Losing Money to Be a Tycoon

Pei Qian smiled slightly, took the teapot next to him, and poured a cup of tea before pushing it into Rui Yuchen's hand.

"You answered well."

Rui Yuchen quickly took the cup, confused.

I answered well? What did this mean? I said 'I didn't know!'

Boss Pei did not compliment others usually!

Did he feel that I'm more honest because I spoke the truth?

It couldn't be.

Honesty might be a virtue, but it was not enough for Boss Pei to praise someone because of that!

Or did Boss Pei see through my facade? Did he realize that I only replied that way because I took into account his face and was satisfied?

No, that was impossible as well.

Boss Pei was not so superficial.

Or perhaps my casual reply matched the deep meaning within Boss Pei's question?

Rui Yuchen's brain began spinning quickly after he ruled out the two wrong answers. He realized that there must be plenty of important information hidden within Boss Pei's simple compliment.

Could it be that Boss Pei set a seemingly wrong operating model for Fish-Catching Take-Out for some other deeper purpose?

He asked me this to test me out to see if I could understand the meaning behind it?

If I were to answer 'this model would not be profitable' honestly, then Boss Pei would know that I only saw the first layer and did not realize the existence of the second layer.

I answered that 'I don't know' proved that I did not only see the first layer but also realized the existence of the second layer.

I might not have gotten the right answer, but I was at least on track with my thoughts.

I had at least 60 marks for the workings even if I did not have full marks.

Boss Pei probably praised me because of this…

A series of thoughts flashed past Rui Yuchen's mind.

Pei Qian thought Rui Yuchen was nervous when he saw Rui Yuchen's heavy face. He could not help but smile.

"Don't be nervous. It isn't important for Fish-Catching Take-Out to make money, understand?"

Rui Yuchen's heart shook.

As expected, making profits was a secondary aim to Fish-Catching Take-Out. Its primary goal was something else!

What was it?

To provide benefits for their staff?

To combine with the other industries so that Tengda could penetrate into all aspects of life?

To provide consumers with healthier dishes and to change their eating habits so that everyone could live a healthy life?

He might not be sure which of it, but it must be one of these three reasons!

Rui Yuchen was a little grateful that his 'I don't know' happened to hit on the right answer!

There might be a huge deviation during the problem-solving process, but he was right in the end.

He quickly cheered up and continued to listen carefully.

Pei Qian continued. "I asked you to come today because I want to give you a few missions.

"First, from today on, Fish-Catching Take-Out will be independent from Fish-Catching Internet Cafe. You will report directly to me, instead of Xiao Peng.

"The independent Fish-Catching Take-Out would have its own stores and expansion. You will no longer be dependent on Fish-Catching Internet Cafe.

"I know you are going to ask where you should get the money from. Get it from me directly."

"Second, hire some nutritionists and experts with a high salary to set up a 'gourmet laboratory' to develop a variety of healthy meals suitable for Fish-Catching Take-Out.

"It would include the selection and purchase of tableware, purchases, etc. It would be responsible for improving the taste of Fish-Catching Take-Out.

"Third, develop a set of fitness meals to complement the gym."

Pei Qian had been considering the arrangement for Fish-Catching Take-Out for quite some time.

More than a year had passed since the establishment of the Fish-Catching Take-Out. Not only did it solve the problem of food for employees, but it has also been working hard to lose money. It might be a drop in the bucket compared to the other profitable projects, but Boss Pei was aware of the hard work put into it.

However, Fish-Catching Take-Out had been dependent on the internet cafe. To lose more money, he had to open more Fish-Catching Take-Outs, which meant he had to open more internet cafes. However, the internet cafes were now so profitable that the losses made by Fish-Catching Take-Out could be covered.

It fell into a vicious cycle.

Therefore, Pei Qian felt it was time for the Take-Out to become independent.

He had to open some Fish-Catching Take-Out stores so that he could pay some rent. It could also expand freely.

At the same time, Pei Qian felt it seemed like a good idea to burn some money to develop Fish-Catching Take-Out.

Of course, it would not be sometime like fast-food. That would be too profitable. Pei Qian did not want to create something like Kentucky or the Golden Arches. That would become a huge problem.

What Pei Qian had in mind was to make some unappetizing healthy food, fitness meals, and fat-reducing meals. It would be able to dissuade mainstream diners with higher prices.

