Losing Money to Be a Tycoon

At noon, all of Tengda’s employees stopped work and prepared to travel to the location where the annual meeting would be held.

Since it would be held at a luxurious hotel nearby, they did not have to travel far.

Two buses had been chartered to send the employees in Shenhua View to and fro. The other employees scattered around Jingzhousuch as Upwind Logistics’ delivery men, Fish-Catching Internet Cafe’s branch managers, and the like-would arrange for their own transportation. They could then claim their expenses from the company.

As Wu Bin sat on the bus to the hotel, he felt slightly muddleheaded.

He hadn’t recovered from the morning’s events and was still pondering hard about why he had failed the Tengda Spirit compatibility test.

“Why exactly did that happen…? “There was nothing wrong with my answers…”

On the way to the hotel, he searched for similar tests using his cell phone. However, he could not find similar questions anywhere, much less answers.

Just thinking about it made him feel guilty. He worked in the HR department, and yet he had to resort to Qiandu to look for answers to a test. It was so shameful.

Yet, he had no other choice. In order to pass the test and obtain tenure, he had to lay down his pride and look for answers on Qiandu! It would not matter as long as he could find the answers!

Wu Bin followed the rest of the crowd into the event location, with his mind still filled with questions. When he looked up, he suddenly realized that the place was decorated very differently from any other annual meeting he had attended in the past.

It was extremely simple!

The hotel was extremely spacious. Each table sat ten, and there were about a hundred tables in total. From this set-up, Wu Bin guessed that close to a thousand people would be attending the meeting.

The tables were all evenly spaced-out; it neither looked too squeezy nor too spacious.

It was different from other companies’ annual meetings, wherein there were no gaudy decorations, display boards, banners, roll-up banner stands, or anything like that. Even the stage did not look like it would be used since it was filled with claw machines and capsule machines.

Furthermore, it was not just the stage that was filled with these machines.

Looking around, Wu Bin realized that the entire event location was filled with different types of them.

There were claw machines, capsule machines, toy gun stands, ring toss stands…

Anyone who walked in might have thought that this was a game hall.

There were a projector and a huge screen, but only a simple yet elegant background for the annual meeting was being displayed. It looked clean and stylish, neither lame nor gaudy.

Wu Bin was not at all interested in the capsule machine, claw machines, and other games that were normally present in game halls because they all seemed like scams to him…

He had once watched a Popular Science video that explained that these games all contained some kind of trick. That was how game halls made money. Take the claw machines for example. Manufacturers could adjust the chances of a stuffed toy being caught.

A few heartless manufacturers would set the chances to one percent. That meant that the electric current through the claw would slowly be reduced as it moved upwards with a soft toy in tow. This would weaken the claw’s grip and cause it to drop the stuffed toy. It would also create an illusion that the player had not gotten a firm enough grip. This would happen 99 times. On the hundredth try, the electric current through the claw would not be reduced. As long as the player aimed accurately, the claw would be able to grip the stuffed toy all the way.

Of course, other manufacturers were more good-hearted; they would set the chances to five or ten percent.

Still, no matter what, the player would never make money; and the manufacturer would never lose money. This was a trap.

Many players thought that they could win prizes because of their luck or technique. However, the fact was that these had all been pre-set by the machine itself.

Thus, Wu Bin had no interest in game halls whatsoever.

However, this situation was obviously different from what he had imagined. Game halls would only be scams if one was spending his own money on them. What if others provided money for one to play? Of course, it would become much more interesting!

A table was set up next to the entrance to the hall. A colleague from the administrative department sat there, distributing tokens.

These were game tokens to be used in the game hall. Each person would be given one bag of fifty to sixty tokens at least.

Ordinarily, one would need to pay ten to fifteen yuan for each try on a capsule machine. However, in this game hall, one game token would be sufficient.

In other words, each token was equivalent to about ten yuan.

The total worth of Wu Bin’s game tokens was about five or six hundred yuan. These tokens had been given to him at no charge, and he could play as much as he wanted. Obviously, this was not a scam like many other game halls were.

Of course, the colleague from the administrative department had also explained to everyone that the entertainment programs were scheduled to take place after lunch. They would only be able to play the games after finishing their food.

Wu Bin felt happy enough after receiving his game tokens, but that was not the end of it. The colleague from the administrative department also stuffed a thick red packet into his hands.

“This is a door gift,” he explained, smiling.

Wu Bin was surprised. “I just joined the company, and I haven’t obtained tenure. Do I really get to keep this, too?”

