Chapter 1 Pressure Increases

Seeing this message, Pei Qian felt the pressure on his shoulders increase sharply.

He hadn't expected the revenue share to arrive so quickly!

Pei Qian even felt it was a bit unscientific.

Other film and television companies were constantly looking forward to the return of funds, but Pei Qian was the opposite, wishing the money would be transferred in the next cycle.

But there was no way around it. Since others were quick to transfer money, he couldn't just return it and ask them to transfer it again later, could he?

That would be too inappropriate.

In that case, he had to put buying more buildings on the agenda immediately.

Of this money, he should take 50 million to buy a building, and then invest the remaining 50 million in games and movies; that would be the safest approach.

Pei Qian, like most people, had a bit of procrastination. But when it came to spending money, his procrastination had been completely cured.

Especially with such a large sum of money coming in, Pei Qian didn't dare to delay for even a minute. He had to spend it quickly.

Any delay could lead to major problems, and Pei Qian didn't dare to take that risk.

What if, due to procrastination, he ended up being unable to spend the money even in a last-minute rush? Wouldn't that be a disaster?

He had already decided to do the Sloth Apartments 2.0 model, so this time, he would buy a building specifically for the storage space model.

Because of the system's special calculation method, fixed assets were converted into system funds at 10%, so Pei Qian buying buildings was actually a very stable way to spend money.

Except for a few side effects, it was all good.

This cycle was only four months long, but the initial system funds had increased by 10 million. Pei Qian had to leave himself some leeway, so he could set aside 5 million as a "fixed asset occupancy quota," which translated to being able to buy a building worth around 50 million.

With that in mind, Pei Qian decided to go to the Sloth Apartments office to understand the current state of the project and finalize the building purchase plan.

Although he was no longer considering losing money on rent, he couldn't completely let Liang Qingfan and his team run wild either.

...

Twenty minutes later, Pei Qian arrived at the Sloth Apartments office.

After Sloth Apartments became a great success, the core team was supplemented and expanded, and they also rented dedicated office space.

The location was in a high-end office building in the Jingzhou city center CBd, quite far from other departments of Tengda.

As for why they rented here...

Simple, two reasons: first, the place was relatively expensive and the rent was high; second, they wanted to be far away from other departments of Tengda, especially those in Tengda Life.

Pei Qian was very afraid that these departments would launch some kind of unexpected collaboration and stab him in the back.

Although being physically distant might not necessarily help—everyone could communicate using chat software—it was still better than being close and having people drop in on each other when they had nothing to do.

Pei Qian took the elevator to the 27th floor of the building and smiled as he saw the layout of the Sloth Apartments office area.

Not bad, very much in line with the Tengda spirit!

The huge space was extremely empty, with only a few isolated desks. People were so far apart that they probably had to shout to be heard.

And judging by how empty the place was, Pei Qian had no doubt that shouting would create an echo.

A closer look revealed a clear difference between this place and the layout of Tengda's headquarters.

Although Tengda's headquarters was also spacious, it was still relatively formal. The wide desks had dual-screen monitors, keyboards, mice, and other equipment. Compared to conventional companies, it was simply a high-end office environment.

But the Sloth Apartments office had a strong artistic atmosphere.

The tables and chairs weren't the formal office type, but rather the kind found in art districts and leisure areas, exuding an artistic vibe.

The employees weren't working on heavy desktop computers but on lightweight laptops. There was also a dedicated coffee bar, with someone in charge of supplying coffee and drinks to everyone in the company.

In addition, the company had also decorated the office with some artistic pieces, which were very stylish.

Seeing this per capita area even more exaggerated than Tengda's headquarters, Pei Qian wanted to give Liang Qingfan a thumbs-up.

"President Pei!"

Liang Qingfan, who had been working on designs on his computer, quickly stood up to greet Pei Qian when he saw him arrive.

Pei Qian looked around. "Well, this office area is nicely decorated."

Liang Qingfan smiled and nodded. "Of course, President Pei. These are all designed according to the minimalist style, which also helps improve the concentration and attention of the designers."

"Now, the minimalist style has become the representative style of our Sloth Apartments, especially suitable for architects and designers who need to concentrate and require a certain amount of imagination and creativity, so I decorated this office space in this way."

"Also, these artworks were specially purchased. There aren't many of them, but they're definitely just right, and won't steal the show."

"It's a pity that this place is rented. If we built our own building, we could do even better."

Pei Qian's eyes lit up.

Build our own building?

That's a good idea!

If the Tengda Group built its own building for its own use, it would definitely not generate any profit. It seemed like a good way to spend money.

Pei Qian hadn't thought about this much before, mainly because the company's financial condition didn't allow it.

But now it seemed like something to consider.

However, building your own building required choosing the right time. On the one hand, it couldn't interfere with the settlement, and on the other hand, it had to ensure that there was still room for losses after the fixed assets were converted into initial funds.

