Losing Money to Be a Tycoon

If players did not argue and only one player complained, Pei Qian could have acted like he did not hear a thing. Then, he would not have to do anything. However, from the way the situation was developing, if he continued not to do anything; the players would surely not let him off.

The players would become angered, and they might do a thorough search into Ghost General. Then, he would be in deep trouble!

One of the rules of the System was that he could not reveal or hint at the existence of the System to anyone. This meant that Pei Qian could only do unreasonable or illogical things in secret, but he could not allow the general public to become suspicious of him!

It would not be logical for Pei Qian not to update Ghost General since it was so profitable. If not for the fact that so many people were keeping up with Ghost General, Pei Qian would have been alright.

However, if this thing blew up and people internal and external to the industry became suspicious, Pei Qian’s inaction could amount to a violation of the rules.

Pei Qian did not need to take this risk at all.

Therefore, after pondering for several seconds, he decided—once Game Designer was complete, he would think about updating Ghost General. In any case, he could buy a couple of card animations and a few new random function templates to add to the game. Then, he could fix a low price and count the job done. He could think about the next settlement issues the following week.

No matter what, when the time came, he had to think of new ways to lose money!

Just as he was thinking about these things, he arrived at Fish-Catching Internet Cafe. At the door, a few renovation workers were installing the shop front. Above the main entrance was a glass wall with a huge, abnormal logo.

In the middle of the logo was a lame-looking salted fish. It looked just like the one in the emoji packs made into an insignia. The fish looked slightly coquettish, and its tail looked almost like it was going to turn into a dragon’s.

On top of the salted fish was an abstract letter ‘M’. It looked vaguely like the fish’s outstretched fin, trying to reach an itch. It also looked like a crown on its head. Behind the logo was a huge letter ‘Y’, which was holding the entire logo together.

Pei Qian looked closely at this logo.

En, it looked chic yet lame, lame yet individualistic. This huge logo was the only thing in the shop front. There was nothing written in Mandarin or in English.

Pei Qian guessed that this must have been the work of Ma Yang.

He must have found someone to design and custom-make this logo. Pei Qian wondered what kind of unreliable artistic request Ma Yang had given this designer. There were no words on the shop front, but this was exactly as Pei Qian wanted it.

People who walked past this shop front would not understand anything about it. They would have no idea what people even did inside!

Pei Qian walked into the internet cafe and looked around. The internal renovations were almost complete. There were two people inside, cleaning up the entire place.

He had already purchased the chairs, tables, and other furniture. Various boxes filled different areas of the internet cafe. Zhang Yuan’s head was buried in his work as he tried to install the computers. Two young men were assisting him as well. Pei Qian guessed that they were newly employed.

“How are you doing, Brother Qian? Are you satisfied?!” Ma Yang smiled warmly as he walked into the internet cafe.

Pei Qian nodded. “En, it looks quite good.”

“Do you have any requests or instructions? See if you like where the bar counter is now. How about the chairs and tables? There’s also this bookshelf; what kind of books do you want to put on it?”

Ma Yang walked around the internet cafe; thirty percent of him wanted to ask for Pei Qian’s opinion, but seventy percent of him just wanted to show off his work.

He wanted to show off how perfectly he had done the job!

Pei Qian took a closer look at the various parts of the internet cafe. Everything was basically done just as he requested. In fact, it looked even better than he had imagined!

In the coffee area—or the bar area, the closest thing to the computers was the bar counter. People could order various types of alcohol or drinks there. On the other side, there was a mini-stage; and on that mini-stage were several microphones for singing.

Bookshelves lined the remaining wall faces. It made the entire place look very cultured. Seeing the bookshelves made Pei Qian feel like he needed to say something. All the bookshelves were still empty at the time. Ma Yang had not decided what kind of books he should purchase to fill them.

Among the options were comics, best-selling novels, classic novels, etc.

As Pei Qian looked at the bookshelves, he counted the number of books he would have to purchase to fill them. At the very least, he would need thousands of books. If this were to be a Japanese-style internet cafe, then it went without saying that they had to purchase comics. Otherwise, they would at least have to buy popular web novels.

However, Pei Qian would not do that for sure.

If he filled these bookshelves with comics, he ran the risk of attracting anime whales! As the saying went, ‘an otaku’s collection could cost as much as a house in Beijing’. One could not belittle the spending power of these people!

They definitely could not fill these shelves with comics and figurines.

Pei Qian cleared his throat and pointed to the bookshelves, saying, “Old Ma, remember this. We are not looking at the books, but—”

Ma Yang interrupted, “Loneliness?”

