Losing Money to Be a Tycoon c1-883

by Inebriation-seeking Blue Shirt, 青衫取醉

  “Manager Cui, can I rent a hilltop villa?”

  Manager Cui had just sat down and taken a sip of tea. He nearly choked on his drink when he heard the question.

  The young man in front of him was dressed in a custom-made suit. He did not look poor. Yet, he was not here to buy a villa but to rent one?

  According to the relevant regulations-if developers had ownership of the properties, they could rent them out.

  However, who could afford to rent villas?

  If they really rented the villas according to market price, it would cost about two to three hundred thousand yuan a month to rent a villa. Who would be bored enough to rent a villa in such a deserted place? This area was not even suited for living long-term.

  What’s more—even if people really were interested in renting the villas, the developer was not.

  The villas had all been uniquely renovated. The pools and various furniture also had to be regularly maintained. Every now and then, they would have to be cleaned and repaired. For all they knew, a baller would take a liking to the villa; and they would be able to sell it.

  Maintenance problems aside—even if they rented the villas out, the developers would only get two or three hundred thousand yuan a month. They really did not care for that.

  Manager Cui looked apologetic as he said, “I’m really sorry, Sir. We can only sell our villas, not rent them out.”Pei Qian nodded. He had been prepared for this. “Is that so? What a pity. I have no choice but to buy one then.”

  He said this for the System to hear. Look, I tried to save the company’s money. I’ve found a villa suitable to turn into a high-end restaurant, but the developers would only sell the villas, not rent them out!

  Manager Cui looked confused and shocked.

  What did he mean by ‘What a pity, I have no choice but to buy one then’?!

  Why did he sound reluctant?!

  Pei Qian sipped his drink and asked about the price.

  Manager Cui quickly answered, “If you’re looking at our hilltop villas, they are almost six hundred square meters big. They have independent lifts, pools, gardens, and maintenance. They are being sold at about twelve thousand yuan per square meter. That adds up to about 6.3 million yuan in total.”

  Pei Qian remained silent for a moment and said, “It doesn’t sound… too expensive.”

  Chapter 210 - The Restaurant’s Location? It’s Been Decided.

  Manager Cui’s mouth opened slightly, and he looked speechless.

  ‘Doesn’t sound too expensive?’

  If they weren’t expensive, would these villas still be left behind after so long?!

  In fact, this price was higher than many other villas in Jingzhou City. Their selling points were their design, their elaborate renovations, and the fact that they were standalone hilltop villas.

  Yet, Pei Qian did not think the villas were too expensive because he had subconsciously been comparing them to the prices that he remembered in the back of his head.

  He could buy such a huge villa for seven million yuan? That was really inexpensive! If he tried to buy a villa this big in Beijing, Shanghai, or Guangzhou; it could rise to tens of millions or even over a hundred million yuan in ten years.

  Moreover, Pei Qian had already confirmed with the System: he was allowed to buy this villa using System Funds! However, the villa would be considered part of the company’s assets once he bought it. He could turn this place into a restaurant, but he could not live here.

  In other words, he had to legitimately use this place to run the business and use it if he would manufacture resources.

  On top of that, using company funds to purchase this property meant that he would have to spend far more than if he were buying it in his own name. He would have to pay building taxes and duties, and he would not enjoy discounted loan interests. If he wanted to sell this villa later on, he would probably have to pay value-added tax, stamp duty, and other additional fees as well. Ordinary companies would find it extremely hard to sell properties like that.

  However, none of this mattered to Pei Qian. The System had given him a break and allowed him to turn this villa into a restaurant using System Funds. This had already been a surprise!

  Pei Qian glanced at the remaining amount in the System Funds.

  Immediately after settlement, the System Funds started out with eight million yuan. Three weeks had passed since then. From Ocean Stronghold alone, they already earned more than six million yuan.

  At the beginning of the month, Fish-Catching Internet Cafe also contributed a significant amount of income from the sale of alcohol. They only had to pay rent once every three months so they were still not making a loss. All the money that they earned had been transferred straight into the system.

  Subsequently, Pei Qian invested a huge amount of money into projects like Zhongdian Chinese Network, Shang Yang Games, and the Headwind Courier stations. At this point, there was over eight million yuan in the System Funds.

  That was enough to buy this villa, but he would still need to provide Tengda Games and Shang Yang Games with money later on in the cycle.

  The budget for Repent and be Saved was twenty million yuan. It would take at least three months to produce this game. Based on the income from the other games, Pei Qian had guessed that they would probably have enough money to fund this.

  However, if he spent six million yuan on this villa, they would not have enough.

  Pei Qian pondered for a while. Since this was the case, he would create another epic weapon to be sold in Ocean Stronghold!

  He could sell an epic weapon for 888 yuan. According to the 70-30 profit split, they would need to sell ten thousand weapons in order to earn six million yuan.

