About half an hour after Xiao Peng left, someone else knocked on the door.

Pei Qian looked up and saw Ma Yang.

“Brother Qian!” Ma Yang looked to be in good spirits. “I’ve come today to report two things!”

Hmm?

Pei Qian couldn’t help feeling surprised. Old Ma’s brain could report two things simultaneously?

Not bad, not bad, Old Ma had made great progress!

“Sure, go ahead.” Pei Qian was very pleased.

Ma Yang chuckled, deliberately creating suspense: “And, Brother Qian, these two things are connected!”

Pei Qian: “?”

Hearing the word “connected,” he instantly became vigilant!

What Pei Qian feared most now was different departments creating connections with each other.

It wasn’t frightening when a single department did something, but it was frightening when what they did affected other departments, forming a linkage—that would be a big problem!

Pei Qian immediately reined in his smile: “Tell me quickly.”

Ma Yang completely failed to notice the change in Pei Qian’s expression and still cheerfully said, “The first thing is that the DGE Club is ready. Tomorrow or the day after, we can officially depart to play practice matches with other clubs in China that already have GOG teams!”

Pei Qian nodded. This could be considered good news.

Flying all over the country, spending money on accommodation and food, and no matter how many practice matches they played, the DGE Club still couldn’t participate in the league, wouldn’t become famous, and naturally wouldn’t have prize money or popularity.

Ma Yang continued: “I’ll also depart with the DGE Club members, working with coaches Zhang Yuan and Ya Ling to provide logistical support for the team members!”

Pei Qian nodded. Hmm, that made him feel even more at ease!

One more person meant one more mouth to feed, and with Old Ma’s appetite, where one person ate like two, they would spend more funds.

Moreover, with Old Ma’s “profound” understanding of games, he might subtly influence the team members, indirectly lowering the average level of the entire team.

Ma Yang continued: “The second thing, uh… what was it again?”

He scratched his head, trying hard to remember.

Pei Qian was filled with respect.

Forgetting one out of just two things? Old Ma’s skills were truly improving!

“Oh, right!”

Ma Yang clapped his hands: “I discussed with Zhang Wang and we’re planning to bring several Automatic Contradiction Machines along with us. On one hand, they can help our club members practice their hand speed, and on the other hand, they can be given as gifts to other clubs.”

“I think the Automatic Contradiction Machine is very suitable for team members who rely on hand speed for their livelihood as a device for practicing hand speed!”

Pei Qian: “?”

How is this still going on endlessly?

This Zhang Wang was using any means necessary to find a market for the Automatic Contradiction Machine!

If I were slightly careless, wouldn’t you have succeeded?

Now Pei Qian understood why the Shared Phone Booth could succeed. This Zhang Wang appeared to be bronze on the surface, but was at least diamond.

He seemed to have no schemes, but was constantly thinking of ways to find markets behind the scenes!

Zhang Wang as a great inventor satisfied Pei Qian very much.

But Zhang Wang as an enthusiastic salesman made Pei Qian very dissatisfied!

“No!” Pei Qian flatly refused.

Ma Yang was startled: “Huh? Brother Qian, it’s just one Automatic Contradiction Machine. It doesn’t cost much money, so there’s no harm in giving it out as a gift, right?”

Pei Qian inwardly scoffed. No harm?

Do you know how many times I’ve suffered because I thought there was “no harm”?

This time, I will not be careless!

Pei Qian knew that now he had to be clear. Just telling Zhang Wang “don’t worry about promotion” was no longer enough. He needed to take a harder stance.

Otherwise, as more and more Automatic Contradiction Machines were produced, Zhang Wang would continue to find new markets!

Pei Qian coughed lightly and said, “The reason I can’t reveal it for now.”

“But, the Automatic Contradiction Machine is indeed related to a very big, very long-term plan. It’s the most crucial part of the entire plan.”

“Moreover, it can only serve its intended purpose if consumers learn about it at that specific time point.”

“If exposed too early, it won’t achieve the effect I want.”

“In other words, promoting the Automatic Contradiction Machine at the wrong time won’t work and will disrupt my entire plan.”

“So, you and Zhang Wang must remember to keep your mouths shut and not ruin my plan!”

Pei Qian had no idea what his “plan” actually was.

Anyway, the so-called “long-term planning” could be said to be three years, five years, or ten years.

Don’t ask. If asked, the answer was that arrangements were made long ago, it couldn’t be disclosed, and patience was needed.

Ma Yang showed a look of sudden understanding, then nodded: “So that’s it! Since Brother Qian already has plans for this thing, I’m reassured.”

“Alright, Brother Qian, I’ll go pack my bags and prepare to depart!”

Pei Qian nodded: “Mm, take good care of the team members. If you encounter any difficulties, contact me immediately. We absolutely cannot let the team members suffer when they’re away, understand?”

Ma Yang immediately agreed: “Don’t worry, Brother Qian, just you wait and see!”

For some reason, seeing Ma Yang pat his chest, Pei Qian had a feeling that “it’s settled.”

