Losing Money to Be a Tycoon

Pei Qian worked hard for five minutes before dragging the mind map into the recycle bin.

I give up, this sh*t doesn't work at all!

Pei Qian was not an iron man. He had to give up decisively and think of other ways.

Pei Qian looked at his watch after he finished his cocktail. It was about time for him to go back and rest.

Wasn't it a great idea to play games on his big TV for a few houses before falling asleep?

He might have finished a few games, but games could never be finished.

Pei Qian got up and left, preparing to go home for his blissful me time.

…

Pei Qian was about to enter the 12th floor of Dawn of Prosperous City when he found a small note stuck on the door.

"Hm?"

"What's this?"

Pei Qian thought it might be a water bill or the like, but he realized that it should not be such a long bill. Moreover, the utilities were handled by the butler in Sloth Apartments.

He took it and looked at the string of letters on it. "Nine pm tonight Jingzhou TV Finance Channel."

Pei Qian was stunned right there and then.

What was the meaning of this?

Assassination notice?

Death threat?

What would there be on Jingzhou TV?

Pei Qian always felt that something was up whenever the TV was involved, no matter what it was.

There was no signature on this note, but it was too late to be concerned about who the culprit was.

He looked at his watch. It was almost nine; he might not be able to catch up if he were to delay any more at the Fish-Catching Internet Cafe.

Pei Qian hurried in, changed his shoes, and turned on the TV.

The interview section of the Finance Channel started on time a few minutes later.

"He is the person at the helm of the famous Fu Hui Investments in Jingzhou.

"He is regarded as the second indicator of the investment industry in Jingzhou.

"He resolutely invested a lot of money into the industrial zones, transforming it even though most companies and investors were not optimistic about it.

"While there are ups and downs in the investment circle, he—who had witnessed countless wealth myths… what unique insights did he have on the ways of investment? How does he keep his head clear and think rationally in the face of all the complicated work?

"What secrets of success does Li Shi, who had been through ups and downs in the business sea for half his life, have for the young in the era of national entrepreneurship and innovation?

"The financial story of tonight, 'Li Shi and the Thinker' will be shown soon!"

This interview column was filled with a sense of deja vu from 'XX has an appointment'. It was a popular interview column across the country. It was a normal thing to be imitated by Jingzhou TV.

Pei Qian knew exactly who the culprit that posted the note on his door was after watching the beginning of this TV program.

It was definitely Boss Li!

Pei Qian started to doubt his motives now that he had locked onto the culprit.

This interview obviously had nothing to do with him. Wasn't this Boss Li's interview?

Why did Boss Li want him to watch it? To see how handsome he was in the interview?

Was Boss Li showing off to me? Show off that he could get on the TV interview program, but I didn't?

Did you not know that the financial channel came to me first? They only found you because I rejected them.

Boast all you want.

Pei Qian suddenly changed his mind. That didn't sound right; Boss Li should not be that sort of person.

He continued watching on with confused feelings.

Pei Qian was shocked when they came to the interview.

Wasn't this Sloth Apartments!?

It was obviously Boss Li's room, but the layout was exactly the same as his room, even the Fully-Automated Bickering Machine was in the same place!

Pei Qian suddenly realized the crux of the problem.

Why was there a Fully-Automated Bickering Machine in Boss Li's room?

He did have one in his room, but that was specially sent by Zhang Wang to him. They did not give the other rooms.

Pei Qian calmed himself down and continued watching.

Boss Li spoke freely on the screen.

"…Boss Pei invested, therefore I followed his path."

"…Boss Pei does outstandingly at every one of those stages. That's why he always achieves great success in his investments."

"…As opposed to saying that this is Boss Pei's home, it would be more fitting to say that it's Boss Pei's training room or brainstorming room!"

"Boss Pei's success is no coincidence. It is the result of him thinking hard day after day…"

Pei Qian's expression changed from relaxed to dazed, to shock, and finally to becoming completely frozen as he watched on.

Boss Li's speech completely confounded him!

He understood the meaning of every word, but he did not know what Boss Li was talking about when they were strung together!

Moreover, the more he listened, the more he felt a sense of absurdity.

Are you sure the 'Boss Pei' you were describing here is the same person as me?

Moreover, weren't they interviewing you? Why did you only talk about me?

Pei Qian originally thought that the title of this interview 'Li Shi and the Thinker' was referring to Li Shi as a thinker.

