Losing Money to Be a Tycoon

Pei Qian turned his attention to the System's reward. Each time the System gave him a reward, it proved very useful. The past rewards that Pei Qian had received included:

Getting an additional ten percent above the final converted amount, which translated to more income…

Changing the prohibitions to allow for donations to charity, thus allowing Pei Qian to mindlessly get rid of a portion of the System Funds…

Allowing one incomplete project to span two cycles, thus giving Pei Qian an additional way to spend huge sums of money…

Pei Qian wondered what the System's reward would be this time.

<Mysterious Reward: A one-time Special Task for the cycle.>

<Claim the reward once the next cycle begins.>

The system screen continued to flash.

<Next Settlement: Six months later.>

<System Funds will be topped up. Target amount: 20,000,000.>

<Topping up 16,230,000…>

<System Funds topping up completed.>

<System Funds: 20,000,000+860,000>

<Fixed Assets: A semi-commercial villa at Ming Yun Villas (8,610,000)>

<Personal Wealth: 920,000>

<Special Task for this cycle: There's no end to learning. No matter how smoothly things go, true business geniuses would never give up learning. The owner can use a portion of the system sums to invest in himself and acquire new knowledge.

<The most that the owner can spend would be eight percent of the starting sum. After the course, the owner may choose to freely deduct or add a fixed sum to the System Funds. The fixed sum would be equal to eight times the investment amount.>

<Notice 1: Whether the owner finishes the course or not depends on the System's assessment of the owner's additional knowledge or lack thereof. The number of courses would not be limited, but the owner's ability is limited. The owner is advised to only take one course at a time.>

<Notice 2: The deduction or addition to the System Funds would be fictitious. It would only affect the conversion amount.>

<Notice 3: If no courses in the market can satisfy the owner's need, the owner may hire someone to personally teach him. However, the fees must not exceed a reasonable amount determined by the System.>

The long string of messages made Pei Qian dizzy.

First of all, he confirmed that the next cycle would last six months. That was slightly longer than Pei Qian had expected.

Three were pros and cons to both.

A short cycle would mean earlier settlement, and Pei Qian would be able to get his money earlier. However, less time meant he could not work on many long projects, and he would be more restricted.

A long cycle would mean he could invest in bigger projects that cost more, but settlement would be later.

Pei Qian thought about Thriller Hostel's problems and decided that six months was acceptable. A longer cycle was better than a shorter one.

The starting sum of twenty million yuan was less than Pei Qian had imagined. However, that was twice the starting sum that he had in the previous cycle.

Obviously, the starting sum had increased, and the difficulty of incurring losses had been reduced. The System was not foolish.

Pei Qian began to study the Special Task for this cycle.

'No matter how smoothly things go, true business geniuses would never give up learning.' This sentence offended Pei Qian slightly. He did not want things to go smoothly, and he had not given up learning.

He listened intently in class from time to time, and he passed his examinations based on his own efforts every time. How could the System say that he had given up on learning?!

However, the System seemed to have another way of measuring this.

The System's regulations were very clear. Pei Qian could invest up to eight percent of the starting sum—that was 1,600,000 yuan—in himself. Simply put, he could use the money to pay his school fees.

The System had not restricted him in terms of what he could learn.

During Settlement, the System would measure how much Pei Qian had learned. If the System was satisfied with Pei Qian's results, it would reward him by allowing him to deduct or add a fixed sum to the System Funds.

What if Pei Qian had 22 million yuan by the end of the cycle? That would be a profit. However, if Pei Qian had spent a million yuan on school fees and acquired the relevant knowledge, he would be able to deduct (1,000,000 x 8) 8,000,000 yuan from the System Funds.

There would still be 22 million yuan in the System Funds, but the System would calculate the conversion using the sum of 14 million yuan. That would count as a loss.

Pei Qian would only be able to convert two thousand yuan if there were 22 million yuan in the System Funds. However, thanks to the reward, he would be able to convert six hundred thousand yuan.

Still, the regulations seemed restrictive.

First, Pei Qian could decide how much he wanted to spend, up to 1,600,000 yuan. However, even a Master's in Business Administration would only cost tens of thousands of yuan or hundreds of thousands of yuan at most. How could Pei Qian spend 1,600,000 yuan?

He could register for more courses, but if he couldn't spare time to attend all the classes, he would not meet the System's requirements in the end. That would be useless.

What's more, how much knowledge did he have to acquire before the System would be satisfied? There didn't seem to be a clear standard.

"I want to spend as much money as possible and accomplish this mission. My best bet would be to hire an impressive professor with genuine talent or an impressive, elite professional. I can pay them a high fee and then spend more time studying hard. That would improve my chances of success.

"Yet… what should I learn?

"Management? Economics? Finance?

"I can learn management and do the opposite of everything so that I can lose more money. Learning economics could also help me incur losses.

"However… I would seem overly confident by choosing either of those.

"I'm a humanities student who has never even learned additional mathematics. I'd probably fail miserably if I try to learn either of those things. I could spend six months drilling difficult theories into my head and yet not understand a thing. If the System fails me, I would have wasted all of my efforts…

"Forget it. There's no rush. I should think about it more."

Pei Qian thought that the special task was very important. He could not afford to be reckless. Instead, he had to make very calculated moves.

