Losing Money to Be a Tycoon

September 19th, Monday…

Pei Qian arrived at the office as always. However, this time, no one bothered him all morning.

Clearly, nobody had any questions to ask Boss Pei.

That was a very upsetting thing because it meant that most of the businesses were generating profits!

Boss Pei quickly thought about his experience and concluded that this was the worst cycle that he had had thus far. All the new businesses—including Thriller Hostel, Sloth Apartments, and Deposit Fitness—had become popular. Even Fish-Catching Take-Out, which had been doing very well all this time, had become popular!

It was terrible.

Pei Qian did not dare to leave his house over the past two days. He had cooped himself up at home, keeping a close eye on the online discussions.

Luckily, after Teacher Qiao shared Fei Huang Workspace's video, the audience's attention had really been diverted.

Many people agreed with the 'focus theory' and felt the need to value their own abilities to focus more, given that Boss Pei had worked so hard for them to do so. They had no intention to cause more trouble for Boss Pei.

However, Pei Qian's image in the web series had received another boost!

Many people took screenshots of scenes in the online drama, Boss Pei's Daily Life, and then created stickers of his expressions. Now, more and more people were going to recognize Pei Qian's face.

Boss Pei's Daily Life had stopped being updated a year ago, and it had not been as popular as it used to be.

Most web series that stopped updating for such a long time would see sharp declines in popularity and quickly become outdated. That's because, in the age of the Internet, netizens' attention would always be focused on the hottest topic at the moment.

Yet, recently, Boss Pei's Daily Life became popular again!

Many people started watching it for the second or third time, causing the first episode to feature on the website's home page as well!

Although he felt weird, Pei Qian had to pick the lesser of two evils. Compared to becoming popular as his real self, it was more acceptable to become popular for a role that he had played in a web series.

What Pei Qian found unacceptable was the income that Boss Pei's Daily Life was generating again!

The short web series had entered an exclusive agreement with Aili Island back then, which had provided for a special incentive plan with Fei Huang Workspace. Every effective click that lasted for more than thirty seconds could have generated twenty cents of income!

However, there was no such thing now.

That was because they had signed the contract with Aili Island very early on. At the time, Aili Island was still a small website, in dire need of good resources to attract traffic to their website. That was why they had offered Tengda so much money back then.

Now, Aili Island was getting bigger and better, and there was an increasing number of users on the site. There was no way that the website would make such an attractive offer anymore.

Boss Pei's Daily Life was still receiving the same amount of remuneration because it had been signed off to Aili Island very early on!

That created an awkward situation. Aili Island probably had not expected a series that had stopped being updated more than a year ago to suddenly become so popular once again.

Yet, they probably weren't that affected as well. After all, Aili Island was now a big company that could afford that amount of money. Moreover, the more popular Boss Pei's Daily Life became, the more good publicity the website would get since it had exclusive rights over the video.

As Pei Qian thought more about it, he realized an awkward fact.

Aili Island was profiting, Fei Huang Workspace was profiting, and everyone else was profiting.

He, the main actor, was the only one losing out!

At the time, Pei Qian had agreed to fixed remuneration. He probably had not thought about the possibility of sharing the series' profits.

Obviously, Huang Sibo and the others would not have thought about any other payment structure for Boss Pei as well. To them, all money earned by the company would go to Boss Pei anyway. What would have been the point in increasing his personal remuneration?

Pei Qian also could not have hinted to them to increase his personal remuneration because it would not have made any sense. Other people might have been suspicious.

It was insufferable!

Pei Qian tried to regulate his emotions and finally considered the cycle's settlement calmly.

He had suffered successive 'attacks' during this cycle, but he was not giving up on the fight.

There was still time to turn things around.

Take the Sloth Apartments's model for example.

The Sloth Apartments had been bought over. Tens of millions of yuan had gone into it, and a huge amount of System Funds had been dealt with. All the apartments had been rented out, but it would take years for the company to recover its huge investment with that bit of rent.

Thus, the Sloth Apartments had become popular, but it was just the scale of it that was frightening. In actual fact, it was not generating that much profit.

Fish-Catching Internet Cafe, Fish-Catching Take-Out, Deposit Fitness, and other physical shops were all rented. That was why they could generate steady profits. However, rent still had to be paid, and the more branches they set up, the more money Pei Qian could get rid of.

Thus, Pei Qian started to think about a way to spend a ton of money during this cycle.

