“Boss, add another portion of meat to the noodles, and a fried egg to the egg fried rice! Also, give me a small dish, cucumber salad will do!”

Pei Qian spared no expense to reward Ma Yang.

Ma Yang happily ate his meat-filled noodles: “Not bad, Brother Qian, you’re not even pretending anymore. Are you starting to show your rich second-generation style? But… this money could have bought a couple of small dishes at the restaurant next door…”

Pei Qian waved his hand: “No, no, the restaurant next door isn’t expensive, but you can’t get a full meal there.”

“To be honest, to celebrate the commencement of our work, we should have eaten something better. But now all my money needs to be saved for game development, so I’m a bit tight on cash.”

In reality, he had converted too little of his assets, only 700 yuan, and couldn’t afford to spend lavishly.

Ma Yang nodded while eating his noodles: “I understand, completely understand! This is how it should be. We’re still in the phase of hard work and struggle, we can’t waste money.”

Pei Qian said, “Once we finish this game, I’ll take you to eat at a fifty-yuan all-you-can-eat barbecue!”

Ma Yang nodded vigorously: “Great, great!”

At that time, most buffets were generally priced in the thirty-something range, so Pei Qian’s offer of a fifty-yuan buffet was considered quite high-end.

Of course, ten years later, buffets would cost one to two hundred yuan per person, so there was no comparison.

Pei Qian thought, if all 300,000 yuan could be lost and converted into personal assets, what good food couldn’t he eat?

“By the way, there’s the matter of the contract,” Pei Qian said while eating his egg fried rice. “Later, I’ll download a template, and we’ll directly sign an internship contract, with a monthly salary of 3,000 yuan.”

Ma Yang hurriedly said, “Brother Qian, you’re being too kind. Money isn’t really important, and is a contract even necessary?”

Pei Qian shook his head: “That won’t do. You’re working for me, and you can’t be shortchanged even by a penny. We’re doing legitimate entrepreneurship, everything must follow proper procedures, and a contract is necessary.”

“Alright, I’ll follow your arrangement.” Ma Yang didn’t insist further; who wouldn’t want money?

He just felt that 3,000 yuan was a bit too much, and he was quite embarrassed.

Pei Qian wanted to give even more, but the system wouldn’t allow it!

The system stipulated that Pei Qian couldn’t employ staff with salaries significantly exceeding reasonable levels. After testing, Pei Qian determined that this “reasonable level” meant he couldn’t exceed twice the reasonable wage.

Take Ma Yang, for example.

If he were to work at a proper game company doing miscellaneous tasks, based on the current basic wages for interns, it would be around 1,500 yuan.

Of course, some companies might be more generous, with interns doing more work and receiving higher wages.

But considering Ma Yang’s working ability, he would at most be a burden to the company…

So, Pei Qian giving him 3,000 yuan a month as an internship salary was already the highest compensation the system allowed.

As Ma Yang was eating his noodles, he suddenly slapped his thigh.

“Oh! Brother Qian, I just had a great idea! What if we make all the Three Kingdoms generals female? Isn’t that subversive enough?”

Pei Qian almost spat out his fried rice.

“No way!”

Pei Qian firmly rejected.

Ma Yang was puzzled: “Why not? Didn’t you say we need to be subversive?”

Pei Qian was speechless.

Why not?

Because it might succeed…

The concept of gender-swapping Three Kingdoms generals had already been tried in anime works, and quite successfully.

Although this was 2009 and anime-style games weren’t as popular yet, the trend was there. Many card mobile games were deliberately made in a cute style, which objectively catered to this trend.

What if this game became popular among otaku just because of this feature?!

Pei Qian absolutely would not allow this to happen.

Of course, this was Pei Qian’s real thought, which he couldn’t tell Ma Yang.

He coughed twice and explained: “That idea won’t work because it makes the characters lose their distinctiveness!”

“For example, if Ma Chao is female, Zhao Yun is female, Gongsun Zan is female… if they all become female, their characteristics won’t be obvious.”

“Your current plan is already great. Ma Chao is a centaur, Guan Yu is a dragon—these have high recognition!”

“So I think your current plan is better.”

Ma Yang suddenly understood and nodded: “Oh, so that’s it. I get it.”

Pei Qian breathed a sigh of relief. It seemed hiring employees wasn’t necessarily a good thing.

