Pei Qian made a final, desperate attempt for five minutes, then dragged the mind map into the recycle bin.

He gave up. This thing just wasn't going to work!

Pei Qian wasn't stubborn. When he needed to give up, he had to give up decisively and think of other ways.

He finished his cocktail, checked his watch, and figured it was about time to go back and rest.

Wasn't it great to play games on the big TV for a few hours and then get a good night's sleep?

Even though he had beaten a lot of games, there was always another game to play.

With that thought, Pei Qian got up to leave, ready to go back, play games, and sleep.

...

Arriving on the 12th floor of City Dawn, Pei Qian was about to enter when he noticed a small note stuck to the door.

"Huh?"

"What's this?"

Pei Qian thought it was a water bill or something, but then he realized that water bills were long strips, and the caretaker at Sloth Apartments handled water bill payments.

He took it down and saw a line of text: "9 PM tonight, Jingzhou TV Finance Channel."

Pei Qian was immediately stunned.

What did this mean?

An assassination notice?

A death threat?

What was going on at Jingzhou TV?

Now, anything related to television felt ominous to Pei Qian.

The note wasn't signed, but there was no time to figure out who was behind it.

He checked his watch. It was past eight o'clock, almost nine. If he lingered at Ming Yun Internet Cafe any longer, he might miss it.

Pei Qian hurried inside, changed his shoes, and turned on the TV.

A few minutes later, the finance channel's interview program started on time.

"He is the helmsman of Jingzhou's famous investment company, Fuhui Capital."

"He is seen as the second bellwether of Jingzhou's investment industry."

"When all enterprises and investors were pessimistic about the renovation of the old industrial zone, he resolutely invested a large sum of money."

"Having floated and sunk in the investment circle, witnessing countless wealth myths, what unique insights does he have into the art of investment? Faced with complex and multifaceted work, how does he maintain a clear mind and rational thinking?"

"In an era of mass entrepreneurship and innovation, what successful secrets does Li Shi, who has been in the business world for half his life, want to share with young people?"

"Tonight's financial story, *Li Shi and the Thinker*, coming up next!"

This interview program felt like a copy of "A Date With XX," but that was normal. After all, it was a popular national interview program, so it was normal for Jingzhou TV to imitate it.

After watching the opening, Pei Qian had already identified the person who had put the note on his door.

It was definitely President Li!

However, even though he had identified the mastermind, Pei Qian was a little suspicious of his motives.

This interview program clearly had nothing to do with him, right? Wasn't this President Li's interview?

So what was President Li trying to show him? How handsome he looked on the interview program?

Was President Li showing off? Showing off that he could be on a TV interview program while he couldn't?

Didn't you know that the finance channel came to me first, and they only turned to you after I refused the interview?

What was there to show off?

Pei Qian thought again. No, President Li shouldn't be that kind of person.

Confused, he continued watching.

As soon as he saw the interview scene, Pei Qian was stunned.

Wasn't that Sloth Apartments?!

It was clearly President Li's room. The layout was exactly the same as his own, even the position of the Fully-Automatic Argument Machine on the table was the same!

Pei Qian suddenly realized the problem.

Why would President Li have a Fully-Automatic Argument Machine?

He had one in his room, but that was specially delivered by Zhang Wang and the others. They hadn't provided one for the other rooms, had they?

Pei Qian calmed down and continued watching.

On the screen, President Li spoke eloquently.

"...President Pei invested, so I invested too."

"...President Pei has obviously done his best in every aspect to be able to invest in so many successful projects."

"...This place is not so much President Pei's residence as it is his training room, his meditation room."

"Success is not an accident, but the result of day-to-day, diligent thinking..."

Watching the interview program, Pei Qian's expression went from relaxed to confused to shocked to completely dazed.

President Li's statement completely bewildered him!

He understood every word, but when put together, he had no idea what President Li was talking about!

And the more he listened, the more absurd it felt to Pei Qian.

Are you sure the "President Pei" you're describing is the same person as me?

And isn't this supposed to be your interview? What do you mean by constantly talking about me?

Pei Qian originally thought that the title of the interview program, *Li Shi and the Thinker*, was saying that Li Shi was a thinker.

Now he realized that the thinker was him!

The "and" wasn't an explanation but a parallel relationship!

