Restart life

Chapter 18 0017 [How to make money? ]

What kind of business could be done in Longdu, a small 18th-tier city, in the early 2000s?
It seems not.

There were already several large and medium-sized supermarkets in the city center, so it would be possible to open a small community supermarket. However, Chen Guiliang did not have the funds.

Although there is no foreign fast food in the county town, there is already a KFC in the urban area.

Doing Chinese fast food?

Haha, it won’t be possible even in another twenty years.

This is one of the birthplaces of the three major factions of Sichuan cuisine. Diners are very picky and whoever tries Chinese fast food will be doomed.

Dealing in DVDs, tapes, and the like was still a viable activity more than ten years ago, but now they are everywhere.

We must focus on the Internet.

Taobao is actually the first choice, but it is not suitable here because express delivery cannot be solved.

Of course, you can also contact the manufacturer for direct shipment. The problem is that once sales start to pick up, the manufacturer will inevitably abandon you. In an emerging market, your online store brand is useless, and you must stock up on inventory yourself to prevent manufacturers from taking advantage of you.

The manufacturer direct delivery model will only be useful after Taobao becomes highly competitive.

"Business talk?"

Feng Tao shook his head repeatedly when he heard this: "I'm a poor worker, and you're just a poor student. What business can we discuss?"

Chen Guiliang asked, "How much of a stake do you own in this store?"

"Only 20%. The remaining 80% of the shares are all owned by my high school classmates," Feng Tao sighed. "I'm in debt just to buy the shares."

This cousin is the son of Chen Guiliang’s great aunt (my grandmother’s younger sister).

Just ten years older than Chen Guiliang.

Feng Tao also came from the countryside and graduated from a college in the mid-90s.

At that time, the value of junior college was quite good.

But Feng Tao spent several years in Guangzhou and Shenzhen without making any progress. He was also heartbroken, so he decided to return to his hometown and accept the blind date arranged by his parents to get married.

Until the beginning of this year, an old high school classmate took Feng Tao to run a private server for Legend. After making some money, he switched to selling computers.

After Feng Tao finished calling his wife, he said to his clerk, "You can go home now."

The guy was a little dull, smiled, bowed and said goodbye.

After the clerk left, Feng Tao introduced him, "This is my apprentice, Yang Xiaolong. He's from the neighboring village of Yangjiaba. He failed the college entrance exam this year and has since dropped out of school. Now he's learning how to set up and repair computers from me. He doesn't know much about interpersonal skills yet, but he's learning very quickly."

"Is my cousin still developing a private server for Legend?" Chen Guiliang asked.

Before his rebirth, although Chen Guiliang had been engaged in the gaming industry for many years, he had always been engaged in operations and marketing.

No technical knowledge at all.

Nowadays, if you want to make a small fortune from playing games, you can try playing private servers of Legend.

However, the development of the legendary private server has gone through several stages, so Chen Guiliang first needs to inquire about the market conditions.

"I just stopped doing it." Feng Tao said.

Chen Guiliang asked: "Why not?"

Feng Tao explained simply: "There are more and more private servers, and the competition is too fierce. Making a little money is fine, but making a lot of money is very difficult. It's better to just sell computers honestly."

In the autumn of 2003, the Legend private server ushered in its first period of prosperity.

Various versions of private servers have sprung up like mushrooms after rain. There are too many competitors, serious homogeneity, and a lack of innovation. It is no longer the time to pick up money easily.

Moreover, in just over a month, five ministries will jointly carry out a special rectification campaign, which will scare many forum and private server operators into disappearing.

Feng Tao continued, "My classmates are too lazy to promote online. They just set up private servers in a few internet cafes. They're all doing poorly, and they can only make a little money."

Chen Guiliang asked again: "With your uncle's skills, can you design your own private clothes?"

Feng Tao shook his head. "I'm a self-taught programmer, so my skills are just average. I can only buy other people's private server frameworks and make some minor modifications. If you force me to design a private server, I can only do the simplest one. Adding more features will cause bugs."

Chen Guiliang was a little disappointed. He had expected his first partner to be his trustworthy cousin.

Now it seems that the only option is to replace the player.

Chen Guiliang asked again: "How much does it cost to buy a private server architecture?"

"You don't know anything and you still want to run a private server?"

Feng Tao made a joke, but then answered seriously: "It ranges from a few hundred yuan to tens of thousands of yuan. The more expensive, the better."

Private servers that cost a few hundred yuan are definitely common goods and have no appeal at all.

Private servers worth tens of thousands of dollars have various features and can be customized according to your own ideas.

Chen Guiliang has no money now, just a little living expenses from his parents, and he definitely can't afford to play private servers that cost thousands or tens of thousands.

He wanted to implement a pay-to-win gameplay system, but he didn't have the technical knowledge. He had to find a financial sponsor and hire some technical staff to modify and maintain the game.

Alas, I should have learned programming in my previous life.

It’s quite embarrassing nowadays if you don’t understand technology.

Chen Guiliang then asked, "Uncle, can we talk about your high school classmate?"

Feng Tao said, "His name is Tao Chenggang. Both his parents worked at a boiler factory (a state-owned enterprise). Like me, he only managed to get into a junior college. But he's got a quick mind, and somehow he made hundreds of thousands of yuan. Two years ago, he returned to Longdu to open an internet cafe."

"He now owns eight internet cafes, a gaming studio (for brick-moving and gold-making), and he also owns an 80% stake in this computer shop. He also helped me make money when I was running the private server for Legend of Mir."

Chen Guiliang said, "I want to visit him."

"Why are you looking for him?" Feng Tao treated Chen Guiliang as a little kid.

Chen Guiliang said, "Let's meet up."

Feng Tao thought about it carefully and felt that it would not affect anything, so he nodded and said, "Okay, I'll make an appointment for you. But tomorrow and the day after tomorrow are holidays, so I can't leave my shop. You'll have to go find him yourself."

"Thank you, uncle." Chen Guiliang handed over another cigarette.

"Thank you to me?"

Feng Tao put the cigarette behind his ear, stood up, closed the shop and prepared to go home.

Chen Guiliang followed his uncle to the parking lot and soon saw his uncle's vehicle - a second-hand Jialing motorcycle.

"You are a boss after all, why do you drive such a broken car?" Chen Guiliang teased.

Feng Tao complained bitterly, "My boss is a piece of shit. I spent all the money I earned working in the south