Pei Qian saw it with his eyes and felt the pain in his heart.

It wasn’t a big deal if Slackin’ Internet Café made a little money.

The key issue was that this small amount of money could potentially render all of Pei Qian’s efforts in this settlement cycle completely worthless!

This cycle was only two short months, and one month had already passed.

Pei Qian had already roughly estimated the profits and losses. If he included his rushed spending, he would just barely achieve a loss of a few hundred thousand yuan at settlement time.

In this calculation, all the Slackin’ Internet Cafés combined for a loss of over one million yuan—this was a crucial component!

If Slackin’ Internet Café actually made money, or even just covered its costs, it would leave Pei Qian with an extra million yuan at settlement time that he wouldn’t have time to spend!

This million might not seem like much, but it could very possibly turn what should have been a nice loss into a profit, which was the most fatal outcome.

Wouldn’t that mean all his efforts were wasted, and all the work on other projects had been for nothing?

Pei Qian’s original intention was to create a hodgepodge—a place called “Slackin’ Internet Café” with a bar area, reading area, small screening room, food and beverage service, etc., all added around the internet café function.

Ultimately, it was meant to be an unprofitable internet café.

But he never expected that the bar area would steal the show because of a resident singer who made it popular!

This meant Slackin’ Internet Café had become Slackin’ Bar, which was unacceptable.

This completely went against Pei Qian’s initial goal!

What could he do?

Remove the tables and chairs outside the internet café?

Stop the drink commission system?

Or simply eliminate the resident singer’s performances?

None of these options was viable; they lacked proper justification.

When Pei Qian had previously asked Ma Yang to remove the display screen and reduce the number of seats outside, he could barely justify it as restoring Slackin’ Internet Café’s style.

But further actions would be difficult to explain.

Completely removing the tables and chairs—where would the customers outside sit?

The drink commission system benefited both the internet café’s revenue and motivated the resident singer. What reason could he give to completely cancel it?

These approaches were too crude and might arouse suspicion, as well as potentially trigger system warnings.

Moreover, these were all superficial issues.

To change everything, the key was to tackle the root cause!

What good would it do to remove the outside tables and chairs or cancel the drink commission?

These people were here to see Chen Lei!

If there were nowhere to sit, they would stand and listen to the music, and the problem would remain unsolved.

So, to solve the problem, the key was to deal with Chen Lei!

“I wonder if this young man has any dreams that I could help fulfill?”

…

At 10 o’clock, the performance ended.

Chen Lei bowed and left the stage, with many audience members still applauding and cheering.

Ma Yang, Zhang Yuan, and the waiters began to see the guests off.

Pei Qian directly pulled Chen Lei to a quiet corner of the internet café to sit down.

Chen Lei had never met Pei Qian before. After his self-introduction, Chen Lei immediately realized this was the “Mr. Pei” that Ma Yang often mentioned, which made him a bit nervous.

Pei Qian casually asked about Chen Lei’s situation and learned that he had stopped studying after high school. He was very introverted, even somewhat reclusive.

Chen Lei tinkered with music at home every day. It was by chance that he passed by Slackin’ Internet Café, heard someone singing, and finally gathered the courage to apply for the position of resident singer.

His family was very happy to know he had found a job and reminded him to work hard and get along well with his colleagues.

“Have you been in Jingzhou all your life? Don’t you want to see the outside world?”

“If you want to pursue your music dream, I think you should go to Shanghai or Beijing. Those are the places where dreams come true.”

Pei Qian’s words were full of enticement.

Chen Lei was startled, then said: “How could I not want to? I dream of seeing places like Beijing and Shanghai!”

“I used to tell people I would become a singer, but nobody believed me. I know Jingzhou is too small to achieve this goal.”

“But Beijing and Shanghai are too far from home, my parents wouldn’t agree. Besides, I’ve heard that living costs in Shanghai and Beijing are too high—I’d probably starve to death.”

Pei Qian secretly rejoiced.

Since you have a dream, we can talk!

Mr. Pei’s specialty was helping others fulfill their dreams!

Pei Qian smiled and shook his head: “You’re underestimating yourself.”

“You don’t even know how good your singing is! With your level of skill, your voice is a weapon of mass destruction. Do you know how many young girls would willingly get their ears pregnant for you!”

“So, don’t belittle yourself. In big cities, you’ll have better development opportunities. When you return to Jingzhou in glory, let those classmates and friends who looked down on you see clearly, let them envy what they can’t have!”

Pei Qian’s words were effective; he could see the light shining in Chen Lei’s eyes.

An introverted “weirdo” who wasn’t particularly good-looking and had dropped out after high school had been under pressure from all sides.

Whether from parents, classmates, or classmates’ parents, they had probably often used Chen Lei as a negative example.

What good was being a good singer? In a second-tier city like Jingzhou, there was no good platform for him to showcase his talent.

Chen Lei was undoubtedly someone who desperately craved recognition.

So, hearing the scenario Pei Qian described, Chen Lei was moved.

He had long wanted to see big cities, to venture into broader horizons, hoping his talent could be recognized by more people.

From Mr. Pei’s tone, it seemed he was prepared to offer some material assistance.

The only thing making Chen Lei hesitate now was money.

At the internet café, he had high commissions and many fans who liked him. This was Chen Lei’s comfort zone, and he didn’t want to leave it.

In Beijing or Shanghai, not to mention starting over in an unfamiliar environment, just the accommodation and living expenses were beyond what Chen Lei could afford.

After all, once he went there, he would have no income.

So Pei Qian had to resolve this concern for Chen Lei before he would be comfortable leaving.

After a brief consideration, Pei Qian said: “If you want to go to a big city like Shanghai to continue pursuing your music dream, I can help make it happen.”

Tenda’s Fei Huang Studio is currently in Shanghai. I can transfer you to Fei Huang Studio. It would just mean arranging food and accommodation for one more person. You’ll only be nominally employed there, so you can focus on pursuing your music dream without worries. What do you think?”

On one side was the happy life right in front of him, and on the other were poetry and distant lands.

Chen Lei didn’t hesitate much: “Mr. Pei, I… I’m willing!”

…

The next day.

Evening.

The audience was still large, but people noticed that Chen Lei seemed somewhat distracted.

“Outside the long pavilion / Beside the ancient road / Green grass stretches to the horizon…”

“I ask when you will return from this journey / Don’t linger when you come back…”

Chen Lei still sang one song after another as before, just singing with his head down, without saying an extra word.

But the fans in the audience could still sense something different in his singing.

“Strange, why does it feel like all the songs tonight are about farewells?”

“Yeah, it feels melancholic…”

“I’ll send two more Aurora cocktails.”

“By the way, what happened to that display screen?”

“Don’t know, but it doesn’t matter. The main thing is to support Chen Lei, not to show off.”

People chatted casually while drinking as usual, but for some reason, everyone felt that today’s atmosphere was a bit off.