“What loneliness? It’s ‘attractiveness’! We look at the attractiveness!” Pei Qian was speechless.

“Oh, oh. Attractiveness,” Ma Yang nodded profusely.

“Comics and novels… what did that mean? They would not be tolerated! Highly attractive books… buy as many as you can and put them up here.” Pei Qian taught him the ways.

“Brother Qian, why not give me a few titles so that I can purchase them?” Ma Yang asked.

Pei Qian nodded and said, “Alright, let me think about it.”

“A Brief History of Ukrainian Tractors, Study Book for Drivers of Small Tractors, Making a Tractor for my Motherland, The Story of the Head of the Tractor Station and the Chief Agronomist, Use and Maintenance of Hand Tractors…”

Ma Yang was flabbergasted when he heard this. “Brother Qian, this… why are you buying so many books about tractors?”

Pei Qian said seriously, “This is a way to make things attractive! Only truly top-notch people would appreciate it, understand?

“Ah, forget it. I think it’s asking too much of you to understand these things. Here, go online and search for ‘bookshelves of pretentious, cultured youths’. Then, select the book titles you don’t understand and purchase them!

“Otherwise, go to an old bookshop and select those torn and tattered books. The more aged they look, the better!”

“Oh, oh, alright!” Ma Yang kept nodding profusely.

Both of them turned to look at the back kitchen.

They had not decided on the chef, but they already received many applications from great chefs. After all, the pay they were offering was good. What’s more, from the looks of this place, there would not be much cooking to be done.

“You have to choose a chef like the one I described to you before this. I don’t want a chef who can cook Japanese and French cuisine. I just want a chef who can make good, home-cooked food. Do you understand?” Feeling uneasy, Pei Qian instructed Ma Yang again.

Ma Yang patted his chest and said, “You can rest assured, I will take care of that!”

Pei Qian nodded and said, “Indeed!”

He walked one round around the internet cafe, feeling pleased. Its future looked bright; it looked set for incurring losses! Pei Qian turned to look at Ma Yang, feeling slightly overwhelmed with emotion. “Ma Yang, if not for you, I would not know what to do!”

Ma Yang grinned, making his entire face look as sweet as a flower. “Ah, look at the way you put it. I’m not that good! Brother Qian, if you praise me this way, I’ll get arrogant!”

“No worries, get as arrogant as you want. It’s not your style to be low-key.”

Pei Qian went back to the internet cafe area. Zhang Yuan was very quick at installing computers. However, after working so hard for so long, he was only less than halfway complete.

Pei Qian found a random, lit, computer.

It was exhilarating!

There was a lot of space on the computer table. The gaming chair felt extremely comfortable. The keyboard and mouse were not cheap good, and they did not feel like it either.

Oh, well, that was what he got for spending so much money.

“Remember: every single table must have a small pack of high-class towels. That would be for the customer to wipe their hands and their face before they play. They can also use it to clean the mouse. I don’t want them dirtying the mouse or the headphones.

“Of course, we can’t do anything if they do dirty them. We can only completely replace them,” Pei Qian said helplessly.

Ma Yang hesitated. “Would that work, Brother Qian? Can they develop the habit of wiping their hands before they play?”

Pei Qian pondered for a moment and decided that it made sense. How could he depend on these customers to wipe their hands using the wet towels of their own accord?

It was unrealistic indeed.

“How about this; if someone comes up to a computer, we’ll have a waiter serve him a clean, hand towel immediately. It would be just like those high-class restaurants. These towels must all be clean and hot to kill bacteria. Look for someone to take charge of this!”

Ma Yang’s eyes widened. “This… isn’t it too luxurious?”

Pei Qian shook his head. “What kind of place do you think we’re running? A high-class entertainment center! The customers we’ll be facing are all people from rich family backgrounds. We must provide top-class service, understand?”

Pei Qian thought of something else at that moment and continued, “Also, we have to ban smoking in this place. They cannot smoke anywhere! If they want to smoke, they have to get out.”

“Huh?”

Ma Yang thought that this would be like other internet cafes, which had smoking areas and nonsmoking areas. He was just about to hang up the signs demarcating these areas. In the end, Pei Qian forbade him from doing so.

“But—”

Pei Qian interrupted, “There are no ‘but’s. We have such a nice place; how can we afford to make it smoky? That’s right, go and look for a Fresh Air Ventilation System. In a crowded district like this, we have to strengthen the air circulation.”