Five minutes later, someone knocked on the door again.

“Mr. Pei, all department heads have arrived. The outstanding employee selection meeting is about to begin,” Assistant Xin reminded him.

Pei Qian nodded. “Good, I’ll be right there!”

It was now August, time for the biannual outstanding employee selection.

Originally scheduled for the beginning of the month, it had been postponed to mid-month because Mr. Pei was extremely busy with work, his mental state somewhat shattered by the IOI situation, plus it was exam week, so he had no time to manage this matter.

Delaying it for half a month proved quite useful.

Many moles had revealed themselves!

If they had held the meeting half a month earlier, many moles might have remained hidden for another six months before being eliminated.

Pei Qian couldn’t help but sharpen his knife. Who would be the lucky one to be eliminated first this time?

The heads of Tenda’s numerous departments gathered together, chatting and laughing.

Everyone knew in their hearts that Tenda was developing so well now, with departments racing to outdo each other and making tremendous progress. It wouldn’t be surprising that whoever won the outstanding employee award.

Some people didn’t even want to receive this outstanding employee award, especially certain department heads.

The vast majority of department heads were very satisfied with their current work and had no desire to change careers. For example, Zhang Yuan was reluctant when he received the best employee award.

Moreover, as the highest leader of a department, if the department achieved tremendous success, unless a certain employee had particularly extraordinary abilities, the department head would naturally receive the most credit.

This also meant that the outstanding employee almost inevitably came from among the department heads.

Many wanted to voluntarily give up, but Mr. Pei adamantly refused.

So everyone had to accept it.

As for that Dream Fund money, which used to seem quite substantial, it didn’t seem like so much anymore.

But Mr. Pei was no longer limited to just that when giving money. Like with the DGE Club, after they received the Dream Fund, but it wasn’t enough, Mr. Pei still allocated large sums.

In short, everyone now just treats the best employee selection as a form of recognition, nothing unusual.

Bao Xu sat in his seat, his mindset quite calm.

Surely it can’t be me again this time???

Although he had some stress response and was instinctively very nervous, Bao Xu thought it through and realized there was no reason he should be selected again!

Carefully recalling the previous times he had “unfortunately been hit” by the best employee selection:

During Huang Sibo’s time, Bao Xu was responsible for the development of “Sea Fortress” at Tenda Games, making significant contributions, and won second place for outstanding employee, which was normal.

During Lü Mingliang’s time, although Bao Xu had kept a lower profile, he had debugged game details during the development of “Game Producer” and was responsible for optimizing old games, gaining quite a bit of visibility, so he won second place again.

Later, Bao Xu began desperately to shrink back, even handing all the files to Li Yada for submission. Unexpectedly, this behavior led to Li Yada winning second place for best employee.

Mr. Pei felt it would be too dangerous for Li Yada, a young woman, to go out alone, so he made Bao Xu accompany her!

So Bao Xu continued to learn from his lessons.

After returning from travel, he and Li Yada both retreated to the background. Apart from occasionally offering simple advice, he didn’t manage anything, striving to reduce his presence to zero!

More importantly, in the past half year, the game department hadn’t been particularly outstanding.

“Struggle” hadn’t been fully developed yet and hadn’t been launched. Compared to other departments, Tenda’s game department hadn’t done particularly well!

Hu Xianbin couldn’t possibly win best employee, and Mín Jingchao was unlikely to since he was only responsible for GOG’s updates and maintenance.

Other departments, however, had achieved remarkable results:

Xiao Peng’s Slackin’ Internet Café 3.0 was a great success;

Rui Yuchen’s Slacking Takeout turned losses into profits and even appeared on television.

Yu Ping’an’s Tenda Life APP integrates many industries.

Chang You’s OTTO phone sold well;

Fei Huang Studio’s movie earned box office success and won awards…

And this was just part of their achievements!

The performance of these departments was all better than the game department.

Even the head of the game department had no chance, so how could a nobody hiding in the game department have any chance?

Thinking about this, Bao Xu felt that from any perspective, he should be safe.

As Bao Xu’s mood gradually became more relaxed, the voting officially began.

A bar graph appeared on the big screen. Everyone took out their phones, opened the TPDb section of the Tenda Life APP, and cast their valuable votes.

Bao Xu nervously stared at his name, his face growing darker.

He discovered that more than thirty votes had been cast for him!

Bao Xu clearly remembered that last time he had received more than twenty votes. He had always wanted to find out who these twenty-plus people were to have a good talk with them about life.

Unfortunately, the voting was anonymous.

After half a year, these people still thought of him, and the number had even increased!

Bao Xu strongly suspected that these people didn’t know who to vote for, so they voted for him, not for any other reason, perhaps just hoping the winning streak wouldn’t end.

Bao Xu began to seriously consider whether he should bribe the TPDb website programmers to find out exactly who kept voting for him.

