After sending off Zhu Xiaocai, Pei Qian felt somewhat relieved.

Thankfully, everyone respected Mr. Pei!

Short videos didn’t have many monetization methods these days, as video platforms hadn’t yet implemented reward programs based on view counts.

Video revenue generally came from several sources.

One was collaborating with advertisers to include product placements or hard advertisements in videos—a traditional approach commonly seen in beauty and gaming sectors.

Qiao Laoshi, who previously made “The Lonely Desert Highway” popular, mainly earned money this way.

Another method was creating and selling merchandise or opening an official online store to sell whatever was possible.

This had a high ceiling but low floor—the online store could either be extremely profitable or quickly go bankrupt. Game professionals who retired typically chose this path to make money.

Of course, there were other ways to make money, but they were more nebulous and generally not worth considering for ordinary video creators.

It was like how web novelists typically hoped for fewer pirated readers and more subscribers, while dreams of selling copyright for millions…

Those were just dreams, and dreams could contain anything.

Pei Qian had finally managed to dissuade Zhu Xiaocai, making him temporarily abandon such low-end money-making schemes.

This effectively cut off 99% of the income sources for “Mr. Pei’s Daily Life”!

After all, what kind of wealthy sponsor would be foolish enough to spend 100,000 yuan for a high-end custom video from a video creator?

Wouldn’t it be better to just buy advertisements directly from video platforms?

Thinking about this, Pei Qian felt considerably more at ease.

…

Someone knocked on the door.

“Come in.”

Lü Mingliang pushed the door open and entered.

“What is it?” Pei Qian asked.

The design draft for “Game Producer” had been completed before the New Year, and Pei Qian had already approved it, with little chance of requiring changes.

Pei Qian didn’t bother managing the art resources and specific production processes. After all, he was the boss, and personally handling such execution-level matters would show poor judgment of priorities.

Currently, “Mr. Pei’s Daily Life” is the project that needs close monitoring and strict control!

“Mr. Pei, it’s about the voice acting,” Lü Mingliang said.

“I’ve found several well-known voice actors domestically for the narrator’s role and recorded some test clips. Would you like to listen and pick one? I’m not sure which to choose.”

Voice acting?

Hmm, voice acting was indeed something that should be given some attention.

“Game Producer” had about 8 hours of total gameplay (including all choice routes combined), with narration throughout. The total text amounted to forty to fifty thousand words.

As for voice acting costs, they were generally quite cheap.

Calculating based on fifty thousand words, inexpensive voice work would cost two to three thousand yuan, while expensive voice actors would cost at most just over ten thousand.

For a game like “Game Producer,” this was merely a drop in the bucket of the overall cost.

Pei Qian didn’t care about the money aspect.

What he cared about was whether this narrator could drive players away.

Of course, randomly grabbing someone from the street with a tone-deaf voice and a lisp would certainly drive players away, but that would be against regulations.

He could only choose a relatively less outstanding performer among many acceptable voice actors.

Even when choosing from ordinary people, they would need to have clear articulation and fluent speech, without obvious issues that could be caught by the system.

Lü Mingliang had already contacted many voice actors on resource sites and recorded samples of them saying a passage from the game for Pei Qian to hear.

Pei Qian played them one by one.

The first was a tsundere young lady.

Pei Qian didn’t hesitate at all and promptly moved to the next one.

This one was unacceptable! You couldn’t imagine how excited those otaku would get hearing that voice!

The second was a gentle, coquettish female voice with a certain seductive quality that sent shivers down one’s spine.

This one was unacceptable, too! It would be more suitable for ASMR.

The third was a nondescript male voice.

The fourth was a male voice with a somewhat sharp pitch, a narrow and thin voice with a touch of smokiness.

Pei Qian hesitated slightly between the third and fourth options.

The third one was standard and proper, but not exceptional.

However, it might lack the mocking quality and sound too much like a news broadcast, possibly failing to produce enough of a deterrent effect.

So let’s go with the fourth one!

This voice wasn’t particularly pleasant to hear; in fact, it felt somewhat uncomfortable and jarring at first listen, with a slight feeling similar to nails scratching a blackboard—perfect for breaking players’ immersion!

