Pei Qian immediately grabbed Qiao Liang’s hand: “Teacher Qiao, I’ve long admired you.”

Qiao Liang was somewhat overwhelmed by Mr. Pei’s enthusiasm and hurriedly bowed slightly: “Mr. Pei, it’s an honor to meet you.”

Pei Qian sized up Qiao Liang and found that his nemesis looked fairly decent. Thick eyebrows, large eyes, regular features, though he looked slightly haggard and a bit pudgy.

He appeared to be a pure internet addict, just a different type from Bao Xu. Bao Xu was slightly balding and somewhat malnourished, while Qiao Laoshi had quite lush hair and looked rather round, just a bit weak.

Qiao Liang was surprised that Pei Qian was so young. He had already prepared himself for Mr. Pei to be young, but there was still a big gap.

No matter how you looked at it, he was younger than himself…

Thinking about how Mr. Pei, at such a young age, had already become the boss of such a large company, while he himself was still just carving out his own little niche in the gaming video community without any major achievements, Qiao Liang instinctively felt somewhat emotional and a little envious.

Pei Qian led Qiao Liang to the reception room, poured him a cup of tea, and exchanged a few pleasantries.

“Mr. Pei, I’m sufficiently rested. Why don’t we get to the main topic as soon as possible?” Qiao Liang took the initiative to start working.

Logically speaking, there was no need to be in such a hurry; they could completely wait until after lunch to start working.

But Qiao Liang felt that since Mr. Pei was taking such good care of him, with the private car service and arranging such good accommodation, with all aspects of treatment already maxed out, he should show his appreciation by getting into work mode as quickly as possible.

Pei Qian nodded: “Sure.”

This fish is biting the bait on its own?

Pei Qian had originally wanted to let Qiao Laoshi rest more, to avoid his mind and body suffering too severe trauma later on, but since Qiao Laoshi had requested it himself, he would certainly oblige.

Pei Qian took out the contract he had prepared in advance: “Let’s sign the contract first.”

Qiao Liang took it and quickly scanned through it. The contract stated what they had previously agreed upon: eight hours of gaming per day, 500 yuan.

If he took weekends off, it would be about 10,000 yuan per month. If he didn’t take weekends off, he would be paid overtime, and the monthly compensation could be even more.

Although this price had been agreed upon earlier, it hadn’t been discussed in detail, and Qiao Liang wasn’t sure if there would be any tricks in the contract or if there would be some complex and excessive demands.

Now, seeing the contract text, he could confirm there were no tricks—it was simply eight hours of gaming every day for 500 yuan!

Qiao Liang couldn’t help but marvel: Mr. Pei is so generous!

These days, 10,000 yuan a month is considered a high salary.

Of course, if Qiao Liang had a burst of inspiration and worked frantically to monetize his content, he could also earn more than 10,000 a month.

But that would be so tiring.

He would have to stay up late grinding for material, carefully write scripts and edit, and also need good luck to catch generous sponsors to earn that much.

In comparison, this current job was much easier. There were no requirements other than playing “Turn Back to Shore” for eight hours a day.

After browsing through the contract a couple of times, Qiao Liang satisfactorily signed his name.

“OK, then follow me.”

Pei Qian and Qiao Liang, chatting and laughing, left Tenda’s office building.

Young Sun drove the two to the nearest Slackin’ Internet Café.

Pei Qian didn’t plan to arrange for Qiao Liang to play games in the office area because over there, Li Yada and other employees probably knew some details about the game, such as which weapons were more powerful, which routes were relatively easier, and how to obtain the “Salvation” weapon, and so on.

If Qiao Liang died repeatedly while playing the game and chatted a bit with the developers, learning some tips about the game, wouldn’t that reduce the game’s difficulty?

Pei Qian wanted Qiao Laoshi to experience what an ordinary player with zero foundation would experience when playing “Turn Back to Shore,” so he had to eliminate this potential issue.

At Slackin’ Internet Café, there was food and drink, high-end computer configurations, and unlimited coffee and beverages, ensuring Qiao Laoshi had absolutely no worries.

Soon, they arrived at Slackin’ Internet Café.

This was the Handong University branch of Slackin’ Internet Café, about a ten-minute walk from Shenhua Luxury View.

Of course, though it was called the Handong University branch, it wasn’t close to Handong University, taking more than fifteen minutes to walk there.

This was because, from the beginning, the café’s location had deliberately avoided good locations near universities.

However, this place was still considered a relatively prosperous area. This branch’s original turnover wasn’t very low, and after the Chen Lei incident, the turnover had increased somewhat. Now it was second only to the flagship store, with only a small loss.

Because of this, this branch had always been treated as an orphan by Pei Qian, who rarely came here.

This time, he arranged for Qiao Laoshi to be here so that when he was in a bad mood, he could come over to see how far Qiao Laoshi had progressed in the game, improving his mood.

Pei Qian introduced Qiao Laoshi to the manager of this Slackin’ Internet Café branch, then found him a spot in the corner of the second floor. This would be Qiao Laoshi’s workstation from now on.

The computer had already been installed with the initial version of “Turn Back to Shore.” This version would be updated synchronously with the development team’s progress and come with a simple timer function that would record Qiao Laoshi’s gaming time every day, requiring it to be above eight hours.

If the time wasn’t enough on a given day, he could make it up the next day. If it still wasn’t enough, the next day, the money would be deducted.

There were also some precautions. “Turn Back to Shore” was still in development, and the game content couldn’t be disclosed, so Qiao Laoshi couldn’t record videos or discuss this too much in his fan groups.