What if he spent a billion to build a building, and the conversion to system funds directly became 100 million? Wouldn't that be a disaster, with no way to lose money?

Pei Qian nodded. "Well, that's exactly what I was thinking. It's time to build a Tengda Group headquarters building."

"But there's no rush. We still need to consider it carefully. When you're not busy with work, you can first do some simple designs and estimate the price, and I'll think about it."

Liang Qingfan was stunned for a moment, then nodded. "Okay, President Pei!"

As expected, President Pei was a man who did great things.

If it were other bosses, they might not be so quick to put building a company headquarters building on the agenda. After all, building a building would put a lot of pressure on the company's cash flow. There were quite a few companies that went bankrupt from building buildings.

Many bosses tried to make do with the office location as much as possible. After all, whether the office environment was good or bad didn't affect the boss's own living in a villa.

Liang Qingfan was just mentioning it casually, but he didn't expect President Pei to actually consider it seriously!

Obviously, President Pei was completely different from other bosses.

Although President Pei only went to the company once or twice a week, he was still working hard to create a better office environment for his employees.

When the office environment at Tengda already far exceeded that of most companies, President Pei was still not satisfied.

Tengda's office conditions were even better than many companies with assets that were dozens of times larger than Tengda's.

This spirit of putting employees first was so touching!

Liang Qingfan and Pei Qian casually found a seat by the window. Being high up, the entire view of the CBd was unobstructed.

Someone brought coffee. Pei Qian tasted it and felt it was good, probably the same as at Touching Fish Cafe.

"How is Sloth Apartments doing recently?" Pei Qian asked.

Liang Qingfan said with a smile, "Everything is going smoothly, President Pei."

"After the Sloth Apartments model became a great success, many architects and designers came to us, attracted by our reputation. Of course, I also actively poached a few to prepare for future business expansion."

"Now, Sloth Apartments has three main businesses."

"First, we are responsible for helping customers with high-end customization business."

"The minimalist style is very popular, so many customers come to us and specifically ask for the minimalist style. Therefore, in addition to providing general solutions on our own website, half-selling and half-giving them away, we also do special decoration customization for some customers."

"The newly recruited designers can all stand on their own. Each person is responsible for one solution, and I am responsible for checking it to ensure that each solution meets the style of Sloth Apartments."

"This doesn't make much money, but every little bit helps. Moreover, this customization business is also good for continuing to expand the reputation of Sloth Apartments."

"Secondly, as you said before, President Pei, we have established a 'Sloth Apartments Cooperative Brand Inspection Team'."

"Including the furniture, decoration, real estate and other brands that cooperate with us, we have arranged for inspection teams to conduct regular anonymous spot checks to ensure that these companies do not engage in any small actions that would adversely affect the Sloth Apartments brand."

"Of course, some cooperative brands do not want to accept our supervision, and they are basically big brands. But we are completely like you said, President Pei, and we will never compromise."

"Anyway, there are so many cooperative brands. If we want to find obedient and high-quality brands, we can always find them as long as we are willing to put in the effort."

"Moreover, the inspection team can cooperate with our high-end decoration customization business to ensure quality and reputation."

"Finally, there is the main business of Sloth Apartments, which is the rental business."

"As you said before, we are already preparing for the Sloth Apartments 2.0 model. While maintaining the minimalist style, we will appropriately add some storage space to make the 2.0 model more practical for ordinary people."

After listening to Liang Qingfan's report, Pei Qian nodded slightly.

Well, it was similar to what he had predicted.

The Sloth Apartments model had already succeeded, and it was unlikely that it would fail again. He could only try to limit the losses as much as possible.

"I'll give you another 50 million to buy a new building and do the Sloth Apartments 2.0 model."

"Well... this time, buy a slightly more popular building. You can choose the specific location yourself, but it's best to buy a place with little potential for appreciation."

The crazy appreciation of the previous Sloth Apartments buildings had scared Pei Qian quite a bit. If the special task hadn't been completed at the end of the last cycle, Pei Qian might have been in big trouble.

Pei Qian originally preferred to buy houses in remote locations, with odd layouts, and poor decoration, i.e., picking up garbage. But he had overlooked the fact that these places had the greatest potential for appreciation once they became popular!

For example, the two buildings in Binhu District were originally leaking and had peeling walls, so the prices were ridiculously low. But once Sloth Apartments renovated them, the prices instantly skyrocketed.

Therefore, Pei Qian didn't have any particularly big requirements this time, just hoping that the houses he bought had little potential for appreciation. It would be perfect if they didn't appreciate at all even after Sloth Apartments renovated them.

As for what kind of houses had little potential for appreciation...

Pei Qian couldn't say for sure, so he could only let Liang Qingfan decide for himself.