Pei Qian took account of the current situation:
The response to the games' downloadable contents had been rather good. Although Ocean Stronghold had been scolded a little, a new patch had been speedily released these two days. An account credit system had been established, using different credit ratings to sell the epic weapons in batches.
Five hundred epic weapons were on sale monthly while there were three different credit ratings for players.
The rating assessment was done using multidimensional criteria. Gamers' activeness in playing the game, their contributions to the game, etc. were all used to create a concrete credit value that divided players into three credit ratings.
The epic weapons sale would be done in three batches.
Players with credit rating 3 would be able to purchase the first hundred weapons; credit rating 2 players would be allocated the second batch of another hundred weapons; credit rating 1 players would then be able to purchase the remaining three hundred weapons.
Within each credit rating, there were also extremely minor differences in one's odds of successfully purchasing an epic weapon. Every minor increase in one's credit value would slightly increase the chance of purchasing an epic weapon.
As the ratio of players for the three credit ratings was 1:2:10, the higher one's credit rating, the higher the chance of getting a weapon.
As for some new players with relatively low credit rating and values, it wasn't that they didn't have the chance to grab one epic weapon; the chance was just much lower.
Besides this, the game also had a credit o rating for scalper accounts. As they didn't play the game normally, they were not qualified to get any epic weapons.
After releasing this credit system, scalpers no longer had as high of an impact on the game.
On the other hand, it was impossible to stop people from selling their accounts. Many players would actually sell their credit rating 2 and 3 accounts at a high price. However, it was no longer possible for scalpers to get a huge haul just based on the fastest fingers anymore.
The value of accounts on trading platforms would definitely fluctuate; however, it would slowly stabilize as well.
As players' feedback and response had been rather positive-although many people were still rather upset with the quota, the unhappiness had receded.
After all—while the quota had not been increased or completely removed, this new credit rating system had made things fairer.
As for Shang Yang Games, it was still steadily making losses.
Ye Zhizhou and the others had already completed Pei Qian's tasks for them. Although the side effect had been an about-turn for its game's reputation-without the ballers topping up money, game revenue had fallen steeply; and it was not possible to generate any profits in the short-term.
The Fish-Catching Internet Cafes had started to experience an increase in sales from drinks after implementing the singer commission policy. However, this was still insufficient to cover costs of operation and all five outlets were still losing money.
Fei Huang Workspace had basically lost all their initial capital and profits. They had poured all their money into the documentary and also were in debt. Tengda had to step in to fill the hole.
Fish-Catching Take-Out was doing rather poorly; they basically functioned primarily to send meals to Tengda employees. As their orders were very little, the chefs and delivery men were basically idle most of the time; this business was also losing money continuously.
All these projects' losses had finally managed to erase Tengda's games' profits with much difficulty.
Although this cycle was only two months, it had been a frightening time for Pei Qian.
First, Chen Lei had appeared and nearly resulted in Fish-Catching Internet Cafe turning in profits. Fortunately, Pei Qian had discovered this in time and prevented this from happening. Then, Lin Wan had helped Tengda to save a huge amount in rent. This had given Pei Qian a heavy blow. Fortunately, this had still been within the acceptable range.
Also, having found the mole, this had prevented any even more serious problems from surfacing in the future.
Pei Qian took out a small notebook as he scribbled and drew on it seriously, constantly doing his calculations.
Although the System Funds was showing a state of loss, on the 28th-the last Monday before settlement; another pool of earnings from Tengda's games would be credited.
Pei Qian still couldn't have a good estimate of how much money this sum would be. After all, no one could know what might happen in the upcoming week.
Pei Qian could only come up with rough figures using statistics from the games' platforms and try to spend as much on expenses and to try his best to create more losses.
Although the current state of affairs didn't look that great, at least there wasn't a void of hope.
In another corner of the internet cafe.
Li Shi drank his coffee as he observed Pei Qian. "Fish-Catching Internet Cafe is actually owned by Tengda; the boss is also so young. I didn't expect this."
As a regular customer of Fish-Catching Internet Cafe, Li Shi frequently came here. He had also seen Pei Qian occasionally before but had not drawn the link that this youngster actually was the boss behind this internet cafe.
After doing some digging these few days, Li Shi now knew about Fish-Catching Internet Cafe's relationship with Tengda. He had also ascertained from the way Ma Yang and Zhang Yuan interacted with Pei Qian that he was Tengda's mysterious big boss.
Li Shi had been a little concerned whether Pei Qian was a rich second-generation heir or not or if he had some special background. However, after doing some investigation, he did not find anything of the sorts.
Based on the information he had on hand, Li Shi conjectured that Pei Qian must have made it big from his games, had nowhere to spend his money, and hence had abruptly entered the internet cafe business.
Li Shi was even more confident now.
Youngsters would often easily neglect some things.
Boss Pei might be a professional at making games and was good at it. However, he might not be good at running a physical business. Furthermore, Boss Pei was now holding onto his small notebook and unprofessionally scribbling and drawing in it.
What was he doing?
En, he was probably calculating the internet cafe's losses.
From his serious expression, he must be very unhappy with the continuous state of losses for his internet cafes. Furthermore, he didn't seem to have come up with any good ideas.
Perhaps, Li Shi could bring forward his plan at a partnership with Boss Pei?
Li Shi sipped his coffee again as he altered his plans slightly.
He long had the intention to invest in Fish-Catching Internet Cafe. However, he had been worried that the big boss behind this business would not accept him; Li Shi had then decided to wait for Fish-Catching Internet Cafe to make more losses first before making his offer.
Originally, Li Shi had thought that he had to wait for another couple of weeks or months. However, from the looks of it now, he actually didn't have to wait that long.
Since this big boss was already facing a predicament, now might actually be the best time to test waters.
If he continued to wait, he might miss the golden opportunity. If this big boss suddenly decided to sell the internet cafe to someone else, wouldn't that be Li Shi's loss?
