Pei Qian couldn’t confirm whether the nearby stores joining together for promotional activities were specifically targeting Slackin’ Internet Café. After all, there was no evidence, and he couldn’t baselessly tarnish their reputation.

What if they just happened to coincidentally launch some regular promotions at the same time?

Pei Qian also couldn’t confirm whether Director Li had been pushing things behind the scenes—there was no evidence of that either.

But it was certain that Director Li definitely saw this as a good opportunity and directly benefited from this incident.

The approach seemed a bit hasty and somewhat unrefined.

But it wasn’t that Director Li was stupid; this was very likely a tactic combining both soft and hard approaches.

On one hand, this Director Li wouldn’t directly admit to targeting Slackin’ Internet Café, but instead extended an olive branch amicably, presenting an attitude of everyone making money together without excessively provoking Slackin’ Internet Café’s hatred—this was the soft approach.

On the other hand, Director Li was essentially hinting to Pei Qian: if you continue to be stubborn, we’ll wear each other down. I’ll cut prices, you’ll have no customers, and even if you know I’m behind this, what can you do? Under massive losses, won’t you have to obediently comply in the end? This was the hard approach.

If it were someone else, backed into a corner, they might indeed accept his investment.

But Pei Qian was completely different.

If you’re willing to continue burning money to help me create losses, then I should thank you!

Pei Qian initially wanted to refuse directly, but on second thought, something didn’t seem right.

Since Director Li enjoyed being helpful, shouldn’t he go along with it?

If he rejected him outright again, Director Li might give up soon, after all, he was the boss of an investment company with many matters to attend to, and couldn’t fixate on Slackin’ Internet Café all day.

Once Director Li’s attention was elsewhere, the surrounding businesses would likely stop burning money, and Slackin’ Internet Café’s traffic would mostly return to normal levels…

Then they wouldn’t be able to lose so much money!

Pei Qian smiled slightly as a plan formed in his mind.

“Old Ma, do you think this Director Li has our best interests at heart? Is he here to do charity?”

“Think carefully, the surrounding stores joining together for promotions—is there no one directing them behind the scenes?”

With these simple sentences, Pei Qian enlightened Ma Yang.

Of course, it wasn’t enlightenment; Ma Yang was naturally someone very easily persuaded, and when successively persuaded by two people, the latter speaker held the absolute advantage.

Pei Qian embellished a bit, deliberately exaggerating the harms of being acquired, and sure enough, he instantly reversed Ma Yang’s viewpoint.

“Damn! So Director Li has such malicious intentions!”

“I’ll reject him immediately!”

Pei Qian: “No need. If you reject him directly, he might become furious and fight us to the bitter end, which wouldn’t be appropriate.”

“Tell him that I’m very troubled by the losses right now and initially didn’t want to accept investments, but I’m starting to waver and am currently conflicted. As long as the internet café continues to lose money, I might change my mind…”

Ma Yang’s voice was hesitant: “Brother Qian, you mean we continue losing money like this? That’s not good for us, is it? Is it worth it?”

Pei Qian smiled slightly: “We lose money, but aren’t they losing money too?”

“These stores are losing money along with us, but we’re one against seven—what’s there to fear?”

“Moreover, as they continue to burn money, they’re stimulating many potential customers nearby and even attracting people from other areas of Jingzhou to come and spend.”

“From a long-term perspective, this will promote the commercial environment here, so we’re not losing out at all.”

Ma Yang suddenly understood: “I see! I get it, Brother Qian!”

“Good, then go and tell Director Li just that…”

After hanging up, Pei Qian smiled slightly.

Director Li, you must be proud of your persuasive skills after convincing Ma Yang.

You’re mistaken. Anyone could persuade him…

You can persuade all you want, I’ll just persuade him back.

Pei Qian’s persuasion of Ma Yang contained both truths and falsehoods, especially the part about “promoting the nearby commercial environment”—pure nonsense.

