A wage earner with a monthly salary of 5,000 yuan might not say they "can't afford" to rent a place for 1,500 or 2,000 yuan, but they will definitely compare prices.

Currently, Sloth Apartments' direct competitor is Zhujia Group's new "Safe House" business.

Zhujia Group is a very influential housing agency nationwide. Many people blindly choose Zhujia's houses when renting because, compared to those awful small agencies and landlords, Zhujia Group is large and less likely to cheat people.

In the past two years, Zhujia Group also saw the increasing demand of young people for living environments, so it launched the "Safe House" business. This involves signing contracts with landlords to rent some older houses with dilapidated decorations, renovating them, and then increasing the rent for tenants.

These are also well-decorated houses with complete furniture and appliances. The overall appearance is good. Although they are more expensive than other houses, the good decoration means a comfortable living experience, so this business has developed well.

Compared with Sloth Apartments, Zhujia Group's Safe Houses are not only several grades lower in terms of overall decoration and furniture, but they also have fewer rules and are much cheaper. In the eyes of wage earners with generally low incomes, they are obviously more suitable for the general public.

Increasing the monthly rent from 1,500 to 2,000 yuan means spending 6,000 yuan more on rent per year, enough to buy a new mobile phone. This price difference is very noticeable for most people.

Moreover, Pei Qian smelled a hint of paid internet posters in these messages.

Zhujia Group also has a large number of stores in Jingzhou, each with many agency employees.

Tengda's Sloth Apartments is also a rental business, which is in direct competition with their "Safe House" business. Zhujia Group cannot sit idly by and watch Sloth Apartments gain popularity.

They don't even need to hire professional posters; they can simply force all employees in Jingzhou stores to search for similar posts and make comments pretending to be passers-by.

Although these people may not understand much, they can still create a lot of noise online with high-intensity replies 24 hours a day, muddy the waters, and create the illusion that "most people are dissatisfied with Sloth Apartments."

In short, from the perspective of online public opinion, most of the customers attracted by the Sloth Apartments promotional video were dissuaded.

However, even so, some people still overcame all difficulties, signed rental contracts, and moved into Sloth Apartments.

The house on the top floor of Building 8 in Binhu Community, the one where Chen Lei filmed his MV, was rented on the spot by one of his fervent female fans.

This was because the view from this house was exactly the same as in the MV, perfect for taking photos and posting them on social media.

Obviously, this customer rented the top-floor house mainly not to live in, but to chase after her idol.

Sitting on the sofa that Chen Lei sat on, worth it!

Pei Qian learned about this from the building's housekeeper and was also dumbfounded.

It can only be said that the way rich people chase stars is so simple, unadorned, and boring.

"Well, after all, Chen Lei has many fans, so this kind of thing seems unavoidable."

"But if it's just a few houses, the impact on Sloth Apartments' money-losing model won't be too great."

Although Chen Lei's influence may indeed attract some people to chase after their idol, it's not a big problem.

The key is that this is renting, not buying.

If this house were for sale, many people might buy it to chase after their idol, because after buying the house, they can resell it, maintain its value, or rent it out if they don't live in it themselves, which is a worthwhile investment.

But this house is only for rent and not for sale, and subletting is strictly prohibited. If someone chases after their idol like this girl and doesn't live in it themselves, it means that the monthly rent will be thrown away for nothing, and the house will not belong to them.

Therefore, Pei Qian felt that even if someone chased after their idol because of this MV, it shouldn't affect the overall situation.

What's more, the commercial and residential building in Shundong Garden and his own City Dawn penthouse still don't have a single tenant.

Pei Qian took a walk around and concluded: Sloth Apartments' attention is currently skyrocketing, but it is still safe for the time being, and he can continue to observe it.

So, he took a car home and went to take a nap with peace of mind.

...

In the afternoon, Thriller Paradise.

Li Shi and other investors gathered together and were holding a meeting.

Since the opening of Thriller Paradise, the situation has been fairly good.

The early publicity work was very sufficient, attracting a large number of young people from Jingzhou and even Handong Province; and the various interesting projects in Thriller Paradise also continued the excellent reputation.

But the problem is, it doesn't seem to be that popular.

For Li Shi and other investors, Thriller Paradise can only be regarded as a normal profit-making state. The income from related supporting industries plus the profit from the goods sold in the Golden Maze can cover the daily expenses of Thriller Paradise with some left over.

But wanting to recover the invested costs still seems a long way off.

This level of popularity is at most a taste of the soup.

Although everyone is used to following President Pei to get a taste of the soup, the problem is that President Pei doesn't seem to be making a huge profit this time?

Accurately speaking, the current situation is that President Pei is drinking the soup, and others are just smelling the aroma.

