Losing Money to Be a Tycoon

November 4th, Friday…

Pei Qian finished his breakfast at Fish-Catching Internet Cafe and walked towards the office.

Ma Yang's live-stream yesterday was rather successful.

Although it had not been particularly popular, the response had been very good. What's more, the live-stream had been uploaded to Aili Island and other major platforms.

Those toxic stationery brands were completely exposed overnight. Some of the more famous stationery manufacturers even released urgent notices saying that they would investigate the allegations thoroughly.

Although they had not given satisfactory answers or compensation, at least the matter had been exposed. Many people knew about it now, and that was a good thing.

However, for Ma Yang's live-stream, that was as far as its popularity went.

It had caused a wave of discussion within a small group of people, but it had not become popular on a large scale. It gained a little boost in reputation, but it did not earn much profit or traffic.

Pei Qian found this acceptable.

As Old Ma offended more manufacturers and released all sorts of exposés, Pei Qian would be able to see if this model could really incur losses.

He had not intended to return to the office at first. However, he received a message from Hao Yun during lunch, saying that she had something to report to him, and it was about Tengda's recruitment examinations.

Since Pei Qian had nothing to do, he strolled into the office, wanting to hear more from Hao Yun.

Hao Yun knocked on the door not long after he arrived.

"Boss Pei, our department detected some hidden threats during the recruitment examinations this time. We don't know if we should resolve them or how to resolve them. That's why we're reporting to you."

Pei Qian reached out to take the written report. As he listened to Hao Yun, he quickly scanned through it.

The more he listened, the more he felt like he was living in a fantasy.

Was an industrial chain really forming based on the guide books for Tengda's recruitment examination?

Were those training organizations really thinking about profiting from the Tengda Spirit test?

It looked like Tengda had become a very influential company indeed. More and more people wanted to join Tengda and become official employees, and that was why this new industry formed.

Pei Qian could not help but frown, feeling worried.

Those who bought these guide books and went for training classes would indeed be able to get high marks in the written test. There was no doubt about that.

However, wouldn't that also mean there was a higher chance of those candidates that Tengda recruited being impressive and hardworking?

However, there was nothing Pei Qian could do about it. Tengda's good reputation had already spread. Many people were trying their best to get in.

They could change the content of the examinations or the screening rules however they liked. Even if they did not end up hiring elites, they would definitely end up hiring all-rounders who were not the worst.

This was difficult to resolve.

What's more, Pei Qian abhorred the behavior of these training organizations. In essence, they were doing what many 'super high schools' were doing.

The quota was limited, but some people started the "arms race", thereby forcing others to follow suit. A vicious cycle was formed, in which everyone was tired, but no one was benefitting.

Although this did not prevent Pei Qian from incurring losses, it made him unhappy.

Seeing Boss Pei remain silent, Hao Yun's expression turned serious. "Boss Pei, have you noticed it as well?"

Pei Qian: "?"

What have I noticed?

Hao Yun continued, "Boss Pei, I think it's becoming more and more important for us to cleanse the internal atmosphere and resist external temptations!

"A publisher approached Wu Bin yesterday, wanting topay a huge sum of money for the Tengda Spirit test questions. Fortunately, Wu Bin was resilient and rejected them.

"However, this will definitely not be the last time. People in key positions in Tengda might not be able to resist the temptation. We have to take precautions against this risk!"

Pei Qian blinked.

Oh, you're talking about this…

He had not thought about it before. However, now that he thought about it, it did seem to be a problem.

"What do you think we should do?" Pei Qian asked.

Hao Yun had obviously thought about this question before. She immediately answered, "Boss Pei, I think there are two main ways.

"First, strengthen the supervisory power of the HR and administrative departments over the rest of Tengda's departments and people in key positions. That would prevent anyone from selling out the company's interests or using power for personal gain.

"Second, strengthen the ideological education of the employees. Make them realize the seriousness of this matter, and clarify the consequences and punishments.

"As for the specific punishments, I suggest establishing different punishment mechanisms for different mistakes. The lightest punishment would be the deduction of money, and the heaviest punishment would be retrenchment. There must be a clear distinction between the different levels of punishment for violating the rules. All violations must be reported immediately and should not be tolerated."

Pei Qian fell into deep thought once again.

Pei Qian had to severely punish anyone who broke the law or the rules because the system expressly prohibited it.

As for the employees making use of their position to earn some money… How should he deal with that?

Take what had happened yesterday for example. People from an external training organization had approached Wu Bin, hoping for his help in producing a guide book for the Tengda Spirit test. If Wu Bin had agreed, how would Pei Qian have dealt with the problem? How would Wu Bin have been punished?

That was what Pei Qian was conflicted about.

He definitely could not strengthen the supervisory power of the HR and administrative departments.

What if the slackers stopped slacking?

Yet, it did not seem right to ignore the problem completely.

Pei Qian cleared his throat. "How about this? The way I see it, we don't have to set up different punishment mechanisms. Whenever we find out that someone made use of their position for their own profit, no matter how much money he or she received and no matter how serious it was, he or she would be fired immediately. We would not accept such a person back again!

