He was stunned for a moment, then asked, “Is it the same no matter when I pay off my debts?”
Pei Qian nodded: “Yes.”
Of course, it was the same regardless of the timing. The sooner Meng Chang paid off his debts, the sooner he would have completed more reverse promotions, which meant Pei Qian would become the richest man through losses more quickly.
What difference did sooner or later make?
Meng Chang was a bit confused.
He had originally thought Mr. Pei would say something like “you’ll be free to come and go as you please at that time,” letting him choose for himself.
That way, Meng Chang could pay off his debts without worry. If given the choice, he would definitely continue to stay at Tenda.
But he never expected Mr. Pei to say what he did.
What did those words mean?
Wasn’t Mr. Pei grooming him as the successor of the Pei-style propaganda method? Then why did he say there would be no need to stay at Tenda after paying off the debts?
This was strange and somewhat illogical.
But Meng Chang didn’t say anything more. This was a profound question that couldn’t be figured out in just two or three minutes. He couldn’t exactly linger in Mr. Pei’s office indefinitely, pondering this question, could he?
So he decided to leave first and then slowly consider what Mr. Pei’s words really meant.
…
After leaving Mr. Pei’s office, Meng Chang went to the advertising and marketing department and sat down at his workstation.
He didn’t immediately consider a new promotional plan. Instead, he racked his brains trying to understand what Mr. Pei had meant earlier.
At first glance, Mr. Pei’s words seemed strange and completely inconsistent with Meng Chang’s previous deductions about him.
But Meng Chang believed that Mr. Pei definitely wouldn’t have said those words without reason; there must be some deep internal logic behind them.
“To understand Mr. Pei’s deeper meaning, I must approach it from his overall strategic plan.”
“Mr. Pei has a clear plan for Tenda’s development, which is to train department heads and pass on his methods of game development, marketing and promotion, investment, the Tenda spirit, and other ‘secret manuals’ to his subordinate leaders.”
“After cultivating these leaders into talents who can stand on their own, the entire Tenda can continue to operate on its established track even without Mr. Pei’s direct involvement. Then Mr. Pei can relax and retire.”
“And Mr. Pei’s arrangement for me should be as the inheritor and promoter of the ‘Pei-style propaganda method.'”
“But as an inheritor, shouldn’t Mr. Pei want me to stay at Tenda?”
“My understanding of Mr. Pei is definitely correct, which means… my concept of ‘inheritor’ must be the problem?”
“The inheritor that Mr. Pei has in mind is different from the general meaning of an inheritor?”
“Yes, that must be the reason!”
“What Mr. Pei needs is for the Pei-style propaganda method to be continuously passed down and spread, not to stop with me.”
“The same goes for other aspects like game development methods, investment methods, and the Tenda spirit—they all need to be continuously passed down and spread, not just limited to department heads.”
“That’s why Mr. Pei keeps reassigning the heads of the game department to other positions—to accelerate this inheritance!”
Having understood this layer, Meng Chang couldn’t help but sigh with admiration once again. Mr. Pei was truly Mr. Pei—he could see so far ahead!
Things that most people wouldn’t even notice as problematic were issues in Mr. Pei’s eyes!
Many CEOs of large enterprises often face the predicament of having no successor, forcing them to work until they die, unable to retire.
Without a suitable successor, once they retire, the company falls apart.
So, many CEOs consciously cultivate successors. As long as the successor can maintain what’s been established, the enterprise can survive well with its previous foundation and market advantages.
Whether one can cultivate excellent successors is clearly an important criterion for evaluating whether a CEO is successful.
But merely achieving this is obviously not enough.
Mr. Pei was completely unsatisfied with just that and had taken it a step further.
Training just one or a few successors is far from enough. Some successors might seem good at first but later deteriorate—either in ability or attitude, either declining in competence or changing in mindset.
And even with good luck, if the trained successor successfully takes over, what about after that?
Can the successor train another successor with the same level of success?
It’s like in ancient feudal countries—if an emperor has a wise son, that’s certainly great news, but can you guarantee that every future emperor will have wise crown princes?
Passed down this way, things will inevitably regress, becoming worse with each generation—an irreversible process.
Following the most effortless approach, Mr. Pei could simply teach his game development methods to the head of the game department, then never let them move positions, just making games and eventually succeeding him.
Like the sect masters in some martial arts novels, if disciples lack aptitude, they’d pass different ultimate skills to different disciples.
This way, their ultimate skills wouldn’t be lost, and the sect wouldn’t decline in the short term.
But the inevitable result would be each generation being worse than the previous one.
Mr. Pei understood human nature deeply, so he didn’t really trust people.
