August 17th, Wednesday…
At the DGE Esports Club…
Yesterday, after hearing that Boss Pei had agreed to sell Huang Wang, Team Leader Su immediately decided to make a trip down to Jingzhou today to sign the contract.
It was very rushed, but it had to be. If he waited any longer, he could lose such a good member!
Team Leader Su had come well-prepared. The club’s boss had given orders that, no matter what, he had to buy Huang Wang over!
If negotiations failed, they would pay more. If that failed, they would use the emotional card. If everything failed, they would hug Boss Pei’s leg and cry. In short, H4 had set its mind on setting the transfer of membership fees extremely high, without any regard for the cost.
That was because the H4 Club could already feel the change in wind direction.
GOG was entering the international market extremely strong, and Tengda was casually distributing huge sums of money. Tengda was organizing an international invitational competition for GOG with a sky-high first prize. Live-stream platforms were beginning to sign GOG players and offering them very attractive sign-on fees…
All of those signs showed that GOG would definitely become the next big thing in esports.
Tengda was ambitious, the live-streaming platforms were focused, and the player base was big enough.
Thus, after the H4 Club’s management conducted some research, it decided to plug the gaps in their own team and pull in a strong midlaner!
They had already gotten second place in the previous GOG competition. Since foreign clubs were only just starting to form GOG teams, second in the country could be counted as second in the world as well.
Moreover, the fact that the H4 Club had fought fiercely in the finals for five games before losing showed that they were more than capable enough. They just needed a midlaner who wouldn’t drag them down.
If they could rope in a strong midlaner, wouldn’t they have hope of winning the one million US dollars from this invitational competition?
Of course, the club knew that it would only be taking a portion of the one million US dollars. However, prizes were never the club’s goal anyway: it was fame, exposure, and glory.
If they won the international competition, all kinds of sponsors and live-streaming platforms would come knocking on their doors. Would they really have to fear not being able to make money?
So, the H4 Club had given Team Leader Su strict orders to buy Huang Wang over this time.
“Please hold on, Team Leader Su. Boss Pei will be here very soon. Have some tea while waiting.”
Zhang Yuan served Team Leader Su some tea, which the latter reached out and grabbed immediately. Nodding, he said, “No problem; don’t worry.”
After hearing that Boss Pei was agreeable, Team Leader Su immediately booked his tickets and rushed to Jingzhou at 7 AM. He didn’t know that Boss Pei was still sleeping soundly at that time. He thought that the latter was busy with work.
Team Leader Su sipped his tea as he thought about his mission today. Everyone had different ideas whether the members of the DGE Club were up for sale or not.
Some thought that Boss Pei was not lacking money and had spent a significant amount of funds nurturing this team. It did not look like he wanted to use the club to generate profits, and the club was not even allowed to take part in competitions in any case.
Thus, they guessed that Boss Pei had formed the club to personally play with them. He was probably quite close to them and would not be willing to sell the members.
Others thought that there was nothing in the world that was not for sale: the question was just how much one was offering.
As for Team Leader Su, he thought that both views made sense.
If he wanted to buy Huang Wang from Boss Pei, he had to be prepared to name a high price. That was especially so now, at this critical juncture, when all clubs had their eyes on the influence and prizes of the first international invitational competition.
If the H4 Club continued to hesitate, other clubs might buy DGE’s members over.
Perhaps Boss Pei didn’t care about the actual transfer fees, but he would definitely care about the sincerity that the fees would represent.
Team Leader Su could not help but feel apprehensive. He wondered if the figure that he had prepared would satisfy Boss Pei.
After more than half an hour, Boss Pei finally arrived.
“Boss Pei! How are you?” Team Leader Su stood up and shook Boss Pei’s hand.
“Team Leader Su, how are you?” Boss Pei had a wide grin on his face as well.
Team Leader Su’s heart warmed immediately. Boss Pei was really easy to get along with! Team Leader Su knew very well that he was here with a favor to ask—to buy one of Boss Pei’s members. Thus, he had to be more respectful.
However, he hadn’t expected Boss Pei not to put on airs at all. Instead, he looked very passionate about this matter.
Yet, what he didn’t know was that he was a hero in Boss Pei’s eyes! Boss Pei had been extremely surprised that the H4 Club wanted to buy Huang Wang over.
It was great! He could not thank the H4 Club enough for offering water to put out Tengda’s fire!
The most problematic member of the DGE Club was Huang Wang.
Huang Wang was the biggest threat to Pei Qian because he was very talented in live-streaming. After doing it for a while, he gained Waiwai’s support and became ridiculously popular.
Moreover, after the club’s winning streak in the Performance Competition, Huang Wang became even more well-liked.
If Boss Pei continued to sit back, Huang Wang would lure more and more sponsors to the DGE Club. He might even cause all the other members to start live-streaming, so that the club would instantly go viral.
That was very possible.
Although the other members were not as well-spoken as Huang Wang, they worked out every day and looked presentable. Huang Wang only had to invite them to play a game with him, give them some exposure, and switch on his webcam.
Together with DGE’s name, the other members would also become famous for sure.
Then, it would be too late to turn back!
