After hearing Li Shi’s words, Pei Qian understood.
Indeed, it was Mr. Li who had previously attempted to bribe the employees of Slackin’ Internet Café.
The false information Pei Qian had released had successfully misled Mr. Li.
This time, Mr. Li wasn’t trying to suppress Slackin’ Internet Café or attempt an investment—he thought that anywhere Pei Qian invested would become popular, so he was here to ride the wave…
After the Slackin’ Internet Café flagship store became popular, it had indeed brought significant foot traffic to that street. While the surrounding shops weren’t as popular as Slackin’ Internet Café, they had all generally benefited.
During that incident, Mr. Li had made a small profit, but not much.
Considering that Mr. Li could have made more money venturing into other areas, it counted as a loss for him.
Although Mr. Li had some investment relationships with those shops that ran promotions, his investment wasn’t substantial. The early promotional activities had cost quite a bit, so Mr. Li, with his extremely high expectations, definitely wouldn’t be satisfied with this.
But this situation was different.
The foot traffic near Mingyun Mountain Villa was so low that nobody wanted the commercial spaces, making the cost of acquisition very low now.
If Mingyun Mountain Villa area truly became popular because of Mr. Pei again, these commercial properties would instantly become money trees. Whether kept for profit or sold outright, they would surely bring in huge returns.
At that point, Mr. Li would be doing far more than just “drinking soup”!
But all of this was predicated on the Mingyun Mountain Villa area becoming popular…
Pei Qian couldn’t help but sigh.
“Mr. Li, oh Mr. Li, your reasoning is perfect, your execution strong, but… you’ve missed one known condition…”
Of course, this wasn’t Mr. Li’s fault. Who could imagine there existed a system where the more money you lost, the more you earned?
In that moment, Pei Qian even felt a touch of compassion.
If it were someone else, Mr. Pei definitely wouldn’t hold back.
But the warm-hearted Mr. Li had already been tricked by Pei Qian once.
You shouldn’t fleece the same sheep too much—what if it goes bald?
So, Pei Qian decided to give Mr. Li a slight hint, suggesting he shouldn’t invest too heavily.
Until now, Mr. Li had already invested in a chain of internet cafés, and in this area, he’d invested in a bar, a coffee shop, and a card game room—already a great help to Pei Qian.
What if Mr. Li got even more excited and continued to pour money in?
Then Pei Qian would become concerned. If Mr. Li went bald from this round of fleecing, there would be no way to sustain development in the future.
Helping Mr. Li lose a little less could be considered the utmost kindness.
With this in mind, Pei Qian decided to give Mr. Li a slight hint.
He took a sip of his cocktail and said with as much sincerity as possible, “Mr. Li, to be honest.”
“The success of Slackin’ Internet Café’s flagship store involved a significant element of luck. The Mingyun Mountain Villa branch can’t replicate the flagship’s success.”
“The chances of this area becoming popular are quite slim. I’m just giving it a casual try…”
Pei Qian was hinting as much as he could.
Li Shi smiled with an “I understand” expression. “Mr. Pei, you’re being too modest.”
“Every success certainly has an element of luck; that’s perfectly normal. But while mediocre talents wait for luck, geniuses create their luck. In my view, Mr. Pei is undoubtedly someone who creates his luck.”
“From what I know, Mr. Pei’s investment in this area is not small.”
“Besides the internet café, Mr. Pei has also opened a Headwind Station nearby, and a while ago, you and Mr. Ma seemed to have surveyed the commercial environment in this area.”
“If you thought there was nothing to gain here, Mr. Pei wouldn’t have persisted until now.”
“I appreciate your good intentions, but you’re underestimating me a bit.”
“Investment comes with risks. Having been in the investment circle for so long, I do have this level of awareness.”
Well, that was a waste of breath.
Pei Qian couldn’t help but sigh. Fine, since Mr. Li was so confident, there was nothing more to say except to wish him luck.
Fortunately, Mr. Li didn’t know about Pei Qian buying a villa and opening a private kitchen. If he knew about that, his thoughts would be even more firmly set.
Pei Qian raised his hand and called to the server, “From now on, whenever Mr. Li comes, it’s all on the house.”
“Mr. Li, oh Mr. Li, you’re helping me so much and I have no way to repay you, I can only treat you to a few more drinks.”
Li Shi felt a warmth in his heart.
For him, it wasn’t about the cost of the drinks, but the permanent free tab represented Mr. Pei’s sincerity!
This friendship was priceless.
Li Shi couldn’t help but silently praise Mr. Pei: though young, he was truly generous in his dealings.
Li Shi raised his glass: “Thank you, Mr. Pei. I hope we can achieve mutual benefits and make a fortune together!”
Pei Qian clinked glasses with him, smiling as he endured the malicious curse, burying his “motherf****r” deep in his heart.
……
……
August 11th.
Shangyang Games.
“Director Lin, so… we’ve finally decided on him?” Ye Zhizhou said with considerable lack of confidence.
“Yes, let’s go with him.” Lin Wan agreed reluctantly, but had no choice.
After receiving the promotional plan from Mr. Pei, Shangyang Games followed his suggestion and contacted some Hong Kong and Taiwan celebrities, reaching out to those who were still popular as well as those who were past their prime.
However, they found it difficult to reach an agreement on price.
The currently popular Hong Kong stars generally ask for more than five million yuan per year, with even the cheaper ones starting at two to three million.
It’s worth noting that the development budget for “Hot-Blooded Battle Song Power-Up Edition” was only around five million yuan.
Mr. Pei had allocated a promotional budget of over 3 million yuan. Ye Zhizhou and Wang Xiaobin initially thought they might struggle to spend it all, but after asking about celebrity endorsement prices, they realized they were truly too naive…
Previously, “Hot-Blooded Battle Song” had also run advertisements, but they had never hired such celebrities, and the total expenditure on marketing was only a few hundred thousand yuan at most.
By comparison, Ye Zhizhou immediately felt this was too expensive and not worth it!
Lin Wan was also dissatisfied with the price.
She mainly felt the cost-performance ratio was too low.
Although promotion was important for a game’s sales, Lin Wan had always worked at Tenda and had seen several games become wildly popular without spending big money on promotion.
Spending five million to hire a Hong Kong star as a spokesperson? What the hell was that for?
So, Lin Wan thought the cost-performance ratio was terrible.
But Mr. Pei’s promotional plan was right there, and they still needed to hire a celebrity as planned.
After picking through the list of Hong Kong stars, the three of them finally selected one with a reasonable cost-performance ratio.
Zhang Zuting, 41 years old this year. Though he was now somewhat past his prime and his most recent films had all flopped badly, he had been a popular young actor in his youth, starring in many hit dramas, and still maintained some influence among middle-aged audiences.
His endorsement fee was about 2 million yuan, which Lin Wan still thought was a bit expensive, but compared to others, it was already quite cheap.
This way, they would have more money left over to buy web advertisements.
So, after comprehensive consideration, Shangyang Games unanimously agreed: it would be him!
The next step was to invite Zhang Zuting to Jingzhou to sign the contract and shoot the advertisement.
Of course, they could shoot elsewhere, but everyone felt that since they were already spending the endorsement fee, they should find an opportunity to see him in person.
Even for a celebrity past his prime, taking a photo together or getting an autograph would be something to show off to friends.
“Then it’s decided, let’s invite Zhang Zuting to Jingzhou!”