Losing Money to Be a Tycoon

March 16th, afternoon…

In the guest room…

Pei Qian looked at the name on the resume and felt quite confounded. He did not think that people could have such a name. That’s alright. He considerately pronounced the name accurately.

“Ma Dubiao¹?” Pei Qian looked up at the plot planner whom Huang Sibo recommended.

Ma Yiqun nodded. “That’s right, Boss Pei. You can call me ‘Ma Yiqun’. That’s what they all call me.”

“En, en.”

Pei Qian began to scan through the resume while Ma Yiqun waited patiently. Actually, Pei Qian had no intention of recruiting anyone. At the moment, he had enough manpower to research and develop Game Designer.

As for whether he would recruit more people in the future and whether he wanted to research and develop two games at the same time…

Pei Qian did not want to think about it for now.

However, Ma Yiqun was recommended to Pei Qian by Huang Sibo. On his account, Pei Qian had to meet this man. If this man’s achievements were truly impressive, Pei Qian could always think of another reason not to hire him.

He quickly scanned through the resume. En, according to the record of his experiences, there was indeed nothing impressive about him. Just like Huang Sibo, he only had one previous job listed on his resume.

They both worked at Shang Yang Games before this. While Huang Sibo was the administrative planner, this Ma Yiqun was the plot planner. From the looks of it, they were both brothers in hardship. He had less than a year of work experience. Pei Qian was quite happy with this. The rest of the resume did not stand out to him at all.

According to Huang Sibo’s advice, Ma Yiqun recorded his work experience truthfully. There was nothing much to write about to begin with. That was why his resume looked relatively insubstantial.

After reading the resume, Pei Qian felt quite satisfied.

Given the current situation, Huang Sibo’s working desk had been empty recently. It would make no difference whether Pei Qian took Ma Yiqun in or not. Allowing this amateur to hang around in the office would be of no loss to him.

However, there was one thing Pei Qian was not happy with.

That was this man’s education! Huang Sibo was an ordinary university graduate, but Ma Yiqun was a graduate in Chinese Language and Literature from one of the top ten key universities. He was the perfect man for designing plots.

What’s more, the fact that he could even enter such a university showed that his IQ was not that low.

Seeing that Boss Pei had already finished reading his resume, Ma Yiqun took out another stack of documents. “Boss Pei, these are the short stories, essays, and novels that I have written. Take a look.”

En?

Something was wrong!

Pei Qian was instantly alerted. He took the stack of writings and quickly read through them, his face showing mixed emotions.

Ma Yiqun looked apprehensive.

He was worried that Boss Pei would not admit him because he could not see anything special about him. That was why he made copies of all the writing he did in university and in his previous job. He was hoping to score some bonus points with Boss Pei.

Logically, these writings would be very important considerations for people seeking to recruit plot planners. Pei Qian read through the writings. The more he read, the more excited he felt. It was a good thing that Ma Yiqun handed these writings over.

Otherwise, Pei Qian would have hired him!

A cursory scan of these writings showed Pei Qian that this man was not as his resume described him to be.

His writing was not bad! His writing flow was smooth, his vocabulary was beautiful, and he even displayed a deep understanding of Chinese classical texts! The synopses that he wrote for Shang Yang Games before this were quite outstanding, too.

For all Pei Qian knew, this man came from a family of cultured scholars. Of course, he wasn’t extremely impressive either. At the very least, Pei Qian could not tell that he was that impressive from these limited materials.

He could not hire this man. He could not take such a risk. This man did not meet the recruitment requirements of Tengda!

Pei Qian was prepared to think of another reason to turn Ma Yiqun down.

What reason should he give?

Pei Qian quickly scanned through Ma Yiqun’s resume once more, trying to find problems with it. That was when he noticed that Ma Yiqun joined Shang Yang Games in October the previous year. He did not join Shang Yang Games immediately after graduating.

He had three to four months after graduating. What did he do during that time? Did he make a mid-career switch, just like Huang Sibo? Was there something he was hiding?

This sounded like quite a good excuse.

“You only joined Shang Yang Games in October last year. Were you at another company before that?” Pei Qian asked casually.

“Oh, no. After graduating, I wrote web novels for a while. That was why I did not join a company immediately upon graduation,” Ma Yiqun responded.

Web novels?

An important revelation!

He was not a multi-talented, valuable boy, was he?

“Then why did you decide not to write anymore?” Pei Qian asked.

Ma Yiqun hesitated, and said, “This is why, Boss Pei.

“Actually, when I was in my final year, I began to write web novels. In the beginning, my novels were rubbish. Nobody recommended them or read them. That was why I wrote on and off.

“During that year, I finally gained a small number of readers. Although nobody recommended my novel online, the readers recommended them by word-of-mouth. Slowly, I grew a group of loyal readers. From the statistics, I thought that it would be well-received if I made it pay-to-read. In the end, the number of people who purchased the chapters on the first day was… thirty.”

“…” Pei Qian was sympathetic. “Perhaps the published plot was not the best? What if you write another book?

“I did not just write another book. I wrote three more books in total. All of their statistics were not bad before I made them pay-to-read. However, after I made them pay-to-read, the number of people who purchased the chapters on the first day for each novel was less than a hundred. All in all, I wrote more than a million words. Still, it was all in vain.

“I had no choice. I was going to starve to death. I had to find a place to work as a plot planner,” Ma Yiqun said, looking frustrated.

Pei Qian became suspicious. “Are you… not afraid of death? What was so wrong with your plot that caused everything to go against you?”

Ma Yiqun smiled bitterly. “I’m not sure. I want to know, too.”

“Alright, you’re hired!”

Pei Qian decided on the spot. Failing at everything he did, wasn’t that the quality Pei Qian was looking for in his workers?

You should change your surname to Huang, just like Huang Sibo¹!

Ma Yiqun was stunned. He did not expect Pei Qian to hire him so decisively! Was he really appreciative of Ma Yiqun’s talents?

Huang Sibo said that Boss Pei had a very keen eye; he was good at spotting people’s special abilities just by looking at their external appearance.

“Sometimes, you would not even know you had the special abilities that Boss Pei saw in you!”

From the looks of it, this was exactly what was happening now!

Pei Qian stood up and said, “Hurry up and resign from the other company. Then, come back and look for Assistant Xin to sign the contract. In terms of salary, I will pay you five thousand yuan per month. There will also be opportunities for a pay raise.”

…

Pei Qian saw Ma Yiqun out, feeling satisfied with himself. Ma Yiqun was quite talented, and he did not quite meet Pei Qian’s requirements for recruitment. However, three times in a row, the books he wrote failed to get popular. This was no ordinary feat!

He must be destined for great things!

Pei Qian needed people like that now!

There was no other choice. Too many weird things have been happening to him; Pei Qian was starting to believe in metaphysics. Pei Qian was even beginning to suspect that his luck was too good.

There was a saying that was popular in the industry. If someone was lucky to a certain extent, it would no longer be called ‘luck’, but ‘destiny’!

Luck could only determine success or failure temporarily. That was different from destiny. Destiny was like a halo, bringing good luck to the person continuously!

Thus, Pei Qian believed that he had to recruit someone like Ma Yiqun in order to neutralize his good luck.

Otherwise, if everything he did become profitable, wouldn’t he soon vomit blood? Although this was extremely superstitious, unscientific, and unreliable; there was no harm in testing this theory out.