Losing Money to Be a Tycoon

December 12th, Monday...

Pei Qian slept in the hotel until eleven in the morning. He ate something after checking out and headed straight to the high-speed rail station to return to Jingzhou.

Wu Yue and Manager Lu wanted to hold a lunch banquet but were rejected by Pei Qian.

The competition over the weekend was a nightmare for Pei Qian. All he wanted to do now was to leave Shanghai and return to Jingzhou. Then, he would stay at home and play games while covering himself with his blanket.

Pei Qian adjusted his state of mind on the high-speed rail back to Jingzhou. Only then did he take out his cell phone to check the idiotic netizens' comments on the competition yesterday.

It was almost 12 AM after watching the competition last night. Pei Qian went straight to bed when he returned to the hotel. He had not checked the comments online until now.

Pei Qian immediately saw the most popular post upon opening the forum. It had been pushed up more than a thousand posts and was extremely popular.

The title of the post was very simple: 'World Famous Painting'.

Pei Qian was a little confused when he saw the title.

Had the thread been dug out again?

There were a total of three 'world famous paintings' so far. They were all pictures taken by idiotic netizens. They were named 'Boss Pei at Fish-Catching Internet Cafe', 'Boss Pei at Fish-Catching Take-Out', and 'Boss Pei at work'.

The first picture was taken when Fish-Catching Internet Cafe 3.0 opened for business. The second picture was taken when he was having a meal at Fish-Catching Take-Out and the reporters happened to be interviewing them. The third picture was taken when he was sorting out the mindmap in the Fish-Catching Internet Cafe near Handong University.

However, wasn't this topic long gone?

The incident of drawing a mind map at Fish-Catching Internet Cafe had indeed caused a heated discussion on the internet. However, netizens should have long forgotten about it with their goldfish memories. Why were they discussing it again?

Pei Qian glanced at the time of the post.

That's not right. It seemed to have been posted last night?

It had only been one night and he had already been pushed up more than a thousand posts?

Pei Qian had a bad feeling about this and quickly clicked on it.

At the top of the post was a photo at the IOI Qualification Competition last night. The top half of the picture was normal. The players were standing in an orderly manner. The five FV team members were standing in the middle, ready to represent IOI in the World Competition. However, the bottom half of the picture was ridiculous. There was only one audience in the empty front row!

Pei Qian took a closer look. Wasn't that himself?

"When was this taken?!"

Pei Qian was very confused. After thinking about it carefully, he realized that this should have been taken when the audience finally left the stage. Coincidentally, there were a lot of people walking in the front row. However, Pei Qian could not be bothered to squeeze in and found a random seat to sit down. That was how the composition of this picture came about.

In fact, the person who took this photo was very crafty. He did not capture the entire truth.

The truth was that many people had just left the venue before the photo was taken. Pei Qian was the last to leave the venue among the audience in the front row. After all, he was staying closest to the venue and was the least anxious to leave.

However, that did not mean that the audience had left early, leaving Boss Pei to watch the competition till the end.

What's more, many people in the back row were waiting in their seats like Pei Qian. They were not in a hurry to leave.

However, the photographer had deliberately only taken the first three or four rows. He had not filmed the audience in the back row. Thus, by a freak combination of factors, he had created the feeling that Boss Pei was the only one left in the vast, empty stadium.

He looked at the post below the picture.

The author had only uploaded the photo. He did not and needed not do too much describing.

Everyone could tell that there were fifteen players on stage and the figure below the stage was Boss Pei.

There did not seem like there was much to discuss on the surface. However, it had to be said that the netizens' wisdom was boundless. The comments with the highest number of likes were compiled by several netizens, and they actually managed to create a 'masterpiece appreciation'!

…

"World famous painting: The Last Spectator."

"This is the newest and most famous painting in Boss Pei's world. It is also about to become the most famous work. Among all the other works of the same genre, this painting is regarded as an unprecedented work. Its concept is ingenious, it has an excellent layout with realistic details, it has a deep meaning and is fascinating."

"In the video, FV Club members' ecstasy, the other two clubs in the background, and the empty auditorium presented a perfect contrast to the center of the picture. It conveyed rich, psychological content and is a rare masterpiece."

…

"Introduction to the Story:"

"'The Last Spectator' tells the story where Boss Pei went into battle alone in Shanghai towards the end of the year 2011."

"The international conglomerate Dayak and Long Yu Corporation had organized a qualifying competition in Shanghai. They wanted to use the international competition to show their might and suppress Tengda. Eight E-Sports Clubs responded and gathered in Shanghai, seemingly having an advantage over Tengda in terms of preparations."

"There was also an evil group trying to lead public opinion astray by spreading rumors everywhere."

"At this juncture, the situation was urgent. Tengda's generals were in a state of panic. They asked Boss Pei: The enemy is powerful, what can we do?"

"Boss Pei smiled indifferently: They were just a group of small fries trying to show off. What's there to fear? The enemy will collapse without a fight in less than three days."

"Everyone was skeptical when they heard that."

"It was time to travel to the battlefield."

"Boss Pei traveled all the way to Shanghai alone and faced the battle alone. Tengda's generals were all shocked. How could the commander-in-chief put himself in danger? However, Boss Pei had already secretly sent five elite spies in the qualifiers. If the five of them worked together, no one would be able to stop them. They are very powerful, but they don't know that the situation in Shanghai is already in Boss Pei's hands."

"The next day, the five brave warriors fought tirelessly against the various clubs. The battle was intense from dawn till dusk. Millions of corpses were laid on the ground, and blood flowed into rivers. Boss Pei was supervising the battle from the front line. The ten thousand soldiers were calm and composed. The five warriors fought on with increasing courage. The enemy's fleet was reduced to ashes with a calm smile.

