Chapter 206: The Intel Released by President Pei
One of the waiters plucked up his courage:
"President Pei, please don't worry. We would never betray Moyu Internet Café! I'll reject him immediately!"
Another waiter nodded firmly:
"That's right! President Pei has treated us with such kindness. As long as you don't abandon us, we will never betray the café or sell any intel!"
Looking at their determined expressions, Pei Qian was left dumbfounded.
No, no, no!
You should sell it! I'd be overjoyed if you did!
Why was the other party buying intel in the first place? Obviously to make life harder for the Mingyun Villa branch.
Perfect! If they could somehow make the branch lose even more money, that would be exactly what Pei Qian wanted.
In the end, the waiters would make money, he would lose money—wasn't that a win-win situation?
Pei Qian waved his hand.
"No need for that."
"Sell the intel for whatever price he offers. Don't be shy about it. In fact, try bargaining with him—see if you can get more than three thousand."
The waiters all froze, dumbstruck.
What?
Did President Pei just… give us permission to sell intel?
One of them thought it through, then suddenly looked enlightened:
"I understand now! President Pei, you want us to play along, right? To deliberately feed him false intel and trick him!"
Pei Qian only smiled without a word.
False intel?
There was no such thing. Everything he was about to say was real intel. They could go ahead and sell as much of it as they wanted.
Pei Qian casually pulled out his phone and, without drawing attention, switched on the recorder.
"Since we're all here, I'll go ahead and share our plans for the near future of Moyu Internet Café."
"In the coming months, the Mingyun Villa branch will become the top priority of all our internet café operations. At the same time, our entire café business will be ramping up!"
"Although the flagship store is currently a success, that's merely the success of the bar model, not the internet café model."
He glanced at Ma Yang.
"Old Ma, you've always wanted to turn Moyu Internet Café into more of a bar, but I've never agreed—that's precisely why."
"High-end internet cafés might not seem popular right now, but they are absolutely the future trend of this industry!"
"My prediction is, within a year, this high-end café model will completely replace traditional internet cafés and become the market mainstream!"
Pei Qian's words were a mix of truth and exaggeration.
It was true that the industry would eventually shift from cheap internet cafés to high-end models—but there was no way this transition would happen in just a year.
In his memory, this high-end café model only started to take real shape around 2012. By 2014 or 2015, it spread from first-tier cities to second-tier ones, gradually gaining wider acceptance.
So, in Pei Qian's view, he still had at least two years left to keep bleeding money.
Sure, it might be the future trend, but who cared? As long as he managed to lose money for now, what happened later didn't matter.
Pei Qian went on:
"The success of the flagship store was an accident—it was never part of my original plan."
That was 100% true.
"Because of that unexpected success, the data on customer flow and performance there has already been skewed. That makes the flagship store unsuitable for further testing of the internet café model."
"So instead, I've chosen the Mingyun Villa branch—currently the worst-performing location—as the testing ground for the café model!"
"Our goal will be to focus on the nearby luxury residential district and universities, fully leveraging Moyu Internet Café's strengths as a premium leisure and networking space."
"Believe me: Mingyun Villa will become the next core commercial hub of Jingzhou City, a high-end leisure spot for the city's elite!"
After hearing this, the waiters all looked at each other.
Was President Pei telling the truth… or just bluffing?
Since it was supposedly meant for competitors, it was probably fake intel, right?
But… why didn't it sound fake?
No matter how they listened, it all sounded perfectly real!
And what's more, everything lined up with President Pei's current actions…
A waiter timidly raised his hand and asked:
"Then, President Pei, what should we do?"
Pei Qian smiled slightly.
"Just focus on serving customers well, and wait patiently."
. . . .
After the meeting, Pei Qian sent the recording to Ma Yang.
"Give this recording to one of the waiters."
He was worried that if the waiters repeated his words, they might leave something out, so he thoughtfully recorded everything himself.
With an actual recording, the other party would be far more convinced.
Of course, even with this precaution, there was still a chance the other side might think it was fake intel and refuse to bite.
But whether they fell for it or not, Pei Qian only stood to gain—there was no downside.
. . . .
That very evening.
Li Shi received intel from his men, who had bought it from three different waiters. On top of that, he even got hold of a recording.
The recording was a completely unexpected bonus.
Overjoyed, Li Shi instructed his men to send an extra five hundred yuan to the waiter who had provided it.
The different reports and the recording corroborated each other, and the information was essentially consistent.
Still, because most of the intel came secondhand, Li Shi felt that some details had been lost in retelling.
The real key was in President Pei's original words captured on that recording.
In his study, Li Shi sipped his tea while carefully analyzing the recording.
"President Pei's speech boils down to two main points:
First, the high-end internet café model is the future mainstream of internet bars, and now is the perfect time to enter the market.
Second, Mingyun Villa will become Jingzhou's next core commercial district, a gathering place for high-end clientele…"
He nodded.
"The first point, I completely agree with. Without a doubt, high-end internet cafés are the future. As living standards rise and personal computers become more common, people won't visit cafés just out of necessity for gaming anymore. Instead, they'll go for social gaming sessions with friends, which means they'll demand better environments."
"But the second point… that's debatable."
"Mingyun Villa is widely seen as a failed luxury villa district. The nearby Jiaoda East Campus isn't nearly as large as the main campus of Handong University, so the student population there is relatively small."
"Relying on just these two locations to drive business here? That's far too optimistic—too idealistic."
"On top of that, this Moyu Internet Café branch is nearly two kilometers from both places. That's a 20- to 30-minute walk."
"That's an awkward distance—too far to walk comfortably, but too inconvenient to wait for a bus. Students at the East Campus will likely prefer the internet cafés near their school gates, while the wealthy residents of Mingyun Villa won't bother driving all the way here just for a cup of coffee…"
"Trying to cater to both groups? That's overambitious. If it were a high-end restaurant, maybe people would travel that far. But an internet café just doesn't have that level of pull."
He paused, then chuckled.
"But then again, with President Pei's methods, it might not be impossible…"
Ever since Pei Qian had turned the flagship café into a hit with nothing more than a resident singer, Li Shi had admired his promotional tactics immensely.
As for Pei Qian calling that success an 'accident' in the recording—that was obviously false modesty.
There was no such thing as a good 'accident' like that.
So in the end, Li Shi believed about 80% of what Pei Qian said.
He still harbored some doubts, wondering if it could be fake intel.
But the more he thought about it, the less sense that seemed to make.
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