Thinking of this, Li Shi arranged his collar as he stood up to head outside and make a phone call.
As an investment firm's boss, Li Shi couldn't approach Pei Qian directly. This might seem hasty and a little childish.
He was going to ask his subordinates to initiate a commercial arrangement, to express his desire to invest in Fish-Catching Internet Cafe. Next, he would choose an appropriate venue for discussions. This would be more appropriate and logical.
In fact, most of Li Shi's investment projects had come knocking at his door.
Entrepreneurs of all types of companies would bring detailed stacks of information and find Li Shi, requesting for him to invest in their projects. However, Li Shi would skim through them and get rid of most proposals, only keeping a small number he was really satisfied with.
Businesses like Fish-Catching Internet Cafe were considered exceptions.
Li Shi lit a cigarette quietly outside Fish-Catching Internet Cafe as he waited for his subordinate's good news.
Pei Qian saw his scrawly handwriting in his notebook as he did a rough calculation. It seemed as if creating a loss of two to three hundred thousand was still feasible. The premise was there couldn't be anyone pulling any stunts last minute. If yet another unexpected source of funds entered his accounts, that would be very bad.
After calculating, Pei Qian breathed easy. He hadn't been so busy this period for nothing; he could see victory in sight!
He had just relaxed when his phone rang.
Pei Qian took a look. It was from Assistant Xin. "Boss Pei, Fu Hui Investments had just approached us. They were hoping to invest…"
Pei Qian, "Reject them."
Assistant Xin, "They aren't thinking of investing in Tengda but in Fish-Catching Internet Cafe. Although, Fu Hui Investments is considered a rather good venture capital firm…"
Pei Qian, "Reject them."
Assistant Xin, "Alright."
Pei Qian hung up the phone call briskly.
Invest in Fish-Catching Internet Cafe?
Don't mess around at this time; I only have this one steady loss-making business. If you invest in me, aren't you trying to mess with me?
Really, at such a crucial period before settlement, who is trying to cause unnecessary trouble?!
At the door of the internet cafe, Li Shi smoked his cigarette, very relaxed. He was waiting for his people to get back to him.
Normally, the other party would definitely gladly agree to the investment. Both sides would then arrange for a time to meet and discuss, with Li Shi banking on his wealth of investing experience to speedily convince the other party to accept the injection of funds.
He had not even finished his cigarette when his phone rang.
"Boss Li, the other party has rejected us."
Li Shi was flummoxed. He didn't know what to say all of a sudden.
They aren't even planning on giving me a chance to meet with them? They had rejected so directly?
I haven't even finished my cigarette!
This is not right; this is not how things are supposed to turn out!
Chapter 176 Almost Laughed Out Loud
Li Shi silently finished his cigarette outside Fish-Catching Internet Cafe.
After hearing his subordinate's report, Li Shi started to really question his judgment.
Although Fu Hui Investments wasn't considered an exceptionally top-notch investment firm in the country-in a place like Jingzhou, everyone should have at least heard of it, right?
Now, even though he had proactively reached out, this Boss Pei was still not moved and had speedily rejected his offer?
This did not seem logical.
After all, within this circle, similar investments were rather common.
If any venture capitalist came knocking, most targeted companies would choose to hear them out first, to see what the terms of the offer were.
If they really weren't pleased and a deal could not be struck, at most both parties could go their separate ways and perhaps find future opportunities to collaborate; no one would lose out from this experience.
Incidents like this where a flat-out rejection had occurred were really rare.
Li Shi was after all a seasoned investor, and he wasn't that shaken by such a small setback. He tried to shake off the smell of smoke on him as he returned to Fish-Catching Internet Cafe again.
Li Shi noticed that Pei Qian had already stopped scribbling and drawing on his notebook. However, he continued to look seriously at it as if still thinking.
If he didn't have complete trust in his subordinate, Li Shi might even have suspected whether Boss Pei had indeed received the olive branch he had extended or not.
"This is strange; he was actually indifferent to my offer to invest. Could it be I had made a mistake in judgment?
"Although Boss Pei was now in a tough spot and the internet cafe kept on losing money, could it be he was still adamant and hard-headed that he could turn this business around?
"While I could provide him with a huge amount of funds and opportunities to collaborate, could it be that this Boss Pei still preferred to have absolute control?
"Regardless, he seemed like a person with a strong desire to exert control, someone who would not easily allow anyone else to interfere.
"Ah, youngsters are indeed youngsters. They want to reap all the benefits on their own; this is not the thinking a good entrepreneur should have."
Analyzing from every aspect, Li Shi found it hard to explain why Boss Pei would have so decisively rejected his offer to invest. The crux was the rejection had been so clean-cut; Boss Pei had not even bothered to hear the specifics.
Li Shi could only think of one explanation. Boss Pei was an impetuous person who was very stubborn. He had a strong desire to exert control over his businesses and did not want anyone butting in.
Of course, looking at this from another perspective, this meant that Boss Pei still firmly believed that this internet cafe was on the right track. He believed that it would definitely make money in the future and hence did not want to share these profits with anyone else.
Although Li Shi could directly approach Pei Qian to clarify this, Li Shi did not intend to do so.
He was after all a boss of an investment firm; how could he do something like that?
If he handed over his name card and Boss Pei spoke some niceties and rejected Li Shi again, wouldn't that be embarrassing?
Furthermore, based on what had happened, the chances of him being rejected again were very high.
"Hmph, youngster, no one can reject an investment from me; you will not be an exception. Even though investments were the same thing, some companies would fawn over it while others would gladly accept it. Others, however, needed just a little push…"
Li Shi quietly observed Pei Qian as a confident smile appeared on his face.
June 24th…
In Fish-Catching Internet Cafe's flagship store…
A rented car stopped outside as Ma Yang immediately alighted and entered the internet cafe.
