After rebirth, I became a great master

Chapter 398 Consummation
The night was cool, and the two held hands.

"Where are we going?"

Zhou Haoran avoided the relatives of both families.

"I want to go back to the city."

Qiao Suiqing leaned closer to him.

"Now?" Zhou Haoran hesitated. "I've been drinking!"

Qiao Suiqing retorted, "We can't just go back to the alley, can we? Aren't we consummating our marriage tonight?"

"How about we go to your room?"

After the engagement banquet, Zhou Haoran decided not to stand on ceremony and planned to stay at her house without any hesitation. Her family's living conditions were better than his own.

"I do not want."

Qiao Suiqing couldn't accept the poor soundproofing of the old house.

Zhou Haoran smiled and said, "Okay, let's go back to the city then. We won't drive; we'll take a taxi back to the new house!"

"Okay!" Qiao Suiqing affectionately took his arm and looked up. "The night is so beautiful tonight, with a sky full of stars."

Back in the city.

The new house is on the second floor.

Qiao Suiqing went to take a shower first, while Zhou Haoran took the opportunity to wipe down the bedside table and floor in the bedroom, and then opened a bottle of red wine and placed it on the bedside table to let it breathe.

Then, it was Zhou Haoran's turn to take a shower.

After he quickly took a shower and came out of the bathroom, he found that the bed sheets had been changed from white to a festive red, and the pillowcases, pillow towels, and even the summer blanket were all red.

"So festive?"

Zhou Haoran walked over, drying his hair with a towel in one hand.

Qiao Suiqing chuckled and said, "These are all new ones I bought."

Zhou Haoran asked, "Why didn't we notice this before?"

"I hid it," Qiao Suiqing said with a hint of smugness, glancing at him. "How about it, Mr. Big?"

"Hmm, it's great, just like entering the bridal chamber on your wedding night!"

Zhou Haoran doesn't think before he speaks.

Qiao Suiqing said coquettishly, "It was supposed to be our wedding night."

"Where are the wedding candles?"

Zhou Haoran looked around.

"what?"

Qiao Suiqing was slightly taken aback; she hadn't been prepared.

Zhou Haoran casually tossed the towel aside and laughed, "This is fine, sis, let's have a toast together."

Qiao Suiqing walked gracefully over, stood beside him, picked up her glass of red wine, and looked up at him. Even so close, she could feel tears welling up in her eyes. "Haoran..."

"what?"

"From now on, we're a family, so let's make the most of our lives together."

"Ah."

Zhou Haoran also raised his glass.

Qiao Suiqing reached out and hooked her arm around his, asking, "Are we just going to drink like this?"

Zhou Haoran laughed and said, "Drink up!"

The two linked arms and drank a small glass of red wine.

Qiao Suiqing's rosy cheeks looked exceptionally alluring at this moment, exuding an indescribable charm.

"We..." Zhou Haoran gave her a look, "...to the bed?"

"Ah."

Qiao Suiqing nodded slightly, took his hand, and sat down on the edge of the bed.

Then I felt embarrassed.

I don't know how to proceed.

Zhou Haoran put his arm around her shoulder and kissed her. She finally breathed a sigh of relief and decided to cooperate obediently. In these kinds of situations, there was no need for the older sister to take the initiative; it was fine to listen to her younger brother.

Her eyelashes trembled as she closed her eyes.

He acted as if he could get whatever he wanted.

Zhou Haoran remembered something, and after kissing for a while, he asked, "Sister Qingmei, where's the white handkerchief I bought before?"

"It's lost." Qiao Suiqing didn't care about these things. "It was probably thrown away with the quilt when we moved."

Zhou Haoran said, "How can that be? It's our wedding night!"

"What should we do then?" Qiao Suiqing asked, somewhat worried. "I wasn't prepared, and it's so late at night..."

"It's okay, I have a backup!"

Zhou Haoran ran to the living room and grabbed his briefcase.

Unzip the inner lining.

There was an envelope in the inner compartment.

