The outstanding employee selection had ended. After exchanging a few “Happy New Year” greetings with each other, everyone departed to prepare for their holiday trips home.

Just as Pei Qian was about to leave, Li Yada caught up with him.

“Mr. Pei, wait! I still have questions about the travel…”

Pei Qian stopped and smiled: “Feel free to ask anything. Problems that can be solved with money don’t need to come to me—just go directly to the finance department for reimbursement.”

Li Yada hesitated for a moment: “Mr. Pei, would it be possible to postpone this trip a little?”

“The Spring Festival is coming in a few days, and we need to avoid the holiday period, right? Besides, I’m now the head of the game department. If I leave for a whole month, many work matters will be difficult to manage.”

“My thought is to wait until after the New Year, and before the end of February, I can arrange things in the game department better. Then I could travel from March 1st to 31st. Would that work?”

Pei Qian considered it and found that Li Yada’s reasoning made sense.

The settlement date was March 31st, and the entire month of March was a critical period for refining game details and improving the quality of GOG.

GOG had already begun testing, and the main framework was already established. There wouldn’t be any issues with unfinished game development or delayed settlements.

If Li Yada went traveling after the Spring Festival, she could return about two weeks before the settlement date. At that time, she might make some bold modifications, which could introduce variables.

If she traveled in March, she would only return after the settlement, leaving Tenda’s game department without leadership, which would be more beneficial for Pei Qian.

Thinking of this, Pei Qian readily agreed: “Fine, let’s postpone it to March 1st then.”

“Thank you for your understanding, Mr. Pei!” Li Yada pushed up her glasses and left.

Then, Li Yada felt something was a bit strange.

Why did postponing her vacation require Mr. Pei’s understanding? Something seemed off…

“Brother Qian, when are you planning to go home?” Ma Yang was holding a box of chocolates and eating them frantically.

He hadn’t expected to win third place in the outstanding employee selection. Although there was no substantial reward, he was very happy, feeling that his work had been unanimously recognized by all Tenda employees.

Pei Qian said indifferently: “I’ll pack up this afternoon and leave.”

His attitude toward Ma Yang was somewhat cold, not only because Ma Yang’s investment in IOI had hurt him deeply, but also because in this exam, Ma Yang had completely crushed him again…

Pei Qian felt very irritated thinking about how he had spent so much time reviewing, but still couldn’t outperform Ma Yang.

Ma Yang didn’t notice the subtle change in Pei Qian’s attitude at all. While chewing on chocolate, he said: “Okay, Brother Qian, then I’ll see you after the New Year!”

“Because of the exam, I haven’t had time to manage much at Dream Venture Capital. After coming back from the New Year, I’ll work wholeheartedly and invest in several more profitable big projects!”

Pei Qian: “…”

…

After returning to his residence, Pei Qian packed up a few things.

Previously, when going home, he would carefully put away anything that might reveal his identity and wear clothes that looked very cheap.

But this time, Pei Qian deliberately chose several newer clothes, and also replaced his phone and computer with new ones.

It was about time to give his parents some hints.

The house he bought would be ready for occupancy around late February or early March. Counting on his fingers, it was coming soon.

If he directly told his parents that he had bought a house, they might find it hard to accept at once and would inevitably dig into the details with many questions.

During this year’s Spring Festival, he would first give them some hints that “their son has started making money, and quite a lot of it,” to help them prepare psychologically.

Pei Qian had already thought of what to say: Fei Huang Studio had been doing well lately, he had entered the management level there, and now with various income sources combined, his monthly income had reached about fifteen thousand yuan.

Plus, with various bonuses, he had saved up the down payment for the house. Although he would have monthly mortgage payments, the pressure wasn’t too great.

This couldn’t be considered a lie; it was more like Pei Qian revealing part of the truth.

Fei Huang Studio has been developing well recently, right?

Pei Qian had reached the management level at Fei Huang Studio, right?

Averaging around fifteen thousand yuan per month wasn’t a big issue; in fact, it was an understatement.

In summary, he would clarify the source of the house funds while trying not to be too high-profile, avoiding unnecessary troubles.

…

At the same time.

The Terminal Chinese Website author training class in Jingzhou had officially started its holiday break.

The training class had officially begun on January 17th, lasting for one month until February 17th.

But for the Spring Festival holiday, they would take a break.

