Losing Money to Be a Tycoon

April 22nd, Friday…

In a cafe near Handong University, Pei Qian sipped his coffee and stared at his phone screen, trying to memorize the content displayed on it.

Yesterday, He An of Mengguo Games had agreed to make a trip to Jingzhou. However, whether he would agree to teach Pei Qian or not depended on how the latter did on his test.

As for why Pei Qian had selected this cafe instead of Fish-Catching Internet Cafe… it was quite obvious.

Pei Qian had gone to Fish-Catching Internet Cafe too many times so all the employees recognized him.

If he did not instruct them in advance, the employees would surely expose his identity. However, if he instructed them to keep his identity under wraps, then too many people would find out about this matter. The chances of news leaking would be higher.

What's more, the internet cafe was right across from Halo Workspace, and Ruan Guangjian went there to buy coffee daily. If they bumped into each other and Ruan Guangjian addressed him as 'Boss Pei', then things would spiral out of control.

Thus, after considering everything, Pei Qian decided to avoid his own businesses every time he met with He An. The fewer people who knew about him taking lessons from He An, the better.

In any case, he was only trying to spend money and acquire knowledge. There was no need to be too caught up in the details.

Until now, only Assistant Xin and the chauffeur, Little Sun, knew about this. They were trying their best to keep the secret under wraps for Boss Pei.

It was only 2 PM. According to Little Sun's report, Boss He had already gotten off the plane. That meant he should arrive in about forty minutes.

As for Pei Qian, he had been reviewing as much as he could since yesterday. He had not rested except to sleep. What was he reviewing if he had no materials?

After pondering very hard, Pei Qian had decided that he had had no choice but to spot the questions.

He had spent a significant amount of time yesterday researching on all the games that He An had worked on. Of course, he could not play every single one of them. Thus, he briefly watched related videos and then read the games' walkthroughs and reviews. He needed to acquire this basic knowledge.

As long as he did not perform ridiculously and he expressed his sincerity by offering higher fees, he would probably be able to win Boss He over.

After researching on the games that He An had worked on, Pei Qian realized that this man was indeed an experienced and well-respected elder in the local game industry.

He An was born in 1969 and was 42 this year. At a tender age of twenty, he had developed his first casual game. After that, he developed a standalone RPG that was well-known in the industry, and he rose to success. Then, he established his own company, Mengguo Games.

He had started working on his most recent game, a multiplayer war RPG, three years ago. Until now, it was still in operation and doing very well. However, after developing this game, he became very well-accomplished and went into semi-retirement.

A big boss like that had truly witnessed the ups and downs of the local game industry. He had also accomplished great success for multiple game genres and was well worthy of teaching most game designers in the country.

Ordinary people probably would not get to engage his services.

However, therein lay the problem.

There was way too much content for Pei Qian to memorize at last-minute notice!

There were so many games that Pei Qian could only afford to briefly learn about all of them. If He An asked him a deep question, he would probably not have an answer.

Pei Qian was extremely helpless, but he had not had much time and photographic memory. What's more, some games were extremely old. Although they had been famous in the past, Pei Qian had never heard of them. He was counting on pure memory, and so one could only imagine how much he remembered.

Still, he had no other option. He could only depend on his good luck and raw skills.

As he tried to memorize the content, forty minutes passed in the blink of an eye.

"Boss He, this way." Little Sun pushed open the door to the cafe and entered. A middle-aged man, who looked to be in his forties, followed behind him.

Pei Qian immediately recognized He An. He looked younger than he did in his photographs. Although he looked slightly slovenly in dress and manner, he still subconsciously and effortlessly exuded the confidence of a successful middle-aged man.

Pei Qian stood up to welcome him and then shook his hand.

"Boss He, how are you?"

He An smiled warmly. "Are you Boss Ma? It's a pleasure to meet you."

Pei Qian smiled back and nodded. "That's right. I'm Ma Yang. Boss He, please take a seat."

Both men took their seats. After making sure that Boss He had settled down, Little Sun ordered coffee from one of the waiters and then went back out to wait in the car.

Pei Qian had already instructed Little Sun to take care of all of He An's transportation needs during this period.

On one hand, he had to play the good host. On the other hand, he had to prevent his cover from being blown.

Pei Qian wanted to spend the 1.6 million yuan with as little obstruction as possible. He did not want to complicate the issue and generate weird rumors about himself.

Both men sipped their coffee and chatted nonchalantly.

He An looked calm as he said, "I wouldn't expect a young man like Boss Ma to have achieved so much with your investment business. Heroes were indeed cultivated from a young age."

Pei Qian laughed. "Boss He, you developed your first game and made a name for yourself in the country at twenty years old as well, didn't you?"

He An's smile widened. Obviously, a little flattery about one's work still brought comfort and happiness.

"Boss Ma, you might be naturally talented at investing, but game design is completely different. Before I came over, I already said that I want to conduct a mini test. I hope you wouldn't mind, Boss Ma."

Pei Qian nodded. "Of course!"

He An retrieved a folded document that had about three or four pages from his bag and then handed it to Pei Qian. "Boss Ma, just answer these questions based on what you think. Don't be nervous. These questions should be quite simple for you."

