CHAPTER 31: CHAPTER 31 LI SILI’S WORK TROUBLES!

After finishing his business, it was time for the lunch break. At the restaurant below the company, he arranged a modest welcome banquet for his cousin. It was just the two of them, and the brothers had a few drinks together.

Sun Dacheng must have been pent up at home for too long, because he drank a bit too quickly. To borrow a line from an old poem: *With enough wine, one’s courage unfolds.* After drinking a bit too much, he became overly excited and very talkative, sharing many stories from his time in Northern Myanmar—tales that you wouldn’t find online.

"It’s no small feat that you made it back alive," Sun Dasheng said with a sigh, patting his cousin’s shoulder. "These stories of yours... if you wrote a book or made a movie out of them, people would probably love it. Getting it approved would be tough, though."

After the meal, they took a short break at the office. Then Sun Dacheng was back to work, full of energy. He had to live up to the high salary his cousin had offered him—an annual salary of 300,000 as the department head. He was mainly in charge of the short video filming and operations. The live broadcasting side was now Yu Xiaoqiang’s responsibility.

The filming equipment was purchased soon after, with the full set costing nearly a million. A single lens cost a cool 500,000. It was a RED Komodo cinema camera, after all—the fighter jet of cameras. Using it to shoot a short video was like using an anti-aircraft gun to swat a mosquito.

The shoot went smoothly, and they filmed several clips in one afternoon. But after editing them on the computer, they ran into another problem.

"Bro, the file size is too big. We can’t upload it to the short video platform." Sun Dacheng hadn’t considered that equipment could be *too* good.

"How big are the files?" Sun Dasheng asked.

How large can a video of a few minutes be? My phone has 1TB of storage and can hold tons of movies that are over an hour long.

"A single video is a full 1TB," Sun Dacheng replied dejectedly. He hadn’t even had a chance to show his skills, and his first shot was already a dud.

"How much?" Sun Dasheng thought he must have misheard.

"And that’s the smallest one. The longer ones are almost 2TB. Besides, the platform doesn’t even support 8K HD."

Sun Dacheng looked apprehensive, afraid his cousin might get up and throttle him. He had just joined the company and hadn’t made a single contribution, yet he’d already flushed a million down the drain.

"Alright, I get it. Just compress the files according to the platform’s requirements," Sun Dasheng said, waving his hand dismissively.

As expected of a ’Wolong and Fengchu’ level talent,

he thought with a private chuckle. When it comes to screwing things up, this guy is a true professional.

Sun Dacheng, for his part, was filled with admiration. As expected of a big boss. He can watch a million go down the drain without even flinching.

"Right, I’ll get back to work," he said, quickly scurrying away.

Thus, the two ’Wolong and Fengchu’, both completely clueless about the industry, concluded their productive dialogue. If any actual industry professionals had witnessed it, they probably would have had an aneurysm.

A knock came at the office door.

"Come in!" Sun Dasheng called out, tossing his mouse aside.

I only played a few rounds of Fight the Landlord and already lost all my beans. Boring!

Li Sili entered. She looked particularly cute today with her light makeup. Holding two cups of milk tea, she handed one to Sun Dasheng. She took a big gulp from her own before speaking.

"Uncle, I heard you bought a really expensive camera just to shoot my videos. The pressure is immense! If the videos don’t get popular, your money will have been wasted."

Sun Dasheng took the milk tea, poked the straw in, took a small sip, and set it on his desk. He laughed. "So even Miss Optimistic feels the pressure sometimes, huh?"

"Hey, don’t underestimate me!" Li Sili pouted. "It’s not like I’m completely heartless."

"Relax. We spent the money on equipment, and the equipment is still here. We can use it to film other things, too. It’s not like it’s going to sprout wings and fly away. It’s a fixed asset."

"Oh, good! Then I’m relieved." Li Sili’s face instantly cleared up, and she beamed with a smile. Then she bounced happily out of the room.

Just then, a system notification popped up.

[Li Sili’s work-related worries have been resolved. Experience Points +1000]

A selection button appeared.

[Convert Experience? Yes/No]

He chose Yes.

[Conversion in progress... You have gained +800 Experience Points.]

Status Panel:

Protagonist: Sun Dasheng

Occupation: Investor

Level: 3 (1000/?)

Experience Points: 800

What a haul! The Level 3 system really is something else!

