Losing Money to Become a Tycoon: Starting with Games
Chapter 375: Whoever Makes the Money, Spends the Money
Zhang Yuan was still showering him with praise from every possible angle, but Pei Qian sat there drinking his coffee, not hearing a single word.
He was utterly baffled. Where on earth had things gone wrong???
Taking Tang Yishu to the warehouse had worked almost immediately. The machines that were supposed to fail did fail, and it did slow down the assembly process.
But… what was with that memory factory fire?
There was no way the "misfortune aura" could influence things overseas, right?
Pei Qian couldn't make sense of it no matter how hard he thought.
Strictly speaking, none of these things were actually good news, but they had indeed caused him a lot of trouble…
It seemed that this "ultimate weapon" had to be used with caution.
If you weren't careful, you'd end up hurting yourself instead!
Now that the damage had already been done, the key issue was what to do with the money next.
Keep hoarding inventory? Probably not a good idea.
At this point, ROF's PC assembly business had already become very well-known. After this New Year's "no price increase promotion," its visibility and brand recognition would only rise further.
Past examples had already proven that many customers had come to accept that ROF carried a certain brand premium.
In other words, even if they kept the original pricing, sales of ROF desktops definitely wouldn't suddenly drop. And because there was already a certain profit margin built into the pricing, making money was practically guaranteed.
If he kept hoarding inventory and then one day graphics card prices surged again, wouldn't that be the end of him?
It seemed that reckless stockpiling wasn't a reliable strategy either!
President Pei had essentially paid for a hard-earned lesson.
What about spending this money on other businesses?
But after thinking it over, he immediately dismissed the idea.
Pei Qian felt that he had to stick to one core principle:
Whoever pollutes, cleans it up; whoever makes the money, spends it.
Reflecting on past experiences, it was precisely because he hadn't adhered to this principle that fires kept breaking out everywhere, impossible to put out.
Many projects weren't problematic on their own—they were losing money just fine—but once they became linked with other projects, major problems could easily arise.
So the money earned by ROF should be left to Zhang Yuan, letting him figure out how to spend it himself.
After a moment's thought, Pei Qian said, "The money earned from the ROF PC assembly business—don't hand it in. You figure out how to spend it yourself."
Zhang Yuan was stunned. "Huh? President Pei, we're not handing over such a huge sum? Is that appropriate?"
Pei Qian gave a dry laugh. "Of course it is. You earned this money yourself, you spend it yourself."
Zhang Yuan hurriedly waved his hands. "No, no, no, President Pei, this money was all earned under your brilliant guidance."
Pei Qian: "..."
Look at this guy. If you don't know how to talk, then maybe don't talk!
Pei Qian was broad-minded and didn't want to dwell on this. "Alright, tell me, what are you planning to spend this money on?"
Zhang Yuan fell into deep thought.
The businesses he was currently in charge of were mainly Moyu Internet Café and ROF PC assembly. Of course, Moyu Delivery, as a derivative business of Moyu Internet Café, also fell indirectly under his purview.
At the same time, all of these businesses were closely tied to Against the Wind Logistics.
The person in charge of Against the Wind Logistics was Lu Mingliang, who was highly valued by Pei Qian.
In fact, up to this point, Against the Wind Logistics had always been operating at a pure loss, relying entirely on transfusions of cash from Tengda Group's other businesses to keep going.
This fully proved that President Pei's long-standing trust in Lu Mingliang had been well placed.
Of course, from Pei Qian's perspective, this wasn't really "blood transfusion" at all, it was more like detox.
If it weren't for Against the Wind Logistics, President Pei might've already "died from poisoning" long ago.
After thinking for a moment, Zhang Yuan said, "President Pei, I've given it some thought. The ROF brand has basically established a firm foothold in Jingzhou by now, and the online store has built up a decent level of visibility too."
"As for Moyu Internet Café, its business model has already been widely recognized. In Jingzhou, it's become the most popular high-end internet café brand."
"In my view, it's about time we continued expanding and brought the Moyu Internet Café model to other cities!"
Pei Qian sighed inwardly. As expected, this issue was unavoidable.
Mr. Li had raised this question before as well—why not open branches in other cities and make even more money?
The reason was simple: He was afraid that opening in other cities would just lead to even more profits!
But now, he had no choice but to seriously consider it.
Because he really couldn't put it off anymore.
Since Moyu Internet Café and the ROF PC assembly business were making money—and quite a lot of it, at that—why wouldn't they continue expanding?
From a business logic standpoint, it made no sense not to.
So opening branches was inevitable. The real questions were: where to open, and how to open?
After thinking for a moment, Pei Qian asked, "In your opinion, where should we open Moyu Internet Café branches?"
Zhang Yuan answered without hesitation, "I think we should go to major cities—places like Beijing, Shanghai, or Guangzhou, those top-tier cities!"
"There are lots of young people there, the population is dense, and people have higher spending power. They'll definitely be more receptive to this high-end internet café model."
"It'll be much easier to open up the market there."
"And even the supporting businesses tied to Moyu Internet Café, like Moyu Delivery, would thrive there as well."
Pei Qian fell silent.
What you're saying makes perfect sense, which is exactly why we absolutely cannot do that…
After thinking for a moment, he said, "My opinion is the exact opposite."
"I'm planning to set our next target as Lin City."
Zhang Yuan froze. "Lin City?"
