Chapter 6 Monday, June 6th

9:00 AM, Pei Qian woke up naturally.

His gaming experience with Ruan Guangjian over the weekend had left him in low spirits these past two days. He was feeling a bit reclusive at home and didn't feel like going to work.

After getting up and washing, Pei Qian took out two small cakes and a carton of milk from the fridge, intending to have a quick bite before continuing to finish the game he hadn't completed yesterday.

Because the room had a minimalist style, also known as "bare walls," Pei Qian had to eat at the small tea table next to the large balcony.

This small tea table was one of the few remaining pieces of furniture in the entire living room, accompanied by two small chairs. Its main purpose was to enjoy the view and drink tea.

The two small cakes were quickly devoured. Pei Qian threw the trash in the trash can and ignored it, as there was a cleaning service anyway.

He had just sat down on the sofa and picked up the controller when the doorbell rang.

"Huh?" Pei Qian paused, getting up to open the door.

The housekeeper stood outside the door, holding a square box in his hands. "President Pei, this is a package from Yuanmeng Ventures. Do you need me to bring it in for you?"

The housekeeper's name was Song Kai, 26 years old. He had previously worked as a housing manager at a rental company. He was also a candidate scouted by Assistant Xin, and so far, his work had been satisfactory.

Of course, there wasn't much work to begin with.

Since arriving at Sloth Apartments, Song Kai often found himself doubting his life due to boredom.

Pei Qian considered that having only Liang Qingfan in charge of Sloth Apartments was obviously too much. Even if this project never took off, the building managers and cleaning staff for each building still needed to be hired.

As long as there was one resident in the building, at least one cleaning staff member had to be hired.

When there were more and more properties in the future, Liang Qingfan couldn't handle everything, right?

After all, he was an architect responsible for design work and on-site construction.

Therefore, Pei Qian decided to observe Song Kai for a few days. If he thought the person was decent enough, he would let him also serve as the person in charge of Sloth Apartments, assisting Liang Qingfan and helping out.

"Unpack it. Just give me the item," Pei Qian said.

Song Kai opened the box, took out the square black box inside, and handed it to President Pei.

Pei Qian reached out and took it, finding that it was quite heavy, heavier than he had expected, but not so heavy that he couldn't carry it.

This was the improved version of the Automatic Argument Machine, which Zhang Wang had arranged to be mailed directly to Pei Qian's residence.

Song Kai thoughtfully closed the door and took away the empty box.

Pei Qian, on the other hand, was holding the Automatic Argument Machine, looking around the living room in a daze.

There was no place to put it!

This thing wasn't too big, but it wasn't too small either. It couldn't be placed on the bookshelf as a decoration, and it would be too small to be placed in the corner of the room or next to the TV cabinet as a cabinet, looking very strange.

In short, Pei Qian was very satisfied with this bizarre size.

After looking around, Pei Qian put it on the small tea table where he had eaten breakfast earlier.

It was actually quite suitable. Sitting in the chair next to it, he could easily reach it, and the "argument" operation was also very smooth.

"Very good, Zhang Wang, I'll trust you one more time. If this project can successfully make me lose money, I'll invest in any project you do in the future!"

The system obviously had limitations on the accumulation of goods. It couldn't blindly produce endlessly when the goods were already obviously overstocked. However, accumulating twenty or thirty thousand units shouldn't be a problem.

In other words, as long as this project met Pei Qian's expectations, the Automatic Argument Machine wouldn't sell, and two or three thousand units would be piled up, burning millions easily.

Pei Qian began to carefully inspect this Automatic Argument Machine that he had placed high hopes on.

Compared to the sample made by Zhang Wang before, the new Automatic Argument Machine was several times larger. The overall color was pure black with a matte texture, but there were bright gold edges in some areas, giving it a low-key yet luxurious feel.

Pei Qian first performed a wave of "arguing" operations.

Each time an argument was initiated, the Automatic Argument Machine would push it back, restoring the entire machine to its original state.

If consecutive arguments were initiated multiple times, the Automatic Argument Machine would restore the raised metal sticks in the corresponding order. Before they were fully restored, it was considered a state of "continuous arguing."

At this time, the box would display a reading in a purely mechanical way. Once all the sticks were restored, the "continuous arguing" state would end, and the number on the box would be reset to zero, returning to the pure black box state.

In addition, Pei Qian also noticed that the materials inside the box seemed to have been improved. The Y-shaped sticks had become golden, and the shape seemed to have been redesigned, full of finely crafted texture.

After all, the cost had doubled, from 200 to 400 yuan, and all these costs were spent on these useless details.

Pei Qian played with it for two minutes and lost interest.

Who would spend 488 yuan on such a broken thing? They must be out of their minds!

First of all, it had absolutely no practical significance.

Secondly, it was just a pure black box with gold trim. Even with a slightly matte texture, not many people would use it as a decoration. After all, the decorations that could be bought for the same price were definitely much better-looking.

Pei Qian was very satisfied and immediately called He Desheng.