The formation of a commercial environment is the result of multiple factors working together. How could it possibly change because a few stores launched promotions? It seemed implausible.

But using this reason to persuade Ma Yang was more than adequate.

As long as he successfully baited Director Li and made the surrounding stores continue their promotions, Slackin’ Internet Café could continue to lose money. How could Pei Qian possibly pass up such an opportunity that harmed others while benefiting himself?

……

After hanging up, Ma Yang vigorously rubbed his long face, quickly getting into character.

Thinking about how Director Li had just deceived him, Ma Yang felt a surge of anger.

Thankfully, my brother is smart, or I would have been truly fooled by you!

Although Ma Yang wasn’t an accomplished actor, the thought of Director Li’s plotting to destroy his livelihood turned his anger into acting fuel.

This grudge couldn’t just be dismissed.

Transform anger into acting skills!

Returning to the table, Ma Yang instantly put on a smiling face.

“Director Li, I just called Mr. Pei and subtly probed his thoughts.”

“He is indeed troubled by the recent losses, but he’s reluctant to let outsiders intervene. He said he wants to persist for another month to see if things improve before considering other options.”

Li Shi nodded slightly.

This was completely in line with what he expected.

According to his estimation, this Mr. Pei was obviously a very stubborn person. If he changed his mind just because of a few words from his subordinate, that would be unbelievable.

One month…

Continuing to burn money for one month would be slightly painful, but still within an acceptable range.

It was a bit painful, but he couldn’t show it, especially since this Ma Yang didn’t seem to know that he was behind the coordinated promotions of the surrounding businesses.

Mr. Pei might have figured it out, but probably hadn’t told Ma Yang, since there was no evidence, and Mr. Pei was likely being cautious about making unsubstantiated claims.

In any case, as long as he could successfully acquire Slackin’ Internet Café in the end, the money spent would definitely be recouped.

Thinking of this, Li Shi smiled calmly.

“Of course, I’m not in a hurry at all. Manager Ma, you don’t need to keep pushing Mr. Pei. Forced melons aren’t sweet—Mr. Pei needs to come to his realization.”

“However…”

“I’m more concerned about your situation. The losses over a month will be enormous. What if you can’t hold out?”

“I think you should wait a week before probing again. Perhaps by then, Mr. Pei will have changed his mind.”

“Alright,” Ma Yang nodded and said to the bartender, “Another margarita, I’d like to treat Director Li to a drink!”

……

……

Tenda Network Technology Co., Ltd.

These past few days, because of Slackin’ Internet Café and exam matters, Pei Qian hadn’t come to the company much. Today, on a whim, he decided to inspect things.

The settlement date was drawing closer, and Pei Qian temporarily found it a bit difficult to manage everything.

Fortunately, the DLCs for several games at Tenda had already been launched. Apart from the previous official adjustment of the revenue split, no other issues had emerged, so he could probably rest assured.

Thinking about Slackin’ Internet Café’s current situation, Pei Qian couldn’t help feeling great, and he leisurely headed to his office.

In the office area, Lü Mingliang and Bao Xu were discussing quietly.

“Boss Pei rarely comes to the company these days. Is he busy with other things?”

“I heard the situation at Slackin’ Internet Café isn’t optimistic. He’s probably busy with that.”

“Judging from Boss Pei’s expression, the problem shouldn’t be serious.”

“Not necessarily. You know Boss Pei’s personality—he doesn’t show his emotions. The problem might be very serious, but Boss Pei just isn’t showing it.”

“Then… should we report the situation with Sea Fortress to Boss Pei? Would it distract him?”

Bao Xu thought for a moment: “Compared to the Slackin’ Internet Café situation, this matter doesn’t seem so urgent. We can observe for a few more days.”

“Moreover, the account prices being hyped up on the trading platform were expected. The game’s active users and recharges have been trending upward these days, which is also good news. There’s no need to specifically report it.”

Lü Mingliang nodded: “That’s true. Let’s wait until Boss Pei has time, then report to him.”