Pei Qian did not have to worry about opening new branches for the internet cafe, take-out, or gyms because new branches were consistently being opened. As a traditionally excellent business arm, Upwind Logistics would continue to work hard. A portion of funds could go into more publicity for GOG's foreign version, but Pei Qian had to be cautious. If the game started generating huge income overseas, everything could backfire…

There was another important department: Otto Technologies.

Otto Technologies' project would drag until the next settlement this time. Pei Qian could easily invest more money into it, but its products had to be completed before the end of the next cycle.

At the moment, Otto Technologies was working on setting up a software laboratory that would focus on camera algorithms and software.

The software would be an upgrade and improvement of an earlier version, and so it would not be the project that the extension would be granted for. However, the image algorithm needed more work done on it and could only be completed during the next cycle.

Thus, Pei Qian thought that it was possible to channel more funds into it as long as it could be done before the next settlement date.

At the same time, he could start planning for various promotional events and sales.

After all, Boss Pei had become adept at drinking poison to quench his thirst. Now that he was used to it, he could not stop.

Once the plan was out, Pei Qian felt confident that he would be able to save the situation.

Now, he could only pray that the company would not generate more profits from strange places!

…

…

September 20th, Tuesday…

It was the day of the month that Ming Yun Private Kitchen was reserved for Tengda Corporation.

Pei Qian became conflicted thinking about who to invite for a meal.

None of his employees had been of any help to him this cycle. He did not want to treat any of them to the meal!

Since he had already invited DGE's team members and Deposit Fitness' coaches the previous time, Pei Qian decided to invite the butlers of Sloth Apartments and the people in charge of Upwind Logistics this time.

Those from Sloth Apartments included Liang Qingfan, his assistant (the Management Trainee), Song Kai, and a few butlers of the other buildings. Those from Upwind Logistics included Lu Mingliang and a few other core employees.

Liang Qingfan had only joined Tengda Corporation recently, and his extreme minimalism had perfectly met Pei Qian's requests. Both he and Song Kai were dependable and had not eaten at Ming Yun Private Kitchen before. Thus, Pei Qian felt the need to treat them to a meal this time.

Although the Sloth Apartments was popular now, they did not have a huge part to play in it. That was why Pei Qian did not think that he ought to get angry with them.

What's more, the Sloth Apartments was only earning rent for now. It was still tens of years away from recovering the amount of money Pei Qian had spent to purchase the buildings. There was no need to worry too much.

Everyone took their seats at the restaurant.

Pei Qian was too lazy to chat with them as well. In any case, no matter whom he invited for a meal here, his main aim was to spend money. He had only chosen these specific people because they caused him less frustration and irritation.

"Thank you for working hard, everyone! Sit back, relax, and eat to your heart's content!"

Pei Qian dug in first. He picked up a huge crab that had been placed in front of him.

Seeing the sumptuous feast before them, Liang Qingfan and Song Kai salivated as well.

They had never seen such good food!

They had heard how famous the nameless restaurant was in the country, but the queue was too terrifying. What's more, neither of them was willing to part with the money to have a meal here.

Now that Boss Pei was treating them to a meal here, they felt happier than they would have if they had won the lottery!

With Boss Pei taking the lead, everyone followed suit and dug in. The cling-clang of plates and cutlery knocking against one another filled the restaurant.

Midway through the meal, Liang Qingfan and Song Kai's eyes met.

"Can we tell Boss Pei about that matter now?"

"Yes! Since Boss Pei isn't thinking about anything now, we should tell him the good news."

Full of chemistry, the two men clinked their glasses and walked toward Boss Pei.

"Boss Pei, here's a toast to you! Sloth Apartments's success must be attributed to your excellent foresight and brilliant strategy! The entire Tengda Life is a sight to behold!"

Pei Qian lifted his glass slightly, the corners of his mouth twitching.

I'm eating. Can you talk about something more pleasant?!

However, upon recalling that Sloth Apartments was not generating that much profit, Pei Qian calmed down and lifted his glass higher.

"Alright. Let's not talk about the past anymore.

"Don't be so courteous. Finish the wine and eat as much as you can. Eat until you can't walk straight anymore; do you hear me?"

Liang Qingfan and Song Kai looked at each other and grinned, exclaiming inwardly how humble Boss Pei was. Not only did he not put on any airs, but he was also joking around with them.

He was a great boss!

When the three men finished their wine, Pei Qian sat back down and prepared to continue eating.

Thinking that the timing was perfect, Liang Qingfan quickly said, "Boss Pei, Sloth Apartments has good news for you!"

