February 2nd, Lunar New Year’s Eve.

Pei Qian lay sprawled on the sofa, idly playing with his phone out of boredom.

His parents were also staring at their phone screens, grabbing red packets and sending voice messages to wish people a happy new year.

Mobile phone technology in this world was advancing quickly, much more advanced than Pei Qian remembered. A few years ago, people relied on phone calls and text messages for New Year greetings, but in the last two years, everyone has switched to sending red packets on their phones.

The elderly sent red packets of just a few yuan or a few jiao, rarely exceeding fifty yuan, emphasizing “the thought that counts.”

After Pei Qian returned home, his new clothes and new computer aroused his parents’ suspicion, but he had prepared an explanation in advance.

Although the explanation wasn’t particularly flawless, he had laid the groundwork earlier. His parents already knew that Pei Qian worked at Fei Huang Studio, and Fei Huang Studio had indeed been developing well recently, so he successfully deceived them.

After all, most people tended to exaggerate their positions and income, and boasting was more common. His parents couldn’t possibly imagine that Pei Qian was understating his position…

So, his parents didn’t dwell much on the money issue; instead, they were more concerned about the house.

Although Pei Qian had repeatedly emphasized that he bought the house for them, his parents had no such idea. Instead, they wanted to convert this house into their son’s wedding home.

So Pei Qian had no choice but to let them have their way.

It seemed that buying one house wasn’t enough; he would need to buy another to allow his parents to live comfortably…

What a hassle.

“Forget it, I’ll try harder and lose more money this cycle!”

With this thought in mind, Pei Qian began playing with his phone while occasionally glancing at the Spring Festival Gala.

Pei Qian had already forgotten which programs were in the 2011 Spring Festival Gala, but after watching a few, he was certain that he hadn’t seen these before.

The programs had changed, the celebrities had changed, but the sense of boredom remained the same!

Sure enough, people in the group chat began complaining that this year’s Spring Festival Gala was very uninteresting.

Pei Qian was accustomed to this because he knew that not only was the 2011 Spring Festival Gala uninteresting, but future galas would become increasingly less interesting year after year…

While scrolling through his phone out of boredom, he suddenly received a message from Chang You of OTTO Technology.

“Mr. Pei, thank you for your care over the past year. In the new year, I hope Tenda continues to flourish and earn more and more! I hope OTTO Technology’s phones sell well, and that we soon crush Shenhua and acquire Pineapple!”

Seeing this message, Pei Qian’s face immediately darkened.

What did he mean?

This Chang You, was it appropriate to curse me like this during the New Year?

But immediately afterward, he heard a “whoosh” sound from his phone.

A red packet!

Pei Qian’s eyes lit up, and he immediately clicked to claim it.

One thousand yuan!

“Director Chang is generous!”

“Recruiting Director Chang back then was the right decision!”

Pei Qian was delighted and immediately forgot his previous displeasure, replying: “Happy New Year, Director Chang!”

Just after replying to Chang You, the sounds of various red packets came one after another.

“Happy New Year, Mr. Pei!”

“In the new year, I wish Mr. Pei becomes increasingly handsome!”

“Happy New Year and all the best!”

“Wishing Mr. Pei smooth sailing in his career and big money in the coming year!”

Among the well-wishes, some made him happy, while others not so much. However, Mr. Pei wasn’t petty and wouldn’t judge employees based on the quality of their well-wishes.

He would judge them based on the amount of their red packets!

Pei Qian found that the older employees were indeed more sensible. Employees like Chang You, Zhang Yuan, and Wu Bin all sent red packets, ranging from five hundred to a thousand yuan.

Meanwhile, younger employees like Lü Mingliang and Ma Yiqun mostly sent red packets of 188 yuan or so, just as a gesture for good luck.

Perhaps they thought that regardless of how much they sent, Mr. Pei wouldn’t care…

The most annoying New Year message came from Huang Sibo: “Mr. Pei doesn’t need money, so I won’t be conventional and send a red packet! I will continue to work hard in the coming year to make Tenda shine!”

After reading this message, Pei Qian nearly wanted to fire Huang Sibo on the spot.

Does this sound like something a decent person would say?

He even said, “Mr. Pei doesn’t need money,” and mentioned that he would “continue to work hard in the coming year”!

Provocation! This was blatant provocation!

But on second thought, it was the New Year, so he forgave him.

Just as he was editing a message to reply, new New Year greetings arrived.

Lin Wan: “In the new year, thank you for your care, Mr. Pei! Although the progress of both games and phones isn’t going smoothly right now, please rest assured, I will do my utmost to complete the tasks! In the new year, Tenda will continue to work hard under Mr. Pei’s wise leadership!”

With a “whoosh,” a transfer of 8,888 yuan.

Immediately after, Lin Chang’s message also arrived.

Compared to Lin Wan, Lin Chang’s message was much simpler: “Mr. Pei, a little tea money!”

With a “whoosh,” a transfer of 18,888 yuan.

Pei Qian was so happy he couldn’t close his mouth. What do you call brothers? What do you call friends?

This is it!

Director Lin was so generous!

At that moment, Pei Qian even felt somewhat reluctant to let Lin Wan leave.

If Lin Wan went back, would there still be such generous red packets during festivals?

But then he thought, no, Lin Chang still gave more.

Pei Qian quickly claimed the red packets and then replied to each one.

To Lin Wan: “Happy New Year! You worked too hard last year. Next year, you must rest well and not be so overworked! I’m approving an additional ten days of paid leave for you, and you must take every single day of it!”

To Lin Chang: “Don’t worry, Director Lin. After the New Year, I will arrange that matter for you very clearly!”

