Chapter 104: Huang Sibo’s Friend from His Days of Hardship

“Today’s shots were very good! Okay, let’s pack up!”

 Following Director Zhu Xiaoce’s command, today’s shooting successfully ended. Pei Qian was already rather indifferent to this. He had gotten used to it! Today’s scene was filmed outdoors, on the streets. They had also casually used the Cayenne that Pei Qian had previously rented.

 After all, if they kept on filming in the office, viewers would easily get tired of it as nothing was refreshing anymore.

 However, regardless of how the theme or setting changed, the core content remained.

 After speaking with Pei Qian the last time, Zhu Xiaoce and Huang Sibo evidently had bought Pei Qian’s thinking; they completely stopped caring about receiving sponsored partnerships that required hard-selling but focused all their energies on the videos!

 Although not every episode could have a high climax and be perfect; at the very least, they could maintain it at a certain standard.

To date, the more popular videos had around six to seven hundred thousand views; the less popular ones also had four to five hundred thousand. As a short video series that had just been released, this was a very impressive achievement!

 After packing up all the equipment, everyone got ready to head back to their homes.

 Huang Sibo spoke to everyone, “You guys can head off first; I have some private matters to attend to.”

 No one questioned further.

 Huang Sibo waved down a taxi as he went to the coffee place that he had arranged to meet his friend at.

 After ten-odd minutes, the taxi reached the place.

 Huang Sibo got off the cab as he looked at the familiar and yet slightly foreign building in front of him almost as if he had been cut off from this world for a long time. This building had three words written on the second floor: Shang Yang Games. This was the game company that Huang Sibo had used to work in.

 Previously, Huang Sibo had been working at the lowest level of the company, helping to do miscellaneous work and rough planning. He had suffered many grievances and hardships; he naturally didn’t make many friends.

 Only with someone else who had been working in the gallows with him did he have a decent relationship with. After all, they were in the same predicament and had weathered hardships together; they more or less felt that they were in the same boat and had bonded.

 When Huang Sibo had passed his interview and entered Tengda—although he occasionally kept contact with this friend, he didn’t mention his work much.

 Why was that?

 On one hand, Huang Sibo had always been doubtful whether he had made a wrong move and entered a swindle company; he didn’t dare to tell his brother about this. After that, realizing how good the company treated its workers while its games had gotten much success, he then felt it was a little awkward to talk about his work as if he was boasting.

 He was afraid that his brother might become mentally unstable.

 After a while, as Huang Sibo had been kept busy by the short videos and this brother of his had had to work overtime constantly, they didn’t manage to find a chance to meet. Finally, now that the New-Year holidays were over, the two had managed to find some time to meet and catch up.

 Huang Sibo sat in the coffee place for a while, and before long, this brother of his arrived as well. He was around 1.7 meters, and he had gone a little out of shape due to the constant overtime. Although he looked a little self-absorbed, he had actually cleaned himself up rather well.

 As for any special traits about him, his hands were very nice, white, and thin. It was obvious he hadn’t really had to work much when he was young.

 “Yiqun, over here.” Huang Sibo raised his hand and waved. This brother immediately saw Huang Sibo and sat down opposite the table. His full name was called Ma Dubiao; however, no one would call him that normally. Everyone called him Ma Yiqun.

 Ma Yiqun was in charge of plot planning in Shang Yang Games. He was a prim and proper Chinese Language and Literature university graduate; his family was all very cultured. This name had been given to him by his grandfather who was a classical literature professor at a university.

As for why he had made the fatal mistake of becoming a plot planner in a games company?

 This story was long.

 Ma Yiqun had been the same as Huang Sibo; they were both the lowest lifeforms in the company. However, Ma Yiqun had lived slightly more like a human than Huang Sibo. Huang Sibo’s job scope was a planner, and whenever the chief planner Old Liu wanted something done, he would pile it all up on Huang Sibo without caring if he could finish or not.

 As a plot planner, Ma Yiqun also had to do much planning work. However, as he had much work to do regarding the plot, his share of the planning work had been lessened. Furthermore, with regard to the plot tasks, he could also dawdle and take his time.

For example, compiling a list of names, writing descriptions; these could be finished in three to four hours. However, Ma Yiqun would take two days to do these and hand it in only on the third day; Old Liu wouldn’t feel that something was amiss.

 After all, when it came to naming, one’s efficiency depended solely on his condition and state of mind; Old Liu wasn’t going to push Ma Yiqun too much.

 Hence, Huang Sibo couldn’t take it and had quitted in rage. While Ma Yiqun hesitated and dragged it out; he had successfully done so for another few months.

 “Sibo, why do you look tanner?” Ma Yiqun sat down as he noticed that Huang Sibo’s complexion was slightly darker.

 “Really? Perhaps it’s because I have been out doing outdoor scenes recently, and I’ve gotten a tan.” Huang Sibo handed the menu over. “I’ve already ordered my coffee. See what you want to drink; my treat.”

 “Outdoor scenes?” Ma Yiqun took the menu over and ordered a latte without much thought. Hearing Huang Sibo’s words, Ma Yiqun was a little bewildered. He had never heard of game development to be done outdoors.

 “Oh, I forgot to tell you. I am not in the game industry anymore; I am shooting my own short videos. Have you seen Boss Pei’s Daily Life? That’s what we’re shooting now,” Huang Sibo said.

 Ma Yiqun’s eyes widened.

 “Boss Pei’s Daily Life is being done by you guys? Damn! This short video series has been rather popular lately; I have been keeping up with every single episode! What is your role? Scriptwriter? Props? Why aren’t you a guest actor or something?”

 Huang Sibo laughed and said, “I don’t have the gift for acting. My role is… I don’t want to say it specifically. In any case, I have to run here and there; I’m like a partner, I guess.”

 “That’s good; it seems as if Sibo… you have found a suitable industry for yourself. Congratulations.” Ma Yiqun was truly happy for Huang Sibo.

 “I think that you can as well. Your novel…” Ma Yiqun gestured as he interrupted Huang Sibo. “Aye, let’s not talk about that.”

 He took another good look at Huang Sibo and realized not only did Huang Sibo look very good, but he seemed to be filled with drive and vigor. “It seems as if you have experienced much these few months? You look and feel quite different. Quick, fill me in.”

 The coffee arrived very soon. Huang Sibo sipped his coffee, “Let’s talk about you first; how’s the company?”

 “How good can it get? It’s the same as before; it’s rather dead and stagnant.” Ma Yiqun’s expression grew slightly pained. As he was meeting his friend that had gone through hardships with him, Ma Yiqun finally stopped suppressing his feelings and thoughts as he started to vent.

 “A while back, Old Liu seemed to have gone crazy; he was adamant about fixing an 888-yuan price on a saber in the new edition of our game! The crux was… this saber wasn’t anything rare. If it was a limited edition and a one-and-only item, I’d agree with that pricing. However, there’s a hundred of them, and they are all selling for 888; isn’t that a little crazy?

“In the end, Old Liu refused to give in; not even one yuan less!”

 “After that, we found out that he had been fixated on Ocean Stronghold and felt that if the Red Kilin could sell for that price, our saber could as well! In the end, when we released the new edition, as expected, we were scolded bloody by players! The boss gave Old Liu a severe dressing down. Even when we were at our desks, we could hear the shouting from the meeting room…”