June 15th, Wednesday.
Around 11 AM, Pei Qian sat up in bed, scratching his bird’s nest of hair.
After spacing out for half a minute, Pei Qian decided to get up, wash up, and then check the aftermath of yesterday’s Slackin’ Internet Café 3.0—that is, the Esports Life Hall—opening ceremony.
While brushing his teeth, he recalled yesterday’s nightmare in his mind.
“OTTO Technology made a feature-rich software for Tuoguan Fitness.”
“Slackin’ Internet Café 3.0 was turned into an Esports Life Hall, and it was made extremely cool, with even the computer lights showing off.”
“Xiao Peng blew a lot of hot air about a ‘Grand Esports Ecosystem,’ firmly binding games, esports, and internet cafés together.”
“DGE Esports Club played an exhibition match, confirming Xiao Peng’s Grand Esports Ecosystem concept, and also promoted Tuoguan Fitness in the process.”
“And the last scene I remember was numerous gaming media surrounding Xiao Peng and the club members for interviews.”
“Ah, what a nightmare!”
As Pei Qian carefully recalled, yesterday’s Slackin’ Internet Café 3.0 launch was full of twists and turns, with misfortunes one after another!
After washing up, Pei Qian had mentally prepared himself for the current situation.
Based on the available information, this first Slackin’ Internet Café 3.0 was likely to become popular.
Popular right from its opening, setting the worst record since the establishment of the Slackin’ Internet Café business.
However, this wasn’t too serious a problem. After all, when setting up the store, Pei Qian already knew that Slackin’ Internet Café was a high-risk industry. Not to mention anything else, just the loyal Slackin’ Internet Café users in Jingzhou alone could probably sustain this 3.0 model café.
Besides, internet cafés are inherently high-investment, slow-return businesses. Even if they start making money right after opening, it would take a long time to recover the initial massive investments, including renovation costs, computer and peripheral equipment expenses, and so on.
But what Pei Qian couldn’t accept was that this Xiao Peng had impulsively created such a grand event, directly promoting the esports club and Tuoguan Fitness as well!
If these two suddenly started making money, that would be truly unacceptable to Pei Qian.
So, after mentally preparing himself, Pei Qian sat on the sofa and opened his laptop, intending to check related news reports to confirm whether the esports club and Tuoguan Fitness were still safe.
After searching separately for DGE Esports Club and Tuoguan Fitness, Pei Qian found some reports.
“DGE Esports Club Schedule Exposed: How to Cultivate Esports Heartthrobs!”
“Shocking! Before-and-After Fitness Photos of DGE Esports Club Members—Whose Change is the Greatest?”
“In-Depth Analysis of the New ‘Tuoguan Fitness’ Model: Could This Be Part of Tenda’s Grand Strategy?”
After reading a few reports, Pei Qian felt slightly relieved.
It seemed that DGE Esports Club had only sparked discussions and gained some attention, but there was no risk of profitability.
The situation with Tuoguan Fitness was a bit precarious, with many reports hyping this new model. However, judging from the comments below, many consumers still maintained a skeptical attitude.
After all, the price and the bundled fitness meal consumption were hard for many people to accept.
In short, the buzz and name recognition had indeed grown significantly, which would inevitably translate into some profit, but to say it would turn losses into gains and instantly become a hit… seemed premature.
Pei Qian breathed a small sigh of relief.
In just one day, things hadn’t had time to get that bad yet; signs were just beginning to emerge.
Pei Qian then started searching for reports about the opening day of Slackin’ Internet Café 3.0.
However, the first thing he found was a news article from Gaming Fun Times.
The headline was: “Exclusive! Tenda Group’s Mr. Pei Appears at Esports Life Hall, Makes Surprising Interpretation…”
Pei Qian: “?”
What is this?
That reporter figured out my true identity? Didn’t I call myself “Mr. Ma, who wishes to remain anonymous”?
And what’s with this clickbait news headline!
Recalling those unpleasant interview experiences before, Pei Qian instinctively felt a sense of crisis and quickly clicked to view.
I have to say, clickbait titles do work.
Even Mr. Pei was deceived into clicking without any resistance.
“At 1 PM on June 14th, the opening ceremony of Slackin’ Internet Café 3.0 model store and Tenda Group’s first Esports Life Hall was held as scheduled on the fourth floor of Hongde Mall’s south wing near Handong University…”
There was nothing special at the beginning, mainly introducing the day’s scene, including some photos, and so on.
Pei Qian quickly skipped ahead to see the crucial part that followed.
“What is little known is that on the opening day, Tenda Group’s President, Mr. Pei, was also present, but he very low-key wore a mask and didn’t arrange any speech segments, just silently watching the entire opening ceremony from beginning to end.”
“Fortunately, when interviewing audience members at the scene, I happened to interview a Mr. Ma who wished to remain anonymous. After confirmation from a service staff, this low-key and handsome young man was indeed Tenda Group’s Mr. Pei!”
Seeing this, Pei Qian tried hard to control the corners of his mouth, not letting himself show too obvious a smile.
Although this reporter was clickbaity, when it came to reporting on such key issues, he was quite factual!
“Although using the pseudonym ‘Mr. Ma, Mr. Pei still provided in-depth answers to the questions I posed. Below, let me bring you first-hand information from the scene!”
“When answering questions about the ‘Grand Esports Ecosystem,’ Mr. Pei indicated that he did not fully agree with CEO Xiao’s concept. Obviously, in Mr. Pei’s planning, the true ‘Grand Esports Ecosystem’ would be more complex than what CEO Xiao described, and the blueprint that CEO Xiao presented to us is just the tip of the iceberg of Tenda Group’s ambitions.”
“When answering the question about ‘whether esports will impact life,’ Mr. Pei stated that the esports industry has already profoundly impacted his life, also hinting at his firm belief that in the future, esports will, like traditional sports, become an indispensable part of people’s lives, just as Tenda has brought tremendous changes to Jingzhou, affecting all aspects of public life.”