There was a joke when it came to takeaways.

Why were healthy takeaways such as vegetable salads not selling well?

Netizens replied 'why would I care if it was healthy or not since I'm already having takeaways?'

Of course, that did not represent everyone's thinking, but there were some truths to it.

Most people ordered takeaways because of its heavy taste. Most people would not stick to the healthy tasteless greens.

Therefore, Pei Qian felt that engaging in such healthy meals should be the lowest risk option. Some urban young white-collar workers might consume them, but they would not be in large numbers.

The characteristics of Fish-Catching Take-Out (tableware recycling) determined that it would not be profitable until the scale reached a certain level.

This set of fitness meals could be bundled with the gym membership. At the same time, it could dissuade gym customers and existing Fish-Catching Take-Out customers, killing two birds with one stone!

Pei Qian was in awe of his own wits.

Rui Yuchen fell into silence after hearing what Boss Pei had to say.

He was actually promoted instead of being criticized even though it had been making losses!!

Fish-Catching Take-Out and Fish-Catching Internet Cafe were now on the same level. Not only that, but he would also be reporting directly to Boss Pei now.

Anyone who had watched palace court dramas knew that being able to speak to the emperor was in itself a great power!

That meant that Fish-Catching Take-Out finally did not need to succumb to Fish-Catching Internet Cafe but could now jump out of this framework to develop its own business!

The Gourmet Laboratory and fitness meals were even more meaningful.

The former meant that Boss Pei attached great importance to the prospect of Fish-Catching Take-Out. The latter meant that Boss Pei was willing to use the other companies to help Fish-Catching Take-Out!

These three points exuded strong hints.

Do your best! I would support you unconditionally!

Rui Yuchen could not help but be moved inexplicably. He was more certain of his previous thoughts now!

Boss Pei's first question really had a second layer to its meaning!

Fish-Catching Internet Cafe was making losses because of the operating model.

Healthy meals were not strong in taste so they were not pleasing in the first place.

The steps of destruction, cleaning, disinfection, and recycling of tableware would pile up costs. The cost would only be recovered when a certain scale was reached.

A profitable Fish-Catching Take-Out… was only secondary for Boss Pei.

Then, what was the most important goal?

Rui Yuchen only guessed it originally, but he was completely certain now.

The goal of Fish-Catching Take-Out was to guide consumers so that everyone could start a diet and lead a healthy lifestyle! At the same time, Tengda Corporation would also make arrangements in advance to lay a solid foundation for the development of various related industries in the future!

This goal was very likely to be determined by Boss Pei from the establishment of the Fish-Catching Take-Out. However, due to funding issues and related industry issues, the conditions were not mature. Naturally, there is no need to mention it to the person in charge of Fish-Catching Take-Out.

However, the conditions seemed ripe now.

Fish-Catching Take-Out was now of a considerable scale and had a certain reputation among consumers.

They should continue to expand and establish the concept of 'healthy eating'. Wouldn't making money just be a matter of time?

As expected, the losses that Fish-Catching Take-Out made previously were all within calculations of Boss Pei!

Rui Yuchen wanted to announce loudly. Boss Pei, I understand! I understand why Fish-Catching Take-Out had been losing money! I understand the true meaning of this operation model!

However, Rui Yuchen felt there was no need to do so when he saw Boss Pei's light smile.

Obviously, Boss Pei knew it was a matter of time before I would guess it.

Shouting it out now would make him seem uncultured.

Everyone knew that Boss Pei disliked subordinates who credited themselves often. He preferred hardworking subordinates who only spoke about problems, not achievements.

Everything converged into one sentence after Rui Yuchen thought left and right about it.

"Rest assured, Boss Pei, I'll do my best to achieve this mission and not fail you!"

Pei Qian nodded in satisfaction.

Hm, he was teachable!

…

At the same time…

Huang Sibo was lying on the sofa in his residence. He suddenly felt a little bored after watching a foreign movie.

It had been more than a week since Fei Huang Workspace had been on Shock Therapy.

The overseas release of Tomorrow is Beautiful was underway. The payment for the domestic box office should be coming soon as well.

Boss Pei gave Fei Huang Workspace four whole months of 'shock' time. It had only been a week, and Huang Sibo was already unable to withstand it.

"I'm too free at home…"

Paid vacation might sound cool, but staying at home watching movies every day was also suffocating!

