Chapter 1445: Zoo Site Visit
Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
Gao Ming sighed, feeling unlucky.
Why was he being targeted by Tengda and Boss Pei?
Now, many internet companies in the country were living in fear every day, afraid that they would be targeted by Tengda.
That was because once Tengda targeted you, you would not feel good no matter whether you were a big or small company!
What was more ridiculous was that Tengda’s current ambitions had been completely revealed. In the past, it had only made transitions in the fields around the game. It had done business like internet cafes and e-sports. It did not seem to form a direct compet.i.tion or conflict with many internet giants.
However, it was different now. The dagger was revealed!
Tengda’s approach had completely changed. It started from the game and began to affect reality!
The Real Estate Agent Simulator and Safe and Civilized Driving were basically laying their cards on the table.
The key was that many big companies that looked very powerful suddenly became weak. There was no way to counterattack!
“Boss Pei is really a terrifying person…”
Gao Ming could not help but feel emotional. It was like a nightmare when compared to Boss Pei.
That was because you would never know what he would do next!
What happened this time seemed to have nothing to do with Boss Pei. After all, Slow Movement Studio was only a VR game company that Tengda and Shenhua had invested in. It was operating independently, and Sloth Apartments was only a subsidiary brand under Tengda. Basically, it had its own development plan.
However, who could separate themselves from Boss Pei for the change in Sloth Apartments model and the method of using games to influence reality?
They would definitely not believe that Boss Pei was not the one who instructed them!
However, there was no helping it even if they knew. Boss Pei was too strong. It would be fine if he did not make a move, but once he made a move, he would definitely win. Other companies could only lie flat when they encountered such a situation.
Of course, even if he said he was going to do nothing, he would only do so for Sloth Apartments. For other companies, he would go all out!
After careful consideration, Gao Ming also provided a countermeasure to the higher-ups.
Sloth Apartments was aggressive, and they had Shenhua Real Estate and the Real Estate Agent Simulator. It was impossible to turn the tables in the short term. If Sloth Apartments continued to s.n.a.t.c.h the high-end market that belonged to Home Corporation, the market share and profits would definitely decrease, and the stock price would decrease…
That was absolutely unacceptable.
Thus, Gao Ming thought of a way: to s.n.a.t.c.h the business of other small intermediaries!
Home Corporation might be the biggest rental platform in the country at the moment, but the market share was only about 60%. There were other rental brands and small intermediaries in the market.
These people also had many clients and property.
For Home Corporation, the high-end market would probably not be able to compete with Sloth Apartments. They could not move up, but they could sink.
As long as these small intermediary companies could be squeezed out, the market share and profits would be stabilized!
Of course, this could only be said to be a helpless solution. Once the strategic focus was adjusted downwards, the gap between the two companies in the high-end market would only widen with Sloth Apartments deep in the high-end market. There would probably be no possibility of making a comeback in the future.
However, he had no choice. Home Corporation had no better choice.
Was he going to fight the high-end market with Sloth Apartments now, and then do useless work, causing the market share and share prices to continue to fall, so that those small intermediary companies would take advantage of the loopholes? Or would he give up fighting Sloth Apartments to s.n.a.t.c.h those small intermediaries to maintain the market share and share prices?
This was a dilemma. However, after struggling for so long, Home Corporation realized that the former was impossible. They could only choose the latter.
If nothing went wrong, the brilliant plan should be pa.s.sed very quickly.
“Sigh, how good would it be if Boss Pei did not exist in this world…”
Gao Ming felt that many bosses of companies should have the same thoughts as him.
…
At the same time, the ‘culprit’ Pei Qian was at home, trying hard to resist the temptation of the big television as he continued to conceptualize his graduation thesis.
On work days, he would go to his office to write his thesis. That was slightly more efficient.
However, he had no choice. It was the weekend. The office was not open.
Although Pei Qian could come and go as he pleased, as the boss, he could not give his employees such bad ideas!
When everyone saw that Boss Pei was working overtime, the trend would change! If they all came to work overtime, something big would happen.
“F*ck! I can’t concentrate during the weekend!”
After struggling for a while, Pei Qian gave up resisting helplessly.
He would think about the thesis on Monday.
However, he did not give in to the temptation of the big television and game machine. He began to think about arranging something meaningful for this weekend. For example, he roughly finalized the matter of the zoo that had been delayed for a long time.
In fact, the inspection of the candidates for the zoo director had been going on for a period of time. Liang Qingfan had also received a lot of advice on the location and structure of the zoo.
However, Pei Qian had not made his decision yet because he had been busy writing the thesis on his work day.
