Losing Money to Be a Tycoon
chapter-181

The hand that Pei Qian was using to hold his phone shook furiously.

What did he mean by ‘congratulations?!

Pei Qian kept his phone and walked briskly to the second floor. There was a small, private movie hall on the second floor. People could also use it to watch television shows.

Li Shi was nervous as well.

What was going on?

Seeing Pei Qian’s movements and expressions, Li Shi guessed that the phone call was very serious. Five minutes after Pei Qian left, Li Shi got up from his seat and pretended to saunter to the second floor.

There were two levels in Fish-Catching Internet Cafe. Both had an internet cafe area and a coffee area. There were two or three customers on the second floor now, too. That was why nobody paid much attention to Li Shi when he went upstairs.

The private movie hall was meant for screening movies. However, since nobody was watching anything at that moment, Pei Qian switched on Shanghai’s satellite television program.

The moment the image changed, Pei Qian was stunned.

On the huge screen, Chen Lei’s figure appeared! He was standing in front of a microphone, strumming his guitar and singing passionately.

“On a quiet night, I walked on the street.

“In the dim light, you waited.

“In the hustle and bustle of the city, only you understand my sorrows.

“No matter how far I drifted, I never forgot you and that intoxicating wine…”

The melody was already moving, but Chen Lei’s unique voice made the indolence in this song much more vivid. The song was slow. There was a special touch of humanity and life in it, but it also felt faintly sorrowful. It was quite an unforgettable song.

Bang!

One of the teachers excitedly hit the light in front of him.

Bang!

Bang! Bang!

Chen Lei had only sung a couple of sentences, but once he got to the chorus, all for teachers had turned!

Pei Qian looked closely at the title of this program.

The Voice of China!

Pei Qian, “???”

As he watched the big screen, Pei Qian fell into a state of shock. He began to doubt his own memory.

What was going on?

If I remember correctly, The Voice of China only started in the Year 2012, right? What’s more, it didn’t start as a Shanghai satellite television program. Was the disaster of Aili Island happening all over again?

Pei Qian immediately understood. It was no wonder that Huang Sibo called him himself!

Huang Sibo knew that Chen Lei was a singer produced by Fish-Catching Internet Cafe. What’s more, Boss Pei had carefully instructed them to take good care of him. It was obvious that their relationship was extraordinary.

Now, Chen Lei had shown his face on a national television program. Of course, Huang Sibo had to inform Pei Qian.

Li Shi found a corner to sit down on the second floor. He pretended to look out the window to appreciate the scenery. However, in actual fact, he was focusing on the screen.

When he saw Chen Lei, Li Shi heaved a sigh of relief.

“It was a false alarm. I was overthinking.

“Chen Lei was once the resident singer here. He’s on good terms with the people in this cafe. It doesn’t seem like a big deal that Boss Pei rushed upstairs to watch him on television as his friend.

“Wait…

“Something’s wrong!”

Li Shi suddenly realized the severity of this problem. There was no way he could remain calm any longer!

Chen Lei was already finished with his song. However, the applause and cheering continued.

“Hello, Teachers. I am Chen Lei, from Jingzhou.”

After obtaining some simple information about Chen Lei, one of the teachers went straight to the point. “I noticed that the name of this song is Waiting. It’s a love song. When you sang it earlier, I wanted to say that the lyrics are very nicely written! These are lyrics written by someone with a story.

“‘On a quiet night’, ‘only you understand my sorrows’, ‘no matter how far I drifted, I never forgot’, ‘that intoxicating wine’…

“Did you write this for your girlfriend? She’s still waiting for you somewhere, isn’t she?”

Chen Lei smiled, embarrassed. It was obvious that he was not used to performing for such a huge audience. He looked very coy.

“No. I wrote this song about a place. It was an internet cafe where I felt at home.

“Actually, I’ve always had low self-esteem. After I graduated from high school, I never found a job. That was until, one day, I passed by a nearby internet cafe…”

In his corner on the second floor, Li Shi’s hand began to tremble. He glanced at Pei Qian, whose eyes were glued to the big screen. His back view made Li Shi feel like a huge mountain was weighing down on himself!

