Ma Yang looked slightly puzzled. “Er… why does it sound like we’ll be doing charity?”


  Pei Qian quickly shook his head and explained, “This isn’t charity!

  “Tengda will do charity in the future, but this firm is meant to be a legitimate venture capital firm. The difference is that we would never receive any money in return for doing charity.

  “On the other hand, while we could incur losses by investing, we could also profit. Who would be able to tell?

  “All I’m saying is, don’t prioritize generating profit. Our priority should be realizing dreams, understand?

  “If we end up incurring losses, it’ll be alright. After all, providing venture capital is risky. I’m sure everyone appreciates that there will be risks involved.”


  Ma Yang was beginning to understand. “Well… Brother Qian, does that mean that we can invest in any dream that needs to be realized?”


  Pei Qian nodded profusely. “That’s right! Old Ma, I love that you’re so fast in comprehending me!”


  Ma Yang became even more excited.

  At the beginning, he had thought that investment firms were where money bred more money.

  However, after hearing Pei Qian’s description, Ma Yang realized something else. Not only could investment firms generate profit, but they could also help businesses-on the brink of insolvency-to realize their dreams.

  Thinking about it this way made Ma Yang feel like an angel in white, responsible for saving the lives of others.

  At once, he felt much better about himself!

  “Brother Qian, when do we start investing? I can barely wait!” Unable to sit still for much longer, Ma Yang immediately tried to jump to his feet.

  However, Pei Qian quickly held him down. “Don’t be too eager.

  “In order to do a good job, we must have the best tools. I will look for a satisfactory assistant for you in the next few days.”


  Investing was complex and highly technical. Ordinary venture capital firms normally took many steps before deciding to invest in a particular company.

  They had to shortlist the investment proposals provided by various entrepreneurs, review them, consider the investment projects from various angles, interview the ventures’ managers, understand businesses’ history, and engage in complicated negotiations and valuations…


  Ma Yang could do none of these.

  At most, he could read the investment proposals and decide how much to invest in each venture. However, he knew nothing about the concrete operations behind the scenes.

  Of course, this was also why Pei Qian chose him to take over this responsibility.

  However, in order for the venture capital firm to operate as per normal, he needed someone to take care of the miscellaneous tasks.

  Even if Pei Qian did not hire an assistant for Ma Yang, Ma Yang would look for someone to help him once he realized that he could not handle everything on his own. Then, Pei Qian might end up with an unsalvageable mess.

  Thus, Pei Qian decided to take the initiative!

  He decided to hire a knowledgeable and experienced assistant for Ma Yang, who would do all the work but not interfere in Ma Yang’s decisions.

  It would be best if the assistant did not even answer Ma Yang’s questions.

  Pei Qian asked, “As a future venture capitalist, do you have any expectations of your job?”


  Ma Yang confidently patted his chest and said, “Don’t worry, Brother Qian! I know it all!

  “Many businesses will hand their proposals to me. In turn, I will transfer them all to professionals, who would then brief me on which ones had potential and which ones didn’t.

  “I would filter out the scammers first! Then, I would ask them to point out to me the ventures that had the most potential and then invest heavily in those!”


  Pei Qian was speechless.”…”


  Now that you said that, I don’t want to hand the investment firm over to you anymore.

  Ai, Old Ma… when will you finally understand your role?

  Pei Qian shook his head. “You cannot do that. You cannot allow your assistant to shortlist the proposals. You must do it on your own!”


  Ma Yang looked confused. “Huh? Why? I know nothing about this.” Pei Qian said solemnly, “You might not understand the figures, but you definitely understand what a heart with a dream looks like!

  “Think about it. How would small companies with lofty dreams have the energy to do up their investment proposals?

  “Dreams are often up in the air and filled with emotions. How can one write them in detail and reduce them to cold, hard numbers so that they look realistic and pragmatic?

  “If someone else filters the proposals for you, they would have to filter out all the small companies with lofty dreams, which really need the money!

  “That’s why you have to do this job on your own!

  “Any well-knit, carefully-worded proposal with detailed and reliable figures is devoid of dreams! The beautifully-worded proposals with missing figures and infectious energy are the ones with real dreams! Dream Realization Ventures would only be investing in dreams if we invest in the latter type of ventures!

  “You must remember this. Hidden inside every unreliable investment proposal is an even bigger dream!”


  A realization dawned on Ma Yang, causing him to nod. “So that’s the case. That makes

  sense!”


  Seeing that Ma Yang was becoming persuaded, Pei Qian kept working hard. “You must remember that the name of our investment firm would be Dream Realization Ventures.

  “Whether we make money or not would not be important, but we must invest in dreams!

  “We can relax on every other standard, but not on realizing dreams. We must insist never to invest in projects that do not contain dreams, understand?”


  Ma Yang nodded profusely. “I understand!”


  Pei Qian could tell from Ma Yang’s expression that his brainwashing attempt had succeeded. As long as no one tried to correct Ma Yang’s understanding, the latter would probably hold onto this mindset for a long time.

  “Brother Qian, I’m going into seclusion for now, then. I’m going to buy some books on investment and try to get a good grasp of the relevant knowledge!”


  Ma Yang looked very excited. Pei Qian was just about to stop him, but when he recalled how Ma Yang had performed even after reading technical books on game design, he immediately relaxed.

  He decided to allow Old Ma to work hard. The harder he worked, the quicker they would fail…


  When he returned to Tengda, Pei Qian approached Assistant Xin.

