Of course, exactly what kind of effect it would have in reality depended on how Assistant Xin’s script turned out.
…
The next afternoon…
At the Science Hall of Handong University…
This was the biggest hall in Handong University, and it could accommodate more than two thousand people. Ordinarily, it was used for large-scale talks, orientation nights, theaters, and dramas, and so on.
At that moment, almost all needy students were present. Apart from a few seats in the row right at the back, every single seat in the hall was filled. Logically, a horizontal banner that said the title of the talk should have been put up on stage.
However, Pei Qian’s script had not been done until the last minute. Thus, he had had no time to think about what to write on the horizontal banner.
Still, that was not the main point, as long as everyone knew what they were there for.
Before the talk began, some needy students began discussing off-stage.
“I heard that today’s talk would be about how to view wealth?”
“There’s nothing wrong with our view on wealth, is there?”
“I wouldn’t say that. I see some needy students eating bread every day and talking about buying Pineapple cell phones.”
“That’s right, they should talk about it. What if people spent all that money on shoes, bags, and cell phones? Would they still be human?”
Zhang Wei was also seated off-stage, inwardly exclaiming at how simple the event was. He had initially intended to add a few more items to the program. After all, Pei Qian was donating ten million yuan. Having some sort of ceremony would not be overboard.
However, Pei Qian resolutely rejected the idea. Time and time again, he emphasized that he wanted a simple talk and nothing more. Otherwise, he would have canceled the talk altogether.
Zhang Wei had been left with no other option but to go along with Pei Qian’s wishes.
“I wonder who Pei Qian got to speak. The Vice President of the company? He would at least have sent the head of the HR department, right?
“Eh, that’s strange… Where’s Little Tang?”
Zhang Wei suddenly recalled that Little Tang was a needy student as well. Yet, why hadn’t he seen her yet?
Just as he was feeling confused, he spotted Tang Yishu holding a script, walking out from backstage and towards the podium in the middle.
Zhang Wei: “…”
Tang Yishu stood in the middle of the stage, looking down at the crowd seated in darkness. Now, she was feeling even more nervous than before.
When she came to rehearse in the morning, two microphones had failed for no apparent reason. When the staff prepared to send them for repair, the microphones went back to normal. It had all been extremely confusing.
Now, Tang Yishu wanted nothing else but for the microphones not to malfunction again.
“F-Fellow needy students …
“Good afternoon to you all.”
Tang Yishu started speaking very carefully. Fortunately, the microphones were all normal. Her bad luck seemed to have dissipated with the few obstacles that she had met in the morning. “Boss Pei—the man who donated the living allowance and scholarships—is extremely busy today, and so he’s unable to come down. Thus, I will read this letter addressed to all of you on his behalf. I hope all of you will learn something from it.”
Tang Yishu paused and then started reading the script in her hands clearly.
“Juniors, I hope you are well. I’m sorry that I cannot be there because of my busy schedule. I can only convey my intentions and hopes and share some of my personal experiences with you through this letter.
“Many of you might think that I want to talk to you about how to use the money you have.
“Perhaps some of you are worried that those who obtain the scholarship money would spend it on meaningless things that could only intensify one’s materialism.
“However, I’m sure all of you already know this principle. I don’t want to belabor the point.
“I want to explore how we should view wealth from another angle. That is, what are the true riches that we possess and that we should cherish?
“Most of you seated here probably would not think that you once had, or that you now have, an outstanding amount of riches. I believe all of you have been confused about this before: how can I become wealthy? “Some of you spend most of your energy seeking recruitment to become wealthy. As a result, your academic results get affected.
“Some of you don’t dare to fill your stomachs or buy necessities because of your poverty. Like a guardian of cash, you put away all of your money. It’s as if your sense of security diminishes with every cent that you spend.
“I want to tell all of you that that is the wrong view of wealth.
“Please think about this: What are you willing to exchange for wealth?
“Imagine that you are a blacksmith living in ancient times. One day, you run out of food. To get grain, there are three things you could do:
“Plant your own.
“Rob and steal.
“Create farming tools and trade with farmers.
“Most people would choose the third option. All of you would realize that constantly manufacturing metal equipment and trading would help you to get richer. Thus, the foundation of accumulating wealth is ‘trade’. “If you choose to plant yourselves, rob, or steal, would you be choosing not to trade?
“That’s not true.
“If you choose the first option, you would be trading your time, effort, and farming experience. If you choose the second option, you would be trading your fighting skills, taking risks, carrying weapons, and preparing for crime.
“No matter which you choose, you would be trading. What’s more, what you give would not be any less valuable than if you manufactured farming tools.
“Every decision you make to gather wealth would amount to a trade.
“If you take away what is destined to be and the things that you have no control over, what is wealth that we truly possess and can truly trade?
“Is it money? No, that does not really belong to us. That is just a numerical representation of the wealth you have already given away.
“Is it time? No, the passage of time cannot be shifted by human will.
