December 19, Monday.
Pei Qian arrived at his office as usual, checking reports from various departments while browsing recent news and discussions online.
After finalizing FV Club’s personnel for Los Angeles last week, expedited visas were being processed for the relevant staff, and all preparations were proceeding rapidly.
The thought that Ye Zhizhou and Min Jingchao would soon be packing up and heading to Los Angeles for over a month made Pei Qian indescribably happy.
Although Pei Qian could legitimately join the trip to Los Angeles himself, after some consideration, he decided against it.
On one hand, exam week was approaching, and if he went away for a month, his goal of surpassing Old Ma this semester would be toast. On the other hand, Pei Qian wasn’t particularly interested in going abroad; he preferred staying in China.
Jingzhou was perfectly fine—why run around elsewhere?
If he wanted something, he could just set it up in Jingzhou. With plenty of system funds available, rather than spending money to travel, he might as well invest in making Jingzhou into what he liked.
Besides, if he wanted to travel in the future, he could find any excuse to go, like game research or investigation studies.
Moreover, Pei Qian didn’t want to repeat the qualifier disaster. If he went to watch a match in person and the players all got fired up, creating another “world-famous painting” situation, it would be too embarrassing.
As Pei Qian casually browsed web pages, he suddenly came across a discussion thread.
“Is Cold Noodle Girl about to fail?”
“A while back, it had high popularity online, with Cold Noodle Girl marketing everywhere and constantly trending. But recently, hasn’t the popularity dropped considerably? Is it about to fail?”
The thread was quite popular, with many people discussing it.
“I don’t think it’s that bad. Didn’t Meng Chang just give a speech recently? The venue was packed, very lively, and Meng Chang was confident throughout, showing no signs of panic.”
“Don’t worry about it. They can easily secure enough funding to last a long time. Do you think someone as amazing as Meng Chang couldn’t succeed with a grilled cold noodle shop?”
“To be honest, I ate there once, and it was just okay. Is it as delicious as they claim? I admit their store environment and various details are pretty good, but at the end of the day, it’s just grilled cold noodles—it’s not that amazing.”
“Didn’t they accept investment from Mr. Pei? Haven’t all of Mr. Pei’s investments been successful so far? The Investment Miracle of Jingzhou doesn’t joke around.”
“Supposedly, recently, Tenda’s investments are no longer managed by Mr. Pei, and now some projects have lost money, though overall they’re still profitable. The ‘Investment Miracle’ title can only describe Mr. Pei, not Dream Fulfillment Venture Capital.”
“I heard Mr. Pei withdrew some time ago, don’t know if it’s true. If Mr. Pei doesn’t think highly of Cold Noodle Girl, does that mean it has some fatal flaw and is about to fail?”
Netizens debated extensively. Though none had any real information or substance, it didn’t stop them from enthusiastically discussing and frantically analyzing in keyboard warrior mode.
Pei Qian read the discussions and found himself confused.
Could this Cold Noodle Girl succeed?
To some people, Cold Noodle Girl had unlimited prospects, easily raising several rounds of funding with a valuation of hundreds of millions. Wasn’t it a piece of cake for an entrepreneurial father figure like Meng Chang to run a grilled cold noodle business?
But others devalued Cold Noodle Girl completely, claiming it was all hype, as if it would go bankrupt any minute.
This left Pei Qian at a loss.
One moment, he felt his timely exit was correct; the next, he worried he’d missed a good opportunity to lose money. The indecision was overwhelming.
After much consideration, Pei Qian called He Desheng.
“How’s Cold Noodle Girl doing recently?”
He Desheng was taken aback on the other end, somewhat surprised.
He was puzzled—hadn’t Mr. Pei resolutely sold all his Cold Noodle Girl shares? Why was he asking about Cold Noodle Girl again today?
Logically, someone like Mr. Pei, who was decisive and never changed his mind once resolved, shouldn’t have a reason to backtrack, right?
However, He Desheng didn’t dare ask too much and honestly replied: “Mr. Pei, we currently have no connection with Cold Noodle Girl. The money we earned hasn’t been touched yet. Jing Haibing, the finance person we sent to Cold Noodle Girl, has also returned to Jingzhou, waiting to go to the next invested company.”
“So I’m not clear about Cold Noodle Girl’s specific situation now. Should I ask Meng Chang? Though since we no longer have a relationship, he might not tell me.”
“Or we could ask Jing Haibing. She was previously responsible for Cold Noodle Girl’s financial work and might know some inside information from the handover process.”
Pei Qian thought about it—having already withdrawn the investment, asking Meng Chang probably wouldn’t yield anything.
