Chapter 139: The Desire to Lose Money Burns Once Again
Chapter 139: The Desire to Lose Money Burns Once Again
After finishing the store manager selections, Pei Qian turned to Ma Yang.
“Old Ma, Zhang Yuan. Once the branch stores open, this shop will become our flagship store. You two don’t need to manage front-line operations anymore.”
“Zhang Yuan, from now on, you’re the regional manager of all Moyu Internet Cafés in Jingzhou. All branches will be under your management.”
“As for Ma Yang, you’ll be the general manager of all Moyu Internet Cafés. Just like before, you report directly to me.”
“From the store managers we just picked, choose the one you’re most satisfied with to manage this flagship store. Since this is the very first Moyu Internet Café, it’s got historical value. It’ll serve as our model store from here on out.”
“And to the others who didn’t become store managers—don’t worry. Once we open more branches, veteran employees will be given priority in manager selection.”
“As for the staffing gap caused by these promotions, hurry up and start recruiting to fill the vacancies.”
“Ma Yang, Zhang Yuan, after the holiday, I’ll give you one week to scout and identify ten potential locations. From those, select four to open new stores.”
“Location, renovations, interior design—everything should match this current flagship store. Understood?”
Ma Yang patted his chest confidently. “Don’t worry, Brother Qian, leave it to me!”
Everyone else looked pretty excited too.
President Pei wasn’t just drawing empty promises—he delivered on everything, and fast!
Some bosses are great at making grand plans, but always delay implementation. But not President Pei. Just a few days ago, he mentioned new branches, and now it was already happening!
And each café costs over 3 million to start. Four new branches? That’s over 10 million down the drain—and President Pei didn’t even flinch.
A real big boss indeed!
The thought that they got to work for someone like this made all the staff feel a sudden swell of pride.
After wrapping up the arrangements, Pei Qian gave a few more detailed instructions before finally feeling at ease and leaving.
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May Day Holiday
The company was on break, schools were quiet, and Pei Qian decided to go home for a visit.
But before heading back, he took his bank card—loaded with over 80,000 yuan of personal funds—and stopped by a home appliance store near his neighborhood.
Since it was a holiday, the place was packed, shoulder-to-shoulder crowds everywhere.
Back in this era, buying home appliances online wasn’t really a thing yet. Logistics and warehousing weren’t as developed, and after-sales service was a huge headache. Most people still preferred to buy major appliances from physical stores.
Years later, as e-commerce became more convenient, these kinds of stores would begin to fade away.
Pei Qian wandered aimlessly through the aisles.
‘Ugh, shopping is such a pain.’
‘I wish Assistant Xin were here…’
He started missing Assistant Xin. If she were around, she could’ve prepared a full report comparing appliances according to his preferences. All he’d have to do is pay.
But now it was the holiday, and she was off work. Plus, buying appliances wasn’t really a work-related matter. Asking for help might even get him a warning from the System.
So Pei Qian had no choice but to suffer through it on his own.
TVs.
Washing machines.
Fridges.
Air conditioners.
Pei Qian was absolutely sure that every single appliance at home needed replacing.
But when it came time to actually buy them… it was weirdly difficult to choose.
Because everything just looked… kinda bad.
The appliance brands weren’t quite the same as the ones Pei Qian remembered from the future, but he could still vaguely tell which ones were decent and which weren’t.
But what left Pei Qian feeling a bit frustrated was that, although smartphones and computer hardware in this world had developed rapidly, the state of home appliances hadn't changed much compared to what he remembered.
Pei Qian was looking at 2010’s appliances through the lens of someone from 2019. Naturally, everything looked outdated and clunky to him. A lot of models on display had already been completely phased out in his original timeline—proven to be total design failures—but were now being showcased as the latest products.
Take televisions, for example.
At this time, a 40-inch TV from a decent foreign brand still cost around five to six thousand yuan. To Pei Qian, this felt like outright robbery.
After getting used to buying a 40-inch TV from a certain "Big Grain" brand for just a bit over a thousand, he found it impossible to summon the desire to purchase one of these overpriced screens.
This mindset was perfectly normal. As the saying goes: “Buy early, enjoy early; wait longer, save more.” Or another classic: “We of the Waiting Party will never be slaves.”
The reality is, products like these do iterate quickly—especially when viewed from a decade in the future. Everything would have to be replaced again eventually. But if you bought something today, you could enjoy it a day sooner.
Pei Qian figured that it was high time to replace all of his parents' appliances: at the very least, the washing machine shouldn’t rattle like it’s about to launch into orbit during a spin cycle, the fridge could be bigger to hold more food, and a larger TV would make watching more comfortable on the eyes. These were things that directly impacted daily comfort, so the sooner they were replaced, the better.
After strolling around the store twice, Pei Qian quickly decided on what to get and swiped his card to make the purchase.
A 42-inch TV: a little over 6,000 yuan.
A side-by-side refrigerator—still a rare item at the time: over 10,000 yuan.
An air conditioner: around 2,000 yuan. Summers in Jingzhou were hot, so it’d be put to use very soon.
A front-loading washing machine: over 3,000 yuan.
Plus a rice cooker, vacuum cleaner, and a few other small household appliances. These only added up to about 2,000 yuan altogether.