The hand that Pei Qian was using to hold his lobster halted in midair as his mind filled with question marks.

?

Good news?

Why are you still messing with me?

The Sloth Apartments were all rented out now, weren't they? Where else could they pull empty apartments out from?

Liang Qingfan smiled. "Boss Pei, I thought that the extreme minimalism of the Sloth Apartments was a personal preference, not a mature business model. I thought that art and business could not merge perfectly with each other.

"Yet, now, I know that I was wrong. The Sloth Apartments's business model is far better than I can imagine!

"After you talked about the 'focus theory', all the Sloth Apartments were snapped up and rented out. I thought that would be the limit, and that we would not be able to earn more than that.

"But I was wrong again!"

Pei Qian's heart fell when he heard that.

You were wrong again?

Then… aren't I wrong as well?

"And so?" Pei Qian tried his hardest to remain calm.

Lu Mingliang and the others, who were seated beside him, listened in on the conversation, wanting to know what new entrepreneurial techniques Boss Pei had come up with this time.

Liang Qingfan excitedly continued. "Over the last two days, Sloth Apartments has been getting an insane number of phone calls!

"A few clients suggested that we help them to design their houses in the same extreme minimalistic fashion as Sloth Apartments! They all offered high prices, according to the market rate for first-tier designers. On average, that's about a thousand yuan per square meter.

"One client wanted us to help design a five hundred square meter villa in the same manner as Sloth Apartments was designed. He offered five hundred thousand yuan!"

Pei Qian had been tense.

However, after hearing that figure, he instantly relaxed.

That's good, that's not too much money.

Moreover, designing a five-hundred-square-meter house was quite troublesome. There would probably not be many of those jobs.

"It's just one house, right?" Pei Qian asked.

Liang Qingfan nodded. "That's right! That's why I decided to reject it!"

Pei Qian's eyes lit up.

Liang Qingfan continued speaking. "That's a high price, but I have a limited amount of energy. I've already been put in charge of the Sloth Apartments. How can I find time to design other people's houses?

"That's why I thought of something else.

"I'll sell plans!

"I'll design living rooms, bedrooms, studies, and dining rooms in the same extreme minimalistic style of Sloth Apartments for more common types of apartments or houses. At the same time, I will specify the furniture brands and models that should come with the designs.

"That way, clients who want to design their home in an extreme minimalist fashion would just have to buy my plans and engage a passable architect to execute it. Then, they would be able to get the renovations that they want!"

Pei Qian's eyes dimmed once more. Now, he looked more cautious.

Sell plans?

How bold of you!

Even if Liang Qingfan managed to sell thousands or tens of thousands of plans at low prices, the company would still earn much more than if it had conducted those renovations!

That could not happen!

"Yes, that's a good idea. I think that you should sell the plans for one yuan each." Pei Qian quickly tried to do damage control on Liang Qingfan's rotten plan.

Liang Qingfan nodded. "Yes, Boss Pei that's what I thought as well!"

Pei Qian: "?"

Liang Qingfan grinned. "A good plan wouldn't be worth much, and we won't be able to stop clients from sharing it with other people after buying it. It wouldn't make sense to price it highly, and so I thought we would be better off semi-giving it away.

"However, this inspired me and made me realize how much value Sloth Apartments have!

"That's why I went to negotiate with the furniture shops and brands that we had purchased our furniture pieces from and got a discount! I specially selected those shops. They might be a little expensive, but they're of excellent quality.

"Our customers would be able to purchase the furniture and renovation material from these merchants at discounted prices. At the same time, those brands would split a portion of their profits with us.

"That would be a win-win situation for consumers, Sloth Apartments, and those brands alike!"

Pei Qian stared at them, dumbfounded and not knowing how to respond.

What the hell?

Song Kai added, "That's not all, Boss Pei! Many other property developers want to work with us to create similar apartments as well!

"A few property developers have also suggested a deeper partnership. Sloth Apartments would be invited to chip in and market those neighborhoods. To consumers, Sloth Apartments is no longer just a rented apartment business, but a spokesperson for quality living…

"Sloth Apartments's model is not just perfect for rented apartments—it could do so much more!"

Lu Mingliang, who had been silent by the side, suddenly understood what was happening.

So that was why!

Boss Pei had not merely created a rented apartments business arm… but a renovation one as well!

Apart from earning rent, Sloth Apartments could also generate income from other aspects.

Indeed, Boss Pei's way of thinking is always one level higher than ours!