"Boss Ma, is the exam over? How did it go?" Zhang Yuan saw Ma Yang entering as he warmly greeted and asked.
Ma Yang found a spot and sat down casually as he stretched. His huge face was pulled even longer by his yawn. "It isn't a very important class; it shouldn't be hard to pass."
"I had even lent my take-home assignments for Brother Qian to copy so that he could at least get ten marks for them. I feel that in the upcoming one or two months, he wouldn't hound us regarding the internet cafe and take-out businesses' losses."
Zhang Yuan was filled with much respect and admiration. Indeed, this is what it meant by 'things went easy as long as one had an insider', right?
Previously, Zhang Yuan couldn't figure out why someone like Ma Yang could have taken on such an important position as General Manager of Fish-Catching Internet Cafe. Now, everything made sense.
He even felt that this was natural and rightfully so.
Although some might say that Ma Yang had gotten this key position because of some inappropriate connections, for Zhang Yuan, following a boss like Ma Yang was very comfortable for him.
At least he didn't have to worry about any scolding or questioning from Boss Pei!
One of the servers had already handed over a cold drink. Ma Yang drank as he sighed and said, "Having said that, let's continue to work hard.
"We had hoped that doing take-outs would help us turn our losses into profits. However, our take-out business is now making losses as well…"
Zhang Yuan heard Ma Yang's words and grew worried. "Indeed. Two days ago, Boss Pei had taken out his notebook here and scribbled in it, looking very stern and serious; I wasn't sure what he was writing about."
Ever since Chen Lei had been sent away, Ma Yang hadn't been able to recover from that setback. As Pei Qian wanted to find Ma Yang something to do, he had especially given the important task of Fish-Catching Take-Out to Ma Yang
Ma Yang had been rather motivated and energetic at the start. He had hired delivery men, bought dishwashing equipment, and found someone to develop an app. In the end, he realized that not many people actually ordered his take-outs.
He was paying yet another group of employees for nothing; that was another added expense.
Of course, it wasn't entirely true that no one bought from Fish-Catching Take-Out. Some customers actually liked this service. However, it was just hard to recoup his initial investments into it.
The problems were multifold:
Boss Pei disliked 'physical promotion' publicity methods like distributing flyers. Hence, not many people actually knew that Fish-Catching Take-Out existed. Fish-Catching Take-Out's app could only provide food from its own outlet; it did not collaborate with other vendors and hence was not attractive to normal customers. All items were all comfort food, and the dishes were rather simple while the prices were more expensive than ordinary.
All in all, as its visibility was low and it did not meet ordinary customers' expectations, Fish-Catching Take-Out was not operating at full capacity; and many employees didn't have anything to do.
Normally, one delivery man could deliver to many families at once while the collectors could collect the plates and cutlery from many families at once as well. However, as there were so few customers now, all delivery men and collectors all went on solo trips.
Although the cutlery and plates provided were rather good, it was unavoidable that there might be cases of damages or missing cookery. According to Pei Qian's demands—even if such matters occurred, they were not to pursue this with the customers unless it was a constant occurrence.
They haven't encountered customers like this yet, but to occasionally see damaged cutlery and plates made Ma Yang's heart ache.
It was basically impossible to make money under these conditions.
The two were a little down and kept quiet.
Ma Yang finished his drink as he looked around at the internet cafe. He frowned, "This is strange; why do I feel like there are exceptionally few people here today?"
Zhang Yuan was stunned, "Oh? Really?"
He had not noticed that. After all, Fish-Catching Internet Cafe never had many people during the day, and it was always ten-odd people surfing the net with a similar number drinking coffee.
As today was also the morning of a workday, it was normal that lesser people had come.
However, now that Ma Yang had mentioned it, Zhang Yuan indeed noticed that fewer people were here than usual!
Only two people were in the internet cafe while there was one lone customer in the coffee area.
"It might be a coincidence," Zhang Yuan said.
The two were a little puzzled as the door of the internet cafe opened. A Fish-Catching Take-Out delivery man took a few flyers as he hurriedly rushed in.
"Boss Ma, Boss Zhang, something has happened!"
"Quick, take a look at these flyers!"
Ma Yang and Zhang Yuan looked a little perplexed as they received the flyers and took a look.
Although Fish-Catching Take-Out's current state was not bad, there were still some customers that patronized it. Evidently, this delivery man had seen something on his way back from a delivery.
There were quite a few flyers. Some were promoting an internet cafe, a coffee house, and also a bar. A few of these flyers were duplicates, and this delivery man must have taken more than one of each in a hurry.
Ma Yang and Zhang Yuan spread these flyers out on the table as they checked them out one by one.
The internet cafe on promotion had a special top-up promotion of a time-limited discount!
As for the coffee house and the bar, there were discounts for drinks such as a second drink at half-price, etc.
Ma Yang still didn't understand. "What have these got to do with us?"
The delivery man was still huffing a little, "Boss Ma, these… these shops are all around us!"
Zhang Yuan's brows furrowed as he instantly sensed that something was amiss!
After taking a closer look, these shops were indeed all located around Fish-Catching Internet Cafe's flagship store. They weren't far away at all.
Ma Yang pulled a long face as he realized how severe this problem was. "This… could this be targeting us?"
He thought for a moment as he shook his head. "No, that can't be right. We haven't offended anyone, and we also haven't engaged in a price war with these shops; why are they doing this to us?"
Ma Yang was confused. Logically, if Fish-Catching Internet Cafe was doing very well and had taken others' business, this would still make sense.
The crux was Fish-Catching Internet Cafe was already doing so badly; was there a need to do this to Fish-Catching Internet Cafe now?
Zhang Yuan's face grew even darker. "That's hard to say."
"Although Fish-Catching Internet Cafe is making losses-as long as our shop is still open, we would still be an existing competitor to these shops. Perhaps they wish to hit us when we're down and won't rest until we go bust?
