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Losing Money to Be a Tycoon
Type
Web Novel (CN)
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Rating(4.3 / 5.0, 165 votes)
5    65% (108 votes)
4    13% (21 votes)
3    10% (17 votes)
2    6% (10 votes)
1    5% (9 votes)
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Support Book (#ad)
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One entry per line
Artist(s)
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Year
Example: 2012
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Status in COO
Status in Country of Origin. One entry per line
1673 Chapters (Completed)
Licensed
Yes
Completely Translated
No
Original Publisher
One entry per line
English Publisher
One entry per line
Release Frequency
Every 0.9 Day(s)
Activity Stats
[Graph]
Weekly Rank: #1992
Monthly Rank: #318
All Time Rank: #4785
Reading List
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On 1585 Reading Lists
Monthly Rank: #1806
All Time Rank: #6145

Description

Links are NOT allowed. Format your description nicely so people can easily read them. Please use proper spacing and paragraphs.

Recently, a special correspondent conducted an exclusive interview with Pei Qian, President of Tengda Group.

Tengda Group, now valued at hundreds of billions, operates across various sectors such as gaming, internet services, digital hardware, cultural media, and restaurants, significantly impacting numerous aspects of daily life.

Pei Qian himself is widely regarded as the “World’s Best Boss,” an unparalleled investment genius, and a brilliant game developer. He is known for his effortless leadership style and keen ability to precisely forecast industry trends.

However, during the interview, Pei Qian expressed deep frustration:

“I’m truly not some kind of business genius!”

“My success is entirely due to luck!”

“My initial goal was merely to lose fifty thousand yuan…”

See? This is exactly how a genuine business genius maintains humility and modesty.

Associated Names
One entry per line
Kui Cheng Shou Fu Cong You Xi Kai Shi
Kui Cheng Shoufu Cong Youxi Kaishi [Donghua]
Nian Shao You Wei (Drama)
The Richest Man In Game
The Richest Poor Guy (Drama)
亏成首富从游戏开始
年少有为 (Drama)
年少有為 (Drama)
虧成首富從遊戲開始
Related Series
N/A
Recommendations
I Really Didn’t Mean to Make Money (3)
You Don’t Understand The Pain Of Being Popular (2)
I’m the Evil Lord of an Intergalactic Empire! (2)
Rebirth of the Godly Prodigal (1)
Game Market 1983 (1)
I Work Hard Every Day To Make My Husband Bankrupt (1)
Recommendation Lists
  1. Spend Money Like A Water, Gain Money Like A River
  2. Novels I would recommend
  3. Misunderstandings(not tear jerkers!(I think?))
  4. Game Maker Related Novels
  5. making games in the modern world

Latest Release

Date Group Release
06/16/25 Zaztra_Vandesh c83
06/16/25 Zaztra_Vandesh c82
06/14/25 Zaztra_Vandesh c81
06/13/25 Zaztra_Vandesh c80
06/12/25 Zaztra_Vandesh c79
06/11/25 Zaztra_Vandesh c78
06/10/25 Zaztra_Vandesh c77
06/09/25 Zaztra_Vandesh c76
06/09/25 Zaztra_Vandesh c75
06/07/25 Zaztra_Vandesh c74
06/06/25 Zaztra_Vandesh c73
06/05/25 Zaztra_Vandesh c72
06/04/25 Zaztra_Vandesh c71
06/03/25 Zaztra_Vandesh c70
06/02/25 Zaztra_Vandesh c69
123…8
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52 Reviews sorted by


zhenqi
New zhenqi rated it
June 10, 2025
Status: Completed
[I highly suspect that user 7starkiller9 is either a paid fake reviewer (because look at those series of reviews on their account) OR someone who won't be satisfied whatever you put them up to read with. If that user reading this, I seriously suggest to go out more and touch grass. At this point, just write your own novel.]

The review:

To preface, it took me 4 months to read this through and through. I read one bite size at a time, I don't regret any second of it. I enjoyed this... more>> very much and rate this 4.5/5.

  • The novel does a pretty good job with pacing and backstory build-up, no characters will be forgotten and no department will make a loss (pun intended).
    Spoiler

    I specially liked the reverse koi constitution of Ms. Tang, really a reliable partner for our Boss Pei. Speaking of which, Boss Pei is
    very lucky.

    [collapse]
  • The comedy is quite decent although sometimes dry, it relies very much on irony and context.
  • I must say the plot is repetitive but the author eventually smashes you with knowledge as the plot continues and I will be honest, I actually did not think of most problems laid in here. This novel really expanded my worldview, I learned a lot. Big thanks to the author and the translator! (Special thanks for mtl.)
My view:

  • I have relatively same experience with reviewer Pokeshoota in the process of reading this novel.
  • MC is not really the MC. Someone said this in the reviews but MC, much like every other MC, is just a foil for authors to use in world building. But how is

    this MC any different?
    Spoiler

    First, we were introduced to MC very haphazardly. We don't see other aspects of his life apart from him thinking hard to incur losses (obviously doesn't work). The ending is quite strange too, the MC didn't return to Jingzhou but went to Shanghai, hinting that his journey continues. We don't see anything more from him after that. If MC was the MC, the plot will go full circle.

    What remained in Jingzhou? Tengda. Everything the MC does makes Tengda stronger (sadly for MC). It gives me the feeling that Tengda has the plot armour and luck every other MC has, which is why I think MC is not the

    MC, it's Tengda.

