I was exposed for adding my female boss to my group of female friends.

"You're the ones buying traffic online to smear us, aren't you? We just refused you, is it really necessary to go and sabotage us like this? Be careful, or I'll tell my dad."

Chen Ya gave up trying to persuade Gu Yuqing, plopped down in his chair, and sat down to watch her performance.

"Oh dear, how could we dare? I don't even know which way the door of an online troll organization opens."

Gu Yuqing put her hands on her hips: "Of course you didn't know, you just sent your men to do it!"

"No, really. Even if our Pearl Factory is desperate, we wouldn't dare offend you, Miss Gu." Ge Dongzhen's tone was a bit strained, and he lowered his voice, saying, "Don't tell anyone about this. This is just a guess. I suspect it was done by the E Factory."

Gu Yuqing put down her phone, winked at Chen Ya, but then pretended to be disbelieving and said into the phone:

"Are you trying to sow discord? We've never even had any contact with E'chang, and we haven't offended them at all, so why are you trying to smear us?"

Ge Dongzhen lowered his voice a little more and said:

"So I'm just guessing. This matter... let me just say it: E Factory has always operated in this way."

"Hmm?" Gu Yuqing gestured for him to continue.

"When Hubei factory shows interest in a newly emerging studio, it usually likes to make a show of force by hiring some online trolls to smear it first, and then it's much easier to negotiate the price."

Gu Yuqing's eyes widened: "There's such a thing? How come I've never heard of it before?"

“If you’re not in the industry, who would know about this? Even if you did, who would dare to talk about it?” After saying this, Ge Dongzhen added, fearing that he would be exposed, “I’m just guessing, and I’m not responsible if I’m wrong.”

After saying that, he immediately hung up the phone.

After hanging up the phone, Gu Yuqing immediately turned to Chen Ya and said, "I knew it was E Factory that was behind this!"

“You didn’t say that just now,” Chen Ya said.

"So what if I didn't say anything? I'm saying it now." Gu Yuqing's expression was like a kitten throwing a tantrum. "How can they be so domineering?"

“There’s no other way to be domineering.” Chen Ya lay back comfortably in the chair. “Anyway, we’re going to offend them, so this is the only option.”

"If we let them mock us like this now, won't our future publicity efforts be at a huge disadvantage?" Gu Yuqing frowned.

"Publicity and marketing?" Chen Ya laughed when he heard the word. "We don't have any money left for publicity and marketing."

While it would be an exaggeration to say there was absolutely no money for publicity, the budget was neither too good nor too bad, leaving little room for publicity.

This almost silenced Gu Yuqing.

She rubbed her forehead for a long time and squatted on the ground for a long time before looking up and saying, "I also want to tell you today that the Pearl Factory has invested in the Donghuang Qixing project."

"Hmm." Chen Ya replied casually, seemingly unconcerned about the news.

“If this continues, I’m starting to doubt how we can win that project. I’m even thinking, what if the project fails? If the project fails, you’ll have no choice but to be kept by me to make ends meet.”

Chen Ya remained calmly fiddling with his phone: "Okay."

"Huh?" Gu Yuqing chuckled for a moment before suddenly coming to her senses. "What did you just say?"

“If the project fails, I’ll have no choice but to be your sugar daddy,” Chen Ya said. “But our project won’t fail.”

Chapter 362 Now we have no choice but to go our separate ways.

"If my project fails, I'll be taken care of by a sugar daddy, but my project won't fail."

Perhaps because he read too many action-packed comics as a child, Chen Ya always speaks with a confident and very straight-man-like tone.

Gu Yuqing immediately lost the mood to flirt.

“I know someone at the Echang factory, let me ask around for you.”

"Thank you, but no need."

"Huh? Why?" Gu Yuqing stared at him.

Chen Ya smiled.

"Whether they did it or not, it won't change the outcome. It's just a matter of facing the choice: whether or not to side with the E factory."

Gu Yuqing looked at him: "Have you already made up your mind?"

"I know that, given the current situation, we have no funds, our budget is extremely tight, we're being smeared by online trolls, and Donghuang Qixing is chasing us from behind. If we joined forces with Echang, these problems could be solved instantly, but unfortunately..."

Gu Yuqing said, "What's a pity?"

“Unfortunately, I don’t like it,” Chen Ya said.

Gu Yuqing rolled her eyes at him.

"As a boss, can't you be a little more professional? Are you making decisions just because you don't like them?"

Chen Ya laughed and said, "My intuition is very accurate. If I don't like something, it means my intuition tells me that this choice is wrong. You have to trust your intuition."

Gu Yuqing blinked: "Do you decide whether you like someone or not based on your intuition?"

"Ah."

"Well……"

Gu Yuqing rested her chin on her hand, a thoughtful expression on her face, as if she wanted to say something, but in the end she said nothing.

In the end, she still made a phone call for Chen Ya to ask about her connections at the Hubei factory.

As a family-oriented heiress, she has her own unique way of socializing.

However, after making the call, Gu Yuqing was furious because the "acquaintance" from the Hubei factory didn't really give her any face.

Not only did they not get anything out of them, but their words also carried a hint of sarcasm, as if implying that they were deluding themselves.

The young lady's social skills failed, which greatly annoyed Gu Yuqing.

Something was amiss, and she didn't give up. She consulted several well-informed people and made inquiries, finally uncovering the reason:

The E-factory is also developing a flagship open-world game.

Moreover, their project has been in the works for quite some time.

Chen Ya's prediction was indeed correct—after Ning Tiandu's Wild Legend became a hit, the game industry did indeed begin to enter the open-world market.

Zhu Factory was interested in Beichen's technical expertise after watching their debut PV, which is why they came to recruit them. Since E Factory had already made this move, Beichen's position was dispensable.

