June 1st, Friday.
Meng Chang, wearing a mask, sunglasses, and a baseball cap, arrived near the Food Court in the old industrial district.
Meng Chang had already completely lost his motivation, but after yesterday’s conversation with Mr. Pei, the small flame of hope in his heart had ignited once again.
So today he came to investigate.
After eliminating one wrong option, there were three options left: the Food Court, the Experience Store, and the Inspiration Class.
Today was already Friday, and it was unlikely he could thoroughly research all three industries within this week, but Meng Chang still felt he should push forward as much as possible.
The sooner he completed his research, the sooner he could determine the promotional plan. Once the money started flowing, the more commission he could earn.
The increase in the guaranteed minimum wasn’t actually encouraging Meng Chang to adopt conservative promotional plans; on the contrary, it was encouraging him to create more risky plans.
Without worries about the consequences, he should pursue higher commissions!
In short, after Mr. Pei adjusted the terms of their agreement, Meng Chang once again became enthusiastic about earning commissions!
Today, Meng Chang was fully armed, with his face wrapped up tightly, afraid of being recognized.
It wasn’t because he had some celebrity complex or was afraid of running into fans on the street.
The reason for such caution was mainly to guard against Mr. Pei’s employees.
Meng Chang had reviewed his previous failures and discovered that behind these failures seemed to loom a giant shadow—that of Mr. Pei!
Take the previous promotion for “Mission and Choice” as an example. The game’s release date was changed without warning—who does that sort of thing?
Although Mr. Pei later said this was to clash with “Fantasy War Remake,” Meng Chang still had some suspicions that this might only be a cover, with the real reason being to target him.
There were many similar situations.
Each time, Meng Chang felt he had a good grip on things, but always because of some inexplicable, coincidental small matter, his plans would be ruined at the last minute.
Once or twice would be fine, but how many times had this happened now!
Was it possible that Mr. Pei wasn’t behind this mischief? Not likely.
Meng Chang felt that among these failures, there must have been at least one or two where Mr. Pei was playing tricks. The purpose was to sabotage his plans and ensure he could only receive the base salary.
Although Meng Chang had no evidence to prove it, he firmly believed this.
Therefore, there must be numerous spies of Mr. Pei among the various departments.
Even the advertising and marketing department could not be exempt.
As the saying goes, “Affairs succeed through secrecy, and fail through disclosure,” meaning that the better the secrecy work is done, the higher the chance of success.
So, this time Meng Chang decided to maintain secrecy by all possible means. Before the promotional plan was officially launched, he absolutely would not let Mr. Pei guess which project he was planning to promote.
This way, the probability of earning a commission would definitely increase significantly!
Meng Chang pretended to be a curious passerby and wandered around the Food Court.
Many people in Jingzhou were interested in Tenda’s new ventures, so quite a few people were wandering nearby. These people were of various ages—some older ones might be original residents from the neighborhood, elderly folks taking a stroll and having a look, while some younger people might have come from far away for a sneak peek.
Meng Chang mingled among them, effectively concealing his tracks.
According to the construction schedule, the Food Court wouldn’t officially open for another two weeks, so currently there weren’t any stall owners moved in yet, and some finishing work on the decoration still needed to be completed.
Although the overall style of the Food Court had been determined, it was still very difficult to predict whether it would be popular based just on what could be seen.
Meng Chang circled the Food Court a couple of times but still had no clue.
Based solely on what he could see, it was hard to determine whether it would be popular or not.
But just then, his eyes suddenly lit up as he spotted someone familiar.
Wasn’t that Li Shi from Fuhui Capital?
If it hadn’t been for Li Shi, Meng Chang wouldn’t have fallen into debt, and wouldn’t have ended up in his current situation.
Strictly speaking, Meng Chang hated Li Shi more than Mr. Pei.
After all, Mr. Pei gave Meng Chang the feeling of an ultimate villain in a movie—despicable, but powerful and full of personal charm. Li Shi, on the other hand, felt like a lackey under the villain—though not necessarily very harmful, he was full of schemes and couldn’t be trusted!
It’s the same principle that the King of Hell is easier to deal with than the little ghosts.
But now was not the time for grudges, because Li Shi’s appearance would reveal some information.
Meng Chang temporarily set aside his hatred and silently pretended to be an ordinary passerby casually strolling around, following not far behind Li Shi, quietly observing.
Li Shi definitely wouldn’t come here without reason; he must have some business!
Meng Chang had long noticed that Li Shi and several investors in Jingzhou had always closely surrounded Mr. Pei, following his lead.
And Li Shi appearing near Mr. Pei’s new venture… this was definitely not a good sign.
Sure enough, Li Shi made his way to a shop near the Food Court, went in, and chatted with the owner.
After talking for about half an hour, Li Shi seemed very satisfied, coming out with a smile on his face, and went to the next shop to continue his conversations.
Meng Chang carefully maintained his distance from Li Shi, watching his movements from afar.
What was he discussing with these shop owners?
Obviously, he wanted to buy the shops!
There was no other explanation.
Meng Chang couldn’t help but think to himself: No need to look further, another wrong answer eliminated!
This was Mr. Pei’s usual trick, and Meng Chang was already familiar with it.
Back when building the Thriller Lodge, Mr. Pei’s funds were somewhat insufficient, making it difficult to build the entire Thriller Lodge including all the surrounding supporting facilities.
So, Mr. Pei deliberately distributed the surrounding commercial properties to Li Shi and other investors in Jingzhou.
