Chapter 1401 Animals Wouldn't Stab Me in the Back, Would They?

He froze for a moment, then asked, "Does it make any difference when I pay off the debt?"

Pei Qian nodded. "No."

Of course, it's all the same, no matter when you pay it off. The sooner you pay it off, the sooner you've completed more reverse publicity, and the faster I'll become the Richest Man by Losing Money.

What difference does it make, sooner or later?

Meng Chang was a bit bewildered.

He had originally thought that President Pei would say something like, "You'll be free to come and go as you please," allowing him to choose.

That way, Meng Chang could confidently pay off his debts. If he had the choice, he would definitely stay at Tengda.

But he never expected President Pei to say that.

What did that mean?

Wasn't President Pei cultivating him as the successor of the Pei-style publicity method? Then why would he say that once the debt was paid off, there would be no need to stay at Tengda?

That was strange, a bit illogical.

But Meng Chang didn't say much more. This question was profound and couldn't be figured out in two or three minutes. He couldn't just stay in President Pei's office and keep thinking about it, could he?

So, he decided to leave first and then slowly consider what President Pei really meant.

...

After leaving President Pei's office, Meng Chang went to the Advertising and Marketing Department and sat down at his workstation.

He didn't immediately think about new publicity plans but instead pondered the meaning of President Pei's words.

At first glance, President Pei's words were strange, completely inconsistent with Meng Chang's previous deductions about President Pei.

But Meng Chang believed that President Pei definitely didn't say those words for no reason. There must be some deep, underlying logic behind them.

"To understand President Pei's deeper meaning, you must start with President Pei's overall layout."

"President Pei has a clear plan for the development of Tengda, which is to cultivate the heads of various departments and pass on his game development methods, marketing and publicity methods, investment methods, Tengda spirit, and a series of 'secrets' to his subordinates."

"Once all the heads have been cultivated into capable individuals who can stand on their own, the entire Tengda can continue to operate on its established path without President Pei's direct intervention. Then President Pei can relax and retire."

"And President Pei's arrangement for me should be as the inheritor and propagator of the 'Pei-style publicity method'."

"But as the inheritor, shouldn't President Pei want me to stay at Tengda?"

"My understanding of President Pei must be correct, which means...my understanding of the concept of 'inheritor' is wrong?"

"The inheritor that President Pei is considering is not the same as the inheritor in the general sense?"

"Yes, that must be the reason!"

"What President Pei needs is for the Pei-style publicity method to be continuously passed down and spread, not just stop with me."

"Other things like game development methods, investment methods, the Tengda spirit, etc., must also be continuously passed down and spread, not just stop with the heads of departments."

"That's why President Pei keeps transferring the heads of the game department to other positions, hoping to accelerate this kind of inheritance!"

After figuring out this level, Meng Chang couldn't help but sigh again. President Pei was indeed President Pei, he saw so far ahead!

Things that ordinary people didn't realize were even remotely problematic were actually issues in President Pei's eyes!

Many large companies' CEOs often face the dilemma of not having a successor, so they have to keep working until they die and can't retire at all.

Because without a suitable successor, the company would fall apart as soon as they retired.

Therefore, many CEOs of large companies consciously cultivate successors. As long as the successor can maintain the status quo, the large company can still live well by relying on its previous good foundation and market advantage.

Whether or not they can cultivate excellent successors is obviously an important evaluation criterion for whether a CEO of a large company is excellent.

But just doing that is obviously not enough.

President Pei was not satisfied with this at all and had gone to a higher level.

It was far from enough to cultivate only one or a few successors. Because some successors might seem good at first, but become increasingly bad later on. This decline could be in terms of ability or attitude, either a decline in ability or a change in ideology.

And even if you're lucky and the cultivated successor successfully takes over, what happens after that?

Can the successor cultivate another successor and still have such good luck?

It's like in ancient feudal countries. It's of course a great thing if the emperor has a wise son, but can you guarantee that every future emperor will have a wise crown prince?

If it goes on like this, it will inevitably regress, it will become worse and worse with each generation, and it's an irreversible process.

According to the simplest approach, President Pei could completely pass on his game development method to the head of the game department and then not let him move, have him keep making games and take over his position.

Like the grandmasters of some martial arts novels, if a disciple's aptitude is not good, they divide their many unique skills and pass them on to different disciples.

In this way, their unique skills will not be lost, and the sect will not decline in the short term.

But the inevitable result of this is that each generation will be worse than the last.

President Pei knew human nature well, so he didn't trust people.

This wasn't to say that he didn't trust the heads of his departments, but that he understood the weaknesses of human nature and knew how to plan ahead and make long-term plans to minimize the impact of subjective factors on the path he designed.

