292 It's a Good Thing that I Found Out Early!

Wednesday…

Pei Qian woke up feeling hungry.

He switched on his cell phone and accessed Fish-Catching Take-Out.

Although Boss Pei's loss-incurring plan was not going smoothly, he had to admit that—thanks to all his hard work—his and Jingzhou citizens' standard of living had improved greatly.

He could order things online and have it delivered to his doorstep by Upwind Logistics.

If he wanted to have take-out, he could be sure that Fish-Catching Take-Outs would serve him healthy and nutritious food.

On top of all of these, Fish-Catching Internet Cafe had greatly improved his online experience.

Until now, Fish-Catching Take-Out had been in operation for over four months. All this time, it had steadily been incurring losses.

Pei Qian was quite happy with this.

Unfortunately, Fish-Catching Take-Out's business was not big enough. Although it was incurring losses, it was not much.

About twenty minutes later, Pei Qian's food arrived.

Fish-Catching Internet Cafe's Handong University branch was quite close to where Pei Qian was living. Thus, it did not take long for his food to be delivered.

As Pei Qian ate, he thought about what he should do from now on.

It felt like he was under immense pressure to spend more money. On top of his regular expenses, Pei Qian had to look for other avenues to spend money.

He looked at the premium cutlery and familiar food in front of him. All of a sudden, Pei Qian realized that the take-out business could start taking on more expenses.

After all, Fish-Catching Take-Out had been incurring losses for long enough; Pei Qian trusted it now.

"If it doesn't work, I can drink some poison to quench my thirst, right?"

Pei Qian pondered hard and decided he would leave the next cycle's problems till then to resolve.

First, he had to make sure that he incurred losses in time for the next settlement. After all, this did not just concern money; it also concerned the special reward that the System had prepared for him.

As for what he would do if he earned everything back with interest during the next cycle…

He could open more businesses to spend more money then.

At the end of the day, he had to resolve the problems on his hands at the moment!

At that thought, Pei Qian retrieved his phone and looked at his calendar. It was October 13th. He had until October 24th to continue spending more money on Fish-Catching Internet Cafe and Upwind Logistics. After that, he would have to stop.

If he wanted to spend more money in that final week, he would have to do so on his own employees.

Tengda was considered a huge company now. More than a hundred employees were working on Tengda Games, Zhongdian Chinese Network, and TPDb. In addition to the forty-odd employees in Shang Yang Games, the hundred-odd employees in Fish-Catching Internet Cafe, and the delivery men in Upwind Logistics and Fish-Catching Take-Out; Pei Qian had a total of six to seven hundred employees to take care of.

Of course, he treated the employees of different businesses differently. He could not possibly give his delivery men the same benefits as he did the core employees of Tengda Games.

If he spent more money on each person, he would be under less stress.

However, there was a limit to the number of benefits he could distribute. What if he still could not finish spending all the additional money?

Pei Qian pondered for a moment and decided to drink some poison to quench his thirst. He would organize a sale!

Pei Qian could not do this during the previous cycle, mainly because Fish-Catching Internet Cafe had been his only physical business. What's more, Fish-Catching Internet Cafe had only become famous just before settlement. Pei Qian's hands were tied; he could not do anything about it.

This time, the money was rolling in much earlier. That meant Pei Qian had plenty of time to react.

He looked at the time and then looked at October 24th on his calendar. Although it had not yet become common, 1024 was Programmer's Day.

It was just like November 11th. Now, people still saw it as One's Day and not a day to splurge on online shopping.

November 11th would fall under the next cycle. Pei Qian could not wait until then, but he could wait for October 24th.

On that date, he would organize a sale so that more businesses could incur losses. Wouldn't that reduce the weight on his shoulders?

At that thought, Pei Qian began to see the light at the end of the tunnel. He quickly thought about the businesses on his hands.

He had to consider properly which businesses he wanted to organize a sale.

He could not offer a discount on the games because there were no production costs. If he offered discounts, they would only earn more. It would be akin to committing suicide.

His ultimate aim in running a sale was not to become more famous but to incur more losses. Thus, Pei Qian narrowed his options down to Fish-Catching Internet Cafe and Upwind Logistics.

