If Li Shi were to choose himself, he would definitely have considered opening the internet café at the entrance of Handong University of Science and Technology’s East Campus, or near Mingyun Manor. He would never have chosen such an awkward location that connected to neither.
According to preliminary investigations, the Slackin’ Internet Café at Mingyun Manor was indeed the worst-performing among all the Slackin’ Internet Cafés.
This was directly related to its location.
So, Li Shi was quite puzzled.
Long Face regularly staying at the Mingyun Manor Slackin’ Internet Café naturally meant that Mr. Pei considered this store the focus of his next phase of planning.
But how could this store possibly have any potential to exploit?
If Li Shi were the boss, he would probably abandon this store at light speed to cut losses.
This made him even more curious.
After careful consideration, Li Shi left the Slackin’ Internet Café flagship store and prepared to drive to the Mingyun Manor store to investigate.
…
…
Slackin’ Internet Café, Mingyun Manor branch.
The open space outside was very spacious, as this was already in suburban Jingzhou, not so bustling.
Li Shi parked his car outside and walked into the internet café.
Although the layouts of the two stores weren’t the same, their styles were highly consistent, and everything felt familiar.
Moreover, this store had far fewer people than the flagship store, which was a huge plus for Li Shi!
He sat down in the coffee area and ordered a cup of tea.
The quiet environment of the store satisfied him greatly.
However, Li Shi didn’t forget the purpose of his visit. His gaze swept across the first floor of the internet café, confirming that Ma Yang and Zhang Yuan were indeed there.
They were happily playing games together in the internet café area, wearing headphones with very focused expressions.
Ma Yang was fully immersed.
While Zhang Yuan was suffering in silence.
Who knows what kind of torture it is to play games with a boss who’s terrible at gaming but doesn’t realize it!
But from Li Shi’s outsider perspective, the two seemed intimate and harmonious.
“Indeed, they have shifted their work focus to this branch.”
“But… why?”
“Is it just because performance is poor here, and they want to turn losses into profits?”
“No, it shouldn’t be that simple.”
“Mr. Pei is a man with long-term vision. How could he be fixated on the profit and loss of a single branch?”
“There must be a deeper meaning.”
“Perhaps behind this internet café, there’s some deeper strategic layout?”
Li Shi didn’t dare to be careless.
Last time, he hadn’t expected Pei Qian could completely reverse the situation with just one singer.
Once bitten, twice shy. Now he clearly understood that behind every seemingly ordinary decision Mr. Pei made, there was profound meaning.
This time would certainly be no exception.
Li Shi didn’t want to be seen by Ma Yang. After the last incident, he understood that Long Face had too tight a relationship with Pei Qian and was unreliable.
But…
The same couldn’t be said for the lower-level employees.
Li Shi’s gaze quickly swept over several waiters in the internet café.
Because the internet café was truly so quiet, these waiters also looked somewhat listless, only maintaining a high working state due to their professional standards.
Li Shi estimated that these waiters’ salaries probably weren’t too high.
Even if Slackin’ Internet Café’s treatment was above the industry average, these waiters were ultimately doing physical labor, not worth high salaries.
Therefore, spending a little money should be enough to bribe them to obtain some intelligence about the Mingyun Manor branch.
Thinking of this, Li Shi silently noted the appearances of several waiters and the names on their chest badges, then finished his coffee, paid, and left.
Bribing two or three waiters might seem insignificant, but it could provide Li Shi with what he needed most—intelligence.
As long as these waiters could continuously provide intelligence, letting him know Mr. Pei’s next moves, the money would be worth it!
If considering only safety, bribing just one person would be the least likely to be exposed.
But Li Shi worried that if he only bribed one person, what if they provided false intelligence?
He needed to bribe several people, with at least two or three pieces of intelligence to cross-verify each other, to determine the truthfulness of the information.
Of course, bribing more people would increase the risk of exposure, but Li Shi wasn’t particularly worried.
He would have his subordinates contact these waiters, preventing Pei Qian from tracing it back to Fuhui Capital.
Even if someone informed Pei Qian, it wouldn’t matter. This method would be abandoned at worst, and Li Shi himself wouldn’t suffer any loss.
The only thing to be vigilant about was several waiters collectively fabricating false intelligence to deceive him. But this presupposed that all waiters were utterly devoted to Mr. Pei and completely resistant to the temptation of money.
How could that be possible?
Therefore, Li Shi was quite confident in this, believing in the power of money.
…
The next day.
Coincidentally, Pei Qian had nothing scheduled in the morning and decided to visit the Slackin’ Internet Café Mingyun Manor branch.
He also wanted to ask Ma Yang and his team how the preparations for Headwind Station were coming along.