Better to ask Jing Haibing.
If no useful information came out, then so be it. The Cold Noodle Girl matter would be over. If there was still a turning point, they could discuss further.
With this in mind, Pei Qian said, “Alright, set up a video conference.”
He Desheng hung up and quickly arranged a video conference.
Jing Haibing pushed her glasses up, her expression as serious as in the previous video conference: “Mr. Pei, you were looking for me?”
Pei Qian nodded: “Regarding Cold Noodle Girl, what’s your take? Based on your previous work experience there, do you think this company can succeed?”
Jing Haibing shook her head: “That’s beyond my capacity. I’m just a finance person. On such judgments, I wouldn’t dare show off in front of Mr. Pei.”
This response was within Pei Qian’s expectations.
Jing Haibing had an especially calm and low-key personality. She never judged fields she didn’t understand and only meticulously completed her assigned tasks.
Previously, Jing Haibing had never participated in any Cold Noodle Girl decisions, nor had she “tattled” to Pei Qian or He Desheng.
Pei Qian thought for a moment and changed his approach: “Then, from a financial perspective, how’s Cold Noodle Girl as a company?”
After some consideration, Jing Haibing said, “Meng Chang’s model should be the standard internet marketing model. While not falsifying accounts financially, he uses certain methods to make financial statements look particularly good.”
“Strictly speaking, Cold Noodle Girl’s cash flow has always been very tight. Meng Chang is used to spending lavishly on marketing, so funds have always been somewhat strained.”
“Before I left, the last investment Cold Noodle Girl received was the 8 million from you, Mr. Pei, and it was spent quickly.”
“However, whether Cold Noodle Girl will have problems ultimately depends on whether Meng Chang can secure money from others. If he can, Cold Noodle Girl’s valuation will continue to rise; if not, funding could run into problems as early as this week.”
“If I’m not mistaken, although Meng Chang appears very calm, he’s probably already anxiously searching for money everywhere.”
“However, if Meng Chang reduces marketing expenses somewhat, he could still last for quite a while. After all, store expenses aren’t high; the bulk of spending is on marketing.”
He Desheng thought for a moment and said: “I don’t think he’ll do that. Cold Noodle Girl has such a high valuation precisely because investors are paying attention. If Meng Chang stops spending to maintain popularity, investor interest will also diminish, leading to a vicious cycle.”
“That would be truly dangerous for Meng Chang.”
Pei Qian listened silently, still feeling confused.
He Desheng and Jing Haibing couldn’t reach a definitive conclusion either, only saying that Cold Noodle Girl was currently at a critical juncture.
If a large capital injection raised the valuation and restored investor confidence, Cold Noodle Girl might soar to the heavens. Conversely, if investors remained cautious, Cold Noodle Girl’s capital chain might quickly break, leading to bankruptcy.
Huge profits or massive losses—it all hinged on a single decision.
This left Pei Qian unable to decide. If he reinvested, he feared propelling Cold Noodle Girl to success; if he didn’t, he feared missing this rare opportunity to lose money.
Suddenly, Pei Qian had an inspiration and asked: “How much does Cold Noodle Girl spend on marketing weekly?”
Jing Haibing thought about it: “Averaged weekly… less than one million, but some marketing activities are monthly, like hiring spokespersons for very expensive advertisements. However, stores also have many other daily expenses.”
Pei Qian pressed further: “So if we gave them 1 million every week, would that be enough to keep Cold Noodle Girl alive without making it explode in popularity?”
Jing Haibing was somewhat confused but thought about it and said, “Theoretically, yes, but I don’t understand business operations, so I can’t guarantee this.”
Pei Qian felt it was worth trying and said, “Good. He Desheng, keep an eye on Cold Noodle Girl. If you find they’re genuinely out of money, invest 1 million monthly to help them survive. But if you see signs that others want to invest, cut it off immediately.”
He Desheng was a bit dizzy, not understanding what game Mr. Pei was playing.
Was he toying with people?
After selling all the shares, what did it mean to now scatter small amounts of money to Cold Noodle Girl?
Selling then buying, buying then selling—flip-flopping investment?
But since this was an operation by the Investment God Mr. Pei, He Desheng assumed there must be a deeper meaning, so he nodded: “Alright, the money from selling Cold Noodle Girl shares is still available. I’ll use those funds.”
Pei Qian was satisfied with his strategy.
Since Cold Noodle Girl was currently flip-flopping between taking off and dying, why not just keep it in this range?
Quantitative blood transfusion—neither letting it die nor letting it take off, just continuing to do marketing to help spend his money. Wasn’t that wonderful?