Sitting in the car as he left Slackin’ Internet Café, Pei Qian let out a long sigh.
That was heart-stopping.
My life is so difficult!
Pei Qian reflected on today’s events. If he had discovered this just a week or two later, things might have become unmanageable. At that point, not only would Slackin’ Internet Café be in trouble, but all his other projects would have been for nothing!
“Fortunately, I planned meticulously and secured victory from afar, both reassuring Old Ma and resolving the hidden danger. This could be called the perfect solution.”
“I truly am a genius!”
Pei Qian had been worried that Ma Yang would be devastated by this incident and unable to recover, so at the end, he had dangled a carrot in front of him.
Of course, what Pei Qian said was half-truth and half-fiction, and the promise he made was different from what other bosses typically offered.
When other bosses made empty promises, they were completely deceiving people. But Pei Qian was different—he genuinely intended to follow through.
Ma Yang’s approach had indeed given Pei Qian an enlightening reminder, making him think about the livestreaming industry.
Pei Qian understood clearly that in the coming years, livestreaming would quickly become the next hot trend. Various livestreaming platforms would begin fierce competition, profoundly changing people’s lifestyles.
But who said riding a trend guaranteed profits?
Choosing the right trend could potentially create a massive business empire, but it was more likely that one would be burned to ashes in the cash-burning war and exit ingloriously.
After all, others weren’t blind. If you could see the trend, others could too.
In the internet era, whoever ultimately seized the trend depended on who had more money.
Many companies burned through hundreds of millions, and Pei Qian asked himself honestly—he was certainly willing to burn money, but the key was that Tenda didn’t have that much money for him to burn yet.
But regardless, as long as he could lose money, everything would be fine!
Pei Qian knew many classic examples of continuous losses:
Shared yellow bikes;
DiDi transportation;
Meituan food delivery;
Panda livestreaming;
JD logistics…
Weren’t these all excellent examples of sustained losses?
Pei Qian felt that if he could replicate any one of these, he could steadily lose money continuously, using the system’s money to keep filling the holes. Wouldn’t that be wonderful?
Previously, Pei Qian hadn’t ventured into these areas, mainly because they all had entry barriers. Without some foundation, one couldn’t even set up an empty framework, let alone operate it.
But lately, Pei Qian found his loss targets gradually heading toward the tens of millions level, so naturally, he could plan for similar targets in future cycles.
Of course, the specifics would require careful long-term planning.
After all, the system had rules: if there were unfinished products at the deadline, settlement would be delayed.
If Pei Qian rashly entered a certain field and the product was half-finished when the capital chain broke, settlement couldn’t proceed, and the money was spent… wouldn’t that be awkward?
If he could successfully lose money in these two cycles, then he wouldn’t need to enter those fields for now.
If, by some twist of fate, he made a profit again…
Then Mr. Pei would have to go down the irreversible path of massive money-burning.
Among the various options, livestreaming was a good choice. Seeing Ma Yang so upset, Pei Qian wanted to comfort him, so he directly gave him the title of Slackin’ Livestream CEO.
This also conveniently allowed him to say that the idea for Slackin’ Livestream came from Ma Yang’s display screen at Slackin’ Internet Café.
…
June 3rd.
The other two Slackin’ Internet Cafés also opened.
Pei Qian personally attended again, witnessing both stores completely deserted, which finally put his mind at ease.
Ma Yang and Zhang Yuan were also present, though Ma Yang’s eyes still carried a hint of bewilderment and melancholy.
Pei Qian quietly pulled Zhang Yuan aside.
“Old Ma doesn’t seem to be in a good state.”
Zhang Yuan answered honestly: “Don’t worry, Mr. Pei. Ma-ge is just temporarily lacking direction, occasionally a bit melancholic. He hasn’t missed a single meal, and his appetite has increased.”
Pei Qian sighed inwardly. Indeed, worthy of being Old Ma—his psychological resilience was truly robust. Despite suffering such a massive blow, he absolutely wouldn’t miss a single bite of food.
“How’s the flagship store doing?”
Zhang Yuan replied: “It’s the same as before.”
“After Chen Lei left, we found a new resident singer. People still tip occasionally, but the customer flow has gradually decreased.”
“We still get commission, which is slightly better than our earliest revenue situation, but as for breaking even… that’s a distant dream.”
Pei Qian nodded, feeling relieved.
As long as they didn’t break even, everything was fine.
However, the fact that it was doing slightly better than their earliest revenue situation indicated that the alcohol commission model was indeed effective and could make some money, ultimately a small hidden danger.
Looking at Ma Yang with his furrowed brow and extremely long face, Pei Qian suddenly had an idea.
Could there be a solution that would both resolve Slackin’ Internet Café’s alcohol commission issue and give Ma Yang something new to do, helping him revitalize?
Ideas rapidly flashed through Pei Qian’s mind.
Among those classic money-losing examples, some required hundreds of millions in capital to operate and were temporarily inaccessible. But others didn’t need much initial funding to get started.
For instance…
Food delivery!
Pei Qian noticed that the manager of this Slackin’ Internet Café happened to be a chef.
When selecting managers previously, besides four service staff, a chef had also raised his hand and was naturally selected as the manager.
Perfect!
“Zhang Yuan, bring over the manager of this store and Ma Yang. I have a new task for you all.”
The four of them sat down in the coffee area.
Ma Yang and Zhang Yuan were already accustomed to this, while the chef-turned-manager hadn’t yet fully adapted to this change in identity and appeared somewhat uneasy and restless.
“What’s your name, Manager?” Pei Qian asked.
He hadn’t paid attention to the names of these few managers—they were just tools, after all, so their names weren’t important.
From another perspective, this was a good thing. If he knew a tool’s name, it probably meant that this tool was doing an outstanding job, which wasn’t necessarily good news for Pei Qian…
This chef-turned-manager looked nearly forty years old, but unlike typical middle-aged men, he wasn’t pudgy. Instead, he maintained a good physique and was well-groomed.
Hearing Mr. Pei’s question, the manager hurriedly answered: “My name is Lin Canrong.”
Pei Qian nodded, only remembering that his surname was Lin.
“Old Ma, I heard you seem to have lost your direction lately.”
“Don’t worry, I have a new and very important task for you!”
“This will further expand our Slackin’ Internet Café empire and is a crucial part of Tenda’s business empire strategy.”
“Are you confident you can handle it?”
Pei Qian looked at Ma Yang, his eyes full of encouragement.
Ma Yang immediately perked up: “Just tell me, Qian-ge! I’ve been worried my talents were going to waste!”
Pei Qian nodded. Indeed, a simple task was all it took to reignite the fire of struggle in Ma Yang’s heart.
“We… are going to further advance into the food and beverage industry!”
Ma Yang, Zhang Yuan, and Lin Canrong looked at each other.
Further advances in the food and beverage industry?
Indeed, they had already advanced one step—Slackin’ Internet Café.
Slackin’ Internet Café sold food: “Western liquor on the front, home-style dishes on the back” of the menu.
Chef Lin’s previous job at the Slackin’ Internet Café flagship store was to slack off every day—no, to cook for customers.
But previously, almost no customers at Slackin’ Internet Café ordered food, so Chef Lin had been in a state of complete slacking off.
And now, they were planning to advance even further?