Another hour passed, and Pei Qian was considering whether he could leave work, when once again someone knocked on the door.

This time it was a rare visitor.

The person in charge of the Scholar Express project, Yu Pingan.

Pei Qian instantly became vigilant.

The less frequent a visitor came to report, the bigger the problem usually was!

“Is there any issue with Scholar Express?” Pei Qian asked casually.

Yu Pingan seemed somewhat embarrassed, deliberating for two seconds before opening his mouth: “Mr. Pei, Scholar Express’s current state is not very optimistic. I… I’d like to hear your thoughts.”

Hmm?

Pei Qian instantly perked up.

Scholar Express’s state is not very optimistic. This was good news!

Hadn’t it been quite successful in backstabbing me before? Even helping Palpitation Hotel with advertising?

It hadn’t even been two days, how could it… not be working anymore?

Pei Qian struggled to control his slightly upturned mouth corners: “Tell me more details?”

Yu Pingan organized his thoughts and said, “Mr. Pei, I feel that the current development of the Scholar Express software has hit a bottleneck.”

“Originally, this APP was positioned as a platform for smart students and struggling students to communicate and help each other, with us taking a small handling fee.”

“But the reason Scholar Express could become popular was mainly due to successful capital operations, through investment, burning money, and additional investment, creating enough buzz, finding buyers…”

“And then, by utilizing the user group left by Xude Education, the linkage with other Tenda industries, and the transformation of the APP’s functions, it achieved a surge in popularity, even making a profit briefly.”

“But recently, the data has been deteriorating and becoming increasingly pessimistic.”

“I think ultimately, the communication needs between smart students and struggling students are themselves a false need, and the related functions can hardly support the current user scale…”

Pei Qian listened quietly without speaking.

But in his heart, he completely agreed.

Right!

So well said!

This Yu Pingan, how insightful he was!

The need for this software at the very beginning was indeed a false need!

I’ve been saying it’s not me who’s wrong, it’s this world!

Pei Qian finally felt that the world had returned to normal.

How many struggling students need one-on-one tutoring from smart students? And how many smart students would tutor struggling students for this little money?

The characteristic of a false need is that everyone finds it interesting and useful at first, but once the novelty wears off, they get bored.

The reason Scholar Express was hot in the early stage was entirely because investors were desperately burning money, gaining artificially high, unreal popularity.

After Xude Education took over at the high point, a series of operational errors only accelerated the failure process of the Scholar Express APP.

After Pei Qian decided to buy back the project, Yu Pingan inadvertently bundled Scholar Express with other Tenda industries and developed video teaching, textbook guidance, and other functions, achieving a revival.

But fundamentally, Scholar Express never solved one problem from beginning to end: what was its irreplaceability?

If used solely as an educational software, then at least 40-50% of the current user base would shrink away, because a large number of Scholar Express software users were young people.

Now, the problem had surfaced, and popularity was rapidly receding.

Pei Qian was delighted.

He had thought Yu Pingan would report bad news, but it turned out to be tremendously good news!

Could it be… that I’m finally seeing the light at the end of the tunnel?

Am I finally going to prove that the Scholar Express project was a mistaken project from the very beginning?

Could this project finally continuously lose money for me?

Pei Qian almost wanted to laugh out loud three times and set off firecrackers in celebration!

However, considering Yu Pingan was still here, it wasn’t appropriate to be so obvious.

Just his slightly upturned mouth corners were already hard to control.

Yu Pingan was puzzled by this reaction.

What did Mr. Pei’s smile-but-not-quite-a-smile expression mean?

Was all this I reported already within his expectations? Was he proud of his brilliant calculations?

Or was he mocking my incompetence?

Mr. Pei is a very kind person, it shouldn’t be the latter…

Seeing that Mr. Pei was just smiling without speaking, Yu Pingan inexplicably felt anxious: “Mr. Pei, what should I do now? Please give me some guidance?”

Pei Qian: “…”

Oops, I got carried away.

So the question now was, how to respond to Yu Pingan?

Give some reverse advice?

That wouldn’t work. Who knows what he might understand from it? He might just revitalize the project.

Say nothing at all?

That didn’t seem right either. He would definitely think Mr. Pei had deeper meaning and would analyze Mr. Pei’s actions, behavior, expressions, and other details, then who knows what he might understand.

Tell him to trust his own decisions?

No good. Once that was said, it would be like a buff, and he would have a small universe explosion.

Pei Qian suddenly realized that his options were so few.

Finally, Pei Qian decided to use truth to destroy his expectations.

Pei Qian contained his smile and said with a 120,000% sincere tone: “It’s alright, the Scholar Express project has already fulfilled its mission.”

“This project had only two goals from the beginning: one was to gain through capital operations, and the other was to support other Tenda industries.”

“Now, both goals have been achieved, and the Scholar Express project can come to a natural end.”

“But don’t worry, Tenda will continue to allocate funds to Scholar Express in the future for promoting other industries.”

“You’ve done very well. It’s been hard work these days. Take a good rest.”