"Of course, we would have to compensate them if we want to fire them. After all, they are all employees who have more or less contributed to Tengda.

"As for ideological education, do as you see fit. If you want to do it, do it, but there's no need to be too serious about it."

Pei Qian was thinking that if such a thing really happened, he would just fire the culprit!

In any case, those who could make use of their positions for their own profit were those who held relatively important positions in the company. If such people could remain in their positions for so long, it probably meant that they were capable people. Pei Qian could take the opportunity to fire capable people, so that they could not obstruct him from losing money.

What's more, if he compensated them after firing them, he would be making the best use of his resources.

He had to spend as much as he could!

For some reason, Hao Yun felt moved. She nodded. "I understand, Boss Pei!"

Although Boss Pei spoke in a casual tone, Hao Yun felt that his words had a hidden meaning.

Boss Pei had rejected the suggestion to 'strengthen supervisory power'. This meant that, in Boss Pei's opinion, although strengthening internal management and preventing self-profit in the office were important, maintaining the free-spirited working environment within the company was even more important.

Why was there no need to come up with different punishment mechanisms?

Obviously, in Boss Pei's eyes, no matter how small the offence, the culprit had to be severely punished!

Other companies would think of ways to protect employees with outstanding abilities but who were morally flawed. Their concern was not humanity, but protection of the company's interests.

After all, if they were to replace those in key positions, the replacements might not necessarily be able to do the job well. What's more, if they were to do so, daily operations would definitely be affected.

However, leaving them in the company would also negatively affect the internal atmosphere of the entire company. It would not be completely fair and impartial.

That was exactly how Boss Pei was different from other bosses.

On one hand, he was impartial and did not care about past relationships. As long as one used his or her position for self-profit, he or she would be asked to step down from any position immediately, regardless of their past relationship with Boss Pei.

On the other hand, if it were just a work mistake, they would not be punished. Even if one was fired, he or she would be duly compensated as an expression of Boss Pei's gratitude and kindness to his colleagues. This showed how well Boss Pei treated his employees.

On further thought, this was the most appropriate way to deal with the problem according to the Tengda spirit!

Looking at Hao Yun's complicated expression, Pei Qian felt like he had been misunderstood again.

However, it did not matter. He was used to it now…

Hao Yun asked again, "In that case, Boss Pei, do we still need to deal with the fact that there are training organizations outside trying to profit from our recruitment examinations?"

Pei Qian pondered for a moment and shook his head. "There's not much impact for now. Don't worry about it. I'll think about it later."

The behavior of these training organizations had created a stir among Tengda's candidates. What's more, their use of Tengda's candidates for profit made Pei Qian feel disgusted.

Yet, the impact was relatively small at the moment, and Pei Qian had not thought of a good solution. He could only set it aside for now and wait for more good ideas to come to him.

Hao Yun turned to leave.

"Wait."

Pei Qian suddenly thought of a problem and stopped her. "The passing rate of the Tengda Spirit test has been at 100% recently. Do you have any views on this?"

Pei Qian had long been suspicious of this.

However, he could not think of a good explanation.

Logically speaking, the Tengda Spirit test was meant to be difficult. How could 100% of people pass it?

Yet, the reality was that majority of newbies had passed the test on their first try. The worst among them had passed the test within a month. None of them had been eliminated.

That was strange.

Hao Yun was stunned. She quickly said, "Perhaps… everyone has a deeper understanding of the Tengda Spirit? After all, the atmosphere in the company subtly influences these new employees."

Pei Qian nodded subtly.

There was indeed such a possibility.

"Alright, there's nothing else for now," said Pei Qian.

Hao Yun heaved a long sigh of relief and turned to leave.

Once again, Pei Qian accessed the Tengda Spirit test's platform and took a good look at the questions that had been changed many times before.

Actually, Pei Qian changed those questions often. Sometimes, he would change keywords of a question, and cause the answers to change. Other times, he would simply come up with new questions.

However, no matter what, the new employees would always pass the test.

Pei Qian had secretly checked on the employees who were in charge of these functions many times. Indeed, there was no possibility of any questions leaking.

Therefore, it was more likely that the employees truly understood the Tengda Spirit and passed the test based on their own ability.

Then, therein lay a problem: If the employees understood the Tengda Spirit and prided themselves in being lazy, why was he still earning money?

Pei Qian could not figure out what exactly was going on.

"No, something must be wrong here!

"I can't let this go!"

The more Pei Qian thought about it, the more he felt that something was amiss.

Perhaps the Tengda spirit had been misinterpreted.

These people might have come up with another explanation by pure accident and matched my answer perfectly.

It was entirely possible!

At that thought, Pei Qian began to think of a plan.

A moment later, he sent a message to the employee in charge of the TPDb website.

"Modify the Tengda Spirit test. Finish it before the new batch of employees enter.

"Reduce the number of questions and extend the duration for each question. Under each question, insert a box for candidates to write their own input. Get them to explain in detail why they chose this option!"