Zhang Yuan had been most pleased with the first three shops he had recommended; he was very confident about making money from these three. Further down the list, the fourth to sixth options were all so-so locations. Although they might incur losses, at least they wouldn't do so badly.
As for the last four; their locations were rather bad-even worse than Fish-Catching Internet Cafe's flagship store. They had been included just to hit the quota of ten locations.
After all, Pei Qian had been very specific about needing to find ten possible locations.
Zhang Yuan was a little conflicted as he finally said, "Boss Pei, it's not that these four locations are not good. However, they might not be as suitable as the first three…"
Zhang Yuan couldn't directly fault these four places. They were indeed part of the list of options he and Ma Yang had submitted. If he directly said they were bad, wasn't that shooting himself in the foot?
What if Boss Pei then asked why they chose these four when they weren't good in the first place? How was he going to reply? Hence, Zhang Yuan could only use a rather indirect method to hint to Boss Pei, that the first three options are better.
Pei Qian stood up as he energetically walked towards the projector screen as he looked at the locations in detail. "I actually feel that these four locations are not bad.
"I think that Fish-Catching Internet Cafe should give people a feeling that it is a good place that is not easy to come by; I want people to have a seeking mentality… to experience unexpected joy when they finally find it!
"To open branches in a bustling city district? No, no, no. That would be too noisy; it would be incompatible with our internet cafes. Our internet cafe's mood is quieter, relaxed; this was the atmosphere we had decided on right from the start.
"We only have fifty computers while we ban smoking; we have many storybooks, and even when we have gigs at night, the songs sung are not rock songs but folk songs… these all exemplify the mood of our internet cafe!
"If we're like others and open in a place with a huge amount of human traffic that ruins the atmosphere, wouldn't our internet cafe be like a chaotic vegetable market? That would be out of character and sully Tengda's image."
Zhang Yuan was stunned.
Boss Pei had even gone so far as to say this would sully Tengda's reputation? I can't bear this responsibility that Boss Pei is putting on me!
Pei Qian pointed at the last four locations. "These areas are better. They are quiet, relaxed, and are especially suitable for one to empty one's mind and allow them to think about life."
Zhang Yuan was even more baffled. Why did they want customers to think about life? Shouldn't they make customers think about spending more money?
Pei Qian continued, "Furthermore, the more important thing is these four locations have a rather substantial floor space. They are very vast and can give our customers more space; this kind of experience is very important."
Zhang Yuan was speechless.
The four locations' floor space was huge? Of course, that was the case! They weren't in the heat of commercial districts, and the land was cheaper; it was natural that the space would be bigger.
Zhang Yuan still thought of continuing with his explanation; however, Pei Qian had already returned to his seat. "This time, you two have done splendidly. We'll settle on these four places, then."
Zhang Yuan swallowed the words that were about to come out from his mouth.
"When you guys head back, let the few branch managers choose which ones they want to be in charge of. Let's settle the shops that require more extensive renovations; those that do not require too many changes can be pushed to later on. When it's time to transfer funds, contact Assistant Xin."
As these four branches' locations were even more deserted than the current flagship store's, the rent was naturally going to be cheaper.
However, Pei Qian did not have that much funds on hand now; he could at most open two shops first. After he received some income from the existing games, he could then use the money to open the remaining two shops.
However, this matter didn't need to be rushed either. There were still two months left. As long as they all opened for business a week before the next settlement, that would be fine.
Zhang Yuan looked at Ma Yang as he gave him a look, meaning to ask Ma Yang if the latter wanted to try and persuade Boss Pei further.
Ma Yang nodded as if he took the hint and went in front of Pei Qian. "Alright, Brother Qian, we'll go and work on this; nothing will go wrong!"
Zhang Yuan, "…"
Was this what the look I gave you meant?
However, as Ma Yang had already said this, Zhang Yuan could only follow Ma Yang dejectedly out of the office.
Zhang Yuan hugged his laptop as he grew dejected internally. For this proposal, he had worked very seriously on it, heading down for site visits and making comprehensives evaluations. It could be said that the first three locations had been repeatedly confirmed by him that they would definitely be profitable!
The last four locations had just been to fill the numbers; he had not wasted much energy on them. In the end, Boss Pei had not even taken much of a closer look and had decided on those four.
This was… really vexing.
If it was another boss that decided on this, Zhang Yuan might actually have scolded and cursed this person for being unreliable. Of course, Zhang Yuan would only complain internally; he wouldn't actually resign. After all, he wouldn't be able to get this salary anywhere else.
However, as Boss Pei had made this decision, Zhang Yuan actually didn't nurse a grudge. He could only say that he wasn't smart enough to comprehend Boss Pei's intentions.
