Losing Money to Be a Tycoon
chapter-206

Would the three waiters whom he bribed gang up to come up with false information? What’s more, none of them reported this to Boss Pei. The chances of that happening were very low.

After all, these waiters were not related to Boss Pei in any way. They were workers at the bottom of the hierarchy. How could they be that loyal?

The most important thing was that based on Li Shi’s complete analysis of Boss Pei, the information was highly likely to be true.

What had Boss Pei been doing recently?

He had indeed stopped visiting the flagship store. Every now and then, he would visit the branch at Ming Yun Villas instead!

On top of that, both Ma Yang and Zhang Yuan were stationed at Ming Yun Villas as well.

All of these proved that Boss Pei had shifted his attention there.

Boss Pei had so many businesses to take care of. He was busy enough as it was. If he did not have a plan for this branch, why would he waste that much time over there?

Would he do all of these just to concoct false information and play Li Shi?

How could that be? Boss Pei would not do such meaningless things.

Thus, on the whole, the information was very likely to be true. Boss Pei was really making the Ming Yun Villas branch the center of his development plan for Fish-Catching Internet Cafe. He was already prepared with a back-up plan. He had confidence in making this commercial district popular!

At that thought, Li Shi felt excited.

After all, Jingzhou City was a second-tier city. There were very few good investment opportunities. Li Shi had spent money allowing other businesses to run promotions earlier, in hopes of disrupting the growth of Fish-Catching Internet Cafe. He wanted to create opportunities to invest in the business early on. In the end, his plan fell through.

Fortunately, he did not lose that much money because he did not work at it for a long time. Once Fish-Catching Internet Cafe’s flagship store became popular, Li Shi stopped spending money.

What’s more, ever since the flagship store became popular, more customers visited that street. The other shops profited from it, too.

This time, Li Shi would not hope to invest in Fish-Catching Internet Cafe again. He knew that this would be wishful thinking on his part.

Yet, even then, he wanted to do something with the information he had on hand.

For example, he wanted to jump at the chance to develop something at Ming Yun Villas! When Fish-Catching Internet Cafe’s flagship store became popular, the shops near it became popular as well. The coffee shops, bars, and internet cafes on the same path saw more customers as well. Rent for the popular shops nearby increased as well.

From this, Li Shi learned that Boss Pei might not be bragging when he said he wanted to turn the Ming Yun Villas area into a commercial district.

Since that was the case, why not develop something near Ming Yun Villas? He could invest in several restaurants, coffee shops, bars, internet cafes, and board game cafes in the vicinity. He could open a shop or two and wait for business in the area to pick up. Then, his shops would start making money.

Even if Li Shi did not plan to run these shops himself, he could probably sell the shops when the time was right. Someone would want to take over them. For all he knew, he could earn a windfall from this venture!

The more Li Shi thought about it, the happier he became. This was why he wanted the information! Although Boss Pei was young, he had a keen eye for business. He also had a unique talent for marketing. Li Shi would be right to keep following him!

As for how much he should pour into the venture…

Li Shi pondered for a while. The more he invested, the more he would earn. The less he invested, the less he would earn. However, as an investor, he knew that he could not put all his eggs in one basket. Thus, he decided to invest in one high-end internet cafe, one coffee shop, one board game cafe, and the like.

He would choose the locations carefully. The high-end internet cafe and board game cafe would be placed closer to the university. After all, university students would be the main spenders. At the same time, he might be able to attract some of Fish-Catching Internet Cafe’s customers.

Of course, Li Shi would not personally run these businesses. He had to make use of his connections. Perhaps he could convince one of the bosses of the internet cafe chains he had already invested in to open a branch in the area. There, they could set up an internet cafe based on the trendiest model.

Then, all Li Shi would have to do was to provide the funds.

Since Li Shi was sure that there was no way he would be able to invest in Fish-Catching Internet Cafe anymore, he had to look for other alternatives. He had to look for other investments to make.

Then, all he had to do was follow what Boss Pei was doing. Once he succeeded, there would be lots to earn!

Pei Qian was not sure who was interested in obtaining inside information about the branch at Ming Yun Villas. However, it did not matter to him. Anyone who wanted the information could buy it.

The information that Pei Qian released was fake indeed. However, it seemed more real than real information.

Pei Qian’s real motive was quite simple. He wanted to create an illusion that the branch at Ming Yun Villas and the surrounding region were going to become extremely popular. Then, more people would want to invest in this area.

If more internet cafes, restaurants, and coffee shops opened in the area; wouldn’t there be fewer people visiting Fish-Catching Internet Cafe?

Ming Yun Villas had been making a steady loss because there were few customers in the vicinity. Ming Yun Villas’ occupancy was low, and there weren’t many students in Handong Jiaotong University’s East Campus. What’s more, the cafe was far from the latter.

It was already so miserable. If more shops opened in the area, fewer customers would visit Fish-Catching Internet Cafe. Then, they would be doing even more miserably!

As for who the unlucky b*stard was…

All Pei Qian could say was that he willingly took the bait. In the first place, he harbored ill intentions and wanted to buy insider information about Fish-Catching Internet Cafe. What’s more, he was not buying this information from Boss Pei. Boss Pei did not earn a single cent from this venture. Of course, Pei Qian had to note it down in his notebook and take revenge!

Pei Qian guessed that he would not see any reaction in the short-term. After all, it would take at least a month to set up shops in the area.

Thus, Pei Qian decided not to think about this for now. Instead, he busied himself with other things.

The preparations for Headwind Courier stations were almost complete. They had already locked down the locations for the various courier stations. They were mainly residential areas. They could not cover all of Jingzhou City, but they had covered a significant area.

Pei Qian had been busy with recruiting people, purchasing shelves, renovations, and the like recently. If all went well, Pei Qian would be able to observe the first Headwind Courier station in about a week.

Apart from this, there was something else: the high-end restaurant that Pei Qian had been thinking about earlier.

Swan Lake Restaurant could no longer fulfill the requirements that Pei Qian’s team had. He had to spend a load of money on this and custom-make a restaurant.

During this period, Pei Qian considered the best location and set-up for this restaurant.

The problem of the location was enough to give Pei Qian a headache. At first, he wanted to choose a quiet commercial district to set up the restaurant. However, he felt that this would be inappropriate. This was because consumer review sites had already been created. The internet was also widespread. It would be very difficult for him to hide an extremely expensive restaurant like that for long.

Pei Qian also could not turn such a high-end restaurant into an internal canteen, which was only to be enjoyed by his employees. The System would not agree to it. The high-end restaurant had to be made available to all consumers in Jingzhou City.

Of course, ordinary consumers would not be able to afford it. However, if whales really wanted to visit the restaurant, Pei Qian could not chase them out forcefully.

Pei Qian had several options in Jingzhou City like Guangming District and Lincheng District. However, once the restaurant was discovered, all high-class people would turn into its customer base. After all, there was only one high-end restaurant in all of Jingzhou. People would not mind traveling a distance for a good meal every now and then.

Of course, he would not necessarily profit. However, he would definitely incur less loss.

Thus, after some consideration, Pei Qian decided to set up the restaurant as far away from the city center as possible. The more deserted the location, the better. He wanted to attract as few customers as possible!

After looking around, he discovered that the best location was one he had already seen before. It was where Fish-Catching Internet Cafe’s Ming Yun Villas branch was located.