After several departments had completed their reports in turn, it was time for the Sloth Apartment management trainee.
“Recently, Mr. Liang has been carefully considering the details of the construction drawings and occasionally goes to the construction site to direct the work. To enhance environmental protection, he has meticulously selected wall paint and furniture. Last weekend, he briefly chatted with me about Fei Huang Studio…”
Hmm?
Pei Qian keenly sensed something wasn’t right.
Why would Liang Qingfan ask about Fei Huang Studio for no reason?
“What exactly did he say?” Pei Qian immediately asked.
The Sloth Apartment management trainee thought for a moment: “We chatted about Fei Huang Studio’s paid vacation. Mr. Liang expressed his envy, and as for the rest… that was it.”
Envious of Fei Huang Studio’s paid vacation?
Pei Qian’s furrowed brow relaxed slightly.
Good, having that mindset is a positive thing!
Liang Qingfan had just started working a few days ago and was already thinking about paid vacation. Truly a promising student!
But Pei Qian didn’t let his guard down and looked toward the Fei Huang Studio management trainee: “Has Liang Qingfan contacted Fei Huang Studio?”
The Fei Huang Studio management trainee looked completely confused: “Mr. Pei, the entire department is on vacation. If Liang Qingfan called them privately, I wouldn’t know… However, I’ve been on duty at the office recently, answering many incoming calls, and I can confirm that none of them were from someone identifying themselves as Mr. Liang.”
Pei Qian nodded slightly.
The possibility of Liang Qingfan calling Huang Sibo directly was low, after all, he had only been in Jingzhou for a short time and didn’t have many contacts with the department heads.
If Liang Qingfan had urgent business with Fei Huang Studio, he would most likely ask Pei Qian, right?
Since he hadn’t asked and hadn’t called Fei Huang Studio’s office… it seemed Liang Qingfan was just interested in the paid vacation and had casually asked a couple of questions?
Pei Qian had wanted to ask the management trainee why he hadn’t reported this immediately, but now it seemed such a small matter didn’t need immediate reporting; mentioning it at the management trainee meeting was fine.
Unable to find anything suspicious, Pei Qian signaled for the reports to continue.
It was the turn of Slackin’ Takeout’s management trainee.
“The newly opened stores are still losing money, but Director Rui doesn’t seem to mind much and is continuing to prepare to open new stores. In addition, the chefs from the Food Laboratory have been frequently visiting Nameless Restaurant lately, seemingly privately researching some high-end new dishes.”
Pei Qian was happy hearing the first part, but his brow furrowed again at the second part.
New dishes?
This seemed to be information he hadn’t previously been aware of.
But what did it mean that they were going to Mingyun Private Kitchen? Learning techniques for high-end dishes?
However, the dishes at Mingyun Private Kitchen required both exceptionally skilled chefs and many precious ingredients. How could they possibly be made for takeout?
A watered-down version?
It seemed the chances of success would not be very high.
Because Slackin’ Takeout’s affordable meals weren’t even breaking even yet, wouldn’t offering high-priced versions cause them to lose even more money?
After thinking for a moment, Pei Qian said, “Keep a close eye on this matter and report in detail next time.”
Pei Qian didn’t want to intervene; after all, this endeavor seemed likely to fail. If it did fail and Slackin’ Takeout burned through more money, Pei Qian would be more than happy.
Finally, it was time for Thriller Lodge’s management trainee. Overall, everything at Thriller Lodge was proceeding smoothly. Although the construction schedule for the Golden Maze was tight, there weren’t any major issues.
Pei Qian was a bit disappointed; he had thought Thriller Lodge might be delayed.
For him, it would be better if Thriller Lodge were delayed until the end of August or even early September. It wouldn’t affect the settlement period, and they would earn less money.
But there was nothing to be done. Chen Kangtuo and Mr. Li were eager to proceed, and at the current pace, they would officially open in early July.
