Online, the most contentious debate was about the “1,000 units of inventory” meme, with various complaints visible everywhere.
“I’ve seen plenty who play the hunger marketing game, but never one who plays it so blatantly!”
“Indeed, others are doing hunger marketing at least stock tens of thousands of units, but this company only stocked one thousand units, then created the illusion of ‘our phone is popular’ by having them sell out during the launch. It’s all a trick!”
“The launch audience was probably all paid shills, right?”
“Not just the people at the launch—I think most of these review media outlets were paid off too!”
“The manufacturer probably pre-ordered phones to scalpers, hyped up the ‘sold out instantly’ angle, then the scalpers worked together to drive up the price. All according to plan! They’re working together to fool the suckers, with both the manufacturer and scalpers profiting!”
“Scalpers are scum!”
“Move along, this phone wasn’t meant to be sold properly. Please stop pushing related information to me!”
“Just watch, this phone will continue with hunger marketing, releasing only a thousand units each time and selling out instantly to create a false impression that the phone is in high demand. This is how they maintain the high price. Once supply opens up, people will quickly realize this phone isn’t worth the money, and it will collapse immediately!”
“Many people must have come to their senses by now, right?”
“Don’t say that. I still believe in Tenda’s reputation, especially since CEO Chang already said they’re rushing to stock up, and will sell 2,000 units tomorrow.”
“Haha, two thousand units? That’s their idea of rushing to stock up? Are they joking? And they say this isn’t hunger marketing? Hmm?”
Seeing these comments, a warm feeling welled up in Pei Qian’s heart.
Indeed, consumers have discerning eyes—there are still people who understand!
Keep it up, definitely keep it up!
As long as you maintain this precious questioning attitude until the end of the month, you’ll be my great benefactors!
“Buzz… buzz…”
Just as he was feeling hopeful, the phone on the desk vibrated.
Pei Qian picked it up and saw it was He Desheng calling.
“Hmm? Is it about the Scholar Express APP?”
Pei Qian quickly answered.
He had previously instructed He Desheng: Spend the money exactly the way it was earned!
Had he spent it already?
“Mr. Pei, we’ve bought back the Scholar Express project! All the shares!” He Desheng said excitedly. “Oh, and we’ve also found the original person in charge from Xude Education. No need to poach him—he was fired!”
Pei Qian was stunned. So smoothly?
They’d already bought it?
If he remembered correctly, it hadn’t even been a month since Xude Education acquired the Scholar Express project.
He Desheng had bought it back so quickly—he must have spent quite a bit, right?
Pei Qian couldn’t help but get excited: “How much did it cost?”
On the other end of the phone, He Desheng said: “Mr. Pei, it cost a bit over five million!”
Pei Qian: “?”
How did it only cost 5 million???
Previously, selling those shares had earned 15 million, and that was without selling the final 20% of shares.
And they’d bought it back with just a third of that?
And wasn’t Xude Education being reckless? Didn’t you spend 40 million to buy this project, but then sell it for 5 million?
Couldn’t you have raised the price a bit more? Huh?
Hearing Mr. Pei’s silence on the other end, He Desheng thought he was dissatisfied with the price and hurriedly explained.
“Mr. Pei, this price is very low.”
“After Xude Education acquired this project, they also launched some high-profile activities, such as forcing their students to register others, selling courses within the app, and so on, but they quickly faced a barrage of criticism, and the numbers plummeted!”
“Moreover, this project simply couldn’t be profitable—it was burning money every day!”
“Many executives within Xude Education were extremely dissatisfied with this investment. There were already conflicts between them, so several executives seized the opportunity to oust the executive who had facilitated this acquisition, and the project became a sacrificial pawn…”
“After being abandoned, the project couldn’t access Xude Education’s resources anymore and continued to deteriorate, becoming a money pit with only outflows and no inflows.”
“To avoid increasing losses, Xude Education decided to cut its losses. Since we still held 20% of the shares with priority purchase rights, Xude Education contacted me.”
“Of course, they started with a high asking price, trying to fool me.”
“But how could I be fooled by them? I’ve led this project from the beginning to the end and knew exactly what it was worth. In just a few words, I left them speechless!”
“At that point, they wanted to sell to someone else, so I slightly hinted that I knew everything about the project. If I leaked just a bit of information, they wouldn’t be able to sell it at a high price to anyone else either!”
“So, after several negotiations, they finally ran out of patience. I delivered one decisive blow and cut the price down to five million!”
“I told them directly that this project is only worth this much now. If they dragged it out further, they wouldn’t even get five million!”
“If we had waited a bit longer, we could have negotiated an even lower price, but I figured you might be in a hurry, Mr. Pei, and didn’t want to delay matters. I thought this price was about right, so I bought it back.”
“Oh, and the person in charge of this project at Xude Education was also fired along with that executive as a scapegoat. I remembered you mentioned poaching him, so I contacted him and brought him in.”
“You can meet him anytime if you’d like!”
“That’s about the situation. How did I do, Mr. Pei? Was I efficient enough?”
On this end of the phone, Pei Qian was speechless for a long time.
“You… did a splendid job.” Pei Qian’s melancholy carried a hint of teeth-gritting.
On the other end, He Desheng chuckled somewhat embarrassedly: “Not at all, it was your clear thinking, Mr. Pei. I was just following your approach, which led to these results!”
“If you hadn’t instructed me to buy it back and left some shares unsold in advance, I wouldn’t have thought of this at all!”
Pei Qian: “…”
Fine, it’s my fault again.
What else could he say now that they’d bought it back?
Pei Qian felt dejected for a moment, then said: “That person in charge, have him come to Dreamrealization Ventures at 2 PM this afternoon. I want to meet him.”
