Chapter 1 Strolling Around the Snack Market

After getting a good look at the snack market, Pei Qian prepared to head back to rest.

Even though the snack market wasn't large, time flew by while strolling around, and before he knew it, it was almost 4 PM.

*This has been* a tiring day of overtime. I need to go back, eat something good, and get some rest.

Zhang Yahui handed over the cyberpunk-style custom notebook: "President Pei, please keep this notebook as a souvenir."

Pei Qian didn't want it at first. He didn't come to punch in, so what would he do with this thing?

But seeing Zhang Yahui's expression, he felt a little pressured and subconsciously took it.

Zhang Yahui and Liang Qingfan accompanied President Pei as he walked out.

However, as Pei Qian walked, he opened the notebook as if guided by a ghost and flipped through it, coincidentally landing on the page with the snack market map.

The map in the notebook was pre-printed, so it couldn't be updated in real-time like the map on the app.

Therefore, a total of three maps were drawn in this notebook, representing the three planned phases of the snack market.

The first phase was the current phase, right after the opening.

Only the snack market area was open, while the snack street was all under construction and grayed out.

It felt a lot like opening a map in a game. Needless to say, this was probably Bao Xu's idea again.

In this phase, the ratings of the various snack stalls would only be open to Gold, not Diamond, because there was no way to move into the independent shops on the snack street.

In the second phase, the first batch of shops on the snack street would also be renovated and officially open for business.

In this phase, the snack stall ratings would be open to Diamond, and the first batch of Diamond stall owners could move into the snack street and have independent shops. The length of the first phase of the snack street that was open was about less than one kilometer.

In the third phase, all the shops on the snack street would be completely renovated and opened.

More Diamond-rated snack stalls would move into independent shops, and the snack market would continue to absorb outstanding stall owners from all over the country to replenish itself.

Even among Diamond shops, there would be further competitions, and once the entire street was connected, various interactive activities could be fully launched. This would be the complete form of the entire cyberpunk food street.

After reaching the third phase, the straight-line length of the snack street would reach nearly two kilometers, but with some twists and turns in the middle, the actual visiting length could reach about 2.8 kilometers.

This also meant that the snack market and Thriller Paradise would be connected through the entire snack street, a completely seamless connection.

Pei Qian stopped in his tracks, a string of question marks floating above his head.

???

He looked at Zhang Yahui on his left and Liang Qingfan on his right.

"What's... what's going on with this street?"

Zhang Yahui was taken aback: "What do you mean, what's going on? President Pei, this is the 'cyberpunk snack street' I've been talking about."

Pei Qian asked suspiciously: "Then the snack market..."

Zhang Yahui pointed behind him: "This farmer's market is the snack market, and this street outside is the snack street."

Pei Qian: "..."

What a scam!

When Zhang Yahui was introducing it before, he had mentioned the keyword "snack street" many times.

But Pei Qian didn't pay much attention to it.

He thought that "snack street" was just another name for "snack market," that Zhang Yahui hadn't paid attention to his wording and had casually called it the wrong thing.

But now he realized that snack street and snack market were two completely different concepts!

Because Pei Qian's initial idea was just to create a snack market to settle these stall owners, and he didn't plan to make such a big fuss and renovate an entire street.

Later, Pei Qian threw this task to Zhang Yahui and Liang Qingfan and didn't ask about it again, completely acting as a hands-off boss.

So, only now did he realize that the snack market was just the starting point of the snack street, and that the entire street would be within the scope of the cyberpunk food area in the future!

What was even more terrifying was that this street connected the snack market and Thriller Paradise, a one-stop service from food to entertainment!

Pei Qian was silent.

This was definitely not what he intended!

Thriller Paradise was currently a well-known tourist attraction in Jingzhou. Anyone who came to Jingzhou for tourism would probably go to Thriller Paradise to play.

Even if they didn't experience those particularly terrifying and exciting projects, they would at least play the Escape from Despair, which had the lowest level of terror, the highest level of participation, and could be played repeatedly. Then, they would stroll through the Golden Maze and wash their hands in the Healing Fountain.

Thriller Paradise was currently in a very healthy profit-making state, although it had not yet recovered its initial investment.

As a theme park, this was already a rather dangerous state.

Because all theme parks in the world were long-term projects, it might take twenty or thirty years to recover costs, but their effect was long-term. They would continuously attract tourists from all over the country to visit, which could boost the local tourism economy and promote the development of other industries.

As long as it could make a profit, even if it was slow, it would be good to keep it open.

What's more, Thriller Paradise was currently working hard to build a roller coaster project!