"Furthermore, internet cafes, bars, coffee houses… for so many shops to do promotion activities at the same time? They seemed to be acting in concert. Perhaps someone is orchestrating this behind the scenes!"
Ma Yang looked as if he was facing a formidable enemy, "What should we do?"
Zhang Yuan's brows knotted as he thought for a long time. "This is rather sticky; our opponent seemed to have come well-prepared!
"These few shops have started the price war. The internet cafes, bars, and coffee houses are all reducing their prices and desperately sending out flyers. If I haven't guessed wrongly, the few street entrances near our internet cafe have already been taken over by them."
"This way, all consumers that wish to come to our internet cafe will definitely see their flyers and promotion activities. As there isn't that much customer flow in this area to start with
—if even the few that came were lured away, we would become even worse off."
Realization dawned on Ma Yang as he said slightly angrily, "No wonder there are so few customers today!"
Zhang Yuan continued, "Not only that! I feel as if the opponent has done his homework, and this move of his is to hit us at our soft
spot!
"According to Boss Pei's plan, our internet cafe has always been a high-class one; our prices are naturally higher than other places. The opponent wishes to drag us into a price war with them. This is very complicated for us.
"If we don't lower our prices, we would be at a severe price disadvantage; we couldn't compete.
"For example, our original prices are forty percent higher than other places'. However, we have a better atmosphere and better service. Some customers would be happy to spend a little more money to enjoy the superior service here.
"However, if our opponent is burning cash and lowering prices even more, our prices might become sixty percent higher or more. Would customers be willing to spend so much money just for our better atmosphere and service?"
Ma Yang frowned, "In that case, should we lower our prices as well?"
Zhang Yuan shook his head, "No! We are a high-class and posh outfit; lowering our prices would damage our reputation. Furthermore, if we have to burn cash like them, we are already losing money; how could we win against them?
"Furthermore, don't forget what Boss Pei said when we raised the issue of lowering prices back then."
Ma Yang was speechless.
Previously when Fish-Catching Internet Cafe had just started to incur losses, Zhang Yuan had already raised the strategy of lowering prices; that had been rejected flat-out by Pei Qian.
If they raised this matter again, the results would probably be the same.
However, they couldn't reduce their prices. As Fish-Catching Internet Cafe was basically surrounded now—as long as these shops kept on doing publicity on the streets entrances leading to Fish-Catching Internet Cafe, most of their customers would be lured away.
Even if a minority of ballers remained loyal to Fish-Catching Internet Cafe, customers that would patronize without caring for prices were very few; most would still want to take pricing into consideration.
Zhang Yuan's face grew stern, "Let's report this to Boss Pei; we can't make a decision on this ourselves!"
Pei Qian was just sleeping soundly in his rented apartment. His cell phone then rang.
Pei Qian was snapped out of his dream and was very unhappy.
However, seeing that the call came from Ma Yang and that Ma Yang had just left him his assignments, Pei Qian could still forgive Ma Yang for this.
"What's up, Old Ma?"
Ma Yang speedily explained the huge crisis that Fish-Catching Internet Cafe was facing now over the phone.
"Brother Qian, this is the situation. Zhang Yuan and I have analyzed that this matter is definitely not so easy; someone is pulling the strings behind the scenes! What should we do now?"
Ma Yang was very anxious.
Pei Qian suddenly was sleepy no more.
Such a good thing existed?
Pei Qian almost laughed out loud. He had actually still been feeling the pressure for this cycle, wondering if he could successfully make a loss.
In the end, someone had sent him a pillow just when he wanted to sleep.
At present, Fish-Catching Internet Cafe's flagship store was losing around three hundred thousand monthly. This was on the premise that there was still a certain income from sales from drinks and from internet users.
Although Chen Lei had left, the impact he had caused still remained. Some of his old supporters would still like to gather at Fish-Catching Internet Cafe. Hence, Fish-Catching Internet Cafe's losses had been lessened compared to at the start.
Now that the surrounding shops were engaged in a price war and Fish-Catching Internet Cafe's customer flow was being interrupted, this meant that there would be lesser income from Fish-Catching Internet Cafe until the settlement!
If these shops continued with their price wars, that meant that during the next cycle, Fish-Catching Internet Cafe's income would still continue to fall drastically. That would be…
So awesome!
There was only one week left till settlement, and it seemed a part of Fish-Catching Internet Cafe's income was going to be in jeopardy; this might amount to around seventy to eighty thousand yuan.
One should not belittle this sum. If income was lessened by seventy to eight thousand, that might easily turn profits into losses; this was a world of difference!
Pei Qian tried his best to calm himself down; he couldn't allow himself to start laughing.
Ma Yang heard that Pei Qian was mum as he felt that things were really serious this time. "What should we do, Brother Qian?"
Pei Qian massaged the corners of his mouth to stop himself from smiling as he tried his best to sound calm. "Don't worry, at this time, let's wait and see. Don't do anything on your end; I have my own arrangements!"
Chapter 177 Lie to Someone Else
June 25th, Friday night…
Singing continued to echo throughout Fish-Catching Internet Cafe. However, the seats at the bottom of the stage were empty. There were only two or three people seated, drinking alcohol.
The singer was listless; people listening to him off-stage were falling asleep.
Ma Yang's face was a mask of worry.
What should he do?!
As the competition around the various Fish-Catching Internet Cafes intensified, the Fish-Catching Internet Cafes were getting fewer and fewer customers.
Although they had a resident singer, the other bars around had more than that. They also had discounts on all their drinks on the menu!
Those bars were crowded and lively. Many of Fish-Catching Internet Cafe's old customers were jumping ship, too.
After all, most people came to bars to play and socialize. Few people wanted to drink in a cold, quiet place. What's more, this place was not cheap.
