Losing Money to Be a Tycoon

Che Rong sat down on the sofa and placed the materials that he had just prepared aside.

Li Shi smiled. “It’s alright. I just arrived not long ago. However... Boss Che, have you encountered any difficulties recently? Why are you selling your house? We’re all friends. If you really lack money, you can tell me. I’ll lend you some money to tie over. There’s no need to sell your house.”

Che Rong shook his head. “Sigh, that’s not it. The main problem is that Star Bird Fitness is opening more branches recently. I don’t think it’s a good idea to continue leaving the money in those houses. There’s no potential for appreciation, so I sold it to Star Bird Fitness.”

Li Shi nodded slightly. That was completely understandable.

Previously, Che Rong did not sell because he might lose money if he sold it. Secondly, Star Bird Fitness’s situation was not optimistic. Investing money into it would most likely be making ducks and drakes. It was not worth it.

However, now that Star Bird Fitness had changed to a new model, the response was very enthusiastic. The profitability was higher than expected. There might be other investors’ funding, but to Che Rong, it was better to invest more money than to continue building houses.

Li Shi casually asked, “Where is it?”

Che Rong answered, “Oh, the Auspicious Garden. It’s not far from the north of the snack market.”

Li Shi put down his teacup and pondered for a moment. “North of the snack market? Oh, I remember that place. I went to inspect it previously.”

“There’s no big problem with the sale. After all, this place is a little far from the snack market. You won’t be able to eat much dividends. You can invest more money into Star Bird Fitness with the cash.”

“We can’t just say that we are incurring losses or earning profits. We can only say that both options have their pros and cons.”

Che Rong sipped his tea and said casually, “Speaking of which, there was a rather interesting episode when we were selling the house. The person who bought the house was very young, in his early twenties. His surname was Pei. At that time, I was almost scared when I heard it. I thought it was Boss Pei.”

“However, on further thought, how could it be Boss Pei? Why would Boss Pei personally go there to buy a house? Haha.”

Li Shi did not take it too seriously and asked casually, “What does he look like?”

Che Rong shook his head. “I don’t know. He was wearing a mask the entire time.”

“Eh?” Li Shi put down his teacup.

At first, he did not suspect anything. After all, there were many young people in Jingzhou with the surname Pei. The possibility of Boss Pei buying a house there was very low. It was most likely a coincidence.

However... He was wearing a mask during the hot summer?

That was very problematic!

Li Shi remembered that Boss Pei really liked wearing masks, especially when he was “walking around in casual clothings”. He would wear a mask in order to avoid being recognized.

Could it be...?

There was indeed a possibility even though Li Shi felt that this was unlikely.

Suddenly, his gaze fell on the pile of materials beside Che Rong.

Wouldn’t he know who the buyer was after looking at the contract?

“Boss Che, do you mind showing me the contract?” Li Shi asked.

“Oh, sure. But Boss Li, why do you want to look at the contract?” Che Rong put down his teacup and handed the contract over.

Li Shi flipped it and fell silent.

Che Rong noticed Li Shi’s strange expression and asked, “Boss Li? What’s wrong?”

Li Shi read the material several times. Obviously, he found it hard to accept this conclusion as well. However, he calmed down and said, “The person who bought your house is really Boss Pei himself...”

“Huh?” Che Rong was stunned. He could not accept it.

Was that Boss Pei?

He kept calling him ‘little brother’ when he was selling his house!

It was a good thing that he did not talk about his impressive entrepreneurial history just because he looked young. Otherwise, wouldn’t he be so ashamed that he would find a hole to hide in?

Li Shi handed the document back. “How can this be fake? How can I mistake Boss Pei’s photo?”

Che Rong was confused. “But... Why would Boss Pei go there to buy a house? Why would he go there personally? To settle the procedures?”

“This is completely unreasonable!”

Li Shi nodded slightly. “Yes... it’s completely unreasonable.”

Logically speaking, why would Boss Pei buy a house there? There were so many good districts in Jingzhou. If Boss Pei wanted to buy a house, he should have bought a few villas, right? Why would he buy a house that was only 170 square meters in an ordinary district?

What’s more, even if he wanted to buy it, he could just get his subordinates to do it. Why did he have to hide his identity and settle the procedures?

Unless...

Was it because Boss Pei did not want others to know and had another purpose?

That should be the only possible explanation!

Li Shi frowned and fell into deep thought.

Che Rong did not dare to disturb him. Obviously, anything that involved Boss Pei was no small matter.

There must be something hidden behind this!

However, he could not analyze it with his ability. He could only rely on Boss Li.

Li Shi rubbed his chin and began to analyze.

“Why does Boss Pei buy this house?”

“Invest? Definitely not. If he intends to invest, he would definitely not just buy this unit. Instead, he would send his subordinates to buy the entire building.”

