Losing Money to Be a Tycoon

Chapter 730: Investment Conference

Wu Zhicheng was stunned. “Boss Pei? Which Boss Pei? Why should I thank him?”

Qiu Hong was stunned. His heart dropped in that instant.

This is bad!

Why did he have to say that outloud!

Boss Pei had repeatedly warned them not to make any connections between the Destitution Plan and with Tengda. They had to keep it a secret.

Qiu Hong implemented the ‘Destitution Plan’ and provided financial assistance to independent games studios in his own name. He did not mention Boss Pei and Tengda’s names.

However, this time, Qiu Hong could not control his emotions.

In Qiu Hong’s opinion, the ‘Destitution Plan’ was a plan that could strongly promote the development of the independent games industry. Boss Pei was truly contributing to this industry.

Of course, ‘contributions’ did not necessarily mean that he did not want income and was purely doing good deeds.

Sometimes, you could earn more but choose to earn less and give more benefits to the disadvantaged in the industry. That was a form of contribution.

What Boss Pei was doing was to give out as much profit as possible. While the Destitution Plan was a business plan with a chance of making money, no one would do such a thing except for Boss Pei.

That was why Qiu Hong was deeply moved. He, all the independent game designers, and even the entire domestic games industry should thank Boss Pei.

That was because Boss Pei was really helping the entire industry.

However, he accidentally let it slip and forgot that Boss Pei asked him to keep it a secret.

Qiu Hong quickly cleared his throat. “What I mean is I decided to do this because I was inspired by the independent game that Boss Pei created.”

“From this point, Boss Pei is a mentor and spiritual pillar of the ‘Destitution Plan’.

“Boss Pei may not have provided any direct help to the plan, but he has provided mental support. That is very important.”

“Of course, I’m just saying. Don’t take it seriously.”

Wu Zhicheng nodded. “Oh, I understand. Actually, I also regard Boss Pei as my idol.”

Qiu Hong wiped the cold sweat off his forehead seeing how Wu Zhicheng did not suspect him.

That was close!

However, Qiu Hong knew very well that the fact that Boss Pei was the mastermind behind the plan would be exposed sooner or later.

Qiu Hong could hide it now because he had not helped enough independent games studios. It had not caused such a huge impact yet.

In the future, when the business expanded, funds would be provided, and the incubation base would be established. There would be more and more business dealings, and they would be discovered sooner or later.

He could only follow Boss Pei’s instructions and hide it for as long as possible.

Qiu Hong stood up. “Continue with your work. I’ll go back and prepare. I’ll contact you again when the incubation base is done.”

“All in all, just focus all your energy on developing the game. I’ll think of a way to resolve the other trivial matters!”

Wu Zhicheng quickly nodded. “Alright, Boss Qiu!”

…

In the afternoon…

After the meal, Pei Qian chatted with the bosses for a long time before sending most of them away.

Now that the GPL had been finalized, Zhang Yuan and the E-Sports Department would have to start the preliminary preparations.

The new bosses would form clubs from scratch and recruit club employees, including managers, team leaders, assistants, analysts, and the like. Then, they would recruit members, organize training, and wait for the GPL competition to officially start.

On Zhang Yuan’s side, he had to be in charge of DGE Club’s daily training while arranging for the employees of the E-Sports Industry to prepare for the GPL, GDL, and internet cafe competition.

This was a very long and tedious job, especially for the internet cafe competition.

In order to ensure the fairness of the internet cafe competition they had to be held in Fish-Catching Internet Cafe 3.0.

However, Fish-Catching Internet Cafe’s version 3.0’s outreach had yet to expand to the entire country.

Thus, Zhang Yuan had to inform Xiao Peng and ask him to open up as many Fish-Catching Internet Cafe 3.0 as soon as possible. They manage one internet cafe per province even if they could not reach one internet cafe per city for now.

For example, they had to open more cafes in some areas with advanced economies and a large number of talents in E-Sports.

Fish-Catching Internet Cafe 3.0 was already a profitable model. However, opening these internet cafes would still require a huge amount of money. It would take a long time for them to recover their capital.

Thus, Pei Qian welcomed this matter. It was always good to spend the money now. Earning money in the future was a matter for the future. He did not have to think too far ahead for now.

Thus, Pei Qian would not ask too much about the details. In any case, the results would be the same no matter whether he asked or not. He might even earn more if he did ask so he might as well not see it and not be stressed over it.

Pei Qian was just about to leave when he saw Li Shi and Xue Zhebin walk over after sending the other three bosses away.

Li Shi and Xue Zhebin were the ones who had treated them to the meal today. Pei Qian wanted to rush to foot the bill, but he held himself back after some consideration.

Li Shi and Xue Zhebin walked up to Pei Qian and chatted for a while.

Li Shi then changed the topic and asked casually, “Boss Pei, I heard that Dream Realization Ventures has invested in a new project recently?”

Pei Qian immediately became cautious.

Eh?

What is the meaning of this?

Boss Li and those investors want to invest together with Dream Realization Ventures?

Stop fooling around!

Pei Qian quickly said seriously, “Dream Realization Ventures is indeed investing in new projects, but I’m not involved in any of them. I don’t even know what companies Dream Realization Ventures has invested in.”

“You must think twice if you want to invest!”

Everything he said was true.

That was because Pei Qian had already told He Desheng that no matter who came to ask for investments, the process would be the same: they would first do a basic review, invest according to the company’s size, and at the same time send the finance department to supervise the company.

