Zhang Yuan was still showering Pei Qian with praise from all angles, but Pei Qian just drank his coffee, not taking in a single word.
He was perplexed—what exactly had gone wrong???
Taking Tang Yishu to the warehouse had produced immediate results; the computers that were supposed to malfunction did malfunction, which indeed slowed down the assembly process.
But… what was the deal with the memory factory catching fire?
Surely the halo effect couldn’t influence things overseas?
Pei Qian couldn’t figure it out, no matter how hard he thought.
Strictly speaking, none of these events were good things, but they had certainly caused Boss Pei a great deal of trouble…
It seemed that even powerful weapons needed to be used with caution.
One wrong move, and you end up hurting yourself!
Anyway, the damage was already done. The key now was how to spend the money.
Continue stockpiling inventory? That probably wouldn’t work.
Now, ROF’s assembly business had already gained significant recognition. After this New Year’s “no price increase promotion,” its recognition and brand acceptance would only become higher.
Previous examples had already proven that many customers had accepted that ROF had a certain brand premium.
In other words, even if they maintained their original pricing, ROF’s computer sales definitely wouldn’t plummet. Since they already had a certain profit margin, making money was almost guaranteed.
If they continued stockpiling and one day graphics cards suddenly surged in price, wouldn’t that be the death of Boss Pei?
It seemed that frantically stockpiling inventory wasn’t a reliable strategy either!
Boss Pei had certainly paid a high price for this lesson.
What about spending the money on other industries?
But after some thought, he rejected this idea.
Pei Qian felt he should still adhere to one principle:
Whoever pollutes, cleans up; whoever makes money, spends it.
Reflecting, he realized it was because he hadn’t stuck to this principle that fires had broken out everywhere, impossible to put out.
Many projects had no issues and were losing money nicely, but when linked with other projects, major problems could arise.
Therefore, the money ROF earned should be left to Zhang Yuan to figure out how to spend.
After considering for a moment, Pei Qian said, “Don’t transfer the money earned by the ROF assembly business upward. Find a way to spend it yourself.”
Zhang Yuan was stunned: “Huh? Boss Pei, we don’t transfer this large sum of money? Is that appropriate?”
Pei Qian expressed his amusement: “Of course it’s appropriate. You earned the money, you spend it.”
Zhang Yuan quickly waved his hands: “No, no, no, Boss Pei, this money was earned under your wise guidance.”
Pei Qian: “…”
Look at this guy, if you don’t know how to speak, then don’t speak!
Pei Qian was a magnanimous person and didn’t want to dwell on this issue: “Tell me first, how do you plan to spend this money?”
Zhang Yuan fell into deep thought.
The businesses he currently managed were mainly Slackin’ Internet Café and ROF assembly. Of course, Slackin’ Takeout, as a derivative business of Slackin’ Internet Café, was also indirectly under his responsibility.
At the same time, these businesses all had close relationships with Headwind Logistics.
The person in charge of Headwind Logistics was Lü Mingliang, who was highly valued by Pei Qian.
Headwind Logistics had indeed been purely losing money until now, relying on blood transfusions from other Tenda Group businesses to continue operating.
This fully proved that Boss Pei’s consistent trust in Lü Mingliang was correct.
Of course, for Pei Qian, accurately speaking, this shouldn’t be considered a blood transfusion, but rather a detoxification.
Without Headwind Logistics, Boss Pei might have already died from poisoning.
After thinking for a moment, Zhang Yuan said: “Boss Pei, I’ve been thinking, the ROF brand has now firmly established itself in Jingzhou, and the online store has also gained some recognition.”
“The Slackin’ Internet Café business has also received recognition from everyone and has become the most popular high-end internet café brand in Jingzhou.”
“In my opinion, it’s about time we continue to expand and bring the Slackin’ Internet Café model to other cities!”
Pei Qian sighed silently in his heart. Sure enough, there was no avoiding this issue.
Previously, Boss Li had raised this question: why not open branches in other cities to make more money?
The reason was very simple: Boss Pei was afraid that opening in other cities would continue to make money!
But now, he had to consider this issue.
Because it couldn’t be put off any longer.
Since Slackin’ Internet Café and ROF assembly were making money, and quite a lot at that, why not continue to expand?
That didn’t make sense.
So, branches would have to be opened sooner or later. The key questions were where to open them and how.
Pei Qian thought for a moment and asked: “In your opinion, where should Slackin’ Internet Café branches be opened?”
Zhang Yuan answered without hesitation: “I think we should open in big cities, like the capital, Shanghai, or Guangzhou—these super first-tier cities!”
“There are more young people there, dense populations, and higher consumption levels. They would be more receptive to this high-end internet café model.”
“It would be easier to open up the market there.”
“Even the supporting businesses of Slackin’ Internet Café, like Slackin’ Takeout, would also be well-received.”
Pei Qian fell silent.
What you say makes a lot of sense, so we definitely can’t do it that way…
After pondering for a moment, he said: “My opinion is exactly the opposite.”
“I plan to set the next target as Lin City.”
Zhang Yuan was taken aback: “Lin City?”