“Is it our bodies? That is indeed wealth that you own, but if you trade it for money, you would become miserable.
“The greatest wealth that anyone has is ‘focus’ or ‘energy’.
“If you want to earn money by working, it would be of no use if you just sit in the office. You have to focus on your work and apply your knowledge to solve problems. That knowledge would be acquired if you focused in class and at work.
“Aside from everything else that we cannot control, the only wealth that we really have is our focus.
“This is the view on wealth that I want to share with you today: how should we make use of our focus?
“Many people might waste it away. Many people’s focus might be taken away by businessmen with selfish motives. Some people might focus on big data analysis.
“Many students complain about being born poor and about life being unfair. This kind of resentment would destroy you. It will waste your focus and cause your life to fail.
“If we want to change our fate, we have to invest our focus on ourselves.
“Read a book for an hour every day. Even if you only improve by one percent—a year later, you would be 38 times better than you used to be.
“That’s why I hope that the students who receive this sum of money would not store all of it away. Don’t feel reluctant to spend it, but don’t buy meaningless things to satisfy your own materialism either. Even more so, don’t spend it on entertaining activities that would distract and consume you.
“Spend it on what you need most: self-improvement.
“Always keep this in mind: focus is our most valuable resource. I hope all of you would use it wisely and cherish it properly.
/>
“That’s the right way to view wealth.”
Chapter 564 - Boss Pei’s Conflicting Sides
The entire hall burst into applause.
Tang Yishu bowed, embarrassed. Then, she walked briskly off the stage. However, when she reached backstage, she tripped on a wire on the ground. Fortunately, she had been prepared and grabbed the curtains by the side. It was a false scare.
The students did not see that. As they continued to clap, they thought about the talk that they had just heard.
“That makes so much sense. The most valuable resource we have is not money, but our focus.” “He’s encouraging us to spend the money on improving ourselves and to make better use of our focus. That talk was much better than those that encourage us to scrimp, save, or ‘buy things that you like’!”
“Boss Pei really did not become so successful by chance!”
“Did anyone record that?”
“I did! I’ll transcribe it and post it on the campus forum. After that, we can try to digest it more!”
The students had thought that this talk would be no different from other talks that they had attended on how to view wealth. They had expected the focus to be on how to spend their money.
Naturally, most people would think about that when they thought about ‘wealth’.
However, Boss Pei’s letter had provided a completely new perspective to them: they had to learn how to put their focus to good use. That was because, in reality, man had to use their own focus to earn money.
Squandering one’s focus was more terrifying than squandering one’s money. The latter would cause one to lose the money on hand, but the former would cause one to lose the ability to create value.
The talk was very short. There were no long theories or hardcore preaching. All it had done was providing a whole new perspective that most people would not have noticed. Thus, it was much more acceptable to ordinary people.
June 29th, Wednesday…
At Tengda Corporation’s HR department…
Wu Bin and Cui Geng were sorting out the manuscripts that they had received recently.
Both of them had divided the tasks very clearly. Wu Bin was in charge of gathering material and confirming the interviewees while Cui Geng was in charge of transcribing the recording and organizing everything systematically. The material would become interpretations of the Tengda spirit. At the same time, they would serve as a record of the way Boss Pei handled problems. “The transcript of Boss Pei’s speech at Handong University has become very popular on the campus forum. Should we consider adding that to our current materials?” Cui Geng asked.
Wu Bin considered this and then shook his head. “There’s no rush.
“The transcript’s sphere of influence is merely within Handong University. What’s more, strictly speaking, the transcript was only a theory. Without specific examples, it would have very little persuasive power.
“Most importantly, Boss Pei was not the one who wrote the script. It did contain elements of what Boss Pei would have said, but Boss Pei is too busy. The script was most likely done by Assistant Xin.”
After pondering for a moment, Cui Geng said, “Even so, the script expresses Boss Pei’s mindset. It’s about the same.”
Wu Bin thought about this and said, “Hmm… that’s true. Well, we can take that factor into consideration, but we would have to screen the materials very carefully. After all, what we want to create is notes on the Tengda spirit. Everything that we say has to be justified.”
Both men’s progress was not fast. In fact, it was quite slow.
That was because they wanted to use concrete examples to explain Boss Pei’s mindset and the Tengda spirit. Of course, they had to avoid ambiguous interpretations, and they had to keep all of their content well-documented.
For example, Boss Li and the other investors’ evaluations could be accepted as evidence. Concrete things that Boss Pei had done could also be accepted as evidence. If both were taken together, the contents would be more realistic and reliable.
However, it would not be appropriate to include a mere transcript of a speech in the book until there was corroborative evidence. “It’s time to go.”
Wu Bin glanced at his watch. They were supposed to interview Liang Qingfan today, and it was almost time to get going.
Wu Bin had carefully selected the interviewees.
