Losing Money to Be a Tycoon

“Boss Pei, what can I do for you…?”

Over the phone, Zhou Muyan’s voice sounded rather lifeless. Since they had last seen each other in Guangzhou at the end of last year, Pei Qian and Zhou Muyan had not kept in contact.

As Ocean Stronghold and Bullet Hole’s results had been rather divergent, the duo’s originally fragile relationship had been made worse.

Ocean Stronghold had already become the unabashed number-one domestically-produced FPS game, having a massive following while still expanding continuously. Its competitor had also been changed from other domestically-produced games to Counter Strike.

On the other hand, Bullet Hole’s popularity had slowly dropped after its initial success attributed to its widespread publicity. Although it was still operating in the black and doing alright, this evidently did not hit Zhou Muyan’s initial goals and expectations. It was falling further and further behind from Ocean Stronghold.

The two games’ design concept was vastly different. When Tengda had gone to Sun Strike Studios to learn, Zhou Muyan had actually proudly shared Bullet Hole’s design concept with everyone.

At that time, Zhou Muyan had been brimming with confidence.

While Pei Qian had sat in the audience, smiling and nodding constantly—his eyes filled with approval.

However, Zhou Muyan now knew that Boss Pei had been acting back then!

When Ocean Stronghold had first launched, Zhou Muyan had not paid much attention to it. However, as its popularity grew continuously, Zhou Muyan finally had started to feel that something was amiss.

He had dug a little and found that Ocean Stronghold’s development had been almost in tandem with Bullet Hole’s. When Tengda had gone to Sun Strike Studios to visit, Ocean Stronghold had already developed to a certain stage!

Zhou Muyan’s heart actually went cold.

Boss Pei had long known about Bullet Hole’s problems but had continuously nodded in the audience, acting as if nothing was wrong.

That was so scheming!

Since then, Pei Qian had not proactively contacted Zhou Muyan; he primarily was afraid Zhou Muyan would think he was boasting. While Zhou Muyan wouldn’t bother to contact Pei Qian, he didn’t want anything to do with him.

As such, the two had finally gotten in touch once again after so long.

As for why Zhou Muyan would take up the phone call…

He didn’t have a choice; he had to give Boss Pei some face.

After all, Tengda was now being commended and praised by the official games platform. As they were all in the same industry, Zhou Muyan couldn’t purposely cross Boss Pei.

However, he was still a little unwilling to talk to Pei Qian.

Pei Qian could feel Zhou Muyan’s grudging feelings and was afraid that he might misspeak and trigger Zhou Muyan’s fragile soul. He decided to cut to the chase and shoot directly.

“Boss Zhou, apologies for the disturbance. I want to ask you something. Do you know who Lin Wan is?”

Zhou Muyan was stunned for a while.

Of course, he knew who Lin Wan was. The second day Lin Wan had started work at Sun Strike Studios, Shenhua Corporation’s President’s office had directly called Zhou Muyan. If he didn’t remember wrongly, Lin Wan had entered Tengda for a couple of months already.

Could it be Boss Pei still didn’t know who Lin Wan was?

That wasn’t logical, right?

Zhou Muyan was a little confused. He asked back, “Boss Pei, you don’t know?”

Pei Qian’s heart grew even colder. By Zhou Muyan’s words, he was evidently confirming that Lin Wan was someone special! Pei Qian coughed lightly, “Boss Zhou, to be honest, I am facing some problems now. I hope that you could render me some assistance; I will be eternally grateful!”

Zhou Muyan hurriedly replied, “Please don’t say that, Boss Pei. If you have any queries, please ask; I will definitely answer them if I can!”

Pei Qian asked, “Could Boss Zhou explain what Lin Wan’s deal with her family is and why she had entered the game industry… in detail?”

Zhou Muyan was a little perplexed. Could it be Boss Pei didn’t even know about this? It seemed as if Shenhua Corporation’s President’s office had not given Boss Pei a call?

There was something fishy going on.

However, Zhou Muyan didn’t think much as he told all he knew about Lin Wan to Pei Qian.

Lin Wan was Shenhua Corporation’s President’s youngest daughter. She had an elder sister and two elder brothers. As she was passionate about the game industry, she had found Sun Strike Studios on her own to work.

However, Lin Zhengnan was evidently not very supportive of Lin Wan entering the game industry. Nevertheless, as Lin Wan was rather stubborn and Lin Zhengnan did not want to strain his relationship with her, he had given Zhou Muyan a call hoping that he could extinguish Lin Wan’s game industry dreams so that she would return to Shenhua Corporation to work.