“Own use? There’s a possibility, but it’s not very likely. A house that’s only 170 square meters is very ordinary to Boss Pei. Even if Boss Pei wanted to live in it, he would most likely live in a big flat in the city center or a villa in the suburbs. Putting everything else aside, the flat in Sloth Apartments is much bigger and closer to the company.”

“Therefore... The only explanation is that this is at most one of Boss Pei’s many properties. He bought it to observe the snack market and Sloth Apartments at a close distance!”

Che Rong nodded slightly. Obviously, Boss Li’s analysis made sense.

“However... if he wanted to observe the snack market and Sloth Apartments from a close distance, he should buy a closer house, right?” Che Rong asked suspiciously.

There were many houses near the snack market. Houses that were closer to the snack market were sold for more than ten thousand yuan. However, even if it was more than ten thousand yuan, Boss Pei would be able to afford it with his financial resources. It was even less likely that he would find it expensive.

To Boss Pei, was there a difference whether a house was priced at eight or ten thousand yuan?

Why did he buy a house slightly further away from the snack market then?

Li Shi took the map. “The only explanation is... there are factors that we cannot see in this location.”

“Look, this is the Auspicious Garden District. It’s southwest of the snack market, and southeast of it is the Thriller Hostel. It’s roughly shaped into a triangular shape.”

“If it was just for these two projects, he should have bought the house at the side of the snack street. However, now, there is an additional journey inexplicably.”

“Does this mean that... there will be some projects in the future in the north of the Auspicious Garden District?”

“It would make sense if there are new projects in the north of the Auspicious Garden District. This house can focus on multiple projects at the same time. The distance from each project is acceptable!”

“As for why Boss Pei wore a mask and personally handled the procedures... Obviously, he did not want to leak the news and attract too much attention!”

Che Rong was stunned for a moment before he said, “Boss Li, do you mean that this house is going to appreciate? Then I’ll be selling at a loss!”

Li Shi glanced at him. “Stupid! Would you lose out if you sold it to Boss Pei?”

“Boss Pei will definitely find other ways to make up for it!”

“Think about it. Did Boss Pei say anything to you?”

Che Rong tried hard to recall. “Er... Boss Pei asked about the gym’s name when we were chatting previously. However, he only asked casually and did not say anything else.”

Li Shi nodded slightly. “That’s right! Boss Pei must be planning to invest a sum of money into Star Bird Fitness in private. Otherwise, he would not have deliberately asked.”

Che Rong could not help but feel excited.

Boss Pei would personally invest?

Wouldn’t Star Bird Fitness take off on the spot?

In fact, Star Bird Fitness was already showing signs of taking off after being invested by Boss Li and the others. However, it was still a level away from Tengda.

For example, the delivery of the smart fitness drying rack was done through Boss Li to contact Chang You. There were several levels after all.

If the cooperation between the two parties could obtain Boss Pei’s approval, it would only be to cozy up to the substitute of someone powerful. Now, it was equivalent to cozy up to someone powerful!

Che Rong asked, “Then... Boss Li, what are you going to do? Are you going to pretend not to know? Or are you going to buy a lot of property in this district?”

Obviously, since Boss Pei was buying a house here, it meant that the property prices would definitely skyrocket!

Wouldn’t it be the best time to buy it now?

Li Shi nodded, and then shook his head. “I want to buy the houses here, but... it’s not to generate profits.”

Che Rong was stunned. “Why is that?”

Li Shi explained, “Can’t you tell that Boss Pei has always been very resistant to ‘property speculation’?”

Che Rong recalled carefully. “Yes... Indeed, when I told Boss Pei about my experience, especially when I said that I wanted to invest the money of the house into the gym, his eyes seemed to approve.”

“What’s more, if Boss Pei wanted to sell houses, he would definitely buy the properties here on a large scale. However, from what I know, he only bought this one.”

Li Shi nodded. “That’s right. Tengda Corporation might have bought some houses so far, but it’s not much compared to the size of the entire company. What’s more, they used them to make Sloth Apartments and rented them out at a very low price.”

“It can be seen that Boss Pei is very resistant to property speculation.”

“In that case, if we buy houses on a large scale under Boss Pei’s nose and raise the price, we might be able to make money but we would lose Boss Pei’s favor. It would not be worth it!”

Che Rong pondered for a moment. “Then... should we pretend not to know?”

Li Shi shook his head again. “No!”

“Boss Pei must have chosen this place to buy a house because of some special reason. He knew that the price would increase here.”

“Then, after some time, these reasons will definitely surface. Others will still come to speculate on the houses!”

“At that time, property prices will still be inflated. We won’t be able to do anything.”

Che Rong was confused. “What should we do then?”

Li Shi said, “In order to prevent others from speculating, we have to buy the houses here as much as possible. Forget about the houses that we live in, we have to buy all the houses in the hands of those speculators now!”

“After buying it, we can learn from the Sloth Apartments model and rent it out at a cheaper price.”

“That way, we would not be able to generate too much profit from this place.. Those who really want to live here would be able to live in good houses. What’s more, this behavior should be recognized by Boss Pei!”