Returning to his office, Pei Qian sat quietly in front of his computer as he turned to the Qiandu search engine for help.
Shenhua Real Estate was one of the companies under Shenhua Corporation. As the real estate industry had been booming in recent years, Shenhua Corporation had also ventured into some real estate projects. Although it wasn’t number-one or number-two in the country—capitalizing on Shenhua Corporation’s financial strength, Shenhua Real Estate had become one of the forerunners in the country.
Shenhua View was one of the many properties that Shenhua Real Estate owned in Jingzhou City.
Shenhua Real Estate’s President was Shenhua Corporation’s President Lin Zhengnan’s second son, Lin Zhou. In recent years, he had just fully taken over Shenhua Real Estate to manage and had moved the company into more modern developments that suited the lifestyles of youngsters more.
“Lin Zhou?”
Pei Qian felt that this name was a little familiar. He looked at a picture of Lin Zhou and saw that his features were rather familiar.
“Our company seems to have a rich second-generation heiress… also by the family name of Lin?”
Pei Qian’s heart sank.
Could it be?
Lin Wan searched ‘Lin Wan’ in Qiandu; however, he did not manage to find anything. However, the more he thought about it, the more he thought something was wrong!
Pei Qian’s impression on Lin Wan had been formed when she had first come for an interview wearing a dress that Assistant Xin said was worth tens of thousands. Lin Wan had looked like an innocent and sweet person without any work experience and someone who hadn’t seen much of the world. As Pei Qian didn’t mind having one more or one less employee at the time, he had taken her in.
After that, Lin Wan had used her connections gained from working at Sun Strike Studios to liaise with some FPS elite gamers, who had objectively helped Ocean Stronghold with its first wave of publicity.
However, this matter had not sounded any alarm bells for Pei Qian. After all, anyone would have been able to get in contact with these gamers if they had been in charge of this. Pei Qian also didn’t feel that Lin Wan had any special identity and just thought of her as a normal rich second-generation heiress.
Subsequently, Lin Wan had been made responsible for some simple tasks in the company. She was conscientious and earnest and had kept a low-profile. She had not done anything outstanding, and Pei Qian had not made any attention to her.
However, Pei Qian now realized he seemed to have made a grave mistake.
There was a difference between rich second-generation heirs. Some were just more well-off while some could actually reduce Boss Pei’s rental expenses by hundreds of thousands with one phone call.
Pei Qian fell into a trance.
There was a mole!
The mole had been hiding within the company for so many months; he had not realized at all!
What should I do? How should I handle this?
Pei Qian thought about this repeatedly as he had no ideas at all.
This was too difficult!
“Calm down; I have no leads to work on now primarily because I know nothing about her. I need to know my enemy before I can win my battles; Lin Wan wouldn’t have come work for me without a reason.
“If I can figure this out, perhaps I can make her rethink her decision and leave to inherit her millions and billions in wealth?
“Even if I can’t make her leave, at least I can gather some valuable information…”
Thinking about this, Pei Qian decided to give a call to Zhou Muyan from Sun Strike Studios.
Zhou Muyan would definitely know something!
Chapter 170 - Lin Wan + Shang Yang Games = ?
“Boss Pei, what can I do for you…?”
Over the phone, Zhou Muyan’s voice sounded rather lifeless. Since they had last seen each other in Guangzhou at the end of last year, Pei Qian and Zhou Muyan had not kept in contact.
As Ocean Stronghold and Bullet Hole’s results had been rather divergent, the duo’s originally fragile relationship had been made worse.
Ocean Stronghold had already become the unabashed number-one domestically-produced FPS game, having a massive following while still expanding continuously. Its competitor had also been changed from other domestically-produced games to Counter Strike.
On the other hand, Bullet Hole’s popularity had slowly dropped after its initial success attributed to its widespread publicity. Although it was still operating in the black and doing alright, this evidently did not hit Zhou Muyan’s initial goals and expectations. It was falling further and further behind from Ocean Stronghold.
