Losing Money to Be a Tycoon c1-883

by Inebriation-seeking Blue Shirt, 青衫取醉

  As he was considering, new messages continued to appear on the System’s screen.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  Pei Qian, who had just been thinking about slacking for a week, was stunned. He read the special task for this week carefully and could not hold back his desire to curse.

  “System, your mama so fat!”

  What the f*ck do you mean by ‘the owner seems to be caught up with the profit he is making’? I’ve not been caught up with the profit. I don’t even want to make profits. I’ve been trying to incur losses all along. Can you blame me for not being able to incur losses?

  Alas, that was not what the System thought.

  For the two most recent settlements, Pei Qian had indeed made profits. If he considered all five settlements, it was profit, profit, loss, profit, profit. If one ignored the process and only looked at the outcome, they might indeed think that Pei Qian was an owner who was caught up with profits.

  Pei Qian’s heart was filled with different cuss words.

  The most absurd thing was the Special Task Completion Reward.

  ‘A mysterious surprise within the System’s regulations!’

  The System did not make clear what it was, but the description alone made Pei Qian feel like the reward was especially valuable. It would probably make all the hard work worth

  Up until now, the System had only been giving Pei Qian cash by converting money to his Personal Wealth on the settlement date.

  However, ‘a mysterious surprise within the System’s regulations’ left so much to his imagination.

  Maybe it would be a special tool? Or maybe it would alter the conversion ratios by huge margins!

  Pei Qian understood that this might well turn out to be a pit, but he could not help but jump! There was a possibility that he would get a useless ‘surprise’ reward once he completed the mission. Yet, what if he got something useful?

  Pei Qian could not give up this ‘mysterious surprise within the System’s regulations’ for a mere hundred thousand yuan. That would be too stupid.

  After cursing for a long while, Pei Qian finally calmed down.

  “Stupid System, on account of your integrity thus far, I will believe you this once.”

  In any case, the settlement is complete. I have a Special Task now. I’ll leave the unhappy events of the past week behind me.

  In order to complete this Special Task, Pei Qian quickly regained his composure. He had to think of more ways to incur losses.

  However, the good news was that the settlement cycle was longer this time. Last time, it lasted two months. This time, it was going to last four months. In four months, Pei Qian could probably show his true worth. He could do things that he had no time to do in the last cycle.

  Chapter 186 - Think of Another Way to Make Money

  Reflecting on his painful experience, Pei Qian decided to take his lessons to heart and look to the future.

  To get the ‘mysterious surprise within the System’s regulations’, Pei Qian had to work hard to make a loss in the next cycle.

  However, as one learned from experience, Pei Qian had already grown much.

  This time, he definitely would be able to learn from experiences; he would definitely not make the same mistakes again!

  First, he definitely could not put all his hopes of making money into wealth conversion!

  Previously, Pei Qian had always looked down on income of ten or twenty thousand; he had always thought that as long as he made a slight loss, he could convert and make hundreds of thousands at one go. This way of thinking evidently had issues.

  After the previous two rounds of settlement, he had only made thirty-odd thousand and twenty-odd thousand; that was only ten thousand-odd on average monthly.

  It was too little!

  Pei Qian decided to think of other ways to make money.

  He had immediately made thirty-odd thousand when he acted in Boss Pei’s Daily Life; wasn’t that already much more reliable than the System?

  Evidently, he couldn’t eke out a living for himself by relying on his main job; he ultimately still had to do something on the side.

  As for what exactly he could do, Pei Qian had not thought it through yet. However, he already had a rough idea.

  All in all, as long as the System permitted it, he was going to use labor to exchange for remuneration; he just had to make sure he didn’t go overboard. He still had to test the System before he could firm up his plans.

  Second, he had to know how to properly generate losses. Pei Qian now knew how the System worked more or less. The System actually had many restrictions. Products couldn’t be inferior ones masquerading as quality ones while rubbish goods could not be forcibly sold at a high price; high-value goods could also not be sold cheaply. Basically, while all product prices could fluctuate, they had to be within a reasonable range.

  This restriction had basically prohibited Pei Qian from intentionally creating losses.

  If he invested little, he could only sell the products at a low price; only the poor would be interested in them. If he invested much, he could only sell it at a high price; when the reputation of his products grew, the ballers would be attracted.

  Hence, Pei Qian had not managed to do anything unscrupulous; the System had prevented him from such.

  However, Pei Qian had discovered a phenomenon: when the System evaluated a product’s quality, it would consider it from the ‘income’ and ‘reputation’ points of view.

  That meant that if he burned money to build up a good reputation, that was doable. If he wanted to make less money, he had to try his best to increase the product’s reputation.