However, watching the vote counts for others rapidly increasing, Bao Xu gradually relaxed.

Finally, the bar graph imperceptibly jumped a few times before freezing.

Outstanding Employee: Ma Yang.

Outstanding Employee Second Place: Huang Sibo.

Outstanding Employee Third Place: Rui Yuchen.

Seeing this list, everyone began to applaud enthusiastically.

Bao Xu also breathed a sigh of relief and joined in the applause.

Everyone felt this list was well-deserved!

Ma Yang winning the best employee was a foregone conclusion. After all, that investment in Fingertip Company turned 20 million into 500 million, increasing more than twentyfold. If you don’t get an outstanding employee award after earning so much money, that really wouldn’t make sense.

Huang Sibo winning second place was mainly because the film “Beautiful Tomorrow” was hugely successful at the domestic box office, overseas box office, and online video, and even won an award at Cannes, achieving both fame and fortune.

As for Rui Yuchen winning third place, it was partly because he received praise from the TV station, and partly because everyone highly recognized his work ability.

Think about it, Slacking Takeout had been losing money for a year!

Throughout this year, Rui Yuchen never gave up, finally turning losses into profits. What kind of spirit was that!

Of course, the performance of other departments was also noteworthy, but these three were the most outstanding.

Looking at this list and recalling what these people had done, Pei Qian felt that eliminating just one person in the first position seemed truly insufficient.

Could he perhaps package all three and send them away???

He didn’t want to see any of them!

Ma Yang stared at the big screen in disbelief: “I’m the outstanding employee? Is it me? Me?”

Everyone applauded to congratulate him: “Yes, Mr. Ma, of course it’s you!”

Ma Yang’s eyes glistened with tears as he grabbed the trophy from Pei Qian’s hands: “Qian bro! Did I not disappoint you? When you first asked me to start a business with you instead of the others in our dorm, I knew you had exceptional insight!”

“Here, I first want to thank…”

Pei Qian sensed where this was going and quickly interrupted: “Ahem, the thanks can wait. First, tell us how you plan to use this Dream Fund!”

Ma Yang thought for a moment: “Qian bro, I’ve decided to fulfill your ideal by taking this money to Weibo to help others realize their dreams!”

Pei Qian’s eyes lit up.

Hmm? Old Ma’s idea is not bad!

If Ma Yang wasn’t currently still under probation, Pei Qian would have almost considered him his right-hand man again.

Previously, because of the investment in Fingertip Company, Pei Qian had neglected Old Ma for a long time, although Old Ma hadn’t noticed.

But later, Old Ma’s series of performances gradually rekindled Pei Qian’s trust in him.

Sometimes Pei Qian kept wondering, was Old Ma a right-hand man he could rely on?

If yes, his investment in Fingertip Company directly made him a profit of five hundred million.

If no, given Ma Yang’s character, you couldn’t convince anyone he was reliable!

Moreover, upon careful reflection, Pei Qian realized he also bore significant responsibility for the five hundred million profit.

It was he who let Ma Yang invest in whatever he liked, knowing Old Ma didn’t have many hobbies.

It was those two words he said that led to an extra twenty million dollars in profit.

Sometimes Pei Qian thought, wasn’t this just an innocent mistake on Old Ma’s part? Was it appropriate to abandon this right-hand man just because of this incident?

It was quite perplexing.

So, he would continue to observe. If the fully automated argument machine successfully lost money this time, and Old Ma perfectly squandered the Dream Fund, then Pei Qian could consider giving Old Ma another chance.

After all, when others backstabbed him, Pei Qian believed they did it intentionally. Only with Old Ma did Pei Qian feel it must have been an innocent mistake.

It wasn’t because he trusted his character, but mainly because he trusted his intelligence.

Experience proved that character was unreliable, but intelligence was often dependable.

Next, it was Huang Sibo’s turn.

Those who had already won first place for outstanding employee couldn’t win again, meaning the Dream Fund could only be received once.

This rule was mainly to give others a chance. Pei Qian feared encountering someone particularly brilliant who could succeed in different industries repeatedly. There was no point in repeatedly arranging for such a person.

The second place for outstanding employee could be won unlimited times, just like Bao Xu.

Therefore, although Huang Sibo had already won best employee, it didn’t prevent him from going on a trip.

Huang Sibo’s eyes were full of reluctance: “Mr. Pei, Fei Huang Studio is very busy recently, and I just fainted for such a long time not too long ago…”

Pei Qian knew what he was going to say and smiled slightly, raising his hand to interrupt: “No need to explain, rules are rules.”

Want to avoid paid travel? Not a chance!

Doesn’t Bao Xu need to face too?

Besides, I know perfectly well about the dirty tricks you people at Fei Huang Studio have been up to!

Arranging for you to leave now means the promotional video will be delayed by a few days, which is also good for me!

So, sorry, you have no choice.