September 20th.

The 20th of each month was previously reserved for booking the entire Mingyun Private Kitchen. Although Mingyun Private Kitchen was now making money, which greatly disappointed Mr. Pei, this meal definitely couldn’t be skimped on.

Precisely because Mingyun Private Kitchen was no longer losing money, it was even more important to mobilize the masses, transform sorrow into appetite, and strive to gorge themselves at Mingyun Private Kitchen, spending as much money as possible!

Although Mingyun Private Kitchen was their own enterprise, good ingredients still cost money, like the king crabs they had eaten before—just the cost of ingredients was several thousand yuan per crab.

As long as everyone ate their fill of those especially expensive ingredients, it would still be a great help to Mr. Pei!

Lin Canrong and the employees of Mingyun Private Kitchen had been busy since early on. Besides processing the prepared ingredients, the decorations, dining tables, and tableware at Mingyun Private Kitchen all had to be arranged according to the highest standards.

Pei Qian had nothing particular to do today, so he arrived first, sitting in the hall, sipping tea while watching the waiters bustling about.

Moving tables, changing decorations, and arranging tableware—all the details were executed meticulously.

All the waiters were dressed in uniforms and wearing white gloves, which, combined with the elegant dining environment, unconsciously raised the level of sophistication.

Sipping his tea, Pei Qian sighed that such a wonderful place was no longer exclusively his to enjoy—what a pity.

After giving the waiters a few simple instructions, Lin Canrong came to keep Mr. Pei company.

After hosting so many banquets, these waiters were already well-practiced and knew clearly what they should do without Lin Canrong’s hands-on guidance.

“Mr. Pei, let me report to you about the recent situation and turnover of the private kitchen…” Lin Canrong said with pride.

Pei Qian quickly put down his teacup and raised his hand to stop him: “No need!”

“I trust you can manage this place very well, no need to report to me! Moreover, what’s more important is reputation rather than how much money was made. As long as the rating on TPDb doesn’t drop, you can rest easy.”

Lin Canrong felt warmth in his heart and nodded: “Yes, Mr. Pei.”

Ah, a good boss like Mr. Pei, who is so free-spirited and trusting of his subordinates, is truly rare these days.

Pei Qian, however, was speechless.

You, Lin Canrong, I came here happily to have a meal, and you’re still trying to twist the knife?

I’m already suffering enough with Mingyun Private Kitchen becoming popular, and now you’re rubbing salt in my wounds. Just wait—next time I’ll put you on the first-place elimination system!

Before long, the Shangyang Games team arrived.

Seeing his three beloved generals Ye Zhizhou, Wang Xiaobin, and Lin Wan, Mr. Pei’s face couldn’t help but break into a smile.

These are my good employees!

After acquiring Shangyang Games, this company had been burning money continuously. Later, the development of “Hot-Blooded Battle Song Enhanced Edition” burned through more than ten million yuan.

In Mr. Pei’s view, this performance was quite outstanding.

Mingyun Private Kitchen, Slackin’ Internet Café, and the rest of Tenda’s people—you bunch of jerks who keep making money for me—learn from them!

Pei Qian was just short of holding a “Shangyang Outstanding Employee Recognition Conference” to urge all Tenda Group employees to learn from them.

With a beaming face, Pei Qian invited everyone to take their seats.

Previously, Lin Wan, Ye Zhizhou, and Wang Xiaobin, as the backbone members of Shangyang Games, had dined here once when Mingyun Private Kitchen opened, but some Shangyang Games employees had never been here before.

For Pei Qian, he previously didn’t trust Shangyang Games, so he didn’t treat them as his employees, feeling they needed a sufficiently long probation period.

Now, the probation period was almost over, and the people at Shangyang Games had won Mr. Pei’s admiration and favor through their continued money-burning.

Next, Pei Qian planned to continue investing money in this company and continue happily losing money!

Everyone took their seats.

The dining table in the hall had been changed. Previously, there were several two-person tables spaced far apart. Now it had been changed to a large, long table that could seat more than twenty people, with others dispersed into various private rooms.

The elegantly decorated tables, chairs, and tableware gave the feeling of a European court banquet.

An employee looked at the beautiful plates and cutlery in front of him and was already swallowing frantically before the food arrived.

“Fortunately, I didn’t eat lunch, just waiting for this feast.”

A slightly older employee next to him quickly nudged him, meaning Mr. Pei was still here, be careful what you say!

At this distance, Mr. Pei could hear.

Sure enough, Mr. Pei turned around: “Young man, what’s your name?”

The young man who had just said he hadn’t eaten lunch was startled, thinking, Did I say something wrong?

But since Mr. Pei had asked, he didn’t dare lie and could only answer honestly: “I… I’m called Hao Qiong.”

Pei Qian was full of respect. What a good name!

Just hearing this name, I feel this is exactly the kind of employee I need!

“Everyone should learn from Xiao Hao, understand?”

“This time there’s no mandatory requirement, but next time, be sure to come on an empty stomach like Xiao Hao!”

“Of course, I’m not saying you absolutely can’t eat lunch—just get by with something light, don’t get too hungry.”

“All these good ingredients have been prepared for you with such hard work. Don’t waste them on me. Even if you have to eat and then throw up, you need to pass everything through your stomach once!”

“Quickly, the food is being served. Everyone, open your jaws wide and eat to your heart’s content. Whoever holds back and lets food be left over today will stay and eat until tomorrow morning!”

Originally, everyone was a bit reserved, but hearing Mr. Pei’s speech, they all laughed.

“No problem, Mr. Pei! Even if we throw up, we’ll finish all the ingredients!”

“Oh no, I accidentally ate too much at lunch. I regret it so much.”

