Losing Money to Be a Tycoon

Boss Pei minded. In fact, he minded very much!

Why do all of you have to come and screw things up for me? I just want to find a place with no one and lose some money!

It was just a teeny weeny dream!

Why do you have to be like a b*tch and follow me wherever I go? I'm being forced by you to build a haunted house—what more do you want! Do I really need to build a rocket before you stop following me?

Pei Qian was utterly speechless. He would transfer money to people like Boss Li if he could to keep them away from him! However, Boss Pei was a cultured person after all. He had to maintain calm even if the other party said something so cruel.

Pei Qian sighed lightly. "Boss Li, I always wanted to say that there is a very serious misunderstanding between us. I have been trying very hard to explain, but you don't believe me.

"I told you a long time ago that my Dream Realization Ventures is just to invest for fun and to fulfill unfinished dreams. I have never expected it to be profitable.

"This situation is all because of a series of coincidences, do you understand?"

Boss Li smiled slightly and nodded. "I completely understand!"

Pei Qian, "?"

Do you really f*cking understand?!

Boss Li ordered a cup of coffee as well and sipped on it leisurely. "The act of investing itself is filled with coincidence. Many a time even the smartest investors cannot fight luck. This is where man proposes and God disposes.

"That's why even a smart investor like Boss Pei is full of awe of the element of luck itself. This is a quality worthy to be learned by all of us investors."

Pei Qian, "…"

What you say might make sense, but are you sure you are referring to the same luck as I am?

Pei Qian fell silent. "I am not a smart investor; neither do I have any good methods."

Li Shi grinned slightly. "That's right, every successful investor is as humble as you."

Pei Qian, "…"

Li Shi continued speaking seeing how Boss Pei fell silent. "Boss Pei, how do you explain your moves in 'Top Student, Come Quick' if you say you don't have any methods in your investment?

"The person who decided to do this project was you. You were the one who gave the project its name; you are the one burning the money to make it popular; you are the one who decided to sell it at a high point; you were the one who found someone to buy back everything at a low price after kicking everyone out…

"Boss Pei, please tell, if taking one right decision is luck; then what is a series of right decisions?"

Pei Qian could only sigh silently. "It's heavenly bad luck."

Li Shi couldn't help but chuckle. "Boss Pei, eh, Boss Pei, as humorous as ever."

"I know that you are always on the guard with other investors. Your clever maneuvers in 'Top Student, Come Quick' illustrated this point. However, we don't mind in the least. This is absolutely natural. We would not think you are a qualified investor otherwise, because that would mean you are not ruthless enough.

"In short, you are already very generous to allow us to take a sip from your bowl.

"Therefore, it is alright even if your words are always bordering between truth and falsehoods. I'm used to such a communication method."

Pei Qian, "…"

Are you crazy?! Boss Li, why did a CEO of a good investment firm like you suddenly become an extreme masochist!

Everything I told you is true, the key is whether you believe it or not!

Two creatures in the same world, same family, same program, same class, same species, same sex, speaking the same language could actually ignite a chain of suspicion?

How unbelievable.

Boss Li's lips turned upwards seeing how Boss Pei kept mum. It seemed as though Boss Pei was still pretending to be dumb. If that was the case, he could only deduce Boss Pei's methods to make him speechless!

Li Shi took a sip of coffee calmly. "Alright, if it was just the operation of the 'Top Student, Come Quick' app, I can still think it is just luck. But Boss Pei, how do you explain the shared phone booth project?"

Pei Qian, "That was all done by Zhang Wang. I was not involved at all."

"Em, ok." Li Shi still kept the faint smile on his face. "What about the Glory of Gods then? Was it all developed independently by the designer?"

Pei Qian nodded. "Yes!"

Li Shi's smile became even brighter now. "Alright, you want to attribute all the credit for these projects to your subordinates. Okay, but who is the one pushing behind the Glory of Gods, shared phone booth, and the Shared Top Student application?"

Pei Qian cursed in his heart. He looked at Li Shi, his eyes widened and his face full of consternation. Was there a combined event between GOG, shared phone booth, and 'Top Student, Come Quick'?

What combined event? How come I don't know about it…?

Li Shi couldn't help but feel delighted with the crushed look on Boss Pei's face.

Boss Pei, eh, Boss Pei, do you think that you can hide from my eyes? You didn't think that I would be able to think of it, right!

Li Shi took an Otto E1 cell phone out of his phone with pride and showed Pei Qian a photo that turned his astonishment to speechlessness. The picture was a place very familiar to Pei Qian. It was on the top floor of Huanyu Tianjie. Modest's phone booth was there.

There was a long queue in front of the phone booth.