    [collapse]
<<less
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1234gary
1234gary rated it
April 21, 2020
Status: c882
Original Review for up to ch260:

This series is around a 3-4 in my opinion. The MC always wants to lose money due to this system, but fails from a variety of factors and ends up being seen as a money making god from everyone else. Some thoughts:

    1. The main problem with this novel is that it doesn't feel as good as it should as a wish-fulfilling fantasy. The MC is always trying to screw over every single one of his businesses and it constantly feels like he's actively letting down all of the people who work under him and respect him, and is trying to destroy his reputation. However, when he actively succeeds instead and rakes in the big money, it still doesn't feel great because the MC will constantly have depressed monologue regarding his sadness that his losses didn't come to fruition.
    1. The story up until the point I've read is just a bunch of repeated fiscal quarter cycles with very similar repetitive plot of make dumbass idea -> it loses money until for random reasons it becomes a success -> MC is sad -> tries a even more dumbass idea ->...
    1. The interpersonal interactions in this novel are severely lacking, as the MC just sits as the CEO and never interacts and gets close with anyone. As a reader, all characters other than the MC all seem bland and shallow.
Overall, while the story concept is fun at times, its just lacking depth and isn't as enjoyable as it could be.

Added review for up to ch882:

After catching up to the latest chapter half a year later, I have to say that it gets better, around 3.5-4. I think the problem with this novel before, was that I was reading it with the wrong mindset. Looking at this novel through the lens of a wish-fulfillment fantasy, it lacks the catharsis other novels often evoke with emotions of lust, obtaining power, slapping people's faces, and overall ascending to the peak of life. This novel isn't about that and around ch300 the author clarifies this very clearly in a statement addressing why readers comment that "it doesn't feel good to read".

Rather than focusing on ascending to the peak of life, the author points out that the MC only really needs a million or two yuan to maintain a very high standard of living and perhaps buy a villa or something - what would he need 300-400 million for. Instead, this novel explores more on the anti-capitalist. What would happen if a capitalist doesn't use their earned capital to expand their own personal capital (in real life it wouldn't work out, but our MC happens to have a system) ? And in the end, it explores alot of the improvements to society that our MC ends up accomplishing. There are also parts where it feels good to read, but once your let go of your mentality of the traditional urban wish fulfillment fantasy, it gets alot better to read.
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Hazel00
Hazel00 rated it
July 13, 2020
Status: Completed
Note: COMPLETED

Such a journey, im satisfied with the ending.

Pros

... more>> Unique concept, the more you delve into it, the more it developed.

Chill and enjoyable to read

Good sense of humour from the author

No awkward or chessy conversation

Cons :

so don't expect some thrilling or amazing scenes

Characters in this novel lack depths, and there's too many names to keep note of.

The plot is easy to guess, and didn't really have complicated settings.

-----------------------------------------------

Chp 300

It's fun and I'm enjoying it

--------------------

Update chp 800

This is not face slapping. Wish fulfillment or anything like that. It's just comedy and slice of life. But hey, I love this. And read this daily.

--------------------

Update : caught up to 1266+ chapter. And I can say I still enjoy it.

-------------------

Update : 1320++ this is my daily dose novel xD, probably I will rate it 5 stars later

-----------------------

Update : chp 1669

Note : I caught up to 1669, 9 August 2021. The novel is nearing its end. Such an amazing novel, it's getting better and not just no brain novel, the author also have message that he wants to convey. And you, as reader can really feel it when you read i.

Wow, just wow, nearing the end of this novel. President pei matured. The novel is awesome. Losing money to be a tycoon really a good novel that teach you about life, about money. Nearing it's end I also can feel what the message that author want to convey, it's such an amazing read.

Don't be a s*ave to money, and don't be rich who just a vampire that eats normal people's life. <<less
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fireutsie
fireutsie rated it
January 2, 2021
Status: c1192
TLDR: The misunderstanding in this novel revolves around the MC wanting to make his company lose money and his employees wanting to make a profit. Then in the end they really end up with a profit as the mc's attempts to sabotage his own company backfire on him. However I find his entire mindset to sabotage his employee's work very disrespectful regardless of the misunderstandings and the end result. I can't stand this. However I applaud the author for parodying our videogames and entertainment industry. As well as other industries... more>> where excessive focus on maximizing profits has resulted in less than desirable problems for the consumers and employees.

Writing wise this novel is just not up to my taste. You'll realize that it's essentially the same plot-line being recycled after the first 100 chapters.

This novel has a mechanic where the system gives him company wealth, and personal wealth (his own money/ earnings). Company wealth cannot be used for himself so he wants to maximize his personal wealth. However the system has a 'bug' which makes it so that the conversion ratio of the profits he earns in the company wealth part gets converted at a worse rate to his own personal wealth compared to when he is making losses.

So for example, if he makes 1 million in profit, he might only receive 10k in personal wealth. However if he makes a loss of 1 million, he will receive 1 million in personal wealth. This mechanic therefore encourages the owner to make losses, the more the better. Hence the mc's his goal changed to losing money so he can become rich himself.

Therefore the story loop is as follows; The MC tries to make a loss by giving bad orders trying to sabotage his own company -> His employees try to do their upmost best to make something good out of it and misunderstand the mc's various orders -> Hilarity ensues -> The project/product looks like it is failing -> Suddenly it makes a comeback and makes them loads of money -> Employees are happy -> MC is mad he didn't incur a loss and tries to do his best to make more losses -> Hilarity ensues

I could understand if the MC wanted to make a loss in order to convert all that money into his own pocket. However after a while the company is literally earning him millions in personal wealth because the profits are that good. And he still wants to make a loss in order to earn more.

Now comes the part which I do not like. He intentionally sabotages his own products, and while they always turn out well I find this very disrespectful towards his own employees who are working hard wholeheartedly for his company. He even gets mad at them (although he keeps this to himself and doesn't lash out on them). I get it, he treats his employees well in terms of salary, work environment and work benefits, but him disrespecting their hard work is simply infuriating. Especially since he himself does barely anything worth earning him those millions. Yet he still puts his own greed before the respect for the work done by his employees. And yes, he does wholeheartedly praise them sometimes, but he really is only happy when they incur losses for him. I simply cannot stand this mindset.

