The next morning, after getting up, Pei Qian opened the creator backend on AiLiDao to check on the video’s performance.
There were some views and a few comments and danmu messages, but not many—overall, it was quite quiet.
The comments and danmu were mostly along the lines of “Holy crap,” “Rich guy,” “Budget explosion,” “Too much money to burn,” and similar content.
Pei Qian’s account was new. After being published in AiLiDao’s digital products section without any promotion or followers, it only received minimal organic traffic. The exposure rate overnight was practically nonexistent.
Pei Qian didn’t mind; he hadn’t expected many people to watch this video anyway.
If someone paid for a “charging” or if he could earn a bit from the incentive program, that would be like earning some pocket money, which wasn’t bad to think about.
Pei Qian was eating snacks and watching anime when suddenly, the system’s light screen appeared before him.
[Wealth Conversion System]
[Host: Pei Qian]
[Profit conversion ratio 100:1, Loss conversion ratio 1:1]
[Next settlement time: 93 days later]
[System funds: 2.43 million (↓5.57 million)]
[Fixed assets: Mingyun Villa commercial-residential property (6.22 million)]
[Personal assets: 357,412.5]
[Special task this cycle: Having both profits and losses is the way of business. The host seems overly fixated on temporary profits, which is not the mindset a business genius should have. It is suggested that by the next settlement, achieve a loss.]
[Special task completion reward: A mysterious surprise within the system rules.]
[Special note:]
[Company fixed assets will be calculated as 10% of the system’s valuation into the system funds, affecting the settlement results.]
[Recalculating system funds value…]
[System funds: 2.43 million + 0.62 million (↓4.95 million)]
[Fixed assets: Mingyun Villa commercial-residential property (6.22 million)]
[Personal assets: 357,412.5]
Pei Qian had a potato chip halfway to his mouth when he suddenly stopped.
What did this mean?!
He carefully read the content on the system’s light screen, focusing on the fixed assets section, and vaguely began to understand.
This was because previously, almost all of his major items were rented, including office buildings, cars, and so on, so the [Fixed Assets] category hadn’t been triggered.
Of course, the tables, chairs, furniture, and office supplies purchased for the company and internet cafes should technically also be company property, but they hadn’t triggered the [Fixed Assets] category.
Probably because these items were too cheap for the system to care about.
But now, Pei Qian had bought a 6 million yuan villa, and the system could no longer ignore it.
According to the system, these major fixed assets would be appraised by the system, and 10% of their value would be counted toward the system funds, affecting the settlement results.
Pei Qian had just spent a large sum buying a villa. Now the company’s account balance was 2.43 million, and the initial system funds were 8 million. According to the original calculation, this should be considered a loss of 5.57 million.
However, according to the new algorithm, including 10% of the villa’s valuation (6.22 million), it was equivalent to only losing 8 million – (2.43 million + 6.22 million * 10%) = 4.95 million!
The latest displayed system funds: 2.43 million + 0.62 million. The first 2.43 million was the company’s liquid funds, money that could be spent; the latter 0.62 million was 10% of the villa’s valuation of 6.22 million, a virtual number after conversion that couldn’t be spent but would occupy system funds and affect settlement.
Pei Qian scratched his head, initially unsure whether this was advantageous or disadvantageous.
This system rule relaxed the restrictions on Pei Qian’s purchase of major fixed assets.
If similar major assets weren’t counted toward system funds, then Pei Qian could later go on a buying spree. As long as the capital chain didn’t break, he could create losses just by buying properties aggressively.
(Of course, the premise was that there needed to be a legitimate reason; he couldn’t speculate in real estate or live in it himself—it could only be used for business operations, like this time.)
For example, if the system funds had 10 million left, Pei Qian could spend 7 million to buy another villa (and then find some business purpose for it), suddenly leaving only 3 million. Compared to the original 8 million in system funds, he would easily lose 5 million.
This reduced the difficulty of creating losses.
So, fixed assets also needed to be counted toward system funds.
But if fixed assets were counted in full toward system funds, there would also be major problems.
The initial system funds were only 8 million. If Pei Qian bought a 10 million yuan villa, and that 10 million were fully counted toward system funds, then no matter how hard Pei Qian tried, it would be difficult to lose 8 million from the system funds unless he mortgaged or sold the property…
Therefore, the system chose this compromise approach.
Similar major fixed assets would be counted toward system funds at a ratio of 10%. On one hand, this allowed Pei Qian to buy fixed assets when he wanted to create losses, and on the other hand, it prevented him from easily achieving large losses by mindlessly buying fixed assets.
“Ah… looking at the downside, another path to quick wealth has been blocked by the system. The system is always one step ahead of me…”
“But looking at the bright side, if the system hadn’t reminded me, I might not have thought of this point…”
Pei Qian suddenly realized that although buying fixed assets would affect the settlement, it was still a good way to spend money!
Suppose Pei Qian spent the system funds down to around 10 million. At that point, he could directly buy another villa or commercial property. Assuming he spent 5 million, the status of the system funds would be:
10 million – 5 million + 5 million * 10% = 5.5 million.
This way, it would still be considered a loss of 8 million – 5.5 million = 2.5 million!
Of course, this approach carried risks. When Pei Qian held many fixed assets, if the valuation of one fixed asset suddenly skyrocketed, it would cause the system funds to skyrocket as well.
Suppose the villa Pei Qian owned suddenly surged in value to 30 million. Then, calculating 10% of the system funds would be 3 million.
10 million – 5 million + 30 million * 10% = 8 million.
Then he wouldn’t incur a loss!
In an even worse scenario, if Pei Qian had too many fixed assets, even at 10%, they might exceed the system’s initial funds. In that case, even if Pei Qian spent all the money in the company’s account, he couldn’t create a loss.
Unless these fixed assets depreciated, or Pei Qian sold them all for cash and then spent that money.
In short…
Opportunities and risks coexisted.
After all these calculations, Pei Qian felt his brain aching a bit.
“What’s going on? Why does it take so much brain power just to lose some money? Why are these rules getting more and more complicated…”
Pei Qian decided not to think about this matter for now.
When the system funds increased in the future, for example, to 20 or 30 million, then spending a few million to buy commercial properties, which would only count as a few hundred thousand toward system funds, would be quite cost-effective.
Currently, the system funds were a bit low, and buying too many commercial properties could backfire, so it was better to hold off.
To be safe, it would be best to save for a final spending spree.
For this cycle, he would just buy this one commercial-residential villa and get the high-end restaurant up and running to lose money.
Since the system had already provided a prompt, it meant the villa had been purchased, and the procedures should have been completed.
Pei Qian called Assistant Xin and asked her to drive him to the Slackin’ Internet Café at Mingyun Villa to take a look.
He wanted to arrange the layout of the high-end restaurant and also check if there had been any unexpected changes in the surrounding business environment.