499 Lower Standards for Good Employees

April 25th, Monday…

Pei Qian pondered for a long time in the office, but he ultimately stared at Otto Technologies for a long time.

Yesterday, Pei Qian had decided to incorporate Guo Licheng's suggestion and create an application for reservations of slots at Deposit Fitness.

That way, not only would Deposit Fitness be much more expensive than the other gyms, but it would also have many more inhumane regulations.

One would be forced to buy fitness meals from Fish-Catching Take-Out.

One would be forced to use Deposit Fitness' application, or they would not be able to reserve slots to go to the gym.

One would have to stick strictly to the fitness plan. Although there was a little room for flexibility, it would still be quite rigid and inflexible compared to the other gyms.

That would have a massive dissuasion effect.

Pei Qian thought that if someone dared to suggest that a gym like that would generate profits, he would dare that person to try it out on his own.

Take the application, for example. Which gym made their customers book slots on an application?

Adding one step would serve to dissuade a lot more customers.

However, Pei Qian had to think about which department would be working on the application.

At the moment, many departments under Pei Qian had the capability to develop and maintain an application like that. The game department aside, Zhongdian Chinese Network, TPDb, and Fish-Catching Take-Out all had applications.

Although not many people used those applications and the functions were relatively simple, the applications still existed. It went without saying that the application for 'Top Student, Come Quick' was of even higher standards.

On top of that, Otto Technologies was obviously well-equipped to develop an application as well. However, that would be akin to overkill.

Pei Qian thought hard about which department he should hand the project to.

Whichever department he chose would have to develop a usable application.

However, Pei Qian had been backstabbed time and time again by multiple departments. Now, he felt like he had to consider the interdepartmental relationships well before he made a decision.

Only then would he be able to prevent miracles from happening and things from becoming unpredictable when two departments worked together.

He briefly scanned through all the departments.

"I can't choose the game department, for sure. It's filled with imaginative freaks, and they might apply their game-designing mindset on this project as well. Who knows what terrifying events would happen if I put them in charge of this project?

"The same group of people is working on Zhongdian Chinese Network and TPDb, and I think they wouldn't do either. What if TPDb specifically recommends Deposit Fitness or something? Wouldn't the situation be terrible?

"How about 'Top Student, Come Quick'? That would be even more ridiculous. That project's so popular, and it has so many customers within Jingzhou. If it organizes an event that promotes a healthy body for a healthy education, I would be done for.

"Fish-Catching Take-Out… doesn't seem good either. Both departments have been in contact for a long time, and they're working very closely now. If I allow them to deepen the relationship and work on the application together, the consequences would be dire.

"This is horrible. For some reason, I have become surrounded by hidden threats…"

Pei Qian considered all the departments again and realized that Deposit Fitness could not collaborate with any other department. Otherwise, he would be put at an even more unpredictable risk.

None of his options were safe!

Lastly, Pei Qian considered Otto Technologies. Making Chang You develop an application for Deposit Fitness seemed like overkill, but wasn't that exactly what Boss Pei wanted?

He would treat the most threatening business as an outsourcing company to him and allow them to develop a completely irrelevant application so that they would have no time left for anything threatening. That would weaken Otto Technologies' power without having to do much.

Of course, Otto Technologies could also organize a combined event with Deposit Fitness' application.

Thus, Pei Qian would have to repeatedly remind Chang You not to install Deposit Fitness' application into Otto's cell phones and not to recommend the application on the cell phone's application store or anything else.

All in all, Otto Technologies would just have to develop the application. Apart from that, it would be forbidden from interfering in anything else. Otto Technologies would just act as a support or tool for Deposit Fitness.

That would solve all the problems, right?

After further consideration, Pei Qian decided that this was a reliable option. He made a mental note to meet and inform Chang You after putting everything in place.

Knock, knock.

Someone knocked on the office door.

Pei Qian looked up to see the current man in charge of Fish-Catching Internet Cafe and ROF, Xiao Peng. Xiao Peng had only been in charge of Lincheng's Fish-Catching Internet Cafe branches before. However, since he had taken over Zhang Yuan, he had moved to Jingzhou a while ago.

Pei Qian instinctively frowned. What was he doing here?!

Every time he saw department heads of the profit-generating businesses outside his door, Pei Qian would get a headache.

It must be more bad news. He probably made more money and is coming to ask me how to spend it all!

"What's the matter?" Pei Qian tried his best to remain calm.

This was Xiao Peng's first time in Boss Pei's office, and he looked a bit nervous. He said softly, "Boss Pei, ROF has accumulated a lot of cash in its account. I'm thinking about upgrading the business, and so I've come to ask you what ROF's next step should be."

Pei Qian: "…"

Look! Look! What I said was true!

I knew that the heads of the profit-generating businesses could not have anything good up their sleeves. They're always coming to make me burn my brain cells and think of ways to help them spend money!

Pei Qian sighed softly. "All of you… it's time you took some initiative. You earned the money; can't you think of your own way to spend it?

