Chapter 1 Pei Qian's Plan

Pei Qian called Xin, his assistant, wanting to go to Moyu Internet Cafe.

On the way, Pei Qian briefly talked about Shang Yang Games.

"After the holiday, take some time to investigate Shang Yang Games and tell me the details. You can give their boss a little hint, just say we have acquisition intentions."

Pei Qian was afraid that the company would fall apart during the investigation, and then he would have to find everyone back one by one, which would be troublesome.

A broken mirror can never be fully restored; if he was going to take over, he'd take over the whole thing!

So, he wanted to give the boss of Shang Yang Games a hint of acquisition intention in advance, to give him some hope, so he wouldn't rush to dissolve the company.

Assistant Xin drove the car and nodded, "Okay, President Pei. But as far as I know, isn't that a company with a less-than-ideal operational status?"

Assistant Xin put it very euphemistically.

"What I value is not the present, but its future potential." Pei Qian said confidently.

"Yes, I believe in your vision, President Pei." Assistant Xin asked, "How long will the investigation take? The longer the time, the more fully we understand the situation, the more advantages we will have in the merger negotiations."

She paused and added, "Moreover, the other party should currently be in a loss-making state, so it is beneficial for us to delay for a while, which will help us to lower the price."

Lower the price?

Lower what price? The more expensive, the better!

Pei Qian immediately shook his head: "No need to deliberately delay, the faster the better."

"The gaming industry is a race against time. The time wasted delaying for a lower price is better spent quickly investing in operations. Don't be penny-wise and pound-foolish."

"Okay." Assistant Xin asked again, "So, this acquisition, is it to acquire the entire company, or..."

There are many types of company acquisitions. Some only want the shell, leaving all the personnel behind; some only want the game IPs under the game company; and some will adjust the company's structure, such as parachuting in a leader or managing with a new human resources system.

How to acquire specifically depends on what Pei Qian values about the other party, which makes it easier to negotiate the price.

What Pei Qian valued was not the people of Shang Yang Games, nor any particular game of Shang Yang Games, but Shang Yang Games' flair for losing money in creative ways!

Therefore, Pei Qian had to buy the entire Shang Yang Games unchanged to ensure its authenticity.

Pei Qian immediately replied: "Acquire the whole thing, with the original company structure unchanged."

"Okay, President Pei, I understand." After understanding the leader's basic intentions, Assistant Xin didn't ask any more questions.

This was not a particularly rational acquisition.

Because Shang Yang Games... completely lacked anything worth acquiring.

If he valued a certain talent, wouldn't it be better to just poach them to Tengda?

If he valued one of their games, he could just buy it. Shang Yang Games would probably be happy to see someone take over their game.

But to take over the whole thing?

It didn't seem to make sense.

But Assistant Xin didn't ask. This was her professional quality. She only needed to do what the leader instructed and shouldn't ask too many questions.

Moreover, President Pei must have some deeper meaning in arranging this, and must have seen some valuable aspects of Shang Yang Games.

Approaching the May Day holiday, Jingzhou was a bit congested, and it took a little longer than usual to reach Moyu Internet Cafe.

Pei Qian got out of the car and walked straight in.

Well, it's still as deserted as before, that's reassuring!

So far, Moyu Internet Cafe has indeed gained some repeat customers. Those wealthy customers who are not price-sensitive are very happy to come here to surf the Internet, drink coffee, and even use it as a meeting place.

Occasionally, a few friends will form a group to play games together.

After all, the environment is good, the service is good, and there are few people.

Spending more money to buy a good environment is very cost-effective for these rich people.

But even so, Moyu Internet Cafe still can't recover its costs because there are still too few wealthy customers nearby!

There is only a relatively remote business district nearby, separated by a street, without any large office buildings or high-end residential areas.

The location and price of the Internet cafe determine that only a small group of people in the vicinity can afford it, which simply cannot support the normal operation of the Internet cafe.

Therefore, Pei Qian was not worried at all.

Seeing Pei Qian coming, Ma Yang and Zhang Yuan quickly greeted him.

"President Pei is here, what would you like to drink today?" Zhang Yuan asked.

Pei Qian glanced at the menu: "A Margarita."

Looking around, there were no customers in the Internet area or the coffee area. It seemed particularly deserted today.

"No customers today?" Pei Qian asked casually.

Ma Yang rubbed his hands a little embarrassedly: "Yes, Brother Qian, I don't know what's going on today, probably because it's almost the holiday..."

There were originally a few customers who could hold up the fort, but this afternoon there wasn't a single customer, which was quite outrageous...

However, Pei Qian didn't mind at all, but was rather happy.

"Okay, then just close the door, let's close early today."

"Zhang Yuan, please make a drink for all the brothers, just put it on the company's tab."

"Everyone, don't bother this afternoon, come sit over here."

Pei Qian sat down in the coffee area and gave a general greeting.

Several waiters immediately started moving, some closing the store, some setting up tables and chairs, and Zhang Yuan was making cocktails for everyone.

Soon, several waiters, including the three chefs in the back kitchen (originally one, but two more were hired to provide Tengda's work meals), were all seated in the coffee area, each with a cocktail in front of them.

Zhang Yuan and Ma Yang sat in the front, one on each side, waiting for Pei Qian to speak.

Pei Qian cleared his throat and paused for a moment to gather his thoughts.

"Starting next month, Moyu Internet Cafe will open four more branches, one after another."

"However, the timing will vary because the funds cannot all be in place at once."

"Who wants to be the branch manager, raise your hand."

The four waiters in front immediately raised their hands, and one of the chefs in the back hesitated slightly and tentatively raised his hand as well.

Zhang Yuan also raised his hand.

Pei Qian motioned for Zhang Yuan to put his hand down: "You will be promoted to management in the future, managing these store managers, so don't raise your hand."

Zhang Yuan put his hand down with a look of joy.

What was going on? He got promoted for no reason!

Pei Qian looked at the five people who raised their hands: "Okay, it's you five. Zhang Yuan, take note, these five are the new Internet cafe managers."

The manager of this store was originally Ma Yang, but with so many branches opening, Ma Yang and Zhang Yuan would naturally be promoted to management, and the position of manager of this store would be vacant.

So, a total of five new people were promoted to store managers.

Everyone was a little confused.

Was it that hasty?

Several waiters who didn't raise their hands were stunned.

Damn, I should have raised my hand!

They were a little hesitant, afraid that they lacked the ability to be competent as store managers, and would be embarrassed if they failed the assessment.

But there was no assessment at all!

The most confused was the chef who raised his hand.

Logically speaking, this was an Internet cafe, and the election of the store manager should have nothing to do with the chef. The waiters in front should be the ones running for the position.

But he just raised his hand subconsciously and was actually elected???

For a moment, he couldn't quite make the transition from wielding a wok to being a manager.

Ma Yang tugged at Pei Qian's sleeve and whispered, "Brother Qian, is this going to work? Why don't we have an open recruitment?"

Pei Qian shook his head: "They are all people you recruited. I don't trust anyone, I only trust your judgment."

Ma Yang smiled embarrassedly: "That's true."