Boss Li of Fu Hui Investments could provide the perspective of Boss Pei’s business competitor and partner. On the other hand, Liang Qingfan could provide the perspective of an elite professional from another field, who had just started working with Boss Pei. Among all the department heads, Liang Qingfan had interacted with Boss Pei the least. Maybe they could obtain some sort of inspiration from his first impressions.
Half an hour later, Wu Bin and Cui Geng arrived at Block 9 of Binhu District.
The two buildings there were being urgently constructed. From the outside, one could tell that the buildings were dilapidated and had been unoccupied for a couple of years. As the construction team rushed this project, drilling of holes in the ground and smashing of walls could be heard from time to time.
After waiting downstairs for two minutes, Liang Qingfan came downstairs with a safety helmet on.
He handed his safety helmet to one of the workers on-site and then smiled at Wu Bin and Cui Geng. “The construction site is a mess. Let’s go to the nearby park.”
The three of them arrived at the man-made lake in the park and sat down on a long bench.
Wu Bin said, “Mr. Liang, we are here today mainly to ask about your impression of Boss Pei.”
Before this, Wu Bin had already reached out to Liang Qingfan over the phone. Thus, both men were prepared for today’s interview. Liang Qingfan gazed at the subtle ripples in the lake, feeling sorrowful. “Honestly, at this moment, I don’t understand Boss Pei at all.”
Wu Bin smiled. “It’s alright, that’s normal. If Boss Pei were so easy to understand, he would not be called Boss Pei.
“We want to interview different people to collect as different groups of people’s impressions of Boss Pei as possible. After that, we want to bring all of those impressions together to get a full and complete picture.
“We also interviewed Boss Pei’s business competitor and partner before this and gained a lot of insight.
“As employees of Tengda Corporation who have been working under Boss Pei for a long time, we only get to see one side of him.
“You just joined Tengda Corporation, and you have not worked with Boss Pei for very long. Your first impression of him would definitely give us a fresh perspective.”
Liang Qingfan nodded. “Alright, let me explain it briefly.
“Right now, I am sure of something: With regard to certain concepts, Boss Pei is on the exact same page as me, and many other outstanding designers. In other words, Boss Pei is one who pursues the best.
“That was something I learned when we were working on the renovation of the Sloth Apartments.”
Liang Qingfan briefly described how the first Sloth Apartments had been renovated and decorated. He especially emphasized how Boss Pei abandoned practicality and livability in his pursuit of what he thought was best-extreme minimalism.
“It is the same for these apartments as well. “Boss Pei’s thinking is exactly opposite of ordinary people’s. When ordinary people choose apartments, they would focus on things like location and ability to appreciate. On the other hand, they would save as much as they can on renovation. After all, they would be considering renting the apartments out and not living in them.
“Yet, Boss Pei does the exact opposite. He doesn’t seem to care about the apartments’ location and ability to appreciate. Instead, the amount that he’s spending on renovations is close to half the cost price of the apartments themselves.
“I think this is enough to show that Boss Pei’s pursuit of artistry is very extreme and never-ending “Boss Pei loves extreme minimalism, and so he injects his own personal preferences
into the Sloth Apartments project.
MA
“Although there’s a huge possibility that doing so would lead to failure, Boss Pei shows no intention of backing down. Instead, he insists on his own pursuit of extreme artistry…”
At that point, Wu Bin frowned.
Liang Qingfan keenly noticed this. Thus, he paused and waited for Wu Bin to respond.
After much consideration, Wu Bin finally said, “But… that directly conflicts the way that Boss Li describes Boss Pei.
“According to Boss Li, Boss Pei is a calm and ruthless man. He’s so calm that he can address any problem objectively and logically and that allows him to make the right decisions.
“In other words, Boss Pei should be choosing extreme minimalism based on business acumen. He must think that doing this would lead to great success.
“What’s more, Boss Li’s conclusion is backed by different examples. It is most likely reliable.”
Liang Qingfan remained silent for a while. “I think it is impossible for Sloth Apartments to achieve ‘greater success’. At best, it would be a small and beautiful project that earns a reputation but not profit.”
Wu Bin fell silent once again.
Both parties seemed to make sense. Seeing that the interview had resulted in a deadlock, Cui Geng said, “Maybe… both of those impressions of Boss Pei don’t conflict. Perhaps both of them are different aspects of Boss Pei that blend together perfectly in ways that we cannot see. “It’s just like how Boss Pei can always find a way to turn decay into magic and cause seemingly-impossible projects to become popular overnight.” Wu Bin nodded. “Yes… that makes sense. We can look deeper into these conflicting views…”
July 1st, Friday… Thriller Hostel had officially been completed!
Pei Qian stood at the entrance of the old industrial zone-no, Thriller Hostel-feeling very conflicted inside.
When he visited before, the entire project was still under intense construction. There were scaffolding and various construction materials everywhere, and it looked like a full-blown construction site. Pei Qian could hardly detect any change. Yet, now, Thriller Hostel and all of its surrounding facilities had been completed. They were ready to welcome their first customers!
Losing Money to Be a Tycoon c1-883 Page 359