Although he could pay out more in salaries, Pei Qian’s decisions might also cause employees to be confused and skeptical. At such times, Pei Qian had to provide a reasonable explanation.

Otherwise, if employees really suspected that Pei Qian was deliberately causing the company to lose money and became suspicious, this behavior was also explicitly forbidden by the system.

“Fortunately, Ma Yang isn’t too bright.”

“If I hire more people in the future, I should recruit more people who aren’t very smart.”

Pei Qian said silently to himself.

…

After dinner, they strolled back to the dormitory.

Ma Yang continued to climb enthusiastically to the upper bunk, using his imagination to fill out the art requirement form.

Meanwhile, Pei Qian opened his computer, entered the resource site, and found that his previous message had received a reply.

Ruan Guangjian: “How many do you need? What are the specific requirements?”

Pei Qian briefly explained his needs, including the number of cards, the general style, and so on.

Of course, the detailed requirement form wasn’t ready yet, so Pei Qian could only give a brief verbal description.

“Art style, not cute-style, other aspects are flexible.”

“A total of 50 characters, four original artworks per character, 200 pieces in total.”

“The requirement form is still being prepared, will provide it later.”

The other side didn’t reply for a full three minutes.

Ruan Guangjian was probably bewildered.

All my representative works are in cute style, yet your first requirement is “not cute-style”???

After some time, Ruan Guangjian replied.

“I can do it. The price is 2,000 yuan per set. Is that OK? I know this price might be a bit expensive for a novice artist, but rest assured, my skills are top-notch. It’s just that I’m still in school and don’t have many good representative works.”

2,000 yuan per set? That’s only 500 yuan per piece!

Pei Qian was immediately displeased. This price was too low!

Wouldn’t he be unable to spend all his money?!

The original expected price was 3,000 yuan per set, which had now shrunk to 2,000 yuan per set.

With 50 characters, he’d spend 50,000 yuan less?

No way, absolutely not!

“I don’t think this price is appropriate,” Pei Qian replied.

Ruan Guangjian: “Then what price do you think is suitable? This is almost my bottom line.”

Pei Qian: “Our situation here is a bit special.”

“Because we’re trying to create a style that others haven’t done before, a very subversive image, so the difficulty is quite high, you understand?”

“Moreover, our designers don’t understand much about art, so the requirements will be quite vague.”

“Therefore, you’ll need to use your imagination and design more.”

Considering this extra workload, 2,000 yuan per set is too unfair to you. I think 3,000 yuan per set is more appropriate!”

“This includes the character design of the original artwork as well as subsequent modifications. At the same time, I hope you can make the artwork more detailed. How does that sound?”

Ruan Guangjian fell silent again.

Customers like Pei Qian, who bargained in reverse, weren’t common…

A set of original artwork, forcibly increased by 1,000 yuan!

However, Pei Qian’s behavior did not violate any rules, and the system gave no warning.

Because Pei Qian’s reasoning was sensible. The extra money included the additional design costs due to unclear requirements, costs for improving artwork quality, and costs for subsequent modifications.

Ruan Guangjian replied after a few minutes: “That works. A total of 50 sets, 200 original artworks, 150,000 yuan. You’ll have the opportunity for 20 major revisions and 50 minor adjustments.”

Pei Qian smiled slightly.

I can indeed pay for the number of modifications, but I can also choose not to use them!

After all, it would be better if the artwork didn’t meet expectations.

The two immediately agreed and prepared to sign an electronic agreement on the resource site.

Pei Qian thought of something: “How many original artworks can you produce in three weeks? I’ll adjust the specific numbers in the agreement.”

The system stipulated that Pei Qian must not have any unreleased products one week before settlement.

So, Pei Qian’s game had to be launched one week before the settlement, leaving Ruan Guangjian only three weeks.

Ruan Guangjian: “200 pieces definitely can’t be completed. However, I can distribute the work to my dormitory classmates. Don’t worry, with my supervision, the quality of their original artwork is guaranteed, and I can also help you maintain a consistent style.”

Pei Qian was delighted: “Great! Then I’ll leave it all to you!”

Ruan Guangjian was still in school. While he could meet the original artwork standards required by the resource site, his classmates might not necessarily reach the same level!

This was a small loophole that allowed him to spend money while objectively lowering the quality of the original artwork.

How satisfying!