Even if Pei Qian found an excuse to delay, he could only push it back by a week or two at most, not longer.
After all the management trainees had completed their reports, Pei Qian pondered for a moment and felt the current situation wasn’t too bad; there was still hope.
“Thank you all for your hard work. Keep it up!”
…
…
June 20, Monday.
At 9 a.m., Pei Qian had breakfast at Slackin’ Internet Café and was drinking coffee while considering his schedule for the week.
Today was the 20th, which was the day reserved each month for the exclusive booking of Mingyun Private Kitchen.
The people who would be dining at the reserved venue today had already been decided: the main creative team of “Beautiful Tomorrow.”
Yesterday, the international version of “Beautiful Tomorrow” had officially ended its run, with an overseas box office of 14 million dollars. However, Pei Qian didn’t need to panic yet, as the overseas box office returns would be much slower than domestic ones, certainly a matter for the next settlement period.
This final box office result had been hotly discussed online, with fans analyzing that it was probably influenced by various factors.
For instance, the impact of the post-credits scene in “Beautiful Tomorrow,” the fact that the Jury Prize was good but far less prestigious than the Palme d’Or, and that although overseas screenings had increased after a poor initial performance, the influence remained limited.
In any case, this box office performance wasn’t a huge success and fell slightly short of what many fans had expected.
But regardless, this box office had set the best overseas performance of the year, even in recent years, especially considering the cost of “Beautiful Tomorrow.” Domestic box office + overseas box office + online streaming – this was already a big profit.
So to celebrate, Lu Zhiyao, Zhang Zuting, and others wanted to take the opportunity to gather in Jingzhou again for another celebration.
Of course, Pei Qian suspected their true motive was to have a feast at Nameless Restaurant. Otherwise, why would they specifically come on the 20th?
Zhang Zuting was very clear that Mr. Pei had a booking allocation for Nameless Restaurant on the 20th.
Pei Qian couldn’t be bothered with their little schemes anymore. The only pity was that Thriller Lodge hadn’t been completed yet; otherwise, he would arrange for all of them to stay there, letting them first eat, then vomit.
He wanted them to know that if they lost money and came to freeload, that was fine, welcome with open arms. But if they earned money and came to freeload, then sorry, he would make sure they truly experienced the enthusiasm of the people of Jingzhou!
In addition, the competition in the esports field between Tenda Games and Shangyang Games had officially begun.
Shangyang Games had successfully persuaded several established domestic esports clubs to establish IOI divisions and had invited some foreign clubs to play in invitational tournaments.
Naturally, Tenda Games wasn’t to be outdone. Several domestic esports clubs had also established GOG divisions.
Some financially strong clubs chose to bet on both sides, having both the IOI and GOG teams, while poorer clubs could only choose one.
Currently, GOG and IOI each have their advantages. GOG had a larger player base domestically, while IOI had better prospects for future international competitions. As for Tenda, it seemed to favor GOG a bit more, but IOI’s China server repeatedly “rising from its deathbed” made people think that Tenda hadn’t completely abandoned the China server of IOI.
So, for the major clubs, the situation once again became confusing.
Pei Qian didn’t need to consider these matters now; things had just begun, and no clear trends could be seen yet.
His most perplexing problem now was whether or not to join Zhang Zuting, Lu Zhiyao, and the others for dinner.
If he went, he would probably be subjected to their flattery at the table. He could already imagine the potential remarks.
For example, Mr. Pei’s decision to use all-English voice acting showed incredible foresight; although the box office wasn’t very high, the film’s intellectual depth had conquered the world, and so on.
They would likely talk extensively about their experiences in Cannes.
There was no doubt about this. After all, Zhu Xiaocai had gone so far as to specifically thank Mr. Pei in the last paragraph of his acceptance speech. What was surprising about everyone taking a few more jabs at Mr. Pei at the dinner table?
But if he didn’t go, what excuse would be appropriate?
Busy with work?
