Losing Money to Become a Tycoon: Starting with Games
Chapter 394: President Pei Gets Threatened
Pei Qian didn't believe a single punctuation mark of what Li Shi said.
Business is business. President Li was a seasoned investor—there was no way he would actually throw money at projects that clearly wouldn't recoup their costs.
A long time ago, Pei Qian had already mentioned the haunted house project to President Li and even half-heartedly invited him to join in. Back then, President Li had just laughed it off and didn't follow up at all.
Obviously, Li Shi thought this haunted house was a non-starter and didn't want to get involved.
So why had he suddenly changed his mind now?
Clearly, "thanking President Pei for supporting the business" was just an excuse—a polite, social nicety.
Could it be that after some recent thinking and investigation, Li Shi had seen some potential for the haunted house to turn a profit?
Pei Qian thought about it carefully. Fright Hostel had already been under construction for nearly a month.
Since they were only working on small projects for now, progress was fast. In a few more days, one or two of the smaller attractions might even be ready for trial runs.
If President Li had sent someone to look into it, he would naturally discover that President Pei was taking this haunted house project very seriously and that progress was moving quickly…
In short, there had to be some kind of misunderstanding here.
Pei Qian let out a soft sigh. "President Li, I remember you weren't very optimistic about the haunted house project before. Could you tell me why you changed your mind?"
What he meant was: President Li, what exactly about this haunted house project seems promising to you? I'll change it, okay?
Li Shi smiled. "Well… it might sound a bit absurd when I explain it."
Pei Qian kept a polite smile on his face, thinking: It's fine, no matter how absurd the reason is, I'll make Chen Kangtuo and the others change it!
Li Shi continued, "Actually, the reason I've started to believe in the haunted house project again isn't because of the project itself, but because of some realizations I've had recently while running this restaurant."
Pei Qian: "?"
What did opening a restaurant have to do with a haunted house?
Li Shi said, "Mingfu Family Banquet had a rough start. These past few days, I've been constantly reflecting on why that happened."
"When you think about it carefully, the key lies in the details. These details directly affect the customer's experience and determine the reputation of a high-end restaurant—"
Li Shi began analyzing seriously.
Pei Qian sipped his tea, doing his best to maintain a neutral expression.
President Li, you're really overthinking it! The rough start of Mingfu Family Banquet was entirely because I accidentally brought Tang Yishu that day and caused friendly fire…
But that kind of thing couldn't exactly be said out loud, so Pei Qian could only keep drinking his tea and bottle it up inside.
After a long round of intense analysis, Li Shi sighed emotionally. "That's why I increasingly feel how difficult it must have been for President Pei when you first started the Nameless Restaurant!"
"The initial situation of the Nameless Restaurant was so similar to the predicament this haunted house is facing now!"
"And yet, despite all that, the Nameless Restaurant still became a huge hit!"
"I've realized that no matter how absurd a project may seem, once it passes through President Pei's hands, it's as if a soul is injected into it!"
"Since President Pei has decided to do this haunted house, you must already have everything completely under control. So even now, though I still can't figure out how you plan to promote this haunted house, I believe in you!"
Li Shi's attitude was extremely sincere.
Pei Qian was speechless.
All this… just because of that?
Pei Qian had originally been thinking: whatever part of the haunted house President Li saw potential in, he would change that part.
But it turned out to be for such an absurd reason.
Pei Qian sighed helplessly. "President Li, I appreciate your goodwill, but the haunted house project is really very risky. I'm honestly saying this for your own good."
Pei Qian was being completely sincere. He had no intention of letting President Li get involved recklessly. Even though the success rate of Fright Hostel was extremely low, he couldn't forget the cautionary tale of Mingyun Private Kitchen.
If President Li went and built some kind of supporting facilities around Fright Hostel—attracting other investors to follow suit—and then turned the whole area into a hot new commercial district…
Wouldn't that be completely screwed?
However, Li Shi smiled, clearly not believing a word of Pei Qian's "for your own good" warning.