Pei Qian felt light-headed. That was because the photo was taken yesterday from the details of the photo!

What was this? Didn't the traffic for the phone booth stabilize? Why was there a need for the long lines?

What was this?

Li Shi smiled slightly. "Similar situations are happening for more than 20 other phone booths. These GOG players seemed to be taking photos with these heroes and getting a stamp with the heroes within.

"So, Boss Pei, decorating the phone booths with the theme 'GOG heroes' and having the heroes' stamps within are not your idea as well, right?"

Pei Qian, "…"

Li Shi continued. "And, Boss Pei, if my information is correct, the shared phone booths have spread across all major shopping malls in Jingzhou. You're also entering the other cities with the franchise model.

"Major shopping malls place orders directly and are responsible for their own operation and maintenance, and they can pay back in a few months. However, the shared phone booth business has turned to selling phone booths and getting commissions to make a profit, right?

"The GOG-themed phone booths are so popular to the point where you can order a full set of GOG Heroes at once when you order phone booths. Originally, you only sold two or three, but now, it's more than twenty…"

"This has nothing to do with Boss Pei as well, right?"

Pei Qian flexed his mouth, but no sound came out of it. He cursed a million 'f*cks' in his mind. He did think that the GOG hero-themed booths would become an attraction when the game went live, but he did not take it to heart at all.

He originally thought that people would check in and take some phones with the booth. It would definitely have no impact on the income.

However, he never thought that it would increase the sales volume of the phone booth!

The other cities were now more included to purchase a full set of GOG-hero-themed phone booths together in the shopping malls so that the GOG players in the city could check in and for the sale of the phone booth to increase!

Pei Qian was now in a state of daze. He did not know what to say for quite a while.

Li Shi was more certain that he hit the nail on the head looking at Boss Pei's expression. He smiled and he continued. "Then, what about the 'Top Student, Come Quick' and the phone booth's combined event?"

Li Shi opened the 'Top Student, Come Quick' application on his cell phone.

"The advertisements of Xude Education were cleaned up, and reputation via word of mouth was quickly restored. The return of the previous users brought back not only users lost during the management of the Xude Education but also the students and their parents.

"The number of active users in the app showed a miraculous rapid increase in the short period when Dream Realization Ventures took it back.

"Not only that, but the offline teaching section of the app would also automatically search for nearby Fish-Catching Internet Cafe and shared phone booths as meeting places to greatly reduce their expenses.

"As for the life section of the 'Top Student, Come Quick', it promoted Fish-Catching Take-Out, Zhongdian Chinese Network, and some light games under its charge under the banner of 'Work and Rest'. That has nothing to do with Boss Pei as well, right?"

Pei Qian was utterly speechless. To be honest, every single one of them had no connection with him! He did not even know some of them until Boss Li mentioned them.

However, Pei Qian finally fully understood what was going on, seeing Boss Li's expression.

Boss Li had his answers no matter what Pei Qian said!

Boss Li would only wear a meaningful smile on his face even if Boss Pei denied it. He would take everything as a kind of humor between friends. Or perhaps, even worse, he might take it as a form of… posture?

Pei Qian felt very tired. He did not even have the mood to settle the accounts with the person-in-charge of the 'Top Student, Come Quick' application.

Li Shi put on a victor's posture, his face full of pride.

See, Boss Pei's exquisite plans were seen through by me. He's rendered speechless! I don't feel as much happiness from gaining from my investments!

Pei Qian took another sip of coffee and calmed himself down. He then said very reluctantly, "So, how do you plan to invest?"

Li Shi smiled. "Boss Pei, don't worry, we will not snatch anything from you. We just want a teeny bit. We will definitely not invest blindly into the Thriller Hostel.

"We'll just pick a random plot in the huge industrial zone and open a small store like food, entertainment, or whatever. We'll definitely not make any trouble for you."

Pei Qian was utterly speechless.

You guys are already creating trouble for me by opening stores!

What could he say then? Pei Qian would not be able to swallow such a large piece of land in the old industrial zones even if he wanted to. Pei Qian had no reason to stop Boss Li and the rest from investing in the industrial zones.

He could not stop them even if he didn't agree to it.

"Alright, whatever you want. Don't say I didn't warn you if you make a loss," Pei Qian said helplessly.

Li Shi laughed. "Of course, Boss Pei, we've been in this circle for so long. We have a clear understanding of the risks of investment.

"Moreover, Boss Pei has helped us earn so much money. We can only think of it as giving back to Boss Pei even if it makes a loss. What's there to worry about?"

Pei Qian, "…"

I don't have any counter-argument to that since what you said seems to make sense.