He would focus especially on Upwind Logistics. He was already making a loss thanks to manpower expenses. If he could increase the number of deliveries each Upwind Courier station had to make, he would be able to distribute more remuneration to his delivery men. This meant that he would increase his overall spending and thus overall losses.

What's more, he had control over the amount of losses he incurred. At the same time, he would be able to improve Upwind Logistics' reputation. The System would likely approve this decision.

After conducting a simple test on the System, Pei Qian came up with a simple plan to commemorate 1024, Programmer's Day.

First, he would provide a sum of money to Fish-Catching Take-Out, so that it could offer discounts on all their menu items. At the same time, delivery fees would be waived.

Apart from this, he also had to provide Upwind Logistics with a huge sum of money.

At the moment, Pei Qian had close to two hundred Upwind Courier stations. He predicted that he could open forty to fifty more stations before the 24th. Most of Jingzhou City would be covered.

Those who made use of Upwind Courier stations to make their deliveries would have their express delivery charges waived. Pei Qian would cover these charges using the System Funds.

Normally, Upwind Logistics would also earn a commission from delivering parcels to customers' doorsteps. Pei Qian planned to waive this commission during the event period as well, so that more delivery companies would be attracted to work with Upwind Logistics.

He would purchase a bunch of small gifts to be delivered to customers along with their parcels. This would be another way to spend more money.

Middlemen normally profited from the difference in price, but Pei Qian would be the only middleman who would personally make up for the difference in price.

He would start off by doing some marketing of the event, which would last from October 24th to October 31st.

Pei Qian did not dare to engage in large-scale marketing. Although this would allow him to spend more money, there were also higher risks. He could not afford to mess up.

Pei Qian also intelligently set payday to be at the end of the month. This ensured that he would be able to distribute huge sums of money to his employees just before settlement. As much as possible, he could deplete the System Funds.

During the event, Pei Qian would also increase remuneration for Upwind Logistics and Fish-Catching Takeout's delivery men. For every additional delivery they made, they would earn an additional bonus.

Although each delivery man would probably not get much, Pei Qian had many Upwind Courier stations and employees around Jingzhou City. Altogether, it would add up to a huge sum of money.

As for the consequences…

Obviously, more users would use Fish-Catching Take-Out and Upwind Logistics thanks to the Programmer's Day event. However, both of these businesses were incurring losses. The larger they became, the more losses they would incur. Pei Qian did not have to worry too much.

What's more, even if these businesses started generating profit, it would be a problem for the next cycle.

This was exactly why Pei Qian did not dare to mess around with the other businesses. He could not afford to organize sales or promotions for the internet cafe or games because there were too many risks involved. Everything might backfire.

After coming up with a general plan, Pei Qian felt more confident. Thus, he prepared to make calls to Lu Mingliang and Ma Yang, intending to give them a simple brief on the event first.

Soon, Lu Mingliang answered the phone.

"Do you have time today? Come to Fish-Catching Internet Cafe's Handong University branch. I have a plan to market Fish-Catching Take-Out and Upwind Logistics."

Lu Mingliang paused. "Boss Pei, I'm at the Handong University branch."

Pei Qian responded, "Huh? What are you doing there?"

Lu Mingliang answered, "Boss Ma asked me to come over. We're discussing the details of the computer-installation business."

Pei Qian's mind was filled with question marks.

He was caught by surprise.

What the h*ll is that? What's a computer-installation business?

"Give me a while. I'll be right there!"

Pei Qian quickly got dressed, being careful to put on a thick sweater and scarf. Then, he headed out of the door.

It was a good thing that his flu had subsided. His condition improved after he rested for the entire day the day before. Today's weather was pretty good: the sun was shining, and there was not much wind. Pei Qian could go out without much hindrance.

In any case, it was a critical period. How could such a small thing stop Boss Pei's huge money-making plan?!

He quickly made a call to arrange for the company's chauffeur to drive him around.