  This was an insight he gained from the Coming Out of the Cocoon as a Butterfly documentary!

  As long as there was a huge and wide response

  —even if the documentary couldn’t be monetized and couldn’t generate any profits, the System would not bother.

  Of course, the documentary had resulted in Li Zhengwei promoting Ocean Stronghold and led to its players and income rising; this could be considered to be a minor flaw.

  However, this one flaw did not outweigh the benefits; filming documentaries was still a good idea.

  Furthermore, this experience had not been limited to just filming documentaries; he could apply this thinking to making games as well. If he invested enough money and made a game with niche appeal that everyone praised and lauded, but no one spent money on it.

  Wouldn’t that be perfect?

  Pei Qian thought that this should be the next objective of Tengda Games.

  In the previous cycle, Tengda Games had only created new downloadable content for all its existing games. If Tengda did not start developing new games and everyone was left in limbo every day, that would not be very acceptable.

  Fortunately, although Pei Qian had been rather confused and unsure previously, he had now found a new direction.

  If this was successful, it would not be a problem making a game that created millions in losses!

  As for Shang Yang Games…

  It had continuously made losses; this proved that Pei Qian’s plan was still rather successful, and he didn’t need to bother too much with it now. If he encountered such loss-making treasures in the future, Pei Qian also wouldn’t mind taking over a few more companies.

  Besides all these, he also wanted to break thro
ugh into a new industry.

  Fish-Catching Take-Out had also been a rather positive experiment; however, it wasn’t losing enough money.

  As for the Fish-Catching Internet Cafe…

  Strictly speaking, the flagship store growing popular because of Chen Lei was indeed something a little preposterous; Pei Qian still couldn’t accept this fact to date.

  However, only the flagship store had become a tourist spot while the other branches were still making minor losses. As such, the general idea of opening physical stores seemed to be feasible. Only some minor problems had surfaced in operations; Boss Pei’s luck was also not very good.

  He could still continue with this idea.

  Besides already planning to open a high-end restaurant to splurge on, Pei Qian also intended to dabble in logistics and storageexpress delivery.

  If he could really generate losses like JD.com had done for years, Pei Qian would definitely even laugh out loud in his dreams. Furthermore, if he focused his energies on labor-intensive industries and operations-if every employee had more benefits, he would be in a much better position at splurging.

  Pei Qian reorganized his thoughts, and he thought that generating some losses in the next cycle wasn’t going to be that hard!

  First things first: finding a side job!

  It was a proven fact that he couldn’t rely on the System entirely to make money. If Pei Qian didn’t go overboard in using his own labor to exchange for remuneration, the System would not stop him.

  As for how much wages he could draw from the System Funds…

  He still had to ask the System.

  Pei Qian asked quietly in his heart: “If I invested, opened a company, and used labor to exchange for reasonable compensation, how much salary could I give myself?”

 

  Pei Qian was speechless. “…”

  This didn’t sound very optimistic.

  Pei Qian didn’t have any operating abilities at all. Although Pei Qian felt that being a boss was rather easy, if he had to really hold an actual role and position, he might not be able to do so.

  This was equivalent to Pei Qian letting go of his current position and status and going for an interview. That would be the highest wages he could draw.

  Furthermore, he had to work on this job as per normal working hours before he could earn that amount of money.

  For example, if Pei Qian went to wash dishes at a restaurant now, he could at most earn two to three thousand monthly; he had to work eight hours a day at that.

  “This is not feasible! It was precisely because I did not have technical and professional skills. That’s why I placed my hopes on the System!”

  It was evident that the System could not be reasoned with at all regarding this.

  However, Pei Qian’s mind churned as he thought: there seemed to be a loophole here. It was easier for some simpler jobs for the job scope to be properly defined. Dishwashing, waiting, etc. were jobs that had fixed salary levels.

  However, what if it was something more abstract and complicated?

  Like… being an actor.

  The difference in remuneration for a movie actor and an actor in an opera was vast. Furthermore, even if two actors were of the same standard, if they were hired to act in different movies; the pay difference would be huge as well.

  How could the System calculate this?

  The System screen soon surfaced

 

  Pei Qian was confused.

  This was treated differently as well?

  After thinking about this, Pei Qian understood.

  This was a rule that the System had set to prevent Pei Qian from using the System Funds for his own purposes.

  For example, if Pei Qian bought a filming company and spent a million to pay himself to shoot a movie, that would not be allowed. It would be considered as maliciously using System Funds.

  If he put his own money in, he could at most earn one thousand five hundred daily. When Pei Qian had acted in Boss Pei’s Daily Life, he had earned a thousand a day. As this was within the System’s range, the System had not prevented it.

  Based on this calculation-if Pei Qian spent ten days a month shooting, he could earn fifteen thousand a month.