The colleague smiled and nodded. “Of course! Door gifts are meant for everyone who walks through the door!”

Wu Bin’s heart felt warm immediately.

That was extremely well-said!

Door gifts were meant for everyone who walks through the door!

When Wu Bin had been at Hengtu Games, only employees who had been employed for more than three months could take part in lucky draws; everyone else, including interns, had been excluded.

That was because something extremely awkward had happened before. An intern who had just joined the company had won one of the first-tier prizes, a ten-thousand-yuan laptop, and then quitted the next day.

Since then, the company banned interns from taking part in lucky draws.

At first, Wu Bin had thought that he would not get a door gift or be allowed to take part in the lucky draw. Yet, it seemed like he had been mistaken.

Tengda was not treating him like an outsider; it was not finding ways and means to guard against him!

At that thought, Wu Bin felt horrible for failing the Tengda Spirit compatibility test in the morning

The company treats me so well, and yet I’m not good enough to be one of them.

It feels horrible!

I have to understand the Tengda spirit as soon as possible, so that I can start giving back to the company!

Wu Bin followed the rest of his colleagues from the HR department into the event location and then took his seat. At once, he took the money out from the red packet and counted it.

There were ten red notes!

To Wu Bin, this was a lot. After all, he had only received a shampoo kit as Hengtu Games’ annual meeting’s door gift.

What’s more, it was shampoo for hair loss. Although that had been quite useful for most employees, it was only worth a few yuan.

In comparison, Tengda was so generous even with its door gifts. Wu Bin could only imagine how luxurious the lucky draw prizes would be.

As he fiddled with the brand new game tokens, Wu Bin observed his surroundings.

There was a long table covered with a piece of red cloth on the stage. It looked like there were many things hidden under the red cloth. Wu Bin guessed that those were the prizes for the annual meeting.

As for what exactly they were, Wu Bin was not sure. However, there looked to be many of them since the pile was as high as a mountain.

Soon, almost all the seats were filled up.

It was impossible for employees not to attend Tengda’s annual meeting. Boss Pei had said time and time again that nobody was allowed to miss the annual meeting unless they were so sick that they were bedridden.

Wu Bin had heard before of an employee from a certain company who had missed the annual meeting because he had been working overtime. As a result, he missed the chance to claim his prize from the lucky draw.

This could never happen in Tengda.

Otherwise… the consequences would be dire.

Apart from the employee who worked overtime, even his superiors and department head could be implicated.

Wu Bin glanced at his watch. It was 12.30 PM.

He had just been thinking about when the annual meeting would begin when the waiter served the first dishes.

Wu Bin was speechless.

Wait, is there a mistake in the program?

Ordinary annual meetings would begin with a proper opening, some awkward performances, and a speech from the head of the company. The head would summarize the results for the past year and briefly talk about some goals for the future. Then, after several more programs and performances, the dishes would be served.

Yet, not only had there not been awkward performances, but Boss Pei had not even given a speech!

Wu Bin tried hard to look at the few tables in front and found that Boss Pei had no intention to go on stage to give a speech. Instead, he looked like he was thinking about which dish he should try first.

Wu Bin felt light-headed. This annual meeting was… so practical!

The food was served the moment everyone arrived. There was not a minute of delay!

At that moment, a countdown to the lucky draw appeared on the huge screen.

“Holy sh*t! Is it that straightforward?!”

Wu Bin was giddy.

It was fine if Boss Pei was not going to speak, but a host should at least have warmed the audience up and livened up the atmosphere before the lucky draw, right?

Yet, there was none of that!

The lucky draw segment was going to start right away. A prize would be given out at regular intervals!

Obviously, the employees’ information and pictures had already been entered into the system. A random person would be selected from the database.

The first prizes to be distributed had already been announced. There were a total of three hundred 799-yuan earphones to be given out!

These 799-yuan earphones probably only sounded slightly better than ordinary earphones. However, Bluetooth earphones in this price range were extremely convenient to carry around and easy to use.

Many people would not be able to tell the difference in sound quality. However, having an additional pair of Bluetooth earphones that were convenient to carry around would not be a bad thing. At the very least, they could use it while traveling to and from work.

Thus, everyone looked expectantly at the huge screen, their expressions telling of how much they wanted to win.

There were cool effects, and pictures passed rapidly through the center of the screen. Finally, it settled on a picture of a colleague that Wu Bin did not know.

At the same time, a scream sounded from the corner of the hall. Then, there was applause. Obviously, other colleagues from this employee’s department were congratulating the lucky man.