He Desheng: “Sure, no problem, Mr. Pei!”
After hanging up, Pei Qian felt very depressed.
Who knew that He Desheng was so good at bargaining?
But this was the most useless skill for Tenda Group!
However, since Scholar Express—this money-losing mess, this bottomless pit—had been bought back, the 10 million would eventually be spent if they continued burning through it.
Well, it’s better than having money but not being able to buy it back!
…
At 2 PM, Pei Qian arrived at Dreamrealization Ventures.
He Desheng and the former manager were already waiting in the company.
“Hello, Mr. Pei!”
“Mr. Pei, this is Yu Ping’an, the department head who was in charge of the Scholar Express project at Xude Education.”
“This is our Mr. Pei from Tenda.”
He Desheng introduced them to each other.
Pei Qian stepped forward and grasped Yu Ping’an’s hand: “Hello! Thank you for your hard work!”
His face showed an eagerness to recruit talent.
Yu Ping’an was somewhat flattered: “Mr. Pei… I, I’m not working that hard.”
Pei Qian looked him up and down. This guy seemed honest and straightforward, probably the quietly cunning type.
“Come, please sit down.”
“Let’s get straight to the point. I’d like you to continue being responsible for the Scholar Express project, with a direct salary increase according to Tenda’s company standards, along with various benefits. How does that sound?” Pei Qian’s face was full of expectation.
Yu Ping’an was even more flattered: “Mr. Pei… I, I won’t let you down!”
Pei Qian nodded with satisfaction: “Good, so what specifically do you plan to do?”
Yu Ping’an thought for a moment: “Those executives at Xude Education were too stupid, messing everything up! They forced registrations and added all sorts of course advertisements in the APP, turning the whole APP into a mess!”
“After I take over, I’ll cut all of those messy things, every single one!”
“I’ll return the Scholar Express APP to its original clean, tidy feel, and regain the trust of all users!”
Pei Qian didn’t say anything.
Yu Ping’an’s attitude of shifting blame was good, but the problem was that if they really “de-Xude-ified” the APP, wouldn’t it return to its original state?
That wouldn’t work—wouldn’t my 10 million be earned for nothing?
It should maintain its current state. Don’t mess with it!
Pei Qian thought for a moment and said, “Not appropriate.”
“Keep the APP in its current state. Don’t cut any of the existing content, understand?”
“Of course, don’t add new features either.”
“Focus on stability in the early stages. At this point, stillness is better than movement.”
Yu Ping’an was stunned and instinctively looked at He Desheng beside him.
He Desheng frowned and said in a low voice: “Why are you looking at me? In our company, no matter what Mr. Pei says, just completely follow his requirements. Think more, ask less, understand?”
Yu Ping’an hurriedly nodded: “Yes, yes. Mr. Pei, I’ll do as you say!”
Pei Qian nodded with satisfaction. Hmm, this Yu Ping’an seemed honest and straightforward, with a good attitude. With some cultivation, he might become the next Lü Mingliang.
If he could honestly carry out the tasks assigned while secretly losing a bit of money, that would be even more perfect!
“Alright, let’s leave it at that for now.” Pei Qian stood up, preparing to leave.
He Desheng quickly asked: “Mr. Pei, there’s one more thing!”
“The company still has nearly 10 million in the account. What do you think we should do with this money…?”
Pei Qian: “…”
Originally, this money was meant to be used entirely to buy Scholar Express, but after He Desheng’s decisive price cut, he had acquired it for just over 5 million.
The remaining money was still sitting in Dreamrealization Ventures’ company account, which seemed somewhat embarrassing for an investment company…
Pei Qian felt somewhat dejected.
Burn this money on the Scholar Express project?
No good. The project had been carefully transported over in its original form. What if all the burning made it popular again?
Before confirming that this project could generate huge losses, they absolutely couldn’t make rash moves.
Use the 10 million to stock up on phones?
That seemed worth considering, but he still needed to see how phone sales went tomorrow. If the phones didn’t sell, then he could consider stocking up; if they sold out, then absolutely not.
After thinking it over, Pei Qian couldn’t find a project that would lose money if invested in, so he said: “Leave it for now. Remind me again in a couple of days.”
He Desheng nodded quickly: “Yes, Mr. Pei.”
After seeing Mr. Pei off, He Desheng began handing over work to Yu Ping’an.
From today on, Yu Ping’an would officially be in charge of the Scholar Express APP project.
“Um, I have another question.” Yu Ping’an hesitated before speaking.
He Desheng: “Hmm? Feel free to ask.”
Yu Ping’an carefully chose his words: “Mr. Pei said that existing features in the APP can’t be cut or added, and we need to maintain the status quo… does that include the original Xude Education course advertisements?”
He Desheng smiled slightly: “What do you think? Mr. Pei said ‘Maintain the status quo,’ so do everything possible to maintain the status quo.”
Yu Ping’an looked troubled: “But… there are many advertisements for Xude Education courses. It’s not appropriate for our APP to advertise for them! Moreover, Xude Education certainly wouldn’t allow us to use their content for promotion. Continuing to retain Xude Education-related information might even risk legal disputes.”
He Desheng thought for a moment: “Hmm, that’s true. But regardless, we must complete Mr. Pei’s task.”
“How about… we keep these entry points but replace them with Tenda Group’s other industries? Choose some things related to or tangentially connected to this software to replace them.”
“This shouldn’t count as cutting features. It both fulfills Mr. Pei’s requirements and avoids legal risks—killing two birds with one stone.”
Yu Ping’an nodded: “Yes, that’s what I was thinking too! Then I’ll proceed with this plan!”