He had to make sure that he would learn something and spend huge sums of money. It would be best if the mission would help him to incur even more losses.

…

…

April 1st, Friday…

Li Yada and Bao Xu were back. Pei Qian wished that it was an April Fool's Day joke, but it was not.

Still, Boss Pei was very relaxed now that settlement was over. He felt like a college student starting a new term at school—peaceful and joyful. Exams week was far away, and he could enjoy as much as he wanted to at the moment.

Once Li Yada and Bao Xu entered the office, they received a warm welcome from everyone in Tengda Games.

"Big Sister Li, you're back! Did you have fun?"

"Eh, Brother Bao, you don't look that tan this time. Did you put a lot of sunblock?"

"Did you have fun overseas?"

Li Yada passionately shared about her travels and her experiences with her affectionate group of colleagues. On the other hand, Bao Xu walked back to his work desk expressionlessly, with earphones on to isolate himself from the rest of the world.

He did not want to leave again for the rest of his life!

Indeed, a homebody who hated going outdoors would never enjoy the experience of traveling no matter how many times he was forced to go through it.

When she noticed that Boss Pei was present, Li Yada quickly went up to greet him. "Boss Pei, we're back!"

Pei Qian forced a smile and nodded.

Hu Xianbin walked up to Li Yada and proudly said, "Big Sister Li, we've completed the mission! After you left, we continued along your train of thought and finished GOG's mobile game. After that, the game became extremely successful with the help of Boss Pei's finishing touches!"

Li Yada smiled and said, "I know. I've been keeping an eye on GOG's situation. I'm proud of all of you!

"It's true—Tengda is now extremely powerful as a whole. Each person has his own role, and we can't do without anyone!

"Of course, that's aside from Boss Pei."

The corners of Pei Qian's mouth twitched.

Pei Qian hated hearing that the company could do without anyone but himself. However, no matter how much he hated it, he had to admit that it was a fact. If not for himself, some projects would not have made that much money.

Take GOG for example. Li Yada had to take the most blame. Who had told her to come up with the idea of a mobile game anyway?!

If she had stuck to creating a client-side game, there would not have been so many issues!

The way Pei Qian saw it—even if he was to be blamed, he could only take a bit of the blame. To spend more money, he had come up with the competition and had accidentally made the game even more popular.

Hu Xianbin was the least responsible. After all, he had just been carrying out Li Yada's instructions.

Thus, now that Li Yada and Bao Xu were back, Pei Qian felt that the next cycle would be even more difficult.

Li Yada exchanged a couple of pleasantries with everyone and then turned to Pei Qian. "Boss Pei, after this, I've made my mind up about something.

"I want to retire and give room to better men!"

Pei Qian was stunned. "Huh?"

Li Yada continued speaking. "I think that Tengda Games has only been this successful because it keeps welcoming fresh blood.

"This is a position that requires a lot of creativity. If one person remains the head of the gaming department for an extended period, he or she would eventually run out of inspiration and become boring.

"Thus, I've decided to transfer the role of chief planner to Hu Xianbin!"

Eh? Was such a good thing really happening? The person in charge of a successful project like GOG was taking the initiative to make room for better men?

That was great!

Pleasantly surprised, Pei Qian immediately beamed brightly.

Hu Xianbin was stunned as well. He quickly said, "Big Sister Li, I don't think that's appropriate. I just joined the company a while ago…"

Li Yada smiled and shook her head. "You already proved your skills. What's more, I always thought that I was not capable enough to act as the chief planner as well.

"Boss Pei was the one who encouraged me and allowed me to reach 120% of my potential. That explains GOG's success. Now, I think it's time to transfer this role to a young man with a brighter future.

"As for me… I'll be like Bao Xu. I'll relax in the department and help out here and there, wherever you need me."

Pei Qian could not help but feel emotional.

Look! Look at this enlightenment! Zhang Yuan, learn from her!

Before this, Pei Qian had gotten rid of Zhang Yuan through the first-place-elimination system. Yet, Zhang Yuan had been reluctant to leave Fish-Catching Internet Cafe and ROF Computer-Installation. He had been the complete opposite of free and easy!

Look at Li Yada! She was so easygoing!

Although Pei Qian did not like Hu Xianbin especially much, Li Yada was still more dangerous between the two of them. He had to choose the lesser of two evils. It was a good thing that Li Yada was stepping down as the chief planner!

Pei Qian immediately agreed. "Alright, no problem. We will keep your salary the same, but you will no longer act as the chief planner. Thank you for working so hard for Tengda Games! You're growing older with each passing day, and it's time for you to take a break…"

Everyone, "…"

Boss Pei's words were warm and moving, but what did he mean by 'you're growing older with each passing day'?!

Li Yada was only 25 years old this year.

Pei Qian studied Li Yada and Bao Xu and felt like travel therapy was especially effective. A perfectly functional chief planner had returned from her travels, desiring to slack and stepping down from her position.

Great!

Pei Qian would keep Li Yada in the gaming department and allow her to spread her slacking mentality—which she had cultivated during her travels—to the rest of the department.

As time went by, the entire gaming department would be filled with retired chief planners who could only think about slacking.

It would be the perfect scenario, right?