Losing Money to Be a Tycoon

March 19th, Monday…

The travel-worn Bao Xu and Liang Qingfan returned to Jingzhou.

Liang Qingfan looked tired but he was still in high spirits.

"Ah, I'm finally back!"

"It's not bad to take paid leave, but it's still tiring to take such a long leave."

"However, Brother Bao, you seem to be very energetic. You're indeed a master tourist! I'm really indebted to you for taking care of this trip to Egypt!"

Bao Xu rolled his eyes silently by the side.

What the f*ck do you mean by energetic!

I finally recovered because it was not easy for me to return to Jingzhou, alright?

Bao Xu was afraid that he would become a mummy and dry out in the desert if he stayed in Egypt for another week.

All in all, this trip was finally over!

Bao Xu could not wait to go back to sleep and play games. He did not want to stay a second longer.

However, they still had to take a taxi back.

In the taxi, Bao Xu was not in the mood to chat with Liang Qingfan at all. Instead, he continued to think about something that he had been thinking about throughout the entire month.

What should I do to stop traveling?

The fact that he had been 'kidnapped' twice to travel had already made Bao Xu wary.

Initially, Bao Xu had thought that as long as he kept a low profile and hid in the gaming department and did not take charge of any work, he would not be shot in the Best Employee Selection.

However, he had already been wrong three times.

The first time was when Li Yada had gotten second place in the Best Employee Award because of her outstanding work in Tengda Games. That was why Bao Xu had been arranged to play with her.

The second time was when Huang Sibo won second place for the Best Employee Award, and Bao Xu was assigned to accompany him.

The third time was Liang Qingfan…

Forget about the first two times. What made Bao Xu the most speechless was that he was not familiar with Liang Qingfan at all!

This meant that within Tengda Corporation, getting the best employee second place to travel and find Bao Xu to accompany him had become an unspoken rule and a custom.

In that case, if anyone were to obtain second place for the Best Employee Award in the future, they would definitely look for Bao Xu to accompany them!

What's more, Bao Xu's previous strategy of keeping a low profile did not achieve his goal of hiding himself. Instead, it had the opposite effect: Everyone felt that Brother Bao did not have any very important work to be responsible for anyway. It was just nice for Brother Bao to accompany him on the tour. It would not delay anything.

Thus, Bao Xu felt that he could not continue like this. He had to make some changes!

However, what changes would he make?

Bao Xu was still in the Tengda Games department now. If he took the initiative to take on some work, he would definitely have something to do. However, the problem was that he was an old veteran. Everyone in the department had their eyes on him. Any results he made might be voted on.

Wouldn't that be very stiff?

Thus, Bao Xu felt that it was best for him to find something to do in other departments.

That way, he could reject them righteously the next time someone asked him to accompany them. "I'm sorry, I have work to do. Please find someone else!"

However, which department should he go to?

Bao Xu did not really want to transfer to another department. He still wanted to stay in Tengda Games, so it would be best if he could only help temporarily.

However, his main job was design. It was hard to say if the other departments needed his help.

Thus, Bao Xu fell into deep thought and racked his brains to escape the fate of being a traveling companion.

…

At the same time, at Tengda Corporation's headquarters.

Pei Qian was in his office, flipping through the work reports of the various departments while thinking about how to arrange and adjust the next phase of the work plan.

Pei Qian already knew about Bunny Tail's live-stream, but he was helpless.

It was ridiculous that non-official commentators were more popular than official commentators!

He could only say that Long Yu Corporation was too useless. Why couldn't they arrange such a simple thing like a competition? They had created so many difficulties for Pei Qian for no reason.

However, it was said that Long Yu Corporation was also making emergency adjustments. They were going to look for professional players from other clubs to make a guest appearance and analyze the situation. Presumably, the standard of the official commentators would also improve very quickly.

Pei Qian did not care anymore. All he wanted was for the ICL league to become more popular.

He was flipping through the work records of the various departments when he heard a knock on his office door.

Pei Qian looked up and saw a new face.

Zhang Yahui nervously introduced himself. "Boss Pei, I'm Zhang Yahui from the Cold-Faced Lady. You called me earlier and asked me to come and find you on Monday to talk about the snack market…"

Pei Qian suddenly remembered. "Ah, yes, please sit."

Pei Qian wanted to set up this snack market with the intention of poaching people from the Cold-Faced Lady and limiting her development but he still had to put on a show.

If the conditions at the snack market were not good, why would the cold-faced lady's vendors come?

Pei Qian poured a cup of tea for Zhang Yahui and said, "Actually, I only have a vague concept of the snack market at the moment. You have to think carefully about how to operate it."

