietly in his heart.
“Looks like you’ve been studying quite hard and seriously during this period. How’s the work situation?” Pei Qian asked.
Ma Yang patted his chest: “Don’t worry, Brother Qian. I’ve been balancing study and work without missing a beat!”
“I came specifically to report to you today.”
“I’ve been diligently helping people achieve their dreams on Weibo, but there are fewer and fewer dreams worth fulfilling. Many people can’t even write a decent joke—how can I trust such people actually have dreams?”
“As for those joke writers who’ve already received money, their wishes have been fulfilled and their jokes are almost exhausted. One shouldn’t be insatiably greedy, so I don’t grant wishes to such people anymore.”
“Just this past week, I only gave out about 100,000 yuan. Alas, I can only say this is an era of dream scarcity.”
“A good dream is truly more precious than gold—that’s from my heart.”
Pei Qian listened, growing more dumbfounded.
Old Ma, how to put it…
Pei Qian had only wanted him to spend money freely on Weibo, yet Old Ma was taking it too seriously.
He wouldn’t give to those who’d already received money, nor to those who wrote poor jokes. Result: only spent about 100,000 yuan in a week? At this rate of spending, couldn’t count on him at all.
Pei Qian had tried persuading Old Ma before to relax his standards a bit and not be so strict, but Old Ma absolutely refused, insisting dreams were rare and sacred, not to be tarnished.
Pei Qian was helpless and could only let him be.
“How’s the live merchandise streaming situation? How’s the engagement?” Pei Qian asked again.
Ma Yang said: “Engagement? It has basically stabilized. Not super popular, but not bad either.”
Pei Qian felt pleased—exactly as he’d expected.
Ma Yang’s reverse merchandise endorsement was essentially like exposé work. While initially popular, it would gradually stabilize without explosive growth.
After all, watching exposé content daily would eventually become tiresome.
The lack of continued surge in popularity, instead stabilizing, was good news for Pei Qian.
Ma Yang continued: “I’ve now had over ten livestreams, featuring products from small items like stationery to large ones like home appliances, including food and electronics—all with excellent results!”
“Some unregulated merchants directly delisted products, shut down online stores, and ran away;”
“Some major brands delisted, apologized, and reformed. Consumers who’d been getting nowhere with complaints finally received proper compensation;”
“Many brands privately contacted me, wanting to pay hush money so I’d stop targeting them; even brands not yet exposed came with indirect offers, saying if I didn’t mention their brands in future streams, we could discuss sponsorship fees…”
Pei Qian asked with concern: “What did you tell them?”
Ma Yang chuckled: “Of course I immediately shared all their private messages publicly!”
“Brother Qian, I never forgot your warnings. No matter the reason for trying to bribe us, that’s absolutely wishful thinking! Those unexposed brands? We weren’t planning to cover them, but their private messages showed guilty consciences, so we definitely need to expose them now!”
“I now have several million followers. Everyone says I’m a warrior, the spokesperson and vanguard of Tenda Spirit. How could mere money bribe me?”
Ma Yang’s long face beamed with pride.
Pei Qian gave a thumbs up: “Well done! Old Ma, I knew all along you were potential talent. I can count on you!”
Indeed, if someone else had Old Ma’s job, they might not be this ruthless.
His livestreams didn’t just expose unregulated products but also some well-known manufacturers, offending many.
Even more extreme, he directly shared manufacturers’ private messages without leaving any face, something most people wouldn’t dare do.
On this matter, Pei Qian was 100% satisfied with Old Ma’s performance.
Though Old Ma’s followers kept growing to several million, Weibo had countless accounts with millions of followers. Old Ma spending so much to gain only several million followers was perfectly acceptable.
“No threats directed at you?” Pei Qian asked with concern.
Ma Yang shook his head: “A few unregulated alt accounts sent me private messages. I directly tagged the cyber police and they got scared, deleted accounts, and ran away. Besides, our country follows rule of law, and I have bodyguards—what’s there to fear!”
Pei Qian nodded: “Mm, good.”
If ordinary people did this work, resistance would be enormous, but with Tenda backing Old Ma, many things became simpler. Even if people hated Old Ma intensely, they’d have to consider Tenda’s weight.
Speaking of Tenda…
Pei Qian asked: “Have you livestreamed any Tenda products?”