Open the envelope.

Inside were not money, but several white handkerchiefs. He picked one out and handed it over.

Qiao Suiqing opened her eyes wide, took the handkerchief, and looked at him in astonishment, "Why did you prepare so many white handkerchiefs?"

"Huh?" Zhou Haoran quickly threw the envelope into his bag and mumbled, "Just for wiping hands, face, and nose, what else? Okay, Qingmei, it's almost time. It's past eleven o'clock. It's time to go to the bridal chamber! Otherwise, we'll have to wait until tomorrow!"

……

The next day, Zhou Haoran asked for leave.

Neither of them went to work.

I've been feeling smug all morning.

Then he went out to have lunch.

"Sis, do you still remember Tiger?"

"Liu Jianhu, he was a mischievous kid with you."

Qiao Suiqing could never forget those little rascals in the alley; they were all her younger brothers.

Zhou Haoran laughed and said, "Dongfang has found him. He's working as a network administrator in Xuhui. I'm planning to mentor him and invest in a project."

"What are you doing?"

Qiao Suiqing doesn't know much about business and doesn't get involved.

“Internet cafe.” Zhou Haoran disagreed with Dongfang Lang opening an internet cafe, but Liu Jianhu was different. “He’s not very educated, and he can’t do anything too difficult. Opening an internet cafe is the easiest thing for him.”

Qiao Suiqing thought for a moment, "I haven't seen him for many years. Why didn't I invite him to my engagement yesterday?"

"Let him go back to the alley?" Zhou Haoran shook his head. "He hasn't gone back for so many years, he definitely doesn't want to. There's no need to drag him back."

Qiao Suiqing gave a soft "hmm," and continued, "His family used to live in an alleyway and suffered a lot of bullying. The plump auntie from the neighborhood committee even reported his father, who was sentenced to more than three years in prison..."

What happened to his father?

Zhou Haoran was young at the time and unaware of the inside story.

"Eavesdropping on enemy radio broadcasts."

Qiao Suiqing sighed.

Eavesdropping on enemy radio stations means receiving foreign radio signals and listening to things you shouldn't be hearing. In the internet age, this is aptly termed "circumventing internet censorship."

Zhou Haoran suggested, "How about we go to Xuhui to find him later? We're engaged, so we'll go give him some wedding candy."

“Sure!” Qiao Suiqing said with great interest. “I haven’t seen him in years! I’ll go check out your internet cafe business; I’ve never been to an internet cafe before.”

Zhou Haoran first notified Dongfang Lang, saying that they should meet at Hu Zi's internet cafe.

Then I took a taxi to Xuhui.

The internet cafe where Tiger works has a great atmosphere.

Clean and tidy.

There wasn't even a smell of smoke.

It's just too noisy.

It was a noisy mess; even playing Red Alert could generate a deafening roar.

"Tiger!"

After Zhou Haoran arrived, he saw him from afar.

"Hey! Wait a minute!"

Liu Jianhu is teaching a customer how to play a simple game.

Zhou Haoran chuckled and said, "He doesn't seem to recognize you."

Qiao Suiqing whispered, "Don't say anything for a while. If he doesn't recognize me, I'll beat him up."

Soon, Liu Jianhu ran over, laughing and saying, "What brings you here... Oh? Sister Suiqing?"

Tiger's eyes widened.

"What? Don't you recognize me?"

Qiao Suiqing tucked a strand of hair behind her ear.

"How could we not recognize him?" Liu Jianhu looked excited as he watched the two holding hands, then his expression turned to astonishment. "Sister Suiqing, you really got fooled by this kid? Even when Dongfang told me, I didn't believe it!"

Qiao Suiqing pursed her lips and said, "Yeah, he tricked me into it."

"Zhou Haoran!"

Liu Jianhu glared, brandishing his fists, looking like he was about to devour someone.

Zhou Haoran quickly dodged and said with a laugh, "It's no use getting angry. Suiqing and I are already engaged."

"What do you want to do?"