He only realized now that this Thinker was referring to himself!

The word 'and' was not an explanatory relationship but a parallel relationship!

Recall carefully, Boss Li was stabbing his heart in this column.

First, he spoke to the emcee about the Thriller Hostel and then portrayed himself and Pei Qian as the investors who cared about Jingzhou and supported the transformation of the old industrial zones without hesitation.

Then, he began to shift the topic to the Sloth Apartments, talking about the special layout and structure of the Sloth Apartments and how helpful it was for people to concentrate on thinking.

Finally, he spoke about the Fully-Automated Bickering Machine, touting that to be the finishing touches of the 'thinking space' and even had a touch of philosophy with it.

Pei Qian originally did not think much of it, thinking: 'You could do whatever you want with your interview, what had that got to do with me? Why did you deliberately post a note at my door to show off?'

Now, he understood… that was not showing off. It was a death notice!

Pei Qian began to feel unwell.

Sh*t, something terrible had happened!

The Sloth Apartments had already gone through several twists and turns previously. There was only one last wall left unbreached.

The recent formaldehyde houses cases had caused a large number of rental companies such as Home Corporation and Snail Apartments to be discredited. They were now busy apologizing and mending public relations. Only the Sloth Apartments had not been damaged in this incident; instead, they had profited!

However, there were still not many people determined to move into the Sloth Apartments. The underlying reason was still because of the 'Four Bare Walls'.

But now, Boss Li broke through all these and twisted the explanation of 'Four Bare Walls'!

The original 'impractical' immediately became 'good for thinking and mediation'.

Moreover, even such a useless invention like the Fully-Automated Bickering Machine did not escape the claws of Boss Li. He had now explained it as an art that allowed people to train their mentality and allow people to think.

A simple interview immediately brought up the status of the Thriller Hostel, Sloth Apartments, and the Fully-Automated Bickering Machine!

Pei Qian was now feeling regretful.

He had never thought that his refusal to be interviewed would cause a totally opposite effect from what he intended!

However, who would have thought of such a thing?

Pei Qian took out his cell phone hurriedly and checked the latest ratings of Sloth Apartments on Tengda Life App.

He could only hope that the crowd not be deceived by Boss Li!

Sloth Apartments would not help you in your thinking—don't be fooled!

The Fully-Automated Bickering Machine is really purely just a useless toy—don't buy it!

However, Pei Qian's heart turned cold, looking at the new comments below Sloth Apartments.

The original comments were generally about how inconvenient and impractical this place was.

However, the direction of the new comments was totally different now.

"I understand now! I found Sloth Apartments to be inappropriate previously because it wasn't the right method!"

"I'm an artist. I suddenly realize that the Sloth Apartments is the perfect place to stay after watching the interview. It is absolutely minimalistic; nothing will be able to disturb my thoughts."

"I'm an author; I also feel that this place isn't bad!"

"+1 as a programmer"

"Does Boss Pei's method really help? I'm convinced and am prepared to rent one unit!"

"Actually, there is a certain truth to it. There is currently a trend of 'breaking away' and 'minimalistic'; of course, this is not completely true as well. Everyone had to consider whether it was suitable for themselves or not. However, there were some undeniable facts to this theory. Everyone's energy was limited. If you want to make a huge breakthrough in life, there would be some distractions that you had to give up. Sloth Apartments is a place providing such an environment!"

"Then how do you explain that there is no place for storage and not being able to shift the furniture?"

"Do you not understand? That is to ensure that everything in the room will not be messed up by you! Think about it, if you have a lot of storage space, you would buy continuously and then stuff a bunch of useless stuff into the cabinets. If you can buy your own furniture, you will definitely do things according to your own preferences. That is completely contrary to the idea of the Sloth Apartments!"

"Yes, the layout of the entire house was designed by an impressive designer. The perfect harmony created originally would be messed up and there would be no more of that original aura."

"Yes, the Sloth Apartments has a butler and a cleaner, and you cannot touch the things inside it. Isn't that allowing you to not need to care for anything and concentrate on your own affairs?"

"It is normal to feel ungrounded because what the Sloth Apartments advocated was Boss Pei's own life philosophy. It is not suitable for everyone; it is specially prepared for thinkers."

