However, he did not have the same feeling today. He did not feel like he had lacked time because he had written over eight thousand words!
“Time to eat!
“Everyone has free time tonight. Those who want to return to the hotel can do so, and those who want to go out to play can do so as
well.”
Zhu Xingan closed off their day at work and gestured at the Fish-Catching Take-Out, which was placed neatly on the conference table.
One by one, they opened their white, porcelain bowls. The hot food emitted smoke and a delicious fragrance.
The writers sat down at the table and ate as they chatted. They had all eaten Fish-Catching Take-Out for lunch as well. Thus, Cui Geng had already felt emotional from being able to eat healthy and delicious take-out then.
Zhu Xingan distributed each person’s meal to them at the conference table. For some reason, this scene made Cui Geng think about the oil painting of the last supper.
As the writers ate and chatted, they talked about how many words they had written, how productive they had been, how their necks didn’t hurt thanks to the good chairs, and the like.
Cui Geng had nothing in common with them. What he wanted most to say was that he had written over eight thousand words that day. However, at a place like that, it did not seem like something worth being so proud of. Instead, it was quite embarrassing. In the midst of all the conversations going on around him, Cui Geng whipped out his cell phone to read the comments on his new chapters.
S
His cell phone’s signal was not hindered here, but there was no Wi-Fi. Thus, everyone had to spend money on buying data. Of course, even then, nobody spent all day on their cell phones playing games. How could they when everyone else was busy typing away? Anyone who did that would feel guilty for sure. What’s more, they had not been forced to attend this class. If they had no interest in writing, there would be no point in forcing themselves to stay. Leaving sooner would be better than later. At home, they could do anything they wanted.
It was just like sending a student who hated studying in a study room. No matter how much he did not want to learn, his environment could force him to learn something. It would be much easier for one to study in a study room than in one’s own hostel.
Cui Geng had to admit that… while he was a good slacker, he was also a good writer. A good number of people were keeping up with his novels.
A few minutes after he uploaded his new chapters, his readers posted comments. “???”
“What am I seeing? Four chapters in a row?”
“Huh? I must have eaten too much today; I’m hallucinating!”
“Did the no-show eat the wrong medicines today? Not only did he upload four chapters in a row, but he also didn’t ask for any votes!”
“He must have found a substitute writer!”
At that point, Cui Geng’s heart was pounding.
D*mn it, he had been too eager to upload his chapters, and he had forgotten to ask for votes!
He had uploaded so many chapters without asking for any votes. It felt as bad as losing a hundred million dollars.
He continued reading.
“What does ‘d*mn’ mean? I don’t think I’ve seen him end off chapters with this tone before.”
“I guess the no-show has been kidnapped. The kidnappers must have forced him to write over eight thousand words. He’s left us a clue at the end of the last chapter!”
“Kidnappers, these two votes are for you. If you see this comment, keep him for a few more days. Thank you!”
“You have a vote from me as well. Keep him for two more days!”
“Tentacled-Beast, if you’ve run into any problems in life, just let us know. Give us time to think of something. What would we do if your problems get resolved?”
“Is this real? No-show, if you’ve been kidnapped, blink! I’ll thank the kidnappers!” Cui Geng was speechless.
What do you mean you’ll thank the kidnappers?!
Is that the kind of impression you have of me? Would kidnapping me be the only way to make me work hard to update my novels?
Am I that kind of person?
Eh? It does seem like it.
Ah, nevermind then.
On further thought, Cui Geng realized that had he not been trapped in a lockdown state on the computer in this class, he would not have written over eight thousand words in a single day.
Forget it, I won’t bother about this for now.
I’ve written over eight thousand words today! Awesome!
I have to treat myself tonight! Cui Geng wolfed down his red braised pork with a vengeance. Lowering his voice, he turned to his roommate beside him. “Brother, do you want to play tonight? I heard that there’s a chain of internet cafes in Jingzhou called Fish-Catching Internet Cafe. The computer specifications are good, and so is the environment. We’ll get a kick out of playing games there!”
His roommate shook his head. “I think I’ll pass, Brother Cui. I’m going to go back to the room and write another chapter using my laptop. After that, I’ll surf the net to prepare to write more tomorrow.” Cui Geng, “…”
For some reason, Cui Geng recalled his experience in university, when he roomed together with a nerd.
January 17th, Monday…
Pei Qian slept his fill and woke up naturally. Then, he rolled around, sat up, and rubbed his eyes.
“How annoying. It’s Monday again. I have to go to work again.
“Hmm… for some reason, I feel like I have to do something. I just can’t recall what it was.
“Forget it, I’ll order some take-out and think while I eat.”
Pei Qian whipped out his phone, ordered Fish-Catching Take-Out, and then checked his unread notifications.
Ma Yang, “Brother Qian, IOI is undergoing testing in the West! I heard that the figures are not bad. Quick, take a look!”
Oh?