In the next cycle, the roller coaster project would be completed. At that time, no matter how hard he tried to avoid it, it would definitely attract a large number of tourists to experience it.

Thinking about the state of the snack market and snack street...

The problem was too big!

Pei Qian was silent for a moment and said, "The idea of buying a street, wouldn't that also be Bao Xu..."

Liang Qingfan said, "Oh, no, that wasn't him. That was my idea."

Pei Qian glanced at him.

Well, it was good that it wasn't Bao Xu this time.

Otherwise, he would probably have to put the moon landing plan on the agenda as soon as possible.

Zhang Yahui quickly said, "President Pei, then let's go to the snack street now? Although it hasn't been fully renovated yet, we can take a look at the general route."

Pei Qian nodded.

Alright, now that I'm here, personally going over there will make it easier to determine the severity of the situation.

A distance of nearly two kilometers wasn't too far, about half an hour's walk.

If it was combined with eating and strolling, then the time would be much longer, and it might take one or two hours.

But now Pei Qian and the others were just purely walking and looking at the route, so it would be much faster.

Liang Qingfan introduced, "President Pei, there are still some vehicles passing by. But we have already submitted an application to the relevant departments, and the approval has already been obtained."

"This road will soon be closed for construction, and traffic will be strictly prohibited after the construction is completed."

"The construction of the road mainly includes the renovation and reconstruction of building facades and signboard advertisements, the construction of lighting projects to highlight the commercial atmosphere, and the renovation of roadside facilities."

"Of course, this renovation work has nothing to do with us. It is funded by the relevant departments in Jingzhou."

"Moreover, they will fully solicit our opinions during the construction process and will lean towards the decoration style of our shops in terms of style."

"After all, this involves the renovation project of the old industrial zone. The relevant departments are very supportive and want to take this opportunity to revitalize the old industrial zone economy and accelerate the transition from the secondary industry to the tertiary industry."

Pei Qian: "When did this happen?"

Liang Qingfan said, "I only found out about it yesterday and haven't had time to report it yet."

Pei Qian: "..."

Good heavens, I didn't know anything about such a big thing?

He had just arrived at the entrance of the food street, and he had received such shocking news!

It could only be said that the Tenda employees' consistent operation was to report bad news but not good news.

In Liang Qingfan's view, Tenda didn't have to pay a single penny for the entire road construction, nor did they have to bear any responsibility. They only needed to make some suggestions. Was there any reason not to accept such a good thing?

Pei Qian thought about it and realized that there really was no way not to accept it.

Even if Liang Qingfan had told him in advance, he probably could only be furious and helpless.

Never mind, never mind.

The three continued to walk along the route of the food street.

The state of the various shops was different. Some had already started renovations, some were just closed, and some were still operating.

This was because the time of signing contracts for different shops was different, and some shops had to allow a certain amount of time for handover.

After strolling around, he didn't feel anything special.

These shops were basically the same, and you couldn't tell any difference before the renovations.

In short, this road was indeed very long. His legs were almost sore after walking for half an hour before he reached the end.

Walking further would lead to Thriller Paradise.

Pei Qian asked, "The rent for so many shops should be a lot, right?"

This was the only thing Pei Qian was concerned about.

The shops on this street were calculated by kilometers. Even if the rent for one shop wasn't high, it would add up.

These shops varied in size, the largest being similar to a small supermarket, while the smallest was just a very narrow storefront.

Roughly estimating, there were probably more than 50 shops per kilometer. Although the entire route was 2.8 kilometers, it twisted and turned, and some shops would be passed repeatedly, so the number of shops should be more than 150.

The rent for houses in the old industrial zone was very low, but Tenda was building extensively here, and even a fool could see that this place had high commercial value.

The original average rent was around 2,000, but now it must have risen to 3,000 or even 4,000, right?

Calculating it this way, the rent alone would cost more than 500,000 per month, not counting water, electricity, and wages.

Although this money wasn't a lot, it was still an expense!

Moreover, Pei Qian had compressed the profit of the food street very much. The pricing of the snacks was so low that it couldn't be lower. In terms of the current profit, it was definitely in a state of deficit, and this rent was a pure expense.

Thinking about it this way, he felt much better.

Sure enough, people are happier when they look at problems from a different perspective.

Liang Qingfan smiled: "The rent is alright."

"Because the shops we rented, we signed ten-year long-term leases, and the rent price was 50% higher than the original price, averaging around 3,000 yuan per shop."

"Moreover, we have already bought about 40% of the shops. Although we only closed the deal with a premium of about 50%, after all, the shops are ours, and we don't have to consider the rent issue in the future."