Losing Money to Be a Tycoon

Zhang Yuan had been most pleased with the first three shops he had recommended; he was very confident about making money from these three. Further down the list, the fourth to sixth options were all so-so locations. Although they might incur losses, at least they wouldn't do so badly.

As for the last four; their locations were rather bad—even worse than Fish-Catching Internet Cafe's flagship store. They had been included just to hit the quota of ten locations.

After all, Pei Qian had been very specific about needing to find ten possible locations.

Zhang Yuan was a little conflicted as he finally said, "Boss Pei, it's not that these four locations are not good. However, they might not be as suitable as the first three…"

Zhang Yuan couldn't directly fault these four places. They were indeed part of the list of options he and Ma Yang had submitted. If he directly said they were bad, wasn't that shooting himself in the foot?

What if Boss Pei then asked why they chose these four when they weren't good in the first place? How was he going to reply? Hence, Zhang Yuan could only use a rather indirect method to hint to Boss Pei, that the first three options are better.

Pei Qian stood up as he energetically walked towards the projector screen as he looked at the locations in detail. "I actually feel that these four locations are not bad.

"I think that Fish-Catching Internet Cafe should give people a feeling that it is a good place that is not easy to come by; I want people to have a seeking mentality… to experience unexpected joy when they finally find it!

"To open branches in a bustling city district? No, no, no. That would be too noisy; it would be incompatible with our internet cafes. Our internet cafe's mood is quieter, relaxed; this was the atmosphere we had decided on right from the start.

"We only have fifty computers while we ban smoking; we have many storybooks, and even when we have gigs at night, the songs sung are not rock songs but folk songs… these all exemplify the mood of our internet cafe!

"If we're like others and open in a place with a huge amount of human traffic that ruins the atmosphere, wouldn't our internet cafe be like a chaotic vegetable market? That would be out of character and sully Tengda's image."

Zhang Yuan was stunned.

Boss Pei had even gone so far as to say this would sully Tengda's reputation? I can't bear this responsibility that Boss Pei is putting on me!

Pei Qian pointed at the last four locations. "These areas are better. They are quiet, relaxed, and are especially suitable for one to empty one's mind and allow them to think about life."

Zhang Yuan was even more baffled. Why did they want customers to think about life? Shouldn't they make customers think about spending more money?

Pei Qian continued, "Furthermore, the more important thing is these four locations have a rather substantial floor space. They are very vast and can give our customers more space; this kind of experience is very important."

Zhang Yuan was speechless.

The four locations' floor space was huge? Of course, that was the case! They weren't in the heat of commercial districts, and the land was cheaper; it was natural that the space would be bigger.

Zhang Yuan still thought of continuing with his explanation; however, Pei Qian had already returned to his seat. "This time, you two have done splendidly. We'll settle on these four places, then."

Zhang Yuan swallowed the words that were about to come out from his mouth.

"When you guys head back, let the few branch managers choose which ones they want to be in charge of. Let's settle the shops that require more extensive renovations; those that do not require too many changes can be pushed to later on. When it's time to transfer funds, contact Assistant Xin."

As these four branches' locations were even more deserted than the current flagship store's, the rent was naturally going to be cheaper.

However, Pei Qian did not have that much funds on hand now; he could at most open two shops first. After he received some income from the existing games, he could then use the money to open the remaining two shops.

However, this matter didn't need to be rushed either. There were still two months left. As long as they all opened for business a week before the next settlement, that would be fine.

Zhang Yuan looked at Ma Yang as he gave him a look, meaning to ask Ma Yang if the latter wanted to try and persuade Boss Pei further.

Ma Yang nodded as if he took the hint and went in front of Pei Qian. "Alright, Brother Qian, we'll go and work on this; nothing will go wrong!"

Zhang Yuan, "…"

Was this what the look I gave you meant?

However, as Ma Yang had already said this, Zhang Yuan could only follow Ma Yang dejectedly out of the office.

Zhang Yuan hugged his laptop as he grew dejected internally. For this proposal, he had worked very seriously on it, heading down for site visits and making comprehensives evaluations. It could be said that the first three locations had been repeatedly confirmed by him that they would definitely be profitable!

The last four locations had just been to fill the numbers; he had not wasted much energy on them. In the end, Boss Pei had not even taken much of a closer look and had decided on those four.

This was… really vexing.

If it was another boss that decided on this, Zhang Yuan might actually have scolded and cursed this person for being unreliable. Of course, Zhang Yuan would only complain internally; he wouldn't actually resign. After all, he wouldn't be able to get this salary anywhere else.

However, as Boss Pei had made this decision, Zhang Yuan actually didn't nurse a grudge. He could only say that he wasn't smart enough to comprehend Boss Pei's intentions.

Would Boss Pei not know how to choose locations?

He definitely knew. As for why he didn't choose the most obviously profitable locations, Boss Pei must have other considerations.

Zhang Yuan was dejected for a while but soon shook that off as he went with Ma Yang to discuss the rent and make preparations to open the new branches.

…

…

Pei Qian was very pleased with the chosen locations. If he kept up the good work, these branches would be able to make even more losses than the flagship store. This was also very logical. As the flagship store, the first location was definitely going to have the best business; if not, it wouldn't be known as a flagship.

After he relaxed and drank his tea for a while, Assistant Xin knocked and entered. "Boss Pei, I have gotten some preliminary information on Shang Yang Games; do you want to take a look?"

Pei Qian immediately perked up, "Yes!"

Pei Qian was paying the most attention to this recently. As long as he managed to buy over Shang Yang Games, he would have a second stable source of losses after Fish-Catching Internet Cafe; it was something that would be beneficial for a long time!

Assistant Xin handed over a file to Pei Qian. Pei Qian read as Assistant Xin started to explain.

"Shang Yang Games is a private company with fifty-two employees. At present, Shang Yang Games mainly has two games. One is called Romantic Taoist—a business venture game; the second is called Bloody Battle Song—it is a web-based war game."

Hearing the name of this game, Pei Qian couldn't help by sigh appreciatively. Indeed, making lousy games also required some degree of gifts and talent.

Look at this name, Romantic Taoist! The name itself was rather inappropriate; if a game with this name could become popular and sell well, that would be the biggest joke in the world! However, while he knew that this was obviously a sensational name, Pei Qian actually wanted to see what this game was about.

"Romantic Taoist has presently stopped running; its income had been lower than fifty thousand for a long time; Bloody Battle Song, on the other hand, is the Shang Yang Games's main source of revenue. However, after a recent uproar over certain changes to the game, its income had also fallen drastically."

Pei Qian knew about this uproar; Ma Yiqun had told him about it.

Bloody Battle Song was probably the game where Old Liu had sold a saber at 888, resulting in the company being scolded bloody by players.

Not bad. These are good options to take over.

Assistant Xin continued, "Using a rough estimate, Shang Yang Games' rental is around a hundred and fifty thousand monthly while wages are at two hundred thousand a month. They are currently finding it very hard to even maintain this, and rumors have it that they can't seem to be able to even pay salaries this month."

While they had more employees than Tengda, there were many positions in that company and the average wage was also lower. Hence, the rent and salaries to be paid were much lower than Tengda's.

Pei Qian didn't mind this; he could slowly tweak the situation after he took over in any case. As long as it didn't have any hidden trouble lurking that could generate profits; then all would be fine!