Chapter 1 A Lavish Meal

"Boss, another serving of noodles with extra meat and an egg fried rice with an extra fried egg! And a side dish, just some smashed cucumber!"

Pei Qian was sparing no expense to treat Ma Yang.

Ma Yang happily ate his meat-filled ramen: "Not bad, Brother Qian, you're not even pretending anymore, are you? The rich second-generation vibe is starting to show! But... this money is enough to order a couple of side dishes at the restaurant next door..."

Pei Qian waved his hand: "No, no, the restaurant next door isn't too expensive, but you can't get full there."

"To be honest, to celebrate a great start, we should be eating something even better. But all my money is going towards making the game right now, so I'm a little tight."

In reality, he had converted too few personal assets, only 700 yuan, so he couldn't bear to spend it extravagantly.

Ma Yang nodded while eating his ramen: "I understand, I understand! That's how it should be, we're still in the stage of hard work and struggle, we can't waste money."

Pei Qian said: "When this game is made, I'll take you to an all-you-can-eat barbecue for fifty yuan a person!"

Ma Yang nodded vigorously: "Okay, okay!"

At this time, most buffets were still priced in the thirties, so Pei Qian going to eat a fifty-yuan buffet was considered quite upscale.

Of course, buffets ten years later would cost an average of a hundred or two hundred per person, so there was no comparison.

Pei Qian was thinking, if all 300,000 yuan could be lost and converted into personal assets, what good things couldn't he eat?

"Oh right, there's also the contract." Pei Qian said while eating his egg fried rice, "I'll download a template later, and we'll just sign an internship contract with a monthly salary of 3,000."

Ma Yang quickly said: "Brother Qian, you're being too polite, the money doesn't really matter, and a contract isn't really necessary, is it?"

Pei Qian shook his head: "That won't do, you're putting in the effort for me, I can't give you a penny less. We're starting a serious business, we have to follow the proper procedures, a contract is a must."

"Okay, then I'll listen to your arrangements." Ma Yang didn't insist anymore. Who wouldn't want money?

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

Actually, Pei Qian wanted to give more, but the system wouldn't allow it!

The system stipulated that Pei Qian could not hire employees with salaries that were clearly beyond a reasonable level. After some testing, Pei Qian determined that this "reasonable level" was roughly no more than twice the reasonable salary.

Take Ma Yang as an example.

If he went to a regular game company to do odd jobs, the basic salary for an intern would be around 1,500 yuan.

Of course, some companies might be more generous, with interns doing more work and earning higher salaries.

But you also have to consider Ma Yang's work ability, which is at most a burden to the company…

So, Pei Qian giving him an internship salary of 3,000 a month was already the highest salary the system would allow.

While eating his ramen, Ma Yang suddenly slapped his thigh.

"Hey! Brother Qian, I suddenly had a great idea! What if we made all the Three Kingdoms generals female? Wouldn't that be subversive enough?"

Pei Qian almost spat out his fried rice.

"No way!"

Pei Qian refused flatly.

Ma Yang was a little puzzled: "Why not? Didn't you say we should be subversive?"

Pei Qian was speechless.

Why not?

Of course, because it might actually succeed…

In fact, the idea of gender-bending the Three Kingdoms generals had already been tried in anime works, and it was quite successful.

Although this was 2009, two-dimensional games weren't that popular yet, but at least there was a trend, and many card mobile games were deliberately made in a Q version, which objectively catered to this trend.

What if this game became popular because of this and attracted the love of the *zhai*?!

Pei Qian would absolutely not allow this to happen.

Of course, this was Pei Qian's true thought, which he couldn't tell Ma Yang.

He coughed twice and explained: "This idea won't work, it's equivalent to making the characters lose their characteristics!"

"For example, if Ma Chao is also a woman, Zhao Yun is also a woman, and Gongsun Zan is also a woman... if they all become women, their characteristics won't be obvious."

"Your current plan is very good, Ma Chao is a centaur, Guan Yu is a dragon, this is very recognizable!"

"So I think your current plan is better."

Ma Yang suddenly understood and nodded: "Oh, so that's how it is, I understand."

Pei Qian breathed a sigh of relief, it seemed that hiring employees wasn't necessarily a good thing.