As some people might have already noticed but this novel is also a parody that makes fun of the current games and entertainment industries in general. What the author's idea is in my opinion not full blown communist propaganda. He wants to appeal to a form where you remain capitalist but hold a little bit back on that greed, think of the consumers and your employees. Currently our real world gaming industry is really plagued with micro transactions, p2w mechanics, bad and unfun mechanics for the consumer in order to maximize profits. Too much copy pasting of already existing franchises in order to make money and little innovation. Ie. Mmorpg's constantly copying WoW's style. Or Ubisoft turning many of their games into reskinned Far Cry games with the same open world settings and gameplay elements, for example the Assasin's Creed franchise is one of them. Another thing is the treatment of employees. Lots of crunching, unpaid overtime, bad treatment, low salary, massive lay-offs after a development cycle and many more issues. These are all problems in our videogames industry nowadays. I think it's good that the author talks about this and makes more people aware of the issue. He also makes fun of many other phenomena that happen in our internet culture and entertainment industry. Such as hivemind/sheep mentality, information overload and lack of critical thinking of the end user, fake news and fake reviews and many more. <<less
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kuri94
kuri94 rated it
May 18, 2022
Status: Completed
DISCLAIMER: While I have tried to avoid anything concrete in the following, and thus do not use the spoiler environment, most of what I say does pertain to the broad meaning of the story which might be seen as a spoiler. I suggest reading a few hundred chapters and then reading my review it you are getting bored of the repetitive nature of the story and the lack of 'domineering CEO' moments. Then make up your mind if you wish to continue. If the comedy doesn't carry you to a... more>> few hundred chapters then give up: this book is probably not for you.

An unusually thoughtful webnovel, if you have the patience to finish it. Certainly it is not, and never tries to be, a standard wish fulfilment story about becoming a successful businessman, though the degree to which it seeks to undermine this genre only becomes apparent once the story enters the mid-stages---a long way in for a novel with almost 1700 chapters. Unfortunately in the middle section, as the author admits, the pacing and content is not finely controlled as the author struggles to transform from the first grand arc of the story (the rise of Tenda) to the finale which contains the basic socio-political message of the book. This is surely a problem of form rather than narrative content---since the latter repeatedly aims to replicate in miniature, so to speak, the basic problematic of the book viz. An exploration of the contradictions between the demands of monopoly capital and the spiritual and material development of society, particularly in relation to cultural production. This problematic is examined through the study of the business operations of President Pro's corporation Tenda, which grows into an evermore multifaceted conglomerate as the narrative progresses. This is necessary to illustrate the main point about monopoly capital, but in attempting to give the reader a direct understanding of this expansion, the author appears to have been overwhelmed by the different strands of the content (Tenda's various industries) leading to an explosion of material which is managed in a rather repetitive manner---a typical problem in webnovels related ultimately to their extent and manner of release. Another basic issue of the story is the relative superficiality of characterisation, with only Pei Qian gaining the dimensions of a character beyond his use for expressing the basic message of the book, and that only comes in the final 50 chapters or so which looks at his attempt to work through---in lacanese---the 'symbolic castration' associated with the title President Pei. Nonetheless these defects pale in comparison to its main virtues: its comedy, its simplistic but persistent exercise of dialectics and its brave attempt to radically broach a serious subject. Brilliant.

EDIT:

A word on misunderstandings, since they have been to a certain extent misunderstood (pardon the pun) by some of the other reviewers. Yes, as we all know, misunderstandings are a trope in webnovels and this book clearly uses them as the bread and butter of the story, particularly in the early stages (first 1000 chapters, be warned). Their basic function is in the first instance to create comedy and then to allow the development of Tenda to occur despite the wishes of Pei Qian, wishing to earn wealth via the loss mechanism of the system. The system cannot be dispensed with in the story for two reasons: a) as the author says, it provides a shortcut out of the deadlock of the logic of capital and b) it provides an explicit symbol to highlight the moral and personal growth of Pei Qian in the closing chapters of the novel. Misunderstandings are thus the tool used by the author to integrate the somewhat superficial but relatively ordinary subjective psychological position of the main character, Pie Qian, with the apparently contradictory narrative demand of Tenda's growth. There are, however, at least three deeper points to the use of misunderstandings:

1) the author believes that unregulated control of capital markets in the domain of cultural production is unhealthy. This position has been defended at length in the European context by Donald Sassoon, but the truth of falsity of this statement does not need to concern us. The main point is that the successful functioning of a misunderstanding occurs in almost all cases because the ordinary business logic---reasoning according to the present state of the market---fails. Of course, in practice this statement is an exaggeration, but there are certainly scenarios where it holds true and those scenarios are the ones that interest the author.

2) Misunderstandings are closely tied to the authors view of dialectics; the take on dialectics is perhaps a little simplistic but the basic point stands. The first point to note is the productive nature of contradictions. This is primarily illustrated in the way that Tenda employees analyse President Pro's thoughts: the employees present the sensible thing to do, which Pei Qian refuses giving a set of contradictory and apparently silly instructions (negation). By analysing the 'deep intentions ' of President Pei the employees invariably find a solution that 'sublates' the instructions with successful market demand (negation of the negation) ---here the original contradiction (market demand and nonsensical production criteria) are seen to undergo a synthesis at a higher level. This procedure only takes place, however, because the employees misunderstand Pei Qian, i.e. They take it as axiomatic that President Pei is a genius businessman/game designer.