Pei Qian immediately became alert.
He opened his browser and searched for news about ‘Finger Games’ and ‘IOI testing’.
Finger Games’ official website introduced IOI’s merits in detail. One example was how IOI contained a professional battle network with automatic matching functions. The gamers’ standards would be determined by their hidden skills values using the ‘Elo rating system’, and they would be sent to battle quickly. Friends playing together would be matched together, and the open ladder would also be released in the future.
Pei Qian searched for players’ feedback on the forum. Although some people were complaining about bugs in the game-on the whole, people were still praising it. Pei Qian did not read too many comments. Since his English was the standard of a fourth-grader, he thought that he probably would not understand a lot of it. Thus, he saved himself the effort.
He was more concerned about the related conversations taking place in the local forums.
Once IOI started being tested overseas, the news spread very quickly to China. Many local players were paying close attention to IOI as well. They had hopes that the game would start running tests in China and come up with Mandarin clients.
Some players even went to the United States to try the game out because they could not wait any longer. After reading the news, Pei Qian had mixed feelings. Now, he was not sure if he should hope for IOI to become popular or fail…
Still, no matter what, the script was finally developing in the way that he imagined!
Before this, Pei Qian noticed that IOI had not been running tests in the United States and that it had been getting average feedback. He had been worried that IOI would fail.
Although IOI’s failure would make ducks and drakes of Dream Realization Ventures’ twenty million yuan investment, Tengda’s GOG… would be in trouble.
Now, the plot was developing as he had imagined. IOI was becoming popular in the United States. That meant that it would only be a matter of time before the game became popular worldwide.
That meant that…
For now, he co
uld relax with GOG!
Pei Qian did not have much System Funds left. Otherwise, he would have poured another huge sum of money into GOG.
After finishing his take-out, he prepared to go to the office to walk around and check on GOG’s progress.
At that moment, he received another message from Huang Sibo: “Boss Pei, we’ve wrapped up the movie!” Pei Qian paused. So quickly?
Oh, not really. On further thought, Pei Qian realized that the news was coming slightly later than he had expected. It was about time that they wrapped up filming.
This meant that all the camera work was complete. Although they would still have to edit the movie and finalize it, the production crew would normally split up at this point and bid their farewells.
Thus, most movies would hold their celebration feasts once filming was done. That was because it would be the last time that everyone would be present.
After reading the message, Pei Qian did not feel tired anymore. Didn’t they have to eat to celebrate the end of filming?
Should they play in Jingzhou for a couple of days?
Everyone had traveled such a long way and worked so hard for the movie. As their boss, shouldn’t Boss Pei give them a good treat?
He immediately typed his reply. “Not one person in the production crew is to leave yet! I’ll treat them to a meal!”
Chapter 393 - Movie Schedule
Chapter 393 Movie Schedule
Pei Qian went to the office in the afternoon first to review the progress of GOG’S development. Ma Yang had then sent the trial version of IOI over.
Dream Realization Ventures had shares in Finger Games and was their local agent after all. They would naturally obtain a trial version.
It was an English version, but Pei Qian relied on his level four proficiency and translation on Qiandu to understand most of it.
Boss Pei was more at ease after comparing the current versions of IOI and GOG.
There was an obvious gap!
IOI was not publicly tested previously, but they occasionally sent a few versions that were being continuously improved. Pei Qian saw it but had no clear idea of what stage the game was in.
The IOI in Pei Qian’s memory was already in a mature and perfect form. It was naturally awkward to look at IOI in its embryonic stage and was difficult to evaluate it objectively.
However, Pei Qian was roughly certain after knowing the reactions of the players during the trial.
The quality of the game itself had no problem. Its competitiveness in the current field, at least for now, was self-evident.
In contrast, GOG was far behind in terms of completeness.
Pei Qian did not know if that was because IOI was initiated earlier so its development was faster, or was it because Li Yada and the team were being lazy?
Pei Qian hoped it was the latter.
He had to say that once the Tengda Spirit compatibility test was out-not only did the mentality of the new employees change, but even the attitude of the old employees had also been greatly improved!
For example, the diehards of the Tengda Games department—who often worked overtime—had significantly reduced their frequency of overtime.
It seemed as though Li Yada and the rest were preparing to strategically abandon the first zero overtime competition.
Between completing their tasks and receiving their bonuses, they chose the former—which made Pei Qian feel a little regretful.
However, Li Yada and her team did not fall into a vicious cycle. They did not work harder during overtime because they were out of the zero overtime competition. Instead, they were trying to reduce the length of overtime and share of overtime each week.
That made Boss Pei very satisfied. There was a kind of joy that ‘the diehards finally got it’.
In any case, GOG seemed to be in good shape. It did not seem like a major problem to invest a few million yuan more in the future if there were extra money that he did not know what to do with.
The gap between GOG and IOI did not seem like something a few million yuan could solve after all.
