Chapter 364 - One Must Overthink

After knocking gently on the door, Li Yada entered Boss Pei’s office.

Boss Pei was still the same as before. He looked calm and collected like he controlled everything in the palm of his hands. He also looked as energetic as if he had just woken up.

“Boss Pei, I want to travel to the United States for a few days…”

Li Yada had still been thinking about how to explain her situation so that it would make sense to Boss Pei. However, before she could finish her sentence, she saw Boss Pei’s eyes light up as he nodded profusely. “Good, you need to strike a balance between work and rest. You’ve been working too hard recently. You need to relax! Cherish the time and pack as soon as possible. You can leave any time.

“Are you going alone, or are you going with other people?”

Li Yada quickly answered, “Boss Pei, there are six of us going: Lin Wan, Bao Xu, Hao Qiong, Ye Zhizhou, Chen Kangtuo, and I. “Chen Kangtuo and the others won a pair of tickets for a five-day holiday during the annual meeting, right? That’s why…”

Pei Qian felt slightly disappointed after hearing Li Yada explain the situation to him.

He had been wondering what that was about. As it turned out, it was the prizes from the annual meeting.

Pei Qian had thought that Li Yada had figured things out and was trying to find ways and means to slack off.

He had been happy over nothing.

Still, it was not bad that the six of them were going on a trip together. Lin Wan, Li Yada, and Ye Zhizhou were core members of their respective projects. With them gone, their projects’ progress could be slightly impeded. Pei Qian nodded again. “Of course, there’s no problem!

“Go back and make the necessary preparations. Have a good time there. I’ll pay all of your salaries as per normal. Don’t worry about work while you’re there. Since you’re on holiday, have as much fun as you can, understand?”

After hearing these words, Li Yada felt warmth in her heart.

Boss Pei was so easy-going!

He approved a hundred percent of employees’ applications for leave. On top of that, he would even instruct them time and time again to have as much fun as they could while on holiday. Moreover, they were told not to carry any mental stress with them or think about work.

Boss Pei had not even asked Li Yada for a proper explanation. He understood without her even having to say a word.

Could that have been a tacit, mutual understanding between boss and employee?

“Alright, Boss Pei! I understand!”

Li Yada walked out of the office, feeling touched.

Pei Qian looked at the calendar. It was December 21st.

He had two more weeks before the examination week in school.

Boss Pei had donated five million yuan to the needy students in school earlier. He could get his instructor to say a few simple words to the teachers in charge of his modules, and they would surely give him an easier time, but… Would Boss Pei do such a thing?

Of course, he had to pass his modules with his own skills and abilities.

If Boss Pei ended up doing worse than a slacker like Ma Yang, how would he still be able to hold his head up high?

Even he would despise himself!

Thus, Pei Qian felt that he had a lot of work to do.

He accessed the platform to check the results for the Tengda Spirit compatibility test. The first batch of new employees had taken the Tengda Spirit compatibility test yesterday before the annual meeting. In the end, it had turned out much better than Pei Qian had imagined.

The passing rate was extremely low!

A total of 28 people had taken part in the test, but only three had passed.

Pei Qian had gone to read through those three people’s resumes again, in order to form a deeper impression of them. They were the trusted generals that Tengda would have to rely on in the future!

What kind of precious employees would have managed to do so well in the Tengda Spirit compatibility test on their first try?!

Surprisingly, all three people who had passed the test were from Tengda’s games department.

The one with the highest marks was named Hu Xianbin. He was an ordinary, recent graduate from Handong University, who had achieved nothing of significance during his time at university.

The other two were Min Jingchao and Zhang Nan (a female), who had no experience in the game industry whatsoever. Before they were accepted into Tengda, the former had been an accountant; the latter had been a fashion designer.

These resumes looked perfect to Boss Pei!

It looked like Tengda’s recruitment tests had served their purpose well. Those who had a lot of experience in the industry had been filtered out, and a special batch of slackers had been selected.

The Tengda Spirit compatibility test had also proved this point. All three of the employees who passed looked like very good slackers!

Of course, one could not judge a book by its cover. Boss Pei could not read minds. There was no way that he could guarantee for now that those three people were the kind of talents that he needed.

Still, no matter what, Boss Pei had carefully set the questions for the test, and those three people had answered most of them correctly. At the very least, this proved that they had a significantly better understanding of the Tengda Spirit than most of their batchmates.

There was a saying: if something walked like a duck, spoke like a duck, and ate like a duck; it was a duck.

It was the same with the test. No matter what lay in the hearts of those employees—as long as they had passed the test and applied the same mindset to their work, they were the slackers that Boss Pei desired!

Furthermore, Pei Qian knew very well that the passing rate for the test would only increase as time went by.

After all, he could not stop those employees from discussing the test in secret if they wanted to.

However, if the new employees could learn the right answers slowly and accurately interpret Boss Pei’s hints, they would instinctively reject working overtime, ask for overtime pay, and contribute to a similar culture in their respective departments.

Then, Pei Qian would have achieved his goals.