"President Pei, since you say this is goodwill, then don't just accept it in your heart. There's no need for so much formality between us—just take it."
"Don't worry, I definitely won't interfere in operations. I just want to earn a little dividend. What's wrong with making money together?"
"Or, if President Pei thinks investing in the haunted house isn't appropriate, how about recommending another investment project for me? Let me invest in Moyu Internet Café and open a few more branches together?"
"Or… I could just casually invest some money over to Lin City?"
President Li's expression was extremely sincere.
Pei Qian: "..."
This was a threat—an extremely obvious threat!
The moment he heard the words "Lin City," Pei Qian understood. Even though he had already instructed Zhang Yuan to keep a low profile, the developments over in Lin City had clearly not escaped President Li's notice.
Earlier, because ROF made a fortune due to the spike in memory prices, Pei Qian had helplessly decided to send Zhang Yuan into Lin City. He was hoping to expand the Moyu commercial complex into that backwater city and burn through the excess funds there.
But Li Shi had always been keeping an eye on Pei Qian, and with how well-connected he was, there was no way he wouldn't know about this.
Pei Qian was caught in a dilemma.
He could, of course, completely ignore Li Shi—but then Li Shi could just take this money and invest it in Lin City anyway, setting up a few bars, cafés, and storefronts within the Moyu commercial complex district…
With the Moyu Internet Café's brand effect plus the capital frenzy from President Li and various investment institutions in Handong Province, the future of the Moyu commercial complex in Lin City would be… terrifyingly uncertain.
Pei Qian felt that his current situation was extremely grim. What Li Shi had said basically sounded to him like: "Do you want to go gracefully on your own, or should I help you go gracefully?"
If he didn't agree to let President Li invest in the haunted house, then that money would most likely go to Lin City—and that was something he couldn't stop.
It was a forced choice between two options.
Pei Qian felt deeply conflicted. After weighing the pros and cons, he decided that Lin City was the more dangerous option.
After all, Moyu Internet Café was already a proven success. Even though Lin City was a brand-new market, once President Li got involved, things would probably spiral out of control.
Pei Qian never imagined that he would be threatened in this kind of way.
Meanwhile, watching President Pei's reaction, Li Shi was also secretly puzzled.
What's going on? I'm literally giving money to President Pei, and he's this reluctant?
Looking at that expression, it's like I'm asking him to cut off a piece of his own flesh.
For a moment, the two of them fell into silence, staring at each other without speaking.
After thinking it over, Pei Qian asked, "President Li, are you really not afraid of losing money?"
Li Shi nodded. "Not at all."
Pei Qian let out a soft sigh. "Alright then. I've got two projects on hand. If President Li truly wants to thank me, just pick one to invest in."
"The first is the haunted house project—Fright Hostel. The second is 'Top Student, Come Quickly,' an education app project I'm currently preparing…"
As he spoke, Pei Qian observed President Li's expression.
Clearly, President Li didn't have any prior information about the 'Top Student, Come Quickly' project and listened very attentively.
Pei Qian himself didn't know many of the specific details either. The plan was being handled by He Desheng, and he hadn't really asked about it, so he only gave a brief overview of the general direction.
In Pei Qian's view, both of these projects were guaranteed money-losers. Since President Li wasn't afraid of losing money, he could invest in whichever one he liked.
After a brief moment of consideration, Li Shi said, "Alright, then I'll invest in 'Top Student, Come Quickly'!"
Clearly, in Li Shi's eyes, between the two projects, Top Student, Come Quickly seemed more reliable.
Pei Qian nodded. No matter what, as long as President Li didn't go invest in Lin City, everything was negotiable.
...
...
January 18, Tuesday.
Dream Fulfillment Ventures.
"President Pei, the app is finished. Please take a look."
"These are the early-stage promotional materials for the 'Top Student, Come Quickly' project."
"And also, regarding Fu Hui Capital's investment…"
Looking at the stack of documents He Desheng handed over, Pei Qian felt a headache coming on.