…

Fish-Catching Internet Cafe, Handong University branch…

Not long after his call with Lu Mingliang, Pei Qian arrived. Looking at Boss Pei's serious and stern expression, all three men became confused.

"Boss Pei, you…" Lu Mingliang didn't recall Boss Pei looking like that when he last saw him.

Pei Qian pulled his scarf down slightly and said in a nasal voice, "I'm down with slight flu."

"Brother Qian, you should rest properly if you're sick! I have to scold you this time. Stop thinking about work; take care of your own body!" Ma Yang waved at a nearby waiter. "Get Boss Pei a glass of warm water."

Pei Qian quickly said, "There's no need for that. I've had so much warm water that the thought of it makes me want to puke now. Get me some coffee."

Pei Qian looked at the system unit on the table and sharply noticed that it was slightly different from the system units in Fish-Catching Internet Cafe.

There was a glowing logo on this one!

Pei Qian immediately realized that the situation was not as simple as he expected.

Good. The three of you are sneaking around behind my back! It's a good thing that I found out early!

Pei Qian was speechless. If I had not been thinking about how to incur losses despite being sick, I might have been thrown under the bus completely!

Ma Yang giggled. "Brother Qian, I wanted to give you a surprise, but you found out in the end.

"Zhang Yuan and I have been thinking about making use of Fish-Catching Internet Cafe and Upwind Logistics to start a side-business in custom-made system units…"

Ma Yang briefly explained how ROF's brand came to be.

Simply put, Repent and be Saved had led many ballers with high standards for their computers to Fish-Catching Internet Cafe. These ballers formed a demand for similarly branded high-end computers. Zhang Yuan, who enjoyed making system units in his spare time, saw this as a business opportunity. He decided to start a computer-installation business and work with Upwind Logistics to deliver these system units to customers' doorsteps.

Not much investment was required. They would earn five hundred to a thousand yuan for each system unit sold. All Zhang Yuan and the other managers of the internet cafes had to do was purchase the hardware online, deliver them to customers, and provide after-sales services. They did not have to spend a lot of money.

Even if the business failed, they would not incur much loss. This was because Zhang Yuan and the others had no plans to accumulate the hardware. They would only place orders if there was demand.

After listening to Ma Yang's description, Pei Qian fell into deep thought. If they did this, they would surely generate profits!

Alright, Ma Yang, you big-eyed fellow. Even you are betraying me now!

However, on further thought, it seemed like Ma Yang could not be blamed for this. After all, Ma Yang could easily be hoodwinked.

Zhang Yuan should take all the blame instead!

It looked like Pei Qian had to eliminate all threats by taking Zhang Yuan away from Ma Yang's side!

Pei Qian looked at the prototype of ROF's first-generation system unit.

All things aside, the business sounded extremely promising. If he allowed them to carry on, they probably would be able to generate some profit and launch a sneak attack against Boss Pei at the last minute.

Pei Qian could not help but celebrate in his heart.

I nearly fell for their trick. That was close! It's a good thing I came prepared!

Pei Qian was not mad. Instead, he was quite happy.

Alright, since you love being entrepreneurs so much, do me a favor. Help me to spend more money!

This project sounded very profitable, but since Pei Qian had found out about it, he was going to keep a close eye on it and prevent it from generating profit!

Ma Yang watched as Boss Pei smiled and said nothing. At that moment, he could not figure out whether the latter supported the idea or not.

"Brother Qian, what do you think of this plan? Is it promising?" Ma Yang asked.

Pei Qian nodded. "I think it's not bad, but there's a problem. You're spending way too little money!

"There's no point in being quiet about it. If you want to start this business, start big! Don't worry about not having enough capital; I'll fork out the capital!"

Zhang Yuan was stunned. He did not know exactly how to feel. "Boss Pei, it's great that you support us, but… there's no need to spend all that money…"

Hadn't Zhang Yuan only thought about selling system units to build their reputation? Many other internet cafes were doing the same. There was no need for so much funding at this stage.

Even if Boss Pei invested millions of yuan in this business, Zhang Yuan would not know where to spend the money.

Pei Qian shook his head. "You're too conservative! You can't even think of ways to spend money? How can that be?"