After thinking of an excuse, Min Jingchao called Bao Xu.
“Brother Bao, how have you been recently? Have you been busy?” Min Jingchao asked carefully.
“It’s alright. I’m a little busy, but I’m very fulfilled!”
“Why, are you here to support my work?”
Bao Xu was obviously a little surprised on the other end of the line.
That was because ever since he became the person-in-charge of Suffering Travels, these old friends were filled with fear for him. The number of times they contacted him on the phone plummeted. It was as if they were afraid that once they contacted him, they would remind Bao Xu and someone like him to be arranged for a new cycle of Suffering Travels.
Bao Xu really felt wronged about this.
The name list for the torturous trip was set by Boss Pei. I didn’t participate at all!
Of course, if Bao Xu were to decide on this list, he might be even more deranged. However, now, the blame was still Boss Pei’s.
Min Jingchao had not contacted him since he went to Guangzhou. Thus, it was a little suspicious for him to call him now.
Min Jingchao quickly said, “Support your work? Oh, no, no, no. Brother Bao, you’ve misunderstood. No, actually, it’s not a misunderstanding.”
“It’s like this. My new colleague at Sun Strike Studios is more interested in Suffering Travels, so he asked me to ask you for some information.”
Min Jingchao could only “make friends out of nothing” in order not to attract trouble.
However, this seemed more realistic. After all, Bao Xu knew very well that Min Jingchao must have been afraid of Suffering Travels. It would seem more reasonable if it was someone from Sun Strike Studios who did not know the inside story who was asking. This would help Min Jingchao to hide his true intentions.
Bao Xu did not doubt him. Instead, he was very happy. “Really? If you have any questions, ask them. Tell your new colleagues that the registration for Suffering Travels is going to be opened soon. You’re welcome to participate!”
“We’re all familiar faces. It’s easy to negotiate. I’ll definitely take good care of him once he arrives!”
“Ahem ahem.” Min Jingchao cleared his throat. He felt that Bao Xu’s personality had changed drastically after being completely tanned. He was completely different from before.
“Actually, they know a little about the daily training. However, they are most concerned about the price.”
“What are the specific standards for this Suffering Travels?”
Bao Xu introduced, “At the moment, there’s a general charging plan within the Suffering Travels, but it has not been announced to the public.”
“After the official release of the Suffering Travels, every episode will last two months. One month will be spent training in the base, and the other month will be spent traveling. The food and accommodation conditions must be very good. In addition, the air tickets and various travel expenses, the support of professional staff, and some hidden costs, such as the design and logistics support team of the scientific training plan…”
“At the moment, Suffering Travels is in China. Everyone’s charging standard is 35,000 yuan. This is the price after discussing the agreement price with the relevant merchants on the Suffering Travels and lowering the profits as much as possible.”
“However, the places you go to for every torturous trip would be different. The price would definitely change. If you want to go overseas, the cost of air tickets, food, accommodation, and so on would all increase. The price would definitely increase accordingly.”
“Suffering Travels also has a plan to establish an outdoor special training base. If it can be formed, this price should be lower.”
“However, it is mostly floating around this price range.”
Min Jingchao fell into deep thought. “Yes, 35,000 yuan…”
How should he put this price? It was neither expensive nor expensive. The key was how to compare it.
It was two months after all.
Some European tours would cost about 30,000 yuan for two weeks.
As for some attractions in China, according to the price of the tour group for five days, it would cost about 20,000 yuan to play for two months.
There was no need to talk about those particularly scamming low-priced travel teams. They would more or less induce consumption. They were more scamming and the experience would definitely not be good.
The food and accommodation conditions arranged by Tengda were definitely better. He had to consider the fees for training. After all, the private training session at the gym cost two to three hundred yuan an hour. Suffering travel also taught rock climbing and various outdoor survival skills.
He could roughly confirm two points with the price of 35,000 yuan.
First of all, Bao Xu definitely did not think about earning more money. The current price was purely not a loss, or not too much.
Perhaps this was Boss Pei’s idea. Or perhaps Bao Xu himself wanted to attract more people to suffer by lowering the price and achieve his unspeakable goal.
Secondly, the food and accommodation standards should be on a high-quality route. However, there would also be a certain price-quality ratio. They would not mindlessly arrange for places like five-star hotels.
After all, it was a torturous trip. He still had to suffer.
Bao Xu must have felt that he had to ensure that all the team members could rest well. However, he could not go overboard. That would go against the original intention of Suffering Travels.
To Bao Xu, this was obviously a good price to pay.
For those who were not interested in Suffering Travels at all, this price was not affordable.
35,000 yuan. Wouldn’t it be better to go overseas to play? Why suffer in the sewers?
What’s more, time was a very important factor.
Which working adult could take two months off from a torturous trip?
Those who had more time often had no money. It was even more difficult to accept the 35,000 yuan charge.
Thus, when they saw the price, most netizens would definitely say that they were ‘disturbing’.
Of course, Min Jingchao was definitely not looking at this price from the above.
What he wanted to consider was if the price of 35,000 per person would hurt Zhou Muyan.
Hmm… it might hurt, but he might not be able to make Zhou Muyan give up.
After all, once the project succeeded, Sun Strike Studios might distribute tens of thousands of yuan to everyone.
Given Zhou Muyan’s attention to Suffering Travels, it would be a little difficult for him to change his mind with a price of 35,000 per person.
