Pei Qian smiled slightly, took the teapot from nearby, and personally poured a cup of tea, pushing it toward Rui Yuchen.

“Your answer is good.”

Rui Yuchen hurriedly accepted the teacup with both hands, while beginning to wonder inwardly.

Good answer?

What does that mean?

I just said “I don’t know”!

Mr. Pei rarely praises people!

Does he think I’m being honest and straightforward?

That can’t be it!

Though honesty is a valuable quality, Mr. Pei wouldn’t praise someone just for that!

Or maybe, Mr. Pei saw through my pretense? He appreciated that my answer saved his face, so he was satisfied with my response.

No, that’s impossible too.

Mr. Pei isn’t that superficial.

Or perhaps, by sheer coincidence, my answer aligned with the deeper meaning behind Mr. Pei’s question?

After eliminating two incorrect possibilities, Rui Yuchen’s brain began spinning rapidly. He realized that behind Mr. Pei’s simple praise must be hidden many important pieces of information.

Could it be that Mr. Pei had established an operational model for Slackin’ Delivery that appeared flawed but had deeper intentions?

And the reason he asked this question was to test whether I could see the deeper meaning.

If I had honestly answered “this model doesn’t make money,” then Mr. Pei would know: I only saw the first layer, but completely failed to recognize the existence of a second layer;

And now that I’ve answered “I don’t know,” it proves that I not only saw the first layer but also realized there was a second layer.

Though I didn’t get the correct answer, at least my approach to solving the problem was right.

Not a perfect score, but at least I earned 60 points for my methodology.

And Mr. Pei’s approval is likely because of this…

A series of thoughts flashed through Rui Yuchen’s mind.

Seeing Rui Yuchen’s solemn expression, Pei Qian thought he was nervous and couldn’t help but smile slightly.

“No need to be nervous. Whether Slackin’ Delivery makes money or not isn’t that important, understand?”

Rui Yuchen’s heart trembled.

Indeed, for Mr. Pei, profitability was only Slackin’ Delivery’s second goal, while the first goal was something else!

What was it?

Was it to provide benefits for employees?

Was it to connect with other industries, allowing Tenda’s influence to reach into all aspects of daily life?

Was it to provide healthier food to consumers, changing their eating habits? To guide everyone toward living a healthier life?

Although he wasn’t sure which one specifically, it must be one of the three!

Rui Yuchen felt somewhat fortunate that his earlier answer of “I don’t know” had coincidentally hit upon the correct answer!

Although the problem-solving process had major deviations, the result matched.

He quickly gathered himself and continued listening attentively.

Pei Qian continued: “I called you here today to give you several tasks.”

“First, starting today, Slackin’ Delivery will become independent from Slackin’ Internet Café. You will no longer report to Xiao Peng but directly to me.”

“The newly independent Slackin’ Delivery will establish its stores and expand independently, no longer relying on Slackin’ Internet Café.”

“I know you’re wondering where the money will come from.”

“Ask me directly for the money.”

“Second, hire some nutritionists and experts at high salaries to establish a ‘Food Research Laboratory’ for developing various healthy meal options suitable for Slackin’ Delivery. This includes the selection and procurement of tableware and various ingredients, all to be handled by the ‘Food Research Laboratory,’ dedicated to improving the taste of Slackin’ Delivery’s food.”

“Third, develop a set of fitness meals as provisions for the gym.”

Pei Qian had been considering these arrangements for Slackin’ Delivery for a long time.

Slackin’ Delivery had been operating for over a year now, not only solving the dining problem for employees but also consistently generating losses. Although these losses were a drop in the bucket compared to other profitable projects, Pei Qian had been observing these efforts.

However, currently Slackin’ Delivery was dependent on the internet cafés. To make more losses through deliveries, they would need to open more internet cafés, but the cafés were now making much more money than Slackin’ Delivery was losing…

This had created a vicious cycle.

So, Pei Qian felt it was time to make the delivery service independent.

Let Slackin’ Delivery open some physical stores, which would increase rental expenses, and after breaking away from Slackin’ Internet Café, expansion could be more flexible.

At the same time, Pei Qian thought burning money on research and development for Slackin’ Delivery seemed like a good idea.

Of course, it definitely wouldn’t be developing fast food products—those were too profitable. Pei Qian certainly didn’t want to suddenly create a KFC or McDonald’s-type fast food brand one day; that would be a major problem.

What Pei Qian had in mind was making some not-very-tasty health meals, fitness meals, and fat-reduction meals, while using relatively high prices to discourage mainstream customers.

Speaking of delivery, there’s a joke.

