Losing Money to Be a Tycoon

This Boss Li really comes up with new tricks from time to time!

In the past, he would take the initiative to tell me when he was planning to create trouble. Now, he's actually taking care of them directly with my underlings?

Is there still law in this country? Is there still order?

Does anyone care?!

Pei Qian was livid because he did not want any of this income!

He would have set the ticket prices for the entire Thriller Hostel for free had it not been forbidden by the system. He was now gifted a shopping mall inexplicably and fifty percent of all the profits in the mall. It was no different from getting struck by lightning out of nowhere!

Pei Qian had no plans at all to sell the peripherals even though they could make a profit!

Great, now he was being forced to put a square peg into a round hole.

Anyone could rent these old industrial zones. Boss Li and the others could open shops as they liked. They might not be able to sell anything linked to the copyright of the Thriller Hostel, but they could still sell a lot of other goods. They would be able to make money all the same as long as there was human traffic.

Yet, now everyone was setting up a store together and selling things together. In Boss Li's view, the investors might suffer a loss in the distribution of the profits, but as long as this plate was made larger, the total amount would be a win-win situation for everyone.

However, Pei Qian did not think so. Wasn't this an inexplicable huge profit forced in?

Pissed off.

Luckily, Pei Qian had been really experienced in this and had calmed down in no time.

Thinking from another point of view—in the beginning, the Thriller Hostel was to be running at a loss. If the Thriller Hostel would not make money, the shopping malls would naturally not make money. There is nothing to worry about.

Conversely, if the mall made money, it meant that the Thriller Hostel itself had become popular and had already made more money in tickets…

There is no difference between fifty steps and a hundred so there is nothing to be antagonized over.

Pei Qian tried to enlighten himself, but it had no effect on him. The more he thought about it, the more he felt he had suffered a loss and the angrier he became!

Boss Li had to accept revenge for this backstab!

Pei Qian tried his best to keep the bottleneck as he told the Manage Loss Trainee in charge of Thriller Hostel "Tell me the cooperation plan in detail."

The Manage Loss Trainee replied, "Boss Li and the other investors had rented an old factory building in a good location. They proposed to pay for the rent and the renovation while we provide the plan for the renovation."

Pei Qian was thoughtful upon hearing this. He seemed to have found a point of breakthrough. "Do you have the rendering for the renovation?"

The Manage Loss Trainee fished out his phone. "Yes, Boss Pei, please take a look."

Pei Qian reached out and took the phone to look at the rendering on it.

The style of a standard high-end shopping mall, soft lighting, clean environment, a dazzling array of shelves filled with goods, tourists come and go, choosing goods and enthusiastic shopping guide ladies…

Yes, this rendering had a huge number of tourists drawn on it. That pricked Pei Qian as though he had already seen the super popular shopping mall.

That could not happen!

Think about it, these tourists were frightened half to death when they went to the haunted house. It was the time when they were mentally weak. It would be like entering heaven if they were to enter this mall after that.

They would be surrounded by a huge sense of security after all their previous fears were wiped out. Why would they not splurge like crazy in such circumstances?

Pei Qian considered for a short while before replying. "This renovation plan will definitely not do; it requires a huge change! They have yet to start the work, right?"

The Manage Loss Trainee nodded. "Not yet, Boss Pei. This is only the initial draft. It will require modification before work starts, probably at the end of the month."

Pei Qian checked the date; there was still one week. It should be no problem recreating the plan of the designer if he worked a little harder.

"The current renovation plan is too shabby. Renovate it completely in accordance with the specifications of foreign luxury shopping malls. It must be graceful, luxurious, and magnificent. It has to be as expensive as it can get!

"Of course, there is no need to choose too troublesome materials. Just get the expensive materials to ensure that we will be able to hit the date completion date. Customers will definitely be able to feel our sincerity.

"In addition, such a shopping-mall style is too common. There is nothing new at all, which is completely inconsistent with the Thriller Hostel theme.

"Transform the entire mall into a maze and hide all the peripheral goods within the maze. Make it so that most customers would not be able to find the store and would exit accidentally.

"Hmm, I think you better not say anything, I'll let Chen Kangtuo know."

Pei Qian emphasized that the identity of the Manage Loss Trainees should not be revealed. As to why such a design scheme was chosen… the reason was very simple. Make Boss Li and the others bleed out by selling as little as possible!

Renovations cost a lot in the first place. The costs would only snowball now that it had become a maze filled with walls.

Hmph, who asked you to backstab me?!

Don't blame me for doing things harshly since you asked Tengda to come up with the plan while you pay for the renovations!

Wouldn't you continue to pester me endlessly if I did not cause you to lose big?

The main reason was that this group of investors followed Boss Pei wherever he invested. Many projects, which were originally not profitable, became profitable because of them.

Once the myth of Boss Pei's invincibility was shattered and Boss Li and the rest suffered a huge loss, these people would naturally disperse. Boss Pei would then be able to find his happy little corner to lose money.

All the Manage Loss Trainees completed their reports in no time.

Pei Qian could not help but feel relieved from the bottom of his heart after summarizing the contents of today's meeting.

Great, the Manage Loss Trainees system had achieved initial results!

