The two men chatted for a while longer until Huang Sibo stood up and bid farewell.
Now that they had officially decided to film a movie, Huang Sibo’s passion for work was reignited.
There was still a lot of work to be done when he returned to Fei Huang Workspace. The most urgent of which was to hire more employees.
After Huang Sibo left, Pei Qian opened a new document and began writing the script.
Pei Qian knew nothing about movie scripts.
However, since he was going to be paid a hundred thousand yuan for this draft, he had to make sure that he did a sufficiently good job. There was no need to come up with a mental outline: he intended to get straight to work on the new document!
“First, the genre!”
Without any hesitation, Pei Qian typed the words ‘science fiction’ in the document.
Sci-fi movies were the most expensive to produce. They were also the easiest to screw up since so many sci-fi films were horrible. It was perfect for Pei Qian, whose aim was for the movie to fail in the box office.
Having decided the movie’s genre, Pei Qian was already halfway to success!
Now, it was time to come up with an outline of the movie’s story.
Thirty minutes later…
The document still only contained the words ‘science fiction’.
Pei Qian heaved a long sigh. D*mn, I’m not cut out for this at all.
At first, he thought that he could just come up with a rubbish story that would insult his audience’s intelligence. However, when he wanted to start writing, he discovered that even coming up with a rubbish story was extremely difficult.
At that moment, Pei Qian wished that he could recall the storylines of all the horrible movies he had watched.
Unfortunately, Pei Qian was no movie enthusiast. He had only watched very few movies.
What’s more, he absolutely despised lousy movies. He would never catch the premiere of movies and would resolve not to buy tickets to watch them if they had a bad reputation.
Thus, Pei Qian could not recall the plots of lousy movies no matter how hard he tried. He was completely uninspired.
Every time he wrote a line in the document, he erased it and was left with the words ‘science fiction’ again.
Pei Qian scratched his head.
“I can’t go on like this. I need to alter my thought process. Hmm… I can write in opposites!”
Pei Qian suddenly thought of a brilliant idea.
Be it films, novels, or games; they were all the same at their core. If one wanted to produce a good film, they had to be sure of what their audience wanted to see. Conversely, if one wanted to produce a horrible film, they just had to be sure of what the audience did not want to see, right?
Many lousy movies had empty plots that caused their audience to feel bored and drowsy. This was a good line of thought, but it did not give Pei Qian much to work with.
What was really bothering Pei Qian now was the movie’s concrete plot.
He had to settle on a concrete plot first and then dilute it as much as possible. Only then could he make the plot empty and bland, so that the audience would become bored and drowsy.
What kind of plots was the most annoying?
Pei Qian could not help but think about one of the concepts in the web novel industry.
Toxic points! So-called toxic points referred to things in a plot that would make the reader feel unwell. A brown-noser[1] was an example of a toxic point.
At that thought, Pei Qian happily wrote another line under the words ‘science fiction’: ‘The male protagonist is a brown-noser.
As the saying went, brown-nosers deserved horrible deaths.
If the male protagonist managed to win the female protagonist over in the end, the toxicity of the plot would be greatly reduced.
Thus, Pei Qian wrote another line: ‘The brown-noser ends up with nothing’.
After some thought, he decided that the plot was not harsh enough.
‘The male protagonist was made a cuckold.’
‘The child was not his.’
‘The male protagonist wanted to raise the child, but the child absolutely hated him.’
‘After suffering blow after blow, the male protagonist lost his mind and decided to take revenge on society.’
Pei Qian pondered for a moment and realized something was amiss. “…No, the male protagonist cannot take revenge on society. After all, he’s a weakling.”
Pei Qian did not want this movie to become a superhero film about ‘Green Hat Man[2]’ or something. If the movie accidentally spread overseas and he won another award, he would be in deep trouble.
‘After suffering blow after blow, the male protagonist breaks down and chooses to kill himself.’
Again, Pei Qian felt uncomfortable. “Er… if he kills himself, it would serve as a mini climax for the movie. It’ll take the path of traditional sad films. That doesn’t sound good.
“The male protagonist should live the rest of his life in misery.”
Yet, Pei Qian struggled with this as well. “That doesn’t seem right either. It feels a bit too plain. I should give the male protagonist some hope for better times nearing the end and then ruthlessly destroy it.”
Then again, what kind of hope should he give the protagonist, and how should he destroy it?
Pei Qian could not think of good ideas at the moment.
However, he was not in a rush either. After all, he only needed to come up with a rough script in two or three days.
Just as he wanted to close the document, Pei Qian thought about something else and intentionally bolded the words ‘science fiction’.
He could not forget that this was supposed to be a sci-fi movie.
He had to make sure that sci-fi elements appeared in the plot, so that he could spend more money on props and special effects.
Of course, as to what kind of sci-fi elements he should add…
He had to think about it tomorrow.
