Sun Zhen pushed up the black-rimmed glasses on his nose, his eyes behind the lenses wide with shock.
He felt his worldview had been strongly impacted.
The Chairman Li he imagined should be someone who strategized, directed the country, and talked endlessly about industry trends, mergers and acquisitions, and disruptive innovation… How could it be a bathhouse?
Zhao Lei was also dumbfounded, even suspecting he had misheard.
Yesterday, he was passionately researching how startups could rise quickly and how to build a talent pipeline.
Now, his boss was telling him that their first battlefield was a bathhouse.
"Chairman Li," a slightly bolder marketing department employee hesitantly raised his hand, his voice a little weak, "The… bathhouse you mentioned, is it the kind we understand… that is, a place where everyone bathes together, then gets scrubbed and massaged?"
Li Changye looked at their ghost-like expressions, secretly amused, but his face showed a look of deep pain: "Shallow! Too shallow! Do you think that what I, Li Changye, and our Huanyu Group, want to do is just an ordinary bathhouse on the street corner that costs a few dozen yuan?"
He slammed the table, the sound not loud, but carrying an undeniable authority: "I'm telling you, what I want to build is a super lifestyle entertainment complex that integrates high-end bathing, professional SPA massage, global gourmet buffets, IMAX-level private cinemas, e-sports entertainment zones, quiet reading tearooms, parent-child interaction parks, and even small business meeting functions!"
"We want to build it into a new leisure landmark in Yan Province and even the entire country! A 'metropolitan paradise' that makes people linger! We want to create a brand, create a culture, and create an industrial chain!"
The more Li Changye spoke, the more excited he became, as if he had already seen countless customers enjoying themselves in the "bathhouse empire" he was building.
Of course, his truest thought deep down was—he himself desperately needed such a place to fully enjoy himself!
With a monthly salary of three thousand yuan, living at the company, his only entertainment was secretly cooking instant noodles with a small electric hot pot at night, or playing games on the company's top-spec computer.
This kind of life, for a chairman who nominally owned a billion-yuan group, was simply unbearable!
He urgently needed an excuse and a place to "enjoy life" legitimately.
"This bathhouse, oh no, this super lifestyle entertainment complex."
Li Changye cleared his throat, correcting his statement to sound more professional: "It will have the most advanced water purification system, the most comfortable constant temperature environment, the most private personal space, and the most attentive butler-style service. We will hire the best scrubbers in the country, oh no, health therapists; the most creative chef team; the most professional audio-visual engineers…"
He spoke at length, describing a bathhouse as if it were a fairyland on earth, with a promising future.
The employees gradually recovered from their initial shock, though it still felt a bit surreal.
But looking at the chairman's passionate and confident demeanor, and then considering the company's billion-yuan registered capital, the office location in Cangqiong International Center, and their salaries far exceeding industry standards, they couldn't help but wonder: Could it be… that behind this bathhouse, there's really some business logic we don't understand? Perhaps, this is a new type of customer acquisition method? Or a high-end community operation model?
After all, Chairman Li wouldn't be playing around with such a large investment, would he?
His phrase, "We want to create a brand, create a culture, and create an industrial chain," did sound quite meaningful.
Zhao Lei, as the "temporary head" of the human resources department, was the first to adjust from the shock. He forced himself to think from a manager's perspective: "Chairman Li, your vision is very… grand. So, what exactly should we do next? How can our departments and employees contribute to this project?"
Finally, someone hit the nail on the head!
Li Changye was secretly delighted, but his face remained calm as he nodded approvingly: "Good question! Zhao Lei, it seems you've started to get into character."
He waved his hand: "It's simple! First step, acquisition! We need to acquire one or several existing bathhouses in the most prosperous or most promising areas of Yan Province that have a certain foundation but are poorly managed, and then, we will carry out a complete transformation and upgrade!"
"Acquisition?"
The employees' spirits lifted; this word at least sounded more fitting for their status.
"Exactly!"
Li Changye stood up and walked to the huge floor-to-ceiling window, overlooking the bustling city below, his tone carrying a hint of ambition that looked down on the world: "Marketing and planning departments, immediately start market research and screen targets. Legal department, prepare the relevant legal documents. In short, money is not an issue!"
He said this with full confidence, knowing that the ten million yuan in startup capital was still sitting in the system account.
"Our human resources department, which is Zhao Lei."
Li Changye turned to Zhao Lei, "You're going to be busy. Besides completing the onboarding procedures for employees, you also need to start recruiting talent for various positions, such as professional hotel management talent, spa center operation experts, catering directors, designers, and so on. Since we want to be top-tier, we need top-tier talent!"
Zhao Lei immediately felt the burden on his shoulders lighten, but at the same time, he was full of drive: "Yes! Chairman Li! I'll get right on it!"
"Good!"
Li Changye snapped his fingers, a look of excitement on his face: "Now, everyone, follow this line of thinking and get moving! I want to see a preliminary acquisition plan and site selection report within a week!"
"Yes!"
Although the employees still had some doubts about the "bathhouse" project itself.
However, Li Changye's decisive and undeniable attitude, as well as high-sounding terms like "acquisition" and "recruiting talent," quickly got them into work mode.
For a time, in the luxurious 88th-floor office, the sound of keyboards tapping and discussions rose and fell.
Some began to search online for information on various bath centers in Yan Province, some started to research the business models of high-end clubs, some began to draft recruitment notices…
Li Changye watched all this with satisfaction.
Very good, he finally managed to assign tasks to these highly paid "idle people."
As for whether the bathhouse would ultimately make money, he didn't really care.
Didn't the system say? His mission was to "build a model enterprise that is truly people-oriented, gives back to society, and leads the healthy development of the industry, improving the current employment environment of severe involution and rampant exploitation."
His bathhouse focused on enjoyment, absolutely "people-oriented," absolutely "giving back to society." As for whether it could "lead the healthy development of the industry," that depended on fate.
Anyway, with ten million in startup capital, if it wasn't enough, he didn't believe the system would just watch his first project fail.
He leisurely returned to his boss's chair, picked up the cup of top-grade Dahongpao tea that Zhao Lei had just brewed for him. This tea was provided by the office; it was said to cost tens of thousands per jin, though to him, it tasted no different from ordinary tea.
He took a small sip. Hmm, being a boss seemed to be getting more and more like the real thing.
