Now, even if one of them wanted to top-up money to play games, that could also be counted as expenses?
As if sensing everyone’s apprehension, Xin Hailu smiled slightly and continued, “Everyone doesn’t have to feel uneasy. This afternoon, Boss Pei will accompany all of us to the shopping complex to celebrate Ocean Stronghold’s success!
“Get ready your things; we’ll be knocking off today at three in the afternoon punctually. A bus would be waiting for us downstairs on the dot.”
…
Pei Qian had predicted that some people would not feel good about using this special expense. He was worried that they wouldn’t be willing to spend on this 3500 yuan in special expenses. Hence, he was going to bring everyone to the shopping complex today, so that they would use up all the money in their gift cards and the special expense!
After all, Pei Qian was going all out to spend money now. When the System Funds started the settlement process, it would naturally provide him with more money; it would be a waste if he didn’t spend what he had now!
He had roughly calculated. The System Funds had around one million one hundred thousand yuan in it. Wages and bonuses for this month amounted to four hundred thousand while the gift cards had thirty thousand in them. Once everyone used up their special expenses, that would be another hundred thousand yuan. Pei Qian would then buy some more things for himself and maybe spend another hundred thousand yuan?
After this rampage spending, there was indeed hope of creating a loss!
Unfortunately, he had already paid the rent and other utilities and fees at the start of the month; and he couldn’t pay next month’s ahead of time.
Pei Qian grew happier the more he calculated. He decided to go on a spending spree with everyone in tow at the shopping complex!
Everyone had to spend the full 3500 yuan for me; not a cent could be left!
…
At three in the afternoon, everyone boarded the bus and arrived at the shopping mall.
After disembarking, Pei Qian clapped his hands lightly to get everyone’s attention. “To celebrate Ocean Stronghold’s success and everyone’s hard work, I have decided to reward everyone with a paid shopping trip! The thousand yuan shopping gift card must be spent; the three thousand five hundred in special expenses as well! As long as someone doesn’t finish spending it all, no one is allowed to leave!
“Alright, dismissed!”
Everyone glanced at each other for a moment as they then instantly roared their delight.
“Alright!”
“Many thanks, Boss Pei!”
A few younger employees immediately rushed to the reception desk. A paid shopping trip was too good to be true; no one had seen any company being so generous before! This was such a huge shopping mall; they could buy to their heart’s content! Not only could they spend their shopping gift card and special expenses, but they also had their salaries!
Everyone’s wages had been raised during an increment; combined with the project bonus, everyone had a sizable amount of funds; they definitely had many things they wanted to buy!
Pei Qian soon saw that all his employees had formed into groups as they all left. Those who had left the fastest were those with the greatest desire for shopping; it wasn’t an issue for these folks to finish spending their money.
Those that were slightly hesitant and entered whichever shop they saw to shop while they might slightly more cautiously, they should not have much left either.
As for the last group that was taking their own sweet time and didn’t seem to like shopping that much, Pei Qian felt that he needed to keep a close eye on this bunch.
These people might potentially not spend all their money!
This bad habit of not spending decisively had to be curbed! Huang Sibo, Xiao Lu, Lin Wan, and Ma Yang soon became part of this last group. Pei Qian decided to focus his attention on these four. Besides Lin Wan, the other three were the type that didn’t know how to spend money and didn’t have many material needs. Hence, they didn’t have much passion for shopping.
As for Lin Wan… she really thought she lacked nothing. If she lacked anything, she would have long bought it and wouldn’t have waited until now. To her, observing Pei Qian was more important than spending money!
Lin Wan thought that as a boss, Pei Qian was really too special!
Not only had he given everyone shopping gift cards and a special expenses tab, but he had also proactively brought everyone to come and shop?
He was so meticulous!
Could this be the legendary humorous, warm, easy-going, and meticulous boss?
The few of them sauntered in the shopping mall and soon reached Shenhua Digital’s exclusive shop. As the largest telecommunications and hardware manufacturer in the country—although Shenhua Corporation also dabbled in real estate and tech ventures, its main business was in digital products such as computers, cell phones, earphones, etc.
Xiao Lu lifted the latest flagship phone model and instantly fell in love with it. Pei Qian thought that in comparison with the phone models in his previous life during the same years, these phones’ appearances were actually quite decent.