This new resident singer sang well, but he was a far cry from Chen Lei's standard. Naturally, he could not attract as many customers.
The fewer people there were, the less motivation he had. The less motivation he had, the more distracted he sounded when he sang. It was a vicious cycle.
"Brother Qian told me not to do anything. Yet, I feel guilty…"
Ma Yang drank on his own, feeling pained.
Fish-Catching Internet Cafe was continuing to incur losses. Even Fish-Catching Take-Out was not improving. When it rained, it poured. Ma Yang was beginning to seriously doubt himself.
On a chair in the corner of the internet cafe, Li Shi sipped his cocktail. He could not help his lips from curling upwards.
Indeed, these people are too inexperienced to compete with me.
Fu Hui Investments had already invested in a significant number of businesses in Jingzhou. They also had considerable influence.
They just had to spend a bit of money and get the shops around Fish-Catching Internet Cafe to organize a couple of promotions. Those shops would get more customers, and Fish-Catching Internet Cafe would be suppressed. Fu Hui Investments would then have an easier time.
To Li Shi and the shops around Fish-Catching Internet Cafe, it was a win-win situation.
Li Shi had been hiding undercover at Fish-Catching Internet Cafe for a long time. He already had a clear picture of the concept of this place.
The young Boss Pei was the boss behind Fish-Catching Internet Cafe. He was stubborn and headstrong; Li Shi guessed that he was the type not to listen to others' advice. Li Shi had to slowly figure him out.
This Zhang Yuan was the regional manager, but in actual fact, he was not very close to Boss Pei. He was mostly in charge of the operations of the internet cafes.
The key was still in this long-faced man.
This Ma Yang looked to be quite close to Boss Pei. What's more, he did not look very bright. He looked like the type who would easily be negligent.
He had to deal with this long-faced man first. Once he hoodwinked this man, he could use him to influence Boss Pei slowly. Then, his mission would be accomplished.
It was not easy to say what Boss Pei's condition was now. After all, he had not come to Fish-Catching Internet Cafe in two days. However, from the way the long-faced man looked, Li Shi guessed that he was falling apart.
Li Shi's calculations were good. He had to consider all possibilities and finish this job as soon as possible.
After all, he could not go on burning so much money. He only had to do it to torture Boss Pei.
Once everyone in Fish-Catching Internet Cafe began to doubt its ability to generate profits, he could step in and offer assistance in these troubled times by extending his hand…
Then, there would be a good chance of making this investment.
Li Shi carried his glass of alcohol and sat opposite Ma Yang.
Ma Yang had been worrying. When he saw the aged Li Shi sitting in front of him, he jumped.
What's this?
There are no beautiful girls at my table. What do you want?
Could these… rich men also have their own special hobbies?
At that moment, Ma Yang was at a loss for words. He quietly pulled his glass closer to himself and away from Li Shi.
Li Shi did not know how wildly Ma Yang's imagination was running. He thought that the latter was just being naturally guarded.
"Boss Ma, how are you? Let me introduce myself. I am Fu Hui Investments' CEO, Li Shi."
Li Shi confidently handed his name card over to Ma Yang. "Actually, I'm an old customer here. I wonder if Boss Ma is interested in discussing working together."
Ma Yang realized that Li Shi did not harbor any ill-intentions towards him. He slowly picked up the name card and then read it in the dim light.
Li Shi, "…."
He discovered that this Boss Ma did not seem to know about Fu Hui Investments…
Li Shi began to get mad. It didn't make sense at all.
How famous was Fu Hui Investments in the investment circle in Jingzhou?
According to Ma Yang's patronizing expression, it was clear that he had no idea what Fu Hui Investments could bring to Fish-Catching Internet Cafe. The good thing was that Li Shi was vastly experienced. Since Ma Yang had no clue who he was, he would go straight to the point.
It was the easiest to lie to idiots like that who did not know anything.
Li Shi took two sips of his cocktail and put on every bit of the airs of a successful man. In a matter-of-fact and controlled tone, he explained the plan for cooperation to Ma Yang.
Put simply, Fu Hui Investments would invest in Fish-Catching Internet Cafe and offer its vast experience to guide Fish-Catching Internet Cafe's operations. Everybody would earn money together. They would soon be able to push Fish-Catching Internet Cafe out to the rest of the world.
All in all, Li Shi painted a very beautiful picture with a single stroke.
Ma Yang's eyes lit up. He was moved!
Li Shi was a successful man after all. In the way that he dressed and the way that he spoke, Ma Yang could tell he was different from others. He spoke far better than the people in marketing, who tried to sell insurance using low-level language tactics.
What's more, every single sentence he spoke seemed to have medicinal properties, curing Ma Yang exactly where he hurt. He was offering to solve the profit problems of Fish-Catching Internet Cafe!
Zhang Yuan could not offer a good solution for every problem that Fish-Catching Internet Cafe was facing. Pei Qian was also acting mysteriously. All of these were causing Ma Yang to feel lost and confused.
All Li Shi had to do was throw out a couple of profit models for internet cafes in order to hoodwink Ma Yang.
Li Shi took note of Ma Yang's reaction. He knew that he had succeeded.
"Everything's going unexpectedly well."
After that, he waited quietly for the fish to take the bait.
Once Li Shi finished speaking, Ma Yang looked excited. Li Shi could tell that he was very interested in the blueprint that Li Shi had just laid before him.
However, he did not agree at once.
"Boss Li, your suggestion is good. However… I have to ask my boss."
Ma Yang did not forget that Pei Qian had the final say in everything about the internet cafe.
Li Shi was already prepared for this. He smiled and replied, "Alright."
At this point, it would not be good for Li Shi to say anything more.
He was sure that Ma Yang had already been completely bought over. All he needed was for this long-faced man to be determined to have pillow talks—no, private talks with Pei Qian. Li Shi was sure that this would be effective enough.