Would Boss Pei not know how to choose locations?
He definitely knew. As for why he didn't choose the most obviously profitable locations, Boss Pei must have other considerations.
Zhang Yuan was dejected for a while but soon shook that off as he went with Ma Yang to discuss the rent and make preparations to open the new branches.
Pei Qian was very pleased with the chosen locations. If he kept up the good work, these branches would be able to make even more losses than the flagship store. This was also very logical. As the flagship store, the first location was definitely going to have the best business; if not, it wouldn't be known as a flagship.
After he relaxed and drank his tea for a while, Assistant Xin knocked and entered. "Boss Pei, I have gotten some preliminary information on Shang Yang Games; do you want to take a look?"
Pei Qian immediately perked up, "Yes!"
Pei Qian was paying the most attention to this recently. As long as he managed to buy over Shang Yang Games, he would have a second stable source of losses after Fish-Catching Internet Cafe; it was something that would be beneficial for a long time!
Assistant Xin handed over a file to Pei Qian. Pei Qian read as Assistant Xin started to explain.
"Shang Yang Games is a private company with fifty-two employees. At present, Shang Yang Games mainly has two games. One is called Romantic Taoist-a business venture game; the second is called Bloody Battle Song —it is a web-based war game."
Hearing the name of this game, Pei Qian couldn't help by sigh appreciatively. Indeed, making lousy games also required some degree of gifts and talent.
Look at this name, Romantic Taoist! The name itself was rather inappropriate; if a game with this name could become popular and sell well, that would be the biggest joke in the world! However, while he knew that this was obviously a sensational name, Pei Qian actually wanted to see what this game was about.
"Romantic Taoist has presently stopped running; its income had been lower than fifty thousand for a long time; Bloody Battle Song, on the other hand, is the Shang Yang Games's main source of revenue. However, after a recent uproar over certain changes to the game, its income had also fallen drastically."
Pei Qian knew about this uproar; Ma Yiqun had told him about it.
Bloody Battle Song was probably the game where Old Liu had sold a saber at 888, resulting in the company being scolded bloody by players.
Not bad. These are good options to take over.
Assistant Xin continued, "Using a rough estimate, Shang Yang Games' rental is around a hundred and fifty thousand monthly while wages are at two hundred thousand a month. They are currently finding it very hard to even maintain this, and rumors have it that they can't seem to be able to even pay salaries this month."
While they had more employees than Tengda, there were many positions in that company and the average wage was also lower. Hence, the rent and salaries to be paid were much lower than Tengda's.
Pei Qian didn't mind this; he could slowly tweak the situation after he took over in any case. As long as it didn't have any hidden trouble lurking that could generate profits; then all would be fine!
Chapter 141 Acquisition!
Pei Qian thought for a while and asked, "This is the first time I am acquiring a company. Are there any things I should take note of?"
Assistant Xin flipped through her notebook and replied, "There are still a lot of risks involved. For example, such companies oftentimes have issues with their registered capital. We have to check if they have any false capital contribution or withdrawal of capital.
"Furthermore, we also have to check their company assets, liabilities, and owners' equity, etc., and take note of their fixed assets depreciation rate, amortization of intangible assets, non-recoverable assets…
"However, this is a small-scale private enterprise. The owner is Du Ruijie. He and another partner hold all the shares to the company. However, in reality, Du Ruijie is the main person in charge of the operations of the company.
"I suppose that he is currently begging to hand the company over. After all, the company has negative equity and has been suffering losses every month. If we wait a little longer, we should be able to lower the price and acquire the company with just a few hundred thousand yuan.
"If you are patient enough, we might even be able to get it at a lower price."
Pei Qian was momentarily stunned. "Why is it so cheap?"
That made him a little disappointed.
He thought the other party would sell the company at least at a price of one or two million yuan. Yet, they could acquire it with merely a few hundred thousand yuan?
Assistant Xin nodded and replied, "Of course, Boss Pei. This company was initially funded by Du Ruijie and the other partner. The startup capital was only a million yuan. However, because of their good luck, they had made some money from the games that they produced and thus expanded to its current scale.
"Du Ruijie had earned buckets from that. If he could sell this mess that he had in his hands, he could earn another few hundred thousand yuan. He is dying to get that money. There is no way he dared to raise the price.
"If no one takes over the operations of the company, he might only be able to sell his company assets at a cheap price. I heard that Du Ruijie even planned to give the computers that the employees used to them and deduct that from their salary."
Pei Qian was speechless. "…"
So creative!
On one hand, he could save the trouble of selling those huge numbers of second-hand business computers. On the other hand, he could solve the problem of delayed wages of the employees. This Boss Du is such a genius!
