May 23rd, Wednesday.
Just like yesterday, Pei Qian arrived at the company early in the morning, happily waiting for Assistant Xin to report on her work.
After a whole day, the building must have been sold, right?
The asking price wasn’t high to begin with. Shouldn’t everyone be scrambling for such a good deal?
At the very least, many people should have shown interest in the transaction.
However, Pei Qian waited for a long time but still didn’t see Assistant Xin coming to report.
“Strange, where is Assistant Xin? She seems so unreliable lately.”
“It’s just selling a building, is it that difficult?”
Pei Qian took out his phone and called Assistant Xin.
“How’s the building sale going? Have you found a buyer?”
“Even if nothing’s finalized, some companies must be interested, right?”
“Do they think the price is too high? We can negotiate the specific terms.”
Assistant Xin replied: “Uh… Mr. Pei, are we still selling that building?”
Pei Qian was taken aback: “What do you mean? Of course we’re selling it.”
Assistant Xin hesitated slightly: “But… Mr. Pei, so far no company has shown any interest in acquiring that building, they won’t even discuss details.”
“I asked several company executives, and they said they deeply respect Tenda and don’t want to take advantage of our situation.”
“Moreover…”
“The Smart Fitness Clothes Racks have completely sold out. Recently, the sales of several of our games, especially mobile game revenue, have all increased significantly. Even Slackin’ Internet Café and Slackin’ Takeout seem to have hit peak customer traffic. Add to that the income from phones and other industries…”
“Our working capital is now sufficient. Although we previously had some shortfalls, they’ve not only been covered, but we’ve earned a lot more.”
“Since funding is no longer an issue, why should we still sell the building?”
“After all, that was a building you carefully selected for Sloth Apartments. If we don’t have to sell it, we probably shouldn’t, right?”
On the other end of the phone, Pei Qian was momentarily speechless, falling into a daze.
“What? What did they say? They don’t want to take advantage?” Pei Qian almost thought he had misheard.
Although Tenda had developed well in Jingzhou, it hadn’t deliberately cultivated relationships with local Jingzhou enterprises, let alone major companies from elsewhere.
Tenda only had connections with Mr. Li’s Fu Hui Capital and the Lin family’s Shenhua Group, but those weren’t actively sought out by Pei Qian—they were completely coincidental.
So, Tenda Group had no real relationship with local Jingzhou enterprises or major real estate groups.
Yet these people were saying they greatly respected Tenda and didn’t want to take advantage of the situation?
Pei Qian was nearly speechless, almost wanting to beg them to come take advantage quickly and help share some of his pressure!
Assistant Xin said: “Yes, Mr. Pei. I chatted with several executives, and they all expressed that Tenda is a model for Jingzhou enterprises. They greatly admire how you created this business miracle from scratch. They also said that if Tenda encounters difficulties, they can offer help at any time.”
“As for buying the building, they said it’s unnecessary. Though they are businesspeople, they understand what to do and what not to do. They can’t do something that would make them lose face with the people of Jingzhou.”
Pei Qian: “…”
He suddenly felt the urge to smash his phone on the ground.
Are they crazy?!
Business is like warfare. This isn’t a place for pleasantries. Why the hell are you being polite with me?!
Pei Qian took a long time to recover before continuing: “So what’s the story with the increased game revenue?”
Assistant Xin answered: “I haven’t investigated this in detail, but I suspect it’s because after news broke online about Tenda facing a financial crisis, players voluntarily purchased and spent money in our games. Combined with the lingering effects of the 515 Gaming Festival activities, this significantly increased our game revenue.”
“The revenue growth in other physical industries might also be due to this reason.”
“Also… some companies learned about our difficulties and seem to have helped where they could, which might have had some impact.”
Pei Qian frowned slightly: “Helped where they could?”
Assistant Xin: “Yes, Shenhua Group, Jinding Group, and Fu Hui Capital all seem to be seeking business cooperation with our company, offering us favorable terms.”
Pei Qian was completely speechless.
Li Shi! Lin Chang!
It’s you two again!
Isn’t this just screwing me over?
Why are you meddling?!
Pei Qian was furious. Originally, he had planned everything perfectly—spend money during the 515 Gaming Festival, then sell a building, and continue spending money. Players would be happy, and Mr. Pei would be happy too.
But unexpectedly, the building just couldn’t be sold!
Even worse, not only was the building not sold, but more and more money was coming in!
Once news spread that Tenda wanted to sell the building, both players and companies that had previously collaborated with Tenda all swarmed in, desperately trying to give Tenda money!
How could this be managed?
Assistant Xin asked: “So… Mr. Pei, are we still selling the building?”
After a long silence, Pei Qian replied: “Not anymore…”
In the current situation, how could they sell it?
This building had become more than just a building in many people’s eyes—it was the barometer of Tenda’s financial status.
Selling the building would indicate that Tenda’s cash flow wasn’t good, which would trigger players to spend with unprecedented enthusiasm in games, preventing Tenda from falling.
Only by abandoning the sale would players believe Tenda’s crisis had passed and stop pouring in money.
Moreover, with so much money already accumulated, if they sold the building, how would they spend this additional large sum?
After hanging up, Pei Qian felt dejected.
Although selling the building would require reconsidering how to spend the money, not selling it also meant rethinking spending plans. The difference between these two situations was like heaven and earth!
Pei Qian roughly considered a new money-spending plan.
The 515 Gaming Festival had already run one round of activities. If Finger Company and Longyu Group didn’t escalate their money-burning war, the system probably wouldn’t allow large-scale spending again.
