Chapter 11 Unexpected Investment

Pei Qian asked about other aspects in detail and finally concluded that the "Xueba Kuai Lai" project was temporarily safe. (Xueba: academic masters)

"Phew... it seems I was overthinking it."

"Similar sharing projects should be burning money for a long time in the early stages. How could they be profitable so quickly? It's simply impossible."

"It looks like I still have to keep burning money and try to break the funding chain as soon as possible!"

Pei Qian breathed a sigh of relief.

Now he felt like he was racing against time. The key was whether the shared *xueba* model would become popular first or the money would run out first.

Once the funding chain broke and there was no money to replenish it, the whole thing would collapse quickly. Maybe it could even generate a debt at that time, which would be wonderful.

Pei Qian stood up, ready to leave.

At that moment, He Desheng's phone rang.

He Desheng hesitated a bit. In theory, he should see President Pei off first, but after seeing the caller ID, he felt that he should answer it immediately.

Pei Qian glanced at him: "Answer it. Don't worry about me."

He Desheng nodded and answered the phone: "Hello? President Li."

Pei Qian: "..."

An ominous premonition suddenly rose in his heart.

He Desheng listened with a serious expression, then nodded vigorously: "Okay, President Li! No problem, President Li! Thank you, President Li!"

Pei Qian: "?"

An even more ominous premonition continued to rise in his heart.

He Desheng hung up the phone: "President Pei, good news! President Li thinks that the 'Xueba Kuai Lai' project currently has high popularity, and the attention is growing rapidly, so the prospect is very good! Therefore, he decided to reinvest another three million!"

"Moreover, under his leadership, other investors have also become more confident. We don't have to worry about funds in the short term!"

Pei Qian looked at He Desheng blankly, a question mark slowly floating above his head.

What the hell...

Every time the situation improves slightly, President Li runs out at the right time!

Pei Qian was gnashing his teeth in hatred.

But on second thought, this seemed reasonable, because President Li had only invested one million at the beginning.

Pei Qian himself knew that this project was bound to fail, and he didn't want President Li to spend too much, so he persuaded him to only invest one million.

But President Li had been holding his breath all along!

Seeing the current situation, he naturally felt that he was losing out more and more by taking a step back, so he decided to reinvest and make more money...

Pei Qian felt very tired.

You people, wave after wave, will it ever end!

Pei Qian now felt like he was a stoker, desperately shoveling coal into the boiler, wanting to burn all the coal so he could get off work and go home.

As a result, these people were pulling coal over here by the truckload, and it never seemed to end!

Not only that, but the more coal was added, the faster it burned, and the fire in the boiler became more and more vigorous...

Pei Qian, who had stood up to leave, sat down again.

Moreover, his expression was solemn, feeling a lot of pressure and in a dilemma.

He Desheng's eyes lit up when he saw that President Pei looked solemn.

It appeared! "President Pei in a Favorable Situation"!

As everyone knows, when President Pei is in adversity, he will naturally radiate an optimistic attitude that infects the people around him, allowing everyone to work together to overcome difficulties.

But when President Pei is in a favorable situation, he will look solemn and fall into contemplation, which shows that President Pei is thinking about potential dangers in times of peace, thinking about future long-term planning and potential risks in a favorable situation.

Obviously, President Pei has now entered the state of "favorable situation reflection"!

He Desheng didn't dare to disturb him, just waiting quietly by the side.

Perhaps President Pei's casual comment after "favorable situation reflection" could benefit him a lot!

Pei Qian felt that he was at a loss, in a dilemma.

Advance, continue to burn money?

What if the project becomes more and more popular?

Retreat, throw away all the shares?

According to the current situation, the profit would probably make him cry on the spot...

The "Xueba Kuai Lai" project had undergone two rounds of financing. Excluding Yuandream Ventures' investment, it was close to ten million. The shares actually controlled by Pei Qian (including the startup team and Yuandream Ventures) had also been diluted from 90% at the beginning to about 60%.

But this also meant that the company's valuation of the "Xueba Kuai Lai" project had reached about 25 million like a balloon...

Of course, valuations are all virtual. Whether they can be realized depends on whether anyone is willing to take over.

But looking at the current investors' envy of this project, Pei Qian felt that if he transferred all his shares, someone would definitely take over...

What should I do!

Too dangerous.

Pei Qian felt like he was walking on a tightrope, one wrong step and there would be eternal damnation below.

"Calm down a bit."

"Think carefully, what is most important to investors?"

"It's confidence!"

"The reason why the valuation of the 'Xueba Kuai Lai' project has been soaring is because these investors believe that Tengda is supporting them behind the scenes, so they have an unrealistic confidence."

"So, I must find a way to disintegrate this confidence in order to solve this dead end!"

"As long as everyone's confidence in this project collapses instantly, they will consider finding someone to take over and run away. When people lose heart, this valuation will collapse on the spot."

"Well, it seems that this is the only way."

Pei Qian considered for a moment and roughly found the direction he needed to work towards.

But how can everyone lose confidence?

Create some negative news?

But, with the system's restrictions, he can't do those small tricks.

Moreover, everyone has invested a lot of money, which is enough to show how firm their confidence in this project is. Even if Pei Qian takes the initiative to say that this project is unreliable, it is estimated that no one will believe him.

Difficult!

Pei Qian found the right direction, but he didn't know how to do it specifically.