The two games’ design concept was vastly different. When Tengda had gone to Sun Strike Studios to learn, Zhou Muyan had actually proudly shared Bullet Hole’s design concept with everyone.
At that time, Zhou Muyan had been brimming with confidence.
While Pei Qian had sat in the audience, smiling and nodding constantly—his eyes filled with approval.
However, Zhou Muyan now knew that Boss Pei had been acting back then!
When Ocean Stronghold had first launched, Zhou Muyan had not paid much attention to it. However, as its popularity grew continuously, Zhou Muyan finally had started to feel that something was amiss.
He had dug a little and found that Ocean Stronghold’s development had been almost in tandem with Bullet Hole’s. When Tengda had gone to Sun Strike Studios to visit, Ocean Stronghold had already developed to a certain stage!
Zhou Muyan’s heart actually went cold.
Boss Pei had long known about Bullet Hole’s problems but had continuously nodded in the audience, acting as if nothing was wrong.
That was so scheming!
Since then, Pei Qian had not proactively contacted Zhou Muyan; he primarily was afraid Zhou Muyan would think he was boasting. While Zhou Muyan wouldn’t bother to contact Pei Qian, he didn’t want anything to do with him.
As such, the two had finally gotten in touch once again after so long.
As for why Zhou Muyan would take up the phone call…
He didn’t have a choice; he had to give Boss Pei some face.
After all, Tengda was now being commended and praised by the official games platform. As they were all in the same industry, Zhou Muyan couldn’t purposely cross Boss Pei.
However, he was still a little unwilling to talk to Pei Qian.
Pei Qian could feel Zhou Muyan’s grudging feelings and was afraid that he might misspeak and trigger Zhou Muyan’s fragile soul. He decided to cut to the chase and shoot directly.
“Boss Zhou, apologies for the disturbance. I want to ask you something. Do you know who Lin Wan is?”
Zhou Muyan was stunned for a while.
Of course, he knew who Lin Wan was. The second day Lin Wan had started work at Sun Strike Studios, Shenhua Corporation’s President’s office had directly called Zhou Muyan. If he didn’t remember wrongly, Lin Wan had entered Tengda for a couple of months already.
Could it be Boss Pei still didn’t know who Lin Wan was?
That wasn’t logical, right?
Zhou Muyan was a little confused. He asked back, “Boss Pei, you don’t know?”
Pei Qian’s heart grew even colder. By Zhou Muyan’s words, he was evidently confirming that Lin Wan was someone special! Pei Qian coughed lightly, “Boss Zhou, to be honest, I am facing some problems now. I hope that you could render me some assistance; I will be eternally grateful!”
Zhou Muyan hurriedly replied, “Please don’t say that, Boss Pei. If you have any queries, please ask; I will definitely answer them if I can!”
Pei Qian asked, “Could Boss Zhou explain what Lin Wan’s deal with her family is and why she had entered the game industry… in detail?”
Zhou Muyan was a little perplexed. Could it be Boss Pei didn’t even know about this? It seemed as if Shenhua Corporation’s President’s office had not given Boss Pei a call?
There was something fishy going on.
> However, Zhou Muyan didn’t think much as he told all he knew about Lin Wan to Pei Qian.
Lin Wan was Shenhua Corporation’s President’s youngest daughter. She had an elder sister and two elder brothers. As she was passionate about the game industry, she had found Sun Strike Studios on her own to work.
However, Lin Zhengnan was evidently not very supportive of Lin Wan entering the game industry. Nevertheless, as Lin Wan was rather stubborn and Lin Zhengnan did not want to strain his relationship with her, he had given Zhou Muyan a call hoping that he could extinguish Lin Wan’s game industry dreams so that she would return to Shenhua Corporation to work.
“This is the gist of it, Boss Pei. I do not know anything else,” Zhou Muyan spoke rather earnestly, “As for why you had not received a phone call… I do not know why.”
