Losing Money to Be a Tycoon c1-883

by Inebriation-seeking Blue Shirt, 青衫取醉

  “Pfft!”

  Zhang Yuan almost spurted out the tea in his mouth.

  Fifty of that?

  Boss Pei, that made you in the wrong.

  You should have said earlier that you wanted fifty computers!

  I wanted to fork out a thousand yuan to befriend you. If you wanted fifty computers, won’t that mean that I have to fork out fifty thousand yuan?

  I am just a permanent singer at a bar. How do I find that fifty thousand yuan…?

  Zhang Yuan was dumbfounded.

  “No. Boss Pei. How many computers do you need exactly…? I felt a little guilty for accepting the three thousand yuan remuneration and thus decided to fork out a thousand yuan to buy the components and to befriend you in the process. If you want fifty computers, we can’t follow this current price…”

  Pei Qian was momentarily stunned and thought that this fellow was pretty sincere! “That’s not right. You deserve the 3000 yuan remuneration. Why would you want to give it back to me? It doesn’t make sense!

  “Does that mean that this set of configurations cost twenty-six thousand yuan?” Pei Qian asked.

  Zhang Yuan nodded his head and felt slightly abashed. He wanted to conceal it in front of Boss Pei to befriend him. In the end, he was thoroughly exposed!

  Look at how this matter turned out.

  However, Zhang Yuan was a little curious as to why Boss Pei needed so many computers. Did he want to replace all the computers in the office?

  It didn’t look like it.

  Pei Qian thought for a while and said, “How about this? Each computer costs twenty-six thousand yuan. I can’t let you do all this work for nothing. Other than the three thousand yuan remuneration, I will give you two hundred dollars for every computer that you assembled!”

  Zhang Yuan wanted to say something, but Pei Qian lifted his hand and cut him off.

  “There is no need to decline it. This has been decided.

  “Let’s talk about something else.”

  Zhang Yuan nodded his head and said, “Sure. Umm… Boss Pei, can I ask something irrelevant? Why would you need so many computers? Are you going to…?”

  “Oh. I’m preparing to open an internet cafe. Ma Yang, the person who led you here, is the manager in charge of the internet cafe’s daily operations. If you meet our conditions, will you be willing to work in Jingzhou City?” Pei Qian asked.

  Zhang Yuan’s eyes bulged wide.

  So that was the case. The big boss wanted to invest in an internet cafe! Given how rich the big boss is, its employee welfare must be good!

  Moreover, was the big boss inviting me to work there?

  If the big boss was the one who proposed that personally, it was likely that my job would not be an ordinary internet cafe employee. I should probably take on a small managerial position at the very least!

  Look at how extravagantly he spent money…

  The internet cafe’s employee welfare must be pretty good!

  Zhang Yuan had just calmed himself down but became unsettled again after hearing that.

  “If I meet the conditions, of course, I will be willing to do so!”

  Pei Qian nodded and asked, “Then, can you talk about your previous work experiences?”

  Tss…!

  Zhang Yuan took in a deep breath. He felt that this job opportunity was going away.

  Boss Pei probably wanted to recruit me because of my title as the forum manager in the GPU Forum and my knowledge about computers and their hardware.

  If I told him honestly that I am currently working as a permanent bar singer and part-time bartender…

  Would Boss Pei still want me?

  What should I do? Lie?

  No way. Boss Pei was extremely knowledgeable and well-versed in many things. He would definitely see through my lie.

  Zhang Yuan struggled internally. In the end, he finally decided to tell the truth. “Boss Pei, I am currently a permanent singer at a bar and work as a part-time bartender. I am also a little forum manager at the GPU Forum…”

  The more Zhang Yuan said, the more uneasy he was.

  He could almost envision Boss Pei’s disappointment. He did not expect that the eyes of Boss Pei, who was sitting opposite him, would lit!

