Shang Yang Games’ office…
The atmosphere was slightly tense.
Everyone thought that they were given a new, beautiful beginning now that they had a new boss. They were looking forward to working alongside Boss Pei, developing good ideas, and working hard to create never-before-seen-type games to sweep the market.
It looked like none of these was happening.
Boss Pei showed his face but left after saying less than ten sentences.
He took the most experienced man of them all —Wang Xiaobin-down from the position of chief planner and promoted the man who was last to join the office to take his place. He even gave him the right to fire one person without any reason each month.
The plan for the future of the company was even more ridiculous. The first step was to take away all but one existing purchase option in their two current games. The second step was for each person to come up with a plan for a new game.
Apart from these, Boss Pei had no other opinions or advice. Would Boss Pei personally do any work? It seemed impossible.
Based on the ‘imperial sword’ that Boss Pei had given Ye Zhizhou, it looked like he would not return for a long time. Ye Zhizhou was probably going to become his spokesperson.
At first, everyone thought that Shang Yang Games was going to be revived from the dead and given a new lease of life. Yet, almost immediately, they were pushed back into the coffin. Boss Pei even seemed to hammer several more nails into the coffin cover.
The atmosphere would naturally be tense!
Of course, everyone knew that with Tengda as its backing, Shang Yang Games would not close down in the short-term. Their rice bowls were pretty much secure.
However, they could not be certain that this rice bowl would be sustained in the long-term.
Wang Xiaobin looked at Ye Zhizhou worriedly. He was seated with his head lowered, typing on his phone, not knowing who to talk to.
He could not be using up his first opportunity to fire without reason just like that, right? Wang Xiaobin was quite worried.
Now that Ye Zhizhou was the chief planner he had to be in charge of giving orders and assigning jobs to everyone. That was the responsibility of a chief planner.
If Ye Zhizhou did not say a word, everyone would be seated at their desks, idling their time away.
Wang Xiaobin was very uncertain about whether Ye Zhizhou would be up to the task, but what happened already happened. He could only wait and see how things would develop
Ye Zhizhou was sending Ma Yiqun a message: “Brother Ma, there is something I need to tell you, but I don’t know how…”
Ma Yiqun’s reply came almost immediately: “Go ahead. I am around; whatever trouble there is, we can face it together.”
Ma Yiqun had not been given any job in Tengda. He was not even allowed to contribute to the plot of the new game. He was so bored that his head was hurting. That was why he could reply so quickly.
Ye Zhizhou hesitated for a moment and then began typing again. “Boss Pei just held a meeting and made me the chief planner of Shang Yang Games…”
Ma Yiqun, “??????????”
There were ten question marks in one line. Even through the screen, Ye Zhizhou could feel Ma Yiqun’s confusion.
What was the meaning of this?
Ma Yiqun no longer understood this world.
Back then, he used to work with Huang Sibo at Shang Yang Games. They were friends through difficult times. In the blink of an eye, Huang Sibo had jumped over to Tengda Games and risen up the corporate ladder. From an administrative planner, he had become a chief planner.
Subsequently, Ma Yiqun continued to work at Shang Yang Games with Ye Zhizhou. They were friends through difficult times as well. In the blink of an eye, Boss Pei acquired Shang Yang Games. Ye Zhizhou rose up the corporate ladder and became the chief planner as well!
Only Ma Yiqun remained, still learning design concepts from Boss Pei each day. Until now, he had not done anything much worth bragging about.
Ma Yiqun was in a deep pit of self-doubt.
Why is it that, two times in a row, administrative planners turned into chief planners? Could it be that… I’m a Koi[1]? People who were friends with me through difficult times all became chief planners.
Then, why is it that I-a good luck charm to everyone around me-cannot get just as lucky?
Since Ma Yiqun did not say anything else for a long time, Ye Zhizhou began typing again. “Brother Ma, I’m under immense pressure now. I have never been a chief planner before. Can you tell Boss Pei to choose someone else on my behalf?”
Ma Yiqun was extremely furious.
You brat, you don’t want to admit that you’ve been so blessed. That’s too much!
Boss Pei allowed you to be the chief planner and you’re not interested? Are you freaking trying to piss me off?
“Goodbye.” Ma Yiqun immediately closed the chat window.
Ye Zhizhou quickly replied, “No, Brother Ma! I really think I’m not capable enough. How long has it been since I joined the industry? I don’t know anything; how can I be the chief planner?
“Boss Pei gave me such a huge burden to bear. If I mess it up, what should I do?”
Ma Yiqun looked at the messages Ye Zhizhou sent and thought that this brat was worried about letting Boss Pei down.
En, he was teachable.
Ma Yiqun pondered for a moment and realized that he had been in similar circumstances before. A person who had been trained and crafted by Boss Pei for several months should be able to impart some wisdom and experience to an inexperienced, younger brother.
“Don’t worry. Just relax and do your job. Do you know Huang Sibo? He was the man who quit before you joined the company. Both of us are good friends.
“At the time, he was an administrative planner, too. He did the exact same job as you did. Later on, he joined Tengda Games. Boss Pei made him the chief planner, exactly as he did with you!
“Guess what happened next? Ocean Stronghold was created by my brother, Huang Sibo.
“So don’t worry at all. You can doubt yourself, but you cannot doubt Boss Pei’s foresight!
“Until now, Boss Pei has promoted many people. In the beginning, everyone did not understand Boss Pei’s intentions. However, they quickly realized that Boss Pei has unique wisdom and a sharp eye. He could see qualities in these people that nobody else could!
“You don’t have to worry at all. Since Boss Pei said that you could do it, it means you can for sure!”
After reading Ma Yiqun’s reply, Ye Zhizhou fell into deep thought.
So that was the case. This is not the first time such an unconventional move was being made. There was a precedent? What’s more, it was a successful precedent?
Then, Boss Pei must have seen a quality in me. How come I don’t know about it…?
However, just as Ma Yiqun said, Boss Pei could not have promoted me for no rhyme or reason. He even gave me so much power.
The more Ye Zhizhou thought about it, the more confident he became.
Since Boss Pei gave me so much power, he must have been hinting to me to be confident and do what I want to. If I become paralyzed by fear, wouldn’t it be unbecoming of someone who works in Tengda? Wouldn’t I be letting Boss Pei down?
I am now an employee of the honorable Tengda!
Just thinking about this made Ye Zhizhou feel overjoyed at once.
“Thank you for your guidance, Brother Ma!”
Ye Zhizhou opened his folder and confidently typed away at his keyboard. In the few months since he joined the company, Ye Zhizhou spent most of his personal time dissing these two games.
This was to be expected. If these publishing these two games could be likened to feeding gamers with sh*t, Ye Zhizhou was practically holding sh*t in his hands every single day. How could he not be disgusted?!
In Ye Zhizhou’s eyes-or the eyes of most people in Shang Yang Games, there were many bad points about both of these games. After playing for just five minutes, he could point out a lot of problems.
However, no one improved on them. That was because everyone was just hanging around. old Liu did not give anyone anything to do, and no one was interested in asking for more work.
As for why Old Liu did not change these problems himself, it was simple: there was a huge amount of pressure in terms of revenue management.
At the time, the income the company earned from the games could barely cover the costs of maintaining the company. Where were they to get the funds to purchase art resources and change the gameplay?
There were many good ideas on the table. However, in order to translate these ideas into the game, one needed not just time but money!
Now, without Old Liu supervising Ye Zhizhou’s every move, he could do things that he thought were most meaningful.
[1] This is a Chinese metaphor that means ‘good luck charm’.