3) The productivity of contradictions functions at a deeper level in the narrative however: misunderstandings occur because Pei Qian is alienated from himself, or his own symbolic substance (President Pei), so to speak: the result of his actions make Pei Qian 'objectively' the socially responsible business genius 'President Pei', which is who he is to others, but the manifest split between the persona 'President Pei' and Pei Qian's subjective intentions---i.e. The way Pei Qian relates to himself, is why we say that misunderstandings are at work. This is used to comedic effect in the early stages, but it also forms the core of the emotional dilemma in relation to Pei Qian's growth as an individual subject in the latter stages of the book. The point is that it is only through this disjunction that---petty, ordinary, money-grubbing---Pei Qian can overcome the meanness of his own condition and depart on a path towards a more enlightened existence. Conversely, it is precisely because Pei Qian is not President Pei the business genius that he can break out of the trap of monopoly capital and leave the throne of Tenda absent to develop in a socially responsible manner. That is to say, it is only as Pei Qian of Tenda (i.e. As opposed to Pei Qian the simple student of President Pei of Tenda) that the moral vision of the author can be realised. In this way, misunderstandings our right at the core of the philosophical design of the author and the basic logic of the overall narrative.

As a final note on dialectical reasoning, we note that it also central to another key theme of the book viz. The reflexive inclusion of the mode of consumption of an artistic product into the nature of the work itself, i.e. The way that you read the book changes the meaning of the book itself. It is no accident that the book markets itself as a typical 'businessman reaching the pinnacle' book, and it is only by sticking with it that we can see how it seems to dismantle that routine. <<less
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Macho
Macho
October 2, 2020
Status: c653
"A very soulless novel haphazardly put together without any real passion for the work or its quality."

That was how I began the first review back in October 2020. Now that I've read all the translated chapters - I take back what I said. (February 2021)

First off, I would give this novel five stars was it possible.

I was in a bad headspace when I wrote my first review (fully in spoilers at the end) and I've come to regret leaving it here, which is why I've decided to mend... more>> my errors.

The protagonist Pei Qian, a resident of former Earth, is transmigrated inexplicably into a parallel universe of Earth. The brands are different, the celebrities changed, and as will be introduced in the first chapters already, the development progress of games is changed as well.

Game development is easy when it comes to technicalities; no programming. It's good for the story, even if a bit strange. But it's a parallel world in the end, and it works well and consistently. Basically, what game development will be like in the eyes of a reader is just a matter of purchasing assets, hiring a designer, and creating the gameplay with what you got. The path has changed yet the end is familiar; it's only simpler and easier to read of game development like this.

The system? What is it? The system grants him company money in cycles of a month to six months. For example, he is given 50k. If he loses the whole pot, he receives 50k into his personal account. If he earns 300k from the 50k? The system gives him remuneration with terms of 1:100, meaning, he gets 3k from the 300k system earnings. The system has rules for needless spending and such as well, so he won't and can't just scatter it in the wind, so there is a lot of room for maneuvering around it; looking for the easier ways to lose his fortune.

I had some grievances with Pei Qian at first; his reasons for getting wealthy and all. I had thought it was just a crutch to move the plot, yet I've come to realize it as much more. The main character spent his first hard-earned money on his parents, even if they have a minimal impact overall (like 3 appearances so far). Even if, at times, Pei Qian seems somewhat strange in regard to his pursuit of earning tons of money, I've come to understand it somewhat.

The system threatened to off itself, leaving Pei Qian stranded and vulnerable once more; without the confidence and security it afforded him, were he to make its existence known. Over time, as his scale of business grew from pure games to physical services, he grew to rely on its backing, as it was the one thing that made him special and granted him the backing to succeed, and now that he reached the heavens in some meaning of the word, he still relied on it, even if it would be better for the long run to simply make the system off itself and do legit business. I think it's because of the feeling of having a system to hold everything the world could throw at him. If he didn't have it; he would truly be lonesome and vulnerable.

He develops an aura of success, the employees revere him, the whole nation thinks he is a genius, yet all he wishes for is to have negative revenue. Hence he throws money around at every opportunity of losing his capital, yet most of them succeed, even if he himself is sure of failing.

Thankfully there isn't any annoying peanut gallery following him around whenever he invests in seemingly braindead things. I could imagine the novel being ruined if some NPC1 was throwing catchphrases like, "Wow! That is s*upid!" at every opportunity given. Instead, most of the side characters, even if somewhat lacking in depth, try to scrutinize his moves. -which leads to the other crutch I've come to appreciate:

Misunderstandings. They are very common. Some have you clutching your hair admittedly, yet if you think about it in the eyes of the 'misunderstander', then you can see how he would come to the conclusion.

There hasn't been any romance. Some friendships we have seen, though not pure. -Pei Qian likes to think of all his - well, they think of him as more of a friend really - as backstabbers; the bastards who keep earning him money when he wants to lose it. It's quite amusing really, though somewhat tiring at times. There have been wholesome moments as well at some parts as well, so no worries about that.

The author has some philosophical ideas thrown around at times, but in good taste always; only elevating the reading experience, rather than sounding out preachy and pretentious. The translation job was good overall, even if I had some dissatisfactions with part of the formatting.

I recommend reading it. Seriously. It's good.

What I've learned from delving back into this and reading my past review, is that sometimes, your first impression, especially when not in the right frame of mind, can really cloud your judgment. I'll keep it in mind in the future as well.

I didn't want to delete my older review, even if I'm somewhat embarrassed by it.

Spoiler

A very soulless novel haphazardly put together without any real passion for the work or its quality.

I can't imagine how - as the translator had put it - the novel had become trending in China, and how it had set a new genre altogether.

The main character transmigrated into a parallel universe yet with the same people in his immediate vicinity - only different games and stuff. At least from I've understood after reading these 31 chapters.

It kept me interested at first, yet I soon realized the pure degeneracy of the work. I can't imagine what would happen to the Chinese novel market in the future if this truly had gained as much traction as the translator had said.

The MC's goal is to make money. But why? No idea. He doesn't seem to have any plans or goals, nor any reason to make money. The system provides main character funding for games and perhaps movies in the future, and the rewards distributed through the income greatly differ when it comes to losing the original settled capital and the income generated from the distributed capital - with the system prioritizing losing money.

And from that - comes the whole gimmick of the novel: the main character trying to lose money, but with some ridiculous, and downright illogical reasons ends up making money from the product.

