Chapter 1 The Debate

Online, the "one thousand units in stock" topic sparked the most debate, with dissatisfied comments everywhere.

"I've seen plenty of companies using planned scarcity, but this is the first time I've seen one doing it so blatantly!"

"Yeah, other companies using planned scarcity usually stock tens of thousands, even hundreds of thousands of units. This company's great; they only stock one thousand. Then, at the launch event, they make it seem like the phones are selling out instantly, creating the illusion that 'our phone is super popular.' It's all a scheme!"

"I bet even the people at the launch event were plants!"

"Not just the people at the event, I think most of these review outlets have taken money too!"

"The manufacturer probably pre-sold the phones to scalpers to create a 'sold out on the spot' situation. Then, the scalpers work together to jack up the price of the phone. What a plan! Conning the fools together; the manufacturer and scalpers both profit!"

"Death to scalpers!"

"Forget it, this phone is obviously not meant to be sold properly. Please stop sending me related information!"

"Just watch, this phone will continue to use planned scarcity tactics, only releasing a thousand units at a time and selling out instantly, creating the illusion that the phone is in high demand, which maintains its high price. Once they open up the supply, people will quickly realize that this phone isn't worth the price at all, and it'll crash and burn!"

"I think a lot of people are already catching on, right?"

"Don't say that. I still trust Tenda's reputation. Besides, President Chang has already said that they are speeding up stocking and will sell 2,000 units tomorrow."

"Haha, two thousand units? Speeding up stocking results in two thousand units? Are you kidding me? You're still saying this isn't planned scarcity?"

Seeing these comments, Pei Qian felt a warmth in his heart.

As expected, consumers have sharp eyes. There are still smart people out there!

Keep it up, you must keep it up!

As long as you can maintain this valuable skeptical attitude until the end of the month, you will be my great benefactors!

"Buzz... buzz..."

While he was anticipating this, the phone on the table vibrated.

Pei Qian picked it up and saw that it was He Desheng.

"Huh? Is it about the Xue Ba Kuai Lai App?" (Study God is Coming App)

Pei Qian quickly answered the call.

He had already instructed He Desheng before: spend the money in the same way you earned it!

Has it been spent yet?

"President Pei, the Xue Ba Kuai Lai project has been bought back! All the shares!" He Desheng was a little excited. "Oh, and the original person in charge from Xu De Education also came over. We didn't even need to poach him; he was fired!"

Pei Qian was stunned. So smoothly?

It's already bought?

If he remembered correctly, Xu De Education acquired the Xue Ba Kuai Lai project less than a month ago.

He Desheng bought it so quickly. It must have cost a lot of money, right?

Pei Qian couldn't help but get excited: "How much did it cost?"

On the other end of the phone, He Desheng said, "President Pei, it cost more than five million!"

Pei Qian: "?"

How did it only cost five million???

He had earned fifteen million from selling those shares before, and that was even without selling the last 20% of the shares.

In the end, it only took a third of that to buy it back?

And is Xu De Education crazy? Didn't you spend forty million to buy this project? Now you're selling it for five million?

Couldn't you have raised the price a little higher? Huh?

Hearing President Pei's silence on the phone, He Desheng thought he was not satisfied with the price, and quickly explained.

"President Pei, actually, this price is already very low."

"After Xu De Education acquired this project, they also did some large-scale activities, such as forcing their students to invite people to register and selling courses in the project, etc., but soon there was a lot of scolding, and the data plummeted!"

"Moreover, this project can't make any profit at all and is burning money every day!"

"Many senior executives within Xu De Education were extremely dissatisfied with this investment, and there were already conflicts between them. So, several senior executives took the opportunity to launch an attack and squeezed out the senior executive who promoted the acquisition. This project became a castaway..."

"After no one cared about it, this project couldn't get any resources from Xu De Education, and it got worse and worse, becoming a money pit that only spent money and didn't make any."

"In order to avoid losing more and more, Xu De Education decided to cut its losses. It just so happened that we still had 20% of the shares and had the right of first refusal, so Xu De Education found me."

"Of course, they started with a high price, trying to trick me."

"But how could I be tricked by them? I led this project from beginning to end, and I know exactly what it's worth. I silenced them in a few words!"

"At this time, they wanted to sell it to someone else, so I hinted slightly that I knew the project's situation very well, and as long as I revealed a little information, they wouldn't be able to sell it at a high price either!"

"So, after several negotiations, they finally ran out of patience. I directly slashed the price with a dragon-slaying saber, and it became five million!"

"I told them clearly that the project is only worth this much now. If it drags on any longer, even five million will be gone!"

"If it drags on for a while longer, I could definitely cut it down even further, but I thought that President Pei, you seemed to be in a hurry and were afraid of delaying things. I thought this price was okay, so I bought it back."

"Oh, right, the person in charge of this project at Xu De Education was also fired along with that senior executive. I remembered that you said you wanted to poach him, so I contacted him and brought him over."

"If you want to see him, you can see him at any time!"

"That's about the situation. How about it, President Pei? Did I handle this matter neatly?"

On the other end of the phone, Pei Qian was silent for a long time.

"You... you did a great job." Pei Qian's voice was a mix of melancholy and gnashing of teeth.

He Desheng smiled a little embarrassedly on the other end of the phone: "Not at all, it's all because President Pei, you have a clear vision. I can only achieve the current results by operating according to your ideas!"

"If you hadn't left some shares unsold in advance and instructed me to repurchase them, I wouldn't have thought of this at all!"

Pei Qian: "..."

Okay, it's my fault again.

It's already bought, what else can I say?