Pei Qian did not want to raise the price. On one hand, the act of forcefully raising the price was too unnatural. It was way too obvious if he raised the price to a few million if he could have acquired the company for merely a few hundred thousand yuan. Doing so would draw suspicion to himself.
On the other hand, Pei Qian wanted to pool his funds into opening more Fish-Catching Internet Cafe. Therefore, he did not have much working capital in his hands.
Therefore, it was fine if they just went with the standard price.
Assistant Xin also pointed out several other important things that he had to do, such as checking the company's stakeholder changes and balance sheet, collecting the employees' labor contract and information on their insurance and wages, as well as notarizing relevant documents…
Pei Qian did not have to worry about those. He was only responsible for providing the money. These details would obviously be left to the professionals.
Assistant Xin closed her notebook and said, "There should be all the information to take note of. Boss Pei, so you want to conduct an inspection under a disguise?"
Pei Qian was stunned. "Inspect what?"
"If you had confirmed the acquisition, Boss Du would definitely make some preparations when you went over to inspect the company. That prevents you from understanding the real situation in Shang Yang Games," Assistant Xin explained. "You can conceal your identity and have a walk over there to observe the working state of the employees as well as the working environment. That will help us push down the prices at the negotiation table later on."
Pei Qian understood her meaning. Her suggestion was similar to a sudden inspection by the superior of the company.
If the other hand caught wind about the inspection, they would definitely do some things for show. The superior would not be able to truly understand the situation there then.
Pei Qian shook his head and said, "That is not necessary. Those changes done for show would be insignificant. There are some things that you can never hide."
Boss Pei appeared very confident as though he already had the company in his hands.
Assistant Xin did not probe into that any further. "I will contact the other party to arrange for a meeting with Boss Du."
Pei Qian nodded his head. "The earlier, the better!"
The next afternoon…
Pei Qian arrived at Shang Yang Games. The moment he pushed the door of the Cayenne open, he was immediately greeted by a man who appeared to be in his late-twenties and was wearing spectacles.
"Are you Boss Pei? Nice to meet you! I am Wang Xiaobin, the chief planner of Shang Yang Games. Boss Du is waiting for you upstairs." Wang Xiaobin was very welcoming.
However, Pei Qian was a little confused. "Isn't Old Liu the chief planner?"
Although he did not know a lot about Shang Yang Games, he was very sure that the chief planner was Old Liu. He was pretty familiar with him. Pei Qian met him once when old Liu interviewed at Tengda. He had also heard of his news from Huang Sibo and Ma Yiqun.
Pei Qian was a little regretful every time he heard about the things that old Liu did. He had let a genius slip out of his hands during the initial interview! If he had hired Old Liu, he might have already caused the games to fail. Pei Qian would not need to go through so much trouble just to lose money then.
The good thing was that he could still take precaution after suffering the loss. It was still not too late.
Pei Qian wanted to keep the entire team in Shang Yang Games. As the chief planner, Old Liu was obviously a crucial member of this team.
However, why wasn't Old Liu welcoming him today? Why did a stranger come and greet him?
Wang Xiaobin felt slightly awkward. "I didn't expect that Boss Pei knew so much about our company. I will explain this to you in a while. Please head this way."
Full of suspicion, Pei Qian followed Wang Xiaobin into the office building and over to the company on the second floor
They went past the office area first. The desks were clustered together. That made Pei Qian a little unaccustomed. He was used to the spacious layout of the desks in Tengda. Therefore, when he saw how cramped the working environment was, he felt a little suffocated.
The overall working environment was nice. The floors were clean, and the desks were neat. All the employees were either typing on their keyboards in front of the computers or using the editor. They all appeared to be focused on their work.
Pei Qian knew clearly that those were all facades that were temporarily displayed for the sudden inspection. Upon careful observation, one would notice that most employees were not truly working and were only pretending to be doing so.
Many people only had a few words on their documents after staring at the screen for a long time. No one knew what they were thinking about.
Pei Qian did not expose that facade. He and Assistant Xin followed Wang Xiaobin into the office space and headed towards Du Ruijie's office. He was the boss of Shang Yang Games.
Du Ruijie had been waiting at the door of his office.
This Boss Du looks like he was in his thirties. He had a few strands of hair on his head and did not have a huge belly. He appeared especially smart and seemed like a middle-aged successful businessman.
"Boss Pei! Welcome! Welcome! I have heard that Boss Pei is a promising youth. Those rumors were indeed true."
Du Ruijie stepped forward and led Pei Qian and Assistant Xin into his office. Wang Xiaobin went to make some tea hurriedly.
Making tea was supposed to be the job of an assistant or administrative employee. However, Shang Yang Games did not have any administrative roles. Therefore, the employees had to cover those jobs themselves.