"Don't worry about the funds. I'll give you ten million yuan to spend slowly. If it's not enough, you can apply again. The key is that it has to be attractive to the vendors!"

"As for the other requests…"

"The snack market must be located in Jingzhou. Also, the vendors who join the snack market have to undergo a unified regulation to ensure food hygiene and safety. Food ingredients have to be purchased uniformly. The snack market must be managed by special staff…"

Pei Qian briefly explained his thoughts.

Zhang Yahui looked surprised. "Is that all?"

From what he heard, Boss Pei's conditions were extremely good!

There was a lot of funding and there were no sales requirements. The location was okay as long as it was in Jingzhou. There were no restrictions on where it could be opened. As for unified regulation, food hygiene, safety issues, and so on, these were all the most basic. Even if Boss Pei did not say it, Zhang Yahui would still take note.

There were no other requests?

This degree of freedom was too high!

After some thought, Pei Qian asked, "What other requests do you have?"

Zhang Yahui said, "For example… should this snack market be located in the downtown area or in a slightly more remote area? Should it be next to Tengda's other businesses? What style should it be renovated in? How should the vendors' business hours be arranged? Am I the one who confirmed all of this?"

Pei Qian pondered for a moment.

He had wanted to let Zhang Yahui decide on his own. He did not have many requirements for the snack market after all. It was up to fate to make money or Pei Qian to poach people from the Cold-Faced Lady.

Pei Qian felt that there was no need to spend so much brain cells to confirm these details.

However, on further thought, he felt that he had to tell Zhang Yahui.

After all, there is an old saying that work is accomplished in diligence and neglected in play, and learning is ruined by following. The many problems that happened previously was because he was too laissez-faire. It was always right to add a few more insurances.

Pei Qian briefly considered Zhang Yahui's questions.

The location of the snack market definitely could not be in the downtown area because the food vendors' culinary skills were not bad. Such a sum of money would definitely make the dining environment not bad. If it was opened in the downtown area, the customers would be people with stronger spending power. They would definitely make a lot of money.

However, it did not seem appropriate to go to a more remote place. That was because the land prices in remote places were cheap. If the food market became popular, it might cause the surrounding land prices to rise and the surrounding industries to benefit. There would be too much room for development.

This place could not be next to Tengda's other businesses. If it happened to be near the nameless restaurant, it would definitely become a food street. Customers from all over the country would come here; or near Sloth Apartments and Fish-Catching Internet Cafe, a group of young people would come over for a snack after playing the game…

That would not be good either.

As for the renovation style, it would definitely be better if it did not match the theme of the stall; the more casual it was during business hours, the better.

Pei Qian said, "The location should not be in the downtown area, but it should not be too remote either."

"Tengda's businesses should not be nearby."

"The renovation style must be high-end, trendy, and cool. It must be distinct from the concept of 'street stalls'."

"We'll adopt a flexible working system during the opening hours. We won't restrict the opening hours too much and give the vendors ample freedom."

"That's all I want. There's nothing else."

Zhang Yahui looked confused.

What kind of request was that?

However, he had long heard of Boss Pei's style of doing things, so he was not too surprised. He could only silently memorize all these requests.

"Then… Boss Pei, shall I go and prepare now?" Zhang Yahui asked.

Pei Qian nodded. "Yes, go!"

…

Zhang Yahui was still a little confused when he walked out of the Shenhua View building.

Before the Chinese New Year, he was still an ordinary vendor. Every day, he would wake up early and work late to make roasted cold noodles to earn some hard-earned money. In the end, because he participated in a roadside food competition, he was first selected by the Cold-Faced Lady's Boss Qi to be in charge of the gourmet laboratory and promotional video. Then, Boss Pei took a liking to him and directly took charge of the snack market.

He could only say that the ups and downs of life were too exciting!

Now, he had the huge sum of money that Boss Pei had provided, but he was very confused. He did not know what the snack market would look like to meet Boss Pei's requirements.

He was still a general without an army. He could only think about it at length.

However, just as he was about to leave, he saw a taxi stop at the entrance of the Shenhua View building. It was Liang Qingfan and Bao Xu.

Zhang Yahui's eyes lit up. "Aren't you Designer Liang? I saw you on the promotional video of Sloth Apartments!"

Liang Qingfan nodded. "You are…"

Zhang Yahui said, "My name is Zhang Yahui. I'm now in charge of the 'snack market' project that Boss Pei just opened…"

Zhang Yahui was very happy and quickly explained everything that had happened since he arrived.

Liang Qingfan was pleasantly surprised. "Snack market? That sounds interesting!"

"I'm sorry, I've been taking on new tours overseas for the past month. I'm not updated about these things."

"However… The Sloth Apartments that I'm in charge of don't have much work recently. Do you want to design your snack market? I can help."