Pei Qian yawned in his office. The heater in his office was very comfortable, making one sleepy.
It might be inappropriate to laze around on the first day of work, but Pei Qian really had nothing much else to do.
It might feel as though there were much to do, as though countless blooded swords were pointing at his back. However, he really could not think of what he could do even as he thought hard.
He opened the TPDb website to see which other projects required ‘improvement’.
Pei Qian’s eyes were attracted to the Fish-Catching Internet Cafe immediately.
Come to think of it, I had always wanted to open an internet cafe near Dad and Mom’s house!
I have to open one near the new house I bought. Have to plan ahead for the future.
In short, a Fish-Catching Internet Cafe should be nearby no matter wherever I live in the future.
Pei Qian immediately sent Zhang Yuan a text, asking him to come over.
Zhang Yuan was usually situated at the Fish-Catching Internet Cafe at Handong University. He handled matters relating to the internet cafe and ROF Computer-Installation. Today was no exception.
He, therefore, arrived in a matter of minutes.
“How is the handover going on?” Pei Qian asked directly as soon as Zhang Yuan sat down.
“Boss Pei, today is just the first day back at work…”
Zhang Yuan was a little speechless and a little reluctant.
Zhang Yuan received the Dream Fund of a million yuan after being selected as an outstanding employee. However, that meant he had to give up everything at Fish-Catching Internet Cafe and ROF Computer-Installation.
Zhang Yuan was of course not happy about it.
He was now rather competent when it came to the Fish-Catching Internet Cafe and the ROF installations. He was not willing to change to other positions even if his salary and benefits did not change. However, Pei Qian would definitely not agree.
The first-place-elimination system was set up to eliminate such people!
He had done a very good job since he was judged as an outstanding employee. To Boss Pei, that meant that he was one of the employees who had threatened him the most over the past six months. He had to arrange something great for him.
Therefore, he had to use the fastest method to end Zhang Yuan.
Pei Qian could see that Zhang Yuan was not willing so his face turned black. “Your efficiency is lacking. I’ll give you three days to complete the handover. Put down all work at the ROF Computer-Installation and then submit the people to be promoted to the HR department.”
Zhang Yuan had nothing to say. He could only nod. “Yes, Boss Pei.”
Pei Qian continued. “By the way, tell the new person-in-charge during the handover to open two more Fish-Catching Internet Cafe 1.0 in two other places.”
Pei Qian pointed out the location of his parents’ house and his new house.
Zhang Yuan looked at the place, slightly confused.
One was a small county in Jingzhou. One was near a high-speed rail station that had yet to open in Jingzhou.
What was so special about these two places that Boss Pei felt he should open a Fish-Catching Internet Cafe there?
The last time Boss Pei asked about the Fish-Catching Internet Cafe was when a ‘Fish-Catching Complex’ was to be opened at Lincheng City. He invested tens of millions of yuan then. Boss Pei shouldn’t have to bother about these two small internet cafes.
However, Zhang Yuan had long been accustomed to Boss Pei’s unique site selection skills so he naturally did not ask much about it. He just noted it down in preparation to hand over to his successor.
“Have you thought of how you will spend the Dream Fund? Don’t worry, if one million is not enough, I’ll give you more,” Pei Qian continued asking after he was done arranging for the Fish-Catching Internet Cafe.
The One Million Yuan Dream Fund was a standard established in the early days of Tengda Group. It was not easy to squeeze out one million yuan then since Tengda was not as big as it was now.
However, one million yuan could only be regarded as a droplet in an ocean now that Tengda grew larger and was more profitable. It was peanuts to Boss Pei who was in urgent need of spending money.
Pei Qian, therefore, asked casually. He did not mind giving Zhang Yuan more money if his dream was outrageous.
Of course, he would not give another penny if Zhang Yuan’s dream was too realistic.
Zhang Yuan gave it some thought. “Erm… Boss Pei, I gave it some thought during the holiday. My initial thinking is to create an E-Sports Club.”
E-Sports Club? Pei Qian was quite surprised. He originally thought that Zhang Yuan would continue to do the installations he was good at, but he didn’t expect him to be enlightened.
Pei Qian was very satisfied with this answer.
An E-Sports Club would burn money in no time, and there would be very, very little profits.
What was more, the e-sports industry was still very small in the year 2011. There was a lack of large scale competition around the world. Many professional players were still sleeping on the streets and eating instant noodles.
The current E-Sports was basically games that the rich second-generation heirs played. It was something that Pei Qian was into.
Pei Qian had long wanted to create an E-Sports club for fun before Zhang Yuan even mentioned it!
Pei Qian was all smiles immediately. He put out a thumb. “Good idea!”