There was no way, he still had to ask He Desheng, after all, he was a professional.

Pei Qian pondered for a moment and asked: "If you want other investors to lose confidence in the 'Xueba Kuai Lai' project, what would you do?"

He Desheng was stunned.

President Pei had been thinking about this for a long time?

Why would you want other investors to lose confidence in the "Xueba Kuai Lai" project? Isn't this something that competitors should be thinking about...

Looking at President Pei's expression, this seemed to be... a test for me?

He Desheng's expression immediately became serious, repeatedly thinking about the profound meaning that might be hidden behind this simple question.

After thinking for two minutes, he still didn't figure out what the profound meaning was, so he had to answer with a steady approach: "If it were me, I would continuously transfer shares."

"Increasing shares means that we are optimistic about this project, while constantly reducing shares is the opposite, so transferring shares can打击 (dǎjī, undermine) the confidence of other investors."

Pei Qian nodded slightly, that's right!

As long as you reduce your shares, you can reveal a very clear signal: I think this project is only going to be like this at most, I'm going to start running away!

Conversely, if you hold the shares tightly in your hands, even if you tell others that you are not optimistic about this project, others will not believe it!

But... doesn't that mean you're going to make money?

Even if you don't sell all the shares in your hand at once, but just sell them little by little, you will definitely make money.

But, as long as you sell less, this kind of earning is still within an acceptable range.

More importantly, it can打击 (dǎjī, undermine) other people's investment confidence, reduce the popularity of the project, and ultimately achieve the goal of burning money and losing money.

Thinking of this, Pei Qian made up his mind.

"Then sell it!"

He Desheng was stunned.

Sell now?

The situation of the project seems to be still very good, can't we be greedy for another wave?

But seeing President Pei's firm eyes, He Desheng suddenly woke up.

There is a famous saying in the investment circle, which is never to earn the last penny.

Now everyone is optimistic about the "Xueba Kuai Lai" project. Selling at this time may not be the highest point, but it can already earn a lot.

If you continue to be greedy, if it starts to decline, and others are no longer optimistic about this project, it will be too late!

He Desheng couldn't help but sigh, as expected of President Pei, he can still maintain such a clear head in such a favorable situation!

"President Pei, I understand! Leave it to me!" He Desheng patted his chest with confidence.

...

...

February 11th, Friday.

Qidian Chinese Website learning class.

Lunch time, the atmosphere was somewhat different compared to before.

Originally, everyone at the dinner table was talking freely, chatting about anything and everything, and many topics were unrelated to online novels.

This was normal, just like authors only occasionally discussed writing skills in chat groups, and spent most of their time just chatting idly.

But today, the situation was a bit different.

Everyone was holding their mobile phones, eating *moyu* takeout while seriously reading novels. (*Moyu*: "touching fish," a slang term for slacking off at work)

"Finished chasing it."

"Brother Cui's new book is really awesome! Can't compare, can't compare."

"Yeah, Brother Cui's new book feels like he's found the right path. He used to write fantasy, which was also good, but there were many people who wrote better than him. But after changing the theme, he instantly stood out! I've never seen anyone write urban themes like this!"

"It has been at the top of the new book charts for a week. From the day it was released on New Year's Eve, the data began to skyrocket. It's too awesome."

"The writing style is relatively new, the rhythm is good, it's worth learning!"

"You can see that the website is also promoting it. I have a feeling that Brother Cui's book will definitely be a hit, and may break many of the website's records!"

"At the current rate of 10,000 words per day, it will be available on the shelves by the end of this month. Then we'll know how awesome it is!"

"Speaking of which, Master Mingyu's book has also been rising in the rankings recently. I flipped through the readers' comments and they all said that the recent plot is well written."

The authors expressed their opinions.

When a popular book that leads the trend appears online, authors will definitely study and discuss it, trying to gain some experience from it.

Cui Geng was not here, he was still in Tengda's game department gathering material.

Mingyu was there, and he was also reading Cui Geng's new book *Butterfly Game* with the others.

Hearing someone mention him, Mingyu said with emotion: "Yeah, I have to say, the Tengda spirit learning period some time ago has greatly improved me!"

"It's not just me, didn't Little Worm, Dragon Lord, and Congxin also participate in the Tengda spirit learning? Your results should have improved as well, right?"

Little Worm nodded: "Well, the recent subscription has indeed gotten better."

Dragon Lord stroked the beard on his chin: "The data has improved, but I also wrote a small climax point, so I'm not sure if it's specifically because of the Tengda spirit. As for other aspects... it's true that I've been writing more and more smoothly recently."

Congxin ate his food in silence: "My data hasn't changed much, but I think this is mainly because my recent plot arrangement hasn't been very good. I'll adjust it again, and there should still be room for improvement in my results."

The other authors all showed envious expressions.

"It looks like it's really useful!"

"Yeah, Brother Cui was the first to go, and he also got the position of 'Observer,' which allowed him to deeply understand this spirit, so he made the most progress. Master Mingyu, Little Worm, Dragon Lord, and Congxin also participated in the Tengda spirit training, and their results have also changed! Even if the results haven't changed much, at least they've stabilized their mentality!"

"It looks like this training really works!"

"I'm a little tempted. I've booked the Tengda spirit training on Monday. Don't compete with me!"

"That won't work, I want to go too! Everyone relies on their own abilities!"