Losing Money to Be a Tycoon

Li Yaling was not interested in becoming a branch manager to begin with. She enjoyed being a trainer much more. Li Yaling liked everything about the job: building her own muscles, teaching others, forging relationships with customers, and helping them to train better.

Now, Boss Pei's suggestion seemed pretty good!

She would be an exclusive trainer, in charge of ten athletes. What's more, top-notch knowledge and professionalism were required. She fit the job perfectly!

On top of that, Boss Pei had promised a pay increase, and to fulfill all of her requests during the training process.

That was every trainer's ultimate dream!

Li Yaling immediately nodded. "No problem, Boss Pei. I'll finish the task for sure!"

Pei Qian nodded, smiling. "Excellent. I'll give you two days to tidy up your work in the gym. I'll look for you here on Saturday, and we'll go to the training base together."

Li Yaling was overjoyed. "Alright, Boss Pei! I'll finish all my work before Saturday!"

Although Deposit Fitness did not offer one-on-one training, many students came for Li Yaling. Naturally, she would have to notify everyone if she was leaving.

Additionally, the schedules of Deposit Fitness' trainers had already been set. If Li Yaling was leaving, the schedules had to be rearranged, and she needed at least two days to hand over her slots.

Pei Qian stood up to leave, feeling overjoyed.

Done!

He had gotten rid of a safety hazard in Deposit Fitness and found a new coach for DGE's team. He had killed two birds with one stone and achieved double the happiness!

Of course, Pei Qian knew full well what would happen when he brought Li Yaling to DGE Esports Club's training ground on Saturday. Everyone would look deeply confused.

Li Yaling was hoping to see a group of well-built professional athletes, but she would be met with a group of skinny and young internet addicts.

On the other hand, the young internet addicts were hoping to see a professional esports coach, but they would be met with a female instructor who looked like she could kill a bull with a single punch.

There would be a mismatch of demands.

Still, to Pei Qian, all coaches were the same. Training the body was the same as training the hand. There was no difference. What's more, given the standard of local coaches at the moment, Li Yaling would probably not be worse off than all of them.

It was just like the stock market. Sometimes, even without buying a single stock, one could be doing better than seventy percent of the people in the stock market.

All in all, this was a perfect plan. He was making the best use of all of his resources.

Pei Qian could not help but feel emotional. He was a genius!

…

…

May 12th, Thursday…

Pei Qian was lazing around in his bed when his cell phone rang. He lazily opened his eyes and grabbed his cell phone to take a look. In his heart, he wondered who was calling him so early in the morning, at 11 AM…

Looking at his cell phone display, he noticed that it was Ma Yang. He immediately perked up and became wide awake.

Did Old Ma cause another mess for me to clean up again?

Ma Yang was now one of the people whom Pei Qian had to keep a close eye on. Of course, he did not dare to ignore this phone call.

"Hello? Brother Qian! I'm working at Dream Realization Ventures now. We've made great progress!" Ma Yang sounded extremely excited over the phone.

Pei Qian immediately felt like he was facing a great enemy.

Before this, Pei Qian had plotted to trap Ma Yang at DGE Esports Club. Pei Qian had intended to keep him engrossed in playing games every day so that he could forget about the investment business.

However, the reckless idiots at DGE had not restrained themselves a while ago when they were playing with Ma Yang. They caused the latter to lose 0-28 in their very first match, causing Ma Yang to instantly be rid of his internet addiction.

That was why Ma Yang finally returned to take care of investments.

Pei Qian sat up on his bed. "Yes, tell me about it."

Ma Yang excitedly said, "Brother Qian, you told me to look for the projects with the biggest dreams, right? I've searched for a long time and finally found something!"

This piqued Pei Qian's interest. "Oh? How big is the dream?"

Ma Yang answered, "It's as big as you can imagine, Brother Qian! The dream is through the roof!"

Pei Qian's eyes lit up. Could Ma Yang have achieved something great for Pei Qian once again?

Yet, what Ma Yang said immediately dashed Pei Qian's hopes and dreams.

"Brother Qian, on top of that, guess whose plan is full of dreams? It's our old friend, Zhang Wang's!

"This project is especially reliable, isn't it? It is full of dreams, and it was done by an old friend who had achieved success before. It's perfect! Brother Qian, come to the office quickly to see the proposal!"

Pei Qian: "…"

Zhang Wang… wasn't he the man who came up with the shared phone booths?

I haven't even settled scores with him, and yet he still has the cheek to approach me?

Zhang Wang had used a fake proposal to gain Boss Pei's trust with the shared phone booths back then. After that, he had quietly given the shared phone booths a complete makeover.

Now, the shared phone booths had been set up in major shopping malls all over the country. Ruan Guangjian had even personally decorated the shared phone booths in Jingzhou with GOG heroes. They had become mini paradises for customers to swipe their cards.

We have such a deep feud, and you still want to take more money from me?

Go to hell!

Pei Qian felt the urge to hang up at once. "No way."

Ma Yang was stunned. "Brother Qian, you haven't even heard the name of the project. Don't be so eager to turn it down. Let me tell you—this project is very interesting.

"Zhang Wang has even brought a prototype over. I've been playing with it for more than half an hour! I can't stop! I think I could go on for three days and nights!"

Pei Qian was deeply confused.

