October 26th.

Zhongdian Chinese Website.

Ma Yiqun had just finished watching the official platform's exclusive interview with Tengda, and a gratified smile filled his face.

Because President Pei had so many outstanding employees, Ma Yiqun didn't get this valuable interview opportunity, nor did he appear in the video.

However, many people in the interview were Ma Yiqun's good friends and close colleagues, so he still felt genuinely gratified seeing this interview.

"That's great, everyone has realized their ideals."

Ma Yiqun closed the official platform's interview video, and the webpage opened below was the author's backend of Zhongdian Chinese Website.

The data above showed that Ma Yiqun's new novel had achieved a good initial subscription of 2,000!

According to the standards of Wuxian Chinese Website, this initial subscription wasn't that great. After all, an average subscription of 3,000 was needed to reach the level of a "classic."

But for Ma Yiqun himself, and the standards of Zhongdian Chinese Website, this was already a very good result!

Ma Yiqun was very clear that the gap between Zhongdian Chinese Website and Wuxian Chinese Website in terms of readership was still very large.

The same book could easily get an average subscription of 3,000 on Wuxian Chinese Website, but on Zhongdian Chinese Website, getting an average of 1,000 would be considered good.

Although Zhongdian Chinese Website had previously benefited from the game *Turn Back to the Shore* and the interconnection of Tengda accounts, making a web novel website popular wasn't something that could be done overnight. The readership needed to be accumulated slowly.

The subsidies that Ma Yiqun received from President Pei were mainly to subsidize this type of book. Books with the potential to become classics could only get an average subscription of 1,000 on Zhongdian Chinese Website, so Ma Yiqun would use funds to subsidize and supplement the author's income.

Based on this data, Ma Yiqun's book being able to achieve an initial subscription of 2,000 on Zhongdian Chinese Website was equivalent to an initial subscription of 6,000 on Wuxian Chinese Website. This was already very good data!

Ma Yiqun didn't give himself additional royalties because he wasn't particularly concerned about them.

In comparison, the most important thing was that his book could gain the readers' recognition!

The experience of writing one flop after another on Wuxian Chinese Website had made Ma Yiqun doubt his abilities, so this time, starting a new book was completely for his own entertainment, and he didn't even give himself too many recommendation slots.

But the initial subscription results were so good, which made Ma Yiqun overjoyed!

This morning, President Pei called again, asking Ma Yiqun to take all the employees of Zhongdian Chinese Website and TPDB website out for a big meal as a reward for their outstanding work performance.

President Pei's tone was very firm, and it seemed like he couldn't be refused.

Therefore, Ma Yiqun had already booked the Swan Lake Restaurant for tonight, ready to take his little brothers for a big meal.

Actually, it would be best if they could go to the No Name Restaurant, but there were no seats available.

"Buzz... Buzz..."

At this moment, Ma Yiqun's phone on the table vibrated.

It didn't show who was calling, just a long string of phone numbers.

Ma Yiqun took a look and saw that it was a familiar number. He originally wanted to hang up, but hesitated for a moment and pressed the answer button.

"Du Biao, you're finally willing to answer my phone?" A voice slightly older than Ma Yiqun's came from the phone.

Ma Yiqun smiled helplessly: "Brother, just say what you need to say."

"Are you still working at the game company?" The voice on the phone asked.

Ma Yiqun was silent for a moment: "Brother, just get to the point. There's no need for formalities between us."

The person on the phone sighed softly: "Du Biao, I know you went into the game industry just out of spite. I've also learned a little about it recently. The domestic game industry doesn't value plot at all, especially not in a place like Jingzhou. Doing this is like using a sledgehammer to crack a nut, a waste of your life."

"Web novels and games are both things that can't be brought to the table. No matter which industry you're in, it's a waste of your talent."

"I just saw our grandfather a few days ago. My opinion, and your uncle's opinion, are the same. You've been working at the game company for so long, it's about time you figured things out, right? Prepare for the postgraduate entrance exam for a year, continue on the academic path, and find a teaching position at a school. It's still completely possible."

"If you really want to write books, it's more suitable for you to take the traditional route. I can provide you with some connections."

"You were stubborn and insisted on taking the web novel path, but you haven't been successful. You should recognize that you don't have the talent for it."

Ma Yiqun's mouth curled up slightly, revealing a smile.

The person on the phone was Ma Yiqun's cousin, eight years older than him.

His cousin was already a member of the local writers' association, and his published physical novels had also achieved good sales, leaving Ma Yiqun far behind.

If Ma Yiqun had answered this call a few months earlier, he might have really been persuaded.

After all, his cousin was a veteran in the field, and after Ma Yiqun entered the industry and joined Shang Yang Games, he saw the extremely unreliable side of the game industry.

During his time at Shang Yang Games, Ma Yiqun had been responsible for reskinning and packaging games. It could only be described as manual labor, with no technical content at all.

He often doubted himself, feeling that he was wasting his life.

After all, coming from a family of scholars, with a proper literature degree from a key university, and with such a successful cousin, it was indeed a little difficult for Ma Yiqun to accept his own situation.

