Chapter 29 Monday, August 29th.

In the butler's room on the first floor of City Dawn, Song Kai was busy with his daily work.

Now that the whole building was occupied, his workload had increased.

However, these investors wouldn't be living here permanently; they'd only come about once every three or four days. Song Kai had already confirmed this with Manager Li.

At first, Song Kai didn't quite understand the investors' behavior, but he quickly figured it out.

Renting a place was like a friendly gesture. If a friend opened a restaurant, you'd go and support them; it was just normal social interaction.

As for the investors actually coming to stay every few days, Song Kai thought it was mainly to build closer relationships.

This was human nature. Why did many wealthy people buy luxury homes in specific neighborhoods? Why did many parents go to great lengths to get their children into good schools?

A big part of the reason was that in these luxury neighborhoods, they could meet people of a higher caliber. Spending time with these people could bring mutual benefits.

If spending a little money meant becoming neighbors with the richest man, countless people would fight tooth and nail for the opportunity.

The same was true in Jingzhou.

The concept of "investor" sounded grand, but there was no need to over-glorify it. Just like how outsiders thought "finance professionals" were amazing, insiders knew that only a small fraction were truly influential. Most were just ordinary office workers with some financial knowledge.

The same was true of investors. The top investors controlled billions of capital and could make it rain, but they were a tiny minority. Most investors weren't much smarter than ordinary people. Otherwise, how could you explain how investors poured money into seemingly obvious scams, only to lose everything in the end?

Venture capital also followed the 80/20 rule: only 20% of projects succeeded, and these 20% generated 80% of the returns.

Some venture capitalists boasted that their investment failure rate was less than 10%, but there was a lot of spin involved. "Not failing" didn't mean "succeeding." Anyone could see that a 90% success rate was nonsense.

For most investors, investment failure was the norm.

So, in the small circle of Jingzhou, Boss Pei, who seemed to make everything he invested in a success, was a minor legend. And as Tengda Group expanded rapidly, the scale of this legend would only grow larger.

What's more, the investors who didn't believe in Boss Pei had already been weeded out. The ones who remained had tasted the sweetness of success with Boss Pei, and their determination was naturally even stronger.

However, perhaps precisely because of this, these investors didn't plan to reveal that Boss Pei lived here.

After all, it was best to keep good things to yourself and not share them with others.

For Song Kai, his job as a butler was to maintain the rules of Sloth Apartments while meeting the residents' needs as much as possible, making their stay comfortable and providing them with better service.

Now that the apartments in City Dawn were all rented out, it seemed like Sloth Apartments had been recognized.

But Song Kai knew that it wasn't a success for Sloth Apartments, but a success for Boss Pei.

The other three buildings were still largely vacant, and the negative articles about Sloth Apartments posted online by Zhujia Group were still spreading everywhere.

As the first butler of Sloth Apartments, Song Kai was essentially one of the people in charge of the project.

He and Liang Qingfan had a clear division of labor: Liang Qingfan was mainly responsible for planning and construction, while Song Kai was mainly responsible for marketing and management.

Song Kai had been holding back for a few days, but he felt he had to do something; he couldn't go on like this!

So, after Boss Pei left, he made a few phone calls.

...

Half an hour later, Liang Qingfan, Zhu Xiaoce, and Teacher Qiao arrived on the first floor of City Dawn.

"Everyone! Please come in and sit down." Song Kai greeted the three and gestured for them to take a seat.

Song Kai had gotten Zhu Xiaoce's contact information through Liang Qingfan, and Zhu Xiaoce had gotten Teacher Qiao's phone number from Lin Wan.

Since experiencing Repent and be Saved, Teacher Qiao had stayed in Jingzhou.

He felt that this episode of Repent and be Saved hadn't met his standards, so he was determined to figure out what was missing before he could rest!

Boss Pei had only told him to give up on interpreting Tengda's new game as *A Masterpiece Conferred by the Gods*, and hadn't provided any other clues, which left him at a loss.

In short, he was stuck in a rut.

When he received Zhu Xiaoce's call today, saying there was a project related to Boss Pei, Teacher Qiao came over without much hesitation.

He didn't necessarily have to accept, but he could at least listen.

As for why Huang Sibo wasn't there, it was mainly because he and Bao Xu had gone on a trip.

Until now, no one knew why Song Kai had called them here.

Song Kai closed the door, his expression serious.

"You all know about the Sloth Apartments, right? I've been following the news these past few days and found that Zhujia Group is definitely spreading negative articles online, smearing Sloth Apartments!"

Liang Qingfan nodded. "Yeah, I know... You want to fight back?"

Song Kai nodded. "Yes!"

