Chapter 1662 Maybe Tengda Would Be Better Off Without Me?

October 20th, Sunday.

Nameless Restaurant.

Today was the day Tengda Group had reserved the entire restaurant. Heads of various departments gathered, eating snacks and drinking tea, waiting for President Pei's arrival.

Although the 20th of every month was a fixed date for group meals, today's gathering of department heads felt unusually different to everyone.

Yu Fei was one of the most junior of these heads, so he wasn't particularly aware of the current situation. He turned to Huang Sibing, who was sitting next to him.

"Brother Huang, everyone's saying President Pei might have an important announcement to make. Why? Isn't this just a regular gathering?"

Since the game and movie *You Choose the Future* were a great success, the novel Yu Fei wrote with the same name was also very popular.

For readers, Yu Fei's transformation from a novelist to a game producer was a huge success. Many even advised him to stop writing novels and focus on making more good games!

As a result, Yu Fei was now in a dilemma. He felt that he was able to make such a game mainly because of President Pei's guidance. He didn't think he had much real skill. But on the other hand, he felt he was slowly experiencing the joy of game development. It didn't seem bad to continue as a game producer and write novels on the side.

Especially in Tengda Group's unique atmosphere, he could grow rapidly under President Pei's guidance, which made him feel that his current state was quite good!

But this seemingly regular gathering of department heads gave him an unusual feeling, so he wanted to find answers from Huang Sibing.

As one of the veterans of Tengda Group and among the first employees to follow President Pei, Huang Sibing was obviously more perceptive of the undercurrents than Yu Fei.

He took a sip of tea and said, "Actually, after the success of the *You Choose the Future* game and movie, President Pei hasn't been to the company much for over half a month."

"Even when he's at the company, he just stays quietly alone in the president's office. He rarely calls the department heads to give instructions, ask questions, or assign work."

"Although this seems like a regular gathering, since President Pei is personally attending, he must have something very important to announce."

Yu Fei suddenly understood. "Oh, is this what you often call President Pei in times of success?"

"Does that mean President Pei is going to find a way to develop new businesses or carry out in-depth reforms of the company in the next period?"

Huang Sibing shook his head slightly. "I don't think it's that simple."

"It's true that President Pei always thinks about the next stage of problems when he's successful, but President Pei's reaction this time is a little abnormal."

"After each previous success, President Pei was often able to quickly give the next stage of planning. But this time, President Pei has been thinking for a long time and hasn't asked the heads of departments for their opinions. This shows that what President Pei is thinking about is probably not business-related, but some deeper and more complex issues."

"And at this gathering of department heads, President Pei may announce the next stage of his plan."

"This plan may be very bizarre and unexpected, so be prepared."

Yu Fei nodded, gaining a clearer understanding of the current situation.

He carefully reviewed the work of Tengda's game department in recent months, while also speculating on what kind of brand-new plan President Pei would give.

As they were talking, President Pei arrived.

The heads of departments stood up to greet him, and President Pei waved for them to sit down.

Yu Fei carefully looked at President Pei and found that his expression was a bit serious. He hadn't seen President Pei for a while, and he seemed a bit haggard. He wondered if it was just his imagination.

Perhaps President Pei was indeed thinking about very complex issues, which was why he had spent so much energy?

Pei Qian looked around at everyone and then said, "I've invited everyone to dinner today to talk about two small things. They're not really related to the company's business, but it's good for everyone to know."

The department heads all listened carefully. Although President Pei said they were small things, everyone knew that they definitely wouldn't be small! Otherwise, he could just send out a notice. There was no need to make such a big show.

Pei Qian said, "The first thing. In the next two months, that is, until the end of December, each of our departments will carry out a negative profit activity."

"In other words, we will try everything possible to give users benefits, expand production, lay out new industries, and so on, to make the profits of each department negative."

"Without affecting the company's cash flow, we will minimize profits as much as possible and maximize the turnover rate!"

"In the future, we will have such an activity at the end of each year. Everyone must always remember that Tengda doesn't need to keep so much useless money in its accounts!"

"Because having funds lying in the account represents a huge waste of resources we are causing. All departments must remember this."

"In the future, each department must not only be able to make money, but also be able to spend money!"

