Chapter 654: A Clue

“Add it immediately!” Pei Qian emphasized once again seeing how there were all frozen.

He Desheng was the first to react. “Alright, Boss Pei.” He nodded.

It was easy to add a line of text on the publicity page since it was doable through Photoshop.

He Desheng had no suspicion of Boss Pei’s actions, but Zhang Wang and Ma Yang were heartbroken. Their spirits were broken almost immediately.

However, Pei Qian turned to leave immediately without another word.

There was no choice; that was how Boss Pei took revenge.

Boss Pei could not give up on them even though these customers seemed to have lost all rationality to rent the Sloth Apartments and buy the Fully-Automated Bickering Machine, backstabbing Boss Pei with their money.

Add these words and save whatever he could!

…

At the same time, Sloth Apartments, Block 9 of the Binhu District…

Qiao Liang signed the contract and moved to the penthouse of this building.

He actually wanted the penthouse of Block 8, but it seemed to have been rented out to a fanatic of Chen Lei.

Therefore, he could only go for the second-best option, which was the penthouse of Block 9.

However, he had to count his lucky stars to be able to rent the penthouse of Block 9 as well. Any later, and he would probably have to settle for the lower floors.

There were already crowds of people downstairs waiting to rent the place. It was definitely not enough with these houses.

Qiao Liang felt refreshed looking at the vast lake scene outside the window.

He hung all the clothes he brought by suitcase into the closet of the master bedroom and put the suitcase into the cabinet of the second bedroom.

There might be only such a small amount of storage space in the entire room, but it was still enough for Qiao Liang.

There were some handicrafts in the huge living room and the decorative bookshelves could not be used as storage space but that also allowed Qiao Liang to concentrate on enjoying the 180-degrees lake view.

Qiao Liang felt that all was worth it as he nestled in the sofa to edit his video on his laptop!

For some unknown reason, his thoughts suddenly calmed down. He really wanted to think about some problems and then make a video!

Was that the magical effect of the Sloth Apartments?

It really seemed to help in his thoughts here…

Hold on, that wasn’t right.

It seemed that something was missing.

Qiao Liang suddenly realized that the Sloth Apartment that he rented seemed to be lacking its soul: the Fully-Automated Bickering Machine!

Yes, he had to get it!

He really wanted to buy it last night, but he decided to buy it directly in the Sloth Apartments, considering that he would have to carry it with him when he moves otherwise.

The Sloth Apartments might not allow them to add their own furniture or change the layout in principle, but the butler would tacitly approve of the Fully-Automated Bickering Machine.

Qiao Liang immediately found the purchase page for the Fully-Automated Bickering Machine.

He was shocked when he entered the page.

He saw a bold line on the purchase page.

“It is very expensive and boring, and it will not improve your mental capability. You may spend the money somewhere else on something more meaningful.”

Qiao Liang was stunned.

What did that mean?

It would not improve mental capability?

Did they officially deny the deep meaning behind the Fully-Automated Bickering Machine?

Qiao Liang remembered very clearly that this line wasn’t on the page when he looked at it last night.

Why did they specifically add this sentence?

Qiao Liang checked the comments of the netizens hurriedly, only to find that, other than this additional line of words, there was also a line of eye-catching text on the website of the Sloth Apartments: ‘living here would not improve your mental capability’.

The tone was neutral as if emphasizing an objective fact.

Qiao Liang was even more confused now.

What did that mean? I just moved in, and Boss Pei toy with me in this way?

What was his intention for emphasizing this? To deny himself?

However, this place indeed helped in mental capability!

Qiao Liang could clearly feel that this environment was very simple and artistic, which was really helpful for calming down and for inspiration.

Why then did the official website emphasize that it would not be able to improve mental capability?

Qiao Liang immediately comprehended the meaning behind it in less than two minutes.

“So that was it!

“I understand it!”

“Just that… I wonder if the netizens could discern it.”

Qiao Liang flipped through the comments of the netizens after having his answer in his mind. A gratified smile soon appeared on his face.

“What does the new explanatory texts added to the Sloth Apartments and the Fully-Automated Bickering Machine mean? Is it possible that what Boss Li said previously was all fake?”

“Yes, they are all fake; don’t rent, don’t buy! Leave everything to me!”

“I’ve already moved in. This environment can indeed help in your thought process. Moreover, this Fully-Automated Bickering Machine definitely can make one ponder.”

“Why add the two explanatory texts? Wouldn’t that be contrary to the effect?”

“These two sentences actually contained a kind of dialectical thinking. What is the connotation of the Sloth Apartments and the Fully-Automated Bickering Machine? They allow you to think independently without believing in what others say or following the trend. If you were to just blindly live in the Sloth Apartments and buy a Fully-Automated Bickering Machine, wouldn’t that go against the connotation of independent thinking?”

