After a long while, He Desheng finally heard Mr. Pei on the other end of the phone let out a sigh, his emotions seemingly very complex.
He couldn’t help but feel puzzled.
What was wrong with Mr. Pei?
Oh, he understood now. Mr. Pei must have realized that the shared phone booth project had expanded beyond Jingzhou to the entire country, feeling that this project was like a fledgling bird leaving the nest, and he felt proud of it!
Yes, that must be it!
On this end of the phone, Pei Qian had only one feeling: melancholy!
A perfectly good ten million had turned into twenty million.
The pressure was even greater now!
“I’ll think about it and get back to you shortly.”
After hanging up the phone, Pei Qian very helplessly began calculating in his notebook where exactly this money could be thrown.
Time was tight. It seemed too late to open several more Slackin’ Internet Cafés in another city, but Headwind Logistics could continue expanding since they opened quickly and could keep opening until a week before settlement.
At the same time, stocking up on OTTO E1 phones could also be arranged, as this burned money very quickly.
If Pei Qian stacked 5,000 OTTO phones in the warehouse, the cost would be about twenty million.
Of course, if they all sold out… the situation would be very bad.
Besides these options, Pei Qian had an ultimate trump card, the Thrilling Lodge project!
The Thrilling Lodge project could continue into the next cycle. Such a place was a bottomless pit for burning money, easily absorbing all twenty million without any problem.
But unless necessary, Pei Qian was reluctant to throw too much money into Thrilling Lodge.
Because the more money thrown in, the higher the horror level and the more stimulating the experience would be. The surrounding supporting facilities would also be quickly improved, which would be disadvantageous for the project’s future losses.
So, give Lü Mingliang some money to continue filling Lin City with Headwind Stations, covering the areas that the Slackin’ Internet Café complex couldn’t reach.
Then give the remaining money to OTTO Technology for Chang You to hold more inventory in the warehouse…
Just as Pei Qian was thinking, the phone rang again.
This time, it was Ma Yiqun calling.
Pei Qian frowned and hurriedly answered.
“Mr. Pei, the Endpoint Chinese Website has another five million in the company account, and I’ve already transferred it to you!” Ma Yiqun’s voice conveyed a hint of pride.
Pei Qian: “???”
He was stunned for two seconds, then asked, “When did this happen?”
Ma Yiqun: “Just a couple of days ago.”
“Haven’t we been settling last month’s author payments recently? February’s income just came out a few days ago. After handling the company’s actual situation, I immediately had the finance department transfer it to you!”
Pei Qian’s expression darkened, his brow inevitably furrowing: “Didn’t I already say you should spend this money yourself? The training class needs money right now. Why are you sending the money to me?”
Ma Yiqun was taken aback: “The money for the training class is enough.”
“Rest assured, Mr. Pei, this 5 million isn’t last month’s profit. This amount has already deducted the website’s daily operating expenses, marketing expenses, subsidies for authors, and training class expenses. I’ve also reserved sufficient operating funds, and only then was the excess money handed over.”
“Moreover, all the benefits of the training class have already been maximized. I really couldn’t think of where else to spend this money, so I decided to hand it over.”
“I’ve heard that OTTO E1 phones might be short on funds for inventory recently? This money in their hands should be able to generate greater value!”
Pei Qian was extremely speechless.
You don’t know where to spend this money, and I don’t f*cking know either!
You don’t know where to spend it, so you throw it at me? How could you be so cruel?
Without a second thought, you directly throw over five million. You’re making this very difficult for me. I wasn’t mentally prepared at all, okay!
Wait, didn’t Ma Yiqun just say that this money had already deducted the training class expenses?
Doesn’t that mean…
The website’s income has grown again???
Previously, the website had already started making a profit, and Ma Yiqun had tried to hand over profits once, which Pei Qian firmly rejected, telling him to use the money to open a training class for web novel authors.
This training class was ongoing, happening every month. Authors would get food, lodging, basic salary, and social insurance as long as they stayed. By all accounts, this should have been able to spend all the money cleanly.
But how did another five million appear last month???
Pei Qian keenly sensed something was amiss and hurriedly asked: “Did Endpoint Chinese Website’s revenue see significant growth in February again?”
After saying this, Pei Qian felt that his words were somewhat strange. Why did he say “again”?
Ma Yiqun smiled: “Of course, Mr. Pei, this is inseparable from your decision at that time!”
“Facts have proven that your decision to use the website’s profits to open a training class for web novel authors was absolutely a significant decision that benefits both the present and future generations!”
“Although from a short-term perspective, we lost some profits, the benefits of the author training class are simply too numerous!”
“First, it ensures that authors with irregular lifestyles and poor self-control maintain regular work hours. After resolving their concerns, they can devote themselves wholeheartedly to creation, improving their creative output.”
“Second, authors exchanging ideas and learning from each other continuously improve, allowing Endpoint Chinese Website’s mid-tier authors to achieve rapid growth!”
“Finally, the Tenda Spirit learning session you arranged for them was simply a stroke of genius. Authors changed from merely pursuing quantity to maintaining both quality and quantity, which has shifted our website’s overall direction towards premium content, making it more conducive to retaining readers!”
