Thunderous applause filled the hall.
Tang Yishu bowed deeply with some embarrassment, then quickly left the stage.
When she reached backstage, she accidentally tripped over some cables on the floor, but fortunately, she was prepared and grabbed the nearby curtain, avoiding a mishap.
The students below the stage hadn’t seen this incident. They continued applauding while absorbing the content of the speech.
“That makes a lot of sense. The most precious wealth isn’t money, but attention?”
“Encouraging us to use this money to better improve ourselves and better utilize our attention is indeed better than simply encouraging thrift, saving, or ‘buying what you like’!”
“No wonder Mr. Pei is so successful—it’s not just luck!”
“Did anyone record it?”
“I did. I’ll go back and transcribe it into text to post on the campus forum, so I can understand it better!”
The students had initially thought this lecture would be like many other lectures about wealth, focusing on “how to use money.”
This was indeed what most people thought of when discussing “wealth.”
But Mr. Pei’s letter provided a completely new perspective: knowing how to utilize one’s attention, because in reality, people create wealth with their attention.
Something more terrible than squandering money is squandering one’s attention, because squandering money only causes you to lose the money at hand, while squandering attention damages your ability to create value.
The speech was brief, without long-winded arguments or rigid preaching. It simply provided a fresh perspective that many people might not have noticed, making it easier for ordinary people to accept.
…
…
June 29th, Wednesday.
Tenda Group Human Resources Department.
Wu Bin and Cui Geng were organizing recent materials.
They had a clear division of labor: Wu Bin was responsible for collecting materials and determining interview subjects, while Cui Geng was responsible for transcribing recordings and systematically organizing them.
These materials would become resources for interpreting the Tenda spirit and would also serve as a record of Mr. Pei’s approach to handling matters.
“Mr. Pei’s recent speech seems to be very popular on Handong University’s campus forum. Should we consider adding it to our materials?” Cui Geng asked.
Wu Bin considered for a moment and shook his head: “No rush.”
“The influence of this speech is currently limited to the student community at Handong University. Strictly speaking, this speech only contains theory without specific examples, so its persuasiveness would be much weaker.”
“The most crucial point is that this speech might not have been written by Mr. Pei.”
“Although Mr. Pei could certainly write such a speech effortlessly, he’s too busy. This speech might have been delegated to Assistant Xin.”
Cui Geng thought for a moment: “But even if Assistant Xin wrote it, it would still express Mr. Pei’s ideas, more or less.”
Wu Bin considered: “Hmm… that’s true. Anyway, we can take this into consideration, but we must carefully verify it. After all, what we’re writing is meant to annotate the Tenda spirit, so we must ensure it’s well-founded.”
The two were not making fast progress; in fact, they were moving quite slowly.
This was because they needed to use specific examples to interpret Mr. Pei’s thinking and the Tenda spirit, and they had to avoid ambiguous interpretations. All content had to be verifiable.
For instance, Mr. Li’s evaluation could serve as evidence.
Some specific examples of Mr. Pei’s actions could also serve as evidence.
Combining these two types of evidence would make the content more authentic and credible.
But a speech alone, without finding appropriate supporting evidence, was not quite suitable for inclusion in their booklet.
“Time to go.”
Wu Bin checked his watch. They had scheduled an interview with Liang Qingfan today, and it was about time to leave.
Wu Bin had carefully selected the interviewees.
Mr. Li from Fuhui Capital represented the perspective of Mr. Pei’s business competitor and partner, while Liang Qingfan represented the perspective of an elite from another field who had just begun collaborating with Mr. Pei.
Among all the department heads, Liang Qingfan had spent the least time with Mr. Pei, so this first impression might provide some insights.
…
Half an hour later, Wu Bin and Cui Geng arrived at Building 9 in Binhu Residential Area.
There were two buildings under intense construction. From the outside, the buildings, which seemed to have been uninhabited for several years, looked very dilapidated. Construction teams were working intently, with occasional noises from drills, wall demolition, and other construction activities.
After waiting for two minutes downstairs, Liang Qingfan, wearing a safety helmet, came down from upstairs.
After handing the safety helmet to a worker on site, Liang Qingfan smiled at Wu Bin and Cui Geng and said, “The construction site is too messy. Let’s go to the nearby park.”
The three arrived at the artificial lake in the park and sat down on a bench.
Wu Bin said, “Mr. Liang, we’re here today mainly to interview you about your impression of Mr. Pei.”
Wu Bin had previously contacted Liang Qingfan by phone, so both were prepared for today’s discussion.
Liang Qingfan gazed at the rippling water and sighed: “Honestly, I still can’t understand Mr. Pei at all so far.”