This didn’t mean he distrusted his subordinate leaders, but rather that he understood human weaknesses and knew how to plan ahead, minimizing the influence of subjective factors on his designed path.
Mr. Pei chose a more long-term approach by constantly reassigning leaders, developing their comprehensive abilities, enabling each person to stand on their own, while allowing promising individuals within departments to be quickly promoted and master leadership skills.
This way, there would be no risk of a sudden gap.
If Mr. Pei only passed the Pei-style propaganda method to Meng Chang, what if Meng Chang was poached midway? What if he started his own business? Or simply betrayed the Tenda spirit?
Meng Chang realized that in Mr. Pei’s view, he was probably just a stepping stone, used to transmit the Pei-style propaganda method.
Understanding this layer, Mr. Pei’s meaning wasn’t hard to comprehend.
According to Mr. Pei’s plan, if Meng Chang cleared his debts through commissions, that would be many years later. By then, the Pei-style propaganda method should have branched out throughout Tenda, not just limited to Meng Chang.
In that case, there would indeed be no need for Meng Chang to stay.
Because anyone could do promotional work, and Meng Chang should go out into society to make a greater impact and create more value, rather than continuing to stay at Tenda, doing the same old marketing and promotion work, and staying in place.
“So, Mr. Pei does highly approve of me and doesn’t just see me as a subordinate or successor, but as an independent person not reliant on Tenda? He’s encouraging me to go out into society and start my own business after completing my studies, to create greater value?”
“But what if I pay off my debts now…”
Before leaving, Meng Chang had specifically asked whether it was the same regardless of when he paid off his debts, and Mr. Pei had given an affirmative answer.
This also confused Meng Chang.
According to Mr. Pei’s plan, it would take at least several years for the Pei-style propaganda method to branch out within Tenda.
Even someone as smart as Meng Chang had taken over a year to grasp the basics of the Pei-style propaganda method. How could passing it down layer by layer be accomplished overnight?
But if Meng Chang paid off his debts now, it would mean leaving Tenda before the Pei-style propaganda method had been fully passed down. Why would that be?
“Could it be that… Mr. Pei would think I’m not following the right path?”
Meng Chang suddenly thought of this possibility.
Clearly, according to the normal process, Meng Chang would spend several years at Tenda learning and promoting the Pei-style propaganda method. After completing the promotion, he would coincidentally have cleared his debts through commissions.
But if his debt repayment came much earlier, it would indicate that he was making extra money through other methods while utilizing the Pei-style propaganda method.
And these methods were clearly not supported by Mr. Pei.
Would Mr. Pei want Meng Chang to leave immediately because he felt he couldn’t encourage such improper trends or allow problems in the transmission of the Pei-style propaganda method, preventing everyone from going astray?
Thinking of this, Meng Chang broke out in a cold sweat.
It was good that he hadn’t told Mr. Pei about the debt repayment, or it would have been a big problem!
Mr. Pei would definitely have kicked him out of Tenda.
For Meng Chang now, repaying his debts was no longer his primary goal. He cared more about how to learn real skills from Mr. Pei.
So, he couldn’t repay his debts now!
Not only could he not repay his debts, but he also had to find a way to disperse some of his ill-gotten gains.
Completely giving up on making extra money was certainly impossible—Meng Chang hadn’t reached Mr. Pei’s high level of thinking yet. But for peace of mind, using this money to do some good deeds within his capabilities was still possible.
If Mr. Pei really discovered that Meng Chang was making extra money, as long as he knew Meng Chang had used the money to do good deeds, he might make an exception.
Having figured all this out, Meng Chang felt enlightened and quickly made his decision.
…
After seeing Meng Chang off, Pei Qian continued to consider how to spend money quickly.
“Who would have thought that even ‘The Successor,’ which seemed so reliable, would also have problems?”
“Ah, these department heads are increasingly unreliable, one after another!”
“Raising these department heads is worse than raising an animal. At least animals wouldn’t think of backstabbing me after being well-fed—but people are different…”
“Wait a second.”
“Animals?”
Pei Qian suddenly brightened up, getting an idea.
They’d already opened an amusement park, so could they open a zoo?
Animals were so simple-minded; they only ate and slept every day. They surely wouldn’t backstab him, right?
Moreover, running a zoo involved significant expenses. Providing the best living environment for the animals, clothing, food, housing, and transportation… well, animals didn’t need clothing or transportation, but just housing and food were very costly!
Plus, providing better living environments for animals was something with no upper limit.
Opening a zoo required huge initial investment, significant funds to maintain operations, and had strong expansion potential.
It was absolutely perfect!