Resumo do episódio 8 de No Pain No Gain
> Resumos de No Pain No Gain
Li Shi finally reaches the remote Mingyun Villas to scout the Tenda private restaurant, only to find the place completely deserted. Exhausted from the trek, he asks for a simple glass of water, but the staff adheres to Pei Qian’s bizarre rules. Chef Lin and the waitress, Zhen, explain that everything requires an advance reservation—customers must even pre-order seeds for vegetables or fish fry for the pond to ensure a fresh harvest.
Refusing to provide plain water, Chef Lin serves an iced Americano and charges an exorbitant 180 RMB. To gain leverage, Li Shi strikes up a conversation with Zhen, complimenting the "South American" decor and adding her on WeChat under the guise of making future bookings. When Pei Qian learns that an investor is trying to bribe his staff for information, he is shocked that anyone would be interested in such a desolate, money-losing venture.
Chef Lin and Zhen report the bribery attempts, proving their loyalty, which Pei Qian rewards with a 2,000 RMB bonus for each employee. After identifying the culprit as Li Shi from a photograph, Pei Qian decides to turn the situation to his advantage. Rather than hiding his secrets, he instructs the staff to sell as much information as possible to Li Shi, encouraging them to drive the price up until the investor is drained of his resources.
Meanwhile, Lin Wan finishes a marathon session of overtime and notices Pei Qian still working late. She assumes he is a tireless leader, unaware that he is actually calculating his recent financial losses with delight. Lin Wan presents her findings on decades of failed games, noting that she has gained significant insight into why certain projects collapse.
Fearing her growing expertise might lead to a successful game, Pei Qian buries her in even more work, asking her to expand her research back to the previous century. The losses from the private restaurant eventually translate into a system bonus for Pei Qian, which he uses as a down payment on a new flat at Tomorrow’s Garden. He brings his parents to the show unit, where they meet the designer, Liang Qingfan.
While his parents are proud and advocate for a practical home, Pei Qian initially demands the highest standards. However, realizing he lacks the funds for a luxury renovation without risking a mortgage default, he makes a sudden pivot. He tells a stunned Liang Qingfan to only install the plumbing, electricity, doors, and windows, leaving the rest of the unit as a concrete shell. The frustrated designer eventually quits the project.
Pei Qian moves into the unfinished flat and sets up a tent in the middle of the room, calling it "minimalist art." When Ma Yang visits, he is horrified to find Pei Qian living in a dusty, doorless concrete shell and decides he no longer wants to live next door. Sensing that his team is becoming too successful, Pei Qian implements a "multi-front loss" strategy. He applies reverse management—placing people in roles they are entirely unsuited for.
He forces the veteran gamer Bao Xu to go on another unwanted international vacation and tells Ma Yang to hand over the internet cafe to Zhang Yuan so he can move on to a "bigger stage." Pei Qian establishes "DreamForge Capital" (Yuanmeng Investment) and puts Ma Yang in charge. He explains that the goal is not to make money, but to "fulfill dreams" by investing in people other investors would ignore.
Simultaneously, he rents the office space next door—left vacant by a bankrupt company—for Huang Sibo to launch Zhongdian Web Fiction. The new web novel platform is designed with anti-trope rules. Pei Qian demands that they reject all "instant gratification" elements like "gold fingers" (cheat powers) or domineering CEOs. Instead, he pushes for "frustration fiction" where the protagonist remains miserable.
To ensure the platform loses money, authors receive base salaries, six insurances, and a housing fund, but are strictly limited in productivity. If an author writes more than a thousand words, they are forced to rest; if they write fewer than five00 words, they are rewarded for "carefully polishing" their work. For the games division, Pei Qian tasks Lin Wan with creating a "Soulslike" game—the genre she likes the least.
He insists on a mechanic that integrates classical poetry into combat, believing it will make the game too difficult for the mass market. As Ma Yang begins interviewing candidates for DreamForge Capital, he encounters eccentric dreamers, including a grilled cold noodles vendor and a persistent bit actor named Shi Huo, who is desperate to finally show his face on screen after five years of playing background roles. Pei Qian finds the actor's struggles intriguing and begins to see the potential in these unconventional, "unprofitable" investments.