A prototype? Ma Yang had been playing with it for more than half an hour?

What the h*ll was that?

"Alright, tell me the name of the project." Pei Qian was finally loosening up.

Ma Yang said, "A Fully-Automated Bickering Machine."

Pei Qian: "What?"

"A Fully-Automated Bickering Machine," repeated Ma Yang.

"What is that?"

Ma Yang sniggered. "See, Brother Qian? I told you that you would be interested. Come, quickly. I can't describe how fun this is using language alone!"

Pei Qian jumped out of his bed at once. "Alright, wait for me. I'll be right there!

…

Half an hour later, Pei Qian arrived at Dream Realization Ventures. He Desheng and the others were already there. When he saw Boss Pei arrive, Zhang Wang immediately stood up and shook hands with him, greeting him warmly.

"Boss Pei! Thank you for coming to look at my new project despite being so busy!"

Pei Qian remembered the first time that he met Zhang Wang. It was January, and the temperature had been in the negatives at the time.

Zhang Wang had been wearing a thin, black sweater and jeans. One could see his muscles bulging, and his long hair had been tied up in a ponytail behind his head, causing him to look every bit the artist.

Yet, today, Zhang Wang looked completely different.

His long, flowy hair was still the same, but he was no longer wearing the same clothes. Instead, he was dressed in a branded T-shirt and jeans. Now, his clothes looked tens of times more expensive than when Pei Qian had first met him.

Of course, his transcendent and refined aura remained the same.

On further thought, this made sense. Zhang Wang had already achieved financial freedom with his shared phone booths alone…

Everyone naturally had a different understanding of financial freedom. Zhang Wang was the type who did not bother much about enjoyment, and so he had lower standards than most people.

Still, no matter what, the money he had earned from the shared phone booths were enough for him not to worry about or work for his living expenses anymore.

Pei Qian did not want to talk to him at all. He patronizingly shook his hand and asked, "Where is it?"

Ma Yang raised his hand and said, "Brother Qian, it's this thing on the conference table!"

Pei Qian sat down by the conference table and saw a black, square box on it. There was nothing on the box but a neat row of stainless steel small rods. It looked just like the see-saws that one often saw in kindergarten.

Ma Yang shifted the box so that its front faced Pei Qian.

From where Pei Qian was sitting, the lowered seats of all the see-saws were closer to him. The part where the little rods met the box—which was the side of the box facing him—was indented and made especially smooth, probably for ease of moving the little rods.

From the top view, one could see that the little see-saw rods only occupied one half of the top of the box. There was a subtle line in the middle of the top of the box, which seemed to split it into half.

Pei Qian was slightly confused. What was that?

Ma Yang said, "Brother Qian, lift up that rod, quickly!"

Pei Qian reached out his finger towards the bottom of one lowered see-saw rod, his finger just touching the smooth, indented part of the box. The metal rod felt smooth, ice-cold, and round—they were nice to the touch.

Pei Qian moved his finger upwards and heard a 'tap'. The stainless steel rod moved like see-saws and the other side became lowered.

Pei Qian was just going to ask what was next, but the cover of the box opened automatically. A small, Y-shaped, black, metal rod rose up from inside the box; lifting the lowered portions of the other steel rod.

There was another soft tap. The steel rod was now back in its original position, which it had been in before Pei Qian did anything.

After that, the small, Y-shaped, black, metal rod retracted back into the box, which then closed on its own.

Everything was back to its original state.

Pei Qian: "?"

He lifted another rod, but the exact same thing happened. The box opened, a Y-shaped, black, metal rod rose up from the corresponding position and pushed the other end of the rod back up.

Pei Qian kept trying various metal rods, but the Y-shaped, black, metal rods inside the box would rise up in an orderly manner to push all the other rods back into their original positions. In the end, they would go back into the box, and everything would be restored to its original position.

Zhang Wang proudly said, "Boss Pei, this is the Fully-Automated Bickering Machine that I invented!

"This machine can perfectly simulate the experience of arguing with many experienced contrarians at the same time!

"You can start 'bickering' at any time, and the contrarians in the box would immediately stand up to bicker with you without having to rest!

"This would be good for solving the problem of contrarians giving up midway through a heated online debate with you!

"No matter how long you want to bicker for, this machine would always be there for you. It will never grow tired!

"There's more, Boss Pei. Look at the front of the box. There's an automatic counter with a pure mechanical structure there. It will calculate the number of times that you lift rods consecutively and display it using the simplest numbers. The moment you stop, the number will disappear."

Ma Yang looked extremely excited. "What do you think, Brother Qian? Isn't it particularly interesting? You could play it for three days and three nights, couldn't you? I already got the counter to over three hundred just now!"

Pei Qian looked at the confident Zhang Wang and the hopeful Ma Yang. Then, he looked at He Desheng whose head seemed to be hurting.

Obviously, He Desheng did not think that anything good would come out of this project at all.

After some consideration, Pei Qian asked, "What's the cost of this Fully-Automated Bickering Machine, and how much would it be sold for?"

Zhang Wang answered, "It costs less than two hundred yuan, and I'm planning to sell it for 260 yuan. I just need two million yuan to manufacture ten thousand machines."

Pei Qian shook his head. "That wouldn't do. Raise the cost to four hundred yuan and sell it for 488 yuan.

"I'll give you eight million yuan. Start immediately!"