  That was just as well. He would make a limited edition weapon and only sell ten thousand pieces. Once they finished selling all those weapons, they would have filled in the huge gap that this purchase would create.

  At that thought, Pei Qian sent a message to Assistant Xin, asking her to make a trip down to complete the administrative matters.

  Then, he asked Manager Cui to lead them into the villa to take a look.

  There were a total of eight hilltop villas in Ming Yun Villas. They were all stand-alone villas, and they each stood far away from one another. This ensured that the surroundings would remain peaceful and quiet.

  Pei Qian purposely chose to view a villa closer to the north-west region. He was mainly worried that when his employees gathered here for meals, all the driving around would disturb the other residents.

  They would enter the restaurant from the north-west and leave once they finish eating. It would be more convenient.

  There was 580 square meters of usable space in the villa. There were three levels, six rooms, three living rooms, and three restrooms. The living room’s ceiling height was seven meters. The renovations were well done, and there was furniture inside as well.

  Of course, Pei Qian had no need for the furniture. After all, he was going to turn the villa into a restaurant. He could keep the renovations largely the same, but the use and structure of the rooms would have to change. This applied to the kitchens, the toilets, and the like.

  The infinity pool also looked out at the scenery from halfway up the hill. The vibes of the place were good overall.

  Pei Qian walked around, feeling emotional inside.

  How good it would be if he were rich!

  If I can incur about seven million yuan worth of losses by the next settlement, I would buy another villa for myself to live in without any hesitation!

  One could dream – there was always a possibility of dreams coming true.

  Manager Cui worked hard to blow up the merits of the villa and hype it up.

  He was already well-spoken to begin with. In addition, the place was indeed well-designed. Apart from the price, everything else was extremely good. Of course, it was all quite bewitching

  Ma Yang and Zhang Yuan followed behind Pei Qian and walked around the villa as well.

/>   Both of them had the exact same thoughts as Pei Qian.

  How good it would be if they were rich!

  After walking one round, Zhang Yuan turned to Pei Qian and said, “Boss Pei, why don’t you continue looking at the villa with Boss Ma? I’ll go and survey the other restaurant locations.”

  Pei Qian faced him and asked, “Restaurant locations? It’s been decided-here it is.”

  Zhang Yuan was confused.

  Here?

  There was very low traffic through this villa. Why would Boss Pei want to set up a high-end restaurant in such a deserted place?!

  Pei Qian did not bother to address Zhang Yuan’s astonishment. Instead, he turned to Manager Cui and said, “Manager Cui, I want to buy a semi-commercial hilltop villa and turn it into a private restaurant. There shouldn’t be a problem, right?”

  Manager Cui was stunned. “You want to buy a semi-commercial villa? Er… of course!

  “Villas like that can be used for commercial or residential purposes. I just have to communicate your intentions with the proprietor on the side.”

  Manager Cui was quite surprised. He did not think that Boss Pei would be looking for a semi-commercial villa.

  The semi-commercial villas were the hardest to sell because of the low traffic in the area. They were also isolated from the other residential villas and located in a very deserted region. For various reasons, it seemed much better to stay in fully-residential villas as opposed to semi-commercial ones.

  Of course, there were possible problems with opening a restaurant here: vehicle traffic and people management.

  The semi-commercial villas stood alone. That meant that vehicles would have their own entrance. Thus, it would probably not cause disturbance to residents in other villas.

  What’s more, Pei Qian had already said that the restaurant would operate on a reservation and membership basis. They would strictly control the crowd and not allow any resident to be disturbed. Any impact on their daily lives would be minimized.

  As for whether opening a restaurant in such a secluded area would be profitable or not…

  It did not matter.

  In any case, to the developer of Ming Yun Villas, all that mattered was selling the villas and earning money. Whether Boss Pei incurred losses or not was his problem, and it would not affect the developer in any way. In fact, they could stand to gain from it.

  On the other hand, to Boss Pei, incurring losses was more than he could ask for.

  If they ran into other problems down the road, he could simply spend more money to resolve them. These would be the System Funds anyway-it wouldn’t be a problem!

  Soon, Assistant Xin arrived.

  It was obvious that she was quite surprised.

  Why is Boss Pei buying a house all of a sudden? What’s more, he’s buying a hilltop villa with a poor price-quality ratio, located on the outskirts of the city. He’s also buying the semi-commercial villa under the company’s name?

  All of this had happened so suddenly. However, Assistant Xin was never one to ask too many questions. She worked according to Pei Qian’s requests. She negotiated the price, signed the contract, and finished up the other administrative matters.

  Pei Qian continued to sip his tea nonchalantly. Then, he sent a message to Lu Mingliang.

  “Make some time to create a new epic weapon for Ocean Stronghold. Limit the sales to ten thousand weapons. Once we hit the number, cease sales forever. It’ll be a limited edition weapon.”

  He would not earn more money than he needed.

  Pei Qian would never kill the goose that laid golden eggs.