"After this battle, the reputation of the five warriors in the qualifiers spread far and wide. The demons and small fries fled at the sight of the wind, collapsing without a fight. Boss Pei went deep into the enemy's lair alone. Every club in Shanghai was scared out of their wits. Even little children would not dare to cry at night when they hear Boss Pei's name."

"There's a poem that goes:"

"Boss Pei's wisdom is rare in the world. He would get back at his enemies by charging into enemy territory alone. A small boat covers a thousand miles and a million strong soldiers take off their battle robes."

…

"Painting analysis:"

"This painting uses a symmetrical design. The composition can be roughly divided into three parts: the center of the upper portion, the sides and the lower portion.

"The center of the upper portion is made up of the five players of FV Club. They have just won the qualifiers after 10 excruciating rounds and obtained the seeded entry for IOI World Competition. They are in high spirits and occupy the main position in the painting."

"On both sides of the upper division are the other two teams that have won the international competition. Those who have won the second or third seed have calm expressions, which would serve as a contrast to the FV Club members in the center.

"An empty audience stand except for Boss Pei in the middle of the front row."

"The empty audience stand showed a desolate and cold atmosphere. There are two meanings to this: On one hand, Long Yu Corporation's competition arrangements were unreasonable and the audience was not satisfied with the competition process. Everyone had already left the stage before the competition officially ended. On the other hand, there was a huge commotion before the competition and nothing left after the competition. The mob was defeated by Boss Pei alone."

"While only Boss Pei's back view had been captured, I can roughly feel his current state of mind from his relaxed and confident sitting posture."

"On one hand, the five players of FV Club and Boss Pei were exchanging glances from their positions. That meant that Boss Pei was in charge and loved his soldiers like his sons. On the other hand, the venue was already emptied out. Yet, Boss Pei remained until the end. That meant that Boss Pei respected the competition, the stage, and his opponents. On top of that, Boss Pei was calm and collected. That meant that everything was under his control."

"The fifteen people in the picture had different personalities and identities. Their expressions were also slightly different, giving the viewer a slightly messy feeling. However, Boss Pei's back view connected the expressions of these fifteen people. They resonated with each other and connected with each other, so that the emotions of the characters in this masterpiece would no longer be isolated."

"On the stage, below the stage, the faces and back view, one light, one dark, one moving, one quiet, forming a sharp contrast. The meaning is profound, the layout is exquisite, and it is worthy of being a masterpiece!"

…

Pei Qian fell into a daze after reading the hottest comments in the post.

What the h*ll was that?!

Who took the photo? Why did you take a photo of me?

The comments below were even more ridiculous. What was going on?

Why did it become a world famous painting?

He had even written a piece with classical chinese? He had even composed a f*cking poem!

The most outrageous thing is that there were people who made up the story for it entirely with their imaginations, making up the artistic value of this photo and the inner world of everyone in the picture!

These idiotic netizens were all brain-damaged.

Obviously, netizens had completely misinterpreted Pei Qian's trip to Shanghai.

At first, Pei Qian did not think too much about it. He simply did not want to watch the GPL. He only wanted to relax by watching FV compete in Shanghai. He had come alone with a mask on and had intended to keep a low profile.

For some reason, the organizers recognized him unexpectedly. The competition went well but they insisted on giving him a close-up shot. They had even fanned the flames online.

Great, now the entire world knew that Boss Pei had personally attended the IOI qualifiers!

It would have been fine if FV Club had lost, IOI would have earned all of its popularity. However, he had not expected FV Club to have such a strong bladder. They fought ten rounds and became more and more courageous, every win stabbed deep into Boss Pei's heart.

Pei Qian knew what was going on, but the onlookers did not!

Boss Pei had always been a good strategist from the perspective of bystanders, right?

Boss Pei was the one who invested in the restructuring of FV Club, right?

Boss Pei had personally come to supervise the competition until the end, right?

In any case, in the end, the popularity was earned by FV Club and GPL league.

On one hand, everyone felt that IOI's competition was not properly organized. They should still watch GPL if they want to watch a proper competition. On the other hand, the answer to the question of the strongest domestic team to most people was FV Club.

While this club did not have much brand value, there were celebrities players with strength and achievements that could be made into topics. It became the top traffic in IOI.

He analyzed the cause and the results.

What role did Boss Pei play in all of this? Wasn't it all things that could not be proven?

Boss Pei was the only one carrying the burden of the IOI Qualification Competition and FV Club's championship, right?

Who could refute? Who dared to refute?

Since that was the case, it was reasonable to add a little bit of color to the story to increase its artistic sense and drama as the reasons, right?

After all, most of the legendary stories were exaggerated. The more exaggerated they were, the more popular they would become.

Thus, after an entire night of teamwork, the literary giants on the internet embellished the story of 'Boss Pei went into battle alone in Shanghai'.

This was especially true for the poem 'A small boat covers a thousand miles and a million strong soldiers take off their battle robes', which made it infinitely more impressive.

The meaning of this poem was that Tengda had a million strong soldiers who were supposed to march to Shanghai and meet the Long Yu Corporation on the battlefield. However, Boss Pei came to Shanghai alone and the enemy collapsed immediately. Tengda's one million strong soldiers did not even need to go to war and took off their battle robes.

Boss Pei alone was equivalent to a million soldiers!

Boss Pei was not only good at strategizing, but he was also extremely intelligent. Such courage was rare in this world!

The entire story was getting more and more ridiculous.