March 25th, Friday.
These past two days, Mr. Pei has been very busy.
Every final week before settlement, Pei Qian would enter a state of emergency spending.
Although GOG season prizes, Horrifying Hostel investments, and frequent celebration banquets by employees had already eliminated most of the burden for this cycle, there were still some wrap-up tasks to handle.
Pei Qian had been busy with these matters during this period.
First were the basic employee salaries, benefits, and various expenses. Based on the reputation of each project on the TPDb website, bonuses were issued where needed, base salaries increased where appropriate, and everything that could be raised was raised as much as possible.
Of course, currently, only the statistical work has been completed. Salaries and bonuses had to go through procedures and would only be issued at the end of the month.
Next, many projects conducted ruthless promotional activities.
For instance, Slackin’ Internet Café, ROF PC Assembly, Scholar Express, Headwind Logistics, Endpoint Chinese Web, and so on were burning money appropriately within the system’s allowable range.
On the surface, it appeared to be burning money to gain attention, but in reality, it was purely for the sake of burning money.
It was at this point that Pei Qian discovered the benefits of many projects catching fire.
Take Slackin’ Internet Café for example, which previously aimed to follow a high-pricing strategy to discourage as many customers as possible and ensure losses.
But after several miraculous operations, even the Slackin’ Internet Café in Lin City was bloody packed…
The plan to discourage customers from causing losses had collapsed on its own.
But Pei Qian discovered that he could now run promotions!
At regular prices, the internet café was already full, which meant that burning money on discount promotions wouldn’t increase customer flow much!
So, burning money at this point was purely burning money!
Moreover, after a project became profitable, the system’s restrictions on “losing money to attract attention” became much more lenient, and even to some extent indulged and encouraged the practice of “drinking poison to quench thirst.”
Such behavior would bring some negative impacts, such as increasing the project’s popularity.
But for Mr. Pei, who had already tasted some sweetness from “drinking poison to quench thirst,” this was barely worth mentioning.
During the last settlement, Mr. Pei had taken a big drink of poison, and he was concerned whether this cycle would be particularly difficult. The facts proved that while it was indeed slightly difficult, he had still managed to reach this point through his intelligence and was on the verge of safely getting through it!
Uh, that’s not right either. It seems a bit premature to say this now, shouldn’t raise a flag.
In any case, the emergency spending had all been arranged, the current financial situation was good, and another sum of money would arrive next week. At that time, it would all be spent through GOG season prizes and employee benefits, and then he could just wait for the settlement.
Pei Qian looked at his watch—it was now 2:50 PM.
The time was about right.
At this moment, outside Mr. Pei’s office, on the 16th floor of Shenhua Luxury View, quite a few people had gathered.
They were all heads of various departments of Tenda Group.
They had only received notice that they needed to come here for a short meeting at 3 PM today, but what the specific content of the meeting would be, no one seemed to know.
Except for a few individuals directly involved in the preparation stages.
But these individuals kept their mouths sealed about it and wouldn’t reveal anything.
Now, all Tenda department employees, whether high or low level, had formed a tacit understanding of Tenda’s spirit—unconditionally fulfilling Mr. Pei’s requirements without asking too many questions. As long as Mr. Pei required confidentiality, everyone would do their utmost to fulfill that requirement.
After all, no one knew what Mr. Pei’s profound intentions were, and they feared losing Mr. Pei’s trust by messing things up. The safest approach was to obediently listen and do exactly what Mr. Pei said.
Of course, as for what these people thought in their minds or what they imagined, that was hard to say.
They would listen to everything Mr. Pei said, except when Mr. Pei told them not to overthink things—that was impossible.
As it approached 3 o’clock, Mr. Pei came out of his office.
Everyone was already seated in the meeting room, waiting for the meeting to begin.
Pei Qian also sat down at the conference table and, after looking around, got straight to the point: “Today, I will present a new award to an outstanding department of Tenda Group.”
“In the future, this award will be issued irregularly, with the timing determined by me.”
“When I discover a department that meets the criteria for this award, I will immediately convene a meeting to present it.”
Hearing this, expressions of delight appeared on the faces of the department heads.
Another commendation?
Weren’t the current rewards enough?
Everyone felt that internal benefits had already reached a level that made other companies envious. All department members received additional bonuses each month based on the TPDb website ratings, salary increases were frequent, and there were two grand prizes annually to commend outstanding employees: the Outstanding Employee Selection.
There was even a No Overtime Competition every month, with winning departments being recognized.
Now, there was to be a new award specifically for outstanding departments?
This was truly… exciting!
Several department heads who felt they had a chance all sat up straight and waited.
People like Huang Sibo, Lin Wan, Chang You, Hu Xianbin, He Desheng, and others.
Pei Qian saw this and felt irritated inside.
From the perspective of making money and backstabbing me, you all indeed deserve awards.
But unfortunately, it’s not for any of you!
Pei Qian received the trophy from Assistant Xin, and its dazzling golden glow immediately blinded everyone’s cash-spending eyes.
The entire trophy was golden!
Without a doubt, it was made of pure gold.
