1982 Started from Hong Kong

Chapter 18 The Zhai family is going to be extinct

The corrupt police were renovating a barber shop, and Zhai Yuan was renovating a public housing unit.

Three days later, all five public housing estates in Sau Mau Ping were renovated.

Five public housing units were turned into two video halls, one three-in-one with an area of more than 20 square meters, and the other two-in-one with an area of only 15 square meters.

They are located in different public housing buildings, all on the third floor.

This was also what Zhai Yuan had told him when he rented the house. Otherwise, the floor would be too high and even if the ticket price was cheap, business would be greatly reduced.

This kind of service industry needs to take the elderly into consideration, as they are the main consumers.

Standing downstairs of the housing estate building, Zhai Yuan put his hands in his pockets, watching Liang Zhichao directing the workers to carry tables, chairs and benches upstairs.

"Brother, are you really not going to go out and look for a job?"

Zhai Yao bit a lollipop and followed Zhai Yuan. She asked worriedly, "You spent thousands of dollars, and all the things are rented. If mom knew about this, she would be heartbroken."

Zhai Yuan smiled and said, "Then don't let her know. Tell her when you make some money."

Zhai Yao gave a forced laugh, thinking that as long as he could keep his capital, he would be thankful.

It was only yesterday when she passed by Xiumaoping Middle School and heard students mention him that she realized that Zhai Yuan had become a celebrity in the school.

When I got home, I didn't even have time to watch TV. After some questioning, I learned about Zhai Yuan's plan to open a so-called video hall.

Except for tables, chairs and benches, Zhai Yuan's house, VCR, TV and even videotapes were all rented. For someone like Zhai Yao who grew up in a housing estate and had no sense of security since childhood, it was like pouring money into the water.

"In fact, you can rent a smaller public housing unit first, move your TV here, and then buy a VCR."

Zhai Yao taught Zhai Yuan a lesson in a serious tone: "Even if you don't make any money this way, you can keep the VCR at home. It's not cost-effective to rent it out."

If Liang Zhichao had said this, he would have been severely criticized by Zhai Yuan.

What a hole in your brain. Who would use all their own capital to do business? Of course, you can rent if you can, borrow if you can, and loan if you can.

Spend less money to set up a bigger stall, use small levers to pry open big resources, this is business.

As for what if I lose money and the creditor comes to my door? What a joke! I have already borrowed money, so why should I be afraid of you coming to collect the debt?

However, since it was Zhai Yao who said this, Zhai Yuan's attitude was different.

He sighed with some guilt, with an expression of humbly accepting, and whispered softly:
"Yaoyao, you're right. But I've already paid the money, so I can only try it first. I'll listen to your arrangements next time, okay?"

This attitude made Zhai Yao feel a little embarrassed. She waved her hands repeatedly, afraid of undermining Zhai Yuan's confidence, and said nothing more.

"Brother Yuan, the video recorder has been delivered."

While the brother and sister were talking, Liang Zhichao's voice suddenly rang out.

Zhai Yuan looked in the direction of the voice and saw a delivery worker placing a video recorder downstairs and waiting for someone to sign the delivery note.

"What the hell! You're here just now."

Zhai Yuan walked forward with an impatient look on his face and said bluntly, "I don't know how you do business. A machine broke down after just two days of use. Do you look down on us, the customers who rent the machine, and deliberately bring in defective products?"

The deliveryman smiled and said, "I'm sorry, Mr. Zhai. The company is deeply sorry for what happened, so we've waived your two-month rental fee as compensation. Don't worry, this machine must be 100% new. It was just unloaded from a Japanese cargo ship and has not been unsealed yet."

"I'm sorry to bother with you. If I had the time, I would have gone to the Consumer Council to complain to you!"

Zhai Yuan muttered to himself and quickly signed the delivery note: "Achao, move the machine upstairs."