Could he be… playing this for me on purpose?

Li Shi’s heart hardened.

On the screen, Chen Lei continued to talk about the story of him and Fish-Catching Internet Cafe.

“Later, with Boss Pei’s strong encouragement, I finally plucked up the courage to come to Shanghai and chase my dreams.

“I heard that after I left, the traffic in the internet cafe deteriorated significantly. However, Boss Pei never looked for me again. He must have hoped that this bad news would not affect me.

“That’s why I wrote this song, in remembrance of that unforgettable period in my life.

“For this chance to come on the stage of The Voice of China, I really want to thank Boss Pei, Boss Ma, and everyone at Fish-Catching Internet Cafe. Thank you all for allowing me to go down this path. To me, Fish-Catching Internet Cafe will always be like home!”

The teachers began to clap.

“Oh my! I thought that this was a touching love story. I never imagined that this would be a story about your dreams!”

“That was very well said. I am very moved. It made me think about when I was at a particularly low point in my life. It was also the little things that brought me the most warmth…”

“Don’t worry, Chen Lei. I promise you that you have already become famous! Join my team. Next year, I have more than twenty shows around the country.”

“Stop, stop, stop. It’s not time to fight for him yet. Just wait a while! Chen Lei, four teachers have turned around. You’ve made it to the next stage. What do you plan to do from now on?”

Without any hesitation, Chen Lei said, “I want to go to Jingzhou and sing a couple of songs at Fish-Catching Internet Cafe. I want to tell them right here and now that I miss them.”

There was a blissful, bright smile on Chen Lei’s face.

Bam! The screen went black.

Pei Qian switched it off.

The moment the screen went off, Li Shi’s heart sank. It was almost as if his heart had fallen straight onto the floor and broken into a thousand different pieces. In the darkness, Boss Pei’s back view resembled a huge beast. He looked like he was going to swallow the rich at any moment!

To Li Shi, Pei Qian was exuding confidence with every movement.

Although Boss Pei did not turn his back, Li Shi could imagine his extremely confident expression. It seemed to be saying ‘The winner and loser have been decided. You don’t need to stay to watch the show, do you?’

That’s right, there was no need for Li Shi to stay to watch the rest of the show.

It was only now that Li Shi finally understood. Pei Qian did not come to watch Chen Lei sing. All of this was a show that he was putting on especially for him!

There was no need to say how popular The Voice of China was. Chen Lei’s song, Waiting, was probably going to spread like wildfire across the internet. What’s more, the sharing Chen Lei gave at the end-about the story of him and Fish-Catching Internet Cafe-would blaze discussion as well!

Chen Lei said that he would come back to Jingzhou and sing a couple of songs at Fish-Catching Internet Cafe. Even idiots would be able to predict what would happen here in the future.

Li Shi forced himself to stand up. He walked towards Pei Qian, his heart filled with bitterness. He thought that Pei Qian was at a complete loss, and that he had been waiting for defeat. Now, it was obvious he was terribly wrong.

“Boss Pei, I respect you. You’ve kept this move so well under wraps. You did not do much, but once you acted, you surpassed my expectations. I did not expect this. I really underestimated you.

“You’ve won this time. I hope that we will have a chance to work together in the future.”

Li Shi shook his head, turned around, and walked downstairs.

Everything had fallen apart in that instant. There was no point in him sneaking around behind the scenes anymore. It would be impossible for him to seek to invest in Fish-Catching Internet Cafe from now on.

Of course, doing business was like fighting a war. It was common for there to be winners and losers.

Li Shi was an experienced businessman. Naturally, he was not a sore loser. There was nothing to complain about. In fact, he respected Pei Qian that much more in his heart. Pei Qian was now a very deserving opponent to him.

Pei Qian was buried deep in shock and sorrow. By the time he regained his composure, Li Shi had already left Fish-Catching Internet Cafe.

Pei Qian was dumbfounded.

Holy sh*t, don’t leave! Misunderstanding! This was a misunderstanding!