June 6th, Monday.

At 9 AM, Pei Qian woke up naturally.

The weekend gaming experience with Ruan Guangjian had dampened his spirits for the past couple of days. He felt a bit withdrawn at home and didn’t want to go to work.

After getting up and washing up, Pei Qian took two small cakes and a box of milk from the refrigerator, planning to eat something quick before continuing the game he hadn’t finished yesterday.

Since his room was in a minimalist style, otherwise known as the “bare walls style,” Pei Qian could only eat at the small tea table next to the large balcony.

This small tea table was one of the few remaining pieces of furniture in the entire living room, accompanied by two small chairs. Its main purpose was for enjoying the outside view and drinking tea.

The two small cakes were quickly consumed. Pei Qian tossed the garbage into the trash bin and forgot about it—after all, there was cleaning service.

Just as he sat down on the sofa and picked up the controller, the doorbell rang.

“Hmm?” Pei Qian was startled and got up to open the door.

The house manager stood at the door, holding a square box: “Mr. Pei, this is a delivery sent to you from Dream Fulfillment Venture Capital. Would you like me to bring it in for you?”

The house manager’s name was Song Kai, 26 years old. He had previous experience working as a property manager at a housing rental company. He was a candidate selected by Assistant Xin, and so far had performed his duties well.

Of course, there wasn’t much work to begin with.

Since coming to Sloth Apartments, Song Kai often found himself questioning his existence due to boredom.

Pei Qian considered that if Liang Qingfan was the only person in charge of Sloth Apartments, she obviously wouldn’t be able to handle everything. Even if this project never took off, each building would still need managers and cleaning staff.

As long as the building had even one resident, at least one cleaner would need to be hired.

As more houses were built, these tasks certainly couldn’t be left to Liang Qingfan alone, right? After all, she was an architect responsible for design work and on-site construction supervision.

So, Pei Qian thought about observing Song Kai for a few days. If he found this person to be decent, he would have him double as the person in charge of Sloth Apartments, assisting Liang Qingfan and helping out.

“Open it up, just hand me the contents,” Pei Qian said.

Song Kai opened the box, took out the square black box inside, and handed it to Mr. Pei.

Pei Qian reached out to take it and found that the thing was quite heavy, more than he had imagined, but not so heavy that he couldn’t carry it.

This was the improved version of the Automatic Contrarian Machine, and Zhang Wang had arranged for someone to mail it directly to Pei Qian’s residence.

Song Kai thoughtfully closed the door and took away the empty box.

Pei Qian, meanwhile, stood in the living room holding the Automatic Contrarian Machine, looking around bewildered.

There was nowhere to put it!

The device wasn’t exactly large, but it wasn’t small either. It was too big to be placed on a bookshelf as a decorative item, but too small to serve as a cabinet in the corner of the room or next to the TV stand, which would look odd.

In short, this peculiar size made Pei Qian extremely satisfied.

After looking around, Pei Qian decided to place it on the small tea table where he had eaten breakfast earlier.

To be honest, it fit quite well. Sitting in the chair beside it, one could easily reach it, making the “contrarian” operation very convenient.

“Very good, Zhang Wang. I’ll trust you one more time. If this project can successfully help me lose money, I’ll invest in all your future projects!”

The system had limitations regarding excess inventory. It wouldn’t allow mindless, endless production when inventory was piling up, but stockpiling two or three thousand units shouldn’t be a problem.

In other words, as long as this project met Pei Qian’s expectations and the Automatic Contrarian Machines didn’t sell, having two or three thousand units in storage would easily burn through several million yuan.

Pei Qian began to carefully examine the Automatic Contrarian Machine, in which he had placed such high hopes.

Compared to the prototype Zhang Wang had made earlier, the new Automatic Contrarian Machine was several times larger. It was pure black with a matte finish, but had bright gold trim along some edges, giving it a low-key yet luxurious feel.

Pei Qian first tried out the “contrarian” operation.

Each time he made a contrarian move, the Automatic Contrarian Machine would counter it, returning the entire machine to its original state.

If he made multiple contrarian moves in succession, the Automatic Contrarian Machine would restore the raised metal rods in the appropriate order. Until complete restoration, it would remain in a “continuous contrarian” state.

During this time, the box would display a reading through a purely mechanical method. Once all the rods were restored, the “continuous contrarian” state would end, and the number on the box would reset to zero, returning to its pure black box state.

Beyond this, Pei Qian also noticed that the materials inside the box seemed to have been upgraded. The Y-shaped rods had become golden, and their design appeared to have been reworked, giving them a meticulously crafted quality.

After all, the cost had doubled from 200 to 400 yuan, and all that extra cost had gone into these useless details.

Pei Qian played with it for two minutes before losing interest.

Who would pay 488 yuan for such a useless thing? They’d have to be completely out of their mind!

First, it had absolutely no practical purpose.

Second, it was just a pure black box with gold trim. Even with its matte texture, not many people would use it as a decorative item. After all, you could buy much more attractive decorative items at the same price.

Pei Qian was very satisfied and immediately called He Desheng.

“I’ve received the Automatic Contrarian Machine, and it works great. Transfer the money immediately and start mass production! Hmm… doesn’t it get cheaper the more you make? Then let’s prepare twenty thousand units first!”