Lin City was the poorest city in Handong Province. The well-known impoverished county, Daokou County, was under Lin City's jurisdiction.
Open a Moyu Internet Café in a place that poor?
How many customers could there possibly be?
Pei Qian continued, "And this time, what we're expanding won't just be Moyu Internet Café."
"All the supporting facilities that are attached to Moyu Internet Café will be moved over together!"
Seeing the confused look on Zhang Yuan's face, Pei Qian couldn't help but smile slightly.
As far as opening new Moyu Internet Café branches went, he wasn't in a rush.
What he really wanted was to open more Against the Wind Logistics Stations.
But Against the Wind Logistics Stations had basically already spread all over Jingzhou. If you opened the map, you'd see a dense network of outlets, there was almost no room left to squeeze in any more.
If he wanted to open more, he could only go to other cities.
But opening Against the Wind Logistics Stations in other cities without also opening Moyu Internet Cafés would be a bit too strange and would easily arouse suspicion.
If they were going to do it, they had to do it together—it would be much easier to camouflage.
Moreover, compared to Against the Wind Logistics Stations, Moyu Internet Café had another big "advantage": the upfront investment was relatively huge. Whether it was store rent, renovations, or purchasing computers, all of it cost a lot of money.
Even if the cafés gradually became profitable later on, recouping that massive upfront investment would take a long time.
At the very least, it wouldn't happen within this cycle.
If we think a bit more about site selection and don't repeat Jingzhou City's failed experience—letting these shops keep losing money forever—then that would be even better!
So after careful consideration, Pei Qian chose the poorest city in Handong Province: Lin City.
Being poor meant that local residents didn't have much spending power. A relatively high-end internet café like Moyu Internet Café naturally wouldn't do well there.
And flashy services like Moyu Delivery would be even harder to sell.
As for a project like Against the Wind Logistics, which performed steadily—steadily losing money and never making any—well, it would definitely continue losing money there too.
In short, if he had to choose, he'd choose a poorer place.
As for why… Pei Qian didn't plan to explain. Anyway, these people would come up with their own explanations.
Pei Qian continued, "My plan is to move all of our current brick-and-mortar businesses, as well as all the supporting industries attached to them, over there."
"One Moyu Internet Café in the core business district, paired with three Moyu Internet Café branches in secondary business districts, plus Moyu Delivery. Around them, we'll also set up twenty Against the Wind Logistics Station, along with one large warehouse for ROF's PC assembly business and four distribution points around the internet cafés."
"All of these will be prepared at the same time and opened all at once!"
Zhang Yuan looked stunned. "President Pei, that's a huge investment…"
"Even though rents in Lin City are much cheaper than in Jingzhou, to get this whole setup going, it's hard to imagine the upfront investment being less than ten million or so…"
Pei Qian sighed silently.
I don't want to do this either.
But who told your PC assembly business to make so much money???
Don't I have to hurry up and spend it all, so I'm not scrambling to burn money when the settlement period arrives?
Pei Qian said earnestly, "This amount of money is nothing. If it's not enough, come ask me for more."
"And those twenty Against the Wind Logistics Station are only temporary. We'll definitely keep opening more later. Our goal is to cover Lin City with them just like we've covered Jingzhou."
"You need to keep one principle in mind."
"If you make money, you figure out how to spend it yourself;"
"If you lose money, report it to me immediately, and I'll cover the losses."
Zhang Yuan had initially thought President Pei was just saying polite words, but after looking closely, he realized President Pei's gaze was genuinely sincere.
"President Pei, I… I really… I'm so touched!"
For a moment, Zhang Yuan couldn't even find the words to express his gratitude.
Pei Qian quickly raised a hand to stop him.
"Alright, no need to say more. I've got things to do, I'm heading out."
When Pei Qian saw the long line at the entrance of the internet café, he felt a surge of irritation.
Zhang Yuan hurriedly said, "Alright, President Pei, take care! Happy New Year to you!"
Pei Qian: "…"
Sorry, my New Year isn't happy at all!
…
…
Tuesday, November 4th, 11:00 a.m.
As usual, Pei Qian arrived at the company leisurely, while everyone else had already started their day's work.
Maybe because it was the first day back after the holiday, everyone looked especially busy.
Li Yada and her little travel group had already returned.
When Pei Qian saw Li Yada and Bao Xu, he couldn't quite put his finger on it, but for some reason he didn't see much of that post-vacation glow or joy on their faces. Instead… they seemed to carry a sense of having been through a lot?
Pei Qian couldn't help feeling a bit puzzled. Was the U.S. really that boring?
But he didn't ask. Pei Qian was more of a homebody himself—he didn't like going out and traveling around, and he didn't really care whether the U.S. was fun or not. In any case, he had no plans to go.
After getting to the office, Pei Qian first checked his unread messages.
There was one from Zhang Yuan, saying that he and Lu Mingliang had set off for Lin City that day to do on-site inspections. Taking into account the preliminary site selection, renovations, hiring, and all the other steps, the whole setup would take at least until mid-February to be fully completed.
Pei Qian felt the timing was just right, if anything, he hoped it could be delayed a bit more.
Ideally, he wanted all these internet cafés and logistic stations to open about a week before the settlement date. That way, a large sum of money would be spent, but they wouldn't have much time to make any money within this cycle.
As for the next cycle…
He'd deal with that when the time came. If necessary, he could just find another relatively poor city and open more branches there—rinse and repeat, endlessly.
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