Chapter 288: Take the Initiative to Ease President Pei's Burden—Find Something to Do Yourself!
Nighttime.
Qiao Liang opened Aili Island and glanced at the latest episode of Masterpiece Showcase"
As expected, the video had already been rocketed to #1 in the gaming section and #3 sitewide by enthusiastic players.
At this rate, by tomorrow it would almost certainly reach #1 on the entire site.
Satisfied, Qiao Liang clicked into the video to skim through the comments section, enjoying the endless stream of flattering messages from his fans.
Now this… this is what being a top-tier content creator means.
A top-tier uploader could casually post any video and immediately dominate Aili Island's front page!
Feeling proud, Qiao Liang also felt a wave of gratitude toward President Pei.
If not for President Pei's creation of such a hot-topic game, Qiao Liang wouldn't have had the chance to make a video that stood out among the flood of gaming content.
After soaking in enough praise, Qiao Liang was about to close the page and continue editing the first episode of his full walkthrough commentary for Turn Back Before It's Too Late.
Even though part of him wanted to slack off for a while, the game's popularity was peaking—this was the perfect moment to ride the wave and maximize his own exposure.
If every episode of the walkthrough managed to hit Aili Island's top ranking, his subscriber count would skyrocket, and naturally, so would his future sponsorship fees.
He posted a quick social update:
"Production for the first walkthrough episode has officially begun! Stay tuned! Also, I've received a lot of complaints from friends saying their PC specs are too weak to run the game. My advice is to go play it at a high-end internet café. For those in Jingzhou, I highly recommend Moyu Internet Café—you'll get the perfect gaming experience there!"
"(Downside: if you die, you can't blame the hardware anymore, lol.)"
He'd even helped President Pei promote Moyu Internet Café while he was at it—two birds with one stone.
After getting his post out there, Qiao Liang was about to shut the webpage when a private message notification popped up.
He opened it to find a message from another uploader:
"Hello, Teacher Qiao! I'm a Chinese student studying abroad in the U.S., my username is Handsome Hao."
"I'm also a big fan of Turn Back Before It's Too Late."
"I'd like to stream the game on Link Live, and I was hoping to use some clips from your videos—would that be okay? Thank you!"
Qiao Liang blinked in surprise—he actually knew this guy.
Indeed, this Handsome Hao was a real overseas student whose videos were filled with hilariously clumsy Mandarin.
Despite that, his content was pretty entertaining, and he had a decent following on Aili Island.
Qiao Liang clicked on his avatar—it really was the genuine account.
Feeling pleased, Qiao Liang replied right away:
"Of course you can!"
He was familiar with Link Live—a popular international chat app that had recently added a live-streaming feature.
China had ZZ Live, a similar up-and-coming streaming platform.
But compared to ZZ, Link Live had launched earlier overseas, with more polished features and significantly more traction.
If this overseas creator streamed Turn Back Before It's Too Late on Link Live, wouldn't that count as spreading Chinese culture to the world?
Plus, it'd be a great opportunity to befriend him—maybe even collaborate later on!
A perfect win–win situation.
So Qiao Liang immediately gave his approval and added warmly:
"If you run into any issues while playing, feel free to reach out anytime—I'll be happy to help you out."
After all, Turn Back Before It's Too Late was a fairly complex game—it contained numerous side stories and puzzles that incorporated elements of classical Chinese literature and poetry. Qiao Liang figured that with that foreign streamer's broken Mandarin, there was no way he'd be able to fully understand it.
The two chatted for a bit through private messages, got along well, and soon added each other as friends. They agreed to exchange insights about the game from time to time.
The streamer, who went by the nickname "Handsome Hao," also mentioned that he planned to record all his link live broadcasts and upload them to Aili Island later. He hoped that Teacher Qiao could help share them around when the time came.
…
…
October 8th, Friday.
Moyu Internet Café, Huanyu Sky Street branch.
Ma Yang and Zhang Yuan were sitting in the café's lounge area. On the big projection screen, the latest video from Masterpiece Showcases was playing.
"Brother Ma, the business at the café has really been booming lately. I told you, President Pei always has great foresight!"
Zhang Yuan glanced over at the main area of the café—the seats were nearly full. "Do you think President Pei planned all this out? He must've known the game would explode in popularity after release. There'd definitely be tons of people coming to play it, so he had us expand in advance—four new branches, all at once!"
Ma Yang chuckled. "Of course. When has Brother Qian ever gone into battle without being fully prepared? I'm sure this was all part of his plan."
"Speaking of which, I sneaked over to that so-called high-end copycat place, Xingle Internet Café, the day before yesterday. Guess what—it lagged when running Turn Back Before It's Too Late! It couldn't even handle the game smoothly on max settings!"
Zhang Yuan blinked. "No way. Isn't Xingle supposed to have high-end PCs too?"
Ma Yang shook his head. "Not even close. I checked their setup—they totally cut corners. Our machines, including monitors and peripherals, cost over twenty thousand each."
"But Xingle? Their rigs, at best, cost five thousand apiece. How could that compare?"
"They can run Turn Back Before It's Too Late, sure, but only if you turn down the graphics and effects. The experience isn't even in the same league."
"That's why most of our customers are here for Turn Back Before It's Too Late," Ma Yang added. "Ever since the whole Chen Lei incident, Moyu Internet Café already got some name recognition. Combine that with the glowing reviews on Nameless Restaurant and AllReviews—and now our café is a hot topic in Jingzhou!"
"In Jingzhou, when people think of high-performance internet cafés, the first name that pops into their heads is Moyu Internet Café."
"President Pei said he wanted to bring the business back to its roots—and he really did it!"
Zhang Yuan sighed in admiration. "That's President Pei for you. Every move connects perfectly to the next—even temporary losses are just paving the way for greater gains later. He's a genius."