But now, everything was different.

Ma Yiqun smiled: "Brother, you're really mistaken."

"Our latest game has already received promotion from the official platform, and the overseas version is even well-received in Europe and America. Especially the plot, it's very outstanding."

"My new book is also very popular, and it should reach the standard of a 'classic' soon. The readers' reviews are also very good."

On the other end of the phone, Ma Yiqun's cousin was stunned for a moment: "Your new book? When did you start a new book again?"

Ma Yiqun was also stunned, then suddenly frowned.

Huh?

He keenly sensed a very crucial issue from his cousin's reaction.

Ma Yiqun frowned and said: "Brother, I've never told my family my pen name on Wuxian Chinese Website."

Both sides were silent.

Ma Yiqun was very smart and understood instantly.

Something was wrong!

Previously, when Ma Yiqun decided to enter the web novel industry, he encountered some resistance from his family, so he decided to start writing web novels during college to prove himself.

Although he wrote one flop after another, he never told his family what his pen name was.

But today, after hearing that he was still writing novels, why was his cousin so surprised?

Judging from his tone, his cousin obviously thought that Ma Yiqun had stopped writing novels after going to work at the game company, and he was quite certain of it. Otherwise, he wouldn't have been so surprised.

Why was he so certain?

Unless his cousin had known Ma Yiqun's pen name on Wuxian Chinese Website for a long time and had been following his author account!

After a long silence, his cousin finally spoke.

"Ah. Du Biao, I'm sorry."

"You're so smart, I can't hide it from you now. Let me tell you the truth."

"Actually, I'm good friends with a high-level editor at Wuxian Chinese Website."

"The data for your books was pretty good when they were first released, but I asked that friend to change the data. I just wanted you to retreat in the face of difficulties as soon as possible and stop thinking about writing web novels."

"I was just afraid that you would taste a little bit of profit and then go further and further down the dead end of web novels."

"Writing web novels is a dead end!"

Ma Yiqun: "..."

He didn't know whether to laugh or cry.

He was both angry and happy.

He was angry because the culprit had finally been found!

Ma Yiqun had always felt that something was fishy. How could the data for my books be so good in the public chapters, but then immediately die as soon as they were released?

It would be one thing if the data dropped slightly, but to suddenly drop from a book that was originally predicted to be a classic to an initial subscription of 30 was too fake!

But at that time, Ma Yiqun didn't even think about it in that direction. Who would have thought that such a big website like Wuxian Chinese Website would directly change the backend data and target a small author?

Now he knew that he had been schemed against!

Ma Yiqun smiled with some relief: "Brother, don't worry about it. I chose this path myself, and I know how to walk it."

"As for you saying that writing web novels is a dead end, I have a different opinion."

"One day, I will prove it to you."

After hanging up the phone, Ma Yiqun felt much better.

A dark cloud that had been hanging over his heart had dissipated!

If Ma Yiqun had started writing web novels on Wuxian Chinese Website and working as a plot planner at Shang Yang Games with a bit of spite, then now, as the editor-in-chief and person in charge of Zhongdian Chinese Website, Ma Yiqun completely regarded his current job as a lifelong career.

And at this moment, the person Ma Yiqun wanted to thank the most was President Pei.

If it weren't for President Pei's discerning eye, arranging him to the position of editor-in-chief of Zhongdian Chinese Website, how could there have been this series of stories that followed?

Perhaps Ma Yiqun would have always thought that no one was reading his novels, and he would have completely left the web novel circle, slowly losing interest in the game industry, and then followed the old path that his cousin had said.

Therefore, he still had to work hard and not fail President Pei's trust and cultivation.

He must make Zhongdian Chinese Website even more popular!

Thinking of this, Ma Yiqun opened the backend of Zhongdian Chinese Website again and began to work seriously.

...

...

October 31st.

Before Pei Qian's eyes, the system light screen automatically appeared.

[Wealth Conversion System]

[Host: Pei Qian]

[Surplus Conversion Ratio: 100:1, Loss Conversion Ratio: 1:1]

[Settlement in Progress...]

[System Funds: 5.94 million + 840,000 (↓1.22 million)]

[Fixed Assets: A Mingyun Mountain Villa commercial and residential villa (8.46 million)]

[Personal Assets: 485,831.5]

[Special Task for this Cycle: Having both profit and loss is the way of business. The host seems overly obsessed with temporary profits, which is not the mentality a business prodigy should have. It is recommended to achieve a loss in the next settlement. (Completed)]

[Reward for Completing Special Task: A mysterious surprise within the system rules. (Claimable)]

[Settling...]

[Performing Wealth Conversion...]

[System Funds: 5.94 million + 840,000 (↓1.22 million)]

[Fixed Assets: A Mingyun Mountain Villa commercial and residential villa (8.46 million)]

[Personal Assets: 1.83 million (↑1.22 million x 110%)]

Seeing this series of numbers, Pei Qian was almost crying with joy.

It was too difficult!

He finally saw personal assets in the millions!