If it was not for these Manage Loss Trainees, Pei Qian would not have grasped the latest developments of Fish-Catching Take-Out fitness meals or the situation at the Thriller Hostel.

Boss Pei's degree of control over the various projects had significantly been enhanced with the Manage Loss Trainees. None of the clues of making profits would be able to escape Boss Pei's eyes!

Of course, it was difficult to change things that had already happened. However, no matter what, it was a huge improvement from his previous situation!

Pei Qian was very satisfied. "Everyone did well; please continue working hard!"

…

…

May 22nd, Sunday night…

Pei Qian had already written emails to Chen Kangtuo, Guo Licheng, and Rui Yuchen yesterday afternoon. He had expressed his opinion on the fitness meal and the shopping mall of the Thriller Hostel. He had scheduled to send them out together on Monday morning.

This way, they would receive the emails after they went to work without any delay.

As to why it was scheduled on Monday to be sent…

It was because Boss Pei had never encouraged working overtime. What if the rest read wrongly into his meaning if he were to send them emails on Saturday?

Everyone would think 'wow, Boss Pei was still working on a Saturday. How could we slack then? Come on, fight on!'

That would obtain the opposite effect.

Today was Sunday. Pei Qian was basking comfortably in the sunlight in his large living room during the morning. He played games on his huge TV for the rest of the day and felt his life being very complete.

Until now, Pei Qian was the only resident really living in this building.

He had recruited one butler and two cleaners, but the works of these three people were seriously unsaturated.

However, Pei Qian did not mind. It was best to be kept this way.

It was past ten at night. Pei Qian wondered if he should be adjusting his biological clock and head to bed earlier.

Pei Qian looked into the dangers of staying up late previously to change the schedules for the internet-addicted teenagers in the DGE club. The more he read up, the guiltier he felt.

After all, he could better lose money by ensuring he was healthy.

Otherwise, if he collapses on the hospital bed and the various person-in-charge of the departments visit his ward with endless good news such as a certain department raked in millions, a certain movie won a prize, or if a certain game had taken the world by storm…

Wouldn't that cause Boss Pei to vomit blood on the bed?

Therefore, Pei Qian felt that he must take good care of his body to fight the wits of his subordinates. He had to go to bed early, eat well, and sleep well.

"Alright, let's get it on then!"

Pei Qian took a nice long bath, brushed his teeth, and brought his phone to the bed.

He set the alarm to ring at eight tomorrow morning before placing the phone on the bedside and touched the bedside control panel to turn off the bedroom lights and for the glass to turn opaque, shielding the room from all light sources.

However, a 'ding' sounded from the chat software on his phone when he was about to drift off.

Pei Qian: "…"

Who was it?! Who was still awake at such an hour! Didn't you know that going to bed early and getting up early was a good habit to have?

Pei Qian was speechless. He really wanted to ignore it, but he could not control his curiosity. He had no choice but to take his phone, thinking that he would not reply if it was not something very important.

It was from Ruan Guangjian. "Boss Pei, you should be watching as well, right?"

Pei Qian squinted, feeling anger gush up.

What's with your half-sentence? What was I supposed to watch?

He was livid but still replied. "Watch what?"

Ruan Guangjian replied in no time, "The livestream of Cannes Film Festival."

Pei Qian: "?"

Live-stream of Cannes Film Festival? What had that got to do with me?

Why should I watch these foreigners present awards to some literary films that I would never watch in my life so late at night?

Pei Qian did not intend to reply. He wanted to end the conversation with a random smiley face and go back to bed. Which smiley should he use?

'Smile' did not seem very polite, 'Grin' seemed to be not so appropriate…

Reply with a 'cool'! It was an omnipotent reply.

However, Ruan Guangjian's reply came before Pei Qian could send this smiley out.

"Tomorrow is Beautiful has entered the selection of the Cannes Film Festival. Director Zhu Xiaoce and Lu Zhiyao are at the event; they might even get a prize… Boss Pei, are you really not watching it?" Ruan Guangjian's message went like this.

Pei Qian: " 'Cool' smiley."

Ruan Guangjian: " 'Laugh and cry', 'Laugh and cry', 'Laugh and cry'."

Ruan Guangjian: "Boss Pei, you are pretending again eh. Why are you mocking us? You're obviously watching it and seem so confident, but you pretend not to care. Alright, I won't disturb you then. Let's wait patiently for the award."

Pei Qian: "?"

My hand slipped, my hand slipped! Do you understand that?!

This expression held no such meaning. I purely wanted to end the conversation!

Hold on.

Tomorrow is Beautiful has entered the Cannes Film Festival???

Pei Qian suddenly realized that things were not as simple as he thought they were. He did a quick search on the internet for the timing and found that the final award would be announced in the wee hours of the morning.

Pei Qian: "…"

Pei Qian silently placed his cell phone at his bedside after keeping silent for some time.

"I'll definitely not watch it! Anyway, the results are unavoidable no matter whether I watch it or not so I rather not watch it at all. Anyway, the best news would be no news when I wake up tomorrow morning!"

Pei Qian checked his alarm again before throwing his cell phone beside his bed and covered his head with his quilt.