Chapter 60 Each With Their Own Agenda

June 27th, Sunday evening.

Mo Yu Internet Cafe.

Li Shi sat by the window, leisurely drinking.

Pei Qian sat in another corner, scrolling through his phone.

They both knew each other, but were currently playing their own games, pretending to be strangers.

Pei Qian wasn't planning on making any rash moves. He just needed to continue his excellent acting and keep Li Shi fooled, and everything would be okay.

In the past few days, the nearby stores had continued to offer promotional activities, and it was clear that the popularity of the street where Mo Yu Internet Cafe was located had increased significantly.

The small business district next door usually didn't have much foot traffic, but recently there had been noticeable traffic jams.

Many people had come specifically because they heard that the shops in the area were having promotions, and even many people who hadn't originally planned to go out were taking a stroll.

As a result, a rather beautiful scene had formed in the area. The surrounding merchants were full of customers and had a lot of foot traffic, while the entrance of Mo Yu Internet Cafe was deserted, creating a stark contrast.

Many unsuspecting people passed by and subconsciously thought that Mo Yu Internet Cafe was also having a promotion. But when they came in and asked, they found that the prices here were many times higher than the surrounding shops, and they were immediately scared away.

Pei Qian was a little puzzled. Wasn't there a price tag at the door? Why were so many people still coming in to ask?

Then he thought about it. It was probably because these people had a sense of侥幸 (jiǎoxìng) (luck mentality), thinking that the nearby stores were all having promotions, and Mo Yu Internet Cafe had forgotten to write it on the sign. They had to come in and ask to be sure.

Pei Qian had Ma Yang specifically add three eye-catching characters to the sign: "No Discounts!"

As a result, it wasn't long before anyone came to ask the price again.

Mo Yu Internet Cafe's situation could be described by a line of poetry: "The hustle and bustle is theirs, I have nothing."

And this was exactly the scene Pei Qian had been dreaming of.

After confirming that there were no major problems with Tengda's games, Pei Qian would come over here whenever he had time.

Sometimes, if he happened to run into Li Shi, Pei Qian would put on a worried and extremely conflicted expression.

Anyway, as long as he kept Li Shi hanging on, and the nearby shops continued to have promotional activities, and Mo Yu Internet Cafe's customer traffic was further cut off, then there was a good chance of losing money in this cycle!

...

Li Shi silently drank his wine, his eyes secretly glancing in the direction of Pei Qian.

Pei Qian didn't come to the Internet cafe often before, so Li Shi didn't have many opportunities to observe him.

But now, Li Shi could take a good look.

"To be able to become a boss at such a young age, he must have many outstanding qualities."

"Even though he's very anxious inside, he can still remain calm, only revealing a little bit... This psychological quality is definitely beyond the reach of ordinary people."

"Good, this strengthens my desire to invest."

Li Shi's mindset was also undergoing a slight change.

Investment, the key is investing in people.

For a company, encountering a favorable trend is nothing strange.

When faced with a favorable trend, the vast majority of companies will only fall to their deaths, while a very small number of companies will take off.

The key to this lies in the company's boss.

Li Shi did have money, but having money didn't mean he had to roll up his sleeves and do it himself.

Li Shi wasn't good at managing Internet cafes. What he could provide was capital and connections. The specific management and operation of the Internet cafe still needed to be handled by a specialist.

Li Shi was well aware of this. He wasn't just interested in Mo Yu Internet Cafe's business model, but also in Pei Qian as a leader.

Therefore, Li Shi was more interested in investing in Mo Yu Internet Cafe than in creating his own copycat version.

Creating his own copycat version of Mo Yu Internet Cafe would be time-consuming, laborious, and expensive, and he would have to find someone to manage it himself. The cost-effectiveness was very poor.

An investor like Li Shi would never roll up his sleeves and do such dirty work himself.

What's more, in his opinion, he would soon be successful.

Li Shi took a sip of his wine and savored it.

"I still feel a little uneasy."

"Am I overlooking something?"

Li Shi carefully considered it. There was indeed a point of doubt in this matter.

"According to common sense, this President Pei should be a very capable talent to have achieved such success at such a young age."

"But it seems that he hasn't suspected me yet? At least he hasn't shown it."

"This is very unreasonable."

"This President Pei hasn't resisted at all, allowing the surrounding stores to cut off his customer traffic, but he hasn't made any changes to Mo Yu Internet Cafe."

"No discounts, no promotions, and he even specifically wrote 'No Discounts' on the sign at the door, dissuading customers who came to ask for prices."

"Is he overly confident in Mo Yu Internet Cafe?"

"Has he given up resisting?"

"Or... does he have other tricks up his sleeve?"

Li Shi considered it for a long time, but ultimately shook his head.

"Heh, maybe I'm overthinking it. In this situation, most people would indeed be at a loss."

"He can't lower prices, because a price war would damage Mo Yu Internet Cafe's high-end image, and in the long run, the disadvantages outweigh the advantages. This is indeed a very unsolvable problem."

"Is it possible that this is what he's doing on purpose?"

"No, no, no, that would be too unreasonable."

"Other stores are burning money to at least increase their visibility, but Mo Yu Internet Cafe is purely burning money now. He'd be crazy to hold on in this kind of unprofitable situation."

"Unless, he has some tricks up his sleeve that even I can't see through..."

"Forget it, I'm probably overthinking it. A young man, how many tricks can he play?"

Thinking about it in the end, Li Shi even laughed at himself.

This President Pei's actions didn't follow common sense, which made Li Shi a little confused, so he inadvertently overestimated him.

Li Shi thought about it. He had been in the investment circle for so many years, what big storms hadn't he seen?

Even if this President Pei was a genius, he was still just an inexperienced young man. There was no point in overestimating him.

After finishing the wine in his glass, Li Shi prepared to leave.

Today was Sunday evening, and Mo Yu Internet Cafe was still deserted and no one was coming, so it could be said that the overall situation was set. There was no need for him to keep an eye on it anymore.

He'd go back and relax for a few days, wait patiently, and maybe he could soon open champagne to celebrate.

Just then, Pei Qian's phone rang.

Li Shi was about to stand up, but stopped again.

Although he didn't think he could hear any confidential information in this call, there was no harm in listening casually.

Pei Qian was also a little surprised. Who was calling so late?

He looked and saw that it was Huang Sibo.

As soon as he thought about how Huang Sibo's filming of *Breaking the Cocoon* had almost screwed him over again, Pei Qian instinctively didn't want to answer. But then he thought about it, this time Huang Sibo had at least completed the task of losing money on the surface and had left him with a big hole, so he could be considered a meritorious official.

Well, he'd answer it.

"President Pei!"

"Do you have a TV over there? Hurry and watch Shanghai TV!"

Pei Qian was puzzled. "What's wrong?"

Huang Sibo: "Don't ask, just turn on Shanghai TV and you'll know! Congratulations in advance, President Pei!"