Resumen del episodio 9 de No Pain No Gain
> Resúmenes de No Pain No Gain
Pei Qian continues to live in a tent within his unfinished apartment, maintaining his facade of success while avoiding the pressure of a real renovation. During a video call with his parents, his mother mentions that their neighbors, Uncle Ge and Aunt Zhang, have been mocking them about when they will finally move into the new luxury house.
Though his father’s blood pressure spiked from the annoyance, he tells Pei Qian not to worry and claims he enjoys the exercise of climbing the stairs in their old building. Pei Qian reassures them that the "massive project" takes time but promises they will move in as soon as possible. At DreamForge Capital, Ma Yang recruits a group of juniors from their college who were struggling to find jobs, acting on a request from their former counselor.
Pei Qian arrives to find them playing games with Ma Yang early in the morning. Rather than being angry, Pei Qian labels their gaming as "work-related injuries" and rewards them with game skins as an enrollment bonus. Among the recruits is Tang Yishu, a girl legendary for her bad luck, having lost her graduation certificate and her exam permits on the most critical days of her life.
Viewing her as the perfect "guardian spirit" to help his company lose money, Pei Qian immediately hires her and orders a full body checkup for her. Meanwhile, Lin Wan presents her progress on their new soulslike game. Inspired by the failed game cases Pei Qian had her study, she proposes a mechanic where players must recite ancient poetry during an attack's anticipation period to trigger moves.
Pei Qian embraces the idea but pushes the difficulty to "Hell Mode," aiming to eliminate 99. 9999% of players. He insists on an interactive mocking system that ruthlessly insults players upon failure and demands the longest possible refund period—complete with built-in reminders so players won't forget to get their money back. He titles the game "Returning to Shore". At Zhongdian Web Fiction, Huang Sibo feels immense guilt over the site’s lack of traffic.
To test Pei Qian’s "counter-trend" philosophy, he writes a novel himself under the pseudonym "Ma Dubiao." While the general public ignores it, he finds one dedicated reader using the name "Niu Yanben," who turns out to be a struggling ghostwriter encouraged by Huang’s unconventional style. Feeling a kindred spirit, Huang decides to recruit this author to the platform to provide a "shield" for grassroots writers.
Pei Qian and Ma Yang meet with an inventor named Zhang Wang, who proposes converting abandoned public telephone booths into vending machines. The project is expensive, nostalgic, and seemingly doomed to fail. Pei Qian is delighted and immediately invests 200,000 yuan, signing a strategic agreement to ensure he gets the first right of refusal on all of Zhang Wang’s future "talented" ideas.
To combat the "Rainier effect"—satisfying emotional needs to retain talent—and to prevent secret overtime, Pei Qian organizes a one-day matchmaking event for the staff of Tengda and Zhongdian. He hopes romance will distract them from work. However, the employees mostly end up playing games or discussing technical business. Pei Qian finds himself sitting awkwardly with Lin Wan in the matchmaking area until he has to rescue her from a persistent author who tries to woo her with mediocre poetry.
During the event, Huang Sibo notices a young woman, Hu Yue, sitting alone and reading. She admits she only signed up because she thought it was compulsory. As they share a meal, they realize they are each other's secret readers: Hu Yue is "Niu Yanben" and Huang Sibo is "Ma Dubiao." Later, Pei Qian observes the first telephone booth vending machine on the street.
Pedestrians scoff at the high price of 20 yuan for ten minutes of access, calling it an "IQ tax." Pleased with the financial loss, Pei Qian turns to upgrading his company transportation. He tries to buy a flashy sports car, but Xin Hailu refuses, arguing it damages the image of a mature businessman and threatening to block the purchase entirely. Pei Qian is forced to settle for a high-end business van sold by a salesman named Tian Mo.
Returning to the office late at night, Pei Qian finds Lin Wan still working and orders her to leave. He mandates that she use the company-sponsored gym membership every day as proof of rest. However, Lin Wan informs him that the gym, Starbird Fitness, has gone bankrupt because the local work culture is too "competitive" (involution) for people to have time for fitness. Pei Qian visits the site to confirm and finds a row of struggling fitness centers.
There, he spots Tian Mo, who was fired from the car dealership for poor sales after only selling one car all year. Recognizing Tian Mo’s "talent" for failing to sell, Pei Qian immediately offers him a new job.