After that, the picture shrunk and flew to the top-left corner of the screen. Other pictures passed rapidly through the center of the screen once again until another lucky winner was chosen.

One by one, pictures lined up on the screen. Various sounds could be heard all around the hall; there were cheering and sighs of disappointment.

“I won!”

“Wow, Bluetooth earphones! That’s good stuff!”

“A good beginning?”

“Not me… ai, it’s alright, it’s alright. The prizes at the back would be better!”

The applause had been very loud at the start. However, since winners were being picked too quickly and there were three hundred winners of the earphones alone, everyone began to feel tired from clapping.

Yet, although the applause was becoming softer, the atmosphere in the hall was becoming livelier! Soon, everyone in the hall became focused on only two things: eating and staring at the huge screen.

Although there was no host for the annual meeting, nobody felt lost or uncomfortable. Instead, they felt invigorated.

Who wanted to watch those lousy programs anyway?!

Everyone was only interested in winning prizes! For now, three hundred people were being picked for the first prize. That was one-third of the employees present. The cheering rose and fell continuously.

Very quickly, other prizes appeared on the huge screen.

From 899-yuan mechanical keyboards to 1,299-yuan air purifiers, 2,199-yuan sweeping robots and vacuum cleaners… 3,599-yuan game machines…

The prizes were becoming more and more valuable, and the audience was becoming more and more excited!

Wu Bin watched the different prizes flash on the screen and felt increasingly shocked.

How many prizes had been prepared?!

At Hengtu Games’ annual meetings, only four or five types of prizes would have been prepared: the door gifts, the third prize, the second prize, the first prize, and perhaps other special gifts.

Furthermore, there wouldn’t be many of each type; ten or so would be considered more than enough.

Yet, Tengda was distributing prizes as if they were free of charge!

Three hundred earphones and mechanical keyboards had been distributed at first. Subsequently, even as the value of the prizes increased significantly, one or two hundred of them were distributed!

That was far more than any other company would give out for lucky draws!

Wu Bin did a rough calculation for all the prizes that had been distributed, up to the sweeping robots, and found that more than a thousand prizes had already been won.

Comparing that quantity to the number of people present, Wu Bin guessed that everyone had already won something!

Wu Bin had average luck. He hadn’t won anything until moments ago when he won a 2,199-yuan hand-held vacuum cleaner.

Wu Bin had been eyeing this very vacuum cleaner for a long time. It was not he who wanted it but his wife.

It was a well-known, foreign brand. Not only did it look good, but it was also very easy to use. Its only flaw was its expensive price tag.

Wu Bin had considered buying it many times before. However, each time, he had decided against it because it was too expensive.

Yet, now, he won one at the annual meeting!

What’s more, the annual meeting was not over!

From the way the prizes were becoming increasingly generous, Wu Bin guessed that the later prizes would be bigger and more valuable!

He quickly shared the good news with his wife. He had earned big-time from jumping ship!

From the annual meeting alone, he had obtained five hundred yuan worth of game tokens, a red packet containing a thousand yuan, and a 2,199-yuan vacuum cleaner. That was far more than he could ever have won at Hengtu Games’ annual meetings!

A prize worth two thousand yuan would be distributed as the second prize at many other companies’ annual meetings. Furthermore, considering the number of people who would be picked for the second prize, Wu Bin guessed that he would never have won something like that at Hengtu Games.

He had really struck a windfall!

As Wu Bin rejoiced inwardly, he thought about the morning’s Tengda Spirit compatibility test.

Now more than ever, he wanted to pass the test and become a member of Tengda.

As Pei Qian ate, he observed everyone’s reactions.

Yes, everyone looks very happy!

That’s great!

Everyone was happily eating and winning prizes while Boss Pei was happily giving out money. It was perfect.

In any case, since everyone’s goals were aligned, it was not necessary to organize too many programs for the annual meeting. Everyone could eat, win money, and then leave without wasting time.

Pei Qian did not include himself in the lucky draw because he felt there was no need.

He could purchase all the prizes covertly and claim for his expenses from the System. Thus, he did not care for the prizes. He found it much more meaningful to increase his own employees’ chances of winning instead.

Pei Qian guessed that most people had already won a prize by now.

That was because the lucky draw was not based completely on chance. Instead, the probability was being adjusted along the way to exclude people who had already been picked.

Each person could win two prizes at the most. Furthermore, those who had not been picked in the beginning would have greater chances of winning later on.