Chapter 1 Details of the Snack Market

In the Sloth Apartments office area, Liang Qingfan, Zhang Yahui, and Bao Xu were drinking tea while discussing the details of the snack market.

"For the location, it can't be in a busy downtown area, nor can it be too remote. There also can't be any Tengda industries within a certain radius."

"Then, the decoration style should be trendy and cool. The stall owners will implement unified management and a flexible working system."

"Anything else... that should be it. President Pei only has these requirements."

Zhang Yahui first repeated President Pei's requirements.

Regarding this snack market, Zhang Yahui doesn't yet have a very clear concept. Because he's just a snack stall owner, selling roasted cold noodles. Although he's very familiar with stall location and the setting up process, designing a large snack market is completely beyond his capabilities.

But Liang Qingfan, as a designer, definitely has no problem in this area.

Zhang Yahui simply repeated President Pei's requirements and let Liang Qingfan do the design, trying not to let his own ideas limit the professional's thinking.

Liang Qingfan said, "The requirements are already very clear."

Bao Xu also nodded, "Yes, quite clear. It's probably because you're a new person in charge, and President Pei is worried that you might misunderstand his intentions, so he specifically gave such clear restrictions."

A series of question marks appeared over Zhang Yahui's head.

???

You guys call this "very clear"?

Where is it clear!

It only gives a very broad general range, and there are actually no restrictions at all!

Is this the way Tengda communicates and works internally?

It's so amazing...

Zhang Yahui said somewhat doubtfully, "I don't quite understand, where exactly is this clear..."

Liang Qingfan opened the Jingzhou City map on his laptop: "President Pei said that it can't be in a busy downtown area, nor can it be too remote, and it can't be opened in a place with Tengda industries."

"There aren't many such places. Won't we find a suitable location by filtering them out?"

He searched for Tengda's related industries on the map, including Mo Yu Internet Cafe, Mo Yu Waimai, Sloth Apartments, Tutoring Fitness, Nifeng Logistics, and so on, and marked them on the map after searching.

Soon, the map was densely covered with markings.

These industries have gone through many rounds of expansion, and the focus of the previous expansions was all on Jingzhou. In the city center and downtown areas of Jingzhou, these industries are almost everywhere, and there is no space to squeeze in at all.

Of course, "not adjacent" doesn't mean across the street or next door, but that there are no Tengda industries within a certain range.

President Pei also said that places that are too prosperous or too remote are not acceptable.

After such a screening, only a dozen or so places on the map could be used as locations for the snack market.

These dozen or so places seem like a lot, but most of them are not suitable for opening a snack market.

Because the snack market needs a relatively large venue to accommodate a large number of people, and may also need to accommodate dozens or hundreds of stall owners.

Such a place certainly can't just be an empty lot built from scratch, as that would take too long. And making it open-air or just putting up a few tents wouldn't meet President Pei's requirements.

Therefore, it's best if there are existing buildings.

In this way, the qualified areas are further narrowed down, leaving only two or three of the most suitable.

And the situation of these places can actually be known by searching online.

Liang Qingfan pointed to two locations on the map: "At this location, there is a small shopping mall. However, the business here isn't very good, and many shops have already moved away. There are several residential areas nearby, but overall it's relatively remote and lacks popularity."

"At another location, there is a large agricultural market, which is indoors and only has one floor, but the ceiling is very high. However, this place should be quite old, and the environment isn't very good. It used to be very lively, but now the traffic has probably shrunk severely."

"Other locations don't seem very suitable."

"What do you two think?"

"If you also think these two places are okay, we can go to these two places for on-site inspections and then make plans."

Bao Xu took a look. This large agricultural market is about one or two kilometers away from Jingzhou's old industrial area. The closest Tengda industry nearby is the Thriller Hostel.

However, it's not very close to the Thriller Hostel, so it should also meet the requirements.

This place is definitely not in the city center, but it's not particularly remote either. There are residential areas in the old industrial area nearby. Although they are all old buildings, the traffic is still okay, not very small.

He nodded: "We still need to conduct on-site inspections to be sure. I think the second one is better. This kind of large market may be more in line with the characteristics of a street stall, and there will be more room for renovation. If it's a shopping mall, it will give people a more closed-off feeling."

Zhang Yahui hesitated for a moment: "I also agree, but... President Pei specifically emphasized that it should be trendy and cool, and that it should be clearly distinguished from traditional street stalls. The second place doesn't seem to meet President Pei's requirements, right?"

Bao Xu smiled slightly and said confidently: "You've made a common mistake for newcomers, which is not accurately grasping President Pei's true intentions."

"President Pei said to make a clear distinction from traditional street stalls, which means not to be similar in form, but he didn't say not to be similar in spirit!"

"There is still a very obvious difference between the two."

Zhang Yahui blinked, seemingly understanding.

