February 13th, Monday.
Jingzhou High-Speed Rail Station.
Setting foot on Jingzhou soil again, Bao Xu nearly became emotional with tears welling up.
I, Bao Xu, have finally returned!
The long paid vacation is finally over!
Seeing the familiar city scenery outside, Bao Xu had a feeling of having experienced a lifetime.
The FV Club group flew directly from America to Shanghai, then the FV Club players stayed in Shanghai while Ye Zhizhou, Min Jingchao, Bao Xu, and coach Old Zhou took the high-speed rail back to Jingzhou.
Since they flew business class, they rested well and didn’t feel tired after getting off the plane, taking a short break before boarding the high-speed train to Jingzhou.
Ye Zhizhou and Min Jingchao were both rubbing their hands together, ready for action.
While in America, they’d been following Finger Company’s latest moves, knowing that China’s ioi would start a price war with GOG.
Both their work responsibilities were related to GOG. After this vacation period, their conditions were all adjusted to optimal states, just waiting for Mr. Pei’s command to dive into work with 120% enthusiasm.
Bao Xu had only one thought: immediately return to his workstation, grab a coffee, play games to his heart’s content, never going out again!
As a homebody, no scenery could compare to home’s comfort. Bao Xu hadn’t experienced this comfort for too long.
The seven-seater business vehicle responsible for pickup stopped in Shenhua Mansion’s underground parking. Following Ye Zhizhou, Min Jingchao, and others into the elevator, Bao Xu suddenly realized something was off.
Why did Ye Zhizhou come along?
Ye Zhizhou works for Shangyang Games, doesn’t he work at Shenhua Mansion?
Bao Xu asked somewhat puzzled, “You coming here is… to report work?”
Ye Zhizhou shook his head, “No.”
Bao Xu looked blank—meaning you’re not reporting work, why come here?
Visiting?
That doesn’t make sense either.
Ye Zhizhou smiled, “Big Brother Bao, today’s the Best Employee evaluation. I’m a department head, of course I need to come!”
A thunderbolt flashed through clear skies. Bao Xu froze completely, his expression becoming dull.
Best Employee evaluation!
Right, it’s February already!
Tenda’s Best Employee evaluation happens twice a year, in February and August. Specific dates aren’t fixed, depending on Mr. Pei’s work arrangements, but definitely completed within the month.
Now it’s February—indeed time for Best Employee evaluation again!
Bao Xu had been traveling abroad since before Spring Festival. Nearly dizzy from tourism, he’d completely forgotten about the Best Employee evaluation.
Moreover, Best Employee evaluation only requires department heads’ presence, so only people like Ye Zhizhou and Min Jingchao were notified.
Although Bao Xu’s senior, he’s just a regular employee, so received no notification.
His face instantly turned pale, darkness encroaching on his vision as he gripped the elevator handrail.
An ominous premonition surged—oh no!
Judging by the past six months’ work performance, Bao Xu had no reason to be associated with Best Employee selection.
“Mission and Choice” was still in development, GOG and ioi’s competition had reached a pause, the gaming department had no particularly outstanding achievements, and Bao Xu deliberately minimized his presence, becoming nearly transparent in the gaming department. His chances of being listed approached absolute zero.
But Bao Xu had self-awareness, already prepared for the worst.
During the last Best Employee evaluation, he thought the same way. Yet unexpectedly, Huang Sibo won second place Best Employee, naming him specifically to accompany!
Very reluctantly, Bao Xu took Huang Sibo on an African tour, covering the East African Rift Valley and Sahara Desert, hoping to create a deterrent effect so future Best Employee seconds would back down, not drag him along.
Whether Bao Xu’s method would work, he had no confidence himself.
After all, multiple travel experiences taught Bao Xu that being obstinate was useless. With any travel projects, connections would definitely form with him.
So having gradually accepted fate and reality, Bao Xu now felt genuinely crushed.
…
Meanwhile, preliminary preparations for Best Employee evaluation were complete.
Department heads gathered, employees ready to vote through TPDb app.
Seeing Min Jingchao, Ye Zhizhou, and Bao Xu arriving, everyone welcomed them.
“Back from vacation? Hard work, hard work!”
“Seem a bit tanned and thinner. Was this week’s schedule pretty packed?”
“Come, sit and rest. Voting starts soon.”
