“That helped to lower our costs since we no longer had to hire professionals for maintenance and repair or care about whether the shared phone booths were generating profits or not.
“We only had to remain seated, sell our shared phone booth packages, and take a cut of their revenue! From the current situation, it looks like this business model guarantees
profits!
“That’s why we only need to hire a few people for maintenance, cashiering, and managing the company’s daily operations now. Zhang Wang doesn’t have to be personally involved.
“We earned another ten million yuan from the sale of the shared phone booths so we’re handing the funds up right away. “How do you think we should spend the twenty million yuan, then, Boss Pei?”
“Boss Pei?”
“Boss Pei?”
Chapter 446 - I Turned Around for a Moment and Earned Another Five Million Yuan
Sometime later, He Desheng heard Boss Pei heave a long sigh through the phone. He began to have mixed feelings.
First, he could not help but feel disturbed.
What’s the matter with Boss Pei?
Oh, I know. Boss Pei has just found out that the shared phone booths have moved out of Jingzhou towards the rest of the country. He must be feeling comforted like a mother eagle would after watching her babies fly out of the nest!
Yes, that must be the case!
Yet, at the other end of the line, Pei Qian was feeling sorrowful! He had only had ten million yuan to worry about at first, but now it was twenty million yuan.
The pressure was on!
“Let me think about it and get back to you.”
After hanging up, Pei Qian flipped through his little notebook, trying to see where he could spend all that money.
Time was tight. It was too late to find another city and open a few more Fish-Catching Internet Cafe branches. However, he could still keep opening Upwind courier stations. That would be much faster, and he would be able to keep adding more stations until the week before settlement.
At the same time, he could manufacture more stocks for Otto E1. That would burn money quicker.
Piling up five thousand cell phones in Otto Technologies’ warehouse would cost Pei Qian twenty million yuan. Of course, if he managed to sell them all… he would be in a worse state than he was now.
Apart from all of these, Pei Qian still had an ultimate killer move—the Thriller Hostel project!
Thriller Hostel could be delayed until the next cycle. A place like that was considered a bottomless pit for money. It would probably have no problem eating up all twenty million yuan.
Still, unless he absolutely had to, Pei Qian did not want to throw more money into Thriller Hostel.
If he invested more money, the place would become scarier, the experience would become more exciting, and the surrounding facilities would be perfected sooner. At the end of the day, the project might not be able to incur losses.
Thus, giving Lu Mingliang more money to open Upwind Courier stations and expand Fish-Catching Complex’s reach throughout Lincheng would be his best option.
Then, he would channel the remaining funds to Otto Technologies and ask Chang You to store more stocks in the warehouse…
Just as Pei Qian was deep in thought, his cell phone rang again. This time, it was Ma Yiqun. Pei Qian frowned and accepted the call at once.
“Boss Pei, there’s an additional five million yuan in Zhongdian Chinese Network’s company account. I’ve already transferred it over to you!” Ma Yiqun’s voice had a hint of pride.
Pei Qian’s mind was filled with question marks.
After two seconds, he asked, “When did this happen?”
Ma Yiqun answered, “Just two days ago.
“We’ve been settling the previous month’s royalties, right? After receiving February’s income and after dealing with the company’s matters, I asked the finance department to transfer the money to you!”
Pei Qian’s expression darkened, and he frowned. “Didn’t I tell you to spend all that money on your own? The authors’ class requires funding now. Why are you transferring the money back to me?” Ma Yiqun was stunned. “The authors’ class has enough funding. “Don’t worry, Boss Pei. The five million yuan is not all of last month’s profit. I’ve already deducted the website’s daily operating expenses, transaction fees, funds for supplementing authors’ income, and expenses for the authors’ class. I’ve even set aside a sum of money for other uses. This is what’s left.
“We’ve also maximized benefits for those attending the authors’ class. I don’t know where else to spend this money, and so I’m handing it up to you.
“I heard that Otto Ei is lacking funds now. If we hand this sum of money to them, they should be able to put it to good use!”
Pei Qian was speechless.
I don’t know where to spend all this money either! How can you transfer the money to me just because you don’t know how to spend it? That’s so irresponsible!
You threw five million yuan at me without any warning. I wasn’t even mentally prepared. You’re making my life very difficult!
Wait a minute, did Ma Yiqun just say that he had already deducted expenses for the authors’ class from this sum?
Doesn’t that mean…
The website is earning even more now?!
The website had already started generating profits before. Ma Yiqun tried to transfer the profits to Tengda once, but Pei Qian decisively rejected him and asked him to start the online authors’ class.
The authors’ class was to be run continuously. There was one every month. The participants’ food and lodging would be provided, and they would be paid a salary and given insurance as well. Logically, all the money should have been gone by now.
Why was there an additional five million yuan from the previous month’s revenue?!
The sensitive Pei Qian realized that something was amiss. He quickly asked, “Did Zhongdian Chinese Network’s profits increase again in February?”
