Losing Money to Be a Tycoon

In the morning, Pei Qian took a ride to Jingzhou City’s biggest shopping mall, Huanyu Tianjie.

Pei Qian had been here several times before. The first time was to buy a suit; the subsequent times were to allow his employees to spend as much money as they could.

However, Pei Qian had always come as a consumer. Each time he came to this mall, he purchased, purchased, and purchased. This time was different. He was here as the boss of Fish-Catching Internet Cafe. He was playing a completely different character.

Of course, before he decided to open Fish-Catching Internet Cafe’s new branch here, Pei Qian did his homework. He made sure that this shopping mall had nothing to do with Shenhua Real Estate.

Pei Qian did not want to receive a random call from a Boss Lin after opening the internet cafe, informing him that he no longer needed to pay rent for the shop space.

It was not a matter of how much money he had. The important thing was it would severely derail Boss Pei’s plan.

Boss Pei hated having to alter his plan. After all, it was a world of difference to earn a million yuan and to lose a million yuan.

A single mistake could reduce Boss Pei to tears.

Ma Yang and Zhang Yuan selected a space on the third floor of Huanyu Tianjie. It measured about 800 square meters, and Pei Qian was quite happy with it.

If the shop was located on the first floor, anyone who entered the shopping mall would walk past it. There would be too much traffic.

What’s more, the merchants on the first floor were all quite rich. Even if Pei Qian wanted to pay them to move out, it might not work. They could not find any empty spaces either.

On the other hand, there were a cinema and a few shops selling bubble tea on the topmost floor. Pei Qian could not neglect the possibility that young people would want to visit the internet cafe before or after a movie.

Thus, the third floor looked quite good to Pei Qian.

Apart from Fish-Catching Internet Cafe, there were various clothes shops on this floor. Most of them were international, high-end brands. The only dining shops were a high-end cafe and a shop selling bubble tea next to it.

All in all, this floor was relatively quiet. Most customers who came to this floor were girls who loved shopping. They probably would not enter an internet cafe for no reason.

The selected space was located on the southeast corner of the level. It looked like an independent area.

An international clothing brand once occupied this space. However, since business was poor, they decided to move out and transfer the space to someone else.

The clearance sale was over, and all the clothing and products had been swept off the shelves. The entire area looked empty apart from the shelves, which were going to be shipped away soon.

The decorations were quite well done. What’s more, the general vibe was simple and subdued. It fit Pei Qian’s requirements perfectly.

Ma Yang and Zhang Yuan were already waiting there when Pei Qian arrived. They could easily tell that Fish-Catching Internet Cafe 2.0 was a big deal to Boss Pei! When they were looking for suitable locations a few days ago, Boss Pei kept leaving them with instructions. He even called the night before to rush them. He rarely acted this way.

In fact, this really was a big deal to Pei Qian.

It was urgent!

He had to spend the additional cash he had as quickly as he could. There was not much time left to do this.

Ma Yang and Zhang Yuan led Pei Qian around the shop space.

“How do you like it, Brother Qian? It’s not bad, right? Most importantly, there aren’t many available shop spaces in Huanyu Tianjie. It wasn’t easy for us to find this space. It might be average, but if we can make do with it, we should,” said Ma Yang.

“The location is quite good. I’m very satisfied. Let’s choose this, then!” Pei Qian decided on the spot.

Ma Yang was elated. “Alright! We can start renovating soon. Will we renovate this branch in the same way as we did the others?”

Sal

Pei Qian pondered for a while and said, “There’s no need to stick strictly to Fish-Catching Internet Cafe’s current style.

“This is Fish-Catching Internet Cafe 2.0 after all. Our motto is ’emphasizing the true nature of the business—the internet cafe’. As long as we can retain the vibe of Fish-Catching Internet Cafe, it would be sufficient. We don’t have to be strictly uniform.

“Our priority is to open for business as soon as possible, understand?”

Although he could spend a huge sum on renovations, Pei Qian was most concerned about time.

If anything went wrong during renovations and they had to open the branch later as a result, it would still be a loss to Pei Qian.

He had to spend as much as he could within this cycle. It would not be enough to open just one branch for Fish-Catching Internet Cafe. He had to open a few more.

If it took two weeks to renovate the new branch and Pei Qian had to observe the situation for a week, he would have no time to open any more branches before settlement.

Thus, Pei Qian decided to go back to basics. He could simply renovate the new branch and quickly buy new tables and computers in order to finish everything within a week. Then, he would use the next week for observation.

If the branch incurred loss as he expected, he could invest more money into opening three or four more branches of Fish-Catching Internet Cafe 2.0 in other huge shopping malls. That way, he would be able to spend as much money as possible before settlement.

Although Ma Yang did not understand why Pei Qian was so anxious, he was used to not questioning the latter.

Zhang Yuan was the same. He decided to order a batch of hardware and set the computers up just like he did for Fish-Catching Internet Cafe before.