However, Pei Qian felt that Eric wouldn’t give up so easily.
He had promised to burn money until Tenda’s capital chain broke. I believed you, so don’t deceive me!
Therefore, Pei Qian planned to divide the funds currently at hand and those to be acquired in the future into three parts.
One part would remain domestic, to deal with Finger Company and Longyu Group’s potentially escalated money-burning war; another part would be spent overseas, continuing to burn money promoting GOG leagues internationally; and the third part would be reserved for the first large-scale store that was about to officially open.
Currently, Tenda had one store in a shopping mall, but it was too small, only rented for Tian Mo to gain experience.
After practicing for so long, Tian Mo should have memorized the sales department rules by heart.
Pei Qian had secretly visited several times, confirming that Tian Mo was indeed strictly following his requirements when receiving customers, so he could basically rest assured.
The new large-scale store had already been given to Liang Qingfan for design. The renovation should be completed this week, ready for official occupancy.
Pei Qian planned to set aside a separate sum of money for store decoration, recruiting sales staff, and other expenses.
If this sales department could operate entirely according to plan—with more and more stores opening and more and more sales staff being recruited, yet without significantly affecting product sales—wouldn’t that mean a lot of money could be spent?
Pei Qian opened his computer and miserably planned the money-spending goals for the next phase.
…
Meanwhile, in Magic City, at Longyu Group headquarters.
Zhao Xuming hurriedly knocked on Eric’s office door.
“Bad news!”
“Tenda’s building is no longer for sale!”
Eric was startled: “How can that be? Has Tenda’s funding situation already improved?”
Zhao Xuming nodded: “It seems so! After news of Tenda’s financial problems spread, players rushed to make purchases. The Smart Fitness Clothes Rack inventory quickly sold out, and several companies apparently provided secret assistance…”
Zhao Xuming quickly reported the situation as he understood it.
Although he couldn’t grasp all the details, Tenda’s game rankings on bestseller lists, customer traffic at various Slackin’ Internet Cafés, and changes in Smart Fitness Clothes Rack sales volumes were all evident and easily verifiable.
Combining these data with the information that Tenda was no longer selling the building, even silly netizens could deduce a simple fact: Tenda had money again!
Eric froze completely, his face filled with disbelief.
He found it hard to accept this reality.
Finger Company and Longyu Group were desperately burning money, with Dayark Group also specifically allocating a large sum to help. And they were burning money with restraint—various money-burning activities, whether through lucky draws or discounts, could still recoup some costs.
Even so, the money-burning was extremely painful. If Eric didn’t have enough determination and perseverance, they couldn’t have persisted.
Meanwhile, Tenda had organized the 515 Gaming Festival, purely giving things away, burning obviously more money than Finger Company, with better results.
They thought they had finally pushed Tenda to the limit—Tenda had started selling buildings. Although it was too early to see the dawn of victory, it at least proved that Tenda wasn’t invincible, that even gods could bleed.
However, the current situation was that the god did indeed bleed, but after just two minutes, the wound healed itself!
It’s worth noting that Tenda still had several payments yet to receive, and various project expenses were continuing as usual.
Under these circumstances, Tenda had effortlessly overcome the crisis, relying solely on players’ voluntary support and some help from friendly companies?
Eric had initially thought that during Tenda’s financial turnaround gap, they could continue running activities to seize the market.
But before their activities could even begin, Tenda was already prepared again!
Eric felt his worldview completely overturned: “How is this possible? Just a slight rumor about financial strain, and players rush to give them money?!”
“This is too incredible!”
Eric couldn’t imagine what kind of scenario this was.
If Finger Company’s capital chain faced problems, would players rush to buy skins to help Finger Company through the crisis?
Anyone with common sense knew that was impossible!
Only an extremely small, extremely small number of companies in the world would have such influence. Such companies hadn’t just created good products but had become spiritual pillars for many people, making it possible to rally such widespread support!
Zhao Xuming also sighed: “I originally thought Mr. Pei’s move was suicidal, but I never imagined it would be a rebirth through approaching death!”
“Could it be that Mr. Pei had already anticipated that Tenda’s reputation, built over many years, would play a crucial role at this time, so he felt confident spending money without worrying about capital chain issues?”
“So, what’s next for us…”
Zhao Xuming’s voice grew softer.
They both clearly understood their current predicament.
It was like fighting a boss—they had given their all, used potions and items, and the boss seemed to be weakening, showing a glimpse of victory.
But unexpectedly, the boss crouched down, took a couple of breaths, and then his health bar was full again!
This feeling was truly despair-inducing.
After a moment of silence, Eric suddenly thought of something and quickly said: “The new phase of marketing plans we set earlier—put them on hold, don’t implement them!”
“There must be a trap here!”
They had originally thought Tenda’s funds were stretched thin and couldn’t be resolved in the short term, so they had already formulated the next phase of money-burning plans, hoping to seize a large market share during Tenda’s vulnerable period.
However, upon discovering that Tenda seemed to have prepared early and was standing ready, Eric suddenly became cautious.
Mr. Pei’s tactics were simply unpredictable and impossible to defend against. More terrifyingly, Mr. Pei always seemed to be one step ahead.
What if this time Mr. Pei had also anticipated Longyu Group’s money-burning plans and was already prepared to intercept them?
If they stupidly followed the original plan to burn money, they might fall into Mr. Pei’s trap!
Eric said: “Cancel all plans. We’ll wait and see what moves Mr. Pei makes!”
“We absolutely cannot be outmaneuvered by Mr. Pei again!”
Zhao Xuming immediately nodded: “Understood!”