He Desheng’s casual remarks left Yan Qi dumbfounded.

What? Mr. Pei had seen it?

And highly approved of it?

Initially, Yan Qi was shocked by Li Yada’s influence, but on second thought, this might not have much to do with Li Yada.

Even if Li Yada had a private relationship with He Desheng, such a large investment involving over a hundred million yuan wasn’t something He Desheng could decide on his own. He would definitely need to consult Mr. Pei.

In other words, both Li Yada and He Desheng were just messengers—they couldn’t decide anything. In the end, it was Mr. Pei who made the final call.

Everyone knew that Mr. Pei was the owner behind Dreaming Investment, so it wasn’t surprising that Mr. Pei had seen this design proposal.

What shocked Yan Qi was that Mr. Pei didn’t just dismiss it with a laugh but had actually looked at it seriously. Not only did he highly approve of it, but he also actively proposed increasing the budget!

What kind of trust was this!

After all, Yan Qi had never met Mr. Pei face-to-face, and they didn’t know each other at all. Yet he trusted him so much based solely on a game design proposal?

Yan Qi felt a kind of romantic spirit in this.

It was like in ancient times when two poets, though a thousand miles apart and unknown to each other, would naturally feel a kinship after reading each other’s verses.

And in this case, it was clearly the romance of game designers!

It could be said that Mr. Pei, who provided this investment, wasn’t really acting as an investor at this moment, but as a senior designer full of care for his juniors, with a spirit of “when successful, helping the world.”

Wouldn’t this money be better spent if Mr. Pei used it to develop games himself?

Given Mr. Pei’s extremely high success rate in game development, it would be more cost-effective than investing in a small studio.

But Mr. Pei didn’t do that. Instead, he very generously handed the money to Yan Qi, showing full trust and expectation.

Although Yan Qi hadn’t seen Mr. Pei when he made this decision, he could roughly imagine it.

Mr. Pei must have had a warm smile on his face, like a deity looking down upon humanity.

For the domestic game industry, Mr. Pei was truly a savior!

Yan Qi felt greatly encouraged and immediately pledged: “Don’t worry, Mr. He. Even if it costs me my life, I will make this game well. I absolutely won’t disappoint Mr. Pei’s trust and expectations!”

…

In the afternoon, at the Advertising and Marketing Department.

Meng Chang continued to review online reactions to the promotional video.

Three days had passed, and the online controversy about this video had basically stabilized.

It had barely achieved the effect Meng Chang wanted, but it was still far from the optimal result.

First, this promotional video appeared to be showing how hard-working and dedicated real estate agents were, but most people found it difficult to empathize with this point.

Second, because Meng Chang deliberately used some special techniques when filming this video, viewers felt somewhat uncomfortable after watching it closely.

The current online public opinion could be described as mild criticism.

Many people were analyzing why this video felt wrong, which led to discussions about various problems in the real estate agency industry. But it hadn’t reached the level of severe criticism yet.

After all, the content of this video was fairly standard and hadn’t reached the point of provoking public outrage.

But Meng Chang didn’t have a better solution. This delicate balance couldn’t be disrupted from his side, as that would seem too deliberate and could easily backfire.

Just then, Yu Yao suddenly said: “Brother Meng, take a look! Home Group has also released a promotional video!”

Meng Chang was stunned: “Huh?”

He quickly clicked on the link Yu Yao sent and found that Home Group had indeed released a video, and it was even longer than the one he had made!

“Home Group, dedicated to providing high-quality rental living for young people…”

“The professional agency team created by Home Group stands ready at all times, analyzing tenants’ actual needs, providing massive genuine housing resources, helping countless young people who come to big cities to find a place to settle…”

Accompanied by the clean, neat background images typical of promotional videos, a deep, elegant male voice narrated.

The entire video was quite long for a promotional video, over seven minutes, and was roughly divided into three parts.

The first part described Home Group’s growth rate, market share, how many tenants and landlords they had signed contracts with, and other data. As a top-tier group in the industry, these figures were obviously very impressive.

The second part was about young people’s rental experiences with Home Group, especially in the “Peace of Mind Housing” project, from selecting houses and viewing them to signing contracts. It emphasized that they offered genuine listings, patient service, and professionally trained agents and housekeepers, allowing young people to work in the city without worries.

The third part was similar to the promotional video Meng Chang had made, playing on emotions and focusing on the daily trivialities of Home Group’s agents and housekeepers, their hard work not being understood, but still maintaining a positive and uplifting attitude.

Previously, after seeing Meng Chang’s promotional video, Home Group had called Lin Wan at Slow Walker Studio directly. After being rejected, they didn’t persist but chose to make their own promotional video.