"I've received the Automatic Argument Machine, and the results are very good. Send the money immediately and start mass production! Hmm... is it cheaper to make more? Then prepare 20,000 units first!"

The first batch would produce 20,000 units. If they were all piled up in the warehouse, it would instantly wipe out eight million.

Of course, if it didn't sell well in the early stages, Pei Qian would consider increasing the stock further, but how much he could increase it would depend on the system's mood.

But no matter what, Pei Qian had high hopes for this Automatic Argument Machine developed by Zhang Wang's strong return!

…

…

June 7th, dinner time.

Ming Yun Private Kitchen.

The so-called "Ming Yun Private Kitchen" was the internal name within Tengda. The official name to the outside world was "Nameless Restaurant," which was talked about because its name couldn't be found online at all.

Two tall, blonde girls arrived at the front door of the villa.

"Elena, I never expected this place to be so remote... If I had known earlier, I wouldn't have come with you."

"Alright, Jessica, a very good local friend of mine reserved this spot two months in advance. It's also my first time here. I think we should finish eating before complaining about whether this restaurant lives up to its local reputation."

"Okay, but if the food here isn't good, I won't be happy."

"You don't have to tell me that. I feel the same way."

The two were communicating in English, their voices low, chatting as they walked inside.

A waiter in the hall noticed this and immediately approached, speaking fluent English. "Hello, welcome. Are you Ms. Elena and Ms. Jessica?"

The reservation system had both advantages and disadvantages for Ming Yun Private Kitchen.

The disadvantage was that everyone who wanted to eat had to make a reservation one to two months in advance. If they wanted to have a meal, they had to wait a long time.

But this also brought some advantages. For example, the number of guests dining each day was fixed, so Ming Yun Private Kitchen never felt crowded, and guests' privacy during meals could be guaranteed. At the same time, the waiters could roughly match each guest to their reservation and make some preparations in advance.

This time, Lin Canrong had specially arranged for a former simultaneous interpreter from Jingzhou to switch careers and serve as a waiter to receive them.

This young man's name was Jia Nuo, and his English name was Lucas. He had worked as a simultaneous interpreter for several years and was well-known in Jingzhou. However, he was worried about the prospects of his job because simultaneous interpretation was high-paying but too tiring, so he was considering a career change.

The salary Lin Canrong offered this young man was 40,000 yuan a month, and he only needed to receive foreign guests when they came to dine, up to eight times a month. If he exceeded that, he would be paid extra.

This price seemed high, but it wasn't high compared to Jia Nuo's original simultaneous interpretation job.

In the past, Jia Nuo's service targets were mainly foreign companies, and the quotation standard was 8,000 a day. However, this was based on an 8-hour work day. For conferences lasting around 4 hours, the quote would generally be around 4,000 to 5,000.

After all, this was 2011. In a few years, the quote should be even higher.

Some people who didn't understand would calculate it based on 22 working days a month and think that Jia Nuo's monthly salary should be 100,000, but it obviously wasn't calculated that way.

Simultaneous interpretation was a very tiring job, and preparing for a large commercial conference required a lot of preliminary work, even one or two weeks, consuming a lot of time and energy. Continuous work was very detrimental to health.

Although Jia Nuo's hourly wage seemed high, his actual annual income was only around 400,000 to 500,000.

Therefore, Jia Nuo accepted Lin Canrong's invitation. On the one hand, he had a stable monthly salary. If there happened to be no guests in a month, he could lie at home and receive 40,000 yuan. Even if he received more than 8 times in a month, Manager Lin would add extra money according to the simultaneous translation price standard, so he wouldn't lose out in any way.

As for Lin Canrong, he believed that finding such a professional was necessary.

Although it would be more costly when there were no foreign friends, Jia Nuo, as a waiter at Ming Yun Private Kitchen, had to specifically study English vocabulary related to catering, memorize the recipes and details of various dishes, and undergo specialized service training, including demeanor, wording, and facial expression management.

For Lin Canrong, paying a base salary of 40,000 for this was very worthwhile.

What's more, there was a world of difference between good and bad translations.

Catering emphasized color, aroma, and taste, and naming dishes was also done as poetically as possible. When explaining to foreign friends, simply conveying the meaning and translating with accuracy, eloquence, and elegance were two completely different concepts.

Jessica immediately smiled when she heard the fluent English and saw Jia Nuo's handsome appearance.

It could only be said that this was a world that judged by appearances...

Jia Nuo led the two to the largest private room. The tableware, tables, and chairs on the table had already been arranged for two people, and the decorations in the private room had also been changed.

The dishes had also been pre-ordered, so there was no menu.

Because most of the dishes at Ming Yun Private Kitchen used special ingredients, and some dishes even had dozens of steps and had to be prepared in advance, it was impossible to order and eat them on the spot.

Elena smiled and said, "Lucas, the friend who made the reservation for us said that he ordered the two most complex and unique dishes here, and they are new products this month. I hope this isn't an exaggeration."

"In fact, my friend Jessica has always had some prejudice against Chinese food. I'm looking forward to you being able to change her mind for me today."