Pei Qian heaved a sigh of relief when he heard the words 'quite simple'. If those questions were only testing his basic knowledge, then he should be able to pass without a problem, given everything that he had already reviewed.

Of course, Pei Qian couldn't let his guard down now.

He took the test paper and then retrieved a fountain pen from his shirt pocket. It was the same fountain pen that he had spent a lot of money buying earlier, but that he had only used a couple of times. Now, he was prepared to answer the questions.

However, he was stunned when he read the first question.

He briefly scanned them all.

'What mental state did The Lonely Desert Road take advantage of in its gamers, which led to its success? What was the designer's motive?

'Why does Ghost General's artistic style stand out among all the card games? How should the designer balance his own requirements with the expression of the concept artist's inspiration?

'What's the main reason that Ocean Stronghold's Red Kilin is priced at 888 yuan? Objectively, what kind of effect does that have?

'What was outstanding about Game Designer's sales technique? What's the central idea behind the game?

'…

'What does the epitaph in Repent and be Saved reflect on the designer's thinking? Objectively, what kind of effect does it have?'

There were three pieces of paper in total, and all the questions were short-structured ones. What's more, blanks had intentionally been left for Pei Qian to fill in his answers.

Pei Qian raised his head and looked at He An, confused.

This is your test?!

I was f*cking studying so hard to memorize basic knowledge of games and the games that you designed!

Yet, you're testing me on the games that I created? What's the meaning of this?!

Had I known earlier, would I still have researched the games that you developed? I would have just watched all of Teacher Qiao's videos once through!

He An saw the weird and confused look on 'Ma Yang's face and smiled. "Hehe, Boss Ma, did you think I was going to ask you questions about your foundational knowledge of games or the games that I created?

"Foundational knowledge is very basic, and everything's already stated online. There's no point in memorizing it all.

"As for the games that I created… I'm hesitating to admit this, but they are outdated now.

"If you want to learn game design now, you have to study the latest games.

"It's just as well that you're interested in games, Boss Ma. It's also just as well that you work in an investment company under Tengda Corporation, and you have a certain understanding of Tengda's game design.

"Learning more about Tengda's design concept would be very helpful to you.

"So, was I right? The test isn't that hard, right?"

Pei Qian, "…"

Pei Qian looked at He An and then at the test paper in his hands, feeling all sorts of feelings in his heart.

Forget it. What else can I do? I have to answer it!

Pei Qian's pen moved very quickly across the paper as he scribbled and answered the questions.

He An sipped his coffee and waited patiently, looking nonchalant.

…

Half an hour later, Pei Qian was done.

Although he had not filled all three pages, he had made sure to write at least three to five lines of words for each question. It looked like he had done it well enough.

For short-structured questions—even if one did not know what he was talking about, they would still have to fill up most of the space. That was a good habit that Pei Qian had cultivated while he had been in high school.

He An sniggered as he took the test paper back. As he read it, his expression changed unpredictably.

'The Lonely Desert Road took advantage of gamers' masochism and argumentative nature to succeed. The designer's motive was to make gamers so bored that they would give up on the game altogether.

'Ghost General's epic ink oil painting style looked very special among the rest of the card games. It was an extra benefit that the designer was very creative. The designer should give up on his own requirements entirely and allow the concept artist to express himself freely.

'Ocean Stronghold's Red Kilin was priced at 888 yuan to dissuade gamers from buying it. Objectively, it looked like it ended up inspiring ballers to spend their money.

'Game Designer's sales technique was outstanding because its shoddiness unexpectedly inspired UP Masters to take over the marketing on their own. The game's central idea was that 'a speaker's fate was to be misunderstood'.

'…

'The epitaph in Repent and be Saved reflected the designer's wish to dissuade gamers at all costs. Objectively, it had the opposite effect. It triggered gamers' rebellious nature."

As He An read the answers, he frowned and relaxed intermittently.

Pei Qian quietly sipped his coffee, having mixed feelings inside. He had hesitated for a long time, thinking about whether he should write his actual thoughts or write Teacher Qiao and the others' over-analysis of his actions.

If he wanted to be honest, he should have written his actual thoughts. However, he was sure that Boss He would have boarded the first flight out of here if he had done that.

Thus, Pei Qian had no choice but to swallow his pride and use Teacher Qiao's over-analysis to answer the questions. In addition, he had made use of all of his experience he had acquired as a successful game designer thus far.

However, the problem was that Teacher Qiao had not created a video for every one of Boss Pei's games.

While Teacher Qiao had not created videos for some of his games, Pei Qian had been asked about the 'designer's intent'. Since he had had no idea how to answer those questions, Pei Qian could only express himself freely.

Although his answers looked ridiculous, Pei Qian had hardly had any other option.

He just hoped to pass!

He An read the three pages once again, his eyes filling with confusion.

"Some questions were very well-answered. Some were answered in layman terms, but you captured the right idea. However, some… were quite ridiculously answered.

"Honestly, I can't tell what your real standard is."

Pei Qian gave a polite smile.

You can't tell what my real standard is?

That sounds right.

I can't f*cking tell what my real standard is either…