Of course, as the regional manager of Fish-Catching Internet Cafe in Jingzhou, he could not personally install all hundred-odd computers. He could now direct his subordinates to do these things.

Once he finished giving directions for Fish-Catching Internet Cafe 2.0, Pei Qian took the car back to Tengda. On the way, he used his cell phone to scan TPDb’s website. There, he read gamers’ reviews of Bloody Battle Song: The Powerful Version.

Before the mobile version was released, the game had an overall rating of 7.2. Paying gamers gave the game a 9.1 while general netizens gave it a 4.2.

After the mobile version was released, paying gamers’ and netizens’ ratings of the game showed signs of improvement. After the official platform posted its recommendation of the game, the two ratings increased even more. Now, the overall rating had risen to 8.4. Netizens gave it a 7.2, and some even left what Pei Qian saw as heart-wrenching comments.

“This was a game that was held back by its brain-washing advertisement!”

“This is an independent and unique web-based war game. I mindlessly gave the game a 1.0 earlier, but I’ve changed my mind.”

“It’s really quite interesting. It changed my bias against web-based games. I must say the designer of this game is something else.”

Ai, my heart hurts.

The game’s ratings were continuously increasing. The good news for Pei Qian was that he could distribute more bonuses to Shang Yang Games’ employees. However, the bad news was that the ratings and reputation of the game were indications that it would continue to generate revenue.

Shenhua’s application store was highly recommending the mobile version of the game.

At the same time, the official platform’s recommendation was sending huge batches of players into the mini-client.

At first, Shang Yang Games had estimated that the game would earn about four to five million yuan a month. Pei Qian guessed that this had ballooned to at least six or seven million yuan by now.

Pei Qian really had mixed feelings about this…

Shang Yang Games had been doing perfectly fine; how did it become like that? Pei Qian could not understand.

Didn’t I transfer Old Liu away?

Could Old Liu really have been the talent I needed?

He was helpless. Old Liu had slipped away so quickly. Before Pei Qian could discuss the acquisition with the then-boss of Shang Yang Games, Old Liu ran off.

All in all, Pei Qian hoped to find relief in these new physical shops and Repent and be Saved.

According to the progress of research and development, Repent and be Saved should be released on October 1st. Pei Qian did not dare to relax just yet. After all, his weak heart could not take another hard blow at the moment.

He heard another piece of bad news recently. Teacher Qiao managed to complete Repent and be Saved again.

He could only say that Teacher Qiao had more or less figured the gameplay out after completing it the first time. That was why he took much less time to complete it the second time around.

Now, Pei Qian had no choice but to let Teacher Qiao go.

There was not much time left until the game would be released. If Pei Qian increased the game’s difficulty any further, he might not be able to complete it.

It had taken him long enough to complete the game using the Pudu. He did not want to suffer anymore.

What’s more, Teacher Qiao was a very patient gamer with passable skills. He had also been playing the game eight hours a day, every day. It was expected that he would be able to complete it.

Ordinary players would not be as hardcore as him.

Thus, Pei Qian believed that the game would still repel ordinary players… even though Teacher Qiao managed to complete it.

In other words, even Teacher Qiao met with so much difficulty while playing this game. There was a low chance that ordinary gamers would be able to survive it.

Still, Pei Qian dared not be too confident. He was not even hoping for Repent and be Saved to be a complete failure; he only hoped that it would not earn that much.

Pei Qian would thank the heavens if the game only earned a little revenue, and he managed to open a few Fish-Catching Internet Cafe branches and a batch of Upwind Courier stations to spend all the additional money.

Pei Qian kept scanning the comments as he toyed with the idea of creating a mobile version of TPDb. It was not convenient for him to always browse a website using his cell phone.

As he closed the window on his cell phone browser, Pei Qian thought about something else.

A few netizens had found Tengda’s other businesses through the website. Anyone could visit TPDb. At the same time, they could extract gamers’ ratings from other media and websites. After entering the website, some gamers realized that there were businesses that were not yet popular, such as Zhongdian Chinese Network.

The entire website was called ‘Tengda Project Database’. It was a hint that all the businesses on the site were related to Tengda. Many users expressed astonishment and shock that Fish-Catching Internet Cafe and Ming Yun Private Kitchen were related to Tengda.

However, these comments had not become the norm. They also did not invite any sort of reaction.

This was because TPDb was still quite small-scale, and most people would not refer to the ratings on it.

Ming Yun Private Kitchen, Fish-Catching Internet Cafe, and Upwind Logistics were also restricted to Jingzhou. They had not expanded to other districts. This limited TPDb’s influence.

It was normal for a company like Tengda to invest in side businesses. Honestly, there was nothing to be shocked about.

Pei Qian closed his cell phone browser and prepared to get some rest. He would wait for Repent and be Saved to be published on October 1st.

After that, he might have to fight an ugly war.

He had just put down his phone and closed his eyes when he received another message. It was from Lin Chang. He had touched down in Jingzhou and wanted to meet Pei Qian for a chat.