Losing Money to Be a Tycoon

Liang Qingfan, Zhang Yahui, and Bao Xu drank tea as they discussed the details of the snack market in the office of Sloth Apartments.

"As for the location, it cannot be in the downtown area, nor can it be too remote. There cannot be any Tengda businesses in the vicinity."

"Then, the renovation style has to be trendy and cool. The vendors usually implement a uniform management and flexible working system."

"As for the rest… I don't think there is anymore. That's all Boss Pei wants."

Zhang Yahui first repeated Boss Pei's request.

Zhang Yahui still did not have a very clear concept of this snack market. That was because he was only the owner of a snack stall. He made roasted cold noodles. Even though he knew the location and the process of setting up stalls very well, designing a large snack market was completely beyond his capabilities.

However, as a designer, Liang Qingfan definitely had no problem with this.

Zhang Yahui simply repeated Boss Pei's request and asked Liang Qingfan to design. He tried his best not to limit the professional's thinking.

Liang Qingfan said, "This requirement is very clear."

Bao Xu nodded as well. "Yes, it's quite clear. Perhaps it's because you just became the person-in-charge. Boss Pei was worried that you would misunderstand, so he specially gave such clear restrictions."

A series of question marks floated above Zhang Yahui's head.

???

You call this "very clear"?

How was that clear?!

He only gave a very broad general range, but there were no restrictions at all!

Was this how Tengda interacted and worked internally?

How amazing…

Zhang Yahui was a little confused. "I don't quite understand. How is it clear…"

Liang Qingfan opened a map of Jingzhou City on his laptop. "Boss Pei said that it cannot be in the downtown area or too remote. It cannot be opened in a place with Tengda's businesses."

"There aren't many places like this. Wouldn't we be able to find a suitable location just by sifting through?"

He searched all of Tengda's related businesses on the map, including Fish-Catching Internet Cafe, Fish-Catching Take-Out, Sloth Apartments, Deposit Fitness, Upwind Logistics, and so on. After searching, he marked them on the map.

Soon, densely packed marks appeared on the map.

These industries had already undergone many rounds of expansion. What's more, they had previously been focused on Jingzhou. In Jingzhou's downtown and downtown areas, these industries were practically everywhere. There was no other space for them.

Of course, the so-called 'not next to' did not mean that they were separated by a street or were neighbors. Instead, it meant that there were no Tengda businesses within a certain range.

Boss Pei had also said that he could not go to places that were too prosperous or too remote.

After a round of selection, there were only a dozen or so locations left on the map that could be used as a snack market.

There seemed to be quite a number of places in the area, but most of them were not suitable for a snack market.

That was because the snack market needed a larger venue to accommodate a large number of people. It might also need to accommodate dozens or hundreds of vendors.

A place like that could not be built from scratch. That would take too long. It would not be in line with Boss Pei's requirements to build an open space or a few tents.

Therefore, it would be best if there were ready-made buildings.

This way, the areas that met the criteria would be further reduced. Only two or three areas were most suitable.

One only had to search online to know the current situation of these places.

Liang Qingfan pointed at two locations on the map. "There is a small shopping mall here. However, business here is not very good. Many shops have moved away. There are a few residential areas nearby, but they are relatively remote and not very popular."

"On the other side, there is a large-scale agricultural market. It is indoors. There is only one floor, but it is very high. However, this place should be very old. The environment is not very good. It was very lively in the past, but now, the human traffic is probably severely reduced."

"The other places don't look very suitable."

"What do you think?"

"If you think these two places are alright, we can go to these two places to take a look before making plans."

Bao Xu took a look. This large-scale farming market was about one or two kilometers away from Jingzhou's old industrial zone. The nearest Tengda industry was Thriller Hostel.

However, it was not close to Thriller Hostel. It should meet the requirements.

This place was definitely not considered downtown, but it was not particularly remote either. There were residential areas in the old industrial zone nearby. While they were all old buildings, there was still a decent amount of traffic.

He nodded. "We still have to do a field trip to confirm it. I think the second one is better. Such a large market might fit the characteristics of the stalls better. There would be more room for modification. If it's a shopping mall, it would give people a more closed feeling."

Zhang Yahui hesitated for a moment. "I agree, but… Boss Pei specifically emphasized that it has to be trendy and cool. It has to be distinct from traditional stalls. The second place doesn't seem to meet Boss Pei's requirements, right?"

Bao Xu smiled and said confidently, "You've made many mistakes that newbies often make. You just didn't understand Boss Pei's true intentions accurately."

"Boss Pei said that he wanted to make a clear distinction with traditional stalls. He meant that they should not be similar, but he did not say that they should be totally different!"

"There are obvious differences."

Zhang Yahui blinked, not fully understanding.

Bao Xu explained, "Look at the adjectives that Boss Pei used. They are 'trendy' and 'cool'. They are about the decoration style of the entire snack market. Thus, Boss Pei's intention is to abandon the casual, unhygienic, and simple image of the original stall."