Bao Xu quietly found a corner spot to hide in, softly sighed, then opened his suitcase to organize.
—After returning from America, he hadn’t had time to go home before coming to the office, still carrying his luggage.
Previously, Bao Xu always felt he had no reason to be selected, so results caught him off guard.
This time, he thought, if thinking in reverse—if I proactively organize my luggage as a show, might I avoid disaster?
With all department heads assembled, voting officially began!
Bar charts appeared on the big screen. Everyone pulled out phones, opened Tenda Life APP’s TPDb section, found Best Employee evaluation portal through employee entrance, casting their precious votes.
This time Bao Xu didn’t watch, prepared to be an ostrich burying its head in sand, focusing on his luggage for psychological comfort.
Finally, the bar chart barely perceptibly shifted a few times, numbers changing slightly before freezing.
Best Employee: Chang You.
Best Employee Second Place: Liang Qingfan.
Best Employee Third Place: Zhang Yuan.
Seeing this list, everyone burst into enthusiastic applause!
This Best Employee evaluation seemed less impressive compared to previous ones.
These people’s achievements weren’t as outstanding as former Best Employees.
Mainly due to timing—”Mission and Choice,” the major project, wasn’t complete. Games unreleased, movie unshown, so no particularly explosive projects. Many departments had similar vote counts.
Zhang Yuan’s E-sports Business Department was actually very impressive in the past six months. GPL tournament was highly successful, attracting massive capital to form clubs, securing substantial investments and sponsorships.
Moreover, FV Club winning the ioi Global Finals brought extremely high visibility to Tenda Group. The coaching team played crucial roles, also connected to E-sports Business Department.
But the problem was, others believed most credit should go to Mr. Pei, not Zhang Yuan.
Major capitals forming clubs and sponsoring competitions mainly due to Mr. Pei’s personal charisma. FV Club’s championship resulted from Mr. Pei’s comprehensive strategy and far-sightedness.
Zhang Yuan’s credit was minimal, so only achieved third place.
Liang Qingfan’s Sloth Apartments performed well, establishing “Tenda standards” in furniture, accumulating good reputation. Custom furniture, selling design plans, collaborating with real estate developers for model homes generated some profit.
But Sloth Apartments’ earnings remained insufficient, so only second place.
Comparatively, though OTTO Technology hadn’t released new phones in the past six months, the new operating system achieved tremendous success, garnering excellent reputation. AI AEEIS and fully automatic smart debate machine also received praise. Overall, most outstanding performance.
Of course, these three people’s votes differed minimally—essentially neck and neck, best of a mediocre bunch.
Actually, other departments achieved results too, but for special reasons weren’t included. For instance, Qiu Hong’s Independent Game Incubation Base remained confidential; some department heads already won Best Employee awards, ineligible to win again, only second place.
The three displayed on the big screen had different expressions.
Zhang Yuan paused, then patted his chest, feeling relieved.
Phew, nearly had to go traveling!
Zhang Yuan wasn’t particularly interested in travel. His personality was rather homebody-ish, though nowhere near Bao Xu’s level. With Tenda’s ample vacation time and sufficient money, he could travel anytime, naturally lacking enthusiasm.
Liang Qingfan showed more anticipation.
He’d joined Tenda less than a year ago, never experiencing such “company-paid travel” opportunities before, so had some expectations.
Chang You looked completely bewildered, exactly like Zhang Yuan’s expression when winning Best Employee.
Didn’t want to change departments at all!
Winning Best Employee meant receiving Dream Funds but also meant leaving the original department, forming a new department, starting fresh.
Zhang Yuan originally led Slackin’ Internet Café, also ran ROF Build, thriving and very satisfied with his position. Result: winning Best Employee got him forcibly expelled from Slackin’ Internet Café by Mr. Pei, reluctantly establishing DGE E-sports Club.
Chang You faced similar circumstances. His passion was phone-making. New models’ design plans were ready, OTTO Technology’s entire team preparing seriously. Yet as department head, he had to leave at this critical juncture?
This was devastating!
Chang You was a million times unwilling—he just wanted to stay at OTTO Technology properly.
Pei Qian approached Chang You with the trophy: “Mr. Chang, congratulations! No need for speeches—think about how to use these Dream Funds instead!”
Chang You received the trophy from Mr. Pei with a bitter face, his features screaming “happiness.”
Speech? What speech!