“Most importantly, Cui Geng’s ‘Butterfly Game’ was an unexpected delight. The news of breaking the first subscription record spread throughout the entire web novel circle. Many authors, seeing how high the ceiling is for writing books on the Endpoint Chinese Website, have come to started writing books. And as the site’s novel content continues to improve with more high-quality content, readers’ loyalty, follow-through rates, and other metrics have been steadily rising!”
“In short, Endpoint Chinese Website has undergone another transformation!”
Pei Qian was about to get anxious halfway through listening.
The arranged Tenda Spirit learning session was a stroke of genius? It made authors change from merely pursuing quantity to maintaining both quality and quantity?
That’s not right! Wasn’t everyone supposed to be getting more and more lazy with their updates?
Although Pei Qian remained confused and still unclear about what exactly went wrong in the process of learning the Tenda Spirit, he was a person who knew how to accept reality.
“Stop the Tenda Spirit learning sessions immediately!” Pei Qian promptly said.
“Ah, yes, Mr. Pei, I was thinking the same thing.” Ma Yiqun expressed deep agreement with this.
Pei Qian: “?”
Ma Yiqun continued: “In fact, the second author training class is now operating on a mentorship model, with one experienced author mentoring one new author. And the experienced authors have all gone to Tenda headquarters to receive the baptism of the Tenda Spirit.”
“Now, with the authors passing it down from generation to generation, it’s already sufficient to carry forward the Tenda Spirit. There’s no need to trouble the colleagues in the Human Resources Department anymore.”
“So I also think this step can be eliminated.”
Pei Qian: “…”
Oh no, it’s too late!
Pei Qian’s intended goal of spreading the Tenda Spirit throughout the entire training class seemed to have been successfully achieved, but the effect was completely different from what he had imagined!
Could it be… the enemy was in the Human Resources Department, and right by his side?
But upon further reflection, Pei Qian fell into confusion again.
The various departments hadn’t been working overtime recently!
At the end of last month, the second selection for the Zero Overtime Competition had just been held. This time, more than half of the departments had won. Except for departments like Fei Huang Studio, which had been particularly busy that month and worked a bit of overtime, all other departments had not worked any overtime.
The Tenda Games department, which had consistently been difficult to reform, had shown obvious progress and had no overtime requests in the previous month.
And according to Tang Yishu’s regular feedback, everyone hadn’t been sneaking in to work overtime…
The implementation of the Tenda Spirit in the various departments at headquarters seemed pretty good.
So, which link had gone wrong?
Was there a problem from the very beginning, or did the problem occur when the Tenda Spirit was transmitted to the training class, thus only affecting these authors?
If it were the latter, they would just need to “isolate” these authors. If it was the former…
Pei Qian felt a bit of a headache.
He was very confused now. On one hand, this inexplicably extra twenty-five million was making his already not very solid psychological defense slightly shaky. On the other hand, he was genuinely confused about “I’ve been encouraging employees to slack off, but the performance of various departments seems to be getting better and better.”
“Mr. Pei, if there’s nothing else, I’ll hang up now and let you continue with your work,” Ma Yiqun said.
Pei Qian hurriedly stopped thinking and held him back: “Wait!”
“Uh… do you have any other instructions, Mr. Pei?” Ma Yiqun asked.
After considering for a long time, Pei Qian finally gritted his teeth: “Change Endpoint Chinese Website’s revenue sharing. Change it to a 30-70 split, 70 for authors, 30 for the website. This applies to all authors and takes effect this month!”
Pei Qian was making a big sacrifice here.
From a long-term perspective, this move seemed likely to further increase the website’s traffic, but Pei Qian couldn’t worry about that much for now.
Let’s take care of this settlement cycle first!
March’s income would definitely continue to grow. By the end of the month at settlement time, this money would make Pei Qian bleed once more.
So, now was the time to hurry up and cut down on the Endpoint Chinese Website’s income!
This way, the website’s income would instantly plummet by 40%, reducing Pei Qian’s burden by at least several million.
The maximum revenue sharing allowed by the system was a 20-80 split, but Pei Qian feared that a 20-80 split would be too brutal, instantly attracting too many authors and creating endless troubles, so he only changed it to a 30-70 split.
Although Unlimited Chinese Website’s revenue sharing ratio was 50-50, some other web novel sites in the market adopted a 30-70 split ratio. Endpoint Chinese Website’s move would reduce income, while not appearing particularly abrupt.
Ma Yiqun hesitated for a moment: “Alright, Mr. Pei, I understand.”
He thought this was Mr. Pei wanting to continue burning money to attract authors.
Regarding this, Pei Qian had no energy to explain and could only let him draw his conclusions.
After hanging up the phone, Pei Qian became even more melancholy.
It was truly one misfortune after another!
Two days ago, he was worried about how to spend one million.
After worrying for two days, this money had turned into twenty-five million!
Now, relying on Headwind Stations could digest at most five million, because opening Headwind Stations took time. They had to be completely opened one week before settlement, and opening too many at once could lead to problems.
As for the remaining twenty million…
Pei Qian gritted his teeth. He’d use it all to stockpile OTTO phones!