Back in his room, Pei Qian felt he had taken a historic step.

To some extent, he had changed Old Pei’s prejudices!

Pei Qian knew that if he had directly confronted Old Pei, there would have been more complications.

But now, by speaking through Director Zhu’s perspective, it removed the appearance of self-interest from Pei Qian’s words, making them particularly convincing!

Sure enough, Old Pei had accepted this viewpoint.

Had his prejudice against games completely disappeared? No, not really.

But at least Old Pei now acknowledged that games could be good or bad, and that some good games, like movies and novels, were also a normal, healthy form of entertainment.

This was enormous progress!

Pei Qian pondered that when he finally made a presentable game, he could let Old Pei play it. Once his father was hooked, he could seize the opportunity to reveal the truth!

By then, Old Pei would accept it!

Pei Qian believed that no one could escape the “actually, it’s quite good” curse!

…

Only now did Pei Qian have a chance to look at the comments below the video.

Currently, Banana Potato Network doesn’t have a bullet screen function; that would take at least another two years.

Even if Banana Potato Network had bullet screen comments, it wouldn’t matter much—it would soon be overtaken by later competitors and quickly decline.

But at this point, it was still an influential video giant with many excellent content creators.

There were many messages and comments under “Mr. Pei’s Daily Life.” Although there were some contrarians, the overall response was highly praising the series!

“I thought this was just an ordinary short video, but after watching it, I discovered a deeper meaning—absurd and humorous, yet somehow familiar, giving me chills…”

“This young actor’s performance is so good, perfectly portraying the image of a nouveau riche with more money than sense. The acting is so natural, putting those young idols to shame!”

“Using dark humor to reflect social realities, thought-provoking after watching, with sharp satire of industry chaos!”

“The expressions are spot-on, full of contempt for the mundane world. Is this the world of the rich?”

“Mr. Pei not only has a superb temperament, but his expressions are also spot-on. That lazy feeling of lying on the sofa is just like a real company boss! This is an award-winning performance! I’m a fan now!”

“To the comment above, you’ve thoroughly cleaned up the parentheses? So dedicated!”

“Although this video doesn’t have much production cost—it looks like it was just shot with a DSLR—it has depth and thought, much better quality than those short films full of exaggerated special effects!”

“Who said there’s not much production cost? What about the costumes and props? The tailored suit and Rolex watch? I carefully looked at the close-up of the Rolex watch—it’s real, not a replica!”

“Probably invested a total of 200,000 yuan, with 180,000 spent on the watch, lol.”

“The video says they spent 50,000 yuan to make a game where you drive for eight hours. Could that be ‘Lonely Desert Highway’?”

“What? Does this video have a connection to reality? That’s awesome!”

“It’s probably based on reality, right?”

“Honestly, the game might have been made that way!”

“Haha, how is that possible? This is artistic exaggeration, understand? Although ‘Lonely Desert Highway’ is quirky, the designer put a lot of thought into it!”

The humorous netizens in the comments section were incredibly imaginative, with many people connecting the video to Tenda.

But those who suspected a connection between the short film and Tenda had no evidence, so naturally, they couldn’t stir up much attention.

Pei Qian published games under the name of Tenda Network Technology Co., Ltd. Without checking the legal representative of the company, no one would know that its owner was Pei Qian, let alone that he happened to be this actor.

And at this time, even if ordinary people wanted to check a company’s legal representative, there wasn’t a good way to do it, because software like Tianyancha only appeared in the original world four years later.

This world was still in 2010, and such resources didn’t exist yet.

So, most viewers just saw Pei Qian as an ordinary young actor.

Some argued in the comments.

“Shoddy production, incomprehensible!”

“The video creator is hilarious and completely lacks common sense! Do you think all big bosses wear tailored suits and Rolex watches? These are stereotypes. Real big bosses wear polo shirts and shorts, and aren’t so concerned about their appearance, okay?”

“Exactly, and making a bestselling game with 50,000 yuan? Laughable! That’s not how you ride a trend! Although ‘Lonely Desert Highway’ might not have cost much, it cost more than 50,000 yuan!”

