Taking a cue from this, Qiuyun stopped asking Pei Cizhou for his opinion. She carefully selected two more companies herself. The other three were shopping malls located in the eastern and northern parts of the city, all of which were doing rather poorly.
Calculating their estimated value, the total came to roughly one-eighth of the original amount.
“The textile factory can make cosplay costumes, the paper products factory can produce collectible cards and buttons, and the plastics factory can handle figurines, merchandise, and wigs.” Their original lines of business had nothing to do with any of that, but times were changing.
Pei Cizhou said, “What you’ve listed is only the source of the materials. We still need to keep the actual finished-product production lines firmly in our own hands.”
Qiuyun nodded. “Of course. I’ll register the company with the Administration for Industry and Commerce tomorrow. We can discuss our shareholding arrangements in detail later.”
Pei Cizhou had no objections. Then he asked, “What are you planning to do with those three shopping malls?”
“Set up offline sales outlets, of course.” Large-scale anime conventions were often held in the northern and eastern parts of the capital, Qiuyun explained. “We can’t rely solely on online sales. We need somewhere to sell our products offline, too.”
Pei Cizhou looked over the locations of the three malls and found that they were indeed close to the exhibition areas.
After a moment’s thought, he said, “Even if you take shares in all three malls, you’ll only own thirty percent of each. If we concentrate our investment in one mall, you’ll have absolute control and can turn it into a dedicated themed city for our game.”
Qiuyun considered the proposal. It was a good idea, and Butler Lin probably wouldn’t refuse such a small request from her.
“We can give it a try.” She chose the mall in the eastern part of the northern district, which was relatively close to both the major convention venue and Tanmeng Company.
After resolving everything, Qiuyun casually asked, “By the way, since we happened to run into each other today, do I still need to go to Chengyuan on the fifth day of the Lunar New Year?”
Pei Cizhou frowned. “Of course you do! This was fate bringing us together, and on the fifth day, you agreed to come on my birthday.”
Qiuyun was puzzled. “…What difference does that make?”
“There’s obviously a difference!” Pei Cizhou asked, “Did you give me a birthday present?”
“…” Well, no, she hadn’t.
Qiuyun said, “But what does that have to do with anything?”
Pei Cizhou was completely unreasonable, yet utterly confident. “You showing up for our appointment is my birthday present.”
Qiuyun tactfully replied, “I don’t need you to give me a present on my birthday.”
“When’s your birthday? I’ll make it up to you.”
“I’m not asking you for a present.”
Pei Cizhou narrowed his eyes. “So you don’t want to come?”
He was never going to let this go. Qiuyun sighed helplessly. “Fine, fine, I’ll go. Happy now?”
He turned his face toward the window and snorted. “Hmph. I could tell at a glance that you didn’t want to come. Forget it, then. I’m not forcing you.”
What a headache.
Qiuyun changed the subject. “Did Daniel tell you about my purchase of Sun Guoping’s three percent stake?”
“He did.” He turned back to her. “I was just about to ask you. How did you manage that?”
“Uh…cough, cough.” Remembering the story she had spun to deceive people, Qiuyun opened her phone and sent Coach Huang a WeChat message, telling her that she could come back now.
She brushed him off verbally. “I negotiated with him, that’s all. If you talk things over long enough, you can usually reach an agreement. We’re considered official business partners now, anyway.”
Pei Cizhou narrowed his eyes.
Something was wrong.
There was definitely something suspicious.
He had known Miss Qiu for quite some time. When had he ever seen her avoid a question with eyes that evasive?
Unless…
It had something to do with him.
The moment Qiuyun pressed Send, Pei Cizhou snatched her phone away. “Then teach me how you negotiated with him.”
“Give it back!”
Pei Cizhou turned off the screen and raised a brow. “I’m not looking at your private messages. But you have to tell me exactly how you negotiated with Sun Guoping.”
Qiuyun gave a cold laugh and warned him sternly, “Don’t push me. Give me back my phone.”