Thinking about it carefully, President Li was stabbing him in the heart at every step of the way in this program.

First, he talked to the host about Thrill Inn, portraying himself and Pei Qian as investors who cared about Jingzhou and supported the renovation of the old industrial zone without hesitation.

Then, he shifted the topic to Sloth Apartments, talking at length about how the special layout and structure of Sloth Apartments helped people to concentrate and think.

Finally, he talked about the Fully-Automatic Argument Machine, saying that it was the finishing touch of the entire "thinking space" and even added some philosophy.

Originally, Pei Qian didn't think much of it. He thought, you can do your interview, but what does it have to do with me? Why did you put a note on my door just to show off?

Now he understood that this wasn't showing off, it was a death notice!

Pei Qian felt like his whole person was not good.

Something was wrong, something big was wrong!

Sloth Apartments had already gone through several twists and turns, and now only the last wall hadn't been breached.

The recent formaldehyde room incident had discredited a large number of rental companies such as Zhujia and Snail Apartments, and they were all busy apologizing and doing public relations. Only Sloth Apartments had not only not been damaged in this incident, but had even gained a wave of fans!

But not many people were determined to move into Sloth Apartments, mainly because of the "bare walls" style.

But now, President Li's series of moves had completely reversed the interpretation of the "bare walls" style!

The original "impracticality" had instantly become "conducive to calm thinking."

Even the harmless Fully-Automatic Argument Machine hadn't escaped President Li's clutches and had been interpreted as a work of art that exercised one's mentality and allowed one to think calmly.

One interview program had directly wiped out Thrill Inn, Sloth Apartments, and the Fully-Automatic Argument Machine in one fell swoop!

Now, Pei Qian's biggest feeling was regret.

He didn't expect that his refusal of the finance channel's interview would backfire!

But who could have predicted this?

Pei Qian quickly took out his phone and checked the latest reviews of Sloth Apartments on the Tengda Life App.

Now he could only hope that the masses wouldn't be deceived by President Li!

Sloth Apartments didn't help with thinking at all, you must not be fooled!

The Fully-Automatic Argument Machine was just a useless toy that wasted time, you must not buy it!

However, seeing the newly added comments below Sloth Apartments, Pei Qian's heart instantly turned cold.

The original comments were basically criticizing the place for being inconvenient and impractical.

But the focus of the latest comments had completely changed.

"So that's it! I thought Sloth Apartments wasn't suitable before, but I just didn't open it the right way!"

"I'm an illustrator, and after watching the interview program, I suddenly realized that Sloth Apartments is the perfect place for me! It's minimalist to the extreme, and nothing will disturb my thoughts."

"I'm an author, and I think this place is good too!"

"Programmer +1"

"Is President Pei's way of thinking really useful? I'm tempted, I'm going to rent one and try it out!"

"Actually, there's some truth to it. 'Decluttering' and 'minimalism' are popular now. Of course, you can't say it's completely right, and everyone's life must consider whether it's suitable for them, but this concept still makes some sense. Everyone's energy is limited, and if you want to have a huge breakthrough in a certain field, you must completely abandon distractions. Sloth Apartments is providing such a place!"

"Then how do you explain the lack of storage space and the inability to move the furniture?"

"Don't you understand? This is to ensure that nothing in the room will be messed up by you! Think about it, if there's a lot of storage space, you'll keep buying and buying and then stuff all the useless things into the closet. If you can furnish the room yourself, you'll definitely decorate it according to your own preferences. This is completely contrary to the concept of Sloth Apartments!"

"Yes, the layout of the entire house is specially designed by a great designer. If you move it around, the original perfect combination will be destroyed, and there will be no immortal aura at all."

"That's right, Sloth Apartments has a butler and a cleaner, and you can't move the furniture inside, so it's just to let you not worry about anything and focus on thinking about your own things, right?"

"It's normal to think it's not down-to-earth, because Sloth Apartments originally practiced President Pei's own lifestyle, and it's not suitable for everyone. It's specially prepared for thinkers."

"I heard that the largest houses have already been snapped up by investors in Jingzhou, and now there are only two lake view houses and one SOHO left. Everyone, hurry up, I guess they'll be rented out soon."

"These three types of houses are exactly three different price points. Is it to make it convenient for people of all wealth levels to experience this minimalist lifestyle?"