“I think they should find a middle-aged person to play Mr. Pei’s role. I feel like Mr. Pei’s acting is good, but he’s just too young, which doesn’t fit the facts!”

Although these comments were in the minority, there were quite a few people who thought this way.

Pei Qian didn’t care about this.

“Sigh, people’s imagination is still too limited.”

“Making a bestselling game with 50,000 yuan? I wouldn’t believe it either, but it happened, and who the hell am I supposed to complain to…”

Pei Qian continued to monitor the video’s views.

Looking at the current trend, the situation seemed a bit dire!

Originally, Pei Qian had harbored a glimmer of hope—what if people didn’t like it? What if people were put off by this kind of wealth flaunting?

However, there was no “what if”!

Now Pei Qian could only keep praying, hoping that Director Zhu Xiaocai wouldn’t receive any sponsored advertising opportunities!

As long as there was no advertising revenue, no matter how many views, they wouldn’t translate into profits!

…

On the fifth day of the Lunar New Year, the second episode of “Mr. Pei’s Daily Life” was updated.

On the seventh day, Pei Qian left home and returned to work.

He had wanted to replace all the home appliances, but his parents wouldn’t agree no matter what, so he had to put it off for now.

In Old Pei’s view, it was good that his son could earn money, but having just earned 30,000 yuan, it was better to keep it for his use, so he firmly refused.

Pei Qian had no choice but to wait.

If he directly brought the appliances home, presenting them with a fait accompli, his parents might verbally refuse, but they would use them!

Although Pei Qian could have stayed home until the end of the winter break, he still needed to keep an eye on the company.

It wasn’t that he was afraid the company’s projects would fail; he was mainly afraid they wouldn’t fail!

Last time, he had finally tasted success by losing more than 20,000 yuan. This time, he would redouble his efforts and lose 70 or 80 thousand yuan without a problem.

Then he could say that after the short video became popular, he earned a lot of money, allowing him to spend on his family. His parents would probably have no reason to refuse.

Yes, all according to plan!

…

On February 22nd, the third episode of “Mr. Pei’s Daily Life” was updated.

This time, when Pei Qian clicked to check:

Whoa, all three videos had around 500,000 views each!

The once small account with only two or three hundred followers was now constantly gaining followers!

The featured spot on Banana Potato Network’s homepage was getting better and better, and there was a clear trend of spreading to Weibo and other platforms!

He quietly closed the video.

Pei Qian tried hard to stay calm.

It’s nothing, it’s just a short video…

Even with the entire 1 million yuan invested, breaking even was still a long way off.

They might not even get sponsored videos, and even if they did, the offers probably wouldn’t be too high…

Pei Qian could only comfort himself this way.

As he was thinking, he vaguely heard greetings from the office area outside.

“Director Zhu is here!”

“Director Zhu, the short video is popular now. Are you treating us to a meal?”

“Director Zhu, when can you give me a dedicated video column too?”

Most people in the company had participated in the filming, like Xiao Lü, who had many scenes, such as the intern who made a game with 50,000 yuan in the first episode.

Although everyone wasn’t getting paid much now, enthusiasm was high!

Money wasn’t important; after all, no matter how high Director Zhu’s payment was, it couldn’t be higher than the salary Mr. Pei gave!

The key was getting exposure!

Who doesn’t want to be a celebrity?

So when they saw Zhu Xiaocai arrive, everyone was especially enthusiastic.

They hoped to build a good relationship with Director Zhu, get more scenes in the next few episodes, or even have their short video column, like “A Day in the Life of Mr. Pei’s Intern.”

Zhu Xiaocai, carrying his DSLR camera, promised everyone one by one.

“Don’t worry! Everyone will get more and more scenes in the future!”

“In the future, everyone will have their series!”

“But everyone must do their main job well, otherwise Mr. Pei won’t let me off the hook.”

After appeasing everyone, Zhu Xiaocai finally came to the door of Pei Qian’s office and knocked gently.