Restart life

Chapter 204 0201 [President Chen is taking final exams]

"Ahhhh!"

“Pass the ball, pass the ball!”

"Damn it, get back on defense!"

"..."

On the basketball court at Peking University, Chen Guiliang is sweating profusely.

When he was first reborn, he was malnourished and in poor health, so he exercised diligently every day. Since starting university, he has been so busy that he has no time to exercise at all.

After watching NBA highlight reels a few days ago, Chen Guiliang finally decided to get more exercise.

He even decided to organize a ball game in the spring: ByteDance vs. Game Science.

Let the employees stretch their muscles.

"Huhuhu..."

After running for more than ten minutes, Xie Yang was so tired that he bent over, pressed his knees, and gasped for breath.

"Xie Saobang, you should exercise more," Chen Guiliang said with a smile.

Xie Yang felt dizzy and lightheaded: "No... I don't want to talk."

Guo Feng plays basketball with great gentlemanly manners; he strolls around the whole time, behaving like an old man.

On the contrary, Dong Qianqiu, who is less than 1.7 meters tall, ran around the court wearing glasses and his dribbling skills were also very proficient.

"Pass the ball!" Yang Shuo shouted.

Dong Qianqiu didn't pass the ball immediately. Instead, he used a series of feints, dribbling left and right to deceive his opponent. After fooling his opponent, he suddenly tossed the ball into the corner.

Yang Shuo jumped to receive the ball and, relying on the physique he had developed during his military service, forcefully broke through towards the basket.

"Bang!"

Score with a hook shot.

Dong Qianqiu ran over and gave Yang Shuo a high five in celebration.

A male student from the Materials Science Department of Peking University sat on the ground, raised his hand, and shouted, "He charged in with the ball! Foul! Foul!"

Yang Shuo retorted, "You committed a blocking foul."

A game set up on the spot at the stadium will naturally not have a referee.

Chen Guiliang walked over with a smile, reached out and helped the boy up: "Alright, there's no point in arguing about it. I'll treat you to dinner after we finish playing ball."

"Alright, I'll give President Chen some face."

The boy didn't say anything more and went to serve the ball with the basketball.

Another half hour passed, and Chen Guiliang sat on the sidelines wiping his sweat. He was soaked in sweat and exhausted, but the experience of exercising was extremely refreshing.

The two players who were playing basketball together were now sitting on the sidelines, drinking Red Bull that Mr. Chen had bought for them.

A student asked Yang Shuo, "Hey bro, are you on the school team?"

Yang Shuo, who is fierce on the basketball court, is acting honestly at this moment, grinning and saying, "I used to play basketball a lot when I was in the army, and there were basketball games in the army too."

"A veteran?"

"Ah."

"Disrespect, disrespect."

"There are many veterans, but not many Peking University students. I'm sorry, I knocked you down twice before. My skills are indeed a bit rough, and I tend to bump into people when I'm attacking."

"Physical contact is normal when playing ball."

Yang Shuo has been working at the company for half a year and has become increasingly adept at saying polite things.

Chen Guiliang patted his butt and stood up: "Let's go get some skewers."

In the dead of winter, when the weather is too cold, eating skewers turns into eating hot pot.

A few bites of hot pot mutton warmed us up instantly. Those who knew each other, and those who didn't, clinked glasses and chatted.

Halfway through the meal, Qu Guohao called: "The top four teams in the Three Kingdoms Kill College League have been decided. Xi'an Jiaotong University, Shandong University, Sichuan University, and South China University of Technology."

Chen Guiliang laughed and said, "The universities in Beijing and Shanghai are no good; they don't even have a single one in the top four."

The first Three Kingdoms Kill National College League started with preliminary rounds during the National Day holiday, and the subsequent round-robin and knockout rounds were all held online on weekends.

After the top four are determined, the offline competition will be held during the winter break.

The venue has been decided; it will be held at Peking University's Centennial Hall. A venue and equipment rental fee of 1.5 yuan needs to be paid to Peking University.