  “Find me an investment consultant who has a good grasp of investment processes.

  “Don’t stipulate any other requirements except this: no matter what the boss asks, he is not to give any investment advice or influence the boss’ thought process.”


  Assistant Xin’s eyes filled with confusion.

  “Find an investment consultant who will not provide investment advice? Then… what do you want a ‘consultant’ for?”


  Pei Qian answered, “The consultant will just be in charge of administrative tasks.”


  Assistant Xin pondered for a moment and said, “We don’t need to look exclusively for investment consultants, then. We can look for analysts or assistants with experience working in investment firms.”


  Pei Qian nodded. “That works!”


  Boss Pei could not wish for anything more.

  In true Assistant Xin fashion, she did not ask any more questions. “Alright, I’ll find someone now.”


  Pei Qian did not care if the person Assistant Xin found would be an analyst, an investment assistant, or a director. As long as he did not provide Ma Yang with any advice, everything would be fine.

  In the evening…


  Hao Qiong had just gotten off work and was preparing to go home. He felt slightly fuzzy. He had spent the entire day at work playing horror games.

  Director Lin even pulled down the curtains so that everyone could properly experience the horror games in broad daylight. The darkness added to the atmosphere and immersiveness.

  All the employees at Shang Yang Games put on headphones and watched the big screen, fully immersing themselves in the horror games.

  They ended up screaming constantly. What’s more, the screams happened in waves. Every time someone got frightened and screamed, the people around the person would get frightened and scream as well.

  It was almost infectious. The atmosphere was insane.

  Hao Qiong had been terrified, but he had no other choice. Director Lin had given orders. Since their next project was going to be a horror game, every single employee had to play horror games diligently. That would ensure that their horror game would turn out frightening Just thinking about being tortured similarly over the next few days exhausted Hao Qiong.

  Hao Qiong left the office and walked home. He had rented an apartment near the company. It was only a ten-minute walk away and very convenient for him.

  As he walked, Hao Qiong heard someone behind him cough.

  “Ah!”


  Hao Qiong was terrified, thinking that he had just bumped into a ghost.

  However, when he turned around, he realized that he had frightened the other person as well. Both of them jumped in the air, looking at each other in horror.

  The person who had coughed behind Hao Qiong was a working adult in his thirties. At that moment, he looked every bit as scared as Hao Qiong.

  Confused, Hao Qiong asked, “What are you doing?!”


  The working adult looked even more puzzled. “…I only coughed. Why did you have to overreact?”


  Hao Qiong fell silent and realized that he was right. He had played too many horror games at work and ended up overreacting.

  “I’m sorry, I got frightened. I’m sorry, I’m sorry.”


  Hao Qiong apologized and left.

  Suddenly, the working adult stopped him. “Er… Brother, please hold on. Actually, I came looking for you because I had a serious matter to discuss with you.

  “Let me introduce myself. I work in the human resources department of Hengtu Games. My name is Wu Bin.

  “Brother, are you intending to switch companies?”


  Hao Qiong blinked and then realized that this man was a head-hunter. Although he was having a tough time playing horror games at work now, Hao Yun also received a high salary, huge bonuses, and feasts at Ming Yun Private Kitchen. With all these in mind, he shook his head decisively and said, “No.”


  Hao Qiong started to walk away, but Wu Bin quickly stopped him again.

  “Brother! Brother, please hold on.

  “You don’t have to turn me down so quickly. We can go to a nearby coffee shop for a chat. As they say—even if the transaction falls through, we can remain friends. We’re working in the same industry anyway. Let’s get to know each other.”


  Hao Qiong still wanted to leave, but he was a weak-willed man. Unable to fend himself against Wu Bin’s smooth tongue, he reluctantly agreed to go to a nearby coffee shop to chat with Wu Bin.

  Both of them took their seats.

  As Wu Bin wiped the perspiration from his forehead, he inwardly rejoiced about successfully bluffing someone into having coffee with him after working so hard.

  Hao Qiong was not the first employee that Wu Bin had found.

  Before this, Wu Bin had tried emailing, calling, and other means of contacting other employees in Tengda Games and Shang Yang Games.

  However, no one paid any attention to him.

  No one returned his emails, and everyone hung up on him after he introduced himself.

  However, Wu Bin had a mission to accomplish. He was so helpless that he had to resort to the primitive way of standing outside the company’s entrance to wait!

  There were higher chances of success in poaching people if they interacted face-to-face.

  He did some basic research and discovered that Hao Qian was an ordinary employee, who could be considered relatively marginalized in Shang Yang Games. Wu Bin did not think that it would be difficult to poach him.

  Of course, Wu Bin did not dare to go after core workers like Ye Zhizhou or Li Yada. These people enjoyed fame and riches in Tengda. Not only could they produce good games, but they could also earn good money. How could Wu Bin poach them?

  However, this man named Hao Qiong was only in charge of basic, miscellaneous roles in Tengda’s subsidiary, Shang Yang Games. He was probably not paid that well either.

  No matter how good Tengda’s welfare and benefits were, Wu Bin guessed that a marginalized employee like Hao Qiong probably could not be treated all that well.

  He should be able to poach Hao Qiong as long as he offered a generous salary, right?

  Wu Bin had no other choice. His boss had given him orders to poach a few people from Tengda Games so that they could learn from Tengda’s advanced endeavors.

  At that thought, Wu Bin sorrowfully paid for both of their drinks and then prepared to display his gift of the gab. He had to seduce this naive-looking, young man to work for his company instead.