He doesn't seem to like making games. He doesn't particularly have a goal for saving/gaining money either.

It's just a cheap plot gimmick, and as the gimmick isn't covered with an interesting plot, a somewhat interesting cast of characters, or even an anyhow interesting world - the gimmick becomes the only driving factor in the plot progression.

I found myself being bothered the most by how novels like this - and especially this particular one - handle the societal and individual reactions towards actions - conventional, or not - by which I mean the convenience of just forgoing any negative, or perhaps simply uninterested viewpoints towards the actions. In this case: the games.

It's like...

Just forgo all complexity in the world, and focus on the easy things, the ones that make the reader feel giddy and satisfied at how well it goes for the one-dimensional self-insert of a character without any defining traits or goals.

I feel worse after reading this. Maybe somewhat bitter at how novels like these receive more translation work than the ones I enjoy more - but that's life. Not everyone enjoys the same things.

I didn't rate the novel because I couldn't read it too far, and hence feel authorized to rate it. This was more of a rant and a way to vent the feelings blossoming in the aftermath of spending some time reading this particular work.

[collapse]
<<less
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Zimary
Zimary rated it
April 6, 2020
Status: c60
So far (up to ch.60), this has been pleasantly better than expected.

    • [The Premise:] Main Character (MC) wakes up in the past of his modern world and finds that it is similar but not the same as his own. Some industries have developed differently and other such differences. He also finds he has a 'Golden Finger' in the form of a system geared towards business. In short, it gives him a company fund that can only be used to do business with - if he legitimately does business (and the system has plenty of rules to keep him from wasting the money) and ends up losing that investment then it gives him the same amount of money for personal use before topping up the business fund again. Conversely, if he breaks even or makes a profit he receives a 'salary' for his personal use at the tune of 100:1 of the business fund ($100 business fund = $1 personal profit). Or at least, that is how I understand it. The only real drawback is that some of the characters misunderstandings of what he is doing (business-wise) is a bit of a reach at times.
    • [Technical Quality:] While there are some typographical errors, they're pretty rare and relatively unnoticeable. The only other issue is when the system is showing his statistics and deadline, it has the numbers representing the stats appear in the stat indicator text line instead of after the ':'. Otherwise, the story has good pacing and grammar - hats off to the author, translator and editor for a very good job.
    • [Character:] The MC immediately tries to lose money doing business so that it can be converted into money he can use for whatever he wants - and fails to hilarious results thanks to various factors, not least of which is that things which would fail to work in his own world tend to succeed in this new one due to business and industry practices having developed differently. The MC is surprisingly likable, and the story does a good job of making us like his failures even more. It also offers a decent view of the perspectives of characters around him instead of just focusing on him all the time.
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ljin75651
ljin75651 rated it
August 11, 2020
Status: c289
If you're looking for something business-related in a realistic sense, this is definitely NOT a helpful novel. The ways in which everything moves directly opposite of how the MC anticipates isn't really something that would happen in real life. But don't get me wrong, the parts that I enjoy really sell it for me. I just want to let people know what they're in for.

The main aspect of the comedic effect for me are his responses to failing at losing money. He has a continuously hilarious inner struggle every single... more>> time things don't go his way, and he has to keep showing a poker face.
Spoiler

Pretty much everyone around him thinks he's a genius and are trying their best to help him improve the company. But he's always cursing them inside saying that they're getting in his way. LOL, whenever one of their products becomes profitable, he tries to get rid of the person in charge, but then they just start bringing in more money even after he transfers them to a "failing" business/department. Also, the author created a sort of deadline for him, so once it's reaching time to check his results and it doesn't seem like he'll make the cut, he gets really frantic trying to lose money. I've never seen someone try so hard to come up with so many different employee benefits.

[collapse]

It's really hard for me to decide whether I want to root for him or burst my gut laughing at him.
Spoiler

Like, you kind of feel for the guy, since he just wants to have some personal money to be able to spend for himself. But then since he's always being so sneaky in trying to sabotage everything, you kind of want to see him fail.

[collapse]

Anyways, if you're able to overlook some of the unrealistic aspects of the misunderstandings, I think it's worth reading. It's definitely a good novel for casual readers who're not looking for anything overly complicated. <<less
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ria.green
ria.green rated it
July 30, 2020
Status: --
I love this! The MC has a system that gives him money for losing money. Unfortunately, he's an unintentional business genius, and everything he touches turns to gold. He ends up turning into a godly CEO in his employees' eyes for giving the best workplace benefits in the industry and always creating successful products. It's hilarious to see everyone misunderstanding him as he tries to burn money and sabotage his own products, and how miserable he is every time he fails at failing.

No romance + no distinction between female/male characters,... more>> which is a plus for me.

Also, the games/films are described really well - to the point, I'd like to see them made in real life! <<less
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Milin
Milin rated it
June 17, 2020
Status: c788
I really like this novel.

... more>>
Spoiler

In the beggining the MC fails a lot to lose money, because of his golden luck, but there were times he manages to lose money too (I think). He has character growth and the way he changes people life for better and even saving them sometimes is a plus for me.

He has a way to lose money, but if it causes harm to other people he won't do it and will even continue to win money, like the apartments arc.

The side characters are really lovely, you won't forget them even if it appears more and you can tell them apart.

I will continue to follow the novel until tengda company becomes a hegemon in the world!.

[collapse]
<<less
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Arcadia Blade
Arcadia Blade rated it
January 26, 2021
Status: Latest
Three words I can say to this Novel:

'Task Failed Successfully' or 'Suffering From Success'

Hello, this is my first time Reviewing and I rarely review novels since I don't know if I'm good at it or not but I want to share my opinion with this novel.

... more>> I really like this story because of how the genre of system had been all about making the MC OP or gaining profit of this. But for this novel, its the opposite.

