Chapter 25 Monday, April 25th

In the office, Pei Qian pondered for a long time before finally settling his gaze on the Otto Technologies department.

Yesterday, Pei Qian had happily accepted Guo Licheng's suggestion to create an app specifically for booking slots at the Trustee Fitness gym.

In this way, Trustee Fitness would not only be significantly more expensive than other gyms, but also have many more rigid rules.

Mandatory bundling of fitness meals from Lazy Food Delivery;

Mandatory use of the Trustee Fitness app, otherwise gym access would be impossible;

Strict adherence to the prescribed workout plan, which, while somewhat flexible, would be considered too rigid and inflexible compared to other gyms.

This was already incredibly off-putting.

Pei Qian figured that if anyone said such a gym could make money, he would definitely suggest they open one themselves.

Taking the app development as an example, who had ever seen a gym where you *had* to book your workout on an app?

Adding this step would definitely deter many customers.

However, the question was, which department should develop this app?

Currently, many of Pei Qian's departments had the ability to develop and maintain apps. The games department went without saying; Pinnacle Chinese Website, TPDB website, and Lazy Food Delivery all had mobile apps.

Although some of these mobile apps weren't very popular and had simple functions, at least they existed.

Study Masters was even more advanced; their app development skills were the best.

Besides them, Otto Technologies obviously had the ability to develop this app as well, although it might be overkill.

Pei Qian wondered, who should he entrust it to?

No matter which department developed it, the app would definitely be "usable."

However, given the multiple instances of being backstabbed by multiple departments coordinating with each other, Pei Qian felt he had to fully consider the relationships between the departments to prevent any more miraculous chemical reactions and keep the situation from spiraling out of control.

He scanned the departments one by one.

"The games department is definitely out. They're all a bunch of imaginative weirdos, and they're good at applying game development thinking to other projects. Who knows what terrifying consequences would result from letting them get involved in this."

"Pinnacle Chinese Website and TPDB website are the same group of people, so they're probably out too. What if TPDB website gives Trustee Fitness a special recommendation or something? That would be very bad."

"Study Masters? Absolutely not. Study Masters is so popular, especially with so many users in Jingzhou. It would be natural for them to launch an activity like 'A better body for better studying,' which would be the end of it!"

"Lazy Food Delivery… also not good. The two departments are already in close contact, and if they become even more closely connected, maybe even integrating their apps, the consequences would be unimaginable…"

"Damn it, how did things become so fraught with danger without me even realizing it…"

Pei Qian considered all the departments and realized that letting Trustee Fitness connect with any of them would bring some unpredictable risks.

Traps everywhere!

Finally, Pei Qian turned his attention back to Otto Technologies.

Having Chang You's department develop the Trustee Fitness app might seem like using a sledgehammer to crack a nut, but wasn't that exactly what Pei Qian wanted?

Using the mobile phone department, which posed a great threat to him, as an outsourcing company to develop an unimportant app would keep them from doing more threatening things, indirectly weakening Otto Technologies' combat power.

Of course, considering the potential for synergy between Otto Technologies and the Trustee Fitness app, Pei Qian would have to remind Chang You not to pre-install the Trustee Fitness app on Otto phones, and not to promote the app in the phone store or anywhere else.

In short, just focus on making the app and don't get involved in any app promotion. Just make the app an accessory, a tool for the Trustee Fitness gym.

That should be fine, right?

After thinking it over, Pei Qian felt that this seemed to be the most reliable option.

He made these arrangements and prepared to notify Chang You at some point.

"Knock, knock, knock."

There was a knock on the office door.

Pei Qian looked up and saw Xiao Peng, the current head of Lazy Workplace and ROF Assembled PCs.

Xiao Peng was originally the head of Lazy Workplace in Lincheng, but he had moved to Jingzhou to take over Zhang Yuan's position.

Pei Qian couldn't help but frown slightly.

What was he doing here!

Whenever he saw the head of a money-making department coming to his door, Pei Qian couldn't help but get a headache.

It was definitely not good news; it was probably that they had made money again and were asking him how to spend it!

"What is it?" Pei Qian tried to stay calm.

It was Xiao Peng's first time in CEO Pei's office, and he was a little nervous. He said softly, "CEO Pei, ROF Assembled PCs has accumulated a lot of funds in its account. I was thinking that we should probably upgrade the business, so I came to ask you about the next step for ROF Assembled PCs…"

Pei Qian: "…"

See, see, what did I say!

I knew that the heads of these money-making departments coming to my door wouldn't bring good news. They're making me rack my brains to spend money for them again!