Bao Xu explained: "Look at the adjectives President Pei used, 'trendy' and 'cool.' This refers to the decoration style of the entire snack market. Therefore, President Pei means not to be similar in form, to abandon the original street stall's casual, unsanitary, and simple image."

"But overall, street food still has to be down-to-earth. If you eat it in a closed private room with high-end, exquisite tableware, it will definitely lack something, and it won't match the characteristics of street food at all."

"So, what we're pursuing is a similarity in spirit. While retaining the essence of street food, we should package it well and better promote this culture."

Zhang Yahui suddenly understood: "I see!"

"If that's the case, the conditions given by President Pei are really clear. It's just that my thinking was problematic and I didn't understand."

Bao Xu and Liang Qingfan smiled: "It's okay. As long as you practice more, you can also accurately grasp President Pei's thinking."

"Okay, let's stop here for today. Tomorrow, let's go to the site for an on-site inspection to see how to design this snack market specifically."

...

...

March 20th, Tuesday.

Pei Qian came to his office as usual to check on the current situation of various departments.

The esports division submitted a report saying that the spots for the GOG overseas league auction have basically been determined. The cooperation and promotion plans with local companies in various regions have also been finalized. After a while, the money from selling the spots will be credited to the account.

Although the price difference for overseas league spots is very large, and the prices in many places are far lower than the GPL league spots, it all adds up. This money should not be underestimated, it should be about forty million...dollars.

The spots in popular regions such as Europe and North America are selling for very high prices.

Pei Qian was a little puzzled as to why they were so expensive. Didn't they say that the bidding would start at one million dollars?

But after taking a closer look at the report, he saw the reason written on it: because the IOI leagues in these regions start at three million dollars, it gave other clubs the illusion that "GOG league spots are very cost-effective," so these clubs started frantically bidding...

...pushing up the price.

Pei Qian was speechless. Finger Company is really useless at everything but causing trouble!

He originally wanted to sell these spots cheaply, but he didn't succeed. Another windfall came in.

Pei Qian sighed and continued to look at the other departments.

Otto Technologies' artificial intelligence laboratory has been established. They directly acquired a domestic artificial intelligence research company with full funding, and also poached several technical backbones from Xunke Technology and other companies.

These people have all moved to Jingzhou one after another, and will soon be able to continue their research in the previous direction.

In fact, this artificial intelligence research company already had some achievements, but they were somewhat inferior compared to Xunke Technology. However, these achievements were not enough to make Aeeis AI have any major leaps.

Pei Qian was quite satisfied with this news. He hoped that this artificial intelligence laboratory could spend money quickly, after all, he has been earning too much recently and can't hold on anymore.

Just then, there was a knock on the office door.

Pei Qian looked up and saw that it was Meng Chang.

"Hmm? What's the matter?" Pei Qian asked.

Meng Chang hesitated for a moment: "President Pei, this month I have deeply summarized the previous publicity plan and learned from the previous experience and lessons..."

"Well, half of this month has passed, can you give me a new task?"

Pei Qian nodded: "That's true."

The previous publicity plans were indeed very unsuccessful. Meng Chang didn't get a single penny in commissions last month, only the base salary.

But Meng Chang obviously didn't fall into depravity because of this, but regained his strength and took the initiative to ask for a task.

The main reason is that half of this month has already passed. If Meng Chang doesn't take the initiative to ask for work, the publicity plan for this month will be 0, and the commissions for this month will be gone again.

So Meng Chang couldn't wait any longer and took the initiative to look for a task.

Pei Qian thought about it and felt that it was time to find something for Meng Chang to do.

"Coincidentally, I have a big task here. If you want it, I can give it to you."

"《Mission and Choice》 is going to be pre-promoted next month. You can do this publicity plan."

Meng Chang was stunned for a moment: "Ah? President Pei, this..."

He hesitated a bit, because everyone knows that 《Mission and Choice》 is the project that President Pei has placed the most hope on in recent months. For more than half a year, Tengda Games and Fei Huang Studio, the two core departments, have invested huge amounts of money.

President Pei is willing to hand over such a project to him?

Before, doing publicity for Rabbit Tail Live, even if it had no effect at all, it wouldn't matter, because in terms of Rabbit Tail Live's current size, it can only be regarded as a more marginalized department among Tengda's many industries. It hasn't developed yet, so a failed publicity wouldn't result in too much loss.

But if the publicity for 《Mission and Choice》 fails badly, Meng Chang himself would comfortably receive a high commission, but President Pei would suffer heavy losses!

At this moment, Meng Chang even felt a little bit of sympathy, after all, this involves over 100 million in funds and the efforts of two core departments for up to nine months...

Pei Qian looked at him: "What, no confidence? If you give up this opportunity, there won't be another one in the future."

Meng Chang thought again, what does the failure of President Pei's project have to do with me?

If he doesn't take on this task, he'll be broke again this month and won't get any commissions.

So Meng Chang made up his mind and nodded: "Okay, President Pei, you can rest assured and hand over this plan to me. I'll go back and consider the publicity plan!"