That computer was right next to Zhu Xing’an’s computer. Everyone could see the screen with just a glance—it was in plain sight of everyone.

Earlier, Cui Geng had noticed there was indeed an empty computer in the room, but at that time, he thought it was just an extra machine and didn’t think much of it.

Now he understood what it was used for!

Going to that computer would indeed allow him to watch movies and play games, but this also meant doing so under the watchful eyes of the editor-in-chief and all the other authors.

Binge-watching TV shows?

Dream on!

With so many people staring, would you have the nerve to monopolize this computer for watching shows or movies? This was shared by all authors, and others needed it to collect reference materials too!

Cui Geng had initially wanted to say that one computer wasn’t enough and hoped Zhu Xing’an would provide a couple more.

But on second thought, he realized even he wouldn’t believe that.

Because eighty to ninety percent of research materials could be looked up on his computer.

The Dark Room mode in the writing software also came with Baidu search and a web browser, though it couldn’t play videos or download software. Some websites and forums were also blocked, such as Unlimited Chinese Web, Endpoint Chinese Web, Tieba, Weibo, and the like.

So, it was impossible to spend an entire day reading novels or browsing forums in the Dark Room.

Just this search function alone could solve eighty to ninety percent of research needs.

And in the occasional case when someone wanted to reference a movie, they only needed to download it on the computer beside Zhu Xing’an and scroll through to find the specific part they needed to see, which wouldn’t take much time.

Moreover, since this computer was a shared resource, most people wouldn’t have the nerve to occupy it for too long, so everyone would use it very efficiently.

Therefore, sharing this one computer wasn’t a problem; it wouldn’t delay anyone’s work.

But for Cui Geng, whose essential nature was to slack off, this was extremely painful!

He sat down silently, recalling the agreement he had signed earlier.

No wonder the agreement only stipulated working hours and made no mention of word count output!

Ma Yiqun’s meaning was very clear: If you get writer’s block for an entire day and don’t write a single word, that’s fine; we don’t care. As long as you can face the wall in the Dark Room all day without breaking down, that’s all that matters.

Cui Geng was speechless.

He’d been duped! Tricked!

Cui Geng instinctively wanted to leave. Tearing up the contract would at most mean he couldn’t enjoy those benefits anymore; there wasn’t even a penalty clause.

Being confined like this for a month would be unbearable.

But after reconsidering, he felt this approach wasn’t appropriate.

Coming to Jingzhou, only to run back home with his tail between his legs because of this reason?

If this news spread among his friends, other authors, and his readers, what would they think?

All the other authors in the workshop were diligently writing, and I was the only one who deserted on the first day…

That wouldn’t sound good at all!

After weighing the pros and cons, Cui Geng calmed down a bit and decided to remain patient for now. Even if he wanted to leave, he should symbolically stick it out for a couple of days.

Besides, he had taken a day off yesterday and hadn’t updated today either. He really should update a chapter or two to appease his readers.

After careful consideration, Cui Geng let out a soft sigh and very reluctantly prepared to start writing.

…

…

In the office, Pei Qian was flipping through his notes while considering recent work matters.

Regarding the Shared Phone Booths, the commissioned phone booths should all be delivered in the next couple of days and will gradually be set up in various shopping malls across Jingzhou.

After the weekend, Pei Qian planned to visit the major shopping malls to check on these phone booths.

Although from the previous situation, these things were completely ignored by the public, it was better to be safe than sorry. Who knew if they might suddenly turn things around?

He still couldn’t let his guard down.

As for the Shared Study Genius, he had already arranged for He Desheng to handle it. There were now quite a few companies that specialized in making educational software. Contacting any one of them to help create a simple APP shouldn’t be too troublesome.

But making a simple APP wouldn’t cost much money.

Pei Qian planned to spend more on promotion later—advertising, distributing flyers, and perhaps offering some red envelope subsidies, which would easily burn through a good amount of money.

Then there was… he wondered how Li’s “Ming Fu Family Banquet” was doing.

Pei Qian particularly hoped this high-end restaurant could quickly make a name for itself and effectively divert some of Mingyun Private Kitchen’s customers, so that Mingyun Private Kitchen wouldn’t be so profitable anymore.

Pei Qian and Li Shi had each other’s contact information, but Pei Qian had always been too lazy to reach out. So their few limited meetings had all been chance encounters at Slackin’ Internet Café.

But this time, Pei Qian couldn’t resist giving Li Shi a call.

The call connected quickly.

“Hello? Mr. Li, oh, nothing much, just calling to chat. Oh, right, I wanted to ask how the Ming Fu Family Banquet is doing? Is it so popular that you’ve been too busy lately?”

Pei Qian’s tone was sincere and full of expectation.

Li Shi’s voice came through the phone, sounding helpless and tired: “Mr. Pei, please don’t make fun of me.”

“With your sources of information, how could you not know about this?”

“On the second day after opening, we had multiple issues. Many of the first batch of customers were dissatisfied. Although we offered discounts and free meals, it still had some impact.”

“These past few days, we’ve just been trying to mitigate that impact as much as possible…”

Pei Qian was stunned.

Multiple issues?

That couldn’t be right. Li and his team should have hired experienced chefs. Even if they couldn’t reach Mingyun Private Kitchen’s level, they shouldn’t be having “multiple issues,” should they?

Suddenly, Pei Qian remembered something.

The last time they had dinner, Little Tang was also brought along!

At that time, everyone was happily eating, and no one noticed any strange effects, so Pei Qian had instinctively overlooked this matter.

Now it seemed the effects had occurred in the kitchen!

What a mess.

Pei Qian suddenly felt he had let Mr. Li down. He had gone there to support him, but inadvertently caused harm!