Qiao Suiqing blocked Zhou Haoran's way and reached out to grab Hu Zi's ear.

"Hey hey hey... Sis, I'm at work..."

Liu Jianhu quickly bowed and begged for mercy.

Qiao Suiqing also felt that this was not good. Now that they were all grown up, they could not be bullied as easily as when they were children, so she let go of him and snorted, "Hurry up and show your sister your internet cafe."

"okay!"

Liu Jianhu turned into a sullen, droopy-eyed cat.

"sister……"

"Ok?"

"You're really engaged to Haoran?"

"We had our engagement party yesterday."

Qiao Suiqing took out a handful of wedding candies from her bag and handed them to him.

"Yesterday?" Liu Jianhu's eyes widened. "Why weren't you notified?"

Qiao Suiqing smiled and said, "Here we are."

Liu Jianhu stamped his foot and said, "I'll go and congratulate you!"

Qiao Suiqing said, "It's nothing, it's just an engagement party. You can come to the wedding."

"Oh." Liu Jianhu calmed down and sighed, "What a pity, such a good cabbage was..."

"Ok?"

Qiao Suiqing stared at him coldly.

"No, no..." Liu Jianhu quickly stepped aside and ran over to Zhou Haoran, explaining earnestly, "I've found out everything. Our internet cafe has a total investment of 95 yuan. There are 60 machines in total, and the monthly rent, utilities, internet fees, etc. are 8 yuan, while the labor costs are about 2 yuan."

Zhou Haoran nodded. "And the income?"

Liu Jianhu said, "The boss didn't say, but it's easy to calculate. The internet fee is 20 yuan, one machine works 20 hours a day, 30 days, 60 machines... the monthly income can reach 70 yuan!"

"After deducting machine wear and tear, we can break even in two months."

Zhou Haoran truly witnessed the exorbitant profits of internet cafes in this era; the costs were high, but the returns were also enormous.

"Not always."

Liu Jianhu shook his head.

"how?"

"The internet cafe where I used to work went out of business in less than a month, losing more than 50 yuan."

"what?"

Zhou Haoran looked at him in surprise.

Liu Jianhu said in a low voice, "The current internet fee is generally 20 or 25 yuan. His internet cafe lowered the fee to 15 yuan, which immediately overtook the competitors next door. One day, more than a dozen thugs came and smashed up the shop, ruining everything."

"Ah."

Zhou Haoran didn't find it strange.

These days, public security isn't very good, and there are all sorts of gangs carrying knives and sticks on the streets and alleys.

It's impossible for Dongfang Lang, a college student, to start an internet cafe business off-campus.

Why is nobody eating instant noodles here?

Zhou Haoran followed him around and discovered that internet cafes these days are all different.

Not only here, but several other internet cafes I've visited before also didn't have instant noodles, sausages, fries, or drinks.

"That won't do!" Liu Jianhu pointed to the wall. "Look, they're all posted there!"

Zhou Haoran looked up.

The sign read, "Bringing fruits and beverages is prohibited. A fine of 100 yuan will be imposed if found."

On the other side, there is a warning sign: "Smoking is prohibited. A fine of 50 yuan will be imposed."

"Why?" Zhou Haoran felt this request was a bit too much. "A fine too?"

Liu Jianhu said, "Protect the machine!"

"Protect the machine?"

Zhou Haoran was completely baffled.

“Our computers are all connected to the network; they are all sophisticated devices. If food scraps or water accidentally get into the machine, it will crash and the memory will fail.”

Liu Jianhu spoke as if he were giving a lecture to a layman, speaking in a very serious manner.

Zhou Haoran smirked, "No smoking, huh?"

Liu Jianhu said, "Smoke won't do either. Computers are very delicate. If they're exposed to smoke for a long time, they'll all break down. This machine costs over ten thousand yuan. Nobody can afford to pay for it."

Zhou Haoran laughed and said, "Alright, now that I've answered these two questions, I think I've figured out the internet cafe business!"

(End of this chapter)