Obviously, Home Group also clearly understood that trending topics were fleeting and they had to seize the opportunity. So they worked day and night to produce this promotional video in a very short time.

But Meng Chang didn’t know that Home Group had sought cooperation with Slow Walker Studio, so he was somewhat surprised to see this promotional video.

Meng Chang frowned slightly: “Coincidence?”

“No, this is clearly a deliberate move!”

How clever Meng Chang was—he instantly understood Home Group’s intentions.

During this period, Meng Chang had spent a massive amount on promotion for his own video, gaining plenty of visibility among netizens. But this promotional video didn’t directly promote “Real Estate Agent Simulator” or Sloth Apartments or other rental companies. On the surface, it didn’t seem related to any brand, purely reflecting the life of real estate agents.

So, this trending topic was essentially unclaimed.

Home Group had obviously seen this opportunity. In this state of viral popularity, if they also promoted themselves alongside it, couldn’t they naturally absorb all this attention?

After all, the promotional video Meng Chang made looked quite pure and harmless, with no apparent danger.

As for being criticized, Home Group had been criticized too many times to count—they weren’t afraid of it.

As long as they spent enough on promotion to generate buzz, it would always increase Home Group’s visibility. A few netizens cursing online, what impact could that have?

Sure enough, shortly after the video was released, the comments section erupted, and much more intensely than for Meng Chang’s promotional video!

“Damn, this is straight-up scam advertising!”

“Are they not actually mocking themselves? Genuine listings? Patient service? Do they seriously believe they offer any of that?”

“Haha, Home Group, creating a professional team of scamming agents, standing by to cheat people, distorting tenants’ actual needs, deceiving tenants with good-looking photos, padding numbers with massive amounts of garbage listings, monopolizing the rental market, harassing landlords with phone calls, giving countless young people who come to big cities their first lesson in experiencing the dangers of society…”

“Did everyone already forget about the formaldehyde rooms? In my opinion, the fine was too small, the punishment wasn’t severe enough. A company that disregards tenants’ safety like this should be shut down on the spot!”

But the comments section wasn’t entirely one-sided; there were still many people speaking up for Home Group.

“That’s enough already. They already said the formaldehyde room incident was caused by a local branch company. They’ve been fined and rectified. At least the Peace of Mind Housing service has improved now. Isn’t it excessive to keep criticizing them?”

“Honestly, among the rental companies I’ve encountered, Home Group is actually not bad. At least their agents are fairly responsible. Those small agency companies really rip you off without mercy, wanting to squeeze every last drop out of you!”

“It’s just a normal promotional video, why so much hostility? Keyboard warriors attack everything. You can just buy a house or find a landlord directly. Who’s forcing you to rent from Home Group? You have a platform providing you with services, and you’re still being picky?”

There were signs of comment manipulation and paid commenters at work. Many highly-liked critical comments disappeared in the blink of an eye. But regardless, the video’s popularity was growing rapidly.

For the video Meng Chang had released earlier, many people felt something was off, but considering the cute girl and the lack of particularly offensive content, they didn’t fully unleash their criticism.

But this time, the video was from Home Group, which was different!

All the previously suppressed anger was unleashed.

But Home Group clearly didn’t care—the higher the buzz, the better. After all, with one hand controlling comments and paid commenters guiding the narrative, even negative attention increased their visibility. What impact could a few netizens cursing online have?

Meng Chang looked at the comments under the video, and his eyes suddenly lit up.

What perfect coordination!

Just when he was worried about insufficient buzz and topic heat, Home Group’s intervention had solved his urgent problem!

In Meng Chang’s view, Home Group’s decision wasn’t necessarily wrong. If it had been him before, in Home Group’s position, he would have made the same choice.

After all, back then he believed that marketing was about getting the maximum exposure with the minimum money at all costs.

But now, after deeply studying the Pei-style promotion method, he no longer thought that way.

In fact, Meng Chang suddenly realized that the Pei-style promotion method seemed to be specifically designed to counter this kind of desperate attempt to piggyback on trending topics?

Not only would it reclaim all the attention in the end, but it would also create a dimensional reduction strike from a higher level, allowing oneself to gain both fame and profit while making the opponent lose everything!

At this moment, Meng Chang suddenly had a feeling.

He now was like Mr. Pei had been before;

And Home Group now was like he had been.

“So in the past, I was so vulnerable in front of Mr. Pei. He didn’t even need to actively attack—he just set a very simple trap, and I dived right into it…”

Meng Chang suddenly became energized because he realized this was not only a major boost for this promotional campaign but also an excellent opportunity for him to practice the “finishing blow” technique of the Pei-style promotion method!

Now that Home Group had taken the bait, the next question was how to reel them in steady, accurate, and ruthless, catching as big a fish as possible!