Losing Money to Become a Tycoon: Starting with Games
Chapter 396: A Nest of Workaholics
Half an hour later, at the office building where the online author study class was being held.
Ma Yiqun led Pei Qian toward the "little dark room" rented by Terminal Chinese Web.
Although Ma Yiqun had already handed everything here over to Zhu Anxing, since President Pei had come in person, Ma Yiqun still had to personally receive him and report on the work.
"President Pei, this is the plan for our study class."
"This is the template agreement we signed with the authors."
"And these are the daily living arrangements."
Ma Yiqun introduced everything to Pei Qian one by one, his tone filled with pride.
He really was proud, because the website's traffic statistics had clearly improved during this period!
If one author suddenly produced a burst of updates, it would mostly affect only their own book. For the website's overall statistics, the effect would be negligible.
But what if many authors all started mass-updating at the same time?
Websites often hold events like double monthly votes, precisely to encourage authors to update more and thereby boost the site's overall metrics.
Now that the mid-tier authors in the study class were all producing bursts of updates, reader engagement for every book had increased, and naturally the site's data looked much better.
"President Pei, here's the website's recent traffic growth data."
"And this is reader feedback."
"In short, this study class has been extremely successful! You could say it's a triple win for readers, authors, and the website!"
"So I'm planning that after this study class ends, we'll immediately launch the next session, bringing in more new authors and turning this study class into a regular activity."
"Of course, fundamentally this is because President Pei's strategy was correct!"
"You were right, President Pei—top authors aren't poached; they're cultivated."
"I've thought about it. Even if we poach a top author from another site and give them a generous buyout price, the website would still struggle to maintain that popularity if it lacks fertile ground and a strong mid-tier foundation."
"Now that this study class exists, even if we can't immediately cultivate a top author, as long as we train these mid-tier authors well, our website will definitely prosper. And once the foundation is strong enough, a top author emerging from this group is only a matter of time!"
Pei Qian: "..."
If Ma Yiqun hadn't said it out loud, Pei Qian wouldn't even have realized that the situation had already become this serious.
At the moment, the authors were still wandering around Jingzhou with Zhu Anxing and hadn't returned yet.
So Pei Qian and Ma Yiqun could talk here without being disturbed.
Pei Qian casually turned on a computer and discovered that as soon as it booted up, it automatically entered "little dark room" mode, making it basically impossible to do much entertainment.
Then he looked again at the terms written in the agreement…
As a lazy person, Pei Qian instinctively felt a chill in his heart.
What a deep scheme!
Wasn't this basically a sweatshop designed to mass-produce workaholics from lazy authors???
Pei Qian really wanted to destroy this sweatshop in the name of the Tengda Group spirit and rescue the exploited authors.
But after thinking about it, he realized he couldn't handle it forcefully.
Because Ma Yiqun had set a strict eight-hour workday for these authors. Not a single extra minute of overtime was required!
On paper, it didn't violate Tengda Group's rules at all. They even provided meals, accommodation, a base salary, and full social insurance and housing fund benefits. The treatment was already very good.
The only real issue might be that the computers automatically forced users into "little dark room" mode upon startup.
Pei Qian felt he could start from that point.
But he needed a proper reason to bring it up, and he would need the authors' cooperation.
Pei Qian didn't reveal his thoughts. Instead, he continued chatting with Ma Yiqun about some details of the study class while waiting for the authors to return.
They had gone out at 1 PM, and by now it was about time for them to come back.
Not long after, a burst of footsteps sounded outside.
"Jingzhou's famous historical sites are pretty average. Not much to see. But I took a few photos, so the trip wasn't pointless."
"That Moyu Internet Café is really nice. Why haven't I seen it in other cities?"
"Jingzhou actually feels like quite a livable place."
The afternoon's itinerary was very simple. The authors first visited a few of Jingzhou's lesser-known historical sites to experience a bit of the city's historical atmosphere. After that, they stopped by the nearest Moyu Internet Café and sat there for a while.
The schedule was relaxed, and no one felt tired.
When the authors returned to the "little dark room" where they normally worked, they noticed the door was open. Ma Yiqun was inside, and beside him sat a young man.
Everyone froze for a moment, then quickly greeted him: "President Ma!"
Ma Yiqun smiled and stood up.
"Did everyone have a good time? Let me introduce someone to you. This is the President of Tengda Group, President Pei Qian. He came here today specially to check on everyone."
After Ma Yiqun's brief introduction, the authors all greeted him politely.
After all, this was the boss of their boss. They definitely couldn't be disrespectful.
Although most authors didn't particularly enjoy or excel at social etiquette, basic courtesy was still expected.
Pei Qian didn't care much about these formalities. He had waited until now for a reason, so he went straight to the point.
"Everyone has worked very hard during this period!"
"If there's anything we haven't done well in hosting you, please feel free to bring it up. We will definitely correct it immediately."
"What do you think about this online author study class? Has it been effective?"
Seeing how polite President Pei was, the authors quickly responded:
"President Pei, you're too polite! President Ma has taken excellent care of us. We only feel gratitude—no complaints!"
"The study class has been fantastic. We write faster, live more regularly, and our health has improved. In short, we're extremely grateful to President Pei and the website for giving us this opportunity!"
The other authors quickly echoed the same sentiments.