He was not worried that Pei Qian would doubt him. This was him taking a carrot-and-stick approach.
"Brother Qian, that's more or less the situation! We can accept Fu Hui Investments' offer. Then, our losses would be turned to profit, wouldn't it?"
Over the phone, Ma Yang still sounded excited.
Pei Qian smiled subtly. Ma Yang was very easy to hoodwink.
However, Pei Qian was not angry. After all, to him, this was one of the perks of having Ma Yang as his employee.
From the looks of the situation, Ma Yang had been completely brainwashed by this Boss Li of Fu Hui Investments. Yet, it did not matter. Pei Qian could buy him back with just a couple of sentences.
"Old Ma, you have been lied to."
Holding the phone, Ma Yang was stunned.
"Brother Qian, what do you mean?"
Pei Qian sniggered. "Actually, this Fu Hui Investments had already called Assistant Xin a few days ago. They offered to invest in Fish-Catching Internet Cafe, but I rejected them."
Ma Yang was confused. "Why did you reject them? Brother Qian, they'll give us a huge sum of money as investments. Everyone would earn money together. Wouldn't that be good?"
Pei Qian could not help but smile. This Boss Li obviously decided to talk to Ma Yang first because he figured that the latter would be easy to lie to. After all, he had not given up the thought of investing in Fish-Catching Internet Cafe.
Chapter 178 Beating Him at His Own Game
Pei Qian could not be sure that the nearby shops were holding various promotions to pick on Fish-Catching Internet Cafe. After all, he could not malign others without any proof.
What if they were all holding their regular promotions at the same time out of coincidence?
Pei Qian also could not be sure whether Boss Li was causing trouble behind the scenes. He did not have a proof for this either.
However, what he could be sure of was that Boss Li took this to be a good opportunity for himself. He wanted to gain from all of this.
This made Pei Qian anxious; yet, it seemed so inconsequential.
However, Pei Qian could not blame Boss Li for being silly. This was because it was a carrot-and-stick approach.
On the one hand, Boss Li would never directly admit that he was picking on Fish-Catching Internet Cafe. However, he would stick out an olive branch and make it seem like there was money to be made for everybody. He would be careful not to anger Fish-Catching Internet Cafe too much. This was the carrot.
On the other hand, this Boss Li was hinting to Pei Qian that if he continued to act stubbornly, he would fight all the way to the end. He would lower his prices and cause Pei Qian to lose all his customers. So what if Pei Qian knew that Boss Li was behind it? In order to cut his losses, wouldn't Pei Qian still have to give in eventually? This was the stick.
If other people had been in the same situation —without any way out, they might really have accepted the investment.
However, Pei Qian was completely different.
You're willing to spend money to help me incur more losses? I have to thank you for that!
Pei Qian wanted to reject him at first. However, on second thought, he realized that would not be right.
This Boss Li took joy in helping others. Shouldn't Pei Qian cooperate with him?
If he turned Boss Li down directly once again, Boss Li might give up sooner. After all, this man was the boss of an investment company. He had many things to do, and he could not afford to keep chasing after Fish-Catching Internet Cafe.
The moment he lost Boss Li's interest, the businesses around Fish-Catching Internet Cafe would stop burning money, too. Then, the human traffic in Fish-Catching Internet Cafe would revert to the way it was.
Pei Qian would not be able to incur this much loss anymore!
Pei Qian smiled and came up with a plan in his mind.
"Old Ma, do you really think that Boss Li is doing this for our good? Do you think he's really being kind? Think about it carefully. The shops around us are all holding promotions at the same time. Are you sure there isn't someone helping them behind the scenes?"
Pei Qian said a couple of simple sentences to enlighten Ma Yang.
Of course, this was not really considered enlightening him. Ma Yang was very easy to lie to. If people were trying to lie to him one after another, the last one would have the greatest advantage.
Pei Qian said a couple more sentences to make matters sound worse. He exaggerated the dangers of selling shares in the business and immediately managed to turn Ma Yang around, just as he expected.
"Holy sh*t! I didn't know this Boss Li had such venomous intentions! I'll turn him down at once!"
Pei Qian said, "You don't have to do that. If his frustration turns to anger and he decides to squeeze Fish-Catching Internet Cafe dry, we'll be in trouble.
"Tell him that I am very frustrated by the fact that we are making losses now. Say that I didn't want to accept investments, but I'm faltering. Tell him that I'm struggling to decide and that as long as the internet cafe continues to make losses, I might change my mind…"
Ma Yang sounded confused. "Brother Qian, you want us to continue to make losses? That wouldn't be good for us, would it? I don't think we can afford it."
Pei Qian smiled. "If we make losses, wouldn't the same happen for them?
"These shops are incurring losses like us. At the very most, we'll drag all of them down with us. What is there to be afraid of?
"What's more, if they continue burning money in this way, all the customers nearby would be attracted to come out. The people in other areas of Jingzhou City might even be attracted to go there and spend their money.
"In the long term, this would improve business in the area. We will not be making losses at all."
A realization dawned on Ma Yang. "I see! I understand, Brother Qian!"
"That's good. Go and tell Boss Li this, then…"
Pei Qin hung up, smiling.
Boss Li, you must have been so proud of your own ability to hoodwink Ma Yang. You were wrong. Anybody could have lied to him…
You threw him a couple of simple lies, but all I had to do was lie more to bring him back to my side.
Pei Qian hoodwinked Ma Yang by telling him a mixture of truth and lies. What he said about improving business in the area, especially, was a bunch of bullsh*t.
The business environment was affected by different factors working together. How could the business environment be changed just because a few shops were holding promotions at the same time? Just the thought of it seemed impossible.
However, it was worthwhile to look for any reason to lie to Ma Yang.
