Chapter 1139 - An Old Friend Came to Jingzhou

It was very troublesome to open traditional gyms. The key was sales and private training talents. It was not easy to find.

If the gym’s sales were not good and they could not get a membership, the coach did not have any muscles and left an unreliable first impression on the customers, the gym would probably lose money even if it opened.

However, Star Bird Fitness was different. It took a different route. The gym was filled with smart fitness drying racks and aerobic equipment. The daily training schedule was arranged by Fitness Battle. Sales and private training could be axed.

He only needed to retain positions like ‘manager’ and ‘front desk’. At most, he would hire three or four professional fitness trainers to answer questions on the spot.

Such personnel training was much simpler than traditional training.

What’s more, the expenses of the gym had been reduced by a lot after removing the cost of these people. The timetable fees, monthly fees, and other charging models were very flexible. They were not as pressured as traditional gyms to earn money. They could also reduce the fees slightly.

This “lightweight fitness model” was actually very popular among young people and office workers.

Li Shi and the other investors had been buying a large number of properties in the name of the company over the past few days.

Che Rong was working hard on expanding Star Bird Fitness and opening branches.

Everything was progressing in an orderly manner.

…

…

July 6th, Friday.

Pei Qian was checking the reports of the various departments in his office.

“Dream Realization Ventures has already invested in Star Bird Fitness. He Desheng is still reliable.”

“Yes, He Desheng did quite well. Not bad.”

“Star Bird Fitness should be able to snatch some of Deposit Fitness’ market when it develops since we are both gyms, right?”

“On the other hand, GOG…”

“The summer promotion has been running for so long. What’s Finger Games’ reaction?!”

Pei Qian flipped through Tengda Games’ reports for a long time, including Shang Yang Games’. However, he could not find any information about their summer promotion.

This meant that there were no problems with the summer promotion until now. Everything was smoothly carried out according to the original plan.

However, that was the biggest problem!

Was that what Finger Games was doing?

Pei Qian had carefully prepared for this summer promotional event. He had bargained with the system and considered Finger Games’ bottom line. It had not been easy for him to come up with a friendly promotional plan for everyone.

In the end, on June 26th, when Finger Games started their promotional activities, they insisted on giving 40% discounts to go head on with Tengda’s 50% to 70% discounts.

Pei Qian decided to wait as he felt disappointed.

What if Finger Games did not reach a consensus and needed further discussion?

He had waited for this day after so long.

It had been more than a week since the summer event. It should end next Wednesday. Pei Qian could not sit still anymore.

When will Finger Games burn money with me?!

He could not wait any longer!

“Sigh, look at Finger Games. I’m afraid we won’t be able to squeeze out anything in the short term.”

“Forget it, let them recuperate. I’ll forget about it this time. I’ll burn money with them in the next cycle.”

Pei Qian felt that this could not continue seeing no response from Finger Games.

GOG’s summer promotional activities had to enter the next stage even if Finger Games did not react.

Finger Games might be fearless now and would not react no matter how stimulating it was but Pei Qian still had to continue spending money for the settlement.

Previously, Pei Qian did not set the first stage of the summer promotion event to be too far-fetching in order to take care of Finger Games’ fragile soul. He left some room.

Now, he could go all out.

It was fine if Finger Games did not follow this time. In any case, there were still many opportunities in the future.

Pei Qian quickly decided on the promotional plan for the second half of the summer promotional event.

Pei Qian sighed silently as he read the proposal.

Sigh, how hopeless.

It was like he had agreed to compete with the other party but was stood up by the other party. He could only hit the sandbag helplessly that he had praised for three days angrily.

It was hard to find a good friend!

…

…

July 8th, Sunday.

Shanghai high-speed rail station.

“Boss Zhao, there’s no need to send me off. Go back. It’s not my first time in Jingzhou.” Eric held his suitcase and said goodbye to Zhao Xuming.

Zhao Xuming was still a little sad. “However, when you return, you’ll land in Shanghai and fly straight to Europe. We would not have a chance to meet again then.”

“You’re making it sound serious, but… I think this is most likely just a routine report. You might be overthinking.”

Eric shook his head. “I have a feeling and know what the higher-ups are thinking.”

“Nothing good will happen if they want me to go back before the summer event ends.”

Zhao Xuming said angrily, “In my opinion, Boss Pei’s second-stage summer promotion event on Friday was definitely premeditated! This is a psychological attack! It’s simply like playing with all the shells as fireworks after winning and showing off!”

Eric sighed. “What can we do?”