“I understand now! These two sentences are reminding us: if you don’t use your brains to think but just believe in what others say, then it will be useless even if you stay in the Sloth Apartments and use the Fully-Automated Bickering Machine. It is impossible for them to change one’s way of thinking. In other words, don’t over-exaggerate and deify the meaning of these two things.”

“At the same time, it is also hinting to us that we cannot just rely on foreign objects to change the way we think.”

“Yes, that makes sense! It is useless staying in Sloth Apartments if you just blindly follow a trend.”

“Having said that, the Sloth Apartments creates the environment, and the Fully-Automated Bickering Machine provides the carrier—which is helpful to our thinking. There is no doubt that they are only catalyst functions… and not a panacea for all diseases.”

“As expected of Boss Pei, he is able to make things so much more philosophical with just two lines of explanatory text!”

“I want to buy it even more now!”

Qiao Liang nodded slightly after reading these comments.

Yes, the netizens were now getting more used to Boss Pei’s way of thinking; there was no need for him to jump out to explain it.

Perhaps in the near future, the netizens would be able to comprehend Boss Pei’s deep meaning every time he gave a quiz. That was enough for him to complete his mission!

Boss Pei’s quiz was very simple this time. Everyone understood it in an instant.

Qiao Liang ordered the Fully-Automated Bickering Machine happily as he waited patiently for it to be delivered.

He took out the laptop that he brought with him on the sofa. He read that long Weibo post over and over again as he watched the lake.

As expected, he had new comprehension every time he read.

Qiao Liang had not given up even to this day. Boss Pei once told him that he would be able to obtain the real answer to the video of Thriller Hostel as long as he gave up interpreting ‘Struggle’ with Products of the Gods.

Therefore, Qiao Liang had been using He An’s long Weibo as the key to his understanding.

Qiao Liang felt that He An’s long Weibo post on ‘Struggle’ should be perfect in its own way. It was impossible to get something new out of it no matter how much more he delved into it.

What about outside the game ‘Struggle’ then?

Qiao Liang vaguely felt something after the recent incident with the Sloth Apartments and the Fully-Automated Bickering Machine, but he found it difficult to grasp.

He could feel that he was now just one clue away from stringing everything together.

All his confusion would be solved once he managed to find this clue!

Qiao Liang tried to think about all the contents during this period, including the Thriller Hostel, Fish-Catching Take-Out, ‘Struggle’, Sloth Apartments, Fully-Automated Bickering Machine, Deposit Fitness, Tengda Life App, etc. He searched for these key phrases while looking up this information online.

Qiao Liang’s eye suddenly lit up.

He found a post with the title: ‘Boss Pei shared the Full Text of His Speech on Wealth Outlook in the Science Hall’ in the internal forum of Handong University.

That was a popular post in the internal forum of Handong University. There were many replies, but it seemed like it was not widely reposted on the internet.

Qiao Liang was not a student of Handong University so he could not reply to it, but he could read the entire text.

“Boss Pei’s speech?

“It seemed real.

“It is actually not reposted?”

Qiao Liang originally had doubts about the authenticity of this manuscript since everyone should know if a celebrity like Boss Pei were to give a speech in school, right? How can he be so low profile that his manuscript was not circulated?

However, looking carefully at the replies below, Qiao Liang realized that Boss Pei did not give the speech personally, but he got someone else to read it.

“No wonder it wasn’t made popular online. However, the contents of the speech seemed to have moved the students.

“Hmm… there is a need to read into the speech since it was written personally by Boss Pei.”

Qiao Liang started reading the text.

This speech was targeted at all the needy students funded by Tengda. The topic was ‘view on wealth’. The full text was actually only on one thing, which was Boss Pei’s outlook on wealth.

Obviously, the speech was in hope that the needy students could use the money donated by Tengda to them wisely.

However, what surprised Qiao Liang was that Boss Pei did not emphasize for the needy students to be frugal or save money. He explained it from another angle.

Many needy students had a misunderstanding about the outlook on wealth, that was to equate ‘wealth’ with ‘money’ at their disposal and mistakenly believe that the correct outlook on wealth was to do everything possible to spend less and consume less.

However, Boss Pei proposed a new concept in his speech. To young people like them, the most precious wealth was not the money they had at their disposal, but their attention.

Therefore, they shouldn’t save all their money without spending them; neither should they buy meaningless things just to satisfy their vanity, let alone spend it on distracting and indulgent entertainment activities.

Where should their money be spent on?

It should be spent on places where one could concentrate and think… use their money to create leverage with their attention so that you can maximize your wealth.

Qiao Liang suddenly felt like this, the clouds in front of his eyes dissipated.

He seemed to have finally grasped that thing he was searching for!