“Take care, Brother Eric.”

After lunch, at the entrance of Mingfu Family Banquet, Pei Qian reluctantly saw Eric off with a wistful expression.

Mainly because with Eric gone, who else would so readily burn money with him?

Just thinking about the strong possibility that Dayark Group would no longer play along with him in the future, Pei Qian felt a wave of melancholy.

However, this melancholy took on a completely different meaning in Eric’s eyes.

As Eric sat in the taxi, preparing to head to the high-speed rail station, seeing Mr. Pei’s expression, he couldn’t help but roll down the window like an old friend and wave goodbye.

“Indeed, Mr. Pei and I still appreciate each other.”

“This shows that as an opponent, I’ve earned his respect.”

Eric inexplicably felt a sense of satisfaction—the pride of being acknowledged by a competitor.

He knew clearly that in the future, he would likely shoulder the blame for IOI’s failure along with Dayark Group.

When people would talk about this history, they might say: Dayark Group was short-sighted, buying the promising Finger Games only to squeeze it extremely myopically, ultimately causing a company that could have become a global giant to wither prematurely; and Eric, parachuted in as Greater China Regional Director by Dayark Group, was the number one culprit, making a series of blunders that dragged Finger Games down and handed victory over.

This was almost a foregone conclusion, unavoidable.

After all, without being in the midst of it, no one could understand the intricate internal workings of the business world, and would simply attribute failure to a manager’s incompetence.

Eric had foreseen the blame he would bear, but what did it matter?

His greatest opponent, Mr. Pei, would understand his value, and perhaps that was enough.

With these thoughts, Eric watched Mr. Pei gradually disappear through the car window, then rolled up the window, ready to embark on his journey back to Dayark Group headquarters to face his and IOI’s final fate.

Watching Eric leave, Pei Qian felt even more dejected.

According to dramatic convention, this would be the perfect moment to light a cigarette, but since Pei Qian didn’t smoke, he decided against it.

From now on, he had one less true friend and brother.

For Pei Qian, true brothers were all outside the company, all among competitors.

But in recent years, competitors had dwindled, so naturally, there were fewer and fewer true brothers.

It was truly a sad story.

Pei Qian looked at his watch—it was already one o’clock in the afternoon.

It was about time to go back and take an afternoon nap.

Just as he got into the car, his phone rang.

“Hmm? Who’s calling me now?”

“Who loves working so much on a Monday? I just sent off my good brother and I’m still grieving!”

“Oh, it’s my mom. That’s fine then.”

Pei Qian answered the phone: “Mom, what’s up?”

His mother’s slightly urgent voice came through: “I called you a few days ago to buy a house near the old industrial area—have you bought it yet?”

Pei Qian was speechless: “Mom, why are you in such a hurry? It’s only been a week since you asked and you’re urging me again.”

Mom: “Just tell me, did you buy it or not? You didn’t?”

Pei Qian: “…I did, I bought a 170-square-meter place in Jixiang Garden.”

His mother’s voice rose an entire octave: “Jixiang Garden?! Did you pay in full or take out a mortgage? How far along are the procedures?”

Pei Qian answered truthfully: “Paid in full, all procedures are completed, I already have the property deed in hand, just need to find time for renovations. Wait, Mom, why are you asking in such detail?”

His mother seemed to move the phone aside, saying to someone next to her: “He bought it! He bought it! Exactly in Jixiang Garden, 170 square meters, paid in full, and has the property deed!”

Pei Qian: “Mom?”

Something didn’t seem quite right.

After a moment, his mother spoke into the phone again: “Of course I’m worried the seller might back out if the procedures were only halfway done! You’re busy with work, so you probably don’t know yet—Jingzhou’s new subway planning has been announced!”

“Mom always tells you, when it comes to investment, you should listen to professionals like Mr. Li. They definitely know many things ordinary people don’t!”

“If he didn’t know in advance where the subway line would be built, would he be buying property and commercial spaces there so aggressively?”

Pei Qian’s hand holding the phone froze: “Sub… subway?”

Mom said: “Yes! The new subway plan was just made public online, and there’s a station right next to Jixiang Garden! Now this apartment is considered a subway-adjacent property, and its value will probably rise soon.”

“Without your mother’s information, would you have landed such a good deal? You should just be quietly pleased!”

Her words were full of pride.

Pei Qian sensed trouble and hurriedly said: “Alright, Mom, I need to check out the situation. I’ll hang up now!”

After ending the call, Pei Qian quickly went online to check.

Sure enough, he found an officially released document: “Public Notice for Social Stability Risk Assessment of Jingzhou City Urban Rail Transit Second Phase Construction Plan”!