So, to Pei Qian, Huang Wang was the root of the problem in DGE. The H4 Club was doing him a huge favor by offering to buy Huang Wang over!
If Huang Wang got more and more popular after being transferred to the H4 Club, it would be their problem. Of course, Pei Qian could not go so far as to say that it would have nothing to do with DGE, but at least he wouldn’t drag DGE down with him.
What’s more, Huang Wang probably wouldn’t have any objections. He could not take part in official competitions by remaining with the DGE Club.
Pei Qian could not turn down the transfer of membership fees even though he didn’t want it. If he offered to give his contracted team members away to other clubs for absolutely nothing, he would be breaking the System’s regulations. The System would not allow it.
However, the System would not interfere in negotiations between two parties and whether they decided on a higher or lower price.
So, Pei Qian decided to use his traditional strength—reverse bargaining!
He would allow the other party to name a price first. Then, he would mention Huang Wang’s flaws and allow the other party to lower their offer. He would only accept the offer once the other party reached the minimum.
In short, he would try to earn as little as possible!
Pei Qian, Zhang Yuan, and Team Leader Su arrived in the conference room, ready to commence negotiations.
Seeing how passionate Boss Pei was, Team Leader Su could not help but feel moved. He decided to cut straight to the chase and tell Pei Qian how much the H4 Club was willing to offer for a start as a display of his own sincerity.
If Boss Pei had any questions about the figure, he could slowly raise the price later.
Team Leader Su took a sip of his tea and said, “Boss Pei, I’ve already spoken to Manager Zhang about many issues yesterday. Let’s just cut to the chase today.
“The H4 Club is really lacking a good midlaner so you could say that we are quite desperate! Our club really appreciates Huang Wang, and we’re willing to offer 1.5 million yuan to transfer his membership.
“We’ll also give Huang Wang eight hundred thousand yuan for signing on and eight hundred thousand yuan a year as remuneration. We hope that sounds acceptable to you, Boss Pei!”
Pei Qian’s teacup lingered at his lips. He was stunned.
That much? That figure was much more than Pei Qian had expected.
As Pei Qian recalled, there were esports athletes who earned sky-high sign-on fees that went into eight digits. However, that was only after they had remained in the career for six to seven years. Huang Wang was still a beginner, but they were already offering him so much money.
Based on his memory, when LOL entered season two, the local esports clubs were only giving their members petty allowance. Each team member received a mere few thousand yuan per month, and that was already considered much more generous than other clubs.
Now, H4 was offering 1.5 million yuan as transfer fees, eight hundred thousand yuan as sign-on fees, and eight hundred thousand yuan in remuneration each year?
Were they trying to mess with Pei Qian?
Pei Qian did some quick calculations in his head. The 1.5 million yuan would go straight to the club. If he sold each member for that amount, he would be able to earn 15 million yuan for the entire team, wouldn’t he?
It was ridiculous!
Most importantly, ever since the DGE Club was formed, it had not paid a single cent!
The villa was being rented by Boss Li at a friend’s price, the computers had been provided by ROF, meals were being provided by Fish-Catching Take-Out, and workouts were being done at Deposit Fitness. Ming Yun Villas had even waived their utilities and electricity bills.
The members’ remuneration and travel funds for mock competitions did not amount to much as well!
Accepting sponsors and selling members alone were earning the club tons of money. His club could be considered an utter failure!
After some thought, Pei Qian decided that this was unacceptable. He had to bring up more of Huang Wang’s flaws to drop hints to Team Leader Su.
He pondered for a moment and then said, “Team Leader Su, Huang Wang is a chatterbox. He talks a lot during competitions and might end up distracting everyone else. You have to keep this in mind when you make the offer.”
Team Leader Su was stunned.
What was Boss Pei doing?
From the surface, it looked like… he was picking out Huang Wang’s flaws.
Huang Wang was a chatterbox? That’s right—everyone knew that.
Huang Wang would distract everyone else by talking too much during competitions? Hmm… that seemed to be expected.
Was Boss Pei trying to push the offer down, then?
How could that be?! Obviously, all the team members were Boss Pei’s babies. How could he be pushing the offer down?
Oh, I understand!
Boss Pei’s using reverse psychology to drop hints!
Team Leader Su only had to think for a while before he figured out the true meaning behind Boss Pei’s words.
This was probably what Boss Pei meant when he said that Huang Wang was a chatterbox who might distract his teammates by talking too much during the competition:
Huang Wang was not just a midlaner, but the leader and commander of Team Two! As the commander, he contributed significantly to the team’s battle strategy and was highly influential to each member. That made him a leader akin to the backbone of the team.
Buying Huang Wang would bring more value to H4 than a mere midlaner of the first-tier would!
Thus, he needed to increase his offer!
Boss Pei lived up to his name indeed. Even when pushing offers up, he was polite and respectful.
Having understood Boss Pei, Team Leader Su pondered for a while more. “Boss Pei, we failed to take everything into consideration.
“How about this? A transfer fee of two million yuan, a sign-on fee of 1.2 million yuan, and an annual remuneration of nine hundred thousand yuan?”
Pei Qian was confused.