In his previous life, smartphones in 2009 and 2010 were actually not that common yet. There was a wide variety of phones on the market. Most of them still had basic keyboards with a number pad; some even had full keyboards.
In this world, as the era of smartphones had arrived earlier, most of the phones on display here were fully touchscreen. This world was probably two or three years faster than his previous one. It felt more or less like the preliminary stages of Xiaomi.
Xiao Lu was now holding the Shenhua G9 model. It was one of the very few on the market currently that catered slightly more towards mobile gaming; it was 3999 yuan.
After taking a long and hard look, Xiao Lu placed the phone down silently.
Pei Qian was now not happy.
“What’s wrong, you don’t like it?” Pei Qian asked.
Xiao Lu hurriedly replied, “Err, nope. Just that I feel that my current cell phone can last for another year. Furthermore… this is a little pricey…”
“A little pricey? Use your special expense!” Pei Qian said.
“Ah? Boss Pei, this can be used under special expense as well?” Xiao Lu was a little bewildered. “What does buying this cell phone have to do with work…?”
Pei Qian shook his head, “Why isn’t it related? Who said we might not move to developing mobile games in the future? We could even do a new edition of Ghost General, right? What’s wrong with purchasing a new gaming cell phone as a test?”
“Err…” Xiao Lu was a little lost for words.
“The special expense limit is 3500 yuan. If you use 499 from the shopping gift card, wouldn’t that be just nice?”
Xiao Lu blinked. “However…”
“What’s there to hesitate about? Don’t you want this? Your current G6 is a model from two years ago; it’s almost going to crash, right? I think that using this phone has evidently lowered your work productivity!”
“Next time if I need to find you for something and your phone hangs, wouldn’t that disrupt our work? For the sake of your work, change it!” Pei Qian said sternly.
Xiao Lu could only nod and say, “Alright, Boss Pei!”
He was a little emotional as he took a brand new unsealed phone from the table and went to settle the bill.
“Remember, use three thousand five hundred on your credit card and four hundred and ninety-nine from the shopping gift card; then, give the receipt to Assistant Xin to charge as expenses!
“Don’t spend your own salary!”
Seeing Xiao Lu heading to pay, Pei Qian was still a little not content. He looked at Huang Sibo and asked, “I think it’s time for your cell phone to change as well, right?”
Huang Sibo hurriedly gestured and said, “No, Boss Pei, I only changed it two months ago…”
“However, your cell phone is a lite version; it is like digital trash, do you know?�
�� Pei Qian took a look and immediately saw what model that was.
“There’s really no need, Boss Pei. I have other things I want to buy.” Huang Sibo rejected once more.
Pei Qian nodded. Since Huang Sibo had other things to buy, Pei Qian was going to wait and see. He took a look at Lin Wan. However, Lin Wan actually raised her left hand and displayed the Shenhua M10 model in her hand.
This was the latest commercial flagship cell phone; the cheapest model cost over five thousand yuan. Furthermore, Lin Wan’s cell phone looked rather special; it should be a high-spec one. Lin Wan said, “I basically have everything in this shop, Boss Pei.”
Pei Qian, “…”
Sigh, rich second-generation heirs really could do as they wished; Lin Wan was really something!
Chapter 73 - Historic Turning of a Win as a Loss!
Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
Pei Qian took a look around the shop again and came across where the earphones were at.
“Ma Yang, I remember that your earphones were only twenty-plus yuan from a roadside stall.” Pei Qian looked at Ma Yang.
“Tsk… Boss Pei, although it’s something from a roadside stall, it is pretty useful.” Ma Yang immediately said as he did not reveal his relationship with Pei Qian in front of others.
“How could that be good enough? Something from a roadside stall is just that; it cannot be good enough. This is the newest model, it costs 2999; take it. It’s below ten thousand, and it is good enough.”
Pei Qian immediately pushed the earphones to Ma Yang.
Ma Yang was stunned and said, “Err, Boss Pei, but my current job does not have anything to do with earphones…”
Ma Yang was now doing miscellaneous tasks in the designs team. Basically, he had to fill in forms occasionally, use editing software, or to raise some requests for resources. His work indeed had not much relation with earphones.
Pei Qian thought about it and said, “It is in preparation for your work next time. You might need to communicate more with subcontractors and raise requests regarding music and sound effects. Without a good pair of earphones—when they provide the music and sound effects, what if you couldn’t even tell if they were of good quality or not?”