The early preparatory work for Headwind Station wasn’t complicated. It mainly involved renting and renovating storefronts, purchasing shelves and office supplies, recruiting couriers, and contacting various courier companies to negotiate partnerships.
These tasks were temporarily being handled by Ma Yang and Zhang Yuan.
After all, Slackin’ Internet Café and Slackin’ Delivery were currently still losing money, which meant the situation was good. Pei Qian had considerable trust in Ma Yang and Zhang Yuan.
Later, when Headwind Logistics expanded and Ma Yang and Zhang Yuan became too busy, Pei Qian considered separating this business and handing it over to someone else.
Seeing Mr. Pei arrive, the waiters in the internet café all became a bit nervous.
It was well-known that the Slackin’ Internet Café at Mingyun Manor was the worst-performing of all Slackin’ Internet Cafés, absolutely at the bottom!
These waiters were very worried that one day this branch would suddenly be cut, and they would lose their jobs on the spot.
Originally it was fine—all stores were losing money together, and with Mingyun Manor’s remote location, Mr. Pei basically never came.
But as the Slackin’ Internet Café flagship store turned losses into profits, everything changed.
The Mingyun Manor branch suddenly seemed to receive Mr. Pei’s attention!
The café manager Ma Yang and regional manager Zhang Yuan were basically stationed at the branch every day, and Mr. Pei also came frequently, putting enormous pressure on these waiters, making them very nervous.
The upper management had noticed Mingyun Manor’s bottom-ranking performance. Perhaps this meant restructuring was coming.
Although things were still calm for now, who knew what storm might arrive in the future?
The waiters all feared for their positions. Although the wages and benefits here were good, who knew how long this job would last?
So, some people had already prepared to make alternate plans.
Although the benefits here were quite good, people are selfish and must consider their futures.
“Brother Qian, you’re here!”
Ma Yang and Zhang Yuan warmly welcomed him, finding an empty table to sit with Pei Qian.
Several waiters stood nearby, awaiting instructions.
Pei Qian took a sip of coffee and said to Ma Yang, “This month, give all the brothers at this store an extra thousand yuan in salary.”
Ma Yang was stunned, as were several waiters.
Pei Qian explained: “This is an incentive fund! The Mingyun Manor store’s performance isn’t good now, so everyone needs to work harder.”
“Don’t put too much pressure on yourselves just because the performance is temporarily poor. Rest assured, our Slackin’ Internet Café will never abandon any brother!”
Pei Qian hadn’t thought too much about it—it was just a spur-of-the-moment decision to spend a bit more money.
This expenditure was reasonable and justified, and the amount wasn’t large, so the system had no reason to object.
Moreover, Pei Qian felt that the Mingyun Manor store’s ability to consistently lose money without any improvement made it exactly the benchmark enterprise he’d been dreaming of, forming a stark contrast with the flagship store. Naturally, he needed to find a pretext to spend more money on it.
After saying this, Pei Qian suddenly noticed that three or four waiters had strange expressions.
There was some joy, but also hesitation.
Finally, one waiter gathered his courage: “Mr. Pei, there’s something I need to report to you!”
“Someone tried to bribe me to sell information about our branch!”
Another waiter also nodded and said, “Me too!”
Yet another waiter showed hesitation, clearly also harboring secrets.
Originally, these waiters had no need to inform on anyone to Pei Qian. After all, they were just the lowest level of service personnel in the internet café, not at all familiar with Pei Qian, and informing wouldn’t necessarily bring them direct benefits.
But Mr. Pei’s thousand-yuan incentive fund touched these waiters.
Recalling the high benefits at Slackin’ Internet Café all along, they suddenly felt guilty.
So, although the other party offered more money, some people still resolutely stood up!
Pei Qian was also stunned.
He was a bit shocked, not because his subordinates had been bribed, but because… he hadn’t expected anyone would spend money to buy such useless intelligence.
The Mingyun Manor branch was already in such a miserable state, and someone was still gathering intelligence?
You have so much money with nowhere to spend?
Wouldn’t it be better to just give it directly to me?
Pei Qian casually asked: “How much did they offer?”
A waiter hesitated for a moment, then said: “500 for regular intelligence, 3,000 for key intelligence.”
In Li Shi’s view, this was absolutely a price waiters couldn’t refuse, but he clearly underestimated the various additional benefits enjoyed by Slackin’ Internet Café waiters…
Pei Qian internally cursed.
Why the hell can’t I encounter such good fortune?
It’s just intelligence about the Slackin’ Internet Café, Mingyun Manor branch.
For 3,000 yuan per piece of intelligence, I could sell enough to bankrupt you, believe it or not?