Pei Qian was silent for a moment, “How about Lin Wan and her relationship with her brother Lin Zhou, Shenhua Real Estate’s President?”
Zhou Muyan replied, “It is said that she only has some tension with her father; her relationship with her brother Lin Zhou is not bad.”
Pei Qian’s heart grew colder.
Alright, everything now made sense!
He could be sure that Lin Wan had asked her brother Lin Zhou to give Tengda a reduction in rent; there was no other explanation.
“So… Boss Zhou, how can I make Lin Wan leave the games industry and to go back to inherit the family wealth? Pei Qian asked earnestly.
Zhou Muyan thought for a while, “I’m afraid you have to make her utterly disappointed with the game industry.”
Pei Qian was silent.
Wasn’t this a little too difficult?
This was the complete opposite of what Pei Qian was doing!
Pei Qian wanted to spend more money; he had to give his employees more benefits. However, Lin Wan might feel that Tengda is a very good and nice company; and she wouldn’t want to leave.
Wasn’t this an impasse? While this time had only been a rental reduction, who knew what this rich heiress would come up with next time?
“Many thanks, Boss Zhou. I’ll organize another company cohesion someday, and we’ll definitely head to Guangzhou. I’ll offer my thanks in person then.”
Pei Qian thought that Old Zhou had been rather earnest in offering this information; it had been very useful to him.
Zhou Muyan was a little speechless.
He still wanted to come? Did he want to come and lash at my corpse?
“Boss Pei, allow me to ask something. Has Lin Wan done something unforgivable in Tengda…?”
Pei Qian was silent. He didn’t know how to reply to this question.
By right, Zhou Muyan had been completely honest and forthcoming with Pei Qian. He had only asked Pei Qian this one question. If Pei Qian avoided the question, deflected it, or lied; that didn’t seem appropriate.
Pei Qian paused for a moment, “She… had reduced our rent from 4 yuan to 1.5 yuan per square feet.”
Zhou Muyan, “???”
…
After hanging up, Pei Qian felt as if he was facing an unprecedented predicament. Pei Qian checked on the Fish-Catching Internet Cafe’s rental contract immediately. He didn’t find any links with Shenhua Real Estate as he breathed easy slightly.
That’s good.
All these Fish-Catching Internet Cafes’ locations were rather deserted; these places were also all stand-alone buildings. On the other hand, Shenhua Real Estate loved to purchase land that was within the bustling commercial districts in the city; most of them were high-end residential areas or office buildings.
Fish-Catching Internet Cafes’ locations had fortuitously been out of Shenhua Corporation’s scope. If the Fish-Catching Internet Cafes’ rentals were also reduced, Pei Qian would really puke blood.
The problem now was how to deal with Lin Wan.
He couldn’t let her have free rein; this was a ticking time bomb. He also couldn’t use overtly forceful methods to chase her away. If he did it too plainly, it would be noticed by others.
Even Shenhua Corporation’s President, Lin Wan’s father, Lin Zhengnan… couldn’t do anything about her; Pei Qian really couldn’t think of anything good. If Lin Wan showed her stubbornness, things might even get out of hand.
His only solution was to do as Zhou Muyan had said; he would do his best to make Lin Wan discouraged with and lose interest in the game industry.
From Lin Wan’s work ethic and mannerisms in Tengda, she didn’t seem to be the ‘ambitious but no-good’ type of weak-minded rich second-generation heiress. If not, she would not have been able to hide her identity for so long without being found out.
This kind of person probably was very determined on the path she had decided on.
If it was some external factors that made her fail, that might not be sufficient to extinguish her passion; it might only make her choose to try again.
This is a sticky situation…
Pei Qian thought for a long time. Suddenly, a stroke of inspiration struck him. It seemed… the garbage Shang Yang Games that he had bought-over could finally be of use?
To date, Shang Yang Games basically still maintained its original state pre-takeover. Furthermore, based on its current operating situation, it was still making losses.