The appearance of the trophy was in the shape of a mountain, albeit somewhat abstract, with some artistic treatment.
A line of small text on the base read: Tenda Cornerstone Award.
On the golden mountain were two vertical lines of traditional Chinese characters, written in a flowing, elegant style, seemingly the work of a calligrapher.
“The gold mountain may have flaws, but its height remains;
The sea of money is boundless, yet losses make it deeper.”
These two lines were the result of Pei Qian’s deep contemplation. He had specifically sought out a local calligrapher in Jingzhou to write them, then scanned the calligraphy and had it engraved on the golden mountain when ordering the trophy.
Why go to such trouble?
Mainly because he worried that the trophy might have the opposite effect after being presented!
Pei Qian had already decided that in the future, this trophy would be directly awarded to the department with the most losses.
But if not handled properly, it could easily have the opposite effect, making the department with heavy losses think that Mr. Pei was trying to spur them on, thus working even harder to turn losses into profits.
Wouldn’t that be counterproductive?
Therefore, there must be no misunderstanding!
This award was not a roundabout form of urging; it was a thorough, unreserved compliment!
It was meant to encourage losses!
Of course, he couldn’t be so straightforward, so Pei Qian had these sixteen characters engraved on the golden mountain, hinting that the only criterion for this award was to see who lost the most money.
“Golden mountain” and “sea of money” both symbolized wealth. Together, these two sentences meant that money was endless—when would it stop? Losing a bit more wouldn’t affect Tenda Group, and might even be beneficial, so please do intensify your efforts!
Pei Qian felt that the hint in these two sentences was already very obvious. Anyone with a bit of cultural knowledge shouldn’t misunderstand.
At this moment, when these department heads saw this “golden mountain,” their faces revealed surprised expressions.
It seemed this award had even more prestige than the Best Employee award!
A custom-made trophy with engraved text, personally presented by Mr. Pei—this was of great significance!
Pei Qian cleared his throat and solemnly began: “Today, I will present the Tenda Cornerstone Award!”
“As everyone knows, Tenda has many highly profitable departments, but also many departments that are consistently losing money. I believe that loss-making departments should also receive awards!”
“The Tenda Cornerstone Award is to be presented to those departments with sustained losses, because these departments truly deserve the title of ‘Tenda Cornerstone’!”
“I announce that the winner of this Tenda Cornerstone Award is—Headwind Logistics!”
Pei Qian stood up, smiling at Lü Mingliang, indicating that he should come forward to receive the award.
Lü Mingliang was stunned for a moment, seemingly not expecting that this award would be presented to him.
Other department heads were also stunned for a moment, but quickly recovered, and warm applause filled the meeting room.
Although confused, they still needed to show support when Mr. Pei presented the award and Lü Mingliang received it.
Lü Mingliang stood up, bowed slightly, and received the weighty trophy from Mr. Pei. Just as he was about to say something like “I’m unworthy,” Pei Qian interrupted him with a smile.
“No need for acceptance speeches. Your contributions will be silently remembered by all Tenda employees.”
Lü Mingliang returned to his seat holding the trophy, looking completely bewildered.
Pei Qian didn’t allow him to give an acceptance speech mainly because he didn’t want him to say things like “I’m unworthy” or “We will redouble our efforts to turn losses into profits”—words that would deflate the atmosphere he had worked so hard to create.
Seeing that the other department heads were showing signs of distorted envy, Pei Qian smiled slightly and continued to intensify: “In addition to this trophy, there are other rewards.”
“All staff members of Headwind Logistics will each receive a 2,000 yuan Cornerstone Bonus and a Koi Fish Medal! Furthermore, Headwind Logistics will also receive 30 OTTO E1 phones to reward those employees who have made outstanding contributions within the department!”
With these words, the other department heads were even more twisted with envy.
These benefits were too good!
The 2,000 yuan bonus was one thing, but there was also a “Koi Fish Medal”? And 30 E1 phones?
For Tenda employees, cash rewards had limited appeal, but honorary rewards—especially those personally presented by Mr. Pei—had enormous attraction for them!
Pei Qian’s gaze swept over the department heads, whose expressions clearly showed they were consuming vinegar, and a smile appeared at the corner of his mouth.
They were anxious.
Because these departments all felt they had made great contributions to Tenda, mainly in terms of making money.
But Mr. Pei had pointed out the requirement for the Cornerstone Award—it was given to departments with significant losses.
How could they accept this?
“Exactly, don’t accept it at all!”
“Be jealous, be envious, feel unbalanced, and go all out to create losses!”
“If all departments consciously generate losses, why would I need to work so hard?”
“Come on, everyone, hurry up and start competing!”
Pei Qian’s lips curled up slightly as he thought delightedly.
But as his gaze swept the room, he found everyone staring at him, seemingly expecting him to provide a reasonable explanation.
Oh? Expecting a plot twist?
Sorry, that’s not possible!
Pei Qian stood up directly: “Alright, that’s the entirety of today’s brief meeting. You’re all dismissed.”
With that, he turned and left the meeting room.
Only the department heads remained, looking at each other with varied expressions.