Pei Qian was taken aback.

Game design?

Yes, that’s how others saw it.

Since its establishment, Tenda’s gaming department had succeeded with every single project, and the game genres had hardly ever been repeated.

Other departments had experienced at least some periods of decline, but the gaming department alone seemed to have never failed.

In everyone’s eyes, while Mr. Pei’s vision, leadership ability, and decision-making were all excellent, and he was successful in various fields like investment, industry, digital products, and food service, his most outstanding quality was still his game design ability.

Tenda’s gaming department had always been considered the ace of aces within Tenda Group, and employees who came from there could all stand on their own.

But that was just the outside perspective.

Pei Qian wanted to say: I don’t have any game design ability at all!

All along, the thing he did most in the game production process was to go against successful market experiences, but somehow, the games always ended up being hugely successful.

However, Tang Yishu’s statement gave Pei Qian great inspiration.

Pei Qian nodded: “Hmm, I understand. Nothing else.”

After Tang Yishu left, Pei Qian had determined his direction.

He would study game design!

All the problems he had been struggling with before could be solved with this approach.

First, he knew nothing about game design, so there was a huge room for improvement. Even a slight understanding would probably be judged by the system as gaining something.

Second, if he was just learning game design concepts, it shouldn’t be too difficult, not like professional knowledge, where he might completely fail to learn.

Third, he wouldn’t go to a training class to learn games—he would directly pay for one-on-one tutoring from top designers at China’s first-rate game companies. These big shots earned bonuses of hundreds of thousands or millions every month. For one-on-one tutoring, giving them 100,000 yuan per lesson wouldn’t be excessive, right?

Finally, learning more game design knowledge would fill the gaps in Pei Qian’s knowledge. Before, he had been making money because he didn’t understand game design, but if he understood it, wouldn’t he be better able to avoid the possibility of making money and achieve historic losses for Tenda Games?

It was a perfect solution!

The more Pei Qian thought about it, the more feasible it seemed.

Currently, there might not be many producers in China who had both fame and fortune, but there were definitely plenty who could make money.

Pei Qian figured that the ability to make money certainly counted as a kind of design ability, and the system would probably recognize it too.

In any case, he would first contact a few people to see.

Perhaps even if Mr. Pei was willing to pay, they might not be willing to come to Jingzhou.

These successful producers either had their own companies, held company shares, or could receive large bonuses from successful projects.

Even if they happened to need money, they might not have time. If their projects were in the development phase, they simply couldn’t get away.

Considering the consumption of time and energy, they might not be tempted by the tuition fees of several hundred thousand yuan.

In short, he would first need to find suitable candidates and then discuss details.

Pei Qian called Assistant Xin over: “Contact several well-known game companies in China, find their best producers, and tell them I sincerely want to learn some knowledge about game design. Ask if they’re willing to come to Jingzhou to teach, and the tuition fee is negotiable.”

Assistant Xin showed a trace of surprise on her face, but didn’t ask further, nodding and turning to go handle it.

Pei Qian added: “This matter should not be widely known.”

Assistant Xin nodded: “Understood.”

After Assistant Xin left, Pei Qian began to daydream.

Which game producer would accept his cordial invitation?

Pei Qian tried to recall and realized he hadn’t had much contact with other game producers, except for Zhou Muyan from Tianhua Studio, but that was over a year ago.

The main reason was that for Pei Qian, games were just a means to lose money. He wasn’t interested in the domestic game circle at all and had no motivation to actively socialize with these successful game producers.

So until now, Pei Qian didn’t know many game producers.

But that didn’t matter. Tenda Games had some reputation in the domestic game circle, and surely, there would be one or two big shots willing to honor Mr. Pei’s sincere desire to learn some game design knowledge?

Or they could simply come to socialize with Mr. Pei!

Jingzhou was a place of talented people and beautiful scenery, with many good food and fun activities. It wouldn’t be a loss to come!

Which big shot would be willing to come? He was looking forward to it.

Pei Qian couldn’t help but daydream.

About ten minutes later, there was a knock on the door, and Assistant Xin returned.

Pei Qian was eager: “Who has agreed to come?”

Assistant Xin’s expression was somewhat strange: “Um, Mr. Pei, I asked four companies, and they… all refused.”

Pei Qian was stunned: “Why? Is it because I didn’t make the tuition fee clear? Or because we weren’t sincere enough?”

Assistant Xin shook her head: “It’s not about money, nor sincerity.”

“They simply don’t believe it. They think we’re joking.”

“One of them said, and I quote: ‘Don’t joke around, Mr. Pei is already one of the top game producers in China. Who would dare teach him? That would be like showing off one’s meager skills before an expert.”

“Another said: ‘I only know how to make pay-to-win games. In terms of artistic value in games, I can’t even catch Mr. Pei’s car exhaust. How could I have the nerve to teach Mr. Pei?”

“Everyone expressed that if it was just a visit or to socialize, they would be very willing, but as for teaching, they’d rather not.”