Return red packets?

That was impossible.

Red packets were just a gesture; if you send me one and I send you one back, it would feel like the back-and-forth refusals of extended family. Is that what young people of the new century do?

Besides, considering all the various bonuses and benefits that Mr. Pei regularly distributed, that money was abundant. Was it too much to receive a few hundred or thousand yuan in red packets from them now?

Of course, ultimately, it was because the system wouldn’t reimburse for sending red packets…

With the pitiful amount of personal funds Mr. Pei had on hand, if he sent red packets like Lin Chang did, he would go bankrupt after sending just a few.

If he sent just one or two hundred yuan, it wouldn’t suit Mr. Pei’s status.

So, he simply decided not to send any!

Besides, no one would think Mr. Pei was stingy.

Soon, messages from others also arrived.

Assistant Xin: “Wishing Mr. Pei’s family happiness and peace. In the new year, I hope the brilliance of the Tenda spirit can spread to every department!” (Red packet: 666 yuan)

Tang Yishu: “Senior, in the new year, I wish that the new foods you try are always better than you imagined, that you remember all the sweet dreams you’ve had, that your mood is always like a Friday afternoon, and that you find happiness as pure as a child’s!” (Red packet: 99.9 yuan)

Pei Qian was very pleased.

Look at Assistant Xin’s understanding!

She knew that what I care about most isn’t whether Tenda makes money or not, but whether everyone can better experience the Tenda spirit!

The 666 yuan red packet was also very generous.

Little Tang’s greeting was also quite nice. Considering her circumstances, 99.9 yuan was already a significant gesture.

Pei Qian, unprecedented, sent a 999 yuan red packet back to Little Tang, replying: “Thank you! A small token, take it back to supplement your household expenses!”

Various red packets came pouring in, and Pei Qian could barely keep up with claiming them.

Amid his happiness, he was also very gratified.

It hadn’t been in vain to care for these employees!

After providing them with so many benefits regularly, they finally remembered Mr. Pei’s kindness during the New Year!

Mr. Pei had distributed so many benefits, and finally saw some return!

There were many red packets from others too, like Ma Yang, Ruan Guangjian, Qiao Laoshi, Zhu Xiaocai, Lin Canrong, and Li Shi…

Too many, and the red packets varied in amount.

Among them, the largest red packet value came from President Li, at 10,000 yuan right off the bat. Others ranged from tens to hundreds of yuan, varying in amount.

But Mr. Pei didn’t mind; after all, anyone who sent a red packet was a good comrade!

After collecting all the red packets and tallying them up, he found that just from receiving New Year red packets, he had collected over 60,000 yuan.

Busy until after ten o’clock at night, he finally managed to reply to all the waves of New Year greetings.

Rubbing his slightly sore shoulders, Pei Qian couldn’t help but sigh that it would be so nice if Assistant Xin could help him reply to these messages!

Then he turned to look at his parents, who were still grabbing red packets.

“Quick, quick, her second uncle just sent a 200 yuan red packet, I just grabbed 5 yuan!”

“I’ll send a 50 yuan one now, be ready to grab it.”

“I grabbed 1.5 yuan!”

“You grabbed so little, your luck is really bad!”

“1.5 yuan is still money, you know.”

Pei Qian silently shook his head. Ah, the elderly also have their form of happiness…

After claiming most of the red packets, Pei Qian lay on the sofa with nothing to do. He opened the Terminal Chinese Website app, wanting to find a book to read to pass the time.

Browsing randomly, he happened to come across the book completion message from Cui Geng, posted just a few hours ago.

“Hmm?”

“Isn’t this the book by that ‘promising youth’?”

“Well, it is indeed time for it to be completed!”

Pei Qian was very pleased.

This Cui Geng, after receiving Tenda spiritual education, had posted a completion announcement, and a week later, the book was officially completed.

Calling it ‘completed,’ in reality, the book had only reached about 800,000 characters.

It could also be said that previously, he might have been hesitant, but after accepting the position of “special observer,” he decisively completed the book!

See, how resolute!

Pei Qian opened the completion message and glanced at the comments below.

“The pigeon spirit has flaked out again! Completing at 800,000 characters, what is this if not an abrupt ending!”

“Please be accurate, it’s 830,000 characters.”

“Excluding the filler, it’s at most 400,000 characters!”

“I think it’s okay. Most of the earlier plot holes were filled, and the storyline is complete.”

“To the commenter above, it’s because of low-standard readers like you that so many authors have no integrity, abruptly ending or abandoning their works whenever they want! I propose we permanently boycott this pigeon spirit and never read his new book!”

“Exactly, what’s this new book? ‘Butterfly Game’? It looks like a failure at first glance! Not reading it!”

New book?

Pei Qian was instantly alert.

Looking carefully, there was indeed a new book announcement below this completion message!

It was called “Butterfly Game,” and it was an urban genre.

But the readers showed little interest in this new book; they were all criticizing Cui Geng for his abrupt ending.

This was normal because Cui Geng’s current book was a fantasy novel, so naturally, the readers were fantasy readers who had no interest in an urban genre new book.

Not only did it fail to attract many readers for the new book, but there were also quite a few people going to the new book’s comment section to discourage others, saying this author was unreliable and warning everyone not to get trapped.

Pei Qian was initially a bit worried, but seeing the readers all criticizing, he immediately felt relieved.

“It seems I was overthinking.”

“A leopard can’t change its spots. ‘Promising Youth’ was previously known as a notorious flake on the Terminal Chinese Website. Now that he has a fixed salary and benefits, could he settle down and write seriously?”

“Impossible!”

“If he could write seriously, I might as well become a billionaire by losing money!”