Pei Qian quickly asked: “The impact isn’t serious, is it?”

On the other end of the phone, Li Shi laughed politely: “Nothing too serious, just some minor problems.”

“The quality of the restaurant is evident; we won’t lose money, but we can’t expect to become popular in the short term either.”

“Speaking of which, if I hadn’t opened a restaurant, I would never have known there were so many intricacies involved.”

“I originally thought that opening a high-end restaurant just required enough money, but now I realize I was thinking too simply.”

“Mr. Pei, you’ve always appeared so calm, as if opening a high-end restaurant was a very easy thing to do. It seems that was all smoke and mirrors, a distraction.”

Pei Qian: “…?”

What did I do to deserve this blame?

When opening Mingyun Private Kitchen, I didn’t manage much! Somehow, it mysteriously became popular, and I was just as surprised!

How did this become a case of me misleading you?!

Pei Qian thought for a moment and said, “Mr. Li, please be patient. I think opening a high-end restaurant is a technical job that requires certain accumulated experience. The Ming Fu Family Banquet just lacks a bit of that accumulation. This is all temporary; things will improve.”

“How about this—next week I’ll book the place again to support your business!”

Pei Qian thought about it but couldn’t come up with a better way to compensate. He could hardly tell Li Shi that Ming Fu Family Banquet’s rocky start was all because of one of his employees, could he?

How could something like mysticism be discussed openly?

All he could do was bring his employees there for a few more meals as a small compensation.

Of course, this time he definitely couldn’t bring Little Tang along. If the Ming Fu Family Banquet went under, it wouldn’t benefit Boss Pei either.

Nor could he bring the people who had joined the department dinner this week. Having frequent department dinners would be hard to justify to the System.

This time, he’d switch to a different department, like Fei Huang Studio or Headwind Logistics.

This was the advantage of having many employees—different departments could take turns having meals!

Pei Qian couldn’t help but let his thoughts wander: If he could eventually develop more than 30 departments, with each department having a monthly dinner, wouldn’t that mean he could have a feast every day?

Hmm, that sounded pretty good…

After a moment of silence, Li Shi on the other end of the phone finally said with some emotion: “Thank you, Mr. Pei.”

“When you didn’t partner with us to open the restaurant before, I had a slight misunderstanding about you.”

“Now I understand. Business is business, personal friendship is personal friendship. Mr. Pei, you distinguish them very clearly.”

“Anyway, I’ll remember this favor! When there’s an opportunity in the future, I’ll certainly repay you properly!”

Pei Qian: “?”

Please don’t overthink this! I’m purely just going to eat a meal and spend some money!

Even if I didn’t go to your restaurant, I would go to Swan Lake Restaurant. It has nothing to do with our relationship; it’s only because yours happens to be more expensive!

Besides, we don’t have any special relationship. Please don’t misunderstand!

Inside Pei Qian’s mind, ten thousand alpacas galloped wildly across, but he couldn’t express these thoughts. He could only hold them in his chest, almost to the point of hiccupping from the effort.

“Mr. Li, it’s just a meal, you don’t need to take it so seriously. If you want to thank me, just make the Ming Fu Family Banquet successful, thriving, and surpass Mingyun Private Kitchen as soon as possible!”

Pei Qian spoke with genuine sincerity.

Li Shi: “Hehe.”

“Mr. Pei, I have to go now. You’re welcome to visit anytime.”

After hanging up the phone, Pei Qian felt melancholic.

Unexpectedly, what had been a good intention—bringing everyone to eat and support the business—had inadvertently injured a friendly force, leading to an unfavorable situation at the Ming Fu Family Banquet.

Things were not going well!

It was distressing, but looking at the time, it was already Friday afternoon, and not much else could be done.

“Next week, I must do something to turn the tide!”

“Also, on Monday, I must remember to check on the Shared Phone Booths.”

Pei Qian repeated this several times to strengthen his memory, then continued reading and reviewing.

…

At 6 PM.

A melodious bell rang.

However, the dense sound of mechanical keyboards showed no sign of stopping. Many authors were still intently focused on their screens, their hands frantically striking the keys.

Zhu Xing’an stood up and clapped his hands: “Alright, it’s time to clock out. Everyone, please wrap up quickly; the power will be automatically cut in ten minutes.”

“Tomorrow, please arrange your time well. It would be best if everyone stopped working right at 6 PM.”

Sitting at the far end, Cui Geng let out a long breath, leaned back in his ergonomic chair, and stretched.

He glanced at the word count displayed on the screen.

8,177 words.

Cui Geng silently marveled, thinking he never expected that, as a chronic procrastinator, he would ever achieve the feat of writing eight thousand words in a day!

Although he could check his word count in real time and had mentally prepared for this number, he still found it somewhat incredible.

Because he felt his efficiency today had been quite low.

Not being able to browse the web, watch videos, or play games gave him a feeling of discomfort throughout his body.

Although the desk and chair were comfortable, the monitor was large, and the keyboard was nice to use, it wasn’t his familiar environment, so his state of mind was naturally somewhat affected.

He had also experienced writer’s block for a period in the middle.

If he were in this state at home, Cui Geng thought he would have written at most four thousand words, which would have been pretty good.

But here, he had somehow written eight thousand words!

Cui Geng felt proud and wanted to shout: “Who else?!”

Just then, two authors sitting across from him stood up.

“It seems like writing together in this place does significantly improve efficiency!”

“How many words did you write?”

“Just reached ten thousand, what about you?”

“Thirteen thousand.”

“Impressive!”

“No, no, I think I can still improve.”

Cui Geng: “…”

He could only silently bury his desire to boast in his heart.