A beautiful day begins when the money-making ends.
Pei Qian had originally planned to sleep in beautifully today, then review a bit, and eat something delicious to reward himself. The arrangement was perfect.
However, this unexpected ten million dollars from the heavens completely ruined his good mood.
After a long silence, Pei Qian asked: “This ten million dollars… can we sponsor it back?”
Following the principle that whoever earns money should spend it, since this money was earned from club sponsorships, naturally, sponsoring it back would be better.
He Desheng said, “Mr. Pei, you mean we make a turnaround and continue sponsoring clubs to keep earning?”
“I’m afraid not.”
“Finger Company isn’t that stupid. They won’t allow this to happen a second time. When we sponsored clubs before and required them to put GOG logos on team uniforms, we exploited a loophole in incomplete rules. Now, Finger Company has required all clubs participating in IOI official tournaments to not have other game sponsorships on their team uniforms.”
“Of course, the clubs we sponsored before are currently in a gray area. Finger Company doesn’t want to pay breach of contract fees, and these teams aren’t performing well, so… they’re just letting it be for now.”
“But we can’t sponsor anymore. Finger Company has already blocked this loophole.”
Pei Qian had previously sponsored ten clubs in total. Now, five are paying compensation for contract termination, while the other five continue sponsorship.
Finger Company picked five stronger clubs more likely to reach the round of eight to terminate contracts with, while as for the other five, they really couldn’t bear to part with that money.
After all, terminating all contracts would require another ten million dollars. Even Dayak Group would find that painfully expensive.
Pei Qian felt quite melancholy.
Looking on the bright side, at least the other five weren’t forcibly terminated. Otherwise, his side would have earned another ten million dollars, making the pressure even greater…
He, Desheng, said: “Mr. Pei, about this money… how do we spend it?”
Pei Qian fell silent.
Yes, how to spend it?
With just one month left until settlement, suddenly needing to spend ten million dollars? This messes with one’s mindset!
Of course, there are ways to spend it. For example, investing in the “Destiny and Choice” project, continuing to advertise GOG or invest in sponsorships, or running promotions.
But this amount is quite large. How to spend it fastest with minimal negative impact requires careful consideration.
Thinking this, Pei Qian said: “No rush, let me think about it.”
He Desheng naturally had no objections: “Alright, Mr. Pei.”
After hanging up, Pei Qian felt melancholy. His good mood for the day was completely gone.
Can’t sleep anymore. Got up, washed up, and headed to Slackin’ Internet Café for breakfast.
While drinking coffee, Pei Qian browsed online news.
These past days, esports and gaming news had been dominated by the IOI World Championship. After all, the GPL Spring Season hadn’t officially started yet, this was the only major tournament. Plus with Longyu Group’s promotion, news was overwhelming.
Besides team performance in the group stages, there was much news about the FV club. For example, the FV club’s Weibo posts about their excellent training conditions, funny memes, etc.
These took up considerable space with high engagement.
Since today was the second competition day, domestic teams had no matches today. Yesterday’s losses were quite embarrassing. Neither media nor audiences wanted to bring it up anymore.
As the domestic first seed, the FV club has some good content, making it perfect news material.
So even if Longyu Group didn’t like FV club, gaming media outlets were still superficially reluctant but genuinely eager, giving major news coverage to FV club for higher click rates.
Pei Qian didn’t care much. To create drama and gain hate, generating heat was inevitable. But this heat couldn’t convert to profits, and might even backfire when FV lost matches. Nothing to worry about.
Pei Qian scanned other news sections when suddenly, a headline caught his attention.
“Cold Noodle Girl Faces Bankruptcy Rumors, Meng Chang Clarifies: Rumor!”
Though Cold Noodle Girl no longer had any connection to Dream Realization Ventures, Pei Qian still followed its news.
If Cold Noodle Girl exploded in popularity with soaring valuation, Pei Qian could rest easy, confident he’d escaped correctly and avoided earning more.
If Cold Noodle Girl collapsed, confirming it was a money-burning project with no future, then Pei Qian could consider buying up worthless assets to burn money.