Why don’t many healthy vegetable salad deliveries sell well?

The netizen’s answer: “If I’m already ordering delivery, do I still care about being healthy?”

Of course, this doesn’t represent everyone’s perspective, but there is some truth to it.

Most people order delivery for the salt, oil, and flavor. Chewing on vegetable leaves isn’t tasty, and most people can’t stick with it.

So, Pei Qian thought that developing these so-called healthy meals would be the lowest-risk choice. Even if some urban white-collar workers ordered them for weight loss, the numbers wouldn’t be significant.

And Slackin’ Delivery’s characteristic (tableware recycling) determined that it wouldn’t be profitable until it reached a certain scale.

This fitness meal plan could be bundled with gym memberships, simultaneously discouraging both gym customers and Slackin’ Delivery customers—killing two birds with one stone!

Pei Qian was a bit impressed by his cleverness.

After hearing Mr. Pei’s speech, Rui Yuchen fell silent, momentarily unsure what to say.

The business had been losing money all along, yet instead of being criticized, he had been promoted!

Now, Slackin’ Delivery was a department on the same level as Slackin’ Internet Café, and not only that, he could report directly to Mr. Pei.

Anyone who had watched palace dramas knew that being able to speak directly to the emperor was a tremendous power in itself!

This meant that Slackin’ Delivery would finally no longer have to be subordinate to Slackin’ Internet Café, merely assisting and supporting it, but could break out of this framework and develop better!

As for the “Food Research Laboratory” and “fitness meals,” they had even deeper meaning.

The former indicated that Mr. Pei valued Slackin’ Delivery’s prospects highly, while the latter showed that Mr. Pei was willing to use other industries to support Slackin’ Delivery!

These three points conveyed a strong implication.

You may give it your all, and I will support you unconditionally!

Rui Yuchen couldn’t help feeling moved and became even more certain of his earlier thoughts!

Mr. Pei’s initial question did indeed have a second layer of meaning!

Slackin’ Delivery wasn’t profitable due to its operational model.

Healthy meals that didn’t focus on taste were inherently unpopular;

The costs of tableware damage, cleaning, disinfection, and recycling increased expenses, and only after reaching a certain scale would it be possible to recover these costs.

In Mr. Pei’s view, making money was only secondary for Slackin’ Delivery.

So, what was the primary goal?

Originally, Rui Yuchen was just guessing, but now he was completely certain.

Slackin’ Delivery’s primary goal was to guide consumers, enabling everyone to live a healthier lifestyle, starting with diet! Simultaneously, Tenda Group would position itself early in this process, laying a solid foundation for the development of various related industries in the future!

This goal was very likely established by Mr. Pei from the inception of Slackin’ Delivery, but due to funding issues and related industry concerns, conditions weren’t mature enough before, so naturally, there was no need to mention it to the person in charge of Slackin’ Delivery.

But now, the conditions seemed to have matured.

Now, Slackin’ Delivery had already grown to a considerable scale and had established a certain reputation among consumer groups.

If they continued to expand, and everyone established the concept of “healthy eating,” wouldn’t making money become a simple matter?

Indeed, the previous losses of Slackin’ Delivery had all been within Mr. Pei’s calculations!

Rui Yuchen wanted to shout: Mr. Pei, I understand! I understand why Slackin’ Delivery has been losing money, I understand the true meaning of this operational model!

But seeing the faint smile at the corner of Mr. Pei’s lips, Rui Yuchen felt this was unnecessary.

Mr. Pei already knew he would figure this out; it was just a matter of sooner or later.

Shouting about it now would make him seem lacking in sophistication.

As everyone knew, Mr. Pei disliked subordinates who constantly bragged about their accomplishments, and instead favored those who only discussed problems, not achievements, and worked diligently without fanfare.

After much deliberation, Rui Yuchen’s thousands of thoughts ultimately condensed into one sentence.

“Rest assured, Mr. Pei, I will complete the task beautifully and not disappoint your expectations!”

Pei Qian nodded with satisfaction.

Hmm, a promising talent!

…

Meanwhile.

Huang Sibo was lying on the couch at his residence. Having just finished watching a foreign film, he suddenly felt somewhat bored.

Looking at the date, it had been over a week since Fei Huang Studio officially went into “shock.”

The overseas release of “Beautiful Tomorrow” was still being arranged, and the domestic box office returns should be arriving soon.

Mr. Pei had scheduled a full four months of “shock” time for Fei Huang Studio. Only one week had passed, and Huang Sibo was already struggling to cope.