  “Great. You’re so multi-talented! That means I can consider having a minibar in the internet cafe for you to mix wine. I will double your salary for that!

  “No. You are also a permanent singer. I will triple your salary!”

  Pei Qian was extremely elated.

  Such a perfect candidate!

  Both bartending and singing had nothing to do with managing an internet cafe.

  Moreover, if he gave him triple the salary for being a supervisor, bartender, and permanent singer; he could use more system funds!

  If he and Ma Yang worked together, they could definitely screw up this brick-and-mortar shop!

  Zhang Yuan almost thought that he had heard it wrongly.

  Boss Pei was very satisfied?

  And he wanted to triple my salary?!

  This…

  Even though he did not know what was going on, he could tell that this was real from Boss Pei’s happy expression. Zhang Yuan could not help but wonder if Boss Pei really had an eye for talent. He could tell my talent just like this?

  Pei Qian continued asking a few more questions. The more he asked, the more satisfied he was.

  “Great! Give me a moment. I will get the contract.” Pei Qian left the guest room. Before long, he returned with a hardcopy contract in his hand. “Your main job is the internet cafe supervisor. You will work part-time as a bartender and a permanent singer. Considering all three jobs, your total salary would be fourteen thousand yuan a month.

  “Ma Yang will be your direct supervisor. If you face any problem, you can approach him. If he can’t settle it, you can come and find me. Feel free to do anything you want to the internet cafe. I will back you up!

  “Come. If there is no problem, sign here.”

  Zhang Yuan was completely in a daze.

  Fourteen thousand yuan?

  Zhang Yuan did not even dare to pick up the pen that was in front of him.

  He didn’t believe that such an opportunity existed!

  Seeing how hesitant Zhang Yuan was, Pei Qian suddenly posed a few questions. “Umm… are you currently bound by some other contract? Have you resigned from the previous job?”

  Zhang Yuan shook his head and replied, “I do not have a contract with the previous bar that I worked at. I just work there when they are short of manpower.”

  “That’s great. Just sign the contract then. You want to deliberate about it? I’m fine with that. Take your time to think through it. You can find Assistant Xin once you’ve made a decision.”

  Pei Qian pushed the door and left Zhang Yuan alone in the guest room.

  Zhang Yuan looked through the entire contract again hurriedly. There was no problem with it. It was a normal manpower contract! There were no traps or hidden clauses. The fourteen thousand yuan salary was written explicitly in the contract!

  Zhang Yuan signed his name with shaking hands.

  “I am finally going to escape poverty. I am finally going to make a name for myself!”

  …

  A few minutes later…

  In the guest room…

  “Brother Qian, how did it go? I told you that he was an expert. He’s reliable, isn’t he?”

  After he heard that Zhang Yuan had officially signed a contract with the company, Ma Yang was very happy. He felt that he had an eye for talent and what he did had earned Pei Qian’s recognition.

  Pei Qian patted his shoulder and complimented, “Good job. You had done well this time!”

  Only then did Zhang Yuan realize that the long-faced person who led him in and appeared a little simple-minded was not just any ordinary person.

  He seemed really close with Boss Pei! The good thing was that both Brother Ma and Boss Pei acknowledged him!

  Ma Yang opened his laptop
and displayed some information. “Brother Qian, I have sourced for the location for the internet cafe. It should be around here. It’s a solitary double-story building. These are the details. Have a look.”

  Pei Qian and Zhang Yuan looked at the information that Ma Yang had prepared. That place was not around Handong University and was away from the most popular business district in Jingzhou City.

  Its surroundings were considered as a small business district, and there was a mall nearby. However, the place was not considered to be very prosperous and crowded. Moreover, it was a street away from the mall. They were not situated together.

  It barely met the system’s requirement of ‘choosing a location in a bustling district’.

  It was a solitary double-story building and appeared quite new. It was probably built in the last one or two years. It had many glass walls that broadened the view from inside, and it had a nice interior design. From the interior design in the pictures, it seemed to be a restaurant. However, it looked as though operations were about to be ceased because of its poor business.

