In order to prove that he was not boasting, Uncle Liu took Gao Peng downtown. Uncle Liu's studio was in central downtown, in the busiest section. Right beside the studio was a shopping mall, and the city government was not far.
"Well, my studio is right there," Uncle Liu said and pointed at the third floor of Tianmao Tower. There was a brand new signboard hanging on the wall: Flying Roc Monster Breeding Studio.
Gao Peng was confused.
Uncle Liu cleared his throat and said, "We can change the name if you don't like it, you know."
Gao Peng was speechless. You are the boss, you can call it whatever you like.
"Um, you think this studio is nicely located? My studio used to do well, but pitifully, after my Monster Breeders left, my business suffered a disastrous decline."
"There are so many Monster Breeders on the market, you could randomly choose two to meet the urgent need." Gao Peng found it nonsense.
"No, the fewer the better. I'd rather have no business at all than destroy my fame," Uncle Liu said seriously.
"Alright," Gao Peng nodded. You are the boss, you can do whatever you want.
"Uncle Liu, let's forget about the share thing. You can pay me with the highest wage amongst my colleagues." Gao Peng paused, then said, "You have been taking good care of me for years, I can do nothing to pay you back. This is the only thing I can do."
If it was some other person's stock, he would have accepted it comfortably; because he believed that his competence deserved such value, and the future profit he could create was far more than this amount of share.
But this studio belonged to Uncle Liu, who had been helping him a lot directly and indirectly.
There were some things that he discovered later; he didn't talk to Uncle Liu about those things for he was not willing to embarrass Uncle Liu. There must be some reason for Uncle Liu to do them.
Otherwise, as an orphan, how could he live a steady life till now? No gangster was able to give him trouble twice on the next day, and he was admitted to Changan's best public secondary school.
Some kindness should never be forgotten!
He always discriminated between love and hate. He gave kindness for kindness, and hatred for hatred!
Three years of orphan life brought him through social upheavals and hardships, he had seen through human nature.
Therefore, he treasured goodness, while showing no mercy to evil.
"No worries, just accept it. One day you will understand that this amount of share is far from enough for you," Uncle Liu smiled gratifyingly. "Alright then, no more arguing. I have transferred the share to you through procedures, it doesn't matter whether you agree or not. I'm just informing you about this."
As he said this, Uncle Liu took out a contract as if by magic, and handed it to Gao Peng.
Staring at black words on the white paper, Gao Peng was stunned and said, "But I haven't signed it yet."
"Now you know what power is." Uncle Liu patted Gao Peng's shoulder with a meaningful look. "OK, now let's continue our trip to the studio. Today your job is to get familiar with your working environment and future tasks. You can start your work today if you want. Feel free to tell me your dissatisfactions, I will make them change."
They walked in Tianmao Tower. The tiles were clean and shiny like it was newly decorated. An elevator opened, and a group of people in suits and ties came out of it one after another.
Amongst those people, there was a young man with a black-and-red parrot standing on his shoulder. The parrot turned around and stared at Gao Peng coldly and said, "Idiot."
Then it turned back, looking forward arrogantly.
The young man looked awkward, and kept apologizing to Gao Peng.
[Monster Name]: Black Light Parrot
[Monster Weakness]: 1. Wind type monsters. 2. Qianxin Herb's smell makes Black Light Parrot vomit or causes diarrhea. If it eats Qianxin Herb, Black Light Parrot will faint. 3. Thunderbolt Macaw Fruit is a particular hatred of Black Light Parrot, to the bird; Thunderbolt Macaw Fruit tastes like shit.
"It's OK. Your bird is a Black Light Parrot, isn't it? You can buy some Thunderbolt Macaw Fruit for it, people say that Black Light Parrots love this. Your parrot looks small and skinny, it must lack nutrition," Gao Peng said with a significant look.
"Wow, thank you!" The young man appreciated. "I have been wondering what it likes. It is a picky bird, and always eats little, I will buy some for it later."
The Black Light Parrot had no idea what Thunderbolt Macaw Fruit was, it just somehow felt the hairs on the back of its neck stand up.
Its claws were holding tighter, and its head raised higher. The parrot stood on the young man's shoulders, looking around, like a prince inspecting his territory. These stupid human beings, they look dumb.
Gao Peng and Uncle Liu want to the third floor. The whole floor was rented by the studio. Two pots of half-a-person-high black bamboo stood on both sides of the gate.
A light aroma came from black bamboo and perfumed the whole floor.
At the front desk stood a girl in light-blue fitted suit. She wore her hair in a bob and and had simple make-up.
Seeing Uncle Liu came in, the girl looked dazed and then immediately greeted them. "Good afternoon, sir." Meanwhile, she snuck a look at Gao Peng, who was standing by Uncle Liu's side. Gao Peng looked young; he might be the new boss's grandson.
This new boss's identity was unclear, but he was probably rich. A few days ago he came here and bought the whole studio directly, as well as fired the original Monster Breeders. At first she was worrying about losing her job, but soon she was relieved. The new boss only fired the Monster Breeders, but kept all the other workers. The only thing that confused her was the new boss's requirements: that no one was allowed to tell the upcoming Monster Breeder this studio was recently transferred, or that he even colluded with them.
For the sake of extra 1,000 Alliance dollars per month, workers all shamelessly surrendered to the vicious capitalist.
But sometime they signed secretly; why were these capitalists rich but weird?
"Go assemble everyone," Uncle Liu said calmly with a frowning face, looking dignified.
"Yes," The girl nodded.
At this moment, Gao Peng finally realized how serious Uncle Liu could be when he was talking.
Soon all the workers in Flying Roc Studio assembled in the lobby.
There were only ten people in total, including two female cleaners.
"From now on, this person will be our chief Monster Breeder in Flying Roc Studio. He is also one of our shareholders," Uncle Liu said and pointed at Gao Peng, who stood behind him.
What?
The crowd was shocked. Isn't this boy too young?
Looking at a group of workers waiting for his speech like kids in a class listening to their teacher, Gao Peng was anxious. His face was taut. "I'm Gao Peng. We will work together as a team, and hope we can get along well."
"Peng is an intermediate Monster Breeder, as well as the youngest intermediate Monster Breeder in Chang'an City. He just broke the record." Uncle Liu cleared his throat, then guided Gao Peng to the rest of the floor.
"Such a young Monster Breeder."
"He is an intermediate Monster Breeder. Look at him, he is so young and adorable." Some single female workers were excited, and looked at Gao Peng up and down straightforwardly with bright eyes.
The office didn't occupy much space, only one tenth of the floor, for there were only ten people.
The rest included a fitness center, yoga room, guest center, lobby, bar, etc, among which was an eye-catching huge empty room, which took one third of the floor. The room's inner walls were decorated with black sound-absorbing plastic boards. It was for Familiars. Some guests brought their familiars there for training and cultivation.
"So, how do you feel? Are you getting used to it? Don't worry, you have a share in hand, so to some degree this is your own studio," Uncle Liu smiled.
Gao Peng nodded, "My classes start tomorrow, I can start work this afternoon. There is nothing I can do at home."
"OK then, it's up to you. You can get off work whenever you want. I will go back home now, home is the most comfortable place for an old man." Uncle Liu waved his hand to stop Gao Peng from sending him out.
Staring at Uncle Liu's back, Gao Peng remained silent for a while. Finally he said, "Thank you."
"It's not me you should thank," Uncle Liu chuckled.
Then who? Gao Peng frowned. He was confused.