Pei Qian did not know how many companies Dream Realization Ventures had invested in until now nor did he care.

Pei Qian could not shake off Boss Li and the other investors. He was helpless.

Pei Qian had thought about asking Boss Li and the others to invest as well. They would naturally leave if the investment failed and they lost everything. However, the problem was that they would not lose anything once they had invested!

How many unreliable projects had Boss Li and the others brought back to life?

Pei Qian thus spoke very sincerely, afraid that Boss Li would misunderstand and insist on investing with Dream Realization Ventures and turn the unprofitable projects profitable.

At first, he thought that Boss Li would continue to probe him. He did not expect Li Shi to nod slightly and replied “Alright.” noncommittally.

Pei Qian could not help but heave a sigh of relief.

Fortunately, Boss Li did not insist.

After exchanging a few more pleasantries with Li Shi and Xue Zhebin, Pei Qian got into his car and prepared to go back and rest.

Li Shi turned to Xue Zhebin after watching Boss Pei being driven away. “Boss Pei probably really doesn’t know about the ‘Cold-Faced Lady’ project.”

“That Meng Chang has been doing publicity under the guise of ‘Boss Pei Investments’. He’s probably trying to gain popularity by selling dog meat.”

“If it was a project that Boss Pei had personally vetted, we could indeed invest directly. However, for a project like the ‘cold-faced lady’… Forget it, let’s still keep a close eye on it.”

Xue Zhebin frowned slightly and asked, “Boss Li, are you saying that Meng Chang is actually a scammer? Is this project a scam?”

Li Shi shook his head. “We can’t jump to conclusions yet. I don’t have mind-reading skills after all. It’s impossible for me to know what Meng Chang is thinking.”

“Many outstanding entrepreneurs in history would have a kind of fanaticism. They would propose overly ambitious and idealistic ideas. Sometimes, they would act like liars.”

“As for Meng Chang’s behavior…”

“He used the name ‘Boss Pei Investments’ to attract more resources. That’s not a lie because he did indeed get an investment from Dream Realization Ventures. However, he only said part of the truth and deliberately misled other investors.”

“However, the specificity of such behavior depends on the final outcome of this project.”

“If he fails, he would be an immoral liar and a clown. If he succeeds, he would be a smart and carefree entrepreneur.”

“Most of the time, the society in the business world is based on results. That’s very funny, but it’s the truth.”

“I think we should observe Meng Chang more.”

“We don’t have to invest money in a hurry, but we can’t determine that he is a liar right now.”

Over the past two days, Li Shi had obtained a lot of information about the Cold-Faced Lady.

Meng Chang started spreading the news around after he had received Dream Realization Ventures’ investment. He said that ‘Cold Face Lady’ was a very mature business plan and had received an investment from Dream Realization Ventures. He wanted to use it to pull in more investments.

Needless to say, Li Shi was tempted. If it was really a project that Boss Pei had invested in, he would consider investing in it.

However, after asking around today, he realized that this was not a project that Boss Pei was investing in but a regular investment by Dream Realization Ventures.

The difference was huge.

Xue Zhebin thought for a moment and asked, “What about what Meng Chang said? The Cold Faced Lady’s investment conference will be held in Beijing the day after tomorrow. Are we still going? I heard that there will be a lot of people at the conference this time. Moreover, they will explain the business model of the Cold Faced Lady. It will only be open to a few investors.”

Li Shi considered for a moment. “It’s alright to go and take a look, but I’m more concerned about… whether Boss Pei will attend or not?”

Xue Zhebin nodded. “Alright, let’s go together then. Let’s see if this Meng Chang is really capable or if he’s just scamming money.”

…

Pei Qian was dozing off in the car.

When he was almost home, his cell phone rang.

Pei Qian took out his cell phone and saw that it was He Desheng.

“Boss Pei, uh… I have a small matter to bother you with. We’re investing in a company called ‘Cold Faced Lady’. The day after tomorrow, we’ll hold an investment conference in Beijing, mainly to introduce business models to the investors and attract more investors. They’ve also sent us an invitation. Do you think it’s necessary to go?”

He Desheng probed.

To be honest, he was not sure if there was a need to report this to Boss Pei. However, Meng Chang’s PowerPoint presentation was very good and the business model was very clear. Thus, he reported this to Boss Pei and let him decide whether to go or not.

Pei Qian yawned.

The moment he heard that they were in Beijing, he instinctively did not want to run back and forth.

“We… have invested in this company?” Pei Qian asked.

He Desheng answered, “That’s right, Boss Pei. Actually, this company has already received two million yuan of our investment. It is also because of this that the founder of this company sincerely invites you to attend the news conference.”

Pei Qian was still uninterested. After some thought, he said, “How about this? Tell Boss Ma to represent me in the conference.”

He Desheng was stunned. “Huh? Boss Ma? Oh, alright, Boss Pei. I understand.”

He Desheng subconsciously wondered, how could Boss Pei send Boss Ma to represent him?

However, on further thought, Boss Ma seemed to be able to do it. After all, in terms of investment results, calling Boss Ma an investment genius was not unheard of.

What’s more, Boss Ma was Boss Pei’s good brother and comrade. He was a trusted aide and an outstanding employee of Tengda. He was completely qualified to represent Boss Pei.

He would just hand the invitation letter to Boss Ma since that was the case.