The moment he finished speaking, Pei Qian felt strange. Why did I say ‘again’? Ma Yiqun smiled. “Of course, Boss Pei. That’s all thanks to your great planning! “The facts have shown that your decision to invest all the website’s profits into the online authors’ class had been a wise and forward-thinking one!
“In the short term, we generated fewer profits. However, the benefits of the authors’ class are infinite!
“Firstly, we gave unregulated, ill-disciplined authors a fixed working schedule and more security in life. Thus, they could focus on writing and improving their novels.
“Secondly, authors have a platform to communicate, learn, and improve their own skills. That means Zhongdian Chinese Network’s mid-tier writers are growing at a rapid pace!
“Lastly, the Tengda spirit classes you’ve been organizing for the authors have been termed ‘inspiring’. Instead of only wanting to write more, they’re now focusing on maintaining both quality and quantity. Overall, the novels on our website are moving towards excellence. That’ll be very helpful to retain readers!
“Most importantly, Cui Geng’s The Butterfly Game has pleasantly surprised us. It has broken the record for subscriptions, and news has spread throughout the online literature industry. Many authors have noticed the high upper limit for Zhongdian Chinese Network’s online novels and have come over to start writing as well. “As more and more novels appear on the website, there’s also more and more quality content. Readers are also becoming more loyal and hardworking in keeping up with the novels!
“All in all, Zhongdian Chinese Network is a whole new website now!”
Pei Qian almost had a panic attack halfway through
The Tengda spirit classes have been termed ‘inspiring’? Instead of only wanting to write more, they’re now focusing on maintaining both quality and quantity? That’s not right. I thought they were supposed to become slackers!
Although Pei Qian was confused and he did not know how the lessons on the T
engda spirit had become so problematic, he was still in touch with reality.
“Immediately stop holding the lessons on the Tengda spirit!” Pei Qian immediately said. “Ah, alright, Boss Pei. That’s what I was thinking, too.” Ma Yiqun was in complete agreement. Pei Qian, “?”
Ma Yiqun continued speaking, “Actually, we’re going with a mentoring model for the second authors’ class. An experienced author would be paired with a new one. Almost all the experienced authors have already received lessons on the Tengda spirit at Tengda’s headquarters before.
“Now, we’re counting on the lessons being passed down through the various generations of authors. That would spread the Tengda spirit, and the HR department would not have to bear this burden any longer. “That’s why I was thinking of doing away with this step.” Pei Qian, “…” Oh no, it’s too late!
The Tengda spirit had spread to the entire authors’ class, just as Pei Qian had hoped. However, the effects were drastically different from what he had imagined!
Could it be… that the enemy was in the HR department and right beside him?!
However, on further thought, Pei Qian became more confused.
No one in the department worked overtime!
They had held the second selection for the winner of the Zero Overtime Competition at the end of the previous month. This time, more than half of the departments won, except Fei Huang Workspace. That was because it had had a particularly busy month, and the staff had ended up working overtime a few days.
Even Tengda Games, the stubborn department, had shown marked improvement. It had not applied for permission to work overtime last month.
Based on Tang Yishu’s regular reports, nobody was secretly working overtime, too… All the departments in Tengda’s headquarters seemed to be living out the Tengda spirit very well.
Where was the problem, then?
Had it been there from the beginning, or had it only appeared when authors started attending lessons on the Tengda spirit? Was that how it affected the other authors?
If it was the latter, Pei Qian would just have to ‘isolate’ the authors. Yet, if it was the former…
Pei Qian felt a sharp pain in his head.
He was very confused. On one hand, his already fragile mental state was on the brink of collapse now that he had an additional 25 million yuan to get rid of for no reason. On the other hand, he could not figure out why the various businesses seemed to be improving despite his efforts to encourage his employees to slack more.
“Boss Pei, if there’s nothing else, I’m going to hang up now. I don’t want to hold you up,” said Ma Yiqun.
Pei Qian quickly stopped him, breaking his train of thought. “Wait!” “Er… what else do you need, Boss Pei?” Ma Yiqun asked.
After pondering for a long time, Pei Qian said through gritted teeth, “Change the way Zhongdian Chinese Network splits revenue. Make it 70-30, where all authors get seventy percent of revenue effective from this month!”
Pei Qian was going all out now.
In the long term, this move would probably increase traffic on the website. However, Pei Qian could not bother too much about it now.
He had to think about this cycle’s settlement! March’s income would increase for sure. The incoming funds would be enough to make Pei Qian want to cough up blood by the end of the month.
Thus, he had to get rid of as much of Zhongdian Chinese Network’s income as possible!
hat way, the website’s income would immediately fall by forty percent. At the very least, Pei Qian would have millions of yuan less to worry about.
The best that the System would allow was a 20-80 split, but Pei Qian was afraid that only taking twenty percent of the revenue would invite too many authors. Then, the consequences would be dire. Thus, he stuck with 30-70.