It all revolves around the MC making plans on bankrupting his company which all ended up making even more successes that he intended. Even if he found a loophole to how he can gain money from the system, it will end in a failure and he can barely earn money after the stunts he pulled.

Characters:

The MC is a guy whose transmigrated back 9-10 years on earth but on an alternate time which different events had happened. He is given a system which helps him start a company and given him capital to start one. However, he found a loophole on the system that if he loses more money from the system, he will be rewarded with more money for his own instead of his company. This is the premise of the Novel.

He isn't what you call a good guy or an evil guy, but lean more on the neutral side. While he doesn't want to make his employees suffer, he is greedy and employs plans that capitalizes on losing money. He is also cautious as past failures makes him worried for the profit and so he doesn't redo the mistakes or comprehend from his past failures.

The other cast are only there to empower the novel's plot and I don't have any comments other than how their lives change because of the MC. I can't say much for them but they are flesh out that they have personality and not really mindless bots. The other reviewers already pointed them out so I don't have to explain any further.

Plot:

As pointed out by other reviewers, its basically just misunderstanding after another misunderstanding. They all followed the same plotline.

MC makes plans on burning money -> It works and some almost even succeeds or even burns money -> Event happens to make his company flourish to which the MC either plans more loses or basically give up on seeing the profits rise up -> Repeat.

While this is just the same plot, it also implement different ways on how the plot revolves on the loses becomes profit. By pure luck, the MC's own doing or getting misunderstand and ended up succeeding. Which is why I sometimes predict the plot what would happen while some I would be surprised at.

Also, because of the MC's burning money plan, it ended up not only helping those around him but also creating future events which will turn in more profit for his company or his own city.

Review:

I like this novel because of the misunderstandings and how the MC is suffering from the profits he can't use for himself.

He does earn loses but its only miniscule that it gives reason why he had to keep low-profile so that he doesn't want the people related to him to hound him money.

The MC is misunderstood as a Saint since he wanted to burn money but he is restricted by the rules of the system such that he is only benefiting his employees or those that can help him burn money.

He is smart but is limited by only his future knowledge and the system's restrictions that he had to think many ways to burn money.

I won't bring spoilers so I can only give my own review and bring out some suggestions if you want to read the novel or not.

Overall, my own rating is 5 stars from my own perspective and only let you guys find out if you find my review plausible. I just like this novel and wanted to give a review of this one. <<less
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Tras
Tras rated it
December 7, 2023
Status: Completed
It's basically the story of an antagonist so terrible and unlucky at his job as an antagonist that he becomes the protagonist. Which was hilarious for at most 300 chapters, however eventually the joke got stale and at times I even wished the main character wouldn't exist. The Chinese superiority complex gets old as well, as is often the case with Chinese online novels. The MC is also antisocial, hates most people almost the entire story, stays inside his post-modern crazy-person apartment alone for months and the author even seemed... more>> to forget he has a family. A family he was supposed to care for. Very early on it's established his father doesn't like video games, so I assumed there'd be some kind of payoff with him making the best video-game company ever that his father can't possibly complain about. His social life only consists of his collage buddy who, it seems, he only hangs out with because he's somehow even dumber than the main character. He considers nearly everyone else mortal enemies.

The company, the actual protagonist, is interesting and the novel has it's bright spots even after the main joke stopped working for me. The last 100~ chapters actually had some character development and in the end he turns into a person I didn't hate anymore. I just wish he had more of a social life, perhaps had some romance or at least talked to his parents a few more times.

Edit: After reading something else for a few days I decided to lower the score to 2. There's just too few moments I actually felt anything while reading this one and I forgot how a good novel is supposed to be after being stuck on this one for 1600 chapters. <<less
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Pavilion
Pavilion rated it
May 6, 2023
Status: c186
This pretty interesting one. By all markers this novel should indeed be really good. The writing's decent, pacing is well done, plot (not core specifics) is engaging, translation is good.. For the type of book it is, it truly is quite good. Though, of course there's a but.

But there's one crazily glaring problem. The specific setting of the plot, the if_all_were_laid_bare bones of the whole structure; The, basically whole idea of the book: The system. It's inherently so faulty that it by itself ruins the whole experience. And here's why:

The... more>> way the system in this book is set up is by appearing into a poor persons life (MC), giving them some starter cash (Petty amount) and then being in control of all the funds that are later of acquired/generated by his works. Not even capitalists are this cruel. Basically everything MC works hard for, everything he accomplishes, all the ideas he brings from his.. Past world? Or just past? (It's not ever verified) go directly into big daddy systems pocket and can only be used to make more money. If you really spend some time thinking about it after reading, does the MC even need the system here? No, he doesn't. In fact he would do so much better without this parasite of a system. He could be totally baller of a dude with just his "good ideas" (as in the proven-to-work stuff that worked in another timeline). Here the system just pockets everything and drains MC for all he is worth.

Now you might ask "But [Random guy on the internet], isn't that just fine? The novels roots are in comedy, aren't they?" Sure my friend, this is indeed a comedy novel. Even parts parody in some cases. But there is that wish fulfillment fantasy aspect of it, which it kind of flaunts- but never truly delivers. Don't try to deny it. It's a big part why you're thinking of reading it. By being "just" comedy it would be almost 2000 chapters worth of the same joke.

If you really compress the reading experience right now its basically this: MC makes money with his random crappy ideas, system pockets money and forces MC to bring out more of his s*upid ideas. All of this is accompanied by the same singular joke: MC trying hard to fail, but failing at failing thus succeeding 'unexpectedly' and making money.