To make Lin Wan in charge of a sure-fail game project… once the game really failed, she naturally would start to doubt her own abilities as well as the entire game industry. At that time, Boss Pei could happily continue to spend money while Lin Wan would head back to inherit her family wealth; wouldn’t that be the best of both worlds?
Pei Qian felt that this was a good idea.
Indeed, many things could be planned out and decided on by accident!
Chapter 171 - Yesterday, You Ignored Me. Tomorrow…
At night…
During a cohesion at Swan Lake Restaurant…
For Pei Qian, this had already become a habitual method of spending a huge sum of money. For the employees, it had also become a tradition to gather for a celebratory meal after research and development of a new game.
Now, Boss Pei had almost two hundred employees directly under him. He decided to book the whole Swan Lake Restaurant.
Among these employees were the new employees of the various Fish-Catching Internet Cafes and the employees of Fei Huang Workspace who just returned.
The employees of Shang Yang Games were temporarily not included. From the next settlement cycle, Pei Qian planned to incorporate the employees of Shang Yang Games slowly. That was why he did not invite them for the cohesion this time.
However, he needed to spend what he needed to spend.
Pei Qian allowed Ye Zhizhou and Wang Xiaobin to organize a meal for the company on their own, fully paid for by the company. They would have their meal at this restaurant as well—just at a different day and time.
He was beginning to feel like this most expensive buffet restaurant in Jingzhou City was failing to meet his expectations.
If he could fly to Beijing to have better food, Pei Qian would not hold back. However, the System would not allow for it.
“According to the rate at which we are expanding, Swan Lake Restaurant would probably not be able to accommodate all the employees at one shot. I have to think of another way.
“…I have a life full of worries.”
As others continued to stuff themselves with food, Pei Qian sat quietly, thinking about how to organize cohesions in the future.
Swan Lake Restaurant could not accommodate many people. After all, this was a high-class restaurant. Its target customer base was the rich and famous in Jingzhou City. The seats were extremely spacious, and the decorations were beautiful. That was why it could not accommodate that many people.
There were only Tengda’s immediate employees here now, and yet Pei Qian had to book the entire venue. If their numbers were to increase the next time they had a cohesion, there would surely not be enough space.
“Alright, we can have separate cohesions in the
future. I will bring all the core members of various departments for a meal first, and then the various departments can go out and have meals separately.
“That would allow me to spend more money, too. Perfect!
“Unfortunately, there isn’t a more expensive restaurant in Jingzhou. Wait. I could open a restaurant more high-class than Swan Lake Restaurant, couldn’t I?!”
Pei Qian very naturally thought of another good idea.
He had already taken the first step into the food industry with Fish-Catching Internet Cafe and Fish-Catching Take-Out. One could say he had tested the waters. Up till now, they were performing according to Pei Qian’s expectations.
On one hand, he could provide good meals for his employees. On the other hand, he could continue to incur losses. Both of these businesses made huge contributions to Pei Qian’s loss-making career!
It had been a successful experience so far!
However, the only problem was that Fish-Catching Take-Out was not high-class enough.
The main purpose of Fish-Catching Take-Out was to provide healthy, home-cooked meals for the employees. Although it was slightly more expensive than ordinary restaurants, it was far from the money-spending machine that Pei Qian could imagine it to be.
After all, they were all ordinary dishes. The System had limitations on the pricing of the food. He could not increase it as much as he wanted.
No matter how delicious a serving of scrambled eggs with tomatoes was, it could not be priced that high unless the chef was a cheat.
Pei Qian did not have a chef like that just yet.
He could start up a high-class restaurant; that would solve his problems.
Then, he could look for a secluded place to set up this restaurant. He would select the best-quality ingredients and charge the highest prices he possibly could. Although his own employees would get a discount when they ate there—as long as the ingredients were expensive enough, this would not be a problem.
Losing Money to Be a Tycoon c1-883 Page 92