Chapter 181: President Pei, Turn on the TV!
June 27th, Sunday evening.
At the Moyu Internet Café, Li Shi sat by the window, leisurely sipping a drink.
Pei Qian sat in a corner, scrolling through his phone.
The two of them knew each other, of course—but both were pretending otherwise, keeping up the act as strangers while secretly plotting their own schemes.
Pei Qian had no intention of making a move. As long as he could keep up his brilliant performance and keep Li Shi hooked, everything would go according to plan.
Over the past few days, the nearby stores were still running their promotional campaigns, and the difference was obvious—this street had gotten noticeably busier.
The nearby commercial strip, normally quiet, was now getting so much traffic that cars were even starting to jam up.
Many had heard about the ongoing discounts in the area and came out of curiosity—even people who had planned to stay home ended up heading out to wander around.
This created a striking scene: all the nearby stores were packed with customers, a huge stream of foot traffic filling the street—except for the Moyu Internet Café, which was utterly deserted, a sharp and ironic contrast.
Many clueless passersby walked past, assuming Moyu Internet Café was also running promotions, only to be shocked after stepping inside and discovering the prices were several times higher than neighboring shops. They would immediately turn around and leave.
Pei Qian was a bit confused at first.
'Didn't I already put a price sign out front? Why are so many people still asking about our prices?'
Then it hit him—they were probably harboring false hope. Since every other shop was running a promotion, maybe this internet café had just forgotten to update their sign, and they could only be sure after asking.
So Pei Qian had Ma Yang update the sign with two big characters:
[No Discounts!]
After that, no one else came in to ask.
Moyu Internet Café's situation could be summed up with a single poetic line:
"They're the ones enjoying the lively crowd—me? I've got nothing."
And to Pei Qian, that was the dream.
Having confirmed that Tengda's other games were stable and not posing any financial threats, Pei Qian had been spending most of his time here.
Whenever he ran into Li Shi, he would deliberately put on a show of looking worried, conflicted, and deeply stressed.
As long as he could keep Li Shi dangling, and get the nearby stores to continue pouring money into promotions, effectively cutting off foot traffic to the café, Pei Qian felt this quarter's losses were practically guaranteed!
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Meanwhile, Li Shi silently sipped his drink, stealing glances toward Pei Qian from time to time.
In the past, Pei Qian didn't visit the internet café very often, so Li Shi didn't have many chances to observe him up close.
Now, finally, he had the opportunity.
'To be a boss at such a young age—he must have some extraordinary qualities.'
'He's clearly deeply worried inside, but manages to keep calm on the surface, letting only a hint of it show… That kind of psychological resilience is rare.'
'Excellent. This makes me even more determined to invest.'
Li Shi's mindset was subtly shifting.
For investors, the key is the person, not just the product.
Any company can catch the wind during a market boom—but only a few can really take off.
And what makes the difference? The boss.
Li Shi did have money—but having money didn't mean he wanted to be the one to personally manage operations.
He wasn't good at running internet cafés himself. What he could offer was capital and connections—but the actual management and day-to-day operations would still need someone competent in the field.
Li Shi was very clear on one thing:
What he had his eyes on wasn't just the Moyu Internet Café model—he was investing in Pei Qian as a leader.
That's why he preferred to invest directly into Moyu Internet Café, rather than trying to copy the model himself.
Trying to clone a Moyu Internet Café would be time-consuming, expensive, and exhausting—and he'd have to find someone else to manage it too.
From a return-on-investment standpoint? Totally not worth it.
And someone like Li Shi—a seasoned investor—would never roll up his sleeves to do that kind of grunt work himself.
Besides, in his view, he was already on the verge of success.
He sipped his drink slowly, savoring the moment.
'Still… something feels off.'
'Am I overlooking something?'
Li Shi thought about it more carefully—there was a suspicious point in this whole situation.
'Logically, if Pei Qian was talented enough to achieve this level of success at such a young age, he should be very capable.'
'But… he hasn't suspected me yet? Or at least, he hasn't shown any signs of it.'
'That doesn't add up.'
'He hasn't made any moves in response to the promotional war going on around him. He's just… letting all the nearby stores cut off his customer base without reacting at all.'
'No discounts. No events. He even had the nerve to hang a big sign at the door that says 'No Discounts!' in bold, scaring off any curious walk-ins.'
'Is he just overconfident in the café's brand?'
'Has he… given up?'
'Or does he have some kind of hidden trump card?'
Li Shi pondered this for a while, but eventually shook his head.
'Heh, I'm probably overthinking it. Most people really wouldn't know how to respond to this situation.'
'He can't lower prices, because once you start a price war, the café's premium image is compromised. That kind of brand damage would be hard to recover from, especially in the long run.'
'Maybe… this is all part of his plan?'
'No, no. That's too far-fetched.'
'At least the other stores are burning money while also getting some recognition. But Moyu Internet Café? They're just straight-up burning cash with no return. You'd have to be crazy to keep that up willingly.'
'Unless… unless he really does have some ace up his sleeve that I can't see…'
'…Nah. I'm overthinking again. What kind of tricks could a young guy like that possibly be playing?'
At that last thought, Li Shi actually chuckled to himself.
Pei Qian's behavior had been so counterintuitive, Li Shi had unconsciously started overestimating him.
But then he reminded himself—he'd been in the investment world for years, seen all kinds of wild things.
Even if Pei Qian was some kind of rare prodigy, he was still just a young, inexperienced man. There was no need to make too big a deal out of it.
He finished the last of his drink and got ready to leave.
It was Sunday night, the Moyu Internet Café was still as dead as ever—Li Shi considered the situation under control. No need to monitor it any further.
Time to go home, relax for a few days, and wait for the victory champagne.
Just then—Pei Qian's phone rang.
Li Shi paused mid-stand, sitting back down.
He wasn't expecting to overhear anything important, but hey—might as well eavesdrop just in case.
Pei Qian glanced at the caller ID in confusion.
'Who'd be calling me this late?'
It was Huang Sibo.
At the mention of Huang Sibo, Pei Qian instinctively felt a headache coming on—after all, it was Huang Sibo's documentary that had almost ruined everything by boosting Ocean Fortress's numbers.
Pei Qian almost ignored the call, but thought better of it.
'At least, on paper, he did help me lose money. Left a big financial hole in the budget. That counts as merit.'
So he picked up.
"President Pei!" Huang Sibo's voice was anxious and excited.
"Do you have access to a TV right now? Turn on Shanghai Satellite Channel—right now!"
Pei Qian frowned. "What's going on?"
"You'll see!" Huang Sibo said. "Just trust me. You're gonna want to see this. Congratulations in advance, President Pei!"
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