It specified the construction period from 2012 to 2017, meaning it would open in five years at the earliest.

It also detailed the specific route planning.

This subway project had seven components in total. Some of them weren’t closely related to Tenda’s current businesses, but several lines were closely connected to Tenda’s existing operations!

Pei Qian immediately spotted Subway Line 7’s plan in the upper right corner of the map, with its terminal station right near Tremor Lodge!

Subway Line 7 was an angular line, somewhat like a mirror-flipped “7.” Its easternmost end reached directly to Tremor Lodge, then extended westward. It didn’t have a station directly at the Food Market but instead placed one at the intersection slightly south of Jixiang Garden.

This station was a short distance from both the Food Market and Food Street, about a three-minute walk.

The station was likely placed here rather than directly at the Food Market or Food Street due to construction considerations.

Subway construction takes a long time—five years once started. Placing the station directly at Food Street might affect normal business operations, and with the dense concentration of shops there, construction might be inconvenient.

Moving it slightly northward for easier construction resulted in positioning it at the intersection near Jixiang Garden’s south gate.

From there, Subway Line 7 continued west and then south, connecting to the existing Yuanda Tiandi Mall station, with an additional subway exit added at Golden Prosperity Plaza.

Yuanda Tiandi was already connected to the high-speed rail station via Subway Line 2, so this would mean that from the high-speed rail south station, one could reach the Food Market and Tremor Lodge with just one in-station transfer.

Of course, it could also connect to the airport express through other routes.

Additionally, in the new route planning, Subway Line 4 in the south had an extension project, creating a new station near the Mingyun Mountain Villa community.

Line 4 also connected with Line 2, providing access to the high-speed rail south station.

In the future, going from various esports clubs to the high-speed rail station would offer an additional option of taking the subway, besides taking a car.

These two lines were directly related to Tenda’s businesses, but there were also indirect connections.

Previously, when selecting locations for various physical stores, Pei Qian had more or less deliberately avoided existing subway lines.

Naturally, new subway plans would target areas without subway coverage, inevitably overlapping with his choices.

Many branches of Slackin’ Internet Café, Slackin’ Delivery, Sloth Apartments, Tuoguan Fitness, and other physical businesses appeared along these new subway lines.

There were too many to count.

“What the hell…”

Pei Qian fell into a daze, utterly thunderstruck!

Although the subway would take five years to complete, five years wasn’t particularly long!

Moreover, with Tremor Lodge and the Food Market connected to the subway, transportation would be more convenient. The commercial spaces at the Food Market and several Sloth Apartment buildings affected by the subway line would likely see property value increases. These fixed assets might skyrocket during this settlement cycle!

Of course, exactly how much they would increase was uncertain—that would only be known at settlement time.

But a surge in fixed assets meant a lower ceiling for potential losses—a devastating blow!

If there was any good news…

The apartment in Jixiang Garden would likely appreciate in value.

But it was just one apartment—how much could it appreciate? Furthermore, Pei Qian intended to live there himself; he never planned to sell it.

Come to think of it, if not for his mother’s phone call, he wouldn’t have bought this apartment at all.

What was this supposed to be?

Pei Qian tried to trace this closed loop.

Li Shi had judged that property values in this area would rise because Tenda’s Food Market and Tremor Lodge were built near the old industrial area, and he had also been buying commercial spaces near Food Street. So he followed suit and frantically bought commercial spaces;

His mother had heard “inside information” from Fuhui Capital employees and believed that following Mr. Li’s lead couldn’t be wrong, so she called Pei Qian and told him to buy an apartment there as an investment;

Pei Qian hadn’t been thinking about investment at all but thought buying an apartment for his parents near the Food Market would provide better living conditions, which was why he made the purchase.

So the source of all this did indeed seem to be Pei Qian himself.

The problem was that Pei Qian had never thought this area would appreciate in value, and he hadn’t considered the subway at all.

How should this be interpreted?

In any case, this was a double disaster!

Just after his good brother Eric left, the subway was coming through.

It was foreseeable that GOG’s revenue would likely experience explosive growth again, and various physical businesses in Jingzhou would probably fare poorly…

Pei Qian was speechless and even felt a bit of regret.

If he had known, he should have bought another apartment!

The Food Market and these projects had been planned months in advance and couldn’t be changed, but the apartment was purchased just a week ago.

And Pei Qian now had over three million yuan, enough to buy two apartments in full and sell one.

That way, the profit would probably match the money converted from losses in a settlement cycle…

The “investment genius” Mr. Pei leaned helplessly against his seat, silently dejected.

How painful!