The Slackin’ Internet Café didn’t usually have many customers, and Qiao Liang’s spot was very secluded, so no one would come to disturb him.

Soon, everything was arranged.

“For daily meals, just ask the manager to prepare them. The food at Slackin’ Internet Café is sanitary and clean, so you can eat with confidence.”

“Take some time to get adjusted. Tonight, I’ve arranged a welcome dinner for you. I’ll come pick you up then.”

“If you have any issues with daily life, just tell the manager directly.”

Pei Qian had taken care of all of Qiao Laoshi’s concerns.

Qiao Liang was touched: “Alright!”

“Then you can start experiencing the game. I’ll leave first. Contact me anytime if you have any questions.”

Pei Qian didn’t stay to watch Qiao Laoshi suffer; he turned and said goodbye.

This is what’s called “unable to bear seeing its life, unable to eat its meat after hearing its cry.” Pei Qian couldn’t help but sigh, “Ah, I’m truly a good person.”

“Mr. Pei is considerate, arranging everything so meticulously.”

“There’s even a welcome dinner tonight; it sounds like it won’t be low-grade.”

Qiao Liang happily started the game, feeling that everything about this trip to Jingzhou was so perfect.

Ah, if only there were a girl to accompany him, it would be even better.

Of course, Qiao Liang knew that was just wishful thinking.

But then again, how could girls be as fun as games?

Whether it was because of Mr. Pei’s meticulous care, creating some psychological effect, after Qiao Liang entered the game, he found everything about the game pleasing to the eye.

“Sure enough, Mr. Pei’s games are all high quality!”

“Look at these models, exquisite!”

“Look at this style, unique!”

“Look at these animations, smooth!”

“Look at this small enemy…”

“Damn, that hurt! This is a small enemy?”

“…How did I die???”

Looking at the black and white screen, Qiao Liang was completely bewildered.

What just happened?

He had just gone up to touch a ragged villager holding a pitchfork, and then the villager turned around and directly stabbed him to death in two moves!

“Did I… open it the wrong way?”

Qiao Liang scratched his head, his eyes filled with deep confusion.

…

…

At noon, Mingyun Private Kitchen.

“Oh? You have an Emperor Crab? Give me one.”

In a small private room, a young man dressed extravagantly pointed at the Emperor Crab on the menu and said to the waiter.

“I’m sorry, sir, this dish requires a reservation,” the waiter replied politely, strictly following Mr. Pei’s specific requirement of the “no explanation principle” for service.

Of course, after saying this, the waiter felt nervous inside.

Because the young man sitting in front of him was someone who didn’t lack money, and judging by common sense, his temper might not be very good.

This customer looked very young, about twenty-four or twenty-five years old, wearing a gaudy shirt with red, green, yellow, and various lines mixed, making him look like a ladybug. But the waiter could sense that this shirt probably cost no less than ten or twenty thousand yuan.

Moreover, this customer was adorned with gold and silver jewelry. The gold chain around his neck looked very expensive, heavy, and solid, definitely not the type that would float in a bathhouse.

Most flamboyantly, at the end of the gold chain hung a SpongeBob SquarePants made of pure gold, perfectly expressing the young man’s irrepressible individuality along with his nouveau riche aura.

According to the waiter’s experience, this type of customer should be the most difficult to serve. If it weren’t for Mr. Pei’s prior requirements, he would be smiling profusely and explaining in detail how rare the Emperor Crab was and how difficult it was to transport, to avoid upsetting the customer and causing unnecessary trouble.

But now, he could only follow Mr. Pei’s requirements and not explain further.

The young man didn’t get too angry; instead, he nodded: “Oh, Emperor Crab is indeed difficult to obtain. Reservation is understandable.”

“Then give me some sea urchin.”

The waiter still smiled, somewhat apologetically saying: “I’m sorry, sir, this dish also requires a reservation.”

The young man frowned.

Although he still didn’t say anything, he was a bit annoyed.

“You should at least have bluefin tuna, right?”

“I’m sorry, sir, this dish also requires a reservation.”

The young man looked at the waiter, momentarily confused, not knowing whether he should laugh or get angry.

The waiter very thoughtfully pointed to a small line of text at the top of the menu: “These dishes in front require a reservation because the ingredients are quite precious. We apologize for any inconvenience.”

The young man looked, and indeed, on each page of the thick menu, there was a line at the very top explaining the need for a reservation. It wasn’t very small, but it wasn’t obvious either; he hadn’t noticed it.

“Alright, alright, then just tell me what your restaurant has now.”

The young man couldn’t be bothered to search himself and directly asked the waiter.

The waiter very considerately helped him flip to the last part of the menu, flipping through about 80% of the content. This time, the dishes that appeared finally had no small print explanations.

“Sir, these can all be prepared immediately.”

The young man frowned, looking at these dishes in the back.

There were some more complex dishes, like Pagoda Meat and Golden Lion Fish, and some simpler dishes, like Health-Preserving Seasonal Vegetables and Dragon Well Shrimp, and so on.

The common point was that they were all expensive, even a bit more expensive than some high-end restaurants.

For example, this Pagoda Meat costs 270 yuan. The young man remembered that when he had eaten it before in Hangzhou, it had only cost around 240 yuan.

Of course, compared to those dishes with precious ingredients at the front, these regular dishes were already considered cheap.

The young man was a bit speechless.

Price was one aspect, but not the main problem.

The key issue was that all the good ingredients he wanted to eat required a reservation.

Coming all this way, was he just going to eat a few bites of ordinary food?