Zhang Yuan was shocked. Why did he feel like Boss Pei was more excited hearing this news than when the RAM sticks increased in value?
“Is one million yuan enough? The team will have to train very hard for the game. They cannot suffer. We must give them the treatment they deserve! Ask me anytime for more money if you don’t have enough!” Pei Qian said excitedly.
Zhang Yuan quickly waved his hand. “No, no. no, Boss Pei, I’ll be testing the waters in the initial stages, especially since I do not have any experience in this area.”
“Hmm… alright, let me know at any time if you need money,” Pei Qian agreed reluctantly.
Obviously, Zhang Yuan felt like he was playing the lottery so he did not dare ask for more money.
If he really wanted to make his own building —complete with all the supporting facilities —and spend a lot of money to poach superstar players, then one million yuan would definitely not be enough.
However, most of the so-called e-sports club and game workspaces had yet to be completely segmented. People with a few rooms and computers would also dare call themselves an E-Sports club.
Zhang Yuan wanted to do something similar.
Pei Qian, of course, would not accept it. He had to add more money.
However, he could not be too eager about it. Zhang Yuan might feel pressured if he were to insist on giving him more money. He might instead feel that Boss Pei was really interested in this project and would do his best in it.
Any wrong step and encouragement in the wrong way by Boss Pei would bring unimaginable repercussions.
Therefore, Pei Qian did not force it.
When the clubs were to open, Pei Qian would definitely check them out. He would then give him more money after doing some nitpicking.
“Alright, go ahead. Remember, finish the hand over within three days. Put all your energy into this E-Sports club.” Pei Qian repeated before sending Zhang Yuan away.
Something flashed past Pei Qian’s mind right after. It was something he did not have the time to deal with before the year ended.
The ‘Top Student, Come Quick’ app!
Pei Qian gave He Desheng a call immediately. The other projects seemed to be in a dangerous state as well, but this project seemed to be having the most risk. Pei Qian updated the Top Student, Come Quick’ app version before the year ended, completely cutting off the possibility of using this app as a social app. It caused the popularity and traffic of this app to plummet. Many of the previously spent publicity funds were wiped out.
He originally planned to make this project a complete failure, but he did not expect to attract more than seven million yuan in investments after telling these investors the truth.
He tried to dissuade them, but they did not take his goodwill. Pei Qian had no choice but to find ways to burn money!
As to how best to burn the money, Pei Qian had no idea. The methods were taken care of by He Desheng. He had to quickly ask him.
The phone got through in no time.
He Desheng seemed to be prepared as he replied to Boss Pei swiftly, “The money was spent in three large areas.
“The first was the development of other functions for the app. At present, the app only supports offline meetings. After developing new functions, it would be able to allow the top students and flunkies to use their cameras for interactions.
“They could also use the built-in question banks to search for the correct answers and explanations by taking photos. The functions would be more abundant. The target audience would also be wider.
“Next is publicity.
“Finally, it’s in subsidies so that the flunkies could spend less money while top students could earn more.
“The good news is the Shared Top Student app has taken root in first-tier cities such as Beijing, Guangzhou, and Shanghai with rich educational resources due to our promotion. The usage is constantly increasing!”
Pei Qian interrupted decisively. “I don’t want to listen to good news; tell me only the bad news.”
“Uh…” He Desheng had a series of good news to share, but he swallowed all of them back with one sentence from Boss Pei.
“The bad news is that the current model may be unsustainable. I’m afraid there would be nothing left once the craze dies down.”
“In fact, the current ‘Top Student, Come Quick’ app had ignited intense discussions, and there were many people who were pessimistic about it.”
Hm?
Pessimistic?
Then, I have got to hear it! Pei Qian searched for discussions on the Top Student, Come Quick’ app while on the phone. He did find many discussions after a bit of searching, but there were not many pessimistic voices! “Top Student, Come Quick: the new age of education!”
“Top Student, Come Quick revision eliminates potential safety hazards. This move has to be praised!”
“Top Student, Come Quick, knowledge sharing on its way!” Pei Qian glanced through briefly and felt his heartbeat speed up and cold sweat forming on his forehead.
“Where are the pessimistic voices? Aren’t all of these praises?” Pei Qian asked, perplexed. “Oh, Boss Pei, most of the reports you see are bribed. Some of them were also fake reviewers we hired. A portion of the seven million yuan was spent here…” He Desheng explained hurriedly.
“Boss Pei, I did not come up with this idea! It’s the request of the other investors…”
He Desheng knew that Boss Pei did not like such a publicity method so he pushed the responsibility away decisively.
Pei Qian breathed a sigh of relief. So all these were fake reviewers! That scared me.
I thought that so many people actually gave good reviews for this project!
There was no need to worry so much since this enthusiasm was all fake images built up by burning money.