Unexpectedly, he leaned toward her with a broad smile and said, “Next time you pretend to be angry, remember to hold your breath until your face turns red, then breathe quickly to make your heart beat faster. That’ll make you look more genuinely angry.”
“…”
Qiuyun pressed a hand to her forehead.
He was impossible.
The corners of Pei Cizhou’s lips lifted higher. He held the phone out to her, but when she reached for it, he kept his grip and refused to let go.
“Now, are you going to tell me?”
Tsk.
Because of the way they were sitting, the two of them were very close.
Qiuyun narrowed her eyes, studying his fair skin from only inches away. Then she suddenly tugged on the phone. Pei Cizhou instinctively leaned forward with her.
In the cramped back seat, their eyes met, and their breaths tangled.
Pei Cizhou froze. Her gaze, however, slowly dropped to his lightly tinted, thin lips as she continued leaning closer.
The fresh scent of lemon mingled with the warm fragrance of matcha.
His Adam’s apple bobbed. His breathing stopped. Heat spread uncontrollably through his body, and even the tips of his ears gradually turned pink.
She…couldn’t possibly…
That thought wound around him like a spell. Pei Cizhou’s throat went dry. He wanted to close his eyes, yet was afraid it might all be a misunderstanding. His lashes trembled, and his palms began to sweat, but he still couldn’t decide how he should react at that very moment.
But just as the tip of Qiuyun’s nose was about to touch his jaw, she stopped. Then she extended one finger and pressed it against his shoulder.
With her other hand, she swiftly pulled out her phone. Smiling sweetly, she pushed him away.
“If you tell me what you were just thinking, President Pei, I’ll tell you exactly what I discussed with Sun Guoping. How does that sound?”
Pei Cizhou let her push him back into his seat. He drew a deep breath, then sullenly turned his face away.
Qiuyun raised a brow. “Hmm? Don’t you want to know, President Pei? That seems fair.”
His expression was utterly impassive. “Thanks, but no.”
Qiuyun gave a soft snort.
Got you.
Just then, Coach Huang received her message and returned. Seeing that both of them were sitting in the back seat, she climbed into the driver’s seat without a word.
For some reason, the atmosphere in the car felt a little strange.
As she drove, Coach Huang glanced at them through the rearview mirror.
The sharp-tongued Young Master was wearing an expression as cold as ice, staring blankly out the window. The newcomer, Miss Qiu, on the other hand, was calmly sorting through some documents.
Tsk, tsk.
Even without knowing what had happened, it was obvious who had come out on top.
The world really was full of opposites that balanced each other out. Even a handsome Young Master with an impressive family background had his own nemesis.
—
After New Year’s Day, Qiuyun began running back and forth between her company and driving school, pushing both forward at the same time.
The Internet Culture Business License she had applied for earlier had also been issued.
Daniel gave her two options: build their own factory or have their products manufactured by an outside contractor.
Building their own factory would ensure stable quality control and eliminate the middleman’s cut. The downside was that the initial investment would be substantial and it would take longer to recoup the costs.
Contracting an outside factory would greatly reduce operating expenses, but quality control would be unreliable. In this industry especially, even the slightest dissatisfaction could easily cause people to turn against them online.
Qiuyun glanced at the pitifully cold one hundred million yuan sitting in her bank account.
What was there to think about? Naturally, they would build their own factory!
If the money wasn’t enough, they could start with a smaller production line and expand once they knew which products sold well.
Daniel advised, “If we’re serious about selling merchandise, we need to apply for copyrights on the products as soon as possible. There are far too many knockoffs in this industry.”
Although they called it merchandise, Qiuyun wasn’t planning to make things like buttons and other typical fandom goods. She wanted to produce Daqi-style clothing, jewelry, folding fans, and the like—all of which would be particularly easy to copy.
“Okay. I’ll get the products made as soon as possible and apply for the copyrights.”
“Mm-hmm.” Daniel closed the file and turned to leave. “President Jiang?”