Pei Qian quickly clicked the news. The issue started when some media reported Cold Noodle Girl’s failed financing, tight cash flow, overdue supplier payments, and likely closing soon.
This leak ignited previous negative news about Cold Noodle Girl.
Since Cold Noodle Girl’s inception, many questioned it online, including doubts about poor food quality, high prices, excessive marketing hype, reputation far exceeding substance.
But previously when Cold Noodle Girl thrived with packed stores and high online buzz, plus decent taste and subsidized prices not being too expensive, these voices didn’t gain much traction.
Now, Cold Noodle Girl’s online marketing peak had passed. Combined with this leak, previous criticisms naturally resurfaced.
The leak lacked solid evidence, merely sharing chat logs from supposed “industry insiders.”
As everyone knows, chat logs aren’t solid proof, but better than nothing.
This news sparked much discussion. Someone even wrote an analysis of Cold Noodle Girl’s business model, openly bearish.
The article titled “Cold Noodle Girl’s So-Called Internet Thinking Is Merely Pretense” had a devastating concluding paragraph.
“We must admit, Meng Chang possesses extremely strong cross-industry thinking, exceptional intelligence, top-tier execution, and first-rate speech skills. From any angle, he seems the perfect entrepreneur.”
“However, common sense tells us that in any era, nobody is much smarter than others. Even brilliant geniuses can only fool consumers temporarily, not forever. Moreover, the above geniuses are more brilliant. Perhaps to other geniuses, like Mr. Pei, Meng Chang’s thinking is as simple as paper.”
“Meng Chang constantly emphasizes internet thinking, following trends. Yet he’s like a child in the passenger seat pretending to drive, thinking he controls the car’s direction and charging passengers as the driver. But actually, neither the car nor the road is under his control.”
This article was a perfect finishing blow.
The leaked chat logs lacked credibility. Cold Noodle Girl could easily claim competitor sabotage. But this article hit the mark perfectly, especially highlighting Cold Noodle Girl’s fatal flaws.
The most damaging sentence: “Perhaps to other geniuses, like Mr. Pei, Meng Chang’s thinking is as simple as paper.”
This referenced Mr. Pei twice, selling Cold Noodle Girl shares!
Everyone knew Mr. Pei’s investment success rate was extremely high. Mr. Pei selling twice meant he saw major problems with Cold Noodie Girl’s model!
So doubts skyrocketed.
Cold Noodle Girl immediately refuted rumors, stating current cash flow was healthy, financing was smooth, and daily operations were fine. Urged everyone not to believe or spread rumors.
But debates about Cold Noodle Girl’s business model reignited.
On news sites reposting this and major forums, netizens debated intensely.
Some felt Cold Noodle Girl was always overhyped, bankruptcy unsurprising;
Some felt Cold Noodle Girl’s situation was excellent, this was media sensationalism for clicks.
Others thought that since Meng Chang loved marketing, this was likely self-promotion, collaborating with the media for publicity.
Various opinions circulated, but doubts about Cold Noodle Girl indeed increased.
Watching these online discussions, Pei Qian felt both speechless and conflicted.
Many knew about Dream Realization Ventures selling Cold Noodle Girl shares, seeing it as a clear signal: Mr. Pei didn’t favor Cold Noodle Girl; it was doomed.
Yet Pei Qian knew exactly why he sold shares.
The conflict was: Would Cold Noodle Girl work or not? Current revelations suggested some difficulties, but if Pei Qian acted now, what if he revived it?
Very troublesome.
After much deliberation, Pei Qian decided to stick with his strategy of waiting and observing. Can’t get fooled again.
This time, wait until Cold Noodle Girl completely fails with absolutely no saving possibility before acting. Absolutely can’t let it turn profitable again!
…
Meanwhile, at Fuhui Capital.
Li Shi and Xue Zhebin stared at each other, expressions blank.
Xue Zhebin cautiously asked: “Mr. Li, your judgment about Mr. Pei… seems somewhat off?”
“If Mr. Pei ran away… what do we do?”
