This Mr. Li keeps springing new surprises on me every so often!
In the past, when he caused trouble for me, at least he would tell me directly.
Now he’s gone straight ahead and arranged everything with my treacherous subordinates?
Is there any justice?
Is there any law?
Is anyone in charge here?
Pei Qian was furious because he didn’t want this income!
If the system didn’t forbid it, he would have made tickets to the entire Frightening Hostel free. Now he was inexplicably being gifted a shopping mall plus fifty percent of all the profits inside—this was no different from a bolt from the blue!
Though selling merchandise could indeed make money, Pei Qian had no intention of selling anything!
Now he was being forced into it.
Anyone could rent these spaces in the old industrial zone. Mr. Li and his group could easily open their shops in good locations. Although they couldn’t sell items related to the Frightening Hostel’s copyright, they could still sell many other products. As long as there was foot traffic, they could make money just the same.
But now, with everyone opening shops and selling together, from Mr. Li’s perspective, although the investors were at a disadvantage in the profit-sharing ratio, as long as they could expand the overall business, everyone would win in terms of total volume.
But Pei Qian didn’t see it that way—wasn’t this just a huge chunk of profit being unexpectedly forced on him?
Infuriating.
Fortunately, Pei Qian was a seasoned veteran and quickly calmed down.
“Looking at it from another angle, from the beginning, the Frightening Hostel was a project aimed at making losses. If the Frightening Hostel doesn’t make money, then naturally the shopping mall inside won’t make money either, so there’s nothing to worry about.”
“Conversely, if the mall makes money, it means the Frightening Hostel itself has become popular and earned even more in ticket sales…”
“It’s just a difference between fifty steps and a hundred steps, so there seems to be no point in getting hung up about it.”
Pei Qian tried hard to convince himself, but after a long time, his efforts had little effect.
Endure for a moment and feel increasingly cheated; retreat a step and feel increasingly angry!
This backstabbing from Mr. Li could not go unavenged!
Pei Qian struggled to maintain his composure and said to the loss manager from the Frightening Hostel: “Tell me more about the cooperation plan.”
The loss manager said, “Mr. Li and the other investors have already leased an old factory building in a good location. Their proposal is that they’ll pay the rent and renovation costs, while we provide the renovation design.”
Hearing this, Pei Qian pondered thoughtfully, seemingly finding a breakthrough.
“Do you have the rendering of the renovation?”
The loss manager took out his phone: “Yes, Mr. Pei, please take a look.”
Pei Qian reached out to take it and checked the rendering on the phone.
It featured a standard high-end shopping mall decoration style with soft lighting, a clean environment, shelves full of dazzling products, tourists coming and going while selecting merchandise, and enthusiastic sales ladies introducing products to visitors…
Indeed, the rendering even depicted numerous tourists, which made Pei Qian feel a painful sting, as if he was already witnessing the scene of this shopping mall bustling with customers.
Absolutely unacceptable!
Just imagine—tourists who had been frightened in the haunted house would be at their most mentally vulnerable. Upon entering this shopping mall, they would instantly feel like they’d entered heaven, sweeping away all previous fear. Surrounded by an overwhelming sense of security, wouldn’t they go crazy with shopping and buying?
Pei Qian considered for a moment and said: “This renovation plan is absolutely unacceptable and needs major changes! It hasn’t started construction yet, right?”
The loss manager nodded: “Not yet, Mr. Pei. This is just the initial draft of the renovation plan. It will probably undergo several more modifications, and formal construction should start at the end of the month.”
Pei Qian looked at the time—still a week to go. With a bit of effort, the designers should have no problem coming up with a new plan.
“The current renovation plan is too plain. It should follow the decoration standards of overseas luxury malls—it must be magnificently opulent and resplendently golden, as expensive as possible!”
“Of course, to ensure the construction schedule, don’t choose materials that are too complicated. Just make it expensive, and customers will feel our sincerity.”
“Also, this mall style is too common, completely lacking any originality, and inconsistent with the Frightening Hostel’s theme.”
“Transform the entire mall into a maze, hide all the stores selling merchandise within the maze, so that most customers inadvertently exit through the exit after entering, unable to even find the stores.”
“Hmm, don’t spread this around. I’ll talk to Chen Kangtuo myself.”
Pei Qian again emphasized that the loss manager’s identity must not be exposed.
As for why he chose such a design plan, the reason was simple: make Mr. Li and his group bleed more money while selling as little as possible!
Renovations were already expensive, and now turning it into a maze with walls throughout the mall would cause construction costs to skyrocket.
Hmph, serves you right for messing with me!
Since you’re letting Tenda provide the design while you pay for the renovation, don’t blame me for being ruthless!
If I don’t make you suffer a big loss, won’t you just keep bothering me endlessly in the future?
The main issue was that these investors kept following along—wherever Mr. Pei invested, they followed, turning many originally unprofitable projects into profitable ones. Where could he even complain about this?
This time, by making Mr. Li and his group bleed heavily and suffer a big loss, the myth of Mr. Pei’s invincible investments would be shattered, and this group would naturally disperse.
Then, Mr. Pei could happily lose money in some quiet, obscure corner in peace.
Soon, all the loss managers had completed their reports.
Summarizing the content of today’s meeting, Pei Qian felt genuinely heartened from the bottom of his heart.
Great! The loss management system was showing initial results!
