“Just opened by Mr. Pei?” Lin Wan was surprised.

Assistant Xin nodded: “Yes, today we’re having the very first meal at Mingyun Private Kitchen.”

She pointed at the dishes on the table. These dishes didn’t look particularly flashy—if ordinary people saw them, they would hardly guess their expensive prices.

“About seventy to eighty percent of these dishes need to be pre-ordered. They’re not available locally in Jingzhou and can only be transported via special logistics after pre-ordering. To have a meal like this, one would probably need to prepare at least two or three days in advance.”

Lin Wan thought for a moment: “Is Mr. Pei planning to use this for high-end business banquets?”

After all, Tenda was developing very rapidly now and would inevitably need to discuss cooperation with executives from some large companies.

Lin Wan thought that perhaps ordinary business banquets could no longer meet Mr. Pei’s requirements, which was why he had opened this private kitchen.

Assistant Xin shook her head: “Who knows? From the current situation, it seems Mr. Pei doesn’t have plans for frequent banquets. However, future company gatherings will all be held here.”

Lin Wan was taken aback.

Was the private kitchen’s first task to satisfy the employees’ gathering needs?

In her view, this was already the most high-end restaurant in all of Jingzhou City. Not only were the dishes delicious, but the environment and service were first-class, making it very suitable for private entertaining and hosting particularly distinguished guests.

Using such a restaurant for internal company gatherings?

The standard was too high!

Moreover, Mr. Pei was paying out of his pocket for each gathering. It was really difficult to imagine how much effort Mr. Pei had put into employee benefits.

But wasn’t this Mr. Pei’s consistent style?

Lin Wan couldn’t help but silently sigh—Mr. Pei was truly a person who never forgot his original intention.

Although he was already treating employees as well as possible, even exceeding the level of most companies, he wasn’t satisfied with that. He never stopped but continuously created better welfare and benefits for employees!

In that moment, Lin Wan had a strong desire to share Mr. Pei’s burdens.

Lin Wan knew well that being a boss was very tiring.

Of course, there were different kinds of bosses. Some were born with silver spoons in their mouths, inheriting billions at a young age, having professional teams providing advice for every decision, and family connections offering almost zero-cost financing opportunities…

Such bosses couldn’t be considered tired.

But Mr. Pei wasn’t that kind of boss; he was an ordinary entrepreneur who started from zero!

And startup enterprises like Tenda bear greater revenue pressure than those big companies. Although small boats were easier to steer, it also meant a weaker risk resistance. Once a mistake was made, it could lead to irreversible consequences.

Under such circumstances, many startup company bosses were cautious, treading on thin ice, and constantly trying to compress costs.

Of course, cost compression was not wrong, but some bosses used this as an excuse to exploit employees by all means possible, even risking breaking legal loopholes, which was wrong.

Compared to these people, Mr. Pei was truly an exemplary figure!

Lin Wan very much wanted to help Mr. Pei, just like last time when she called her second brother, Lin Zhou, to have Shenhua Luxury View reduce Tenda’s rent.

But now, Lin Wan couldn’t think of any good way to help Mr. Pei.

After all, Tenda was still a small company, and its business didn’t have so many intersections with the Shenhua Group.

Moreover, when Mr. Pei arranged for Lin Wan to join Shangyang Games, he had clearly indicated that he hoped she could do these things based on her own abilities, rather than relying on her family for everything.

Therefore, after much consideration, Lin Wan temporarily abandoned this idea.

“I’ll wait for a suitable opportunity in the future to help Mr. Pei again!”

“Or… I must use my strength to help Mr. Pei!”

Lin Wan secretly made up her mind.

…

The banquet continued, and everyone was enjoying the food.

Ma Yiqun, Lü Mingliang, Bao Xu, and Li Yada were discussing the plot of “Return to Shore.”

Bao Xu would leave once his visa was approved, so he took this opportunity to share his understanding of “Return to Shore” with Li Yada and others.

Fortunately, the paid vacation was only one month long. When Bao Xu returned in mid-September, he could still participate in the late-stage optimization work for “Return to Shore.”