Satisfied, Pei Qian read the general framework for the plot once through, from beginning to end. He nearly passed out from the toxicity.
The plot was toxic—it was incredibly toxic! One could say that this plot was going to house all the toxic points throughout history. Pei Qian could not leave even one toxic point out.
Then, he would just have to enrich the plot, add a sci-fi packaging, and dilute the story.
After all that, his work would be done!
“Ai, I am such a ‘huge villain’.”
Pei Qian felt like he was naturally gifted in creating lousy movies! He should have entered the movie industry a long time ago! [1] Brown nosing is akin to bootlicking.
[2] The ‘green hat’ is a symbol of a cuckold in China.
Chapter 314 - The Recruitment Mailbox is Full!
Since Pei Qian was done with the script’s general framework for now, he felt satisfied. Looking at the way things were going, Pei Qian would only have to add a couple more details tomorrow before tossing it to Huang Sibo and the others.
“Alright, I’m almost done with my work for today. I’ll take a short break!”
Out of habit, Pei Qian accessed Aili Island and prepared to catch up on shows.
A short while later, there was a knock on his office door. Pei Qian looked up to see Assistant Xin.
“Boss Pei, our company’s email inbox is almost filled with emails. Our colleagues in the human resources department have been busy sorting them out and moving them to the relevant folders. However, too many people are sending in their resumes. We need to come up with a way to shortlist them as soon as possible.”
Assistant Xin stared expectantly at Pei Qian. Her words had a clear meaning: she was telling Pei Qian to come up with some criteria to shortlist the applications. Pei Qian’s mind was filled with question marks. Pei Qian, who had been prepared to chase his shows happily, looked flabbergasted.
The inbox is almost filled?
How can that be?!
The extremely cautious Boss
Pei immediately detected signs of danger. At once, he accessed the company’s email inbox using his computer and found that there were indeed a ton of unread emails. The red number beside the inbox indicated ‘999+’ emails!
“What… is going on?” Pei Qian felt light-headed.
Assistant Xin smiled subtly. “I think this is a result of your exclusive interview with the official platform and your internal letter.
“Take a look at the hot searches on Weibo, and you’ll understand.
“However, this matter is urgent. You should come up with some shortlisting criteria first. After all, there are so many resumes. If we arrange to interview all of them, we won’t have enough manpower.”
Pei Qian was momentarily stumped. After a while, he waved his hand and said, “Alright, get back to work for now. I’ll tell you when I’m ready.”
Assistant Xin nodded and walked out.
Pei Qian felt like there was more to this than met the eye. He could not solve the underlying problem by simply coming up with some shortlisting criteria. He quickly accessed Weibo.
In the end, he found ‘Tengda’s internal letter’ ranked seventh on the hot searches chart!
“What’s going on?! I posted my letter on the intranet. How did it end up on Weibo’s hot searches?!”
Pei Qian had almost forgotten about his letter altogether.
His intention in sending the internal letter had only been to encourage his employees to skive off and slack more, in order to ease his loss-incurring burdens.
Yet, it only proved marginally effective after he posted it on the intranet. Several employees even resorted to bootlicking him in the comments. Boss Pei had been very disappointed.
Thus, he decided not to pay attention to it anymore.
He never thought that the next time he saw the letter would be in Weibo’s hot searches!
Pei Qian quickly clicked it and realized that his internal letter had become a longshot, which netizens were sharing rapidly. After seeing some netizens’ discussions, Pei Qian’s heart grew colder. “I’m not seeing things, am I? Is this really a boss’ internal letter?”
“Don’t believe anything a capitalist says… eh? Why is this so different from what I imagined?”
“I’m moved to tears. Where can we find such good bosses? Give me a dozen!”
“This is Tengda’s internal letter? Is Tengda still hiring? I want to work there even if it means I have to take a pay cut!”
“Don’t fall for this trap! I think it’s a scam! Even if this internal letter is real, it’s probably a set-up!”
“But a friend of mine works at Tengda. Tengda’s benefits and welfare are indeed so good that even I’m envious. It’s true!”
“Did someone say this is a set-up? Other bosses can do the same! You can create similar set-ups and pull similar stuntswould you dare to post an internal letter like that?”
“Eh, did anyone realize that this open letter seems to be a copy of another open letter? It was titled ‘You Have to Work Hard for a Better
Life’!”
“That’s true. He said the opposite of that letter? Was he mocking that letter on purpose?”
“Oh, my goodness, this is too comedic! I’m a fan of this boss!”
“Holy sh*t, I’m not going to say anything more! I’m going to send my resume to Tengda now!”
The entertaining netizens were responding too well to Pei Qian’s internal letter. He had not been prepared for this at all.
When he posted this internal letter in the Intranet, it had achieved the opposite effect, but it had not been this popular.
The sticky post remained in the internal forum, and new replies were being uploaded every day. However, most employees only felt more motivated after reading it and then moved on.