"If things keep going at this pace, the outlook is really promising!"
Of course, both Zhang Yuan and Ma Yang understood that Turn Back Before It's Too Late was merely a catalyst for Moyu Internet Café's growing popularity.
On one hand, the café had already built up solid name recognition in Jingzhou. On the other, its great reputation on AllReviews attracted plenty of curious newcomers.
And since Turn Back Before It's Too Late demanded much higher specs than most regular PCs, many local players found their home setups lagging—so naturally, they flocked to the nearest Moyu Internet Café to enjoy the game smoothly.
The Huanyu Sky Street branch gradually became well-known too. Many guys who came shopping in the area would drop by to kill time—and somehow, that casual foot traffic helped the café's popularity snowball even further.
As the two of them watched the video on the projector, they couldn't help but sigh with admiration.
"President Pei really is a genius!"
"Excuse me, are you two the owners here?"
Zhang Yuan turned around to see a young man standing behind him. He wasn't much to look at, but his clothes screamed money.
Zhang Yuan quickly got up—after all, a customer was a customer. Rich or not, every patron was their bread and butter.
"Can I help you with something?" Zhang Yuan asked politely.
The young man smiled. "Not really, I just really like the setup here. These computers feel great to use. Could you give me the full specs? I want to build a similar rig at home."
Zhang Yuan nodded. "Of course, no problem. Just a moment."
He grabbed a pen and paper and swiftly wrote down the entire configuration.
For Zhang Yuan, these specs were second nature—he could jot them down in his sleep.
"For this case," he added while handing the list over, "the cable management isn't super convenient—is that okay?"
The young man scratched his head. "Uh… I don't really know how to build a PC. Could you help me with that?"
Zhang Yuan: "…"
He was just about to refuse when the guy added, "I'll pay you five hundred yuan as an assembly fee!"
Zhang Yuan: "Deal!"
"Alright then, let's exchange contact info. I'll find someone to handle the build, you just leave me your address—we'll deliver it straight to your door."
"Really? That's awesome! Thanks so much!" The young man beamed, thanked him repeatedly, and left.
Ma Yang frowned, confused. He lowered his voice. "Why not just let him find someone else to assemble it? Why bother going through all that trouble ourselves?"
To him, it didn't make sense. Zhang Yuan was a regional manager for Moyu Internet Café now—why was he going back to doing his old side gig, building PCs for customers?
Sure, five hundred yuan per machine was a pretty generous fee, but given Zhang Yuan's current salary, was it really worth the hassle?
Zhang Yuan smiled faintly. "Brother Ma, it's not about earning a few hundred yuan in assembly fees. I just realized—there's a business opportunity here!"
"Think about it—what if we launch something like 'Moyu Internet Café Official PC', 'Turn Back Before It's Too Late Edition', or even 'Tengda Games Recommended Setup'? Doesn't that sound like a killer marketing hook?"
Ma Yang froze for a moment. "Uh… it does sound catchy. But even if we can ride on the café's popularity, it's not enough. We'd basically be competing head-on with established PC brands—that's not easy."
Zhang Yuan shook his head. "Those prebuilt machines from the big brands are all about cutting corners. There's a massive profit margin there. For players who really care about gaming performance, DIY setups are far more cost-effective."
Ma Yang thought for a bit. "But they have after-sales service."
Zhang Yuan smiled confidently. "We can offer that too—and even include door-to-door delivery! Don't forget, Against the Wind Logistics is also one of President Pei's companies. Why not take advantage of that?"
"There are tons of shady prebuilt sellers online scamming customers. What we'd be offering are genuine, high-quality parts—charging only a bit for assembly and service. If we target high-end customers, this could really work."
"Who knows, maybe we could even spin this off into a new brand someday!"
Ma Yang blinked in surprise. "A brand of our own?"
Zhang Yuan nodded enthusiastically. "I've already got a name in mind—Republic of Faith, or ROF for short. What do you think?"
"In the future, this business could expand alongside Moyu Internet Café and Against the Wind Logistics, gradually covering all of Jingzhou!"
Ma Yang hesitated. "Well… it's not impossible, but do we really need to go that far? Wouldn't it be enough just to run the cafés properly?"
Zhang Yuan shook his head again. "Brother Ma, you're thinking too small!"
"We can't just wait around for President Pei to give us orders and follow them blindly—that's too passive!"
"We need to take the initiative—to share President Pei's burdens and create opportunities ourselves!"
"Sure, you've got a close relationship with him, but Tengda's grown huge. If we don't make some big moves and produce real results, other departments will outshine us for sure."
"If we can successfully expand Moyu Internet Café's business scope, our standing within Tengda will rise right along with it!"
"Wouldn't it feel great to hold our heads high in front of everyone?"
Ma Yang nodded, fully convinced. "You're right, that makes sense."
"We can't just wait for President Pei to call the shots every time. It's about time we took some initiative ourselves."
"You go ahead and handle the PC business. Recruit a few techs for assembly and door-to-door service."
"I'll talk to Lu Mingliang and have Against the Wind Logistics coordinate with us. Let's give this a try!"
<+>
If you want to see more chapter of this story and don't mind spending $5 monthly to see till the latest chapter, please go to my Patreon[1]
Latest Chapter in Patreon: Chapter 294: Keep the Money for Yourself, Don't Transfer It Back to Me![2]
Link to the latest chapter: https://www.patreon.com/posts/144949310?collection=1399284[3]
https://www.patreon.com/collection/1399284?view=expanded[4]
[1] https://www.patreon.com/collection/1399284?view=expanded
[2] https://www.patreon.com/posts/144949310?collection=1399284
[3] https://www.patreon.com/posts/144949310?collection=1399284
[4] https://www.patreon.com/collection/1399284?view=expanded