Thus, he had to think of a way to bluff Bao Xu and raise the price!
Min Jingchao had already thought of an excuse in advance. “Brother Bao, I think… oh, no, my colleagues think that this price is not good. It might dampen their enthusiasm to participate.”
Bao Xu was a little surprised. “Huh? How can that be?”
“This price is already very low. Let’s not talk about anything else. Even if I went to a private rock climbing class, it would at least cost two hundred yuan, right? Even though it is one-on-one, I have a one-on-one situation. However, considering the various logistics and other expenses, it’s very difficult to reduce this price…”
Min Jingchao quickly said, “Brother Bao, listen to me. I’m not saying that this is expensive, but it’s too cheap!”
Bao Xu: “Huh?”
Min Jingchao explained, “Brother Bao, what are the employees of Sun Strike Studios? The benefits and treatment are not as good as Tengda but the employees are not lacking in money either!”
“If a project is completed, the monthly bonus would be tens of thousands. Two months is much more precious than thirty thousand yuan to them!”
“Your 35,000 yuan is obviously not on either side.”
“For people without money, they would be exhausted working hard every day. How could they have the leisure and money to suffer? For such people, they would not come even if you reduced it to 20,000 yuan.”
“People with money would be willing to suffer for two months. Would there be a huge difference whether the price is 35,000 yuan or 50,000 yuan? The key is that you have to provide enough good service to them so that they feel that they have gained a lot in the past two months.”
“The services you are providing now might look good to ordinary people, but to these people, it is probably not enough.”
“When people hear that it would only cost 35,000 yuan in two months, they feel that it would definitely not be able to arrange any interesting special content. It would not be classy at all. They might as well fly to Europe to take a photo and post it on their WeChat moments.”
After a moment of silence, Bao Xu probed, “So, you mean… we have to increase the price?”
Min Jingchao nodded. “Yes, we have to increase the price! And more!”
“I think 50,000 yuan per person is more appropriate!”
Fifty thousand yuan was not a small figure. It was the salary of many working-class people for half a year.
What’s more, after reaching 50,000 yuan, it was obviously different from ordinary travel and travel expenses.
Zhou Muyan would definitely be able to afford it. However, in his opinion, the price-quality ratio would probably become very poor.
It was just like how many people would feel when they were spending. It would be nice if they could reduce the price by 500 yuan for the same product. It would be bad if they increased the price by 500 yuan.
Bao Xu pondered for a moment and said, “However, the service we provide now should not be able to reach this level of 50,000 yuan.”
“In other words, I have to upgrade the content of the service? For example, increasing suffering?”
Min Jingchao shuddered when he heard this.
Good lord, did he even increase the sufferings?
You must not let others know that I was the one who suggested this. Otherwise, I’ll be finished!
However, since he had already said that, Min Jingchao could only say, “Think about it yourself.”
He did not want Bao Xu to “upgrade the service”. However, it did not make sense for the service not to be upgraded after the price was raised.
Bao Xu was silent for a while more. Then, as if he had figured it out, he said happily, “Thank you. This suggestion is very inspiring to me. I will seriously consider it!”
“Help me thank your colleagues. When they come to participate in the Suffering Travels, I can give them a huge internal discount!”
Min Jingchao sniggered inwardly.
My colleagues? I’m sorry, they would not be going.
When Zhou Muyan saw that the price was so expensive, he might choose other alternatives. At that time, everyone would be happy. The colleagues in the Bullet Hole 2 project team would happily bring their salaries and escape the fate of suffering.
“Alright, Brother Bao. Go back to work. We’ll talk later.”
Min Jingchao heaved a sigh of relief after hanging up.
Now that he was halfway through, he had to look for Zhou Muyan to complete the other half.
After the lunch break, Min Jingchao came to report the development progress to Zhou Muyan as usual.
After reporting, Min Jingchao pretended to unintentionally mention Suffering Travels.
“That’s right, Boss Zhou. When I was chatting with Tengda’s friends, I asked about the price of Suffering Travels.”
Zhou Muyan was originally looking at the proposal but he immediately looked up. “Oh? How much?”
Min Jingchao said, “Everyone should be above 50,000 yuan.”
“Tsk…” Zhou Muyan frowned and sucked in a deep breath.
50,000 yuan per person?
That would be too much.
Zhou Muyan might be very satisfied with the contents of the Suffering Travels but did he have to spend so much money just to train rock climbing and survive in the wild?
If he were to organize his own employees to travel, that would be much better.
Zhou Muyan frowned and said, “It’s a little expensive. I think it’s acceptable if the price is about 30,000 yuan.”
“How about… you discuss with Sun Xi and we change our plan?”
Min Jingchao was overjoyed, but he could not make it too obvious. He tried hard to remain calm. “Yes, of course, we have no problem. We’ll listen to your arrangements, Boss Zhou.”
Zhou Muyan said, “Alright, I’ll get someone to check on the other alternatives. Whether it’s paid travel or paid leave, I’ll think about it again.”
“What’s more, Suffering Travels is not in a hurry to deny it. The price is not out yet.”
“Of course, I can trust you with your news. However, the price has not been set yet. There might be changes.”
Min Jingchao could not help but snicker inwardly. The price would indeed change, but Bao Xu had obviously been deceived by him. Even if the change happened, it would only be higher and not lower.
Alright, the escape from Suffering Travels has been a huge success so far!