Moreover, for some reason, the more Pei Qian listened to it, the more he felt an urge to punch the speaker.

Players would surely feel the same way!

Since this was a game that prioritized insulting players, a more punch-worthy voice was better!

Pei Qian made his decision: “Let’s go with this one. The voice is distinctive enough.”

Lü Mingliang looked at the audio file Mr. Pei had selected and showed a troubled expression.

Pei Qian was taken aback.

“What’s wrong?”

“Is he asking for too much money?”

“Or is his schedule too full?”

“Give him more money!”

Pei Qian believed that most problems in this world that could be solved with money were not problems at all!

Especially in voice acting, where voice actors did hard work and prices weren’t high to begin with. What difference would a few thousand yuan more make?

“No, Mr. Pei, these are voice samples we sent to them to roughly indicate the tone we wanted. This one was recorded by me…”

“I dumped all the received audio files into this folder together and forgot to distinguish them…” Lü Mingliang said, scratching the back of his head.

Pei Qian was dumbfounded.

Thinking back, the environment for the last voice recording did seem problematic. Although it was recorded in a quiet setting, there was noticeable noise, clearly indicating that the recording equipment wasn’t good.

Pei Qian looked at Xiao Lü: “You… recorded this? This voice doesn’t sound like you at all!”

Lü Mingliang nodded: “Yes, I pinched my voice while recording, imagining myself as a psychopathic demon…”

“Please don’t misunderstand, Mr. Pei. I have indeed watched some Western crime movies recently, but my personality is sound! My mental health is fine!”

“Mr. Pei, please choose another one…”

Pei Qian looked at Xiao Lü with gleaming eyes.

Well, this was quite the treasure boy!

“No, it has to be you! I need your natural voice and unique tone—no one else will do!” Pei Qian insisted firmly. “I’ll pay you the full voice actor fee. This task is yours.”

“But Mr. Pei, we don’t have professional recording equipment…” Xiao Lü became even more confused.

Pei Qian waved dismissively: “Is that even an issue? Just rent a recording studio. How much does a recording studio cost per hour? Just two or three hundred yuan, right?”

“Let’s calculate at 300 yuan per hour. Find a high-end one and rent it for three days—that’s 72 hours, 20,000 yuan. The voice coach won’t need to record; they’ll just stand beside you and provide professional guidance!”

“If three days isn’t enough, we’ll add more!”

“Just record as you please. Rest when you’re tired, and continue after you’ve rested. Ensure quality, but also take care of your health.”

“Alright, that’s settled. Go talk to Assistant Xin about arranging it.”

Pei Qian wore an expression that said, “This matter doesn’t need further discussion.”

Lü Mingliang scratched his head, not knowing what to say.

Should he thank Mr. Pei for his trust, or say this was too ridiculous?

But seeing Mr. Pei’s determined gaze, he didn’t dare say anything more and could only nod in agreement.

Perfect!

Now, there was nothing to worry about on the game front.

Originally, the short video issue had made Pei Qian feel like he might be in trouble, but now he suddenly felt that everything was still under his control!

The loss plans for “Game Producer” and Moyu Internet Café were proceeding smoothly.

And although “Mr. Pei’s Daily Life” had already gained initial popularity, Pei Qian had cleverly blocked Director Zhu’s path to monetization.

Perfect!

Of course, he couldn’t let his guard down.

Pei Qian couldn’t help but lament: Why were all these employees giving him so much trouble?

Were they all multi-talented? How had he not noticed these talents during recruitment?

Fortunately, he had a brother.

Ma Yang was straightforward and didn’t possess any special skills!

Speaking of Ma Yang, the Moyu Internet Café was already under renovation.

Since the restaurant was already well-decorated, this conversion to an internet café mainly involved structural changes, so it wouldn’t take too long—about half a month should be sufficient.

It was expected to be completed around March 7th or 8th.

With Ma Yang overseeing it, Pei Qian felt more assured.

He planned to take a look once the internet café’s renovation was complete. As long as Ma Yang and Zhang Yuan didn’t cause any trouble, the internet café was going to lose money, no doubt about it!