This way, the surrounding supporting facilities were taken care of, the promotional work for Thriller Lodge was in place, and although some profits were shared, many hands make light work, and everyone earned more.
Now Mr. Pei was clearly trying to use the same trick again!
Tenda couldn’t possibly buy all the shops around the Food Court, so they intentionally set aside a portion for Mr. Li and other investors to buy.
This way, they wouldn’t have to invest too much capital themselves, yet could firmly control all the surrounding shops, developing and planning them uniformly.
Seeing this, Meng Chang was basically certain that this Food Court was likely to be popular.
Because Mr. Pei had already arranged for Mr. Li and others to buy up all the surrounding shops, he obviously had 100% confidence in this Food Court.
At that point, even if Meng Chang created a very good promotional plan and spent money ineffectively, he probably still wouldn’t get a commission.
Because Mr. Li and the others would definitely find ways to make this place popular!
Under the favor of so much capital, even if they had to spend money to make it happen, they would make this place a hit.
It could be said that seeing Mr. Li’s involvement basically meant this place was off-limits.
Because Mr. Li was not only Mr. Pei’s puppet and an extension of Mr. Pei’s will, but he would also actively implement Mr. Pei’s intentions to protect his own interests.
From previous cases, any project involving Mr. Li was definitely one of Mr. Pei’s most valued projects.
And for business genius Mr. Pei, “most valued” often meant “definitely successful”!
Meng Chang didn’t linger any longer and immediately abandoned the Food Court, taking a taxi to the next inspection site: the Tenda Experience Store opposite Yuanda Tiandi.
This counted as official business, so the taxi fare could be expensed.
…
Because the two places were quite far apart and there was a bit of traffic congestion, it took nearly an hour before Meng Chang arrived at Tenda’s Experience Store.
This was Meng Chang’s first visit to Tenda’s Experience Store.
However, after getting out of the car, Meng Chang just took a distant glance and then reopened the car door to get back in.
“Driver, let’s go. I’ve changed my plans.”
The driver didn’t ask any questions and immediately stepped on the gas to drive away.
When Meng Chang got out of the car just now, he only glanced at the surroundings and collected the following information:
Tenda’s Experience Store was directly opposite the GPL League’s competition venue, frequently welcoming players from all over the country, and it seemed the GPL Spring Season Finals were about to begin;
Tenda’s Experience Store occupied the most perfect spot in the entire mall, with its huge glass curtain wall looking extremely grand, and it might even become a new landmark in Jingzhou;
Outside the mall, two incredibly large screens were under construction. Once completed, these two large screens would create a huge visual impact on passersby, and might even be photographed and posted online, generating even more buzz.
So, Meng Chang didn’t even plan to go inside. Just a casual glance from outside told him this was likely another wrong answer.
Whether it was the Food Court or the Experience Store, even if he racked his brains to come up with a promotional plan and then went through tremendous effort to reduce its popularity, it would probably only last two weeks at most, earning him just the base salary.
Meng Chang absolutely would not do something where the effort and reward were completely disproportionate.
“Mr. Pei is too much! Although he gave me four options, which seems like a lot, at least three of them are wrong options! Choosing them would just be working for him for free!”
“There’s still one last option, the authors’ Inspiration Class.”
“I don’t know if this option will also be a wrong one, but at least, it should give me a little room to maneuver, right?”
“Ah, Mr. Pei, please be reasonable!”
The more Meng Chang thought about it, the more melancholy he became.
At first, he had naively thought, how simple it would be to just mess up promotional plans!
But now Meng Chang increasingly felt that this was an epic-level difficulty, an impossible task!
And as Tenda gradually developed and grew stronger, the difficulty of this task would only increase. Because Tenda was such a unique company, its every move was watched by netizens, and any action would be repeatedly interpreted by them. Even the most ordinary promotion could have unexpected effects.
Meng Chang didn’t know what to do in the future; he could only take it one step at a time.
…
At around four in the afternoon, Meng Chang walked out of the building housing Endpoint Chinese Network’s “Inspiration Class.”
He had completed his research before the end of the workday!
Actually, Meng Chang hadn’t planned to finish so quickly; according to his original plan, he had reserved at least three days.
He had initially planned to finish his research and determine the final promotional project by Tuesday.
But unexpectedly, the research on the first two projects went so quickly—just a glance and a few circles around were enough to eliminate them—so he saved a lot of time.
Although this was a sad story, there was also a benefit: Meng Chang could quickly develop a promotional plan over the weekend, and then implement it immediately on Monday.
This way, he could minimize the possibility of leaks and prevent Mr. Pei from having time to play tricks.
“It seems like four choices, but in reality, there’s only one choice.”
“I can only promote this Inspiration Class.”
“Although the rights development plan for this Inspiration Class is very ambitious, all the plans will officially begin only after two months. This interval gives me a lot of room to operate.”
“In these two days of the weekend, I need to come up with a foolproof promotional plan.”
“And this plan must be simple enough, preferably requiring no preparation work, something that can be directly placed in subway stations, bus stops, and billboards.”
“The fewer intermediate steps, the lower the possibility of leaks, and the fewer opportunities for Mr. Pei to play tricks.”
“Yes, that’s the plan!”
Meng Chang’s spirits lifted.
Although the first three options were quite disappointing, and creating promotional plans for them would definitely result in just earning the base salary, fortunately, there was still the Inspiration Class option.
Meng Chang felt like someone trapped in a massive array—although surrounded by crises and difficulties, no matter what, Mr. Pei had still left him with an “escape route”!
As for whether he could seize this lifeline, that would depend on his own fate.