"Friendly reminder, be sure to get a Fully-Automatic Argument Machine after renting Sloth Apartments!"

"I'm not renting, but I'm very interested in the Fully-Automatic Argument Machine, and I've already placed an order!"

"Has everyone noticed that the Fully-Automatic Argument Machine is just too magical! It perfectly embodies all of humanity's essences: repeater, pigeon, *zhenxiang*, *gangjing*!" (*zhenxiang* = "it smells so good" meme, *gangjing* = argumentative person)

"Repeatedly doing meaningless things = repeater;"

"Playing for five minutes and then throwing it away to collect dust = pigeon;"

"Saying that no one would buy this broken thing at first, but now everyone is snapping it up = *zhenxiang*;"

"Getting hooked while playing with it = *gangjing*."

"Damn, it's true. It's said that this is President Pei's invention. Could it be that President Pei had already calculated this when he invented this thing?"

"I'm not saying anything, place an order, hurry up and place an order!"

"Don't worry, the official website shows that there's plenty of stock, everyone gets a share!"

Pei Qian was completely dizzy.

He couldn't understand what these crazy people were thinking at all!

I can accept you guys renting Sloth Apartments like crazy, but what's with this crazy buying of Fully-Automatic Argument Machines?

I finally secretly produced more than 20,000 units, and so far I've sold less than double digits, and things were going pretty well, but now it's all over!

Pei Qian didn't know how many Fully-Automatic Argument Machines would be sold once it became popular, but judging from the current strong interest of these silly netizens, it would definitely be a lot!

Pei Qian was very helpless. Weren't there any normal people among the netizens?

Couldn't anyone see that President Li was bragging and talking nonsense?

He was just making things up out of thin air!

Suddenly, Pei Qian saw a comment that rekindled his hope.

"Are you all confused? Can extreme minimalism really help with thinking? What's the evidence? President Pei has so many industries under his command, and each industry has a person in charge. How can he take care of everything? So don't blindly deify someone. President Pei may not have cared about these things at all, and it was all done by the heads of the various departments!"

"Yeah, Tengda has so many industries now, how could President Pei possibly take care of everything."

"I also think that the most likely thing is that President Pei has the ability to recognize talent and has arranged capable people in charge for each department, which is why he has achieved the current success. If he had to think about so many things, he definitely wouldn't be able to think them through, and it would even be counterproductive."

Pei Qian felt a warmth in his heart.

These brothers, you are so right!

I really can't take care of everything!

It was indeed all done by the heads of the various departments, and it has nothing to do with me!

However, the comment below instantly extinguished the small flame that had just risen in Pei Qian's heart.

"Do you want evidence? Here you go. [Image] [Image]"

The first image was of Pei Qian in Ming Yun Internet Cafe, his right hand on his chin in contemplation.

Because there had already been two world-famous paintings in Ming Yun Internet Cafe and Ming Yun Takeaway, this back view was instantly recognized.

The second picture was a close-up of the computer screen in front of President Pei. It was very blurry, but you could barely see that it was a flowchart. The largest boxes were the names of key departments such as Tengda Games and Ming Yun Takeaway.

"This is the evidence, are you satisfied?"

"The facts show that President Pei is not only grasping the direction of each department's progress, but also grasping the linkage between the various departments! Look at these dense lines. It may be difficult for ordinary people to even see clearly, but President Pei can use this flowchart to plan the联动 (liandong) [interconnected] plans of the various departments!"

"So that's it! No wonder hosting a GOG World Invitational Tournament can help promote the managed gyms and clubs! It was all in President Pei's plan?"

"Thinking about it this way, those ghost-like propaganda methods and 联动 (liandong) [interconnected] effects in the past have all been explained!"

"Hiss... these dense lines, how many times did President Pei think? Is his brain a galactic computer? Does it calculate 100 million times per second?"

"I didn't really believe the contents of the interview before, but now I believe it! President Pei's ability to complete this extraordinary thinking must be closely related to his lifestyle! I'm going to order a Fully-Automatic Argument Machine now!"

Pei Qian looked at this picture, his expression once again frozen.

This... wasn't this tonight?

Maybe just, more than an hour ago?

Who did it!

Who's so idle to secretly take pictures of me!

First the interview program, then the world-famous painting.

Did you all discuss it in advance and come here to backstab me???