After February 17th, the website would select the second batch of authors, and the two sessions of training classes would seamlessly connect.

This was because the training class was currently still a trial system and had not been officially established.

If it was determined that the training class significantly helped authors with their creations, the training class could become a regular fixture, and the duration might be extended from one month to three months.

If after some time they found that the expenses were high and there wasn’t much benefit, it might be canceled.

However, from the current situation, the training class’s effectiveness was considered remarkable.

The authors participating in the training class were saying their goodbyes.

“Brother Cui, see you. Looking forward to your new book after the New Year!”

“Let’s stay in touch through the group chat. Remember to send red packets in the group during the New Year, you big shots!”

“Ming Yu, don’t forget my chapter promotion!”

Cui Geng was also saying goodbye to everyone.

Although he was now a special observer for Tenda Group, he was still a member of the training class.

After securing several substantial chapter promotions for his new book, Cui Geng took a taxi to the airport.

In the taxi, he suddenly felt a surge of creative inspiration and couldn’t resist the urge to write. He took out his laptop from his backpack and created a new document.

He entered the title: Butterfly Game.

During the past few days before the holiday, he had been talking with Bao Xu, known as “Tenda’s living fossil,” gathering material and learning about many interesting stories from Tenda’s early days.

These would all be material that could be incorporated into his book.

He quickly typed the first line and began the story.

“Hmm, I can write several versions of the opening in these three days, accumulate some draft material, and then revise it.”

“This way, I can release the book on the first day of the Lunar New Year as an early New Year’s greeting to everyone!”

Cui Geng’s eyes seemed to be glowing with a strange brilliance, as if inspiration was about to burst forth.

…

At Tenda Games Department.

Li Yada called over the three new employees of the game department to arrange work in advance.

These three people were Hu Xianbin, Min Jingchao, and Zhang Nan—the three who had passed the Tenda Spiritual Compatibility Test on their first attempt.

Although Mr. Pei hadn’t explicitly praised these three, Li Yada felt that since they could pass the Tenda Spiritual Compatibility Test on their first try, they must have exceptional qualities in certain aspects.

Since they were excellent talents screened by Mr. Pei, they naturally deserved important responsibilities!

“On March 1st, I’ll be going traveling, and the work of the game department will be entrusted to you three.”

“Xianbin, I feel you have the best aptitude. After we return from the Spring Festival, I’ll help you become more familiar with the entire workflow and adapt to the executive lead designer’s work in advance. You’ll be responsible for pushing forward the work progress in the future.”

“Jingchao, you have experience working in the finance department and have a good mathematical foundation. For GOG’s numerical balance issues, consult Brother Bao more, and you’ll be responsible for numerical balance later.”

Finally, Li Yada looked at Zhang Nan, the only woman among the three: “You’ve done clothing design before, so you’ll take the lead in designing hero character skins for GOG.”

Min Jingchao immediately said, “Don’t worry, Sister Li. I’ve been busy with numerical adjustment work recently and should be able to get up to speed quickly.”

Zhang Nan also nodded: “I’ve already designed several skin sets recently, and the response has been good. After the New Year, I’ll hand these design drafts to the outsourced artists so they can create new skins for these heroes.”

Only Hu Xianbin was slightly hesitant: “Sister Li, I’ve only been employed for two months, and now I’m going to be the executive lead designer? Is this… going to work?”

Li Yada smiled slightly: “It’s fine.”

“What do you think about how all the previous executive lead designers of Tenda Games were selected?”

Hu Xianbin: “Huh?”

Li Yada gave a meaningful smile.

From Huang Sibo to Lü Mingliang to Li Yada, none had much experience before becoming lead designers.

The game department had many veteran employees, possibly with even more seniority than Li Yada.

But they had grown accustomed to their positions and didn’t have much interest in the executive lead designer role.

They wouldn’t think it inappropriate for a newcomer to serve as executive lead designer, after all, none of those who had been Tenda Games Department executive lead designers were experienced.

Li Yada smiled and patted Hu Xianbin’s shoulder: “It’s okay, don’t put too much pressure on yourself. The work of an executive lead designer is simpler than you imagine. As long as you give it your all, you’ll do well.”

“Well, if there’s nothing else, everyone can go home.”

“After the New Year, I’ll help you become more familiar with the work content.”

“Everyone, Happy Spring Festival!”