Chapter 379 - My Only Requirement is that It Must be Easy to Take Down (2/2)

At that moment, the entire conference room fell silent. Perhaps no one had ever encountered this scene before.

Zhang Wang looked lost as well. He lowered his tone and said again, “I’m here to talk about the project.”

Pei Qian immediately stood up and waved at everyone else. “What are you waiting for? Serve him tea! Come, Mr. Zhang. Please, take a seat.”

Pei Qian gestured for Zhang Wang to take the empty seat across from him, in front of the conference table.

Someone served Zhang Wang a cup of hot tea, which Zhang Wang took with a ‘thanks’. Pei Qian said, “Don’t be nervous. Drink it slowly. It must have been tiring for you to run here. Catch your breath first. We can talk about the project when you’re ready.”

Zhang Wang blew at his tea and then downed the entire cup in one breath. Finally, he looked at the young man across from him, who had been talking to him the entire time.

Obviously, this was the potential investor. However, Mr. Zhang had no idea how to address him.

He Desheng quickly introduced Pei Qian. “This is Boss Pei, the CEO of Tengda Corporation. This is Boss Ma, the CEO of Dream Realization Ventures.”

Zhang Wang looked excited. “Boss Pei, Boss Ma, thank you both for giving me this opportunity! I’ll tell you both about my project-shared umbrellas!

“We always meet with this troublesome situation: we’re out on a rainy day with no umbrella. We could buy one from a random roadside stall, but it would be expensive yet with poor quality. Pei Qian, “?” He raised his hand, gesturing for Zhang Wang to stop talking at once. “Wait, wait, wait. What did you say your project was?”

Zhang Wang paused and then answered, “Shared umbrellas.”

Question marks filled the minds of everyone around the conference table at once.

Pei Qian cleared his throat and said, “…but your proposal is about shared phone booths.”

Zhang Wang was obviously stunned. Laughing awkwardly, he said, “Yes, yes, yes. Shared phone booths is also my project! I’m sorry, Boss Pei. I have too many ideas, and I’m finding it difficult to remember them all.

“Boss Pei, I wonder if you’d be interested in my shared umbrellas project. Do you want to invest in that, too?”

Ma Yang’s eyes lit up with interest. He whispered to Pei Qian, “Brother Qian, that project sounds more reliable than phone booths!”

Pei Qian’s expression darkened.

Shared umbrellas? That project sounds too reliable. Why would I invest in that?

Er, actually, it’s hard to tell if it’ll be reliable, but at least it’ll be useful. Usefulness indicates risk!

Pei Qian shook his head. “I’m not interested in shared umbrellas for now. Tell me more about the shared phone booths.”

“Alright, Boss Pei.” Zhang Wang did not look that disappointed. “I got the idea for shared phone booths because of how much I miss public phone booths…”

Pei Qian had a feeling that Zhang Wang was about to start a long, meaningless monologue. He quickly raised his hand to stop him.

“Alright, alright. You don’t have to introduce the project in so much detail. Your investment proposal is already extremely detailed.”

He Desheng instinctively looked down at the proposal. Was this one-page proposal considered ‘extremely detailed’?

Pei Qian continued speaking. “I’m going to ask you a few simple, key questions. Answer me as simply and directly as you can, alright?”

Zhang Wang nodded. “No problem, Boss Pei!”

Pei Qian asked, “How did you come up with the budget of two hundred thousand yuan?”

Zhang Wang confidently answered, “Boss Pei, I did my calculations. I plan to invest in twenty shared phone booths. The cost of constructing each one would be ten thousand yuan.

“The booth would be 2.4 meters high, made of tinplate, and sprayed with high-temperature paint. It would also have exquisitely carved, retro door handles and wooden flooring. The workmanship would be exquisite and beautiful. The booth itself would cost about five thousand yuan to build.

“Apart from that, an additional five thousand yuan would be required to do up the rest of the booth.

“That would add up to two hundred thousand yuan.”

Once he finished speaking, Zhang Yuan gazed at Pei Qian expectantly.

After some thought, Pei Qian said, “That wouldn’t do.

“You’re going to spend the full two hundred thousand yuan at one shot? How can you not have spare cash on hand when working on a project?

“How about this? I’ll give you five hundred thousand yuan. Think about what else you could add to the phone booths. If all else fails, you can come up with the design for the interior and exterior of the phone booth from scratch!”

Zhang Wang looked elated. “Alright, Boss Pei! No problem!”

Pei Qian thought about something else and said, “Oh yes, the booths must be easy to build and easy to take down. That’s my only requirement.”

Zhang Wang chewed on this for a moment and then nodded. “Alright. I don’t think that’s necessary, but since Boss Pei has spoken, I’ll see to it!”

Pei Qian had no other requirements for this project. All he wanted was for the booths to be easy to take down. That way-once the project failed, he would be able to take the booths down and sell the scraps. He could avoid creating a rubbish disposal problem in the city.

After all, Boss Pei’s only aim was to incur losses. He did not want to become a burden to the city. He had to be a man of character.

Speaking of which, Pei Qian suddenly realized that the System had not issued him a warning against investing in an unreliable project like that. Had five hundred thousand yuan become nothing in the System’s eyes?

After all, the System had already permitted him to spend five million yuan on charity.

Pei Qian could not help but feel sorrowful. System, System… it looks like you still don’t understand the concept of nipping the problem in the bud.

Many five hundred thousands could add up to a lot!

Still, being able to throw five hundred thousand yuan away was a good start!