In addition, meals are provided in the Peking University cafeteria.

Tickets range from 15 to 30 yuan depending on the seating arrangement, and lunch at the cafeteria is included. Small gifts are also provided.

It's purely a case of losing money to gain publicity.

The competition was recorded and broadcast by Gamefy, and also live-streamed on Renren.com and 17173.

Qu Guohao added, "This afternoon, Silicon Valley Power sent me an electronic invitation. 'Three Kingdoms Kill' has been selected as 'Best Domestic Online Game of 2005' and 'Best Historical Online Game of 2005.' I need to go to the event to receive the awards."

"Where is the address to collect the prize?" Chen Guiliang asked.

Qu Guohao said, "It's very close. It's just a few kilometers south of the east gate of Peking University. But it seems you have final exams on the day of the awards ceremony, Mr. Chen..."

Chen Guiliang, holding the phone, asked Dong Qianqiu, who was having hot pot, "Old Dong, you and Guo Feng were the ones who initially developed 'Three Kingdoms Kill.' Are you going to the award ceremony?"

"Is it far?" Dong Qianqiu asked.

Chen Guiliang said, "It's only a few kilometers away from the east gate of Peking University."

Dong Qianqiu nodded: "Okay, I'll go then."

Chen Guiliang picked up his phone and said to Qu Guohao, "Engineer Dong should come forward to accept the award."

After saying a few more words, the call ended.

Renren and Kaixin have won numerous awards, and "Three Kingdoms Kill" is no exception.

However, the timing of the game-related awards is awkward, as most of them are concentrated during Chen Guiliang's final exam period.

The most authoritative event is the "China Game Industry Annual Conference and Awards Ceremony," hosted by the State Administration of Press and Publication. Representatives from ten national ministries and commissions attend, along with more than 200 game companies from mainland China, Taiwan, and Hong Kong.

If the event were held in Beijing, Chen Guiliang could have rushed there after finishing his exams. The problem is that the venue is far away in Xiamen.

...Chen Guiliang naturally took the exam honestly.

Dong Qianqiu only wanted to attend events in Beijing; Xiamen was too far away for him to bother going.

Only Qu Guohao could make the trip.

We must send someone to participate, and we have to be careful. After all, this is an event organized by the State Administration of Press and Publication, with representatives from ten national ministries in attendance. If we offend any of them, we'll be finished.

Upon arriving at the Xiamen venue, Qu Guohao was filled with emotion.

He worked at Yitang.com for several years, and although his position kept rising, he eventually ended up being laid off. He was even at home preparing for his postgraduate entrance exam when Chen Guiliang actually came to his door to invite him to be the general manager of Youke.

It all felt like a dream.

Fortunately, all of Youke's early management personnel are now with ByteDance. The first batch of employees recruited later were also those who were left over by ByteDance.

In terms of ability and industry experience, Qu Guohao is barely able to keep his subordinates in check—except for Dong Qianqiu.

Fortunately, Dong Qianqiu only cared about technology and was not interested in other aspects.

Upon entering the venue, Qu Guohao saw many big names, as well as countless game companies whose names he couldn't recall.

The first morning was filled with speeches from leaders at all levels and big names in the gaming industry.

Among the highlights, the "2005 China Game Industry Annual Report," released for the first time at the event, attracted the attention of all industry professionals: "By the end of 2005, the number of online game users in China had reached 2634 million. The number of paying users reached 1351 million, an increase of over 30% compared to the same period of the previous year… Online game sales revenue reached 37.7 billion yuan in 2005…"

In the afternoon, Qu Guohao attended the forum and gave a long, rambling speech based on a prepared script.

That evening, Qu Guohao sent Chen Guiliang a text message: "I just went on stage."

Chen Guiliang asked, "What did you say?"

Qu Guohao said, "Sing."

"Sing?"

"Yes. Tonight's event is called 'King of Karaoke,' where industry elites from the gaming world perform. It's like a gala for the gaming industry. Zhang Chaoyang from Sohu was the first to sing, and Tang Jun from Shanda also sang a song..."

