Losing Money to Be a Tycoon

Liang Qingfan introduced, "The more famous furniture manufacturers who wanted to work with us before basically rejected our terms of cooperation."

"Only small, unknown brands were willing to let our inspection team oversee and supervise."

"We did a simple check and selected a few more reliable ones."

"Speaking of which, there are actually a few small brands who are very willing to cooperate with us. They have also completely accepted the supervision of the inspection team and even took the initiative to invite us."

"Take this sofa for example. I actually designed it together with the owner of Fanglan Residence. It was just shipped over a few days ago."

Only then did Pei Qian notice the obvious difference between the sofa in the room and the one in his own room.

Liang Qingfan explained, "The real-leather sofa is also power-driven. The leftmost and rightmost individual seats could be adjusted to rise and fall. People can lie comfortably."

"Compared to the sofa in the third floor developer's model room, the sofa would not look bloated and still fit the minimalistic design without the L-shaped sofa; Moreover, it would be able to satisfy the needs of lying down when compared to the sofa in Sloth Apartments Version 1.0."

"At the same time, the legs and armrests of the sofa are very thin. What's more, they're made of wood. The texture of the North American black walnut is very clear. The wood is dense and exquisite. It feels like something finely woven. It feels very good. Not only does it have clear patterns, but it also has a natural luster. It looks and feels good."

"Apart from that, its hardness, density, and stability are not bad. It has always been one of the high-end wood materials used to make furniture."

"Compared to Sloth Apartments 1.0, the breakthrough this time is that I designed this sofa with the owner of Fanglan Residence. We successfully combined the black walnut armrest with the electric leather sofa. It maximizes the practicality and quality of the sofa while it still fits the minimalist style."

"This could also be considered a product of fusion between Western and Eastern culture. At first, I was a little worried that it would look unnatural to be put on display. However, from the looks of it, the effect is quite good."

Pei Qian asked, "Fanglan Residence… is a sofa manufacturing brand?"

Liang Qingfan smiled and shook his head. "Oh, no. The Fanglan Residence is a newly established furniture brand. They make sofa, cabinets, and other furniture."

"However, unlike the other furniture brands, their boss is a designer. His biggest interest is actually designing. He wants all the furniture to be unique."

"Take this sofa for example. I tried my best to combine the local-style wooden furniture with the power-driven sofa. This idea was quite bold. I thought it was unrealistic at first, but when I started designing it, I realized that it was actually not bad."

"They are one of the manufacturers who are most eager to work with Sloth Apartments. They even took the initiative to invite our expedition team to inspect their workspace and factory."

Pei Qian: "Why?"

Liang Qingfan explained, "That's because their product concept is completely in line with the Sloth Apartments."

"The creator of the Fanglan Residence was a designer who wanted to take the path of high quality premium products. In other words, he wanted to ensure quality, aftersales, and design. However, he wants to sell them at a huge premium."

"However, a small brand with no reputation would not be able to walk this path."

"The competition in the furniture industry is very steep. Take the walnut wood for example. Some brands would say that their furniture is made of walnut wood. if you probe, they would say, 'This is African walnut wood or golden thread walnut wood. It's the same type of wood as North American walnut wood, they just grow in different location.'"

"However, in fact, not only are these trees different, but they are also of different attributes. They are basically unrelated in terms of plant species, and there are also huge differences in their appearance. Manufacturers who use low-grade wood like this would usually not be particularly meticulous when making them. If you don't pay attention, such furniture produced would not even be as good as ordinary real wood."

"Only North American walnut wood is reliable."

"However, ordinary consumers don't understand these things. They would obtain similar things at a cheaper price."

"Brands like the Fanglan Residence would not be able to support a high brand premium if they did not have a good reputation. Other furniture brands would skimp on their materials therefore the price of the same furniture might even be cut in half as compared to the one at Fanglan Residence. They would not be able to compete at all."

"This is also the reason why many big brands are unwilling to cooperate with us: On one hand, they feel that their businesses are huge and have no reason to be controlled by others. On the other hand, it might be because there are some tricks hidden in big brands that we cannot know about."

Liang Qingfan gently touched the armrest of the sofa. "However, it's different for Fanglan Residence. They are more confident in the materials and quality of their products. They can't wait for our inspection team to do a free quality examination for them."

"What's more, working with us, meant they could use the Sloth Apartments' branding to prove that their products are indeed of good quality."

"In other words, what they lack the most is consumers' trust in them, and we can provide it to them."

Pei Qian sat on the sofa. "How much is this sofa?"

Liang Qingfan: "About thirty grand."

Pei Qian nodded in satisfaction. "Hmm, good. Cooperate more with this Fanglan Residence in the future."