Lü Mingliang was completing the final handover work, advising Li Yada on some important matters to note as a chief planner.

Zhu Xing’an was also present. As the author of the official novel for “Return to Shore” and the editor-in-chief of Endpoint Chinese Web, he only occasionally participated in plot discussions. Most of the time, he was listening with interest as Lü Mingliang, Ma Yiqun, and others shared some interesting anecdotes from the game design process.

…

Pei Qian walked around with a glass of wine, feeling very satisfied.

Everyone was enjoying the food, which was great!

It was just a pity that such gatherings couldn’t happen frequently, as the system still had restrictions on this.

As before, high-standard gatherings like this had to have a legitimate reason and couldn’t be too frequent.

However, Pei Qian could feel that compared to previous gatherings, the current standard had improved.

That is to say, with Tenda’s continuous development and increasing company assets, the daily consumption allowance permitted by the system was also continuously increasing.

“Is it time to consider buying a few cars?”

“Renting a few parking spaces at Shenhua Luxury View, buying a few business vehicles, and hiring several full-time drivers—that’s not excessive, right?”

Pei Qian probed the system and found that it no longer strictly prohibited this as before.

There were just certain requirements for the vehicles to be purchased. For example, without a legitimate reason, sports cars couldn’t be purchased, and globally limited super-luxury sports cars were even more out of the question.

Only business vehicles were allowed, with restrictions on price and quantity.

Currently, the number of business vehicles can’t exceed 6, and the total price can’t exceed 4 million yuan.

Moreover, vehicles priced above 1 million yuan would, like the Mingyun Villa, be counted as fixed assets in the system, affecting settlement.

However, looking at it from another angle, vehicles priced below 1 million yuan wouldn’t be counted as fixed assets, which was good news.

Pei Qian planned to first buy a seven-seater business van and two regular business cars, nothing too expensive, aiming for 300,000 to 400,000 yuan each.

This would use up 1 million yuan of the limit.

With 3 cars and about 3 million yuan of quota remaining, Pei Qian planned to temporarily leave this quota empty. If he needed to rush to spend money at settlement time, he could directly buy three cars priced at just under 900,000 yuan each, immediately spending about 3 million.

While considering this, Pei Qian encouraged everyone to eat heartily and not hold back.

For some departments that had been losing money in the past and would likely continue to do so in the future, Mr. Pei didn’t forget to encourage them not to seek quick success due to this situation, reminding them to remember the principle of reputation first, profit second.

Huang Sibo and Zhu Xiaocai clinked glasses with Pei Qian before sitting down to continue eating. Zhu Xiaocai felt a bit puzzled.

“Strange, it feels like Mr. Pei isn’t as enthusiastic with us as last time?”

The last time the documentary lost money, Mr. Pei spoke to them very kindly and warmly, almost like seeing family.

But this time, he just exchanged a few pleasantries before moving on to others.

Huang Sibo hadn’t taken this to heart. While gnawing on a lobster, he confidently smiled and said, “This means we’ve chosen the right path.”

Zhu Xiaocai was surprised: “What do you mean?”

“Haven’t you noticed? Mr. Pei pays special attention to departments that currently have poor development prospects or are losing huge amounts of money,” Huang Sibo said.

Zhu Xiaocai thought about it, and it did seem to be the case.

Mr. Pei had just gone to the Endpoint Chinese Web and Upwind Logistics sections and chatted with the department heads for a long time, with a very positive attitude.

In contrast, he seemed less attentive to meritorious departments like Fei Huang Studio and Slackin’ Internet Café’s flagship store, just coming over to chat briefly before leaving.

Huang Sibo smiled: “Mr. Pei has always been like this. For departments that are temporarily facing difficulties, he pays more attention to them, helping the department heads maintain a stable mindset.”

“And for projects that are certain to succeed, with a high probability of success, Mr. Pei naturally doesn’t need to worry about them.”

“This indicates that the direction we’ve chosen is correct!”

“If Mr. Pei has acknowledged it, what else is there to worry about? As long as we work hard, we’ll achieve something noteworthy!”

Zhu Xiaocai suddenly understood and nodded: “I see, got it!”