“This is the gist of it, Boss Pei. I do not know anything else,” Zhou Muyan spoke rather earnestly, “As for why you had not received a phone call… I do not know why.”

Pei Qian was silent for a moment, “How about Lin Wan and her relationship with her brother Lin Zhou, Shenhua Real Estate’s President?”

Zhou Muyan replied, “It is said that she only has some tension with her father; her relationship with her brother Lin Zhou is not bad.”

Pei Qian’s heart grew colder.

Alright, everything now made sense!

He could be sure that Lin Wan had asked her brother Lin Zhou to give Tengda a reduction in rent; there was no other explanation.

“So… Boss Zhou, how can I make Lin Wan leave the games industry and to go back to inherit the family wealth? Pei Qian asked earnestly.

Zhou Muyan thought for a while, “I’m afraid you have to make her utterly disappointed with the game industry.”

Pei Qian was silent.

Wasn’t this a little too difficult?

This was the complete opposite of what Pei Qian was doing!

Pei Qian wanted to spend more money; he had to give his employees more benefits. However, Lin Wan might feel that Tengda is a very good and nice company; and she wouldn’t want to leave.

Wasn’t this an impasse? While this time had only been a rental reduction, who knew what this rich heiress would come up with next time?

“Many thanks, Boss Zhou. I’ll organize another company cohesion someday, and we’ll definitely head to Guangzhou. I’ll offer my thanks in person then.”

Pei Qian thought that Old Zhou had been rather earnest in offering this information; it had been very useful to him.

Zhou Muyan was a little speechless.

He still wanted to come? Did he want to come and lash at my corpse?

“Boss Pei, allow me to ask something. Has Lin Wan done something unforgivable in Tengda…?”

Pei Qian was silent. He didn’t know how to reply to this question.

By right, Zhou Muyan had been completely honest and forthcoming with Pei Qian. He had only asked Pei Qian this one question. If Pei Qian avoided the question, deflected it, or lied; that didn’t seem appropriate.

Pei Qian paused for a moment, “She… had reduced our rent from 4 yuan to 1.5 yuan per square feet.”

Zhou Muyan, “???”

…

After hanging up, Pei Qian felt as if he was facing an unprecedented predicament. Pei Qian checked on the Fish-Catching Internet Cafe’s rental contract immediately. He didn’t find any links with Shenhua Real Estate as he breathed easy slightly.

That’s good.

All these Fish-Catching Internet Cafes’ locations were rather deserted; these places were also all stand-alone buildings. On the other hand, Shenhua Real Estate loved to purchase land that was within the bustling commercial districts in the city; most of them were high-end residential areas or office buildings.

Fish-Catching Internet Cafes’ locations had fortuitously been out of Shenhua Corporation’s scope. If the Fish-Catching Internet Cafes’ rentals were also reduced, Pei Qian would really puke blood.

The problem now was how to deal with Lin Wan.

He couldn’t let her have free rein; this was a ticking time bomb. He also couldn’t use overtly forceful methods to chase her away. If he did it too plainly, it would be noticed by others.

Even Shenhua Corporation’s President, Lin Wan’s father, Lin Zhengnan… couldn’t do anything about her; Pei Qian really couldn’t think of anything good. If Lin Wan showed her stubbornness, things might even get out of hand.

His only solution was to do as Zhou Muyan had said; he would do his best to make Lin Wan discouraged with and lose interest in the game industry.

From Lin Wan’s work ethic and mannerisms in Tengda, she didn’t seem to be the ‘ambitious but no-good’ type of weak-minded rich second-generation heiress. If not, she would not have been able to hide her identity for so long without being found out.

This kind of person probably was very determined on the path she had decided on.

If it was some external factors that made her fail, that might not be sufficient to extinguish her passion; it might only make her choose to try again.

This is a sticky situation…

Pei Qian thought for a long time. Suddenly, a stroke of inspiration struck him. It seemed… the garbage Shang Yang Games that he had bought-over could finally be of use?

To date, Shang Yang Games basically still maintained its original state pre-takeover. Furthermore, based on its current operating situation, it was still making losses.

To make Lin Wan in charge of a sure-fail game project… once the game really failed, she naturally would start to doubt her own abilities as well as the entire game industry. At that time, Boss Pei could happily continue to spend money while Lin Wan would head back to inherit her family wealth; wouldn’t that be the best of both worlds?

Pei Qian felt that this was a good idea.

Indeed, many things could be planned out and decided on by accident!