Pei Qian sighed softly, "You guys need to have some initiative. Can't you figure out how to spend the money you earn yourselves? Don't always come to me for such small things. Put in some effort. It's just spending money, right? It's not that hard, is it? Spend more, it's okay, I won't blame you."

Xiao Peng quickly nodded, "Ah, okay, CEO Pei, then I'll… proceed with my plan?"

Pei Qian was silent for a moment, "Forget it, you're already here, tell me your plan."

He originally thought that he should let Xiao Peng spend all the money himself, without his intervention at all.

It couldn't be that every one of my employees is a business genius, only making money and never losing it, right?

But then he thought about it, and from past experience, that possibility wasn't completely out of the question.

He should ask, but as long as it wasn't too outrageous, he would let them do whatever they wanted.

Xiao Peng said, "CEO Pei, I think that ROF Assembled PCs is already a very popular assembled PC brand, but our appearance seems to be a bit lacking, and we can't highlight our brand's added value."

"I think we can spend some money to find some PC case manufacturers to produce a batch of cool-looking PC cases specifically for us, and customize some nice-looking fans or water coolers to improve the aesthetics."

After thinking for a moment, Pei Qian nodded, "Okay."

Spending this money would definitely improve the ROF brand a bit. It couldn't be that there would be no effect at all, right?

Compared to advertising, burning money on promotions, and other methods with endless troubles, improving the appearance seemed to be the least bad option.

What's more, Pei Qian himself didn't have and didn't dare to think of a plan that would make less money, for fear that he would have a flash of inspiration and ROF Assembled PCs would make another big profit.

Getting CEO Pei's approval, Xiao Peng was very happy, "CEO Pei, there's one more thing. Lazy Workplace's business is also booming, and our account balance is also very full. Is it… possible to continue opening branches?"

Pei Qian: "…"

Why are you taking such a long breath before you speak?

Can you just say everything at once!

You're separating the two bad news, are you trying to give me a breather?

Pei Qian really wanted to say no, but he couldn't find a good reason to refuse Xiao Peng's request.

The Lazy Workplaces in Jingzhou and Lincheng were all popular and often full, so why shouldn't they open branches? It didn't make sense.

Forcing it would definitely make the employees of these Lazy Workplaces suspicious.

But the problem was that this was a successful model that had been verified twice, and opening more branches would definitely still make money.

Wasn't this creating a burden for himself?

Last time, Pei Qian didn't believe it, thinking that Lazy Workplace's success in Jingzhou was just an accident. He decided to try opening a branch in Lincheng, a poor place, and accidentally created a "march into the sinking market."

Should he try going to the capital and Shanghai?

Absolutely not!

Lazy Workplace's positioning was originally as a high-end internet cafe, and these first-tier cities have higher consumption levels. Opening there would be like throwing money away!

Since none of these worked, there was only one last way.

After thinking for a moment, Pei Qian said helplessly, "Open them. Choose the location yourself, but you can only open them in Jingzhou and places with lower economic development levels than Jingzhou."

"And this time, you have to do Lazy Workplace 3.0 mode. Fewer seats, more space, higher prices, better locations."

Pei Qian figured that making an affordable internet cafe was definitely not possible. The system restricted prices, and an affordable internet cafe plus the Lazy Workplace brand would take off on the spot, wouldn't it?

He could only keep struggling in the high-end market.

Anyway, he would just keep trying to raise prices. Eventually, customers' consumption levels would not be able to keep up, right? There couldn't be so many tycoons in this world.

"Okay." Xiao Peng didn't ask any more questions. Since CEO Pei had already instructed him, he would carefully study, earnestly implement, and not ask too many questions.

This was the self-cultivation that every Tengda person should have.

Pei Qian thought for a moment and added, "If this store makes money again…"

"Then spend all the money you earn yourself. Open branches, renovate, buy computers, in short, spend it all, leave nothing behind!"

Pei Qian felt that he had to prepare for the worst.

What if Lazy Workplace made money again?

Then strategically give up.

Let Xiao Peng open branches whenever he has money. In short, no matter how many branches you open, how many computers you buy, how many employees you hire, as long as you don't have any money in your account and don't come to me with this matter again, that's fine with me.

CEO Pei's definition of a good employee was beginning to decline.

In the past, CEO Pei thought that only employees who could make him lose money were good employees.

But now he realized that this standard seemed too high, and no one could reach it.

Then he could only lower the standard.

Now CEO Pei's definition of a good employee had become: As long as they can spend all the money they earn and don't affect the settlement, they are good employees!

As for what they spend the money on…

Do whatever they want.

Xiao Peng nodded sharply, "Okay, CEO Pei! I will definitely complete the mission!"