  Its operational area was about 3000 square meters. Its rent was 315,000 yuan per month. That meant that each square meter cost 3.5 yuan per day.

  Ma Yang said, “Brother Qian, I have inspected the place. Its environment and interior design are both pretty good. The building is very new!

  “It was originally a high-end restaurant. However, it had to close down because of its bad operations and so had to pass it down. Its rent is very affordable! I think this place is really good. Furthermore, it is a solitary building. What do you think?”

  Pei Qian did not say anything.

  Zhang Yuan furrowed his eyebrows.

  This place… didn’t seem reliable! Why didn’t this long-face think about the reason why the restaurant closed down?

  Chapter 85 - Menu had Western Wine on One Side, Comfort Food on the Other!

  Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios

  Although Zhang Yuan did not really understand these things, he at least had basic sense and judgment.

  To choose a shop, the location was crucial. Some so-called ‘golden streets’ could command rentals of six to seven yuan per square meter a day; why was that?

  The location was very good!

  If the location was good, the surroundings were upscale; and human traffic was high. Any shop that would definitely make a profit. Conversely, if the location was bad and human traffic was low, no matter how good one’s shop was; who would purposely go all the way to patronize it?

  Hence, the best location was definitely in some huge shopping spaces; especially big shopping malls.

  The area near a university was not bad either.

  This site was just within a normal shopping district; it was also one street away from the shopping mall. The surroundings were rather quiet and empty; one look, and Ma Yang knew that human traffic here was not high!

  The rental fee of three and fifty cents yuan per square meters a day was not considered expensive. However, the problem was it wasn’t that worth it for this location!

  While Zhang Yuan was thinking about this, he wondered if he should voice out his concerns. After all, he was a newcomer and if he abruptly spoke out, would that be inappropriate?

  However, if he didn’t say anything and this business collapsed… who would bear the blame?

  Zhang Yuan was very conflicted.

  “Alright, this place is not bad; I’ve decided!” Pei Qian made up his mind on the spot.

  Zhang Yuan, “…”

  He didn’t need to think further. Since Boss Pei had spoken, if Zhang Yuan continued to criticize this location, wasn’t that courting trouble for himself?

  Zhang Yuan could only keep mum.

  “Do you have the floor plan for this place?” Pei Qian asked.

  “I do, I do!” Ma Yang hurriedly clicked on his mouse and found the floor plan for this building, “Here you go.”

  Pei Qian took a look. This place was not small; it was three thousand square meters. This place was actually around the same size as Tengda’s current office space. However, this place was split into two floors; each floor was a thousand five hundred square meters.

  “I’ll explain the plan briefly; when this place is up, you two will be running it. The internet cafe would only be one of the services of this shop. I only want fifty computers. If there are more than fifty customers, ask them to queue and wait.”

  “As for the price… ten yuan an hour; would that be too much?

  “I want to have a bar counter, all sorts of alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks as per a bar’s specifications. Zhang Yuan, you know how to mix drinks, right? Since there won’t be that many customers—if you have nothing to do, mix a couple of drinks for them, and display your skills. If not, you’d be bored anyway.

  “Create a space near the bar counter to entertain guests. It can be a cafe in the day with some soft and soothing music. People can come to drink tea and play board games. In the night, it would be a pub. Zhang Yuan, you can be a house singer, right? If you feel like it, you can go and sing a few songs.

  “Also, separate a space and put some books. Order some books from online or a bookstore. If customers have nothing to do while resting and drinking coffee, they could even take a book to peruse and cultivate their feelings.

  “Additionally, let’s offer three meals a day! Didn’t this place use to be a cafeteria? There should be a rather complete kitchen here, right? However, do not keep the kitchen equipment they had used; I want everything to be new!