That's all there is to this book. And why is that? Because of the faulty premise with the harsh system. I don't know why the author chose to c*ckblock himself like this, restricting potential plot branching and limiting the wish fulfillment aspect to absolute grass roots. I don't also know if this will get ever fixed in later parts of the book. But what I have read so far just isn't.. Enjoyable? And it's been almost 200 chapters of 'not enjoyable'. <<less
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Pokeshoota
Pokeshoota rated it
January 8, 2023
Status: c1670
Losing Money to be a Tycoon

I’ve finally done it. 1670 chapters. January 7th, 2023 marks the end of a journey. I started reading this novel around the end of October 2022. I had initially read the comic version of the novel and was hooked. The misunderstandings shown in the comic were legendary. I laughed my ass off. Yes. I was hooked. I needed a fix. I couldn’t possibly wait for the next chapter. Thus, I looked towards the book. I wanted to know. No... I NEEDED to know what was... more>> going to happen next. From the humble beginnings to the absolutely legendary beast of an ending, this novel occupied my thoughts.

The story begins with Pei Qian, our protagonist, who ends up in 10 years in the past as a freshman in university. He obtains a system and through his understanding of the system’s rules, he chooses to lose money. The more money he loses, the better. He is given an initial amount of 50, 000 yuan (approximately $7, 300 dollars).

How does Pei Qian decide to lose this money? Well, he decides to enter the game industry. This world features an “official” game platform that anyone can use to make their own game. He makes what many would consider “the worst game imaginable.” An 8-hour crude driving simulator featuring no pause screens and no saves. If you fail at any point in the 8-hour drive, then you have to restart. And when you do reach the destination, the game will taunt you for wasting 8-hours of your life. At this point, the internet responds to the game and thus begins the downward, or should I say upward, spiral for Pei Qian and his new company, Tengda.

The story features a LOT of characters. By the end of the story, you’ll have easily seen over 50+ names that somehow make it back into the story. There might be hundreds or dozens of chapters without mention of a previous character. However, out of nowhere, they would make a sudden appearance and foil Boss Pei’s plans to lose money. Every character has their own personality and to be honest, I’m surprised that I even remember their names when I see them. That’s the neat part. Chinese novels always seemed to just blend their characters into a jumbled mess, while this novel had individual characters. For example, we have Bao Xu who starts off as an internet addicted cafe gamer. The “memes” and legends of his travels gave him a sense of comedic relief. I always looked forward to see how the heads of the various Tengda businesses would get Bao Xu into trouble (not gaming).

The ideology and philosophy that the story tells is also interesting. Boss Pei implements a strict “no overtime” rule in his business to encourage slacking. In return, his employees believe that they must be more efficient in their work. This whole story is misunderstandings. Everything that Boss Pei does is misconstrued and makes Tengda richer with each attempt to cause failure. Part of me thinks that it really reflects real life. Imagine a work experience that truly cared about your well-being. Would you not want to work harder to keep your job?

I’ll admit. I wasn’t always clear on the story. The translation was a bit messy at times, however, I truly felt as if the story was worth continuing. All of these thoughts are fresh as I have just finished reading all the chapters and I still crave more. I basically lived and breathed this novel.

It’s honestly quite hard to really figure out what I want to say. The thoughts that I have are conflicting with my joy at also completing this beast. I’ll just end it with this:

Losing money to be a tycoon was simultaneously the best and worst decision of my life. The best because I now have an unforgettable story that I can think about and laugh at. The worst because I’ve dedicated every free hour that I have had to reading 1670 chapters of a webnovel with seemingly little cultural value. I doubt I will ever meet anyone in reality who will understand this experience. This is akin to me having finished coiling dragon ring AND stellar transformations at 19. I have all this niche “knowledge” and no one to discuss with. I wonder if this was how Boss Pei felt? I have no kindred souls to relate to and no one to understand my feelings. I realize that this might come off as the ramblings of a deranged lunatic. I figure that’s what all webnovel readers are like anyways so don’t judge.

Comedy: 10/10

Plot: 6/10

Characters: 8/10

Imagery: 9.5/10 <<less
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Melting Snow
Melting Snow rated it
October 20, 2021
Status: c900
Kinda okey?? I guess. I mean ive never read urban Chinese novel, so im kinda surprised that it's actually good. But there are many things that I disliked too. For example the MC thinks that eSports is only in China, US, and Europe. But thats far from reality, tf Europe doesnt even have esports. Also MC likes to nitpick about the disadvantage of western countries, which I kinda agree too, but still I dont like seeing things like that on a novel I read. Also there are many businesses of... more>> his thats just I dont like. For example, the Tongdian Writing something, also the fitness equipment??

Author also like to put short stories inside the novel, which ive just skipped, lmao I just dont find them interesting. This is the second time ive read an Urban novel from Chinese author and im not disappointed. Kinda meh but I like it. <<less
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FlyOnFire
FlyOnFire rated it
September 4, 2021
Status: Completed
Well... it was a satisfying journey for me. I did lose some brain cells along the way, but hey it was a sacrifice I'm willing to pay.

Some may not like this novel or it's not their cup of tea. Everyone has their own opinions and this is mine.
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Delorra
Delorra rated it
December 31, 2020
Status: c1176
This is a fantastic novel!!!!

There are novels that start out weak but get stronger. Then there're novels that start out strong but end in ruins. This novel is none of them! It starts out great and continue to amaze me even after more than 1, 100 chapters! I can count on two hands the number of novels that I managed to read to 1, 000 chapters without dropping.

Let me start by saying that I don't like novels with system. I think it's an overused trope and not done that well.... more>> This novel is a breath of fresh air. While it has a system, the system's presence is very minimal. Instead of focusing on the MC's interaction with the system, the novel is mainly about his interaction with the people around him. This makes the story telling doesn't feel as grindy as most of the other system novels (ex: do this task, get points, get stronger, rinsed and repeat, etc.)

I typically also don't like the misunderstanding trope. But the author did it so well here. The misunderstandings manage to be mostly logical and extremely hilarious. Poor Boss Pei. 🤣🤣🤣 In fact, misunderstanding is the overarching plotline of this novel.