In reality, this was a normal occurrence for some smaller games companies. After all, they had to pay the administrative employees for their work. When a company's scale had not expanded to a certain extent, most games companies would choose to cut down on all the possible costs.
Ordinary people would not choose to do what Pei Qian did and hire two beautiful receptionists before a game was even completed.
Very quickly, Wang Xiaobin had returned with the tea. Pei Qian looked at the drinks with the corner of his eyes and thought that it was most probably not of high-quality. He lifted the cup, sipped it symbolically, and placed the cup down.
"Take a seat, too, Xiaobin. You will answer the questions that Boss Pei will ask regarding the games." Du Ruijie motioned Wang Xiaobin to sit down beside him.
It was apparent that Boss Du was merely in charge of collecting the money and did not know much about his games.
Du Ruijie heard that Boss Pei was not only the boss but also an incredible game designer. He was afraid that Boss Pei would ask things that he did not know about the game and thus wanted Wang Xiaobin to cover him.
Wang Xiaobin could not help but be a little nervous as he thought that the company's last hope lay on his shoulders.
Chapter 142 c
"I have long heard that Boss Pei and Tengda Games are black horses in Jingzhou City. Every game that you made became popular and would be on the popular searches on Weibo. This makes us so envious." Du Ruijie sipped his tea and exclaimed.
Pei Qian replied politely, "Actually, I am very envious of Boss Du, too."
Du Ruijie was momentarily stunned. "What are you envious of?"
"Umm… I am envious of your luck." Pei Qian originally wanted to say that he was 'envious of his ability to lose money'. However, he suddenly realized that those words were not suitable to say out loud and changed his words suddenly.
Du Ruijie laughed out loud. "Boss Pei, you are so hilarious. It seems like I am indeed pretty lucky. If other companies faced such a situation, I suppose that they will shut down in no time. I am indeed lucky that Boss Pei is willing to acquire the company.
"Boss Pei, I am very thankful that you are willing to save Shang Yang Games. Therefore, I will save all those tricks and tell you the absolute truth.
"In reality, I bear the greatest responsibility for the bad operations of the company. If you could truly save Shang Yang Games from its demise and give it a new life, I am even willing to give the company to you directly.
"However…
"Firstly, this company was opened by me and another brother of mine. We two had invested a lot of blood and sweat into it. Secondly, the employees of the company are all my brothers. I hope that I can try my best to find a good place for them to go to…" Du Ruijie sipped on his tea as he spoke.
Although Du Ruijie said a lot of nice words, Pei Qian knew internally that Boss Du wanted to raise the price.
The focus of his words was after the word 'however!
All in all, Boss Du wanted to emphasize his struggles when opening the company and how good these employees are. He also wanted to point out that there was still hope to revive those two games that were still operating and that they could profit again with just some effort.
Pei Qian listened quietly and smiled.
Du Ruijie talked for an entire ten minutes. He introduced the situation in Shang Yang Games and added a lot of personal opinions. He appeared very prepared and amiable.
Pei Qian did not respond to his speech. He wasn't interested in this content at all.
Maybe because of Pei Qian's age, Boss Du wanted to bluff him and convince him to list a higher price. However, he had no idea that Pei Qian was not interested in that at all and was not in charge of that. Those were all part of Assistant Xin's job.
Assistant Xin listened quietly behind Pei Qian and continuously recorded the information down on her notebook. She was prepared to start slashing the price anytime with Pei Qian's orders.
"Boss Pei, this is all. I'll give you a very reasonable price. I'll wipe off the remaining digits and give you an exact figure: one million. What do you think of it?"
Boss Du had a 'this is such a bargain for you' look on his face.
Pei Qian did not respond and instead asked casually, "I remember that your company's previous chief planner was called Liu. Where is he?"
Du Ruijie was stunned. He then shook his head slightly. "Oh. Old Liu. He resigned a few days ago. I think he found another company to work for.
"Rest assured, Boss Pei. Xiaobin had always been our systems designer. His abilities are incredible. He has been promoted to the chief planner and can definitely take over Old Liu's responsibilities! Wait. No. He might even perform better than Old Liu!"
Resigned?
This…
Pei Qian was a little troubled.
Old Liu found out that the company was about to fail and had found his next job beforehand. That's true. It wasn't difficult for Old Liu to find a job given his experience in planning games and his brilliant resume.
However, that was a little pitiful. This fantastic company became incomplete before he had even bought it over. Then again, Pei Qian did not take that to heart and did not plan to get Old Liu back either.
The company was only short of a chief planner. It could continue operating by finding someone to take up that role.
However, Pei Qian glanced over at Wang Xiaobin and felt that he could not be the chief planner.
