"Forget it—right now, my top priority should be figuring out how to spend all this money quickly..."
Standing on the dormitory rooftop, feeling the cool breeze of early autumn, Pei Qian considered his next steps.
"Buying individual game assets alone is too slow!"
"What are a company's main operating costs? Rent, utilities, office equipment, employee salaries..."
"If I add all these together, expenses would soar instantly, wouldn't they?"
"Well... let's do some rough calculations."
Taking out his phone calculator, Pei Qian quickly punched in numbers.
"In the first week alone, I earned 500,000 yuan. Next week, I will only earn more. Assuming monthly revenue hits around five million yuan, net profits could easily reach around 2.5 to 2.6 million yuan..."
"The following two months might see a drop, but it's unlikely to plunge dramatically."
"The next settlement is three months from now."
"Even conservatively estimating, total net profits over these three months will definitely exceed 6 million yuan..."
"Damn, what have I done?!"
"If I do nothing, I'll personally convert just 60,000 yuan; but if I successfully spend it all, I'll personally convert as much as 500,000 yuan..."
"That's a huge difference!"
"In other words, I need to somehow lose six million yuan within three months..."
"So, what's the easiest way to spend money quickly?"
"If I rent the most expensive office space—let's say 5 yuan per square meter per day, renting 3,000 square meters would cost 450,000 yuan per month."
"Hiring 30 employees at an average salary of 5,000 yuan per month— no, let's make it 7,000 yuan per month. That totals 210,000 yuan per month."
"Why does this still feel like it's barely making a dent…?"
"Other companies always complain about overhead being too high. Why do I feel the opposite, like it's not high enough?"
"What if I buy only the most expensive office equipment? That should easily cost over a million yuan, right?"
"Hmm... spending this way definitely speeds things up."
"But... it seems troublesome. Finding office spaces, hiring employees, buying office supplies—I've never done any of this before."
"Forget it, I'll think about it carefully later..."
Pei Qian got a headache just thinking about recruiting employees and finding an office himself. He had no experience doing these things in his previous life and wasn't interested or skilled in them either.
It's simply too tiring!
Yet, this was undeniably the quickest way to spend money.
Pei Qian decided to shelve the thought for now and revisit it tomorrow.
Back in the dorm room.
"Brother Pei! Our game is a huge success! Isn't it time we celebrated with a big meal?" Ma Yang's eyes sparkled with anticipation.
"Ah—" Pei Qian suddenly remembered that he had indeed promised Ma Yang a buffet dinner at a 50-plus yuan per person restaurant to celebrate.
"Sure, let's go!"
Although he didn't get the 300,000 yuan, at least he still had around 2,000 yuan…
Spending about a hundred yuan from a 2,000 yuan profit on dinner wasn't excessive.
But Pei Qian still couldn't manage to feel happy…
Across the street south of campus was a decent buffet restaurant, priced at 58 yuan per person. For students in 2009, this was already quite extravagant.
Pei Qian sat expressionlessly, watching Ma Yang stack several plates of cake and a large glass of soft drink onto their table.
This restaurant provided grilled meat by the portion, but certain foods like cakes, stir-fried dishes, and fruits were unlimited from a communal area.
Ma Yang had clearly come with a mission to get his money's worth—his goal probably was to enter hungry and leave holding onto the wall.
"Brother Pei, you look troubled."
"Your rich-second-generation tendencies are becoming increasingly obvious!"
"The game succeeded, earning at least tens of thousands of yuan, right? Yet you still seem gloomy. Do you have even higher expectations of yourself?"
"Also, there's so much delicious food here, but you don't even glance at it!"
Ma Yang mumbled through mouthfuls of food.
Pei Qian looked at the spread on the table, reluctantly put a few pieces of meat into his mouth, and found them completely tasteless.
Although he had only been an average working-class person in his previous life, he'd experienced plenty of high-end buffets in the capital. Compared to those experiences, the cheap buffet before him felt bland and uninteresting.
Moreover, he simply wasn't in the mood—naturally, everything tastes flavorless.
He wanted to lose money! But how could he do it effectively?
At this moment, Pei Qian envied Ma Yang greatly.
This guy was carefree, without a clue or concern about numbers.
Ma Yang had no idea how much money the game had actually made, casually guessing they'd made a few tens of thousands of yuan at most.
But in reality, Pei Qian had earned over half a million yuan in just a week!
Yet, tragically, he couldn't spend any of it…
"Ah, it's nothing," Pei Qian sighed. "I've just been really tired dealing with the game lately. I need some rest."
"Running a company takes a lot out of you, after all."
Ma Yang swallowed another bite of cake, then replied seriously, "Brother Pei, I have to criticize you here."
"You're a company boss now. How can you be so neglectful of your health? You shouldn't handle everything personally! Why not hire an assistant? Just delegate all your tasks to her and be done with it!"
"An assistant?" Pei Qian was momentarily stunned.
Ma Yang nodded enthusiastically, "Yeah! Hire an assistant! Don't you see this all the time in TV dramas? The domineering CEO drives expensive cars, flirts with women all day, and does basically nothing productive, leaving everything to his capable assistant. There's even a saying: 'If there's work, your assistant handles it; if there's nothing else—'"
"Wait—Old Ma, you're a genius! I do need an assistant, and it has to be a professional, super-capable one!"
Pei Qian suddenly felt inspired.
Of course, Pei Qian and Ma Yang were imagining two very different scenarios.
Ma Yang had merely suggested it because he'd seen countless drama series, where bosses always had assistants by their sides.
But Pei Qian saw a brilliant opportunity: with a capable assistant, all his troublesome tasks—renting an expensive office, hiring multiple employees, buying office supplies—could simply be delegated away!
. . .
The next morning.
Pei Qian sat comfortably inside the Exon Headhunting Agency's customer center in Jingzhou, leisurely sipping tea while awaiting the arrival of his headhunter.
This service center had plenty of headhunters, but Pei Qian had specifically requested the most senior headhunter—the regional manager-level consultant—so he had to wait a bit.
Pei Qian wasn't in a hurry; he had plenty of time anyway.
After yesterday's conversation, he had firmly decided to hire an assistant.
There were numerous ways to find one. He could post job listings online, hold interviews, or even find a suitable candidate among university students.
But none of these methods satisfied Pei Qian's requirements.
First, it was slow; second, it lacked professionalism and quality.
Conducting interviews himself was too much trouble. He couldn't be bothered with that. Online recruitment was also unlikely to yield truly capable assistants.
What Pei Qian wanted was a real elite—a professional who could handle anything independently. Ideally, he'd only have to give minimal instructions, and the assistant would quickly and efficiently get the job done at high quality.
After some consideration, Pei Qian concluded that going through a headhunting agency would be most reliable.
Of course, the downside was the higher expense.
But for Pei Qian, spending system funds wasn't a problem—in fact, it was exactly what he wanted!
While waiting, Pei Qian idly browsed some news on his phone.
Then, quite by accident, he stumbled upon an article in the gaming section of a major website:
"The rise of conscientious mobile games—Looking at future trends through 'Ghost General'!"