Everyone was starting to feel a little embarrassed!
The company had already set them up with high-end computers, paid them overtime, issued project bonuses, and covered every snack and reimbursement under the sun.
And now, even in-game purchases were getting reimbursed? What kind of fairy-tale workplace was this??
Perhaps sensing their hesitation, Xin Hailu smiled and added:
"Don't be shy, everyone. This afternoon, President Pei will be accompanying us to the mall to celebrate the success of Ocean Fortress."
"Pack up and get ready—we'll leave at 3 PM sharp. A chartered bus will be waiting downstairs."
Pei Qian had long anticipated this kind of reaction.
He was especially worried that some employees might feel awkward about using the full 3,500 yuan "special reimbursement."
So, he was going to personally drag everyone to the mall and make sure they used every last cent of both the shopping card and the reimbursement budget!
After all, he was currently in emergency money-burning mode, and the system would replenish whatever he spent at the end of the cycle. If he didn't burn it, that'd be a total waste!
He ran a quick calculation.
System funds currently stood at around 1.1 million yuan.
This month's payroll and bonus expenses came out to about 400,000+, the shopping cards cost a bit over 30,000, and if everyone maxed out their special reimbursement quota, that'd be another 100,000 or so.
Add in Pei Qian's own personal spending—maybe another 100,000+?
When he added it all up, there was real hope of generating a financial loss with this blitz-spending strategy!
Unfortunately, the office rent had already been paid at the beginning of the month, and he couldn't pre-pay next month's rent…
Still, Pei Qian grew more and more pleased as he crunched the numbers.
Thus, a decision is made—he's going to take everyone to the mall and burn money like there's no tomorrow!
Everyone must max out that 3,500 yuan reimbursement. Not a single cent can be left!
Around 3 PM, the whole group arrived at the mall by bus.
After getting off, Pei Qian clapped his hands to get everyone's attention.
"Today, we're celebrating the success of Ocean Fortress. Everyone's worked hard, so this is your reward—paid shopping time!"
"You must spend the full 1,000 yuan on your shopping cards, and you must max out the 3,500 yuan special reimbursement too! If even one person doesn't spend everything, no one gets to leave!"
"Alright, off you go!"
The employees looked at each other for a moment—then broke out in a cheer.
"Awesome!!"
"Thanks, President Pei!!"
Several young folks immediately bolted toward the nearest store counters.
Paid shopping time? This was wild. What company does this kind of thing??
And this wasn't just a dinky little mall—this was the biggest one in Jingzhou!
And they weren't limited to just the 1,000-yuan shopping card and the 3,500 reimbursement—they had their salaries too!
Everyone had just gotten a hefty pay raise, and many had received fat project bonuses. Most had been sitting on cash for a while, and there were definitely things they'd been eyeing.
Pei Qian soon noticed the team had naturally split into several groups, each dispersing on their own routes.
The first to rush off were obviously the ones with the strongest shopping instincts—no problem burning cash there.
Those who strolled casually into stores and browsed would take a little longer, but they'd likely spend their quota in the end.
But that final group of slowpokes, hesitant and disinterested in shopping…
Pei Qian knew he'd have to keep an eye on them.
These were the ones most at risk of not spending enough.
That kind of indecisive, money-hoarding mindset? Totally unacceptable!
Huang Sibo, Xiao Lu, Lin Wan, and Ma Yang eventually lagged behind, becoming the last stragglers of the group.
Pei Qian locked onto them for special monitoring.
Aside from Lin Wan, the other three just weren't big spenders. They had low material needs and little shopping desire.
As for Lin Wan… she genuinely didn't think she needed anything. If she had, she would've bought it already—no reason to wait until now.
To her, watching Pei Qian was way more interesting than shopping.
In Lin Wan's eyes, Pei Qian was an extraordinary boss.
He wasn't just handing out shopping cards and giving everyone a personal reimbursement fund—he was even taking the whole team to the mall to shop in person?
This was beyond considerate.
Was this the legendary "gentlemanly CEO" type?
. . . . . . .
A few of them wandered aimlessly through the mall and soon arrived at the Shenhua Digital store.
As the country's largest tech and hardware manufacturer, Shenhua Corporation also dabbled in real estate and high-tech industries, but its core business was still digital products—computers, phones, headphones, and the like.
Xiao Lu picked up the latest flagship smartphone and was clearly reluctant to put it down.
In Pei Qian's opinion, compared to phones from the same period in his past life, these were actually pretty decent in terms of appearance.
Back in 2009–2010, smartphones hadn't yet become mainstream. The market was full of all sorts of quirky models—plenty still had physical buttons, and quite a few even had full QWERTY keyboards.
But in this world, smartphones had become popular earlier, so most models were already full-touchscreen. They were about 2–3 years ahead of his past life—kind of like early-gen Xiaomi phones in terms of vibe.
Xiao Lu was currently holding a Shenhua G9, one of the few phones on the market geared toward mobile gamers, priced at 3,999 yuan.
He stared at it for a long time… and then quietly put it back.
Pei Qian was immediately displeased.
"What's wrong? Don't like it?" Pei Qian asked.
Xiao Lu quickly explained, "Uh—no, it's not that. I just feel like my current phone still works fine for another year… and 3,999 yuan is a bit steep…"
"Steep? Use your special reimbursement!" Pei Qian said bluntly.
"Huh? President Pei, that counts under special reimbursement?" Xiao Lu was baffled. "But buying a phone like this doesn't really have anything to do with work..."
Pei Qian shook his head. "How is it not? We're not ruling out developing mobile games in the future, are we? What if we want to do a new version of Ghost General? What's wrong with buying a gaming phone as a test device?"
"Uh…" Xiao Lu was momentarily speechless.
"Your special reimbursement quota is 3,500 yuan. Use that, and cover the remaining 499 yuan with your shopping card. Perfect fit."
Xiao Lu blinked. "But…"
"No buts! You don't want this phone? You've been using that G6 from two years ago—it's practically running PowerPoint at this point! I've got to call you out on this. Using a phone like that? Totally killing your productivity."
"If I need to reach you one day and your phone lags out? That's delaying work! For the good of the company—replace it now!" Pei Qian said sternly.
Xiao Lu had no choice but to nod. "Okay, President Pei!"
He picked up a brand-new, unopened phone from the counter with visible excitement and headed off to pay.
"Remember—3,500 yuan on your reimbursement card, 499 yuan on the shopping card. Then give the receipt to Assistant Xin for reimbursement!"
"Don't use your own salary!"
Watching Xiao Lu go pay, Pei Qian still felt unsatisfied.
He turned to Huang Sibo. "Your phone looks like it's about due for a replacement too?"
Huang Sibo quickly waved his hands. "No need, President Pei. I just got mine two months ago—"
"But that's a Youth Edition! You know what Youth Editions are? Digital trash, that's what," Pei Qian said, calling it out on the spot.
"No really, President Pei, I've got other stuff I want to buy." Huang Sibo still politely declined.
Pei Qian nodded. Well, if he's planning to spend it elsewhere, fair enough. As long as the money gets spent.
Then he turned to Lin Wan—only to see her lift her left hand and casually show off her Shenhua M10.
It was the latest flagship business model. Even the base version cost over 5,000 yuan, and judging by the unique colorway on hers, it was probably a high-end variant.
Lin Wan said, "I already own pretty much everything in this store, President Pei."
Pei Qian: "…"
<+>
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