"Don't ask me about every little thing. Work harder! You just have to spend money, right? What's so difficult about that? Just spend as much as you can. Don't worry, I won't blame you."

Xiao Peng quickly nodded. "Ah, alright, Boss Pei. I'll… work according to my own plan, then?"

Pei Qian remained silent for a couple of seconds and then said, "Forget it. You're already here anyway. Tell me about your plan."

At first, Pei Qian had wanted to ask Xiao Peng to spend all the money on his own. Pei Qian had no intention to interfere.

It's impossible that all of my subordinates are business geniuses who would always generate profit and never incur losses, right?

However, on further thought and based on his experience, that did not seem that unlikely.

Thus, Pei Qian decided to ask some questions. Still, he couldn't go overboard, and he had to let his subordinates work hard on their own.

Xiao Peng said, "Boss Pei, I think ROF is now a very popular computer installation brand, but our image isn't good enough. We can't display our brand's value adequately.

"I think that we can spend a sum of money to hire manufacturers of system units. They can help us create cooler-looking system units and custom-make good-looking fans or coolers. That would improve our aesthetics."

Pei Qian pondered for a moment and said, "Alright."

Spending all that money would surely improve ROF's branding. It was impossible to expect there to be no effect.

However, compared to advertising and promotions—which would have unlimited negative consequences, improving the system units' aesthetics seemed like the most harmless option.

What's more, Pei Qian did not have a better way to reduce profits. He did not even dare to think of one either, for fear that anything that he came up with in the spur of the moment would only serve to increase ROF's profits.

Xiao Peng was elated that he had Boss Pei's approval. "Boss Pei, there's something else. Fish-Catching Internet Cafe's business is at its peak now, and it has a lot of spare cash. Should we… keep opening more branches?"

Pei Qian: "…"

Why are you speaking in incomplete sentences?! Can't you tell me everything at one go?!

Why did you tell me two pieces of bad news, one at a time?! Are you trying to kill me?!

Pei Qian really wanted to say no, but he needed to find a reasonable excuse to reject Xiao Peng's proposal.

Fish-Catching Internet Cafe had become popular in Jingzhou and Lincheng. It was often fully-booked. Why should Pei Qian object to expanding? It wouldn't make sense.

If he delayed things any longer, his employees would surely get suspicious. However, the problem was that he had already succeeded in two types of business models. If he continued expanding the business, he would only earn even more profits.

Wouldn't he be creating more problems for himself, then?

Pei Qian had refused to be superstitious before. He had thought that Fish-Catching Internet Cafe had only become popular in Jingzhou by accident. Thus, he had decided to set up a few branches in Lincheng, a poor city. Yet, he had ended up unintentionally venturing into a sinking market.

Should he try his luck in Beijing or Shanghai?

Of course not!

Fish-Catching Internet Cafe was a high-end internet cafe to begin with, and inhabitants of first-tier cities drew high incomes. If he expanded his business there, he would be shooting himself in the foot.

Since everything else was unacceptable, Pei Qian only had one option left.

After some thought, he helplessly said, "Go ahead. You can choose the locations, but you can only choose Jingzhou or places with lower economic development than Jingzhou.

"What's more, you must set up Fish-Catching Internet Cafe 3.0 this time. There must be fewer seats, more space, higher prices, and better locations."

Pei Qian thought that setting up an ordinarily-priced internet cafe would not be viable since the System had restrictions for prices. What's more, if he set average prices but used the Fish-Catching Internet Cafe brand, success would be almost guaranteed.

Thus, he had no choice but to stick with the high-end market.

No matter what, he had to think of a way to keep increasing prices. One day, customers' purchasing power would fail to keep up, right? There couldn't be that many ballers in the world.

"Alright." Xiao Peng did not ask many more questions. Since Boss Pei had already given him instructions, he would consider it and execute them seriously without asking too much.

That mindset had been inculcated in every employee of Tengda.

Pei Qian pondered more and said, "If the store continues to make money…

"Then think of a way to spend all that money on your own. Set up new branches, renovate them, and buy computers. At the end of the day, just make sure that you spend every single cent!"

Pei Qian decided that he had to be well-prepared.

What if Fish-Catching Internet Cafe continued to generate profits?

Then, he would strategically give up.

He would get Xiao Peng to spend money setting up more branches if he could. No matter how many branches had to be set up, how many computers had to be bought, and how many employees had to be hired; Pei Qian would be alright as long as the company bank account was emptied and Xiao Peng left him alone.

At the moment, Pei Qian's definition of a good employee was slipping.

In the past, Boss Pei had thought that a good employee would help him to incur losses. However, he now realized that that standard had been too high. No one had been able to reach it. He had to lower his standards.

Now, Boss Pei's definition of a good employee was someone who could spend all the money that he had earned without affecting settlement!

As for what they spent the money on…

They could spend it on anything they wanted.

Xiao Peng nodded profusely. "Alright, Boss Pei! I will fulfill my mission!"