Although he could pay out a little more in wages, Pei Qian's decisions could also lead to misunderstandings and questions from his employees, at which point Pei Qian had to give a reasonable explanation.

Otherwise, if the employees really suspected that Pei Qian was deliberately causing the company to lose money and became suspicious, this was strictly prohibited by the system.

"Fortunately, Ma Yang isn't too bright."

"In the future, if I hire people, I should hire more people who aren't too bright."

Pei Qian said silently in his heart.

…

After dinner, they strolled back to the dormitory.

Ma Yang continued to climb to the upper bunk with enthusiasm, brainstorming ideas and filling out the art request form.

Pei Qian, on the other hand, opened his computer and entered the resource station, finding that his previous message had already been replied to.

Ruan Guangjian: "How many do you need? What are the specific requirements?"

Pei Qian briefly mentioned his requirements, including the number of cards, the general style, and so on.

Of course, the specific request form wasn't out yet, so Pei Qian could only describe it verbally.

"Art style, no Q version, anything else is fine."

"A total of 50 characters, each character has a set of four original paintings, a total of 200."

"The request form is still being made, I'll give it to you later."

There was no reply for a full three minutes.

It was estimated that Ruan Guangjian was also stunned.

My representative works are all Q versions, but the first thing you tell me is "no Q version"???

After another period of time, Ruan Guangjian replied.

"Okay. The price is 2,000 per set, is that okay? I know this price may be a bit expensive for a new artist, but don't worry, my strength is definitely top-notch, it's just that I'm still in school and don't have any good representative works."

2,000 per set? Doesn't that mean only 500 per picture?!

Pei Qian wasn't happy at all, this price was too low!

Wouldn't that mean I wouldn't be able to spend all my money?!

The original psychological price was 3,000 per set, but now it was reduced to 2,000 per set.

A total of 50 characters, spending 50,000 yuan less?

No, absolutely not!

"I don't think this price is appropriate." Pei Qian replied.

Ruan Guangjian: "Then what price do you think is appropriate? This is almost my bottom line."

Pei Qian: "Our situation here is a bit special."

"Because this time we're going to make a style that no one else has done before, a very subversive image, so the difficulty is relatively high, do you understand?"

"Moreover, our designers here don't really understand art, so the requests they give are relatively vague."

"Therefore, you need to use your brain more and design it."

"Considering this extra workload, 2,000 yuan per set is too unfair to you, I think 3,000 yuan per set is more appropriate!"

"This includes the image design of the original painting and the subsequent modifications, and I also hope that you can draw it more carefully, how about it?"

Ruan Guangjian fell silent again.

Obviously, customers like Pei Qian who bargained in reverse were not very common...

An original painting set, forcibly increased by 1,000 yuan!

However, Pei Qian's behavior was not in violation of the rules, and the system did not give a warning.

Because Pei Qian's reasons were reasonable, the extra money included the extra design costs incurred due to unclear requirements, the cost of improving the quality of the original paintings, and the subsequent modification costs.

Ruan Guangjian replied after a few minutes: "Okay, a total of 50 sets, 200 original paintings, 150,000, with 20 major revisions and 50 minor revisions."

Pei Qian smiled slightly.

I can indeed spend money to buy the number of modifications, but I can also choose not to use them!

It's better if the paintings don't meet my expectations.

The two immediately settled the deal and prepared to sign an electronic agreement on the resource station.

Pei Qian thought of something: "How many original paintings can you produce in three weeks? I'll change the specific number on the agreement."

The system stipulated that Pei Qian must not have any unreleased products on hand one week before settlement.

Therefore, Pei Qian's game had to be launched one week before the settlement, leaving Ruan Guangjian only three weeks.

Ruan Guangjian: "200 paintings is definitely impossible. However, I can distribute these tasks to my classmates in the same dormitory. Don't worry, with my supervision, the quality of their original paintings is also guaranteed, and I can also help you unify the style."

Pei Qian was very happy: "Okay! Then I'll leave it all to you!"

Ruan Guangjian was still in school, he could reach the original painting level required by the resource station, but his classmates might not be able to!

This was also a small loophole, spending the money and objectively reducing the quality of the original paintings.

Wonderful!