Li Shi silently sipped tea, staying quiet.
After Li Shi and Xue Zhebin invested eight million in Cold Noodle Girl, Mr. Pei immediately sold all his Cold Noodle Girl shares bought for 2 million, once again completely distancing himself from Cold Noodle Girl.
This immediately caused a chain reaction. Investors became even more skeptical of Cold Noodle Girl’s model!
According to Meng Chang’s plan, after securing Li’s investment, he’d make a final push to generate hype, inflating Cold Noodle Girl’s valuation for negotiations with more investors. Mr. Pei’s move essentially pulled the rug out from under him!
Without investments, Cold Noodle Girl continued burning money. Eight million seemed substantial, but wouldn’t last long. Cash flow was already tight.
Online rumors of Cold Noodle Girl’s bankruptcy, though exaggerated, weren’t groundless. Investors universally lost faith in the project. Leaks were inevitable.
After unscrupulous media embellishment, it became the current situation.
Cold Noodle Girl reached a critical juncture. Most companies facing cash flow problems collapse suddenly, potentially dying in a very short time.
This made Li Shi and Xue Zhebin’s investment look incredibly foolish…
Of course, other investors also held some Cold Noodle Girl shares. Li Shi wasn’t the biggest loser.
Now, everyone felt conflicted.
Want to sell, but if everyone sells, Cold Noodle Girl’s valuation would instantly collapse. Everyone’s shares become worthless, nobody escapes. If some sell while others don’t, early sellers escape while late sellers get trapped.
Xue Zhebin followed Li Shi throughout. Watching Li Shi thoroughly investigate and repeatedly analyze while learning earnestly, only to possibly fail again, felt like a cautionary tale.
Li Shi coughed, easing the awkwardness.
“Don’t panic. Though Cold Noodle Girl faces a turning point, it’s not over.”
“The reason is Mr. Pei’s actions!”
“Mr. Pei first invested 2 million, then immediately sold. Others might interpret this as Mr. Pei spotting Cold Noodle Girl’s problems and escaping timely, but I disagree.”
“If Mr. Pei thought Cold Noodle Girl had issues, he’d have seen through it initially. He wouldn’t have kept any shares. Why invest 2 million after selling everything?”
“Is Mr. Pei so idle, playing with Meng Chang?”
“Absolutely impossible!”
“The 2 million operation had a deeper meaning. I believe Mr. Pei intentionally sent a signal, waiting for Cold Noodle Girl’s valuation to crash!”
“Mr. Pei’s action wasn’t just to punish Meng Chang. As I said before, Mr. Pei considers only profit in business, not emotions. Even if Mr. Pei dislikes Meng Chang and mildly punishes him, that’s secondary. The primary goal is profiting through Cold Noodle Girl!”
“Selling Cold Noodle Girl shares initially already yielded profits. If ending there, the subsequent 2 million was unnecessary.”
“So I predict Mr. Pei will make future moves!”
“I’ll choose the right moment to buy Cold Noodle Girl shares at low prices.”
“This time, I’ll anticipate Mr. Pei’s plan and stay ahead!”
…
…
January 1, 2012, New Year’s Day.
Domestic time 8 AM, Los Angeles time 4 PM, December 31, 2011.
Pei Qian woke as usual. New Year’s Day felt no different. He didn’t stay up for midnight celebrations.
2012, being a special year, sparked countless online discussions.
As early as 2009, a global disaster film called “2012” premiered. Mayan prophecies became widely known.
But Pei Qian knew 2012 held nothing special. The December 21 doomsday was nonsense. Besides the Olympics and the US elections, events didn’t affect most people’s daily lives.
So Pei Qian ignored discussions about 2012, focusing on his matters.
Exam week required continued studying. The IOI Championship results for both domestic teams were known.
One eliminated. One reached the tiebreaker matches but lost after fierce battles, failing to qualify for the quarterfinals.
Just moments ago, the second team’s match ended. The stream was filled with criticisms. Calling it domestic IOI’s doomsday wasn’t exaggerated!