"However, on the whole, local delicacies have to be down-to-earth. If it was in a private room with high-end exquisite cutlery, it would definitely be weird. It would not match the characteristics of local delicacies at all."

"Therefore, we should be pursuing similarity while retaining the food spirit of the roadside stalls, we should pack it well and better promote this culture."

Zhang Yahui was enlightened. "I see!"

"Boss Pei's conditions are very clear if you put it that way. It's just that I have a problem with my thinking and did not understand it."

Bao Xu and Liang Qingfan smiled. "It doesn't matter. You will be able to accurately understand Boss Pei's thoughts as long as you practice more."

"Alright, let's call it a day then. We'll go on a field trip tomorrow and see how this snack market is going to be designed."

…

…

March 20th, Tuesday…

Pei Qian went to his office as usual to check on the situation of the various departments.

The E-Sports Industry Department had submitted a report saying that the quota for GOG's overseas league had basically been confirmed. The proposal to collaborate with local companies in various regions for publicity had also been finalized. After some time, the money to sell the quota would be paid.

The difference in the quota for the overseas league was huge, and the price in many places was far less than the quota for the GPL league. However, that amount of money could not be underestimated. It was at least forty million… US dollars.

The slots in popular competitions such as Europe and Northern American Region were sold at high prices.

At first, Pei Qian was a little confused as to why it was so expensive. Didn't they say that they would start auctioning with a million US dollars?

However, after taking a closer look at the report, the reason was written on it: IOI's league in these areas started at three million US dollars. That gave the other clubs the illusion that the GOG league slots were very worth it. Thus, these clubs began to bid crazily…

They bidded the price upwards.

Pei Qian was speechless. Finger Games really could not do anything. They messed up in the first place!

He had wanted to sell these slots at a cheaper price, but he had not succeeded. He had earned another windfall.

Pei Qian sighed and continued looking at the other departments.

The artificial intelligence laboratory at Otto Technologies had already been established. It had directly bought over a domestic company that was researching artificial intelligence. It had also poached a few core technical personnels from Xunke Technologies and other companies.

These people had all moved to Jingzhou. Soon, they could continue their research in the same direction as before.

In fact, this company that researched artificial intelligence already had some results. It was just that it was slightly inferior to Xunke Technologies. However, these results were not enough to make AEEIS artificial intelligence make a huge leap.

Pei Qian was quite satisfied with this news. He hoped that the artificial intelligence laboratory could spend more money as soon as possible. After all, he had been earning too much recently and could not take it anymore.

At that moment, someone knocked on the office door.

Pei Qian looked up and saw that it was Meng Chang.

"Eh? What's the matter?" Pei Qian asked.

Meng Chang hesitated for a moment. "Boss Pei, I've already made an in-depth summary of the publicity plan this month. I've learned from my previous experience and lessons…"

"Erm, half of this month has passed. Can you give me a new mission?"

Pei Qian nodded. "That's true."

The previous publicity plans were indeed a failure. Meng Chang did not get a single cent from his commission last month. He only received a basic salary.

However, Meng Chang obviously didn't sink into it. Instead, he pulled himself together and took the initiative to ask for a mission.

It was mainly because half of the month had already passed. If Meng Chang did not take the initiative to ask for a job, the publicity plan for this month would be 0. Then, the commission for this month would be ruined.

Therefore, Meng Chang couldn't wait any longer and took the initiative to look for a mission.

After some thought, Pei Qian decided that it was indeed time to give Meng Chang something to do.

"Perfect, I have a huge job here. If you want, I can hand it to you."

"'Mission and Choice' is going to be promoted next month. You can do the publicity plan."

Meng Chang was stunned. "Huh? Boss Pei, this…"

He was a little hesitant because everyone knew that Mission and Choice was the project that Boss Pei had placed high hopes on in the past few months. Tengda Games and Fei Huang Workspace had invested a huge amount of money in the past six months.

Boss Pei was willing to hand such a project to him?

Previously, he had done publicity for Bunny Tail's live-stream. Even if it did not have any effect, it was not a big deal. After all, based on the current volume of Bunny Tail's live-stream, it could only be considered a marginalized department among Tengda's many industries. It was not developed yet, so there would not be much loss if the publicity failed.

However, if the publicity for Mission and Choice failed badly, Meng Chang would be able to comfortably get a high commission. However, Boss Pei would suffer huge losses!

At that moment, Meng Chang even felt a little sympathetic. After all, this concerned more than a hundred million yuan of funds and the nine-month-long efforts of the two core departments…

Pei Qian looked at him. "Why? Are you not confident? If you give up this opportunity, you won't have it in the future."

However, Meng Chang thought it over. What did Boss Pei's failure have to do with him?

If he did not accept this task, he would have nothing to eat this month. He would not be able to get a single cent.

Thus, Meng Chang made up his mind and nodded. "Alright, Boss Pei. Leave this plan to me. I'll go back and consider the publicity plan!"