Pei Qian chose well-known brands with solid quality and full features—some domestic, some international—so naturally, the total cost was higher than average.
All said and done, the entire set came out to just under 30,000 yuan.
After paying, Pei Qian continued browsing and happened to spot a robotic vacuum cleaner.
Robotic vacuums did exist in 2010, but almost no one bought them. At the time, they were seen as a bit pointless for the price, and they lacked app controls. The best way to describe them was: “big clunky goofballs.” Using them wasn’t nearly as convenient as it would become in the future.
But Pei Qian noticed that this model didn’t look half bad. While it didn’t have advanced path planning, it offered multiple cleaning modes. Priced just over 3,000 yuan, he decisively bought it too.
Finally, he negotiated a trade-in deal for the old appliances at home with the store, finalizing the recycling price and having everything loaded onto a delivery truck.
The store wasn’t far from home, so Pei Qian followed closely behind the truck, arriving just minutes apart.
“Alright, bring it in,” Pei Qian said as he began directing the delivery guys to carry everything into the house.
His mom came running out of the kitchen, a little stunned. “Eh? What’s all this? Son, you bought all this?”
Pei Qian nodded. “Yeah. Where’s Dad?”
“He’s out for a business dinner. He won’t be back until tonight.” She looked at the stream of large appliances being carried in and started to panic. “How much stuff did you even buy? This must’ve cost a fortune!”
“It’s fine. Just a bit over twenty thousand. My talent fee from the commercial covered it. I also negotiated trade-ins for all the old stuff. The store is giving us some cash back for them, so don’t worry about it.”
Pei Qian knew he had to move fast—before his mom could fully process what was happening. The delivery guys had already brought in the new appliances, unboxed them, and taken away the old ones.
“This is…”
His mom stood there, staring at the new TV, the shiny side-by-side fridge, the sleek front-loading washing machine…
For a moment, she was at a complete loss for words.
"Tomorrow morning the guys will come to install the air conditioners. Have them put one in each of your bedrooms. It’s too hot this time of year—if you can’t sleep, just turn on the AC with a timer."
"And this is the robot vacuum. Let me show you how it works."
Pei Qian began explaining how to use each appliance to his mother, while casually tossing a used bed sheet into the front-loading washing machine to demonstrate.
The washer hummed softly as it ran. The leveling pads had already been adjusted, so it didn’t shake at all.
"Well, I have to admit, this front-loading washer is really nice!" his mom exclaimed happily.
Pei Qian nodded. "Of course. Not only does it work well, but it saves water too. And the fridge? Much more energy-efficient than the old one. These appliances weren’t cheap, but they’ll save you money on the electricity bill."
His mom nodded thoughtfully. "That’s true."
Before long, the fridge was stocked full of food, the washing machine was running, the robot vacuum was scooting around aimlessly, and the TV was playing some random program.
His mom seemed especially pleased with the washing machine. She gathered up all the laundry in the house to test it out—clearly determined to make full use of the new machine.
Pei Qian slumped on the couch and glanced at the massive side-by-side refrigerator, which was almost too big for the space.
He sighed to himself.
‘If only the house were bigger…’
‘Looks like I really do need to step it up and lose more money…’
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
May 4th — End of the Holiday
Back at the office.
Pei Qian’s personal finances had now shrunk to just over 50,000 yuan, and his desire to burn money was stronger than ever.
"Are the new version plans ready?" Pei Qian asked casually as he passed by Lu Mingliang’s desk.
Lu Mingliang immediately stood up. "All prepared, President Pei!"
"Hmm?" Pei Qian suddenly sensed something was off. "Did you work during the May Day holiday?"
Lu Mingliang froze.
He was caught completely off guard!
Now if he said he didn’t work over the holiday, no one would believe him.
The tasks had been assigned on April 30th. The holiday spanned May 1st to 3rd. Today was May 4th, the first day back at work—and the plan was already finished.
To claim he hadn’t worked on it during the holiday? Yeah right.
Lu Mingliang hurriedly explained, "No, President Pei, I just had some free time at home and was casually thinking about the new update plan, that’s all."
Pei Qian frowned. "Working at home is still working. It’s a legal holiday—you get triple pay!"
Lu Mingliang: "…Understood, President Pei."
Pei Qian turned toward the meeting room. "Alright, don’t let it happen again. Call everyone in. Let’s review the update plans."
Soon, the whole dev team gathered.
Ma Yiqun, as usual, sat quietly in a corner, notebook in hand, ready to take notes.
Lu Mingliang began presenting the update plans for each game, which were mostly in line with the instructions Pei Qian had previously given.
Lonely Desert Road: Endless Mode, Multiplayer Mode, and a New Map. Priced at 1 yuan.
Ghost General: A new set of generals. Priced at 5 yuan.
Ocean Fortress: A new epic weapon, priced at 888 yuan, limited to 500 units per month.
Game Producer: A new voice pack and scene theme. Priced at 5 yuan.
The difference now was that Lu Mingliang’s proposal included far more detail—like which specific generals were being added to Ghost General, their skills, and rough concept art for their designs.
It was a much more complete plan, and with this level of detail, it was now possible to estimate how much development investment each update would require.
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