“If we really can’t finish it, we’ll have to stay and work overtime tonight. Eating through the night should be enough, right?”

“That won’t do. We need to uphold Tenda’s excellent tradition of not working overtime! Everyone, let’s do our best!”

The waiters had started serving dishes. Everyone joked around while gorging themselves, creating a harmonious atmosphere.

Seeing the Shangyang Games team in this state, Pei Qian was delighted. These employees looked more and more pleasing to his eyes.

He just loved everyone’s slacker attitude!

This was the good quality that Tenda employees lacked!

Now that the data for “Hot-Blooded Battle Song Enhanced Edition” was terrible, with breaking even a distant prospect, if the employees had even a bit of responsibility, they would certainly be somewhat distracted, thinking about how to revive the game.

Even if they didn’t truly care, they should at least be low-key, going through the motions, right?

But these employees? Each one was excited and jubilant, showing no sign of feeling distressed about the game’s failure.

With all employees having such a slack attitude, how could they not fail in significant matters?

Pei Qian waved his hand, and a waiter brought over a bottle of newly opened red wine.

“Come, fill everyone’s glasses. Drink less, eat more. Although this wine isn’t cheap, it also takes up stomach space. Everyone must choose the expensive dishes to eat.”

“Hey, Xiao Hao, why aren’t you eating?”

Pei Qian looked around and noticed that there was lobster and sashimi in front of Hao Qiong, but he hadn’t started eating at all. Instead, he was looking toward the kitchen, as if waiting for something.

Hearing Mr. Pei’s question, Hao Qiong quickly explained: “Mr. Pei, since childhood, I’ve always needed to eat some staple food first to line my stomach. Could you serve me a bowl of rice first?”

Pei Qian frowned: “What kind of habit is that?”

When setting the menu earlier, he hadn’t included staple foods at all.

Although the kitchen had rice and noodles, how could Pei Qian allow such things to take up stomach space? Glancing at the items on the table, he took a dish of caviar from the side and placed it in front of Hao Qiong.

“Just pretend this is rice.”

Hao Qiong was a bit confused. He had never seen this before: “Mr. Pei, what is this?”

“Just pretend this is black rice! Pour some soy sauce on it or mix it with crab roe, and you can eat it. Don’t dawdle, hurry up.”

Pei Qian patted Hao Qiong’s shoulder and continued wandering elsewhere.

He believed Hao Qiong should be able to overcome this small psychological barrier.

Sure enough, after making a round, he found that Hao Qiong was already frantically devouring a large lobster.

“Mr. Pei, I’ve seen online that there are some skilled chefs who can carve an entire watermelon into a flower shape. Can the chef here do that? I want to eat that!” an employee asked while stuffing matsutake mushrooms into his mouth.

Pei Qian frowned: “What’s so good about a stupid watermelon? How expensive can it be? Is the rind made of gold, or the seeds made of gold? Don’t think about those silly things. Eat these valuable dishes first.”

“If you can finish these large crabs in front of you, I’ll reward you with a carved watermelon.”

“Sure!” The employee was instantly motivated.

Pei Qian couldn’t help but shake his head privately.

A stupid watermelon, what’s so good about eating that?

Mingyun Private Kitchen did have chefs who could carve, but the problem was that the raw material was too cheap. The only reason carved watermelon was expensive was because of the chef’s carving skills.

For Pei Qian, dishes with such cheap raw materials weren’t even worth considering. Eating expensive ingredients—that was the right way to waste money.

Mingyun Private Kitchen was immersed in a harmonious atmosphere.

Lin Wan and Ye Zhizhou exchanged glances, both understanding what the other wanted to say.

Now that the atmosphere was perfect, it was about time to tell Mr. Pei the good news.

The two were just considering how to begin when Mr. Pei came over holding a wine glass.

Pei Qian liked these two trusted generals more and more as he looked at them.

Especially Ye Zhizhou—back then, Pei Qian had impulsively promoted him to lead designer to fill Old Liu’s vacancy, and up to now, Ye Zhizhou had indeed not disappointed Mr. Pei’s expectations.

The young man had a promising future!

But the two seemed to have something on their minds.

This was normal—it would be a problem if Lin Wan didn’t have concerns.

Pei Qian knew clearly that Lin Wan was a person with ambition. She still hoped the game would become popular, and now she must be somewhat distracted.

At this moment, he absolutely couldn’t kick her while she was down, which might provoke her contrarian psychology.

“It’s not a big deal that ‘Hot-Blooded Battle Song’ failed. The key is to learn from the failure so you can succeed next time.”

“Brothers and sisters, you’ve worked hard during this period. Take a good rest. When the end of the year comes, I’ll invest another twenty million yuan for everyone. Then you can continue to work hard and make the games you want to make!”

Pei Qian was quite generous.

Ye Zhizhou nodded vigorously: “Yes, Mr. Pei!”

“I was too unconfident before. This success has also greatly encouraged me. I believe that with twenty million yuan, we can create a classic masterpiece!”

Pei Qian nodded with satisfaction: “Mm, that’s right… Huh?”

He was about to habitually praise them with a few words when he suddenly felt something was wrong.

“This success?” Pei Qian was confused.

Ye Zhizhou and Lin Wan smiled at each other.

Lin Wan took out her phone and opened the Shenhua app store: “Look, Mr. Pei!”

Pei Qian took the phone, and his entire body froze instantly.

He saw that “Hot-Blooded Battle Song” was now ranked first in the Shenhua app market!

What’s going on??

Isn’t this a mobile game app market?

Pei Qian incredulously clicked into the game details page and looked at the promotional materials.

No mistake, it was “Hot-Blooded Battle Song Enhanced Edition”!

However, the perfectly good web game had now become a mobile game, and it seemed incredibly popular!