While being entertained by all the character interactions, I also feel a sense of satisfaction by seeing how Boss Pei's company, Tengda, continues to grow and enter different sectors. It starts out in the game industry then branches out to other industries that unintentionally made positive economic and social impacts in the region.

Besides Boss Pei, all of the other side characters (mainly his employees) are also very memorable. All of them are tied to certain projects that easily jog my memory when they're brought up again. Even as Tengda continues to expand, the author didn't leave older characters in the dust. They made cameo appearance when least expected, not just as fillers, but as part of relevant plots. I'm amazed at how the author managed to piece together different pieces of characters and plots so seamlessly.

Plus, it's also one of those rare novels that doesn't need (random, sometimes plot destroying) romance to become popular.

In short, this is the best business development novel with a system that I've ever read. It's packed full of hilarity and memorable casts. Definitely worth my time and my wallet. <<less
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Bachingchung
Bachingchung rated it
June 11, 2020
Status: --
So the MC was blessed with a system that gives him a starting fund every cycle, to start his own company. The twist is a negative Gross Profit will give the MC a 1:1 rebate, while the MC will receive 1% equity share if it's successful.

It's basically a system that could drastically reduce unemployment rate, unfortunately the MC is too greedy and couldn't see the big picture. I wouldn't be pissed if that's just the reason, but there was a chapter that revealed a glaring loop hole to the system,... more>> he could basically hire himself to work for the company outside the job scope of a company boss. Not only the MC is greedy, he's also lazy AF, he could hire himself to do the character design which is being paid for 6 digits, and the shitty design could make his games fail too, hitting 2 birds with 1 stone. The author made this novel where the MC is so obsessed with the 1:1 loss conversion, that it suffers from the repetitive joke and use of "The MC is often misunderstood" concept. Yes it's funny at first, but come on. <<less
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Hakram
Hakram
May 19, 2025
Status: c60
The premise is as follows: our protagonist wakes up in the past of a world eerily similar to his own modern one—but with noticeable differences in how certain industries and technologies have developed. Luckily (or perhaps unluckily), he finds himself gifted with a “Golden Finger”—a business system that provides him with a special fund exclusively for entrepreneurship.

Here’s the twist: if he invests the money and the business fails, the system rewards him by converting the full amount into personal funds—and then refills his business fund again. However, if the business... more>> succeeds, he gets a personal "salary" equal to 1% of the business profit. So of course, our protagonist makes it his mission to fail as fast and fabulously as possible... only to find that every attempt to lose money ends up backfiring in the most lucrative way.

The humor is strong here. Much of it comes from how the MC’s common-sense failures somehow turn into massive hits, thanks to the quirks of this alternate timeline’s market. Business models that would've flopped in his own world suddenly thrive—and his growing reputation as a financial genius only adds to the misunderstanding-fueled comedy.

Technically, the writing is solid. There are occasional typos, but they’re rare and don’t detract from the experience. The only noticeable hiccup is how the system interface sometimes formats stat numbers oddly (placing values inside the text line rather than after colons), but this is a minor nitpick.

As for the protagonist himself—he’s unexpectedly likable. While he starts off scheming to “fail upwards, ” his honest reactions and constant dumbfoundedness at his own success make him charming rather than shady. The story also takes the time to show us the perspectives of side characters, which helps flesh out the world and makes for a more balanced narrative.

All in all, it’s an entertaining business-comedy tale with a light-hearted tone, solid pacing, and just enough worldbuilding to keep things interesting. Highly recommended if you enjoy “misunderstood genius” stories mixed with economics, comedy, and a sprinkle of alternate history. <<less
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Pixeldrum
Pixeldrum rated it
January 6, 2024
Status: Completed
My review got deleted twice, so super digest version:

This novel series is a great misunderstanding, Pei Qian demands ridiculous things from his employees, and his employees create products based on those demands and it somehow becomes successful. The interpretation of his demands into a successful product is great and fun. There's in-depth detail regarding the product itself. The product design, ideation, Pei Qian's demands, and the employees interpretation of those demands. Finally, we have the actual product launch, advertising, customer reviews, and the aftermath. Thus, you're not going to see... more>> random products just becoming successful after Pei Qian creates a random product draft. His employees are fun to read about, with their monologues and interaction being a key part of the novel. Pei Qian himself is a pretty good main character, and you always find it fun to see him coming up with new, ridiculous ideas, He dives into new industries constantly, makes higher dimensional chess moves according to his employees, and it's always fresh to read about.

Of course, his employees could use more characterization. I wish all characters had as much in depth monologue as Meng Chang but unfortunately that's not the case. Xin Hailu is a prominent example, being with Pei Qian since the beginning, but having nearly zero character development or screen time due to her seemingly boring duties, like being part of HR, hiring, accounting, etc. Still a good novel though. 8/10. <<less
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Zeikfried
Zeikfried rated it
January 1, 2022
Status: Completed
First thing to keep in mind, this series isn't meant to be binge read. At most, read one arc at a time or you'll quickly get sick of it.

The first appeal is definitely the comedy of misunderstandings. The pattern of jokes are cyclical, which is why you shouldn't read more than one arc at a time. But every time you come back to them it is amusing and find the author has built upon previous plot points instead of forgetting them.

Secondly, the situations and advice between the characters are legitimate... more>> things you can apply to yourself in real life. The backwards conditions Pei Qian forces his employees to go through to lose money really does expose the toll and grind life takes out of regular people, how the need more money and profit cuts away at the daily things that make you strive for self-actualization or any lofty goals. Reading this novel makes you take a moment to reevaluate the definition of success in life.

Thirdly, this novel is complete and almost completely translated.

-chapter 476

________________________________________________

I take it back. It is worth binge reading. The comedy is still there, but as you go on, the author's description of the products and employee's points of view is so fantastic that you as the reader can get drawn in and start believing in the Tengda hype.

________________________________________________

I'm real sick of Webnovel stealing all our webnovels.

Don't give them a dime. <<less
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