According to what Boss Du said, he was the systems designer for previous projects. He had a deep understanding of the projects and was very capable. That should be true. In that case, Pei Qian definitely could not make him the chief planner. What if he was more capable than Old Liu? He had to change to another person.
Pei Qian contemplated that internally and did not display it on his face.
"Can I try out the two games produced by the company?" Pei Qian asked.
Du Ruijie nodded and replied, "Of course. Xiaobin, bring a laptop over. Let Boss Pei try out our games."
Wang Xiaobin nodded his head and left the office to search for a laptop outside.
Pei Qian noticed that there was a laptop on Du Ruijie's office desk. That said that Du Ruijie never played his company's games. Pei Qian could not help but feel a little jealous.
Look at them! This was what a mature company should look like. The boss did not have to care about the operations, and the company would suffer losses by itself.
Look at Tengda. I scrutinized every single detail of the games, and yet it created such troubles.
Very soon, Wang Xiaobin came in with a laptop.
Shang Yang Games produced two games. One was called Romantic Taoist and the other Bloody Battle Song. There were both browser games. However, the former was a management game while the latter was an RPG game about the war between nations.
Pei Qian opened Romantic Taoist first.
The first thing he saw after registering an account was a scene that could make noses bleed. A large picture of a beautiful lady was in the middle of the display. She was scantily clad and caused nosebleeds.
Du Ruijie and Wang Xiaobin appeared a little uneasy. They felt a little embarrassed as though an ugly girlfriend was about to meet her in-laws. They had previously heard that Boss Pei was not only the boss but was also the lead designer for Tengda Games.
For example, the recently popular Game Designer thoroughly analyzed and harshly satirized the domestic game industry. Its gameplay, graphics, and core message were all comparable with top game producers overseas.
Meanwhile, looking at Shang Yang Games, it was still at the stage of pushing the envelope of what was acceptable.
Their classiness was miles apart.
What would they do if Boss Pei became unhappy after seeing this type of game and decided against acquiring their company?
Pei Qian scanned the game quickly and confirmed in no time that the name of the game was greatly sensationalized. It was just an ordinary management browser game that included many beautiful women. After a set amount of time, they would unlock a new beautiful woman.
The game was terrible in all aspects. It was no wonder the game was about to cease its operations.
Pei Qian closed the game and quietly opened Bloody Battle Song.
The graphics of this game was much better than the previous one, and yet it was still bad.Read more chapter on
It was a typical 'slash me if you are my brother' game. The 2D graphics made Pei Qian feel as though he was back to the Stone Age.
It was unbelievable that the game had earned significant profits during the first two months from its release to sustain Shang Yang Games' three hundred thousand yuan operating costs each month. That could be considered a miracle.
After seeing those two games, Pei Qian was suddenly a little sentimental. He seemed to have understood why he could not suffer a loss. He lacked imagination! As a person who had the memory from 2019, his taste and style had been cultivated by different types of classic masterpieces in that period.
Even if he had deliberately wanted to produce trashy games, the only thing he could think of was the games with high paywalls on the market. However, all those games with paywalls that Pei Qian recalled were winners who survived the intense battles in the market and could profit!
That was the limit to his imagination. He couldn't think of any game that was trashier than that. However, he knew about that now.
Games like Romantic Taoist and Bloody Battle Song…
During the first two minutes into the game, Pei Qian felt that his intelligence had been plastered and rubbed on the ground.
As expected, 'you have to rely on the professionals to lose money'. This deal seemed like such a bargain!
Chapter 143 Slashing Prices
Du Ruijie was opposite Pei Qian. When he saw Pei Qian's expression which screamed 'my eyes are burning' as he played the games, his heart dropped to the ground. He had a bad feeling internally. Du Ruijie had never played the games under his company as he knew how terrible they were. He seemed to have been too hard on Boss Pei by making him play this type of trashy game
If Boss Pei did not like those two games, he would most probably use that as a reason to slash the price. Du Ruijie was mentally prepared.
Pei Qian closed the laptop, handed it over to Wang Xiaobin, and said, "Not bad."
Not bad?
Du Ruijie suddenly felt immense respect towards Pei Qian. He thought that Boss Pei was trying to not embarrass him. How could he comment that such trashy games were 'not bad'? He was being really kind!
In reality, Pei Qian truly felt that those two games were not bad. Pei Qian knew that he could not achieve the level of trashiness that the games had reached. Above it all, no matter what kind of games they were, they could be considered good games as long as they could not profit!
Wang Xiaobin asked instinctively, "Boss Pei, do you have any questions regarding the two games? I can answer your questions if you have any."
Du Ruijie was so furious that he wanted to kick Wang Xiaobin.
Did you know what you were saying? Couldn't we just get over this issue quickly? Were you trying to force Boss Pei to criticize the game?