  This was rather significant considering how much Pei Qian was earning now. However… it didn’t seem that much either.

  However, if it was an unrelated company that wanted to hire Pei Qian to act in movies, however much that company gave Pei Qian; the System would not care.

  After all, there would be no misappropriating System Funds this way.

  Chapter 187 - Boss Pei’s Mini Experiment

  However, this did not mean that Pei Qian could do as he pleased.

  If it was a company that had no relationship with the System Funds at all, that company wouldn’t be familiar with Pei Qian; how could it give Pei Qian a high pay?

  Pei Qian also couldn’t do any secret deals or negotiations; the System would not allow anyone to suspect the presence of it or the existence of the challenges it posed.

  That meant that the other party had to wholeheartedly, without any doubt, and reasonably give Pei Qian a high pay.

  If these criteria were fulfilled, the System wouldn’t care how high a pay Pei Qian received.

  However, these conditions were a tall order.

  “The System is indeed strict; basically, all side paths that I wish to take have been blocked.”

  Pei Qian actually had a very rough idea in mind. However, this required someone to collaborate with him; and he could only shelve this plan for now.

  At this time, his phone rang; Ma Yang had called.

  “Brother Qian! Boss Lin has said that he wishes to meet you and discuss some matters. Do you want to make a trip?”

  Fish-Catching Internet Cafe branch…

  Lin Chang and Pei Qian were not meeting at the flagship store this time; too many people were there, and it was too noisy. Ma Yang had suggested for them to meet at one of Fish-Catching Internet Cafe’s branches instead.

  Pei Qian came to the entrance as he pushed the door and entered.

  It was quite visible that more people were present inside than before.

  This was evidently because of Chen Lei.

  As Chen Lei had made it big on The Voice of China, his back story with Fish-Catching Internet Cafe had been discussed in gusto by viewers; that had given Fish-Catching Internet Cafe a gold branding.

  Most of Chen Lei’s fans all headed to the Fish-Catching Internet Cafe flagship store; after all, that was where Chen Lei had been previously.

  As for the Fish-Catching Internet Cafe branches; they had also benefited from this positive branding

  Many people had originally felt that Fish-Catching Internet Cafe’s prices were very high; now, they were willing to pay for Fish-Catching Internet Cafe’s branding.

  Of course, due to the bad locations of these branches, there were only that many customers with a certain amount of spending power in the area. Hence, Fish-Catching Internet Cafe branches were still barely breaking even.

  Pei Qian sat opposite Lin Chang.

  Although this person had forked out hundreds of thousands at one shot, Pei Qian didn’t feel that appreciative towards him. After all, he had only gotten a few thousand when the money finally trickled down to him.

  Lin Chang evidently didn’t think much about the money he had spent.

  “Boss Pei, nice to see you again.

  “My little sister had been under your care for this time. Me booking the entire place that day was purely a small gesture of thanks,” Lin Chang smiled and said.

  Mentioning this, Pei Qian was triggered.

  You had
spent hundreds of thousands; however, they had not landed in my pocket!

  Pei Qian smiled slightly and said, “Boss Lin, saying all these makes it sound as if you lack sincerity. You had spent hundreds of thousands and postured as a big shot in front of everyone; how could you consider this a gesture of thanks now?”

  Lin Chang was stunned for a moment. He then laughed and said, “That’s true, that’s true.”

  After this joke, the two strangers grew slightly closer to each other.

  Lin Chang sighed emotively and said, “My little sister has always been the most stubborn among all the siblings. Even my dad can’t manage her. However, I heard that she is actually very well-behaved in your company and very down-to-earth; that really surprised me. Hence, I had specially made a trip to Jingzhou to see who on earth this Boss Pei is.”

  Pei Qian was speechless. “…”

  She was very well-behaved and down-to-earth?! I was almost duped by her!

  Pei Qian wanted to diss so badly; however, he drank a sip of his coffee quietly as he decided not to respond to Lin Chang’s statement. He wanted the conversation to carry on.

  “It seems as if your father doesn’t want her to continue working in the game industry.” Pei Qian used a casual tone as he tested waters.

  He wasn’t sure if Lin Chang had the same thinking as Lin Wan’s dad; he also wasn’t sure what the family situation was like for the Lins. By probing this way, he could know the situation better and find out more about Lin Chang’s thinking.

  This way, when he sent Lin Wan away next time, he wouldn’t get into trouble.

  Lin Chang was a little helpless as he replied, “I am also very conflicted about this.

  “By right, Ah Wan’s actions now serve no purpose. If she is willing to take over the family business, she could definitely invest in and be in charge of her own games company. However, she is quite stubborn; she insists that she must personally be the game designer.