"I heard that the largest units have been taken up by the investors in Jingzhou. There are still two lake-view houses and a set of commercial and residential houses. Everyone, hurry up, I believe they will be out of stock soon."

"These three house types happen to have three different price ranges. Is it to convince people of all wealth classes to experience the minimalist lifestyle?"

"Friendly reminder, you must equip the unit with a Fully-Automated Bickering Machine when you rent a Sloth Apartment!"

"I'm not renting, but I'm very interested in the Fully-Automated Bickering Machine. I have placed an order for it!"

"Have you noticed that the Fully-Automated Bickering Machine is simply amazing? It fits all the essence of mankind: repeaters, no-shows, converters, and contrarians!

"Doing meaningless things repeatedly = repeater…

"Stop playing with something after five minutes = no shows…

"Those that had the opposite opinions from everyone but became advocates after they tried it = converters…

"Play until you become a guru = contrarians…

"F*ck, it's really true. They say this is Boss Pei's invention. Could Boss Pei have foreseen this when he invented it?"

"Forget it, quickly order, order while you still can!"

"There is no need to hurry. Their official website says that there is sufficient stock, no hurry!"

Pei Qian was completely dumbfounded.

He completely did not understand what these lunatics were thinking!

I have no choice but to admit defeat if the Sloth Apartments become fully rented out. Why the f*ck would you buy the Fully-Automated Bickering Machine for?

I finally managed to only sell less than a fraction of the 20,000 units produced. I maintained it so well, but now, it was all over!

Pei Qian didn't know how many Fully-Automated Bickering Machines would be able to sell out, but it seemed like it was definitely not in small numbers with the interest generated from the netizens!

Pei Qian felt so helpless; wasn't there any one normal among the netizens?

Couldn't anyone see that Boss Li was just creating smoke for the entire matter?

He was being baselessly imaginative!

Pei Qian suddenly saw a comment and saw rekindled hope.

"Are you all dumb? Will extreme minimalism definitely help thinking? What evidence is there? Boss Pei has so many industries under him; each industry has a person-in-charge. How can he possibly take care of everything? Don't deify a person. Boss Pei might not even have the time to bother about these; they are all done by the person-in-charge of the departments!"

"Yeah, Tengda has so many industries now; how can Boss Pei be in charge of it?"

"I think so too, the biggest possibility is that Boss Pei has an eye for talent and arranged for a competent person-in-charge for the departments which is how he achieved the current success that he has. It would definitely have the opposite effect if he has to think of so many things."

Pei Qian felt warmth spread in his heart.

Brothers, you cannot be more right!

I really cannot be bothered with so many things!

It was indeed done by the various person-in-charge of the department; it has nothing to do with me!

However, the following comment immediately extinguished the small flame that was in Pei Qian's heart.

"You want evidence? Here it is. [Picture] [Picture]"

The first picture was the back view of Pei Qian in Fish-Catching Internet Cafe with his right hand on his chin as though he was deep in thought.

His image became famous previously in Fish-Catching Take-Out and Fish-Catching Internet Cafe, which was why this figure could be instantly recognized.

The second picture was a zoomed-in picture of Boss Pei in front of a computer screen. It was very blurry, but one could still make out that it was a mind map. The largest box had core department names such as Tengda Games and Fish-Catching Take-Out on them.

"This is evidence, satisfied?"

"Facts have proven that not only does Boss Pei grasp the direction of each department, but he also grasps the linkage between them! Look at these densely populated lines; most people may struggle to see it clearly but Boss Pei could see through this mind map and plan the linkage of each department!"

"I see! No wonder organizing a GOG International Tournament could help Deposit Fitness and their club publicity! It was all planned by Boss Pei?"

"Think about it this way, and all that genius publicity and combined event methods have all been explained!"

"Tch… how many times did Boss Pei ponder over these densely populated lines? Could his mind be a galactic computer? 100 million calculations per second?"

"I didn't quite believe in the content of the interview originally, but I do now! Boss Pei's thought process has much to do with his lifestyle! I'm going to order a Fully-Automated Bickering Machine now!"

Pei Qian looked at this picture, and his expression froze.

Wasn't… wasn't this just tonight?

It could even be just an hour ago?

Who did it?!

Which motherf*cker had so much time on their hands to take sneaky photos of me!

First, the interview; then, this about-to-become-famous picture.

Did all of you discuss beforehand to deliver this last hit to me?