"The second thing. From today onwards, everyone should try to get used to smoothly advancing all work without me. Let Tengda Group continue to develop along its previous path."

"Because I won't be coming to the company for the next two months."

"And from January next year, I will be leaving Jingzhou."

"I may go anywhere in the world for a year, but even after a year, I may not necessarily come back."

"So you have to get used to the company without me."

As soon as he said this, the department heads were in an uproar.

In fact, many of the heads had already prepared themselves, thinking that President Pei must have an important matter to announce this time, but no matter how well they prepared themselves, they could not have imagined that President Pei would say such a thing!

Although this negative profit activity was a bit strange, it could still be understood in terms of Tengda Group's corporate culture and values. The heads of departments could come up with many explanations themselves.

For example, to pay attention to social responsibility, to return wealth to society, to always pay attention to the rate of capital turnover, and to ensure the speed of the company's development, and so on.

For the heads of departments, the amount of money each department spent and earned was originally coordinated by President Pei. Now that each department was changed to spending money on its own, although there would be some inconvenience in terms of overall coordination and efficiency, it was clear to the heads of departments that this gave them more power and made them more comfortable in handling the work of their own departments.

The key was the second point.

President Pei was actually going to leave Tengda Group!

First, he wouldn't come to the company for two months, and then he would leave Jingzhou for a year, and he might not even come back after a year.

How could this work?

Although Tengda Group was now a giant company with businesses covering all fields, extending to the whole country, and even developing overseas, the heads of departments still felt that the company had grown up under President Pei's wings. Without President Pei, wouldn't the company lose its backbone?

It looked like a building about to collapse.

Although the various tasks of Tengda Group were currently being carried out by the various departments themselves, and everyone didn't know whether President Pei had actually read the work reports they usually submitted, President Pei would always come out at critical moments, overcome all objections, and turn the tide, allowing Tengda Group to move in the right direction.

President Pei did the work of a decision-maker, and that was the most important work.

Everyone in the company could be replaced, but President Pei was the only one who could not be replaced!

It was like an empire booming, but the strong and capable emperor suddenly announced that he would no longer attend to state affairs and would bury himself in cultivating immortality. No loyal minister could accept this.

Huang Sibing was especially confused. He raised his hand and asked blankly, "President Pei, do you mean you're going to retire?"

He himself didn't quite believe it.

It wasn't uncommon for a company founder in their twenties to achieve financial freedom and decide to retire, but such founders would generally choose to sell the company before retiring.

But that was mostly because these people felt that the company was already difficult to improve further under their leadership and could not obtain greater development. It was better to retire with success, achieve financial freedom in advance, and look for the meaning of life in other directions.

If a company had already developed into a huge giant, invincible in all fields, and deeply supported by all customers, which founder would retire under such circumstances?

The company was the founder's life's work! With a broad prospect for development, how could this founder be willing to hand over the company to others to operate?

What's more, the so-called financial freedom and retirement. This clearly separated work from life completely.

Only those who thought that work was for earning money and for better enjoying life would think this way.

But for those who regarded work as a lifelong goal, or even the highest meaning of their existence, they would all keep working until they couldn't work anymore, and even after nominally retiring, they would secretly maintain control of the company.

From any point of view, it seemed extremely unreasonable for President Pei to retire at this time!

Pei Qian shook his head. "It's not really retirement. It's just that I won't interfere in the company's specific business unless it's absolutely necessary."

To put it bluntly, he would be holding a position without doing any work, still sitting in the president's seat, but not doing the president's job.

Hearing this, the department heads relaxed slightly.

Fortunately, as long as President Pei was still the president of Tengda Group, everyone would still have a backbone in their hearts, and they would always feel that there was someone to back them up when they encountered key problems.

Yu Fei was the most confused. He slowly raised his hand and asked, "But, President Pei, if you're not in Jingzhou, what should I do if I encounter problems in the company's departmental business in the future?"

Pei Qian smiled slightly. "You can ask Huang Sibing or other heads of departments. If you encounter any problems that are really difficult to solve, the heads of departments can hold a meeting to discuss it. You will always discuss a relatively reliable conclusion."

"There's no need to pursue perfection in everything. For Tengda's current size, it's important to be aggressive, but it's even more important to not forget our original intention!"

"Maybe without my meddling, you can make Tengda Group develop even better?"