Eric was helpless about this summer promotional event.

He wanted to burn money with Boss Pei. It was easy to talk to Finger Games, but Dayak Corporation could no longer accept it.

This time, Eric did not fly to Los Angeles to meet the upper echelons of Finger Games, but to Europe to meet the upper echelons of Dayak Corporation. There was a fundamental difference between the two.

He might not have said what it was exactly but it was not a very positive signal to rush around the other higher-ups of Finger Games to summon Eric during the summer rush.

Eric was fundamentally different from Chrétien as the person-in-charge of the China region.

Chrétien was originally one of the core designers in Finger Games, but Eric was originally a high-level executive of Dayak Corporation’s media business.

Dayak Corporation had rejected the person-in-charge of Finger Games’ original China region and parachuted Eric in when he first became the person-in-charge of the Chinese region.

Eric might have to report to the upper echelons of Finger Games in his daily work but he obviously still represented Dayak Corporation.

Eric had a premonition that he might still have a chance to return to Shanghai. However, even if he returned, it would probably not be the current situation.

Thus, he planned to make a trip to Jingzhou before leaving. It would be best if he could meet Boss Pei. If not, he could at least see how Jingzhou looked now.

Tengda’s various industries were expanding rapidly from the discussions online. They were no longer satisfied with Jingzhou or even Handong Province. All sorts of physical industries had already taken root in first-tier cities like Beijing and Shanghai.

Even Shanghai had opened branches of Fish-Catching Internet Cafe, Fish-Catching Take-Out, and Deposit Fitness.

In that case, what would it be like in Jingzhou, where Tengda’s headquarters was located?

Eric walked into the high-speed rail station after waving goodbye to Zhao Xuming.

Zhao Xuming got into the car with a melancholic expression.

“Sigh, actually working with Eric is not bad. At the very least, he would fight to take the blame.”

“I hope you don’t change the person-in-charge. IOI’s current revenue might not be as good as expected but it is still making money.”

Zhao Xuming sighed. He knew that he could not say anything about this. Who knew what the upper echelons of Dayak Corporation were thinking?

…

…

July 9th, Monday…

Pei Qian was still sleeping at 9 AM when his cell phone rang.

He glanced at the caller ID. It was an unknown number from Shanghai.

Pei Qian picked up his phone. “Hello?”

A slightly accented foreigner’s voice came from the phone. “Boss Pei, it’s not easy to get your phone number…”

Pei Qian was stunned for a moment, but then recalled this voice.

Eric!

His voice was not very recognizable, but he was a foreigner after all. He had an accent, and Pei Qian knew very few foreigners who spoke Mandarin. Thus, he immediately remembered.

Pei Qian instinctively felt excited when he heard Eric’s voice.

Could it be…?

You want to burn money with me?

Was he here to issue a challenge?

He looked at the date. It was only July 9th. There were still three days until the end of July 11th’s summer promotion. He might only have one tail left, but he would still be welcomed if he was willing to burn money with me!

Pei Qian could not help but smile. “So it’s you, Brother Eric! Why did you think of calling me today?”

Eric corrected him speechlessly. “Not today. I arrived in Jingzhou yesterday. I’ve been wanting to call you.”

“In the end, I asked a few of Tengda’s employees. They said that they did not work during the weekend and could not disturb your rest. They were unwilling to give me your phone number.”

“I didn’t get your number until it was time for work this morning.”

“It’s a good thing that the air tickets I booked are for around 8 PM tonight. Otherwise, I would have to change my visa just to meet you.”

“I have to take the high-speed rail back to Shanghai at 1 PM. There are still a few hours. Boss Pei, can we meet?”

Pei Qian was a little embarrassed.

Look at what happened!

If I had known that you were here yesterday, I would have given up playing games at home to meet you.

Now, there were only a few hours left. How rushed was that? It was too late to even have a good meal.

“Alright, let’s meet at Ming House. I’ll treat you to lunch.”

What a pity. If it was Sunday, he could have eaten at the nameless restaurant. Eric might not have a huge appetite, but he should not have any problems woofing down a few lobsters.

However, there was no reservation today since it was Monday. He could only eat at Boss Li’s restaurant.

Pei Qian struggled to get out of bed and wash up even though he was still a little sleepy. He was going to meet an old friend who was burning money for him after all.

His hair was a little messy. At first, Pei Qian was hesitant about whether he should wash his hair or something. However, he decided that it did not matter whether he washed his hair or not since he was going to meet Eric.

He had been waiting the entire day. It was better to arrive earlier.