To this day, the Thriller Paradise project has not actually met everyone's expectations.

Therefore, the investors spontaneously gathered together, called President Li over, and discussed countermeasures together.

"President Li, at the current income, it will take forever to recover the investment in the entire project! We can't wait!"

"Yes, President Li, please think of a way quickly? Why don't you urge President Pei again? President Pei must have more tricks up his sleeve!"

"Or should we think of a way ourselves?"

"What way can we think of? There's no way! I've been observing the situation of Thriller Paradise during this time, and I find it not very optimistic. Although this project can be experienced multiple times, there will always be times when people get tired of it. Currently, there are not enough tourists nationwide. Most people are unwilling to take a trip to Jingzhou just for a haunted house. Therefore, in the short term, we can't see the possibility of making a lot of money!"

"Could it be that President Pei miscalculated? Has it crashed?"

"President Pei reminded us before that this project may not make money. Was he serious?"

The investors were talking all over the place, all a little panicked.

Because the investment in Thriller Paradise is too large, the current profit can only be said to offset the operating costs. Only after recovering all the initial investment can it be called real profit!

If the initial investment cannot be recovered, it is not called profit, but a huge loss.

Li Shi listened to the other investors' discussions and remained silent.

The current situation of the Thriller Paradise project is indeed not satisfactory to him.

Everyone can feel that there seems to be just a little bit of distance between "okay" and "popular."

But that little bit of distance is just unattainable.

Is there a problem with the project itself?

No problem, Escape from Despair, Nightmare of the Haunted House, Ultimate Horror, Golden Maze, Healing Fountain, Maid Cafe... these are all very good, and the feedback from tourists is also good.

Now with the Tengda Life App, the queuing problem has also been solved. Everyone can use the App to queue up while eating, browsing around, and shopping in the Golden Maze, which greatly improves the tourist experience.

Is it a problem with the publicity?

The publicity also seems to be in place. Whether in Jingzhou or in the whole country, many people already know about Thriller Paradise. The publicity arranged by President Pei, including the shared phone booths and Teacher Qiao's videos, has already played a role.

After thinking about it, he really couldn't figure out what was missing that prevented Thriller Paradise from going from "okay" to "popular."

Or, as some investors said, President Pei is not omnipotent, and he failed to successfully calculate all the situations?

Li Shi obviously wouldn't agree with this statement.

After all the investors had finished complaining, Li Shi gently tapped the table: "Okay, let's be quiet for a moment."

"Do you think President Pei miscalculated on the Thriller Paradise project?"

"Then you are too impatient."

"How long has Thriller Paradise been open? It's been less than two months! You only see that many of President Pei's projects become popular as soon as they are launched, and mistakenly think that Thriller Paradise will also be like this."

"Haven't you noticed? In fact, many of President Pei's projects only became popular after persisting for a long enough time!"

"Like Touch-the-Fish Takeout, it lost money for a whole year. President Pei not only didn't cut off this project, but continued to invest money in it. Finally, with the help of Jingzhou's garbage classification, it began to soar!"

"Now, the future of Touch-the-Fish Takeout is immeasurable!"

"If President Pei was as impatient as you and gave up after losing money for two months, where would today's success come from? What's more, Thriller Paradise is not losing money now, it's just making money relatively slowly."

"Do you know where the difference between you and President Pei is?"

"You are all investors, don't you understand this simple principle?"

The investors were all quieted down by President Li's lesson.

Indeed, anyone who knows a little bit about investment knows that it is meaningless to look at short-term investments; it is all about looking at the long-term.

However, there are too many investment myths about President Pei, so the psychological expectations of these investors have been constantly raised. As soon as Thriller Paradise is slightly less popular, they lose patience.

Now that President Li gave them a lesson, everyone calmed down.

One investor cleared his throat twice: "President Li, yes, you are right, we are indeed a little anxious. But we are doing this for everyone's good. Who doesn't want Thriller Paradise to be more popular and make more money?"

"President Li, you asked us to calm down and keep waiting. Indeed, we should trust President Pei, but isn't it too passive to just wait like this?"

Other investors also nodded: "Yes, President Li, it's too passive. Why don't we think of a way to do some publicity, even if we spend more money?"

Li Shi was silent for a moment and looked around at everyone: "Spend more money? Are you willing?"

The investors continued to nod: "Willing!"

They paused and added: "Of course... how to spend it specifically, everyone has to discuss it again."

Li Shi nodded slightly, satisfied with the attitude of these investors.

In any case, everyone's interests have been deeply tied to the Thriller Paradise project. No one wants to be a deserter, and they are even willing to continue to spend money on publicity.

This is a good thing.

Only by firmly believing in President Pei and always following him can they be qualified to drink the soup.