Pei Qian laughed and replied, "I can understand the designs of the game clearly. I have no questions."
Actually, Pei Qian wanted to ask them how they produced such a trashy game. However, upon further thinking, he thought that he shouldn't be so honest about that.
Wang Xiaobin took the laptop over, nodded his head, and said, "That's true, boss Pei. You are a professional. You will be able to understand the game with one look. I'm being such a busybody."
Du Ruijie heaved a sigh of relief. He wanted to get this matter over and done with, close the acquisition deal quickly, and leave with the money.
At that time, this mess that he hadincluding all these old and used furniture, computers, and these useless employeeswould all be thrown at Tengda. Boss Pei would then be the person having a headache because of these things.
Pei Qian turned his head slightly, signifying that Xin Hailu could start slashing the price.
Although Pei Qian did not mind spending three or four hundred thousand yuan more, he suddenly felt that he was at the lower end of the deal if he had spent that extra money. Although these were the assets of the system, he still felt a little uncomfortable if he gave Boss Du the money.
He might as well increase the welfare of his employees with that money.
Therefore, he slashed the prices as he should have done until it reached the Boss Du's bottom-line price in his heart.
Assistant Xin flipped through her notebook. "Boss Du, from what I know, you have delayed the employees a month of wages; one of the two games had ceased operating while the other's revenue has been experiencing a nosedive. Currently, those two games are no longer considered high-quality assets and do not hold any IP value on its own.
"These furniture and office computers were purchased two to three years ago. They were not expensive initially. Considering how used they are, I'm afraid the most suitable place for it to be is the rubbish chute. As you know, given Tengda's current working environment, these things are of no use…"
Assistant Xin spoke very fast. Du Ruijie's face gradually turned pale.
Oh, no. All the saliva spent earlier went to waste.
He had originally thought that Boss Pei was very young and was most probably very inexperienced. He thought that he could get more money by bluffing him. However, he realized that he was bluffing the wrong person.
Boss Pei was not interested in the details of the acquisition. This assistant at the back was solely in charge of that. This assistant looked very experienced. She was much more superior to Du Ruijie from all aspects.
Throwing all other things aside, her presence itself was already much more superior to Du Ruijie. Du Ruijie was ultimately just the boss of a private enterprise. He was incomparable with Assistant Xin who had been working in big corporations. Very soon, he became speechless from what she said.
Assistant Xin slammed the notebook together. "After thorough consideration, the price that we propose is five hundred and fifty thousand yuan."
Du Ruijie gulped down his saliva. This price was barely acceptable for him. However, he was still a little unhappy.
Pei Qian smiled and said, "That's okay, Boss Du. I'll give you another fifty thousand yuan. Given our friendship, I'll make it six hundred thousand in total."
Du Ruijie considered for a while. He wanted the price to be higher. However, after thinking about it, he decided against more bargaining
This Assistant Xin had been way too precise with her calculations. There were no other reasons for him to continue bargaining. If he said something wrong that made Boss Pei unhappy, he could simply leave immediately. Wouldn't he lose everything then?
Once Du Ruijie thought of that, he showed a bright smile on his face. "Okay, Boss Pei. Six hundred thousand it is, then! I'm conceding because I hope that my brothers will have a better future…"
Pei Qian could not help but be speechless. This guy seemed to be so used to saying nice words and bragging. Nothing he said was believable.
"Then, we shall proceed with the procedures." Pei Qian looked at Assistant Xin.
Although they had agreed to the terms, there were still many more things to be done after that. They had to carefully verify the details of the company and sign an acquisition agreement. It was unlike purchasing things in the supermarket; one could not just take their items and leave after swiping one's card. They had to do things step-by-step.
However, Pei Qian did not need to worry about that.
"Boss Pei is so benevolent! You will indeed achieve big things!"
Du Ruijie was also very happy. Although this price was lower than what he had expected, the last fifty thousand yuan that Boss Pei added made him pretty happy.
The main thing was that he could finally shake the burden off. This was something that made him happy.
"Tell those employees outside to leave work and have a break. Notify them to come back to work after the procedures are done.
"Umm… Let's set it on next Monday. May 10th."
Pei Qian looked at the dates. Today was Wednesday. Four days should be enough to complete most procedures.
After all, this was not a multi-million acquisition case. Shang Yang Games was only a small company. There were only so many things to settle. Assistant Xin was very capable and could definitely complete the tasks on time.
This was a good time to give the employees a break so they could get accustomed to Tengda's working tempo beforehand. In the future, Shang Yang Games would be a subsidiary of Tengda. They had to follow the various protocols and welfare of their holding company.