Huang Sibo really wanted to go to work, but he did not dare to.

If Boss Pei wanted Fei Huang Workspace to be on shock therapy, then they had to follow through.

The consequences would be unimaginable if Boss Pei caught him secretly going to work.

However, to stay in this state for four months?

Death would have been more welcome!

Huang Sibo took out his phone and sent a message to the Fei Huang Workspace group chat: "I'm boredddddd!!!!"

Many people replied in no time.

"Yeah!"

"I watched four movies in one day. I'm dying."

"I miss the time I was working on Tomorrow is Beautiful."

"I miss it, too. It was tiring, but it was really fun, and there was a sense of achievement. I feel like I'm becoming useless now that I'm on paid leave."

Everyone complained.

Huang Sibo sighed silently. It seemed as though it was not just his problem. Everyone else felt the same!

Zhu Xiaoce replied, "Don't complain, everyone. I realized a problem after thinking about it for a few days."

Huang Sibo quickly replied, "What problem?"

Zhu Xiaoce, "What Boss Pei told us was not 'paid leave' but 'shock therapy'."

Huang Sibo was confused. "Is there any difference? We are, in fact, on paid leave."

Zhu Xiaoce sent a 'contemplative' emoticon. "No, no, no. Of course, there is a difference.

"Paid leave means giving you some time to rest after being tired from work. One week would have been enough.

"But Boss Pei gave us four months of madness.

"It's obviously too much for rest.

"Therefore, the phrase used by Boss Pei was 'shock therapy'."

Huang Sibo was baffled. "How do you explain 'shock therapy'?"

Zhu Xiaoce, " 'Shock therapy' is an economic concept, to the effect that in the face of a severely unbalanced economic situation, the balance of social demand and supply can be achieved through some harsh means.

"It may even make the social mechanism unable to operate normally in the short term. However, if you use it well, you can quickly restore order after the pain.

"Our Fei Huang Workspace is currently facing such a situation."

Huang Sibo was a little confused. "No? We are not 'severely imbalanced'; neither are we facing any serious problems…"

Zhu Xiaoce, "Think about it again.

"Are you sure that we are not experiencing any imbalance?

"I am a Film Directing graduate who graduated less than two years ago. Brother Huang, you have just transited from the game industry recently. The others are mostly from academics. Which one of us had ever participated in such a successful movie?

"Our workspace had been making short films. We made a popular 200-million-yuan box-office-movie on our first attempt.

"Who dares to say that you are not feeling full of yourself? Who dares to say that your mentality had lost its balance?

"Doesn't everyone think that a 200-million-yuan box office does not seem that difficult, that it is within reach?"

Everyone fell into silence.

Huang Sibo calmed down and asked his heart. Director Zhu Xiaoce seemed to be right about that.

Yes, everyone seemed to be a little full of themselves now!

However, that was human nature. Their first attempt at making a movie made a box office of more than 200 million yuan. It was very difficult for normal people not to float.

Huang Sibo typed his reply out, "What has Shock Therapy got to do with this then?"

Zhu Xiaoce replied quickly, "Think about it. What will happen if we are to prepare for filming the next film with our current mentality?

"The success of Tomorrow is Beautiful is firstly due to Boss Pei's good script. Secondly, it was because of the inspiration accumulated by every one of us. That was what allowed us to achieve a superb level of performance in the process of creating the film. Finally, we filmed with a cautious, humble heart because it was our first movie.

"What about now?

"I have no doubt that Boss Pei will be able to come up with a good script, but we have exhausted our inspiration. At the same time, we have become proud. There is no way we still maintain our previous mentality.

"We'll definitely screw the movie up if we were to make a movie in this state!

"Obviously, Boss Pei has realized the serious imbalance in the mentality of everyone in Fei Huang Workspace. He, therefore, decided to use shock therapy to get us to reflect and re-adjust our state!"

A reminder to wake up the dreamers.

Huang Sibo suddenly felt that it made total sense!

He asked hurriedly, "What should we do now then? Do nothing while staying at home?"

Zhu Xiaoce, "Reflect and restore our mentality. Another important aspect is to replenish our inspiration.

"It's impossible to rely on hard work without methods in the movie industry. We'll only make bad movies without inspiration. Not only would it make losses, but we would also be scolded very badly.

"We can only make better works with sufficient inspiration.

"Therefore, we have to advance ourselves!"