Yes, using this universal excuse seemed good. After all, “Mr. Pei is busy with work” had become everyone’s consensus, a universal shield.
Pei Qian made up his mind and decided to use the “work escape.”
“Beautiful Tomorrow” was a beautiful mistake; it would be best if everyone forgot about each other and moved on.
As he was drinking his coffee, a familiar long face appeared in Pei Qian’s vision.
“Brother Qian! I knew you’d be here!” Ma Yang had a pleased “caught you” expression.
“Old Ma? Why are you here?” Pei Qian was taken aback.
Ma Yang was no longer involved with Slackin’ Internet Café. He was mainly responsible for Dreamrealization Venture Capital, working with Zhang Wang on the Fully Automated Argument Machine.
Originally, Ma Yang had spent some time at DGE Esports Club, but after being defeated 0-28, he rarely went there anymore.
Ma Yang sat down opposite Pei Qian, grinning: “Brother Qian, I’m here to apply for funding!”
“Oh? Apply for funding?” Pei Qian’s interest was piqued. “What’s wrong? Has the Fully Automated Argument Machine encountered problems in production?”
Ma Yang quickly shook his head: “No, no, no, the Fully Automated Argument Machine is being produced smoothly. It has no flaws besides not selling.”
“I’m here to apply for funding for the DGE Club. I heard from Zhang Yuan that recently, many clubs have approached DGE with invitations for practice matches. I was thinking, could we go to other esports clubs for friendly exchanges?”
Pei Qian laughed: “What, you’re not holding a grudge? Last time you got thrashed 0-28 by those gaming addicted teenagers.”
Ma Yang chuckled: “Brother Qian, that’s not fair. When have I ever been someone who holds grudges? I returned to Dreamrealization Venture Capital to continue helping share your burden! Absolutely not because I was accidentally killed a few times. Heaven and earth bear witness!”
Pei Qian couldn’t be bothered to expose him and asked: “If you want to go play practice matches with other teams, why didn’t Zhang Yuan come to apply for the funding himself?”
Ma Yang smiled: “Zhang Yuan was too embarrassed. DGE Esports Club has been purely spending money without earning a penny so far. He felt that applying for more funding to fly to various cities for practice matches seemed a bit excessive. He was too embarrassed to ask and thought online matches would be fine.”
Online matches?
Online matches would be absolutely zero cost. That definitely wouldn’t work!
Actually, for Pei Qian, it would be best not to have practice matches at all. Letting DGE Esports Club lounge around in the villa playing games by themselves would be the safest option.
But after their dazzling appearance at the opening ceremony of Slackin’ Internet Café’s Esports Lifestyle Hall, many people, especially some clubs interested in the GOG project, had become acquainted with this team.
When other clubs took the initiative to request practice matches, there was no reason to refuse.
Pei Qian pondered that since practice matches were unavoidable, he might as well go with the flow and find ways to spend more money.
Invite all the club teams to Jingzhou? Provide free food and accommodation?
No, that seemed inappropriate.
Inviting these clubs to Jingzhou was intended to spend more money, with the best food and accommodation arrangements. But what if the various clubs were deeply moved and completely misunderstood his intentions, then began to invest resources frantically into their GOG divisions?
Wouldn’t that cause IOI to fail again?
So, he couldn’t spend money that way!
After careful consideration, it seemed that having DGE Club’s members fly to the cities where each club was located to play practice matches was a better choice.
The expenses for food, accommodation, and airfare would still be the same, but it wouldn’t improve the goodwill of other clubs. They would just play practice matches, which wouldn’t affect the big picture.
Pei Qian nodded: “Good, approved. You, Zhang Yuan, Li Yaling, and that management trainee from the club, plus all the team members, go to the cities of other clubs to play practice matches. Just follow Tenda’s internal travel standards. All expenses will be covered!”
Ma Yang happily gave a thumbs up: “I knew Brother Qian would understand and agree!”
“I’ll go tell Zhang Yuan the good news right away!”