“I felt that asking more people wouldn’t yield any different results, so I came back to report to you first.”

Pei Qian was speechless: “What about asking Zhou Muyan from Tianhua Studio?”

An old acquaintance should be easier to talk to, right?

Assistant Xin smiled: “I asked him. He had the most intense reaction.”

Pei Qian: “…”

What a mess.

Pei Qian himself didn’t want to split hairs—whether learning or exchanging ideas, the effect would be similar.

But the system’s requirements were very clear.

It had to be learning, and the 1.6 million had to be spent in the form of tuition fees and teaching-related expenses.

Exchanges and discussions didn’t meet the system’s requirements!

Pei Qian hadn’t expected to be rejected, much less for this reason.

Everyone thought Mr. Pei’s game design level was too high, and they weren’t worthy to teach him!

Pei Qian disagreed.

He had finally come up with a solution—how could he just give up? Absolutely not!

If they weren’t willing to teach openly, then he would have to seek learning anonymously!

Because Pei Qian had always deliberately kept his identity secret, not many people knew what he looked like. There were no photos or video materials, even from interviews.

That meant that even if he met these producers face-to-face, they wouldn’t know he was Mr. Pei.

Pei Qian considered disguising himself as a wealthy second-generation who wasn’t short of money, willing to spend 1.6 million to have these successful producers teach him game design.

Rich kids could do anything strange, and these producers wouldn’t be too suspicious.

But this brought up a new problem.

The 1.6 million tuition fee would come from the system and would be transferred from the company account. When the recipient saw that the transfer was from Tenda, what would they think?

Why would this rich kid use Tenda’s company account to pay for tuition?

That didn’t seem feasible.

After further consideration, he decided to change his identity. Not a rich kid, but an outstanding employee of Tenda.

Because of his outstanding work, Mr. Pei specifically provided 1.6 million for him to use at his discretion for further education.

And this outstanding employee had always aspired to game design. Not short of money, he decided to use this sum to invite excellent game producers to learn successful game production experiences.

In that case, he definitely couldn’t be an employee of the gaming department. So… the investment department!

Because of successful investments, he received special commendation from Mr. Pei.

Hmm, this made sense, barely.

If someone asked, “Since you’re a Tenda employee, why don’t you ask Mr. Pei to teach you game design?”

He could answer: Mr. Pei is busy with work and doesn’t have time.

Although there were still some loopholes, it shouldn’t be a big problem. He could deceive them one by one.

As long as a successful game producer was willing to come teach him, and he could spend the money, that was all that mattered.

Besides, these were basically all true statements. Pei Qian could indeed call himself an outstanding employee of Tenda, and he had indeed achieved results in the investment department.

He just concealed one piece of information: this outstanding employee and Mr. Pei were the same person.

After pondering for a moment, Pei Qian said, “Let’s try a few more companies. Say that an outstanding employee from our company’s investment department wants to learn some game design knowledge and is willing to pay generously for lessons.”

Assistant Xin immediately understood: “Alright, Mr. Pei.”

She clearly understood that the “outstanding employee” Mr. Pei mentioned was himself. He was speaking this way simply to avoid the previous situation where “no one dared to teach.”

As for why Mr. Pei was so insistent on inviting other game producers to teach him?

Assistant Xin was slightly curious but wouldn’t ask more.

Mr. Pei had always been an unorthodox person. This wasn’t the most perplexing thing Mr. Pei had done, nothing to make a fuss about.

Ten minutes later, Assistant Xin returned.

“Mr. Pei, one producer says he can consider it.”

Pei Qian was delighted: “Who?”

Assistant Xin: “He An, CEO of Alliance Fruit Games. As a veteran game producer in China, he has achievements in both standalone games and online games, enjoying a great reputation in the domestic game industry. He’s currently semi-retired, flying around domestically and internationally, enjoying life.”

“Does Mr. Pei think this is suitable?”

Pei Qian nodded: “Yes!”

For him, these successful game producers should all be pretty similar, and they should all have unique understandings of games.

As long as they were willing to come, that was fine!

Assistant Xin nodded: “Alright, I’ll book the flight now. Mr. He is semi-retired, so he happens to be free. If all goes well, he should be able to reach Jingzhou tomorrow.”

“Oh, and Mr. He said he will conduct a simple test beforehand. He won’t teach someone who’s too slow.”

Saying this, Assistant Xin smiled: “Of course, for you, Mr. Pei, this is just a trivial condition.”

After speaking, Assistant Xin turned and left.

Pei Qian’s mouth hung slightly open, falling into a daze.

Huh?

A trivial condition?

Pei Qian’s current mood was like that of a student who hadn’t reviewed at all, suddenly having to take an entrance exam.

They said it was very simple, but in reality, he didn’t know anything at all!

Was there still time to cram?

But the question was, who knew what questions the other party would ask? There was no textbook, so what should he study…

Pei Qian’s face darkened, and he deeply doubted the decision he had made.