It was the weekend and he was not in the mood to write a thesis. He might as well spend two days to finalize the zoo so that he would not keep thinking about it.
After all, the zoo project was the most important part of spending money.
After lunch, Little Sun followed Pei Qian to a private zoo in a county city near Jingzhou.
There was nothing special about this private zoo. The reason why Pei Qian came all the way here was mainly to inspect the director of this zoo.
They finally arrived after an hour of long journey.
“Boss Pei, we’re here,” said Little Sun.
Pei Qian took two naps in the car before turning to look out of the window.
Good lord, this place was much more deserted than he had imagined.
Of course, it did not seem appropriate to say that it was desolate because this place looked like the outskirts of a very ordinary small county. It was not deserted. There was a small market nearby. It was quite lively.
Pei Qian felt that this place was deserted mainly because of his preconceived notion.
Previously, he had heard that this was a private zoo that the retired soldiers had built on their own. He had even thought that it should not be that bad even if it was worse than some small eighteenth-tier cities’ zoo.
Now, it seemed like he was still lacking in imagination.
The entrance to the zoo was quite simple. There was not even a door. There was a wooden table on the three or four-level concrete steps. On the table hung a hand-written sign. On it were the original ticket prices of 20 yuan. The child’s half price was 10 yuan. On the outer wall on either side of the entrance hung a faded animal poster. On the other side was some things to pay attention to after entering.
The white wall had been removed, revealing a concrete pillar on one side. The other side had also become mottled. It looked like it had been there for twenty to thirty years.
This was also consistent with what Pei Qian knew: This private zoo was established in 79 years by a retired soldier named Pan Yingjiu. It had been thirty years.
Behind the sign was a man who looked to be in his thirties. When he saw Pei Qian and Little Sun, he quickly stood up. “h.e.l.lo, are you Boss Pei? I’m Dan Xinzhang. The director, Pan Yingjiu, is my father.”
Someone from Tengda had already come by while he was checking the candidates. Little Sun had specially called today before he came. That was why Dan Xinzhang was waiting outside.
He had not expected Boss Pei to come personally.
Previously, when Tengda’s staff came to understand the situation, they only asked casually and did not explain the specific intentions. Tang Xinzhang felt that a large company like Tengda would have nothing to do with a small zoo like his own.
At most, they would organize some employees to visit. That was already a lot of support.
Thus, he did not take it to heart at all.
It was only when Little Sun called today that he realized that Boss Pei was coming.
Pei Qian shook hands with him and sized him up.
Yes, he was burly and strong. He must have done a lot of work in the zoo.
If something really happened, it should not be difficult to suppress ordinary animals.
“Boss Pei, please come in. Our zoo is very simple. Please forgive us.”
As he walked in with Pei Qian and Little Sun, he introduced the history of this private zoo.
“My father was in the army when he was young. He changed jobs in 1979. He was originally arranged to work in a cinema. However, he did not like this kind of job. In his words, he often remembered the instructions of the chief in the army: When he returned to his hometown, he had to do something meaningful for the local people.”
“My father thought, ‘What is meaningful?’
“We’re just a small county. There are less than 50,000 people in the entire city. It’s closed off and outdated. There’s no zoo. The citizens have never seen or known wild animals apart from domestic animals like cats and dogs.”
“Thus, my father thought about building a zoo. At first, he purely wanted people in our county to observe and understand wild animals up close. He wanted people who liked to eat wild animals to kill fewer wild animals. He felt that it was meaningful.”
“Then, my father tried it out. He used his free s.p.a.ce to display a small number of wild animals. In the end, he was warmly welcomed. Thus, in year 88, my father used his own money to set up an official private zoo in this place. He worked there for thirty years.”
“At the moment, there are basically twenty types of animals in my zoo. For example, pythons, black bears, crocodiles, kiwis, and other wild animals. There are also relatively common animals such as Tibetan Mastiff, Mule, and so on.”
“When it was at its most popular, it kept lions and ostrich birds. However, as the number of people decreased and the expenses increased, it had no choice but to transfer them to Jingzhou Zoo.”
“The only animals that are still living are pythons, crocodiles, and kiwi.
As he introduced the animals, he brought Pei Qian around to visit them.
Pei Qian might have been mentally prepared before he came but he was still a little shocked when he saw the conditions here.
The so-called beast bars were only a few small houses. Some were fence posts, some were gla.s.s windows, wild animals such as pythons, kiwis, and so on were raised in the houses, while animals such as Mastigas, mullet, and horses were raised directly outside.
An old man with white hair and a hunchback who looked about seventy years old was seriously feeding animals and cleaning up.