President Pei chose a more long-term method, by constantly transferring the heads of departments, cultivating their comprehensive abilities, allowing everyone to be able to stand on their own, and at the same time allowing potential people within the departments to be quickly promoted and master the heads' skills.

In this way, there would be no risk of a sudden break in the chain.

If President Pei only passed on the Pei-style publicity method to Meng Chang, what if Meng Chang was poached halfway? What if he started his own business? Or what if he simply betrayed the Tengda spirit?

Meng Chang realized that in President Pei's eyes, he should just be a stepping stone, used to pass on the Pei-style publicity method.

Once he understood this, the meaning behind President Pei's words was not difficult to understand.

If Meng Chang followed President Pei's plan and paid off his debts by taking commissions, it would definitely be many years later. The Pei-style publicity method should have already taken root and blossomed throughout Tengda, and it definitely wouldn't be limited to Meng Chang alone.

In that case, there really wouldn't be any need for Meng Chang to stay.

Because anyone could do publicity work, and Meng Chang should go out into society and play a greater role and create more value, instead of continuing to stay in Tengda, doing the old job of marketing and publicity, and staying in the same place.

"So, President Pei still highly recognizes me, and doesn't completely see me as a subordinate and successor, but sees me as an independent person who doesn't depend on Tengda? Encouraging me to start my own business after I've learned my skills and create greater value in society?"

"But if I pay off my debts now, what would that mean..."

Meng Chang had specifically added a sentence before leaving, asking if it would be the same no matter when he paid off the debts, and President Pei had given an affirmative answer.

This also puzzled Meng Chang a bit.

According to President Pei's plan, the Pei-style publicity method would take root and blossom in Tengda for at least a few years.

Meng Chang was so smart, and it still took him more than a year to learn a little bit about the Pei-style publicity method. How could he pass it on layer by layer in a day or two?

But if Meng Chang paid off his debts now, he would have to leave Tengda before the Pei-style publicity method had been completely passed on. Why was that?

"Could it be...that President Pei would think that I'm not taking the right path?"

Meng Chang suddenly thought of this possibility.

Obviously, according to the normal process, Meng Chang would spend a few years at Tengda learning and promoting the Pei-style publicity method, and after he had finished promoting it, he would happen to have paid off his debts by taking commissions.

But if his debt repayment was much earlier, it would mean that he was using other methods to earn extra money outside of the Pei-style publicity method.

And President Pei obviously didn't support these methods.

Would President Pei feel that he couldn't encourage this unhealthy trend, couldn't let the transmission of the Pei-style publicity method go wrong, and couldn't let it all go astray from top to bottom, so he wanted Meng Chang to leave immediately?

Thinking of this, Meng Chang broke out in a cold sweat.

Fortunately, he hadn't told President Pei about the debt repayment, otherwise, something big would have happened!

President Pei would definitely kick him out of Tengda.

For Meng Chang now, debt repayment was no longer his primary goal. He cared more about how he could learn real skills from President Pei.

So, he couldn't repay the debt now!

Not only couldn't he repay the debt, but he also had to find a way to get rid of some of the ill-gotten gains he had previously earned.

It was definitely impossible to completely give up earning extra money. Meng Chang hadn't reached President Pei's high level of thinking, but for peace of mind, it was still possible to use this money to do some good deeds within his ability.

That way, even if President Pei really discovered Meng Chang's behavior of earning extra money, as long as he knew that he had used the money to do good deeds, he should make an exception.

After figuring all of this out, Meng Chang felt enlightened and quickly made a decision.

...

After sending Meng Chang away, Pei Qian continued to consider the matter of spending money on a sudden impulse.

"Who would have thought that even the seemingly reliable *The Successor* would have problems?"

"Sigh, these heads of departments are all unreliable!"

"Raising this group of heads of departments is not as good as raising an animal. At least animals won't think about stabbing me in the back once they've had their fill, but people are different..."

"Huh, wait."

"Animals?"

Pei Qian's eyes suddenly lit up, and he had an idea.

The amusement park had already opened, so would it be okay to open a zoo?

Animals were so simple-minded, and all they did was eat and sleep all day. They wouldn't stab him in the back, would they?

Moreover, the expenses of a zoo were also very high. He had to provide the animals with the best living environment, food, clothing, shelter, and transportation... Oh no, animals didn't need to consider clothing and transportation, but just shelter and food alone were very expensive!

Moreover, providing animals with a better living environment had no upper limit.

Opening a zoo required huge initial investment, a lot of funds to maintain operations, and had strong subsequent scalability.

It was simply perfect!