Chapter 15 (1/2)

“Boss, another serving of meat for the ramen and another fried egg for the egg fried rice! Get me a side dish too! Cold cucumber will do!”

Pei Qian spared no expenses in order to reward Ma Yang who slurped happily at the meat-filled ramen before him. “You’re really something, Brother Qian! You’re not even acting anymore and you’re showing your traits as a rich second-generation heir! But… this amount of money is enough for us to order at the restaurant beside…”

Pei Qian waved it off. “Man, nono. Even though the restaurant beside isn’t that expensive, it’s not filling.”

“To tell you the truth, we should actually be eating something better to celebrate our start of work. However, all of my money’s saved for creating the game right now so it’s a little tight for me.”

In truth, it was because the Personal Wealth converted was too little. He only had 700 yuan – that was not enough for him to splurge.

Ma Yang nodded his head while eating the ramen. “I understand, I do! That’s only right. We’re in the fighting phase and we mustn’t waste money.”

“Once this game is out, I’ll take you to a barbecue buffet that costs 50 yuan per person!”

Ma Yang nodded furiously. “Sure, sure!”

At that time, buffets cost around 30 yuan per person. A 50 yuan buffet like the one Pei Qian suggested was considered high class.

But of course, the price of buffets had increased to around 1-200 per person 10 years later – there’s just no comparison.

To Pei Qian, if he could lose the entire 300,000 and have it converted to his Personal Wealth, he could have any good food he wanted.

“That’s right, the contract,” Pei Qian dug into his egg fried rice. “I’ll go get a template when we get back. Let’s sign an internship contract for you with a salary of 3,000 to be settled at the end of the month.”

Ma Yang replied hurriedly, “Brother Qian, you’re being too polite. Money is really not the most important thing. Besides, I don’t think there’s a need for the contract?”

Pei Qian shook his head. “That won’t do. You’re giving me your hard work so you can’t take a single cent less. We’re a legitimate business so we have to follow the proper procedures. The contract’s a must.”

“Alright then, we’ll do as you’ve arranged,” Ma Yang did not insist further – who wouldn’t want free money?

He just felt that 3,000 was a little too much and he was embarrassed.

In truth, Pei Qian had wanted to give him more but the system did not allow it!

The system had stated that Pei Qian must not exceed the reasonable standards of an employee’s salary. After testing it out, Pei Qian confirmed that this reasonable standard referred to him not exceeding twice the reasonable salary outside.

Take Ma Yang for example.

If he were to go help out at a games company, given the basic salary of the interns currently, he would be at a 1,500 yuan standard.

Of course, there would definitely be some exceptions where some companies are more generous or some interns have to do more work and thus receiving higher pay.

However, he had to take into consideration that with Ma Yang’s capabilities, he would be a burden to the company at most…

Therefore, Pei Qian decided on a 3,000 yuan intern salary – that was the highest permissible salary allowed by the system.

As he ate his ramen, Ma Yang suddenly slapped his thighs.

“My! Brother Qian! I suddenly thought of a great idea! Say, what if I were to convert all the generals in the three kingdoms to be women? Say, is that an overhaul or what?”

Pei Qian nearly spat out his fried rice.

“No!”

He rejected the idea decisively.

Ma Yang was puzzled. “Why not? Didn’t you say that you wanted an overhaul?”

Pei Qian was speechless.

Why not?

That’s because there’s a high chance that idea would succeed…

In truth, the idea of having a gender reversed three kingdoms had been tested out in mangas and animes and it was rather successful.

Even though this was 2009 and the 2D games genre wasn’t that popular yet, there were signs that things were moving in that direction. Since many mobile card games were making their designs cartoonish, it meant that they were embracing that trend objectively as well.

What if the game were to attract the homebodies because of it being gender reversed and ends up getting popular?!

Pei Qian would not permit something like that to happen.

But of course, Pei Qian could not tell Ma Yang his actual thoughts.

Coughing, he explained himself, “That idea won’t work because that would cause all the characters to lose their distinctiveness!”

“For example, if Ma Chao, Zhao Yun and Gong Sunzan were all women… and so is everyone else, there would be nothing distinguishing about their characteristics!”

“Your current proposal is good as it is. Ma Chao’s a centaur, Guan Yu’s a dragon – it’ll be easy to differentiate them!”

“That’s why I think your current proposal is still better.”

Coming to a realization, Ma Yang nodded his head. “Ah, so that’s the case. Got it.”

Pei Qian let out a long heave of relief – seemed like having an employee may not necessarily be a good thing either.

Even though he could give out more salary, Pei Qian’s strategy could lead to them having doubts and questions. At that time, he would have to come up with a logical explanation.

Otherwise, the employees might truly suspect that Pei Qian’s intentionally trying to cause the company to lose money. Once doubt steps in, it will be a clear violation according to the system’s rules.

“Thankfully, Ma Yang isn’t too smart.”

“If I were to hire more people in the future, I would have to get more people like this.”