The investment firm started with ten million in capital. Acquiring Xinli Media cost five million, and another three million was injected as operating funds. That left only two million on the company’s books. For an investment firm, that was practically scraping the bottom of the barrel.

Time to withdraw some cash and replenish the funds.

It wasn’t long before the finance officer came in. "Director Sun, 57 million was just transferred from your overseas account."

The finance officer was also someone arranged by the system, so there would be no problems. He could trust them completely.

"Good. Have Manager Yu from Xinli come see me," Sun Dasheng instructed.

Yu Xiaoqiang arrived quickly. His hair was meticulously styled with wax, and he looked sharp and full of energy.

"Director Sun, what can I do for you?"

"Manager Yu, I’m putting you in charge of the live-streaming division. Do you have any objections?" Sun Dasheng asked.

"You jest, Director Sun. Think of me as a brick for the company—move me wherever you need me."

Despite the smile on his face, I know he’s complaining internally. He used to be in charge of both short videos and live streaming, and now I’ve cut his authority in half. Of course he’s going to have some resentment.

"Alright, stop with the loyalty pledges. I know you’re not happy about this. Don’t bother arguing. It’s not like I’ve never been a subordinate myself. Back then, it was a good day if I *only* cursed out my damn bosses eight hundred times in my head."

Yu Xiaoqiang laughed awkwardly on the outside, but inside, his mind was racing, trying to decipher his boss’s true meaning. There’s that old saying about tough love. If a leader scolds you and criticizes you, it’s a sign they value you and are preparing to give you more responsibility. But if they’re all friendly and approachable, pouring their heart out to you... that’s when you really need to watch your back.

At that thought, a chill went down his spine. Don’t tell me he’s about to fire me!

Seeing the smile freeze on Yu Xiaoqiang’s face, Sun Dasheng chuckled. "Come on, look at you. You’re overthinking things again. I’ve instructed finance to inject another ten million into the company. I plan to spend all of it on your live-streaming division, so I’ll need a proposal from you."

So it was good news after all. Yu Xiaoqiang’s face broke into a wide grin. "Thank you, Director Sun!" He really is ridiculously rich, he thought.

Sun Dasheng picked up his teacup, took a sip, and spat out a stray tea leaf. "So," he said, looking at Yu Xiaoqiang. "Tell me your plan."

Yu Xiaoqiang considered this for a moment before speaking seriously. "There are six streamers in the live-streaming division, but only one has any real potential. My plan is to invest half the money into her and try to build the company another Wang Yumo. With the remaining funds, we can poach some promising talent from other companies."

He then explained, "Wang Yumo was the top streamer who left the company, the one with nearly ten million fans across all platforms."

"The company went bankrupt just because one streamer left?" Sun Dasheng asked.

Yu Xiaoqiang said with some chagrin, "The company got lucky and produced one breakout star. We made a lot of money, but when she left, the company went bankrupt. The previous owner wouldn’t listen to my advice. I warned him several times that having one streamer account for eighty percent of the company’s revenue was too risky and unhealthy."

Sun Dasheng nodded in agreement.

"The streamer with potential I mentioned is named Yu Feifei. She’s the same type of streamer as Wang Yumo. We could use Wang Yumo’s success as a template, spend a lot of money on promoting Yu Feifei, and hopefully create another top streamer."

"Are her chances good?" Sun Dasheng asked.

The confidence on Yu Xiaoqiang’s face wavered. Not wanting to lose this high-paying job, he chose to be honest. "The chances aren’t great. We created the ’biker goddess’ persona for Wang Yumo. She transitioned into it early and reaped the benefits. The online climate is different now, though. Netizens are very critical of that whole ’biker babe’ aesthetic."

"It’s good that the chances aren’t great," Sun Dasheng said, pleased, accidentally saying his thoughts aloud.

"Huh?" Yu Xiaoqiang stood there, dumbfounded.

"Ah, slip of the tongue. I meant, just do your best," Sun Dasheng said, quickly reassuring him. "Do your part and leave the rest to fate. Don’t feel any pressure."

Although it would be even better for me to just burn money on streamers with zero potential, I still need my subordinates to actually do the work. They aren’t NPCs. If I give them an order that’s too outrageous, they might just quit on the spot. I’ll have to wait until I have more ’Wolong and Fengchu’ types working for me before I try that.