Ma Yang scratched his head, “However, aren’t the earphones that come with the company computers good enough already?”
Pei Qian’s face grew dark. “Since it’s the company’s earphones, could you bring them home? If there are any emergencies after office hours that require you to contact subcontractors, what then?”
Ma Yang was speechless.
It seemed as if… Pei Qian’s words made sense…
Ma Yang smiled widely as he took over the earphones and ran to pay for it.
Just like Xiao Lu, he actually also wanted to buy a pair. However, he couldn’t bear to spend his own money. He also felt a little bad claiming this under extra expenses.
However, since Pei Qian had said so, they didn’t have any reservations at all.
He held onto the earphones; they were gorgeous.
Most importantly, he had not spent a single cent of his own money. The company was paying for this. Where else could he find such a good deal?
Soon, Xiao Lu and Ma Yang had both completed their payments.
Xiao Lu immediately started to use the earphones; he loved it extremely much.
A few of them continued to shop in the mall. As Pei Qian shopped, he kept an eye on his employees to make sure that they were spending as they pleased!
He forced Huang Sibo to buy a new tablet computer under the pretext of ‘raising productivity’. He also compelled the two female receptionists to buy a few beautiful dresses, claiming that they would ‘elevate the company’s image’.
Some other things were included in this spending spree as well. As long as he saw that his employees expressed even an inkling of desire, he would immediately come up with a reason and order the purchase!
Some special cases where Pei Qian really couldn’t find a justification—for example, a male employee wanted to buy a handbag for his girlfriend. He made them change an item just so he could think of something to say.
After walking one round in the mall, Pei Qian was quite pleased.
En, everyone had more or less spent their money!
After doing a check, five hundred and thirty thousand yuan in the System Funds had been spent today after Pei Qian’s coercion and manipulation—through giving out salaries, bonuses, and shopping cards. The System Funds originally had one million one hundred thousand yuan in it.
Five hundred and seventy thousand yuan were left.
“En, I can only rely on myself for the rest…”
Pei Qian knew that his employees had already tried their best. As for the last seventy thousand, he had to expend them personally.
After spending this seventy thousand, every extra one cent spent could be converted into personal wealth at a one-is-to-one rate!
This was the last leg of this long expedition; he needed to finish this in one fell swoop!
Pei Qian first came to a high-class suit boutique store and purposely avoided Jesse who had come here to buy something just now.
However, he soon left quietly.
The system had rejected the purchase. Pei Qian had probably bought too many suits the previous time, and the system thought that he did not have the ability to continue spending.
After that, Pei Qian went to a Rolex shop, wanting to buy a watch.
This time, the system did not directly reject him.
However, Pei Qian started from the most expensive watch that cost more than two hundred thousand yuan and worked his way down; the system finally only permitted him to buy the most entry-level model that cost forty thousand!
Although it was also a Rolex watch, it was too cheap.
Pei Qian was feeling a little pained; however, as forty thousand was after all still money, he still decided to buy it.
As the saying went: ‘as one wears a Rolex, one’s responsibility grows’, Pei Qian thought that as a boss himself, his responsibilities were the heaviest. It was reasonable that he wore a two hundred thousand dollar watch.
However, it was obvious the system disagreed and felt that Pei Qian was only worth forty thousand.
Pei Qian was very pained.
He continued to shop.
Since he couldn’t even buy a good watch, that meant that he wouldn’t be allowed by the system to buy other stuff that wasn’t exactly related to his work, such as expensive cologne and men’s health supplements, etc.
However, Pei Qian was not flustered. Having spent forty thousand-odd yuan, he was rather confident now.
He had to buck up; this was the last chance to break through the spending stage!
Lin Wan, Huang Sibo, and the others had long reached their purchase targets. While they accompanied Pei Qian and window-shopped, they observed their Boss Pei quietly.
Especially Lin Wan—who was very interested in whatever Boss Pei was buying!
However, after observing for a while, she realized that her previous opinion of Boss Pei seemed to have been erroneous! Boss Pei was actually such a thrifty person when it came to his personal life?! She could see clearly that Pei Qian actually really wanted to buy some items!
Losing Money to Be a Tycoon c1-883 Page 39