Without these loss managers, Pei Qian wouldn’t have known about the latest developments in Slackin’ food delivery’s fitness meals, nor would he have known about the situation with the Frightening Hostel.
With the loss managers in place, Mr. Pei had stronger control over various projects, and all those subtle clues about potential profits could no longer escape Mr. Pei’s eyes!
Of course, for some events that had already occurred, it was difficult to make changes even after knowing about them.
But regardless, compared to before, this was already great progress!
Pei Qian was very satisfied: “Everyone has done an excellent job. Please keep up the good work!”
…
…
May 22nd, Sunday evening.
Yesterday afternoon, Pei Qian had already written emails to Chen Kangtuo, Guo Licheng, and Rui Yuchen, briefly expressing his opinions on fitness meals and the Frightening Hostel shopping mall, scheduled to be sent Monday morning.
This way, they could receive the new emails promptly after starting work, without delaying their tasks.
As for why wait until Monday to send them…
It was because Mr. Pei never encouraged overtime work. If he sent emails to employees on Saturday, what if they misunderstood his intentions?
They might think: “Wow, Mr. Pei is still working on Saturday, how can we be so idle? Quick, let’s work harder!”
That would be counterproductive.
Today was Sunday. Pei Qian had comfortably basked in the sun in the large living room in the morning, played games on the big TV in the afternoon and evening, feeling that life was very fulfilling.
So far, the entire building still had only Pei Qian himself as a real resident.
He had hired one housekeeper and two cleaners, though the three of them were severely underworked.
But Pei Qian didn’t mind this—it was better if no one else came to live here.
Looking at the time, it was already past 10 PM. Pei Qian wondered if he should also adjust his biological clock and go to bed earlier.
Previously, when changing the schedule for the internet-addicted youths at the DGE club, Pei Qian had researched many harmful effects of staying up late, and the more he read, the more guilty he felt.
After all, ensuring good health was essential for losing money more effectively.
Otherwise, if his health collapsed and he was bedridden, department heads would visit him in the hospital every day, bringing a succession of good news: today some department made tens of millions in profits, tomorrow some film won numerous awards, the day after that some game became popular worldwide…
Wouldn’t Mr. Pei foam at the mouth right there in his hospital bed?
So Pei Qian thought, to better outwit these treacherous subordinates, he must take good care of his health, sleep early and rise early, and eat healthily.
“Good, time to wash up and go to bed!”
Pei Qian enjoyed a nice bath, brushed his teeth, and took his phone to lie down in bed.
After setting an alarm for 8 AM the next morning, Pei Qian placed his phone on the bedside table, touched the control panel by the bed to turn off the lights in the bedroom, and made the glass opaque to block out all external light.
However, just as he was starting to feel drowsy, his phone made a “ding” sound, a notification from the chat app.
Pei Qian: “…”
Who is it! So late at night and not sleeping!
Early to bed and early to rise, don’t you understand the concept of healthy living?
Pei Qian was very annoyed. He wanted to ignore it, but couldn’t control his curiosity.
No choice but to pick up the phone and check, thinking that if it wasn’t important information, he wouldn’t reply.
Ruan Guangjian: “Mr. Pei, you’re watching too, right?”
Pei Qian squinted his eyes, fuming with anger.
What do you mean by only saying half? What am I watching?
Very annoyed, but still typed back: “Watching what?”
Ruan Guangjian quickly replied: “The livestream of the Cannes Film Festival, of course.”
Pei Qian:?
The livestream of the Cannes Film Festival? What does that have to do with me?
This late at night, why would I bother watching those foreigners giving awards to art films I’ll never watch in my lifetime?
Pei Qian didn’t want to reply anymore. He thought about sending a random emoji to end the conversation and then going to sleep.
What emoji should he send?
“Smile” seemed a bit too impolite, while “grin” seemed a bit too undignified…
So he decided on “cool”—the universal response emoji.
However, before Pei Qian could send this emoji, Ruan Guangjian’s message came through first.
Ruan Guangjian: “‘A Better Tomorrow’ is participating in the Cannes Film Festival selection. Director Zhu Xiaocai and Lu Zhiyao have all gone to the venue. They might even win an award… Mr. Pei, you’re not watching?”
Pei Qian: “[Cool]”
Ruan Guangjian: “[Laughing Crying][Laughing Crying][Laughing Crying]”
Ruan Guangjian: “Mr. Pei, you’re pretending again, with such a twisted sense of humor? You’re watching and seem very confident, yet you’re pretending not to care.”
“Fine, I won’t disturb you then. Let’s wait patiently for the awards ceremony together.”
Pei Qian: “?”
I misclicked, understand? Misclicked!
This emoji didn’t mean what you think; I was purely trying to end the conversation!
Wait.
“A Better Tomorrow” is participating in the Cannes Film Festival???
Pei Qian instantly realized that things might not be as simple as he had imagined.
He quickly searched online for the time and found that the final awards announcement would not be revealed until early morning.
Pei Qian: “…”
After a long silence, Pei Qian quietly placed his phone back on the bedside table.
“Definitely not watching!”
“Whether it’s good fortune or misfortune, what’s destined can’t be avoided. Whether I watch or not, the award results won’t change, so I might as well not watch. After all, when I wake up tomorrow morning, no good news will be the best news!”
Pei Qian checked the alarm once more, then tossed his phone onto the bedside table and covered his head with the blanket.