As long as he could rope Boss Li in and allow the surrounding shops to continue holding promotions, Fish-Catching Internet Cafe would continue to incur losses. How could Pei Qian let go of a chance to reap the benefits of others' loss?
After hanging up, Ma Yang quickly rubbed his own long face in order to quickly prepare himself. Just the thought of being lied to by Boss Li made him furious.
It's a good thing that my brother is so smart; I was almost cheated by you!
Although Ma Yang was not good at acting, just thinking about Boss Li scheming to destroy his rice bowl motivated him to take revenge.
He would turn this rage into acting skills!
He returned to the table and immediately put on a smile. "Boss Li, I just spoke to Boss Pei on the phone. I tried to find out his intentions.
"The losses we've been incurring have been worrying indeed. However, he does not want to allow outsiders to join the company so easily. He said that we'll give it another month. If things still do not improve by then, he will think of other ways."
Li Shi nodded subtly.
This was exactly as he had expected.
According to his calculations, this Boss Pei was a hard-headed man. If his subordinate were able to change his mind with just a couple of sentences, that would be strange.
A month…
He had to continue burning money for a month. That hurt, but it was still do-able.
Li Shi's heart hurt, but he could not display the hurt on his face. After all, it seemed like Ma Yang still had no clue that he was the one who organized for the surrounding shops to hold promotions at the same time.
Boss Pei might have been able to tell, but he probably did not tell Ma Yang about it. After all, there was no evidence. Boss Pei probably did not want to run his mouth off without proof.
After all, as long as Li Shi could successfully buy Fish-Catching Internet Cafe over in the end, it did not matter how much money he had to burn. He was sure he would be able to make it all back.
At that thought, Li Shi suddenly grinned.
"Of course. I'm in no rush at all. Boss Ma, you don't have to rush Boss Pei either. You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make him drink. Boss Pei has to come around on his own.
"However…
"I'm worried about you all. You might make huge losses in one month. What if you cannot hang on for that long? Boss Ma, I think you can test waters again in a week. For all we know, Boss Pei might have changed his mind."
"Alright." Ma Yang nodded and then turned to the bartender. "Give me another Margarita. I'll treat Boss Li to a drink!"
Tengda Network Technology Co., Ltd…
Pei Qian had not been going to the office recently because he had been busy with Fish-Catching Internet Cafe and his exams. Since he was in the mood today, he decided to go and make his rounds.
The settlement was drawing near. Pei Qian was finding it hard to balance all his commitments at the same time.
The good thing was that the downloadable content for Tengda's games had already been published. Apart from the split of the profits that the official games' platforms gave them earlier, there had been no more unexpected shocks. Pei Qian guessed that he could begin to relax.
Pei Qian could not help but feel happy when he thought about Fish-Catching Internet Cafe's current situation. Happily, he sauntered into his own office.
In the office area, Lu Mingliang and Bao Xu were engaged in whispered discussion.
"Boss Pei has not been coming to the office much these days. Do you think he has been busy?"
"I heard that Fish-Catching Internet Cafe is not doing well. I guess he must be helping out over there."
"Looking at Boss Pei's expression, I don't think the problem is that huge."
"That's not for certain. You know Boss Pei's character well. He does not show his emotions on his face. The problem might be huge, but Boss Pei might just not be showing it."
"Well… should we report to Boss Pei about Ocean Stronghold, then? We shouldn't distract him, right?"
Bao Xu pondered for a moment and said, "Compared to Fish-Catching Internet Cafe, this does not seem that urgent. Let's wait for a couple of days.
"What's more, it was expected that accounts would raise the prices on trading platforms. It's a good thing that the amount of top-ups and the number of active players have increased these few days. I don't think we have to specially report this."
Lu Mingliang nodded. "That's true. We'll wait until Boss Pei has time before we inform him, then."
Chapter 179 Putting Out One Fire While Another Burns
In the office, Pei Qian took a look at the platform to see how Tengda's games were doing.
"This group of people only knows how to give me the bad news; all of them are unreliable! In the end, I must take everything into my own hands."
Pei Qian was filled with resentment.
Everyone else's employees all gave them good news instead of bad; only his employees were the exact opposite. Whenever there was good news, he would be the last to know.
Pei Qian had reflected on this before. This might be because, right from the start, Tengda was a company that had a rather flat hierarchy; it did not have such a stringent superior-subordinate system. Furthermore, Huang Sibo and Bao Xu were both people that hunkered down and did their work, not having any airs at all.
Whenever they encountered problems, his employees would think of resolving them themselves, not wanting to give Boss Pei trouble. Even if they succeeded, they would think that everything had been arranged by Pei Qian and would not appear surprised at all. They most definitely would not try to claim credit for their success.
This made Pei Qian very pained. Whenever profits appeared from some aspect of his businesses, he was always the last to know; this hindered him immensely.
The crux was he couldn't act as if he knew nothing. This would be very incompatible with his image and standing; it would make things awkward!
Pei Qian felt that he couldn't make the same mistake twice.
Only a few days were left until the next settlement; he had to constantly keep track of the statistics of his profitable profits; he would not tolerate any mistakes.
Pei Qian had intentionally made a trip to the company today precisely because of this.
After opening the platform, Pei Qian hurriedly took a look at the statistics of Tengda's games.
Income from the games was all growing. This was as expected. After all, Tengda had just released downloadable contents while the official platform was still recommending Tengda's games on its front page; it was impossible that the income would not rise.
Looking at the rows of rising numbers, Pei Qian was a little jittery. However, after taking a closer look, most of the increases in income were actually still acceptable. Then again… there were places where the increase was a little abnormal.
Ocean Stronghold!
Pei Qian immediately noticed that the income stream from this game was higher than he had predicted; it was much higher!
Even taking into account the recommendation from the official platform, the altering of the profit-sharing agreement, and the popularity of the game after the launch of the downloadable content, the figures were rather high!
Pei Qian immediately grew a little wary and a little unhappy.