Lin City was the poorest city in Handong Province. The famous impoverished county, Daokou County, was in Lin City.
Opening a Slackin’ Internet Café in such a poor place?
How many customers would there be?
Pei Qian continued: “Moreover, we’re not just expanding Slackin’ Internet Café.”
“All the supporting facilities attached to Slackin’ Internet Café need to be moved there together!”
Seeing Zhang Yuan’s confused expression, Pei Qian couldn’t help but smile slightly.
He wasn’t eager about opening Slackin’ Internet Café branches.
He would rather open more Headwind stations.
But Headwind stations already covered Jingzhou densely; looking at a map, you could see dense networks of points, with almost no room to place more.
To open more, they would have to expand to other cities.
However, opening just Headwind stations in other cities without opening Slackin’ Internet Cafés would be too strange and might arouse suspicion.
If they were going to do it, they had to do it together to divert attention.
Moreover, compared to Headwind stations, Slackin’ Internet Café had a significant advantage: high initial investment. Whether it was store rent, renovation, or purchasing computers, these were all major expenses.
Even if they gradually became profitable, it would take a long time to recover the initial huge investment.
At least it wouldn’t happen in this settlement cycle.
If they considered the location carefully and didn’t replicate the failure experience of Jingzhou, keeping these stores from continuously losing money, that would be even better!
So, after careful consideration, Pei Qian chose the poorest city in Handong Province: Lin City.
Being poor meant that residents’ consumption levels were not high, making high-consumption internet cafés like Slackin’ Internet Café naturally less viable.
And fancy takeout services like Slackin’ Takeout would be even harder to sell.
Meanwhile, steadily performing, consistently loss-making projects like Headwind Logistics would continue to lose money.
In short, if they were going to choose, they should choose a poorer place.
As for why… Pei Qian didn’t plan to explain. These people would fill in the blanks themselves.
Pei Qian continued: “I plan to move all the current physical industries, as well as the supporting industries attached to them, over there.”
“One Slackin’ Internet Café 2.0 in the core business district, coupled with three Slackin’ Internet Café 1.0 in secondary business districts, accompanied by Slackin’ Takeout, plus 20 Headwind stations around them, as well as a large warehouse for ROF assembly and four distribution points around Slackin’ Internet Café.”
“All these things should be prepared simultaneously and opened all at once!”
Zhang Yuan was shocked: “Boss Pei, that’s quite a substantial investment…”
“Although rent in Lin City is much cheaper than in Jingzhou, it would still be nearly impossible to set up this whole system without an initial investment of around ten million yuan…”
Pei Qian sighed silently.
I don’t want to do this either.
But who told you to make so much money with your assembly business???
I have to hurry up and spend it, so I’m not scrambling to spend it all when the settlement period comes, right?
Pei Qian earnestly said, “This amount of money is nothing. If it’s not enough, ask me for more.”
“And 20 Headwind stations are just temporary. We’ll open more in the future, aiming to cover Lin City with Headwind stations as thoroughly as we’ve covered Jingzhou!”
“You need to be clear about one principle.”
“If you make money, find ways to solve it yourself, work hard to spend it.”
“If you lose money, report to me immediately, and I’ll cover for you.”
Zhang Yuan had thought Boss Pei was just being courteous, but upon scrutiny, he felt Boss Pei’s gaze was extremely sincere.
“Boss Pei, I… I’m just… so moved!”
Zhang Yuan’s feelings of gratitude were momentarily inexpressible.
Pei Qian quickly raised his hand, signaling him to stop.
“Alright, no need to say more. I have other matters to attend to, so I’ll be going now.”
Seeing the long queue at the entrance of the internet café, Pei Qian felt a surge of anger.
Zhang Yuan hurriedly said, “Alright, Boss Pei, take care! Happy New Year!”
Pei Qian: “…”
Sorry, my New Year is not happy at all!
…
…
January 4th, Tuesday, 11 AM.
Pei Qian arrived at the company leisurely as usual, while others had already started their workday.
Perhaps because it was the first day back after the holiday, everyone looked very busy.
Li Yada and her travel group had already returned.
Pei Qian saw Li Yada and Bao Xu, and for some reason, he felt they didn’t show much of the reminiscence and joy of returning from travel on their faces. Instead, they had a sense of having gone through great hardships.
Pei Qian couldn’t help but wonder, was the US not enjoyable?
But he didn’t ask much, because Pei Qian was also a rather homebody type who didn’t like to go out and travel around. He wasn’t concerned about whether the US was enjoyable or not; he had no plans to go anyway.
Arriving at the office, Pei Qian first checked his unread messages.
There was a message from Zhang Yuan saying that he and Lü Mingliang had already set off for Lin City today for an investigation. Considering all the preliminary site selection, renovation, recruitment, and a series of other processes, completing this entire setup would take until at least mid-February.
Pei Qian felt this timing was pretty good. If it could be delayed a bit more, that would be even better.
Ideally, they would open all these internet cafés, stations, and so on about a week before the settlement, spending a large sum of money without making too much money in this cycle.
As for the next cycle…
They would deal with the next cycle when it came. If necessary, they would open more branches in another relatively poor city, continuing this infinite cycle.