Losing Money to Become a Tycoon: Starting with Games

"Come, have a seat, please."

Pei Qian was all smiles, graciously motioning Zhang Yuan to the nearby sofa. After Assistant Xin served tea and quietly exited the room, Ma Yang also left, giving Pei Qian and Zhang Yuan a moment of privacy.

Zhang Yuan subtly glanced around the reception room, trying not to look overwhelmed.

But everywhere he looked, one thing was clear:

This place screamed money.

From the president's tasteful wardrobe to the luxurious interior decor, nearly every item in sight radiated a kind of quiet opulence. Zhang Yuan couldn't even begin to estimate the value of anything—just that it all looked expensive.

Pei Qian gave a warm, inviting smile. "No need to be nervous, treat this like your own home. Please, have some tea."

Zhang Yuan tried to appear calm, but his stiff posture betrayed his nerves.

Pei Qian took a moment to decide how best to approach the conversation.

From Ma Yang, he'd learned that this square-faced young man with a northeastern accent was a real whiz when it came to building PCs—practically a walking encyclopedia on digital gadgets and computer hardware.

But that was it.

Pei Qian had no idea what else he was good at.

And that mattered. If Zhang Yuan turned out to be a business-savvy marketing genius or something equally dangerous, Pei Qian would have to shut this down immediately.

'Alright, let's start with a simple question about PC builds.'

Pei Qian leaned forward slightly and asked, "In your opinion, what's the ideal configuration for a computer that can smoothly run today's top-tier games? How much would that cost?"

Then he added, "Gaming performance is the top priority. It can look nice, but don't go too over-the-top with flashy extras."

Truthfully, it was easy to blow 60–70 thousand yuan on a high-end build.

But Pei Qian had learned from experience that if a purchase far exceeded practical needs—especially in a business context—it risked triggering the system's "violation" flag.

Right now, his employees' workstations come equipped with luxury office desks, premium gaming chairs, high-end PC towers, dual high-refresh-rate monitors, and mechanical keyboards—costing just over 20,000 yuan per station.

Anything beyond that would be pushing it.

Technically, Pei Qian could just reuse those same specs for the internet café…

But Assistant Xin had sourced those computers as high-performance business machines—practical but dull in appearance. They didn't fit the aesthetic or vibe customers would expect from a trendy internet café.

So, Pei Qian wanted to see what kind of recommendations Zhang Yuan could offer.

Zhang Yuan immediately understood what was going on.

Ah-ha!

So it was about building a PC!

From the look of things, President Pei clearly wasn't short on cash.

On the desk was a high-end Mars gaming laptop—easily worth over 10,000 yuan.

Which meant…

This guy's beyond laptops now. He wants a full-blown, custom-built, beast-tier desktop.

But he probably didn't know much about assembling one himself, and he didn't want to get scammed at a local computer mall.

That's why he found me on the forum. And he's offering 3,000 yuan just for my time?

Yep. That all checks out.

"Gaming performance is the top priority, don't go overboard with flash…"

Zhang Yuan processed the request and instantly started forming a build in his head.

He could list ideal parts off the top of his head. Pricing? No problem. He knew it like the back of his hand.

But more than that, he was thinking:

Should I try to make a good impression on this guy?

Trying to scam this president was out of the question.

After all, Pei Qian could easily take the build to another expert for a second opinion. If Zhang Yuan dared to pull anything shady, it'd come back to bite him hard.

No—this machine had to be perfect. Solid performance. Sleek design. Fair price. Enough to make the president feel like that 3,000 yuan consulting fee was money well spent.

To be honest, Zhang Yuan did feel a little guilty taking that much for a simple build.

But as the saying goes:

"The more friends you have, the more roads open to you."

After a brief inner debate, Zhang Yuan made a decision—he would take 1,000 yuan from the 3,000 yuan service fee and put it into the build's budget.

A small investment to build a relationship with the president.

Earning 2,000 for the trip and making a powerful friend? Totally worth it.

Win-win, what's not to love?

Having made up his mind, Zhang Yuan began enthusiastically explaining.

He went through everything—from the CPU to the GPU, from RAM to storage, even down to the case and decorative elements.

For instance:

Adding a "mechanical eye"? Huge boost in aesthetic appeal.

RGB lighting? Obviously adds major performance (he joked).

Monitor, keyboard, mouse, gaming headset—everything was covered in detail.

At last, Zhang Yuan gave a quote:

"Altogether, this build should come to around 15,000 yuan."

He quoted 15,000, though the actual cost was closer to 16,000.

If you went to a computer mall, it wouldn't be surprising to be charged over 20,000 for the same setup.

Zhang Yuan had already factored in giving back 1,000 from the president's fee to subsidize the cost a little—just to show good faith. So 15,000 sounded right.

But Pei Qian frowned slightly.

He wasn't satisfied.

Wait, this custom gaming rig costs less than the office PCs I had set up?

Zhang Yuan noticed the subtle expression and panicked slightly.

That looked like a "You look down on me?" face!

Sure enough, Pei Qian spoke.

"I asked for your ideal configuration. This build you described... how should I put it… It could be more 'ideal,' if you get what I mean."

Zhang Yuan hesitated. "But President Pei, you said performance was the main concern, and right now, with this setup, every current game can run at full settings without breaking a sweat…"

Pei Qian was briefly at a loss for words.

…Well, he had said that.

And it was true. Any higher configuration would start losing value-for-money. By current gaming standards, the build already exceeded realistic needs.

Zhang Yuan had given a genuinely fair and practical recommendation.

Still… Pei Qian needed to spend more.

He cleared his throat and said, "You're not wrong. For today's games, it's more than enough. But think ahead—what about new, more demanding titles in the future?"

"You need to plan long-term, think big, you know what I mean?"

"So, how about we increase the budget by another 10,000 yuan?"

"…Sure," Zhang Yuan nodded.

Why wouldn't he?

It's not his money being spent!

Hell, if you wanted, he could probably spec you a machine worth 9.8 billion.

Zhang Yuan quickly adjusted the configuration, pushing the specs up another tier.

This time, the result was a 25,000-yuan DIY build.

In Zhang Yuan's eyes, this was pure overkill.

You could crank every game on the market to max settings and still have resources to spare. This build would stay top-tier for at least the next two to three years.

All the peripherals—monitor, keyboard, mouse, headphones—were also top-notch.

Total immersion guaranteed.

Of course, Zhang Yuan quoted 25,000 yuan. But in reality, the cost came out to around 26,000. He was still giving up 1,000 from his own fee to sweeten the deal.

Pei Qian listened, nodded approvingly.

Now this was more like it.

For an internet café, it maximized the budget while staying just within the system's tolerance.

"This setup looks good," Pei Qian said, nodding again.

Zhang Yuan beamed. "Glad you like it, President Pei!"

He was more than happy to subsidize a thousand and gain a valuable connection. It was a great deal.

Then Pei Qian casually took a sip of tea and said:

"Alright then—let's start with fifty units."

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