Zhu Xiaoce hesitated for a moment and said, "Uh, let me interject. Tengda, or rather, Boss Pei, rarely argues with others. I believe that as long as Sloth Apartments provides good enough service, it will eventually win over consumers."

Teacher Qiao also nodded and said, "Mainly because Boss Pei disdains it."

"These companies like to use underhanded tactics, hiring trolls, posting negative articles, and confusing the public. What should we do? Hire trolls and post negative articles too?"

"Wouldn't that make Tengda just like those companies, with no bottom line? Definitely not."

Song Kai shook his head. "Not posting negative articles, but exposing the truth."

"I used to work for Zhujia Group, so I know exactly what their so-called 'Safe Homes' are all about."

"Zhujia Group advertises online that the decoration and furniture of 'Safe Homes' come from their own team, which can be trusted, but that's not the case at all!"

"Whether it's furniture, wooden floors, or wall paint, they cut costs wherever they can. After the renovation, every month the apartment is vacant, they lose a month's deposit, so they rent it out immediately to save costs."

"More than half of these apartments have excessive formaldehyde levels."

"Even the Zhujia Group's agents will say to the landlords when they're persuading them to sign the contract: 'You give us the apartment, we'll renovate it for you, and then let the tenants absorb the formaldehyde for a year or two. By then, you'll have the rent money, the renovation, and the formaldehyde will be gone from the apartment. How cost-effective!'"

"Listen to that, is that something a human being can say?"

Liang Qingfan looked shocked. "Is that true? Isn't Zhujia a large national chain?"

Song Kai nodded and said, "Absolutely true. The reason it hasn't been exposed is that many people aren't very sensitive to formaldehyde in the room unless it's particularly strong and irritating. And after they notice it, the agents will at most symbolically hire a formaldehyde removal company to clean it up, and then ask the tenants to ventilate the room more often, and maybe reduce the rent a little. The tenants can only accept it."

"But everyone knows that formaldehyde removal is pure nonsense because formaldehyde is constantly released. There's no way to remove it completely in one go!"

"Whether it's the tenants or the internal employees, they're all insignificant. It's hard to get too much attention by posting this kind of thing online."

"I've posted about this on the internet before, but no one paid attention. No one cared, so it just ended without a trace."

"That's why I resigned from Zhujia Group. I was disgusted by this company!"

"But now, Fei Huang Workshop and Teacher Qiao, you both have a certain influence online. Exposing this issue now will definitely attract enough attention!"

"We just need to hire some professional formaldehyde testing agencies to come and then find some tenants who rent 'Safe Homes' online to conduct spot checks, and we'll definitely find a large number of cases with excessive formaldehyde levels. This isn't a smear; it's a fact!"

Everyone looked at each other.

Obviously, other than Song Kai, who was a former insider, no one thought that Zhujia Group's "Safe Homes" weren't safe at all.

Long-term excessive formaldehyde levels? This could kill people!

However, Zhu Xiaoce hesitated for a moment and said, "We do have a certain influence online, but... we have a direct interest in Tengda and Sloth Apartments."

"If we expose this, will people think we're deliberately smearing a competitor? The credibility of this matter will probably be greatly reduced."

"It might be better to hand it over to a third party that has no vested interest."

Zhu Xiaoce's concern wasn't unreasonable. Any such disclosure involving vested interests was easily seen as a business tactic to smear and attack the other party.

Song Kai was silent for a moment and said, "I haven't been working at Tengda for long, and I don't know Boss Pei very well yet. Do you think that if Boss Pei knew about this, would he pretend not to know and do nothing?"

The others looked at each other and saw the answer of negation in each other's eyes.

Song Kai continued, "If we don't do this because we have a vested interest, what about those people who live in formaldehyde-filled rooms and whose health is being harmed? Who will expose this? As for handing it over to a third party, first, they may not do it seriously, they may not be trustworthy, and they may not be able to achieve the effect we want. Second, if we find a third party, and it's exposed, it will still seem like we're launching a covert attack from behind, which would be even more passive."

"I think that if it were Boss Pei, he wouldn't worry so much, and would do it immediately because it's the right thing to do."

"If there's nothing wrong with Zhujia Group's apartments, we can ignore their smearing of Sloth Apartments and treat it as flies buzzing around."

"But, if its existence endangers the health of countless ordinary people, and we can make a sound and save these people's lives, should we remain silent?"

The other three looked at each other and saw the answer in each other's eyes.

Teacher Qiao was silent for a moment and said, "From what I know about Boss Pei... his attitude towards this kind of thing should be: 'Do good deeds, and don't worry about the future.'"

"No matter what, I guess Boss Pei would choose to do the right thing."

"So, I'm in!"