On the 17th floor of Shenhua View, in Tengda Games…

In the conference room…

Li Yada had just assigned work to the members of the design team.

She had already gotten a visa to go to the United States. Since they could claim all of these expenses from the company, everyone applied from express visas, which they received in no time.

Li Yada had already organized the suggestions that she received from Dream Realization Ventures. The new version of the game was already being developed. Li Yada only had to brief the employees in the design team about those changes. Then, she could be sure that GOG’s development progress would not be impeded by her going to the United States to gather new materials.

Once they were done, the meeting ended.

However, Li Yada purposely asked Hu Xianbin to remain behind.

Once everyone had left the room, Li Yada closed the door and said in a low voice, “Little Hu, what were the questions in the Tengda Spirit compatibility test? Tell me softly.”

Hu Xianbin, “…”

The scene was quite strange.

A department head of Tengda was asking an intern who had just obtained tenure for guidance and information.

Yet, Li Yada really had no idea!

In fact, it was not just her that had no idea; every department head of Tengda had no idea either!

Boss Pei had personally set the questions for the Tengda Spirit compatibility test. The papers had been automatically marked by the system, and nobody had been allowed to check the question bank or answer sheet.

Nevertheless, Hu Xianbin felt confused. Why was Li Yada concerned about this?

So what if she didn’t know what the questions were like? She was already a department head; she would not have to sit for the test at all.

“They were simple multiple-choice questions. Sister Li, why are you asking about this? I think the rules state that we’re not supposed to discuss the questions in the office, right?” Li Yada sighed softly and tried to keep her voice low as she answered, “I don’t want to discuss it, but… the heads of the other departments have been asking me.”

Yesterday, after the annual meeting, several department heads had approached Li Yada about the Tengda Spirit compatibility test.

Indeed, Li Yada had no idea about the contents of the test, but the new employees under her definitely knew the contents very well!

The various department heads had discovered that out of the twenty-odd new employees who had taken the test, only three had passed. Furthermore, all of them were from the games department.

Naturally, all of them approached Li Yada to find out more.

As for why those department heads were so worried…

Wasn’t the reason obvious?

If the new employees failed the Tengda Spirit compatibility test, they would have to be fired!

The department heads had gone to great lengths to hire those employees. All of their help was greatly needed. How could they give the employees up?

If the new employees were fired just like that

– not only would all their previous hard work have gone down the drain, but it would also show that they had done a bad job during the recruitment that none of the new employees met Boss Pei’s expectations.

How could they allow that to happen?!

Thus, the department heads were as anxious as the employees who had failed the Tengda Spirit compatibility test. They eagerly wanted to find out the contents of the test so that they could change their own mindsets and meet Boss Pei’s expectations.

Li Yada had no choice but to secretly ask about the test in private.

Hu Xianbin frowned, trying hard to recall the test.

“It’ll be too difficult for me to remember the questions in the test word for word. In fact, I think it’ll be impossible.

“There were far too many questions, and a lot of them looked similar. There may just be one different word, but the right answer might change completely.

“What’s more, I don’t know exactly which questions I got right and which ones I got wrong since there were so many of them.

“What if I only recall a question I got wrong? Everyone might be sent down the wrong path, guessing according to my wrong answer. Wouldn’t they fail the test badly then? The consequences would be dire.”

Li Yada considered this for a moment and then nodded helplessly.

That was true.

She had to admit that Boss Pei had planned this out very well. There was no loophole for them to take advantage of.

Even if Hu Xianbin had remembered many questions, he would not know which ones he had gotten right and wrong. It would have been nearly impossible for them to try and guess the answer sheet for the test based on his memory alone. “Do you have any experience to share, then?” Li Yada attempted to resolve the problem from another angle. Hu Xianbin remained silent for a moment and then said, “One must overthink.”

Li Yada asked, “Huh?”

Hu Xianbin explained, “I can only say that while the questions looked simple, they were actually much deeper.

“Those questions reminded me of the way Boss Pei usually spoke. He would always explain extremely deep theories to us using simple language. If one took the questions at face value, they would not be able to understand the deeper meaning behind them.

“Thus, based on my experience, I would say one must overthink. That’s what all of us learned while working in this department as well.

“I must also say, one must absolutely obey Boss Pei’s instructions.”

“As for other things… I can’t summarize them.”

Li Yada nodded.

It sounded like the type of questions that Boss Pei would have come up with. Having to overthink and absolutely obey Boss Pei’s instructions seemed to match Li Yada’s working experience as well. Could that be the Tengda Spirit?

That was probably not all. After all, the Tengda Spirit was made up by Boss Pei, and Boss Pei’s mind was like a galaxy.

Still… it must have been a part of the Tengda Spirit, right? Li Yada nodded. “Alright, thank you!”

When she returned to her desk, Li Yada sent the answers that she had gotten to the various department heads who had asked her about the test before.

“There are perhaps two general principles to keep in mind for the Tengda Spirit compatibility test.

“First, overthink.

“Second, absolutely obey Boss Pei’s instructions.

“I’m not sure if that’s the right direction, but it’s worth a try.”