For E-Chang, he is not a teammate but an opponent. It may take some effort to win him over, but it is always better to kick him while he's down.

Now things are really messed up. First there's the flagship open-world mobile game developed by Hubei-based company E-Chang, and then there's the game invested in by Zhu-Chang chasing after it.

The two ends are blocked, and the flowers in the Pearl River Delta and Hubei Provinces have bloomed.

Before I even had a chance to get a headache, Ishikawa Takashi came over again with his phone.

"Brother Ya, Zhang Weiqiang said yesterday that he wanted to contact you to talk about what we discussed yesterday."

"Zhang Weiqiang?"

Chen Ya was somewhat surprised to hear that name again.

He acted rather arrogantly yesterday, saying he was going home to think about it, but in the adult world, those who know, know; even if he disappears without a trace, it wouldn't be strange.

I didn't expect him to call back. Whether he accepted the invitation or declined, he was very polite.

Chen Ya took the phone and said, "Hello?"

“Mr. Chen,” Zhang Weiqiang’s voice came from the other end of the phone, “After careful consideration last night, I have finally made up my mind.”

Chen Ya said, "Really? Then what are your thoughts on the outcome?"

“I’ve decided to accept your invitation,” Zhang Weiqiang said, his tone somewhat pleased.

"That would be perfect."

Chen Ya breathed a sigh of relief. This was one of the few pieces of good news he had heard today.

"You should know that I am actually half financially independent now. My career choices are more inclined to be places where I can use my talents rather than just making money. I hope that my joining can inject new energy into your fledgling team."

Chen Ya both smiled and frowned. Zhang Weiqiang's words were a bit hypocritical. If he really didn't care about how much money he made, he wouldn't have spent so much time negotiating with him about salary and benefits yesterday, and even had a little unpleasantness.

However, he was also understanding. Zhang Weiqiang's age was already a bit too old for a technician.

Moreover, in this industry, new talents emerge one after another, so how can one guarantee that they will always have a technological advantage?

If you can't find a long-term, high-quality job at the end of your career and transition to management, your future prospects may not be so bright.

Zhang Weiqiang then said, "Mr. Chen, if I join your team, in addition to what we agreed on yesterday, I have one more condition."

"What are the conditions?" Chen Ya frowned slightly.

"I don't want to join the company just as a technical staff member. I want to be in charge of the overall framework, art, story, and other aspects of your game."

Upon hearing this, Chen Ya immediately replied, "Ah, then there's no need. I'm currently handling the game's production myself, so there's no need to trouble you."

Zhang Weiqiang was a little doubtful: "You're going to do it yourself? You're so busy with work, are you sure you can handle everything?"

"You don't need to worry about that," Chen Ya said politely but with a hint of sarcasm.

Zhang Weiqiang said, "Mr. Chen, I think you may not be very familiar with my talents. In the later stages of my work at NAVIDIA, I also led a team all by myself. I have strong team management experience."

Zhang Weiqiang thought Chen Ya didn't believe in his ability to lead a team, which was why he rejected him, so he quickly added.

"The team I lead at Navidia is comparable in size to your company, and their overall management level is also quite advanced..."

"No need." Chen Ya's tone had turned cold.

Chen Ya wanted to hire Zhang Weiqiang because he valued Zhang's strong abilities in graphics rendering, not because he wanted to bring back a big shot.

The development of the entire project is now entirely his responsibility. He makes all the decisions, from the overall framework of the game to the plot and art style.

That's why the game project's development progressed so quickly.

Game development is time-consuming and laborious because everyone is like a ship sailing on a foggy sea; no one knows how their creation will turn out.

During the development process, a lot of effort is often spent on communication and conceptualization, and every part needs to be refined.

For projects overseen by Chen Ya, this approach is completely unnecessary. He already has a plan in mind, and the employees are merely tools who only need to execute it.

He had absolutely no need to hire a proxy for himself.

Hearing Chen Ya's decisive refusal, Zhang Weiqiang's tone also became harsh:

"Mr. Chen, I'd like to apply for a game development position, not just a technical one."

"I'm sorry, I only found out now," Chen Ya said. "If that's the case, then I'll have to ask you to find another job."

Zhang Weiqiang suppressed his anger and asked, "If I join the company, what position do you plan to assign me?"

"They are our key technical experts in graphics rendering," Chen Ya said.

"Not even the CTO??" Zhang Weiqiang's voice rose several octaves.

Chen Ya glanced at Ishikawa Takashi beside him and said, "Sorry, we already have a candidate for technical director."

"You mean that young punk?" Zhang Weiqiang's voice was getting a little louder.

He figured it out. Well, this wasn't an invitation to join him; it was clearly an invitation to humiliate him.

How could a top-notch technical expert who returned from overseas possibly work under a fresh graduate after returning to China?

Isn't that just getting worse as you get older?

What Zhang Weiqiang didn't know was that Shi Chuan Dong was not actually a fresh graduate.

He hasn't even graduated yet.

Chen Ya said, "Ishikawa Takashi is a very good technical director. He is growing very fast. One day, he will be no less than anyone else."

Ishikawa Takashi was listening to Chen Ya's phone call from the side. Since he couldn't hear what was being said on the other end of the line, he was a little confused by Chen Ya's sudden remark.

What exactly are they talking about that would lead them to praise themselves?

And the way they praised them made them seem rather embarrassed.

The young boy blushed.

Zhang Weiqiang finally lost his temper and said, "No, can you really manage this project by yourself?"

“Mr. Zhang,” Chen Ya said politely, “this is not a question for you to consider.”

"Snapped."

Zhang Weiqiang hung up the phone. He was still very angry afterward.

Chen Ya hung up the phone, and all he could do was feel helpless.

"As a result, there wasn't a single good news today."