Ma Yang was startled, scratching his head: “Oh… no.”
Pei Qian was somewhat displeased: “Didn’t I tell you to especially watch out for Tenda products?”
Ma Yang scratched his head: “But Brother Qian, Tenda doesn’t really have any new products…”
Pei Qian said: “What about the Fully Automatic Smart Retort Machine? Do it in the next livestream—show everyone all its problems, flaws, and downsides in detail!”
Ma Yang hesitated: “But that’s a new product, right? Our own products are definitely quality—there might not be much content…”
Pei Qian’s expression turned serious: “Precisely because it’s our own product, we must hold stricter standards! We must treat everything equally, while also motivating OTTO Technology to constantly improve and advance!”
Of course, motivating OTTO Technology was false—reducing retort machine sales to earn less money was true.
The Fully Automatic Smart Retort Machine had been on sale for over a week. Originally ignored, everything was fine. But suddenly one day, somehow, sales exploded!
Partly due to Qiao Liang’s Weibo recommendation, but that only amplified things. Pei Qian still couldn’t understand the root cause of its popularity.
Watching as the inventory stocked to urgently spend money would soon transform into troublesome system funds, Pei Qian refused to wait passively.
So he planned to use Ma Yang’s “livestream selling” as a chess piece, hoping to reduce Smart Retort Machine sales.
After all, the Smart Retort Machine had been officially available for over a week. People’s blind buying enthusiasm should have cooled somewhat.
Since everyone had regained rationality, pointing out the Smart Retort Machine’s problems and flaws now should achieve optimal results, right?
As for whether the product had problems—definitely yes.
OTTO Technology didn’t have its own factory; making smart speakers meant designing and outsourcing to other factories, with no particularly high technical barriers.
Meaning this device, compared to original manufacturer soundbar products, had similar quality but higher prices due to the added retort feature.
Moreover, at over 2,000 yuan, it was only entry-level for enthusiasts—”just for listening”—completely incomparable to professional audio and soundbars costing thousands or tens of thousands.
See, when looking for problems, there were plenty!
Pei Qian believed Chen Yufeng’s professional team preparing livestream content for Ma Yang would find flaws better than he could.
When they thoroughly dissected everything, stripping the Smart Retort Machine bare, even if not stopping all purchases, at least dissuading some consumers, right?
As long as some inventory remained warehoused before settlement, that would be beneficial.
Ma Yang said: “Alright Brother Qian, I’ll tell Chen Yufeng to immediately prepare next livestream content focused on the Fully Automatic Smart Retort Machine!”
Pei Qian nodded: “Good. Let me review the first draft script when it’s ready.”
“No problem Brother Qian, just watch!” Ma Yang left cheerfully.
Watching Ma Yang’s departing figure, Pei Qian couldn’t help sighing silently.
Being a laid-back person like Old Ma was truly blissful.
No matter what happened, he remained so optimistic. Unlike himself, daily filled with various worries, racking his brains to lose more money.
Truly enviable.
Pei Qian checked the date—already January 18. Less than a week until Spring Festival, with company matters entering final stages.
Eve fell on the 22nd. Pei Qian planned to finish the annual meeting on the 20th and start vacation immediately.
The annual meeting should have been earlier, but the final month had many matters. Pei Qian feared preparing the meeting would interfere with producing losses, so he postponed several days to vacation day itself.
This way, finishing the meeting meant immediate vacation—quite direct.
Of course, everything needed arranging before vacation.
Though this cycle earned much, Pei Qian prepared adequately. “Mission and Choice” spent considerable money, Dreamland Ventures absorbed some, and remaining funds Pei Qian intended entirely for advertising.
Though advertising had risks, urgent spending couldn’t consider everything. Plus, Pei Qian’s advertising targeted physical businesses: Fish Internet Café, Fish Delivery, Tuoguan Fitness, Sloth Apartments, Upwind Logistics, etc.
These businesses shared a trait: most were profitably stable, but rapid expansion prevented excessive earnings. Advertising these industries was much safer than gaming, phones, etc.
During Spring Festival, blanket advertising across Jingzhou, Imperial Capital, Shanghai, and other cities could spend substantial amounts.
Calculating this way, after New Year’s formal settlement should create considerable losses.
Post-settlement, Pei Qian could fully focus on the next cycle.
Pei Qian considered his plan perfect—virtually flawless.