  Ocean Stronghold was in quite a good situation. The reason why so many people started playing the game was precisely that it had rare weapons and marketing value.

  If he allowed the Barrett Doom to be sold freely in the market, it would have severely damage the game’s financial situation.

  Thus, after some consideration, Pei Qian made his decision. In order for Ocean Stronghold to keep earning money and laying golden eggs systematically and orderly, he would only sell three types of weapons:

  The first type was like Barrett Doom. He sold a maximum of five hundred weapons per month and refreshed the number every month. This would slow down their depreciation and ensure that the majority would be able to cope with the developments.

  The second type would be similar to the newest epic weapon. He would sell ten thousand of them at one shot and then cease to sell them forever. This would allow them to appreciate it slowly.

  As for epic weapons like the Red Kilin which were sold freely in the market forever, Pei Qian would not think about releasing a second one for now.

  Otherwise, he might unintentionally increase the income generated by the game. After that, it would be hard for him to bring the income levels down again. He would also cause players to spend more than they otherwise would.

  As long as he could sell all the epic weapons which he created this time and fill up the huge hole in their finances created by the villa, they would not break the capital chain. The other games and projects would also not be affected by this purchase.IS no

  Pei Qian was going to make a full, upfront payment for the villa. That meant there was no need for complicated loan applications. The entire process would be completed relatively quickly; it would only take three to five days at most.

  Pei Qian did some calculations in his head. The administrative matters, planning, and renovations would all be completed by the beginning of next month.

  It would be just in time for his selection of the best employee on August 1st. He would have a legitimate excuse to bring all his employees here for a meal and then happily send the lucky man off.

  However, it was surprising that the System allowed Pei Qian to purchase this property and turn it into a restaurant using System Funds.

  Was it because Pei Qian could not rent this place?

  Or was it because there was now enough System Funds to afford something like that?

  Although he could only turn the villa into a restaurant and was still not allowed to stay in it, the System had relaxed its regulations slightly. That was a good thing!

  Chapter 211 - Boss Pei is Very Heaven-Defying!

  July 26th, Monday…

  At Shang Yang Games…

  Lin Wan had been scrunching her nose and trying Bloody Battle Song out for two weeks now.

  In the beginning, she was contemptuous and confused. Now, she found that there was a purpose to a game like that.

  The original Bloody Battle Song was a traditional game with paywalls. Ballers could spend money to buy experiences while ordinary players could play with ballers and act as their sidekicks or their punching bags.

  In other words, those with money would show up with money while those without money would show up for their friends.

  War games with paywalls, like Bloody Battle Song, were filled with negative emotions. The biggest problems were feelings of injustice and forcefully-generated hatred.

  These were the same two reasons that similar war games with paywalls were criticized badly.

  Such games were unfair because the battle power one could obtain in the game depended on the amount of money they spent. The richer one was, the stronger they would be. Game merchants would create three, six, or nine levels in a single game. Depending on how much one topped up in the game, they would get different experiences.

  If one spent money, they could kill four parties at once and completely destroy other players’ gaming experience.

  This type of injustice could easily provoke negative feelings in players. After all, there was a saying, ‘do not worry about scarcity but rather about uneven distribution’.

  Moreover, such games could easily generate hatred by force because many game merchants would design the game experience to invoke a competitive spirit in them and cause them to spend more money on the game.

  Take war for example.

  If one could take over a city, they would be crowned the k
ing. An announcement would be made to the entire channel, and all the players in the city would receive rewards. This was an excellent opportunity for one to show off in front of other players.

  Many players wanted to be crowned king. This would in turn depend on who spent the most money on the game.

  ‘If you top up ten thousand yuan, I’ll top up thirty thousand yuan. If you top up fifty thousand yuan, I’ll top up a hundred thousand yuan…’

  This competitive mindset would form some sort of involution mechanism. Two ballers could compete with each other and end up buying a bunch of useless computer data. They would be playing right into the hands of the game merchants.

  After each update, new equipment would be released. No matter how much the ballers had spent before, they would have to start from scratch in order to avoid being overtaken.

  After one or two years, players—who had spent a huge amount of money on the gamewould look back and see that they had bought nothing but emptiness.

  However, from another angle, why would games like that become popular?

  This was all because complete, rich, and dynamic worlds existed in the game.

  Actually, traditional online MMORPG games were doing the same thing. Take Fantasy World for example; there were guilds in that game as well. The officials included guild leaders, guild managers, assistant team leaders, commanders, and the like. Players could also take on roles at different levels.

  War games with paywalls, such as Bloody Battle Song, allowed players to become more engrossed in their roles. This was because the human relationships were much more complex, and there were many more levels.

  The only difference was that a player in Fantasy World would pride himself in the amount of time he spent in the game and his understanding of the game’s mechanics. On the other hand, a player in war games with paywalls would pride himself in the amount of money he had spent on the game.