The first batch would produce twenty thousand units. If they all remained in storage, eight million yuan would be gone in an instant.

Of course, if initial sales were poor, Pei Qian would consider increasing inventory further, but exactly how much more would depend on the system’s mood.

Regardless, it’s fair to say that Pei Qian had high hopes for this Automatic Contrarian Machine that Zhang Wang had developed upon his strong comeback!

…

…

June 7th, dinner time.

Mingcloud Private Kitchen.

“Mingcloud Private Kitchen” was the internal name used within Tenda. The official name to the outside world was “Nameless Restaurant,” and it was much talked about because its name couldn’t be found anywhere online.

Two tall blonde women arrived at the front door of the villa.

“Alina, I had no idea this place would be so remote… If I had known, I wouldn’t have come with you.”

“Come on, Jessica. This reservation was made by a very good local friend of mine two months in advance. It’s my first time here too. I think, regardless of whether this restaurant lives up to its local reputation, we should eat before complaining.”

“Fine, but if the food here isn’t good, I won’t be happy about it.”

“You don’t need to tell me that, I feel the same way.”

The two were conversing in English, speaking softly while casually walking inside.

A server in the main hall noticed this and immediately approached them, saying in fluent English: “Hello, welcome. Are you Miss Alina and Miss Jessica?”

The reservation system at Mingcloud Private Kitchen had both advantages and disadvantages.

The disadvantage was that anyone who wanted to dine there had to make a reservation one to two months in advance. To enjoy a meal, one had to wait a long time.

But this also brought some benefits. For instance, the number of daily diners was fixed, so Mingcloud Private Kitchen never felt crowded, ensuring privacy for customers during their meals. At the same time, servers could match each guest approximately to their reservation and make some preparations in advance.

This time, Lin Canrong had specially arranged for a server who had previously worked as a simultaneous interpreter at a well-known place in Jingzhou.

This young man’s name was Jia Nuo, with the English name Lucas. He had worked as a simultaneous interpreter for several years and was quite famous locally in Jingzhou. However, he had been worried about his career prospects because although simultaneous interpretation paid well, it was too exhausting, so he had considered changing careers.

The salary Lin Canrong offered this young man was 40,000 yuan per month. He only needed to serve when foreign customers came to dine, with a maximum of eight receptions per month. Extra pay would be provided if this number were exceeded.

This price seemed high, but compared to Jia Nuo’s original work as a simultaneous interpreter, it wasn’t that much.

Previously, Jia Nuo had mainly served foreign companies, with a standard rate of 8,000 yuan per day. However, this was calculated based on an 8-hour workday. For meetings of about 4 hours, he would typically charge between 4,000 and 5,000 yuan.

This was 2011, after all. In a few more years, his rates would likely be even higher.

Some people who didn’t understand might calculate that, based on 22 working days per month, Jia Nuo’s monthly salary should be 100,000 yuan, but that’s not how it worked.

Simultaneous interpretation was very exhausting work. When responsible for a large commercial conference, one had to do a lot of preparation work in advance, sometimes preparing for one or two weeks, consuming a lot of time and energy. Continuous work took a massive toll on one’s health.

Although Jia Nuo’s hourly rate seemed high, his actual annual income was only around 400,000 to 500,000 yuan.

So, Jia Nuo accepted Lin Canrong’s invitation. On one hand, he would have a stable monthly salary—if by chance there were no customers in a given month, he could just stay at home and still earn 40,000 yuan. Even if he had to serve more than eight times in a month, Manager Lin would pay extra according to the standard rates for simultaneous interpretation—it was a win-win situation.

As for Lin Canrong, he believed that finding such a professional was very necessary.

Although it would be somewhat costly during times when no foreign friends visited, Jia Nuo, as a server at Mingcloud Private Kitchen, would need to specially learn food and beverage English vocabulary, memorize various menu items and details, and undergo specialized service training, including etiquette, wording, facial expression management, and so on.

For Lin Canrong, paying a base salary of 40,000 yuan for this was quite reasonable.

Moreover, the quality of translation could vary dramatically.

Fine dining emphasized the unity of appearance, aroma, and taste, and dish names were given as poetically as possible. When explaining to foreign friends, there was a world of difference between simply conveying the meaning and translating it elegantly and accurately.

Jessica, hearing this fluent English and seeing Jia Nuo’s handsome appearance, immediately smiled.

It can only be said that this is a world where appearances matter…

Jia Nuo led the two to the largest private room. The tableware and chairs on the dining table had already been arranged for two people, and the decorations in the room had also been changed.

The dishes had also been ordered in advance, so there was no menu.

Most of the dishes at Mingcloud Private Kitchen used special ingredients, and some dishes even had dozens of procedures that needed to be prepared in advance, so it wasn’t possible to order and eat immediately.

Alina smiled and said, “Lucas, the friend who made the reservation for us said they ordered two of your most complex and uniquely flavored dishes, which are also new items this month. I hope that’s not an exaggeration.”

“My friend Jessica here has always had some prejudice against Chinese food. I’m looking forward to you helping me change her mind today.”