“It’s too boring staying at home…”

Although paid vacation sounded great, staying at home with nothing to do but watch movies every day could drive a person crazy!

Huang Sibo wanted to go to work, but he didn’t dare.

When Mr. Pei said Fei Huang Studio needed to go into shock, it had to go into shock.

If he were caught secretly working by Mr. Pei, the consequences would be unimaginable.

But maintaining this state for four months?

That would be worse than death!

Huang Sibo took out his phone and sent a message in the Fei Huang Studio group: “So bored!!!”

Soon, everyone responded.

“Yeah!”

“I’m watching four movies a day, I’m about to be sick of them.”

“I miss the days of filming ‘Beautiful Tomorrow.'”

“I miss it too. Filming was tiring but fun, and gave a sense of accomplishment. Now with paid vacation, I feel like I’m being spoiled to ruin.”

Everyone complained.

Huang Sibo silently sighed, realizing it wasn’t just his problem—everyone felt the same way!

Zhu Xiaocai: “Don’t be too quick to complain, everyone. I’ve been in deep thought these past few days and suddenly realized an issue.”

Huang Sibo was startled and quickly typed: “What issue?”

Zhu Xiaocai: “What Mr. Pei told us wasn’t ‘paid vacation’ but ‘shock.'”

Huang Sibo felt confused: “Is there a difference? We’re effectively on paid vacation right now.”

Zhu Xiaocai sent a “thinking” emoji: “No, no, no, of course there’s a difference.”

“Paid vacation means you’re tired from work, so you get some time to rest, and a week at most is enough.”

“But Mr. Pei gave us an insane four months.”

“For the rest, this is excessive.”

“That’s why Mr. Pei used the term ‘shock.'”

Huang Sibo was puzzled: “How do you explain ‘shock’?”

Zhu Xiaocai: “‘Shock therapy’ is an economic concept, meaning that when facing severely imbalanced economic conditions, the balance between social demand and supply is achieved through some harsh measures. These might cause social mechanisms to temporarily malfunction, but if used well, order can be quickly restored after the pain.”

“And our Fei Huang Studio is currently facing exactly this situation.”

Huang Sibo was confused: “I don’t think so? We don’t have any ‘severe imbalance,’ nor are we facing any severe problems…”

Zhu Xiaocai: “Think about it more carefully?”

“Is everyone’s mentality not imbalanced?”

“Me, a director who graduated just two years ago; Brother Huang, you just switched from the gaming industry not long ago; as for the others, although many are professionally trained, who among us has participated in such a successful film before?”

“Our studio has been making short dramas, and the first time we made a film, we achieved a box office of over 200 million, receiving both acclaim and commercial success.”

“Who dares say they haven’t gotten cocky? Who dares say their mentality hasn’t become imbalanced at all?”

“Doesn’t everyone feel that a 200 million box office doesn’t seem that hard, that it’s easily achievable?”

Everyone fell silent.

Huang Sibo calmed down and asked himself honestly, the point Director Zhu Xiaocai made seemed quite accurate.

Indeed, everyone had gotten a bit cocky!

But this was only human nature. Making over 200 million at the box office on their first film, and being praised in various ways—it would be difficult for any normal person not to get cocky.

Huang Sibo thought for a moment and typed: “What does this have to do with shock therapy?”

Zhu Xiaocai quickly replied in the group: “Think about it, what would happen if we prepared our next film with our current mentality?”

“The success of ‘Beautiful Tomorrow’ was, first, due to Mr. Pei’s good script; second, because the inspiration each of us had accumulated burst forth, allowing us to perform beyond our usual level during the filmmaking process; and finally, because it was our first time making a film, we were cautious and meticulous.”

“But what about now?”

“I don’t doubt that Mr. Pei could come up with another good script, but our accumulated inspiration has been depleted, and at the same time, we’ve become arrogant—we can’t maintain our previous mentality.”

“Making a film under these conditions would be a disaster!”

“Mr. Pei saw the severe imbalance in everyone’s mentality at Fei Huang Studio early on, so he decided to use shock therapy to make us reflect thoroughly and readjust our state of mind!”

These words were a wake-up call.

Huang Sibo suddenly felt this made a lot of sense!

He quickly asked: “So what should we do now? Stay at home and do nothing?”

Zhu Xiaocai: “Self-reflection and restoring our mentality is just one aspect. Another important aspect is replenishing inspiration.”

“In the film industry, effort without method is useless. Without inspiration, you can only make bad films that not only fail to earn money or acclaim but also burn money and invite criticism.”

“Only with abundant inspiration can we create better works.”

“So, we need to go for further studies!”