Wu Bin smiled: “That’s alright, it’s normal.”
“If Mr. Pei could be so easily understood, he wouldn’t be Mr. Pei.”
“We seek different interviewees precisely to collect impressions of Mr. Pei from different groups, and then combine all these impressions to obtain a complete and comprehensive image.”
“Previously, we interviewed Mr. Pei’s business competitors and partners, which was very insightful.”
“For us, being internal employees who have worked under Mr. Pei for a long time, we can only see one side of Mr. Pei.”
“You’ve just joined Tenda Group and haven’t worked with Mr. Pei for long. Your first impression will provide us with some insights.”
Liang Qingfan nodded: “Alright, I’ll briefly share.”
“One thing I can confirm so far is that some of Mr. Pei’s concepts highly align with mine, or rather, with those of some excellent designers. In other words, Mr. Pei is a person who pursues perfection.”
“This has already been demonstrated in the renovation process of Sloth Apartments.”
Liang Qingfan briefly described the renovation design situation of the Sloth Apartment buildings so far, especially emphasizing Mr. Pei’s behavior of resolutely sacrificing many practical attributes and residential properties to achieve the ultimate effect in pursuing an “extremely minimalist style.”
“Including these current buildings, it’s the same.”
“Mr. Pei’s thinking is opposite to ordinary people. When ordinary people choose houses, they pay more attention to the location and appreciation potential of the house. As for renovation, they often save where possible, after all, these are meant for rent, not for themselves.”
“But Mr. Pei is exactly the opposite. He doesn’t seem to value the location and appreciation potential of the house, but spends so much on renovation that it’s nearly half the value of the house itself.”
“I believe this fully demonstrates that Mr. Pei’s pursuit of artistry is ultimate and endless.”
“Mr. Pei himself is very fond of this minimalist style, so he has incorporated his personal preferences into the Sloth Apartment project.”
“Although this has a great chance of leading to failure, Mr. Pei doesn’t intend to compromise but insists on his demands for ultimate art…”
Hearing this, Wu Bin’s brows furrowed slightly.
Liang Qingfan keenly noticed this and stopped, waiting for Wu Bin’s response.
Wu Bin pondered for a long time and said: “But… this contradicts Mr. Li’s description.”
“According to Mr. Li, Mr. Pei is a calm, even cold person. This calmness allows Mr. Pei to think about problems and make correct decisions objectively and rationally in any situation.”
“In other words, Mr. Pei’s choice of this extreme minimalist style should be based on business considerations. He must believe that this approach can achieve greater success.”
“Moreover, Mr. Li’s conclusion is supported by many cases, so it should be quite credible.”
Liang Qingfan remained silent for a moment: “I believe it’s almost impossible for the Sloth Apartment model to achieve ‘greater success.’ At most, it can only be a small but beautiful project that gains reputation.”
Wu Bin fell into deep thought.
Both sides seemed to make sense.
Seeing the interview at an impasse, Cui Geng said: “Perhaps… these two impressions of Mr. Pei don’t conflict? Maybe both are aspects of Mr. Pei, but they’re perfectly integrated in a way we can’t see?”
“Just like how Mr. Pei always manages to turn things around and make many seemingly impossible projects explode in popularity overnight.”
Wu Bin nodded: “Hmm… that makes sense!”
“These two contradictory viewpoints might be worth studying further…”
…
…
July 1st, Friday.
The Thriller Lodge project was officially completed!
Pei Qian stood at the entrance of the old industrial zone—no, it should now be called the Thriller Lodge—with complex emotions.
When he had visited previously, the entire project was under intense construction, with scaffolding and various building materials everywhere. It was a bustling construction site, and the changes weren’t very noticeable.
But now, the Thriller Lodge and its surrounding supporting facilities were fully completed, ready to receive visitors!
Although Pei Qian had mentally prepared himself, he was still visually shocked.
In just a few months, the changes were so dramatic!
This was probably the astonishment brought by the “infrastructure building miracles.”
Of course, the main reason Pei Qian had such thoughts was due to Mr. Li and others’ interference, which had completely disrupted his original plan.
Pei Qian’s original idea was simply to build a haunted house in some corner of the desolate, dilapidated old industrial zone that no one would visit, just to lose money.
But Mr. Li and other investors had built supporting facilities around the haunted house and also renovated the surrounding ground, instantly changing the situation.
Pei Qian felt uncertain.
Looking at how promising everything appeared, could he still lose money?
After working so hard for two cycles, it would be terrible if it all came to nothing in the end…
Pei Qian silently sighed and stepped forward.