Wasn't this the type of cooperative brand the kind he was most satisfied with?

First of all, the furniture was of high quality and had no pollution. It ensured that the health of Sloth Apartments' residents would not suffer. What's more, the furniture would not have any serious quality problems if they rented it for too long;

Second, the premium was high and the price was high. That was a very key point.

That was because the Sloth Apartments' model was actually Pei Qian paying to buy a house, renovate it, and add a complete set of furniture and appliances before renting it to clients.

The more expensive the furniture was, the more money that could be spent!

The sofa that Pei Qian had prepared for the Tengda headquarters' office was priced at sixty thousand yuan. However, that was the standard for office supplies in the guest room after all. It represented the company's reputation. Thus, the system gave them a high limit.

The sofa in Sloth Apartments could not be so expensive. 30,000 yuan was already considered quite high.

However, compared to ordinary sofas that cost three to five thousand yuan, a sofa that cost thirty thousand yuan was considered high-end.

A sofa that cost more than 20,000 yuan for a unit, what if they were to use it for 100 units? What about the storage cabinets, TV cabinets, dining cabinets, dining tables, bookshelves, and other furniture?

How much would that be if it was accumulated!

Pei Qian walked around the room and nodded in satisfaction. "Hm, Sloth Apartments 2.0 is doing well. Keep pushing."

"By the way, don't forget about the Sloth Apartments in the past. Remember to maintain it well. If anything happens to the apartments, the housekeepers of each building must report it in time and deal with it. Don't be afraid of spending money."

Liang Qingfan quickly nodded. "Alright, Boss Pei."

…

…

November 18th, Friday…

Tengda Spirit compatibility test.

The recruitment tasks at the beginning of the month had all been completed. A large portion of the new employees had already been in the office for more than a week. They could now undergo their first Spirit compatibility test.

Pei Qian had specially made a trip to the office so that he could see the effects of the modified Tengda spirit test questions.

However, Pei Qian did not go to the big conference room to supervise.

That was because he did not want to mislead everyone. Once everyone knew that "Boss Pei seemed to take the Tengda Spirit compatibility test very seriously", the situation would become even worse.

Thus, Pei Qian remained in his office, pretending that he was here for work with no interest in the Tengda Spirit compatibility test at all.

Once the test was completed, he would sneak a peek at the new employees' answers to determine what went wrong with the Tengda Spirit compatibility test.

The new employees entered the conference room with serious expressions. They sat down in their respective seats and began to answer the questions.

However, many people looked shocked when they saw the questions. They subconsciously looked at the others.

Why was there space to be filled?

Didn't the seniors say that there were multiple-choice questions?

The person in charge of invigilating the exam was a colleague from the HR department. He cleared his throat and reminded everyone to pay attention to the examination hall's order.

The new employees did not dare to look at each other anymore. They quickly lowered their heads and started answering the questions.

Wu Bin was supervising the exam as well. At first, he was just going through the motions and did not take the exam too seriously.

Due to his and many other department heads' tireless efforts, the originally profound and obscure Tengda spirit had gradually spread within the company and became easy to understand.

The Tengda spirit manual that he and Cui Geng had worked so hard to write had been distributed to the various department heads.

While this manual could not be sent directly to all employees, especially new employees, as long as the person-in-charge had the Tengda spirit, he could subtly influence the core employees and gradually influence the new employees.

Sometimes, an old employee's actions or words would inadvertently reveal the Tengda spirit, giving new employees an example.

As time went by, the new employees would quickly adapt to this way of thinking. Before the exam, as long as the department head or the older employees gave enough hints, the new employees would be able to pass the test smoothly.

Thus, the passing rate of the Tengda Spirit compatibility test had been maintained at a very high level. Even if he failed the first time, he would definitely be able to pass within four tries.

Wu Bin felt that this was just a formality, so he did not pay much attention to it.

However, he quickly frowned as he realized that the test this time was different from before.

That was because he realized that all the candidates were using keyboards?

That didn't seem right.

Wu Bin had participated in the Tengda Spirit compatibility test before and had invigilated many rounds. He clearly remembered that the previous tests were multiple-choice questions. All he had to do was click the mouse.

Why did they need to use the keyboard?

Could it be that… the test had been upgraded? Were there subjective questions now?

That was not right.

Boss Pei had set the answer for the Tengda Spirit compatibility test himself, and the system had automatically released the results. How was he going to grade the subjective questions if he added them in now?

Boss Pei could not possibly read the subjective answers one by one, and the HR department did not receive any orders to 'mark the Tengda Spirit compatibility test'.

Then… What was going on?

Wu Bin was very confused.

Could the Tengda spirit have been upgraded again?

Did that symbolize a new mission for me?