Chen Guiliang read the text message on his phone, feeling both amused and exasperated.

He really wanted to be there in person and film those guys singing. Ten years later, he'd post it online—a whole lot of embarrassing moments.

The awards ceremony was held the following afternoon.

The hosts are a man and a woman.

The male host is Li Yong from CCTV, and the female host is Chen Ling from Xiamen TV.

The first award is the Game Industry Support Award, which is given to local governments that support the development of the game industry.

The second award, according to Li Yong, is the 2005 China Game Company Emerging Talent Award. The winning companies include…

Chen Ling said, "The9, 9you.com, 17game.com, Game Science, Bailian Technology, Perfect World."

"Zhengtu" was ignored because it was a half-finished game, and no one dared to open more servers.

Qu Guohao and five others went on stage to receive their awards, and one after another they gave their acceptance speeches.

When it was Qu Guohao's turn, he said, "Thank you to the State Administration of Press and Publication, thank you to the leaders, thank you to my colleagues in the game industry... This is an annual grand event for the game industry, and Mr. Chen was originally going to come in person. But unfortunately, he was taking his final exams..."

"Hahaha!"

A burst of laughter erupted from the audience, and the leaders from the State Administration of Press and Publication and the ten ministries also laughed.

A female leader asked the person next to her curiously, "Why are we still having final exams?"

The person standing nearby, a deputy director, immediately shook his head and said, "I don't know."

The leaders of the State Administration of Press and Publication knew what was going on and explained to them: "The owner of Game Science is Chen Guiliang, a sophomore at Peking University, who is taking his final exams these days."

The sound was neither too loud nor too soft; all the ministry leaders sitting in that area heard it.

One leader was both amused and exasperated: "Young people these days just don't understand."

Another leader asked curiously, "Are the games under his company very popular?"

"It's extremely popular; it's a board game/card game," a leader from the State Administration of Press and Publication explained.

At this moment, Tao Chenggang began to speak: "Thank you to the State Administration of Press and Publication, thank you... thank you to my entrepreneurial partners... I would also like to especially thank Mr. Chen Guiliang, who not only invested in 'The Reign of Power' during its most difficult time, but also gave a lot of unique game suggestions..."

The leaders of the ten ministries are chatting again.

"Why would the owner of this game company thank Chen Guiliang? He even said that Chen Guiliang invested in his company?"

"It was another company under Chen Guiliang that made the investment."

"A sophomore in college, and another company?"

"Yes, his company is a social networking company, and it was valued at $3000 million six months ago."

"How old is he anyway?"

"I remember now. Wasn't it the day before my 19th birthday when I got $500 million in venture capital? I even read the news back then, and it left a very deep impression on me!"

"it's him."

"..."

Qu Guohao had just received his award and stepped off the stage when he rushed back onto the stage.

The next award was the "National Game Overseas Expansion Award"—the game "Three Kingdoms Kill" was sold to Hong Kong, Taiwan, and South Korea.

When it was Qu Guohao's turn to speak, he said, "Hello everyone, I'm here again..."

He visited quite often, and subsequently won the "Top Ten Most Popular Ethnic Online Games Award" and the "Best Casual Online Game Operation Platform Award".

Unfortunately, it didn't win either the "Top Ten Most Popular Online Games of the Year" or the "Top Ten Game Developers" award.

But Youke and the game "Three Kingdoms Kill" winning four major awards is already quite remarkable. Moreover, they were firmly remembered by a group of deputy directors from ten ministries!
The awards ceremony was broadcast live via text by 17173.

In the comments section of 17173's live stream, a large group of netizens were already having a good laugh.

"Haha, that's hilarious. Mr. Chen is taking final exams, so he can't come to accept the award in person."

"When it comes to showing off, it has to be me, President Chen."

"Just tell me if your reason for being absent is reasonable or not! The final exam is more important than anything else!"

"President Chen is so powerful and domineering!"

(End of this chapter)