Pei Qian was melancholy for a while and said, "That person in charge, ask him to come to Dream Realization Ventures at 2 pm. I want to meet him."

He Desheng: "Okay, no problem, President Pei!"

After hanging up the phone, Pei Qian was very depressed.

He didn't realize that this He Desheng was quite good at bargaining.

But this is clearly the most useless skill of the Tenda Group!

However, since the Xue Ba Kuai Lai project, a bottomless pit that can continuously lose money, has been bought back, it seems that as long as he continues to burn the ten million, he will be able to burn it all sooner or later.

Well, it's better than not being able to buy it back even with money!

...

At 2 pm, Pei Qian arrived at Dream Realization Ventures.

He Desheng and that person in charge were already waiting in the company.

"Hello, President Pei!"

"President Pei, this is Yu Ping An, the head of the Xue Ba Kuai Lai project from Xu De Education."

"This is President Pei of our Tenda."

He Desheng introduced the two.

Pei Qian went up and grabbed Yu Ping An's hand: "Hello! You've worked hard!"

His face was full of eagerness for talent.

Yu Ping An was a little overwhelmed: "President Pei... I, I didn't work hard."

Pei Qian looked him up and down. He looked honest, but he was probably the sly type.

"Come, please sit down, please sit down."

"Let's get straight to the point. I want you to continue to be in charge of the Xue Ba Kuai Lai project, and I'll directly increase your salary according to Tenda's company standards and give you various benefits. What do you think?" Pei Qian's face was full of anticipation.

Yu Ping An was even more flattered: "President Pei... I, I will definitely not fail my mission!"

Pei Qian nodded with satisfaction: "Well, how are you planning to do it specifically?"

Yu Ping An thought for a while: "The senior executives of Xu De Education are too stupid; they're just messing around! They have to force registration and add various course advertisements to the App, making the entire App smoky and messy!"

"After I take over, I will definitely cut off all these messy things, without leaving any!"

"Let the Xue Ba Kuai Lai App return to its original clean and tidy feel and regain the trust of all users!"

Pei Qian didn't speak.

This Yu Ping An's attitude of desperately throwing the blame is not bad, but the problem is, if he really "de-Xu De Education-izes" it, wouldn't that bring the App back to its original state?

That won't work. Wouldn't my ten million be wasted?

It has to maintain its current state. He can't mess it up for me!

Pei Qian thought for a while and said, "That's not appropriate."

"You should just let this App maintain its current state. Don't cut off any of the existing content, understand?"

"Of course, don't add any new features either."

"In the early stages, stability is the main priority. At this time, inaction is better than action."

Yu Ping An was stunned and subconsciously looked at He Desheng next to him.

He Desheng frowned and said in a low voice, "Why are you looking at me? In our company, no matter what President Pei says, you just need to do exactly what President Pei asks you to do. Think more, don't ask more, understand?"

Yu Ping An nodded quickly: "Yes, yes. President Pei, I will definitely do as you say!"

Pei Qian nodded with satisfaction. Well, this Yu Ping An looks honest and his attitude is not bad. With some training, he might become the next Lü Mingliang.

If he can honestly carry out the tasks he assigned while slyly losing some money, that would be even more perfect!

"Okay, let's do that for now." Pei Qian got up to leave.

He Desheng quickly asked, "President Pei, there's one more thing!"

"There's less than ten million left in the company's account now. What do you think about this money..."

Pei Qian: "..."

He originally planned to use all this money to buy Xue Ba Kuai Lai, but He Desheng slashed the price with his dragon-slaying saber, and it only took more than five million.

The remaining money is still lying in Dream Realization Ventures' company account, which seems a bit shameful for an investment company...

Pei Qian was a little melancholy.

Burn this money on the Xue Ba Kuai Lai project?

No, it's not easy to move this project here as it is. What if it becomes popular again after burning it?

Before he's sure that this project can lose a huge amount of money, he absolutely can't act rashly.

Use the ten million to stock up on phones?

It doesn't seem impossible to consider, but he still has to wait and see how the phones sell tomorrow before making a decision. If the phones don't sell, then he can consider stocking up, but if they sell out, then he definitely can't.

Pei Qian thought about it and it seemed that there was no project that he could invest in that would definitely lose money. He had no choice but to say, "Leave it for now and remind me again in a few days."

He Desheng nodded quickly: "Okay, President Pei."

After sending President Pei away, He Desheng began to hand over work to Yu Ping An.

From today onwards, Yu Ping An will be officially responsible for the Xue Ba Kuai Lai App project.

"Uh, I have another question." Yu Ping An hesitated before saying.

He Desheng: "Hmm? Feel free to speak."

Yu Ping An carefully worded his question: "President Pei said that the existing features on the App can't be cut or added, and must maintain the status quo... does that also include the advertisements for selling Xu De Education courses on it?"

He Desheng smiled slightly: "What do you think? President Pei said 'maintain the status quo,' so we should do everything possible to maintain the status quo."

Yu Ping An looked embarrassed: "But... there are a lot of advertisements for Xu De Education courses on it. It's definitely not appropriate for our App to advertise for them! Besides, Xu De Education definitely won't allow us to use their content for publicity. Continuing to retain information related to Xu De Education may also lead to legal disputes."

He Desheng thought for a while: "Hmm, that's right. But no matter what, we have to complete President Pei's task."

"How about... keep these entrances and replace them with other industries of the Tenda Group? Pick some things that are related to this software and replace them."

"This shouldn't count as cutting features. It fulfills President Pei's requirements and avoids legal risks. It's a win-win."

Yu Ping An nodded: "Hmm, that's what I think too! Then I'll do it according to this!"