Pei Qian: "..."
This was incredibly disappointing!
Originally, he hoped these authors would point out some flaws. As long as even one author complained about something, Pei Qian could naturally push Ma Yiqun to fix it.
For example, if someone said, "It's inconvenient that the computer can't play games or watch videos," Pei Qian could logically tell Ma Yiqun to remove the little dark room restrictions from all the computers.
But instead, all he heard were rainbow praises!
Pei Qian felt speechless, but the more they praised it, the more determined he became.
If the effect was this good, then it definitely had to be changed!
Pei Qian cleared his throat lightly and decided to give them a hint.
"I wonder if everyone has gotten used to the computers being locked in little dark room mode."
"I think writing novels is a creative activity. Being locked in a little dark room might stifle everyone's imagination and creativity."
"How about we cancel the little dark room restriction?"
Pei Qian originally expected the authors to burst into cheers and applause. Then he could simply "follow the will of the people" and have Ma Yiqun remove the restrictions from all the computers.
But the authors in the front rows were shocked and shook their heads vigorously.
"President Pei, absolutely not!"
"The little dark room helps us avoid outside distractions and improves our efficiency. It absolutely cannot be canceled!"
"If it were removed, there's no way we could maintain daily updates of 8,000 or 10,000 words!"
Others quickly chimed in:
"Right, right! It can't be removed!"
Pei Qian: "???"
This was bad. He had run into a group of stubborn authors…
He was trying to remove the restrictions for them, and they didn't even want it???
At the back of the room, Cui Geng had originally intended to echo President Pei's suggestion, but after thinking for a moment, he kept quiet.
It wasn't because he felt embarrassed—his skin was thick enough.
If this had been a week ago, Cui Geng would definitely have been the first to stand up and ask President Pei to remove the little dark room restriction for him.
But now…
He was hesitating.
Because after adapting over the past few days, Cui Geng had discovered that in this special environment, with the help of the little dark room, he really could achieve the goal of updating 8,000 to 10,000 words per day.
Without the little dark room, he would definitely fall back into the state of a "one-chapter-a-day beast."
That would mean his results, income, reader reputation, and everything else would quickly drop back to their original levels.
And then, if all the authors from the study class kept improving and thriving while he alone stagnated…
That would be extremely embarrassing.
Moreover, although this President Pei looked all smiles, who knew if he was actually fishing for reactions?
If he raised his hand and ended up being used as a negative example, what would he do then?
So Cui Geng quietly kept his mouth shut.
Pei Qian looked around the room and realized that not a single author supported removing the little dark room.
A wave of exhaustion washed over him.
Damn it—he had walked into a room full of workaholics!
What was he supposed to do now?
He glanced at Ma Yiqun, who was smiling and looking at him approvingly.
It was as if he were saying:
"President Pei, that move of yours—pretending to capture while actually releasing—was brilliant! Unfortunately, nobody fell for it."
Pei Qian felt speechless, as if his good intentions had been mistaken for something malicious.
Since the direct approach didn't work, he could only settle for a second-best plan.
These authors had formed a collective, and the workaholic mindset had taken the upper hand. To change things, he would need to divide and break them apart somehow…
Pei Qian looked around at everyone.
"Alright, since everyone likes the little dark room, we'll keep it."
"But… I think the current system is basically a shared pot with no rewards or punishments, and that definitely won't work."
"So we need to establish a reward and punishment system!"
The authors' expressions became serious. They thought to themselves that leaders really were never easy to deal with.
Was this President Pei trying to assert his authority?
But none of them dared to ask questions. They could only listen quietly.
Pei Qian cleared his throat.
"The author who writes the most words in a day will be rewarded by not needing to come to work the next day. They can freely do whatever they want for the day. Of course, they are strictly forbidden from writing."
"The author who writes the least words in a day will be punished by being sent to Tengda Group headquarters the next day to receive re-education in the Tengda Group spirit."
"Neither of these will be restricted by the original agreement."
"Let's see how everyone's update counts look today."
Pei Qian turned to Ma Yiqun.
Ma Yiqun quietly pulled up the backend data on the computer.
"The author with the most words today is Ming Yu, with 8,712 words. The least is Cui Geng, with 3,287 words."
Because there had been a group outing in the afternoon, this was the result of just three hours of writing in the morning.
Nearly 9,000 words in three hours—that was practically ultimate tentacle monster speed.
Cui Geng's face immediately turned pale.
"President Pei, listen to my explanation! I was mainly organizing my outline this morning. I wasn't slacking—"
Before he could finish, Pei Qian smiled at him.
"Someone will come pick you up tomorrow."
After saying that, Pei Qian turned around and left.
Cui Geng suddenly felt dizzy and almost couldn't stand steady.
He was finished!
Going to Tengda Group headquarters for Tengda Group spirit re-education?
In his mind appeared images of mountains of knives, boiling oil cauldrons, and even the imperial secret police prisons…
Meanwhile, Ming Yu, who had written the most words, scratched his head.
"A free day? Then what about my updates?"
"Forget it. I'll just stay in the hotel and keep writing—"
Before he finished muttering, Ma Yiqun came over, patted him on the shoulder, and sighed softly.
"Don't think about pulling any tricks. When President Pei said 'free activity,' he meant you should go do anything except work."
"Go write your leave request now."