After saying goodbye to Manager Cui, Pei Qian left Mingyun Manor in a daze and walked toward Slackin’ Internet Café.

The series of blows had left him confused. Now he just wanted to sit in Slackin’ Internet Café, have a cocktail, and let the quiet environment soothe his agitated mood.

As he walked, Pei Qian vaguely felt something wasn’t right.

Wasn’t it already evening? Why were there still so many people on the street?

The foot traffic around Mingyun Manor had always been sparse. Even on Sundays, there weren’t many people in the evening.

But today, the pedestrians on the street have increased!

Small groups of pedestrians, mostly looking like students, along with some office workers. The vehicles parked by the roadside also seemed to have increased compared to before!

Looking at the shops on both sides, Pei Qian felt a sense of disbelief.

When did all these open?!

In the beginning, there was only one Slackin’ Internet Café in this area. Most other shops were in a half-dead state—either deserted or already shut down.

At that time, Pei Qian had planned to open a Headwind Station here and had his pick of locations.

All the storefronts were available, so he directly chose one with the best location and largest area.

Because back then, no one was willing to take over these shops, and they were all vacant.

But now, even those shops with poor locations have all opened new businesses!

The types of stores were also varied.

Bars and card rooms, which Mr. Li had opened before, were now very lively.

Especially this bar—you could hear the music from the entrance and feel the energy brought by the gathering of young people.

Many other shops had been converted into internet-famous snack places, selling things like “dirty” bread, dark cloud ice cream, pork floss cupcakes, durian layer cakes, etc., all appearing to do good business.

There were also traditional eateries, such as pan-fried buns, pot stickers, and soy milk with fried dough sticks.

Plus, milk tea shops, beverage shops, convenience stores, and more.

What Pei Qian found most unacceptable was that in a bustling location on this street, someone had even opened a store called “Nameless Kitchen” with many customers inside!

Pei Qian almost coughed up blood.

What kind of behavior was this?

This was blatant imitation!

This was deliberately deceiving consumers who came from afar!

But there didn’t seem to be anything wrong with their choice of name. Strictly speaking, Mr. Pei’s restaurant was called “Mingyun Private Kitchen,” and its name on Public Reviews was “”, while their shop was named “Nameless Kitchen.” This didn’t seem to infringe on any rights.

Pei Qian was angry. He opened Public Reviews on his phone, intending to expose this shop.

But when he saw this shop’s rating, it had 4.3 stars.

Then he looked at the consumer reviews.

“This is a shop riding on the popularity of another, but the food is decent.”

“The Unnamed Restaurant is good, but it’s impossible to get a reservation. This place is just a compromise.”

“Can only say that the Unnamed Restaurant has made the dining scene here popular, and everyone’s trying to ride its coattails. Feels like this place will soon develop into Jingzhou’s snack street.”

“Don’t recommend eating at this shop, recommend going to Slackin’ Internet Café instead—they have very healthy home-style dishes. If you’re still hungry, you can come out and buy some snacks. Strongly recommend the ‘dirty’ bread and dark cloud ice cream.”

“Indeed, this is just an ordinary restaurant. The food at Slackin’ Internet Café next door might be better.”

Pei Qian: “???”

He had initially just wanted to expose this shameless copycat shop, but after glancing at the user reviews, he suddenly discovered an even more serious problem.

Who did this?

Who was advertising Slackin’ Internet Café here?

Pei Qian hurriedly found Slackin’ Internet Café on Public Reviews, and when he saw the rating, his heart instantly sank.

4.8 stars!

Then he read the user reviews.

“The computers are awesome, the internet is super fast, completely on par with the flagship store. Slackin’ Internet Café chain, quality guaranteed!”

“First time here, didn’t expect to find a Slackin’ Internet Café here. What a pleasant surprise. The cocktails are delicious, the resident singer is good, and the internet environment goes without saying—consistently satisfying.”

“It’s a chain, smoking is prohibited throughout the café, the environment is especially good, and the food is delicious too. The recently popular Star Joy Internet Café looks fine, but compared to this place, it’s just a younger brother.”

Pei Qian put away his phone, with a very bad feeling in his heart.

It seemed like a big problem had emerged!

Pei Qian quickly walked a few steps, passing through this once-deserted but now-bustling commercial street, arriving at the entrance of Slackin’ Internet Café.

Seeing the scene inside the café, Pei Qian froze.

The gaming area was almost full, with only two or three empty seats.

The bar area also had many people seated. On the stage, the resident singer was performing relaxing folk songs, and occasionally, people would go to the bar to order drinks and leave tips.

Pei Qian stood at the entrance, completely rigid.

The service staff at the door spotted Pei Qian immediately and hurried to greet him, “Mr. Pei, you’re here! Please come in!”

During this period, Pei Qian had been very busy with many things and hadn’t visited Slackin’ Internet Café for over a month.

Although he frequently went to Mingyun Private Kitchen, he always had his driver take him directly there and hadn’t stopped by Slackin’ Internet Café.

Who would have thought that this street would turn out like this?

Without even thinking, he knew that this must be Mr. Li’s doing.

Pei Qian’s first reaction wasn’t to find Mr. Li, but to find Ma Yang.

Where was Old Ma?

I entrusted Slackin’ Internet Café to you with such confidence, what have you been doing?

You’re the CEO of Slackin’ Internet Café, my most trusted right-hand man—is this how you help me share my worries??