Wang Xiaobin was momentarily stunned. He nodded his head and replied, "Okay, Boss Pei! I will inform the others now!"
Pei Qian did not go out but instead continued listening to Assistant Xin and Boss Du's conversation about the various procedures in the office.
After a while, whispered conversations sounded from outside as though a pool of dead water had suddenly come to life.
The moment Wang Xiaobin announced that the employees would be on a break until next Monday and that the company was about to change its owner, a commotion erupted.
Originally, Shang Yang Games was at a decline and many people were already searching for new jobs. Some employees who had brilliant resumes, such as Old Liu, had already successfully found new jobs.
However, Du Ruijie suddenly announced that another company was willing to take over the company yesterday. He ordered everyone to use an entire evening to tidy up the place, arrange their desks, and welcome their possibly new boss with their highest spirits.
That news shocked many people. After all, everyone knew how bad Shang Yang Games was. Who in the right mind would be willing to take over this mess?
However, after some inquisition, they were all shocked when they heard that Tengda Games could be their new owner.
This good news… Was simply like a pie in the sky!
After all, Tengda Games had a very good reputation in the industry. Many people wanted to join the company but could not find a way to do so.
If their company was acquired by Tengda, it would probably be treated as a 'stepson' and not receive similar benefits as their 'biological son'. However, they were still under Tengda. Their future would be much more promising than they were now!
They had originally thought that the acquisition would take at least a few weeks and had not expected to get a break. Anyways, they were merely wasting their time during work.
However, they did not expect the process to be so efficient. They had already achieved a preliminary agreement in such a short time? They were on break until next Monday?
The employees of Shang Yang Games only had one thought. The ups and downs in their life are way too exhilarating…
They were troubled about losing their job a few days ago. All of a sudden, they experienced a 'makeover' and became Tengda's employees. They had four days of leave, too!
They had almost thought that they were dreaming!
Chapter 144 Boss Pei's Weekends
Pei Qian was pretty busy this weekend.
He had originally planned to enjoy his sleep in his rented apartment, but he found it hard to fall asleep. The moment he closed his eyes, scenes of the internet cafe becoming popular and earning huge bucks flashed before his eyes. That made him restless.
He had no choice but to get Assistant Xin to drive over to fetch him. He had to check it out to assure himself.
Of course, that gave him an excuse to give Assistant Xin overtime pay.
Firstly, they went to the flagship store of the Fish-Catching Internet Cafe. After having a cup of coffee and spending some time in the store, Pei Qian confirmed that there would not be any possibility of turning the loss into profit in the short term here.
Afterward, he went to the two new stores of the Fish-Catching Internet Cafe to look at the renovations.
The locations of these two stores were worse than the flagship store. Their only advantage was their spaciousness. The interior designs of these two stores could not be exactly identical to the flagship store and could only lean towards Pei Qian's preferred style.
They had an overall minimalist style and did not have a lot of extravagant details. However, the tables and chairs, bar counter, bookshelves, and other furniture all seemed very classy.
It was not that Pei Qian liked this kind of classy style. The main reason why he chose that was the price of the furniture of that style.
The two new branch managers appeared very hardworking. They were staring at the workers as they renovated the place. Pei Qian approached them and conveyed his greetings warmly. He persuaded one of the branch managers to head home. However, the other was adamant against going home. Pei Qian could only give him overtime wages.
After looking at the renovations of the internet cafes, Pei Qian was still not assured. He spent some time walking around the surroundings of the stores. Finally, he concluded that this location was even more deserted than the flagship store. There should not be a lot of customers who would come to the store.
On the way back, Pei Qian suddenly had the notion of going to the company. He found Lu Mingliang and some other members of the design team working overtime.
Boss Pei was extremely angry.
He had originally allowed Huang Sibo and the others to work overtime because he thought that Huang Sibo and Bao Xu were using the time to play games. However, he so discovered that they were not playing games while working overtime. They were obviously hard at work!
Therefore, Pei Qian felt that he should be stringent about this and prohibit anyone from appearing at the office after office hours.
This time, Pei Qian sent everyone—including Bao Xu-outside. His reason was for them to rest well back at home and care about their hairline.
After thinking about the results from the previous physical examination, Bao Xu had no other excuse and could only pack his stuff and head home.
During this time, Bao Xu had much more money in his hands. He was no longer living in an internet cafe. He rented a studio apartment and bought a new computer. He could now play computer games at home.
When the others saw that Bao Xu had been successfully persuaded by Boss Pei, they could only pack up their things quietly and leave as well. The scenario seemed extremely devastating. The team headed outside with extremely low spirits. Those who did not know the situation might even think that they had all been fired.
After chasing everyone away, Pei Qian randomly found a chair nearby and sat down. He felt extremely tired psychologically.