  “Go online and hire a professional head chef. Don’t bother with French, Japanese, or other fancy types of cuisine; let’s do comfort food! Something like eggs and tomatoes, Yuxiang shredded pork1, and shredded cabbage would be good.

  “Let’s not have too many dishes on the menu; around ten dishes every month would be good. If you guys think that the dishes are getting boring, you can change the menu monthly.

  “As for the price… it has to be more expensive than restaurants outside. After all, our head chef’s skills would be superb! Of course, we shouldn’t make it that expensive; thirty percent higher than normal would be good.

  “A space on the second floor should be reserved for sales. Let’s sell some peripherals like mouses, keyboards, joysticks, etc. I want all to be imported, branded items! I don’t expect to make money from this; as long as we can cover costs, I am happy.

  “Beside this space, let’s have a small-scale movie screening hall. It can serve as a private movie theater; ten-odd seats should be sufficient.

  “En, this should be more or less it.

  “Even though our place might be small, we’ll have everything that people would need; it’s perfect!

  Ma Yang hurriedly recorded everything down. However, Zhang Yuan was flabbergasted as he heard Pei Qian speaking.

  I hadn’t heard wrong, right?

  This place was only three thousand square meters, right? If someone wasn’t in the know, they would have thought that Boss Pei had bought an entire shopping mall!

  This was a major hotchpotch of ideas. Most importantly, who was the target clientele for all these different things? Was it people who were here to surf the net, here to eat, or here to drink coffee?

  Furthermore, the investment and yield were definitely not going to be in direct proportion! To do a private movie hall with only ten-odd seats? Was everyone else supposed to stand and watch?

  For a three thousand square feet building on its own, only fifty computers were going to be installed?

  Also, the idea of having a cafe in the day and a pub at night here was a little weird…

  There was also going to be a books corner, and they were to purchase a huge collection of books?

  If people were coming to surf the net, who was going to be reading?

  Taking a superficial view of things, the more services offered, the better. However, it wasn’t like this in reality. As the saying went, biting off more than one could chew!
/>   Young internet addicts nowadays were very poor; they were going online just to play games. They had no interest in eating and drinking. At most, they would go to the supermarket outside and buy a bottle of mineral water. They wouldn’t buy your alcoholic drinks!

  Furthermore, to set the price at ten yuan an hour; not many could afford that.

  This place was also more deserted. Even if some people came over here to drink coffee, that wouldn’t be enough to cover the overhead expenses. To provide traditional comfort food dishes; that was even more ridiculous.

  As for the pub…

  Normal pubs would have all sorts of activities going on! For example, ladies night where ladies could enter for free, impressive band performances. In other words, pubs had to be run in a certain way in order to succeed! To squeeze out a few hundred square meters of space in such a poor location to start a pub; could it become something big?

  Furthermore, if one took the menu and saw all sorts of high-class western wines on one side, and eggs and tomatoes and Yuxiang shredded pork on the other side.

  How was that palatable!

  The more Zhang Yuan thought, the more he felt that this business was not going to go well.

  Within one or two months… things would die down!

  As if sensing Zhang Yuan’s apprehension, Pei Qian preempted him and said something that left Zhang Yuan speechless. “This shop is Tengda Corporation’s first step towards having a physical presence; don’t worry about short-term losses! It is a big-scale entertainment venue that encompasses entertainment, lifestyle, gaming, and all aspects of life. To not be accepted in the short-term would be very normal. The crux is to slowly change people’s minds!”

  Zhang Yuan opened his mouth; however, no words came out.

  Alright, since Boss Pei had said that short-term losses were fine, let’s do this.

  Anyway, I’ll have more than ten thousand yuan in wages a month.

  …

  After sending Ma Yang and Zhang Yuan on their way, Pei Qian felt much more relaxed. Pei Qian was very pleased with this site. Especially after hearing it used to be a cafeteria that had gone bust, Pei Qian was even happier with it.