That was because only Tengda’s employees had access to the internal forum. They were probably like Hao Qiong and very used to Tengda’s generous treatment.
Thus, even though the internal letter was novel to them, they did not feel too moved. After all, everyone already knew how good of a boss Boss Pei was.
However, the situation was completely different on Weibo!
Of course, the netizens had never come across such a divine company and boss before!
The official platform had already praised Tengda in the exclusive interview, thereby improving its public reception. With this internal letter, Tengda was going to permanently reside in the hearts of many netizens!
Until now, this was what most gamers thought about Tengda:
Its boss was like Bole, excellent at scouting talents.
Its employees were all outstanding. The atmosphere in the company was free and lively, and it was not as hierarchical as other large companies.
Finally, the benefits were good, and the company did not exploit its employees.
By now, Tengda had ventured into various industries and performed very well.
There was another important point. Tengda was located in Jingzhou City, a second-tier city. Not only were there good facilities, but the pressure-cooker environment common in first-tier cities was also absent.
All of these factors made Tengda look perfect in the eyes of job-seekers!
As the saying went, the true value of something could only be determined through comparison.
Other companies’ bosses pushed for their employees to have a fighting spirit, develop a wolf culture, and work 996[1]. On the other hand, Tengda’s boss did the complete opposite by sending an internal letter asking employees to rest more and take care of their bodies.
This genuine care and concern for humanity moved many slaves of other companies to tears!
Thus, many people started advertising for Tengda of their own accord by praising it. Some even went a step further and sent in their resumes!
A few days had passed. Tengda’s email inbox was filled to the brim. There were 999+ emails with various types of resumes attached.
Pei Qian had expected that his interview with the official platform would give rise to negative consequences, but he never thought that it would get so serious!
Seeing 999+ emails in his inbox, Pei Qian’s head began to hurt as much as the staff in Tengda’s human resources department.
However, their heads were hurting for different reasons.
The HR staff’s heads were hurting in a good way. So many people were trying to get into Tengda. Of course, it would be easier for them to find outstanding talents among the applicants.
On the other hand, Pei Qian’s head was hurting because this was disastrous.
He did not mind hiring more employees, but what if there were impressive people among the applicants? If he hired these impressive people, and they easily brought loss-incurring projects to success, wouldn’t Pei Qian be shooting himself in the foot?
Yet, he could not possibly turn all of them down.
Tengda was no longer the small, transparent company that it used to be. Many people had their eyes on it now.
If people found out that Tengda was only hiring rubbish workers and not outstanding talents, they might become suspicious of Tengda or Boss Pei’s motives.
Pei Qian could not allow people to become suspicious of his motives; much less suspect the presence of the System or the challenges it posed.
“I have to think of an appropriate way to deal with this recruitment problem. Otherwise, there would be dangerous repercussions.”
Pei Qian thought about the fact that Tengda was now a large company.
As his business expanded, he had to hire more and more employees. Pei Qian could not do whatever he wanted and personally select people to hire like he did before.
In other words, the HR staff would probably focus on looking for outstanding people.
Wouldn’t that mean that there would be more and more people stabbing Boss Pei in the back? Who could tolerate such a thing?! “I have to think of a way to only select the slackers.
“Outstanding people can shine wherever they go. However, they would
definitely stab me in the back once I hire them; I won’t be able to stop it. It wouldn’t be a waste of society’s resources even if I don’t hire them and allow them to shine in another company.
“At the same time, I would attract too much attention if I hire rubbish employees. Particularly stupid people might even cause scandals. That wouldn’t match Tengda’s low-profile. I should avoid hiring them, too.
“That means I need to find a way to recruit mediocre applicants. Slackers like Old Ma would be the best; they would do whatever their superiors tell them to do. As long as I point them in the wrong direction, they would be sure to incur losses for me.
“Yes, that’s right. I need to shortlist the slackers!”
Pei Qian quickly thought of a strategy.
Half an hour later, he called Assistant Xin in once again.
“Publish an official notice to tell everyone that Tengda has no plans for large-scale recruitment at the moment. Tell the human resources department to store the talents’ resumes somewhere. We’ll look at them in the future.
“Tengda will recruit properly in the future. For now, I will ask the human resources department to come up with some general recruitment standards, so that Tengda can hire based on those standards at allocated times.”
Assistant Xin noted down these instructions.
“Boss Pei, the human resources department has already selected a couple of potential candidates. Their resumes look very good, and they’re quite holistically developed. Should we arrange to interview these candidates first?”
Pei Qian immediately rejected this suggestion. “No!
“Their resumes might look good, but they might lack practical experience. Tengda is the perfect option for many job-seekers now; many people among those the human resources department have selected are probably fish in troubled waters.
“We have never selected people based on their resumes, and we never will! One’s practical skills remain the most important.”
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