Although Infinite Chinese Network’s split was 50-50, other websites on the market also split revenue 30-70. By following suit, not only would Pei Qian be able to reduce Zhongdian Chinese Network’s income, but he would also not raise suspicions.
Ma Yiqun hesitated, and then said, “Alright, Boss Pei. I understand.”
Obviously, he thought that Boss Pei was continuing to burn money to attract more readers.
Pei Qian could not be bothered to explain himself. Instead, he allowed Ma Yiqun to conjure up his own explanation.
After hanging up, Pei Qian felt even more sorrowful.
Misfortune really never came singly! Two days ago, he had been worried about spending ten million yuan. Now, that sum had turned into 25 million yuan!
Setting up more Upwind Courier stations alone would get rid of five million yuan at most; they took time to set up. Pei Qian had to finish all projects a week before settlement, and trying to set up too many at ones could easily cause problems.
As for the remaining twenty million yuan…
Through gritted teeth, Pei Qian decided to invest them all into manufacturing phones for Otto Technologies!
Chapter 447 - A Little Game
March 11th, Friday…
Despite having two dark eye circles, Qiao Liang persisted through Game Designer’s storyline. He had only one expression: indignance!
An entire week had passed since Be Quiet was officially released. Yet, until now, not a single copy of the game had been sold.
It was not because the game was rubbish, and no one wanted to play it. In fact, many people had no idea what the game even looked like.
Nobody had managed to solve the riddle and obtain the so-called ‘invitation letter’!
Many people had already given up, cursing and swearing as they did so. Obviously, the developing team’s willful behavior had severe reverse-psychological effects on gamers, turning many of them away.
Those with bad tempers dissed the developing team for being ‘insane’. After that, they stopped updating themselves about the game altogether. Those with more patience continued to check on forums every day after giving up. They wanted to see how far the bosses had gone with solving the riddle. Their intention was to copy the answers once it was solved.
A minority of gamers were truly hardcore. They, like Qiao Liang, were still trying to find the answer to the next step in the riddle, not being able to rest or sleep until they did so.
During this period, they’ve all exhausted different methods.
They had filled all sorts of content into the two input fields. However, the webpage still showed no response.
Thus, everyone guessed that the next message was hidden in another game.
As Tengda Games’ classic piece of work, countless people had completed Repent and be Saved many times. However, nobody managed to find a single clue.
A few bosses even found out that Tengda was constructing a haunted house named ‘Thriller Hostel’ and went down to the construction site to search for clues.
In the end, the person-in-charge—whose surname was Chen-chased them out in frustration. He also told them that the project was not even done, and it could not have been a part of the riddle.
After playing all the other games and ensuring that he could not find anything from them, Qiao Liang turned to The Lonely Desert Road and Game Designer once again.
All of a sudden, Qiao Liang realized something. Given what he knew about Boss Pei, it seemed that it was possible for him to hide even more clues in those two games!
Who said that each game could only contain one clue?
Wouldn’t players be missing things right under their noses if they stopped playing a game just because they found one clue inside?
What’s more, both of Boss Pei’s codes were to be solved in similar manners. Thus, whether time was tight or Boss Pei was trying to make gamers’ lives easier, the riddle was probably not as difficult as they thought.
That meant that Boss Pei probably asked his programmer to only edit two games in the interest of time. What’s more, only the simplest parts had been edited!
With that, Qiao Liang entered The Lonely Desert Road once again.
>
This time, he did not find any new clues. However, he noticed one thing: instead of taking three hours to collect all the alphabets, much less time was needed now!
Qiao Liang’s head began to hurt immediately.
Isn’t this unfair to the f*cking forerunner?! I suffered and drove for three hours, and yet other people can now find all the alphabets in just one hour?
His heart hurt so bad that he could not help but hug himself. However, on further thought, he realized something more important.
Less time was needed to collect all the clues now. That meant that once he found the clue, Boss Pei had asked his programmer to edit the game again. Why?
The clue had already been found. Others would not have to enter The Lonely Desert Road to drive again. Why did Boss Pei ask the programmers to edit the game?
“Could it be…
“Is Boss Pei hinting that one has to find the clues on his own for it to count?”
A realization dawned on Qiao Liang, and he quickly opened Game Designer.
He had once reached the ending where he lost all his hard-earned money. However, the game had only been released a while ago, April last year.
Strictly speaking, Qiao Liang had reached the ending before, but he had not found the clue on his own!
Qiao Liang was already very familiar with every choice and ending in Game Designer. He ran through it quickly, without having to think. In ten minutes, he reached the first choice for the ending where he would lose all his hard-earned money.
After that, he found the string of clues made up of the numbers ‘o’, ‘1’, and ‘2’. The code had already been cracked it was the double pinyin for ‘Search ‘Thriller Hostel”.
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