He only glanced at them before tossing them aside, then took the phone to check out the Top Student, Come Quickly app.
It had been completed much faster than Pei Qian expected—within about a week, they already had a basic prototype.
According to He Desheng, the outsourcing company had worked on similar projects before. They had simply burned the midnight oil to modify the code from a previous failed project, swapped in a new UI, and added two new features to produce the first version of Top Student, Come Quickly.
Seemingly afraid that President Pei might be unhappy, He Desheng added, "President Pei, don't worry, the quality won't be an issue. Even though it's outsourced, that company is very responsible…"
Pei Qian didn't care about any of that. It would be better if the app quality had problems—it would flop faster.
He had only wanted to casually throw some money at this project anyway.
Pei Qian played around with the app a bit and found that it only had the most basic functions for now.
The app had two entry points: "Top Student Entrance" and "Underachiever Entrance."
Entering through the Top Student portal, users could fill in their profiles, including education and school, subjects of expertise, knowledge level, and so on. They also had to submit required documents for real-name verification.
Entering through the Underachiever portal was much simpler: post a request, a top student accepts the order, the two reach an agreement, meet for tutoring, and then the remaining payment is made.
To Pei Qian, this software felt a lot like a ride-hailing app.
In fact, He Desheng had planned many more features for the app, such as online video Q&A and question-search functions, but there wasn't enough time to build them.
Moreover, the current basic functionality was essentially just "matchmaking," and it was still far from being a complete product.
When user numbers were low, the app would be fine. But as users increased, not only would server bandwidth need to be expanded, the software's architecture and stability would also require continuous improvement.
Of course, none of that was worth worrying about for now, because the app currently had no users at all.
For the Top Student, Come Quickly project, He Desheng had set up a company, with equity divided as 60% for the founding team, 30% for Dream Fulfillment Ventures, and 10% for Fu Hui Capital.
Dream Fulfillment Ventures invested 2 million, and Fu Hui Capital invested 1 million.
President Li had wanted to invest more, but Pei Qian had turned him down.
President Li had already made quite a bit of money from blindly following his investments. Now that President Pei accepted his investment and let him take a small loss of one million, it served two purposes.
On the one hand, it would splash some cold water on President Li, so he wouldn't stick to Pei Qian like chewing gum in the future, and Pei Qian could enjoy some peace and quiet.
On the other hand, Pei Qian was still being merciful and didn't intend to let President Li bleed too much money.
Of course, part of the reason was also risk control—too much money in this project could easily lead to trouble.
So for now, Pei Qian told President Li to just invest one million as a token amount. The early stage didn't need that much money anyway, and if things went well later, he could always invest more then.
Naturally, the founding team were all insiders, so in reality, Pei Qian and Dream Fulfillment Ventures controlled 90% of the shares. President Li had no interest at all in the project's operations—on the surface, he said it was to repay a personal favor to President Pei, but in reality, he just wanted to skim a bit of profit.
So the specific development of this project was still entirely up to Pei Qian's own decisions.
Pei Qian didn't look too closely. He handed the phone back to He Desheng. "Alright, start placing the ads."
He Desheng froze. "Uh, President Pei, isn't this a bit rushed?"
He really wanted to say: Even if we're just trying to bait people, shouldn't we at least prepare properly first?
The app's level of completion was so low, yet it was already going online. Even if it was just to lure people in, wasn't this attitude a bit too careless?
Pei Qian waved his hand. "It's fine. Put out the ads first and talk later."
Low app completion? That was perfect.
Pei Qian was afraid that if the app's completion level was too high and then it got promoted, President Li would bring a bunch of people to follow up with more investments and actually hype this project up—then things would really get troublesome.
Taking advantage of the app's low completion right now was exactly the best time to push hard on promotion: spend money and get scolded at the same time. When everyone ended up not optimistic about the project and it crashed on the spot, President Pei's goal would be achieved.