Pei Qian felt a little relieved thinking about that. He continued to review his studies while looking forward to the dinner tonight.
Evening, Ming House…
“Boss Pei! How have you been!”
Several important members including Zhang Zuting and Lu Zhiyao received Pei Qian at the entrance of the hotel.
“What are you doing? It’s so cold. Hurry, get in.”
Pei Qian quickly led them in.
“I said this before: I have to do my part as the host since everyone came all the way to help me make a movie,” Pei Qian told everyone in a low voice before entering the restaurant.
“The reservation at the nameless restaurant is on the 20th, which is three days later. Let’s have another good meal then.
“Everyone please have fun in Jingzhou during these three days and have a good rest.
“Today’s meal is to celebrate the end of the filming
“The meal three days later is to wish that the movie would be a big hit in the box office!
“Therefore, even though the dinner tonight might not be that good, please don’t mind it and make do with it.”
Pei Qian’s words were to give everyone forewarning so that they were psychologically prepared for today’s meal while, on the other hand, trying to find a reason for two meals in a row.
The two reasons were legitimate and impeccable. There was no reason for the system to disagree.
Zhang Zuting smiled. “Boss Pei, you are too kind.”
“We joined in partly because of you. The good script and team of this movie were important factors as well.”
“Boss Pei’s script is good. If it were to sell out at the box office, the rest of us can bask in its light as well. We can’t thank Boss Pei enough!”
Everyone greeted each other and took their seats in the Ming House.
Li Shi was not here today. He seemed to have to settle something at the office.
However, he had already greeted him in advance. The branch manager knew Pei Qian. Moreover, they booked the entire place so it was natural for the branch manager to serve him eagerly.
Delicious food started emerging in no time.
Everything was normal with the dishes probably because he did not bring Little Tang with him today.
Everyone in the movie crew tasted the exquisite dishes and ate to their full. They were just a little confused.
Boss Pei said ‘make do with the food’. Was that being humble, or did he really feel that way?
If the standard of this place was not high, then what sort of high standards did the nameless restaurant possess?
The heroine Lin Ruyi could not help but clarify her doubts with Lu Zhiyao who was next to her since he had been there before.
Lu Zhiyao thought for a while. “It’s not very easy to describe, but… the nameless restaurant is indeed better than here—much, much better.”
At the other table, Pei Qian was discussing the arrangements after the movie was finalized with Huang Sibo and Zhu Xiaoce.
“The movie is in the editing phase. A rough cut will be produced in a few days for your eyes.
“After editing, there will be a series of miscellaneous tasks such as post-production special effects. In short, we’ll try to get it done in less than a month.
“But, Boss Pei, I cannot promise it. I can only try to adhere to the timeline.”
Pei Qian was slightly disappointed. “One month… it will definitely not make it by Chinese New Year.
“It would be too rushed for Valentine’s as well…
“A pity.”
The Chinese New Year of the Year 2011 was on February 3rd. There was less than half a month left. It was impossible to air it during Chinese New Year even if he were to work the team to its bones.
Of course, Pei Qian did not plan to rush them; neither did he plan to let them work overtime.
He felt that it was a pity mainly because he
felt that the two slots were the best timing for Tomorrow is Beautiful.
Families would reunite during Chinese New Year. It was best for comedies. Valentine’s Day would be the best for romance films.
A poisonous and abusive film like Tomorrow is Beautiful was packaged in the skin of ‘sci-fi romance’. Coupled with its confusing name, it would definitely be scolded like mad if it was released during these two festive seasons.
The timing of the movie release was still rather important.
There was fierce competition amongst the movies released. The attendance of good movies would be high and would naturally squeeze the survival of the other movies.
Pei Qian was looking forward to being squeezed alive.
“The human traffic during Chinese New Year and Valentine’s Day are relatively large. It’s indeed good timing. However, our movie has such a deep connotation and might not be suitable for such timing,” Zhu Xiaoce said.
“In my opinion, we should release the movie on May 1st, Labor Day. Good things can wait.”
May 1st?
Please don’t joke anymore. The settlement will be on 31st March. It wouldn’t do if it were to drag to May 1st!
There might be a project that could delay the settlement, but Pei Qian wanted to leave such a settlement for the Thriller Hostel. How could it be left to a lousy movie destined to make a loss?
In Pei Qian’s view, it was better for the movie to be released as soon as possible. Any additional day of waiting meant more risk.
“May 1st is too late; it’s not necessary. Let’s set it on February 22nd instead. It’s a good date,” Pei Qian said. Zhu Xiaoce, “?”
He took out his phone and looked at the calendar. February 22nd was a Tuesday. It was not a holiday; it wasn’t even a weekend.
Zhu Xiaoce’s confused expression lasted for two seconds, and then his brows softened.
Does Boss Pei have other arrangements? Or is this some auspicious day?
Boss Pei does not seem as though he is joking.
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