Liang Zhichao agreed and walked to the third floor carrying the video recorder. When he passed by Zhai Yuan, he gave him a thumbs up with admiration and spoke softly.

"Brother Yuan is great!"

"You tell me?"

As soon as the deliveryman left, the anger on Zhai Yuan's face disappeared, revealing his true nature as a profiteer.

After renting a Japanese video recorder for 200 yuan a day, he immediately replaced the parts with recycled faulty machines, and then took advantage of the peak traffic time of the rental store to bring people to make trouble and demand a refund or exchange. Although this kind of wool-pulling behavior is unethical, it is really fun.

Unfortunately, it can only be used once or twice at most. If you are caught in the act, you may easily break your legs.

……

The next day, downstairs of Zhai Yuan’s house.

"Brother Yuan~"

Liang Zhichao's heart-wrenching voice reached upstairs.

Zhao Meizhen stared at the news on TV, her movements of threading rubber flowers on her hands not being affected at all.

She turned her head to look at Zhai Yuan, who had gotten up early in the morning and was writing and drawing on the table, and asked casually, "Why does Ah Chao from the village next door come to see you every day recently?"

Zhai Yuan yawned: "I don't know, maybe because I'm handsome."

"You idiot, you're not a girl!" Zhao Meizhen said with amusement.

"True love knows no gender~"

Zhai Yuan made a joke and put away the notebook: "Okay, I'm going to school and won't be back for lunch."

"I don't know what you've been busy with lately."

After Zhai Yuan left, Zhao Meizhen muttered something and continued to watch the news program on TV.

"The first World Gay Games will be held today at the Kaiser Permanente in San Francisco. According to our reporter, athletes from 12 countries will participate in the competition, which aims to cultivate and strengthen people's respect and understanding for homosexuals.

As we all know, influenced by Western culture, the number of homosexuals in Hong Kong has been growing in recent years, concentrated among men and women in their twenties..."

When Zhao Meizhen heard this, she paused in putting on the rubber flowers, stood up, and walked out the door in two or three steps.

Standing on the balcony and looking downstairs, Zhao Meizhen's pupils trembled.

As soon as Zhai Yuan appeared downstairs, the student named Liang Zhichao from the next door village rushed over excitedly, hugged him, and said something excitedly.

Then the two of them came together and talked intimately for a while before they walked out of the housing estate arm in arm.

Considering that Zhai Yuan had a haircut and bought new clothes these days, Zhao Meizhen felt uneasy.

She seemed to have heard a saying that women should dress up to please the men they love.

"Fuck you! It's not really like what they say on TV, is it?"

Zhao Meizhen murmured a few words in a low voice, hurried back to the room, and shouted to Zhai Yao who was still sleeping soundly on the steel bed: "Yaoyao! Yaoyao! Get up quickly, Mommy has something to ask you!"

Zhai Yao reluctantly struggled to get up from the bed, pulled the collar of her wide pajamas, and said in a hoarse voice: "What's the matter, Mom? It's a rare day off today, please let me sleep a little longer!"

"The devil told you to watch TV until two in the morning last night!"

Zhao Meizhen scolded him and then asked, "Let me ask you, what has your brother been doing with that guy named Chao recently?"

Zhai Yao was stunned for a moment, then became mostly sober in an instant.

In her opinion, Zhai Yuan's decision to open a video hall was definitely a losing business. The two of them agreed not to tell Zhao Meizhen for the time being. Could it be that she had discovered something now?
"No, I don't know anything."

Zhai Yao's slightly flustered cover-up made Zhao Meizhen even more alert.

She took a few deep breaths to calm herself down, then asked seriously, "Hey! This is no joke. Tell me the truth, what do you know?"

Zhai Yao became more and more panicked and shook her head repeatedly: "Mom, don't force me, I won't betray the boss!"

As soon as these words came out, Zhao Meizhen felt dizzy.

It’s over. The Zhai family will be extinct.

(End of this chapter)