Pei Qian’s gaze quickly scanned the café and soon spotted Ma Yang and Zhang Yuan in a corner seat.

Ma Yang was leisurely sipping a cocktail, listening to the melodious folk songs from the singer on stage, with an expression of undeniable contentment.

Pei Qian felt anger rising within him. How dare you look so content!

The service staff quickly came to Ma Yang’s side, “Manager Ma, Mr. Pei is here.”

Ma Yang turned his head to look, and a smile instantly bloomed on his long face. “Brother Qian, you’re here? Come sit down!”

“Business has improved recently, and it’s suddenly a bit busy. School just started, you know? I was thinking of waiting until I saw you at school to tell you this good news, but you discovered it first.”

Pei Qian was speechless.

Oh, Old Ma, you’ve always been the person I trust most. How could you let me down like this?

“You didn’t even tell me that the café’s customer flow suddenly increased?” Pei Qian was very displeased.

Ma Yang was stunned, “Huh? Brother Qian, isn’t this all part of your plan?”

“Last time during the meeting, you said that Slackin’ Internet Café’s Mingyun Manor branch would be the focus of work for the upcoming period. Then you opened Headwind Station here and bought a villa to open a private kitchen—wasn’t all that to heat the commercial environment here?”

Zhang Yuan cheerfully added from the side, “That’s right, isn’t this all part of Mr. Pei’s plan?”

“I originally thought you deliberately leaked information to lure Mr. Li here just to make him lose some money. Now I realize I was thinking too simply.”

“Not only did Mr. Li invest money, but he also brought other people from Jingzhou’s investment circle to invest here. Add to that the brand effect of the Unnamed Restaurant, and this place was instantly transformed into ‘Jingzhou’s New Commercial District’ and ‘Jingzhou’s Food Street.’ With all this, Slackin’ Internet Café naturally became popular too!”

“Slackin’ Internet Café wasn’t losing money before because it was fundamentally problematic, but because the customer flow nearby was too small. Now that the customer flow problem has been solved, the Mingyun Manor branch has naturally risen to prominence!”

Looking at the excited expressions on both their faces, Pei Qian was at a loss for words.

And he fell into deep self-doubt.

How could this possibly be my problem?

Pei Qian had indeed said that the future development focus of Slackin’ Internet Café would be at the Mingyun Manor branch, and he had indeed tricked Mr. Li into investing here, but…

His true purpose wasn’t what everyone thought!

But considering it from Ma Yang and Zhang Yuan’s perspective, it seemed reasonable that they hadn’t reported to Pei Qian.

Everyone knew that Tenda now had too many businesses, and Mr. Pei was very busy, so they generally wouldn’t consult him unless it was something urgent.

Why had the commercial environment around Mingyun Manor improved?

Because of the popularity of Mingyun Private Kitchen;

Because of Mr. Li and Fuihui Capital’s investments in this area;

Because Mr. Pei had bought a villa at Mingyun Manor, and Mingyun Manor was riding the wave with promotions.

Ultimately, all of this was related to Mr. Pei.

So wasn’t Slackin’ Internet Café’s Mingyun Manor branch becoming popular exactly what Mr. Pei had anticipated?

Since Mr. Pei had foreseen it early on, what need was there to report such a small matter as the café’s increased customer flow?

“Mr. Pei, your drink.”

The server had already brought over Pei Qian’s usual Aurora cocktail.

Pei Qian silently took a sip and began to withdraw into himself.

This time, Old Ma’s performance seemed consistently steady as always, coasting through without doing anything.

No matter how you looked at it, this situation couldn’t be blamed on him…

Pei Qian felt both sorrowful and relieved.

The sorrow, of course, was that his businesses had suffered two deaths from one corpse—Mingyun Private Kitchen had dragged Slackin’ Internet Café down with it. Not only had they made money, but the villa was also about to appreciate.

The relief was that Ma Yang was still reliable.

This time, the blame seemed to be on himself…

Pei Qian silently took another sip of his drink, secretly lamenting.

Alright, I’ll take the blame for this one.

Ma Yang didn’t know that the pensive Pei Qian was currently questioning his life choices. He excitedly asked, “Brother Qian, does this mean our strategic goal at the Mingyun Manor branch has been perfectly accomplished?”

Strategic goal?

Pei Qian was stunned for a moment, then nodded, “Mm.”

Not just perfectly accomplished—it had been drastically over-accomplished.

Completely beyond my plan!

Ma Yang smiled smugly and continued, “Brother Qian, didn’t I say my role as CEO of Slackin’ Internet Café wasn’t in vain? I can still help you share your worries!”

“I think, since the least profitable Mingyun Manor branch has become popular, it’s about time to expand the market!”

“We should strike while the iron is hot and open more Slackin’ Internet Cafés in Jingzhou City to further occupy the market!”

Ma Yang lowered his voice slightly, “Mr. Li’s investment, Star Joy Internet Café, has been frantically opening chain stores recently.”

“Brother Qian, the high-end internet café model originated with Slackin’ Internet Café. We absolutely cannot be overtaken!”

Pei Qian couldn’t help but shudder.

Open more stores?

Two profitable internet cafés were already giving him a headache, and they wanted more?

Could I even generate losses properly in this cycle?

Hmm?

Wait a minute.

Pei Qian suddenly realized an issue.

The situation had changed now!

So, should the strategy also be slightly adjusted?