These guys! They are giving me such a headache!
"I am thinking… is it time to change the lock to the office? Maybe we should purchase a higher-quality digital lock? The kind that limited access to certain personnel during public holidays…"
Pei Qian looked at Assistant Xin. Xin Hailu hesitated before saying, "Would this reduce everyone's motivation to work?"
Reduce everyone's motivation?
That would be great. It would be best if it not only simply reduced their motivation. It would be better if it could destroy it completely.
"That's settled then. Remember to head over to the administrative department to check if they have such locks. If not, you can just purchase one instead.
"The door can only be opened by authorized personnel during public holidays. These would temporarily include… you, me, and the few girls in the administrative department."
The job of the administrative department was the simplest. They would usually start work at nine and leave at five. They might be late for a minute, but they would never leave work a minute early.
They would definitely not be around during public holidays.
Pei Qian felt very assured when he gave them the authority to the door. Assistant Xin noted that down in her notebook. After finishing his words, Pei Qian thought of a new problem.
How could he give them overtime wages?
By locking the door, everyone would not come to the office to work overtime. However, that meant that he would not be able to give out overtime wages either.
Although this did not sum up too much, it was still a part of the 'strength in numbers' plan. It was an important way to spend his money. The overtime wages of each person did not amount to much, but when the number of employees increased, this would become a huge budget.
Pei Qian thought for a while. "How about this? In the future, everyone could declare their overtime hours. The overtime wages would also include time spent working from home."
Xin Hailu was stunned. "How do we check if they were truly working?"
Check? Check for what? I wouldn't care even if everyone falsely declared their overtime hours.
Of course, Pei Qian could not say that.
He thought for a while and said, "I believe in everyone's discipline. However, if anyone was to be found guilty of falsely declaring overtime hours, his entire overtime wages for the month will be deducted."
He had to set a punishment to gag the system.
Anyways, Pei Qian would not check if anyone had falsely declared their overtime hours. Pei Qian's mood changed for the better seeing the empty office. He stood up from the chair and was prepared to have a nice nap back at home.
At that moment, his phone rang. Huang Sibo called.
Pei Qian immediately stood on his guard.
After completing the shoot for Boss Pei's Daily Life, Huang Sibo and Bao Xu were prepared to rest for half a month. Calculating the time, their break should be over soon. They should be thinking about a new project and shooting a new video.
With his persuasive words, Pei Qian had ignited the fighting spirit in Huang Sibo and successfully convinced him to stop working on Boss Pei's Daily Life and give up on this successful IP. However, Pei Qian was unsure and unsettled about what exactly Huang Sibo and Zhu Xiaoce planned to shoot.
The purpose of this call was either to have a discussion with Pei Qian or to report the progress to him.
Pei Qian hoped it was the former.
He picked up the call.
"Boss Pei, I'm so sorry for disturbing you at this time. We would like to report about the work plans for Fei Huang Workspace.
"Previously, Boss Pei's words had enlightened me. Originally, Director Zhu Xiaoce and I planned to continue working on short videos and shoot a new video series that was inspired by Boss Pei's Daily Life. We wanted to showcase a similar plot twist and contrast. We planned on investigating some popular current affairs and discover a series of celebrity characters from our everyday lives."
The more Pei Qian listened, the more nervous he became.
Was that f*cking 'Surprise'[1]' or 'Baozou Big News Events[2]'?
Whichever it was, they all sound pretty pessimistic.
Huang Sibo continued speaking, "However, Boss Pei's words the other day enlightened me. I think we should go out of our comfort zone and continue pursuing our dreams! Although short videos are a good way to earn quick money and could bring smiles to people, we feel that it is still not enough.
"Director Zhu Xiaoce shares my opinion. Therefore, after discussing with him, we decided to film a documentary. We want to film a documentary that no one had ever shot before.
"Of course, given our limited capital currently, there is no way we can shoot a huge one. We will carefully consider our topic. The only thing we hope to achieve is to use our cameras to record something meaningful…"
Pei Qian heaved a sigh of relief. However, he was quickly on his guard again.
The reason he heaved in relief was that Huang Sibo and Zhu Xiaoce and really decided to give up on making short videos. This was great news for him.
If they followed their original plans, it was very likely that they would produce another popular short video series. If they really made it to the heights of Surprise and Reporting, Boss![3], something terrible would happen.
Now that Huang Sibo and Zhu Xiaoce wanted to film a documentary, the topic itself meant that there was a very low possibility of them profiting. This was good news.
[1] This is a Chinese mini comedy series that told the story of the protagonist in an exaggerated and humorous way
(2] This is a Chinese internet talk-variety show reporting about ridiculous news events
(3] This is a TV comedy series about a four-man movie company