Such a serious thing had happened; no one had bothered to report this to me!
What were Lu Mingliang and Bao Xu thinking about; they saw these numbers and didn't hurry to inform me? What were they waiting for?
Luckily, I had come to the company today to take a look. If not, I would be cheated again!
Pei Qian was now rather angry but also happy that he had discovered this. Now that he had found this out early, he might still be able to do something to remedy the situation! The crux of the problem was finding out why such an increase in income had been experienced for this game.
If it was something that happened by chance and this increase in income was short-term, Pei Qian wouldn't pay too much attention to it. He could spend a little more money to offset this.
However, if it was some long-term factor that would continue to propel a rise in income and perhaps even a potential explosive increase, Pei Qian would have to be wary right in this instance and take decisive action.
Pei Qian went into Ocean Stronghold's game forum as he searched in detail for the most recent discussion thread.
"I did not expect Li Zhengwei would also become a traitor and join the revolution. Sigh! Could it be that Counter Strike was really going to become redundant as times progressed?"
"I think you're thinking too much; Brother Li must have just done a normal sponsored partnership."
"Brother Li had said in his fan group that he wasn't doing a sponsored partnership. Primarily because Fei Huang Workspace's documentary had been so well-done; that's why he wants to lend his name to help Tengda publicize their game to return the favor."
"I feel that there isn't anything wrong with this. Ocean Stronghold is a domestically-produced game with a heart; I think it's good to promote it."
"I started to play because even Brother Li had lent his support; this game is actually really good."
"When it comes to competitiveness and hand sensitivity, Counter Strike is indeed good. However, it is an old game after all; and its online system is rather bad while the gameplay is not abundant enough. After changing to play Ocean Stronghold, I feel that going online to play it for a while when I'm free is actually rather nice. All thanks to Brother Li's recommendation!"
Pei Qian placed his hand on his forehead; he was speechless.
It was impossible to guard against everything!
Fei Huang Workspace's Coming Out of the Cocoon as a Butterfly had not turned in a profit yet; it was that hard to earn money from it. Even Huang Sibo and Zhu Xiaoce had given up and were already preparing their next video.
Hence, Pei Qian had also not considered what impact this documentary would bring. He had not expected that this documentary had impacted Ocean Stronghold!
Evidently, even people in the Fei Huang Workspace could not have expected this.
Presently, FPS games were a rather hot genre in the gaming field. As Li Zhengwei was known as the 'number-one FPS gamer in the country', he was rather influential among his fans while his journey to becoming a professional player had been filled with difficulties; there had been more content to film about him.
Hence, Fei Huang Workspace had decided to choose him for the documentary.
After the documentary had finished filming, Li Zhengwei was very appreciative of Fei Huang Workspace. After all, this documentary had been for public interest and the public good. It had helped raise Li Zhengwei's profile while it had also given the gaming profession a slight nudge in a positive direction.
During filming, when Li Zhengwei had chatted casually with Huang Sibo, he had discovered that the latter was actually the chief planner behind Ocean Stronghold.
Hence, after the documentary had been completed, Li Zhengwei had done much publicity work for Ocean Stronghold!
As Pei Qian had not been paying attention to the FPS gamers' circle, he had not known any of these things at all.
Li Zhengwei was also rather influential among Counter Strike's players. As he had gone all out to promote Ocean Stronghold, another huge wave of players had started playing the game naturally!
As such, many Counter Strike players had shifted allegiances as well; this had created a chain-reaction.
The official games platform had given its recommendation while Ocean Stronghold's new epic weapon had been selling well, and so Pei Qian had not noticed anything amiss with the game's statistics immediately…
Until today.
Pei Qian kept his hand on his forehead. "… Damn."
Although he had found the problem, Pei Qian was powerless to do anything.
It was… too late!
Although Li Zhengwei had a certain amount of influence among FPS gamers, promoting Ocean Stronghold could at most only result in a surge in popularity for the game for a few days. Now that a few days had gone by, Ocean Stronghold's popularity was not increasing that much. Most gamers that started on the game had already done so; what else could Pei Qian do?
"I have overextended myself; it's really like putting out one fire as another burns…
"Calm down. From another perspective, this is not that bad a thing. This time, it had just been an unexpected occurrence; Li Zhengwei's influence was soon going to lose its effect. As long as this won't continuously affect Ocean Stronghold and raise its income, all is still well.
"Hu… all in all, this is now over. At least I can rest easy for the moment."
In a mere half-hour, Pei Qian had experienced such a fluctuation in his emotions; fortunately, it had just been a scare.
According to Pei Qian's estimates, this flood of new players could only persist for two to three days. If he spent more on shopping or employee benefits, this would not affect the settlement.
After triple-checking that the other games were doing alright and that only Ocean Stronghold had experienced this irregular rise in income, Pei Qian rested easy as he prepared to leave.
In the working area, Lu Mingliang and Bao Xu swiftly exchanged a glance.
"Boss Pei is coming out; should we report to him?"
"I don't think it's necessary."
"…let's report it in any case."
Although Bao Xu thought there wasn't a need, Lu Mingliang felt that they should still casually mention this to Pei Qian as he stood up from his seat.
"Boss Pei, we have something to report to you. Ocean Stronghold's active players and top-ups have recently experienced a spike. Also…"
Pei Qian smiled slightly as he nodded. "I already know that."
"Oh, okay then, Boss Pei."
Lu Mingliang quietly sat down as he felt that his actions had indeed been unnecessary.
How could Boss Pei miss such a simple statistic? That was not possible. Indeed, he had thought too much.
Before Pei Qian left, he glanced over at Lu Mingliang and nodded slightly.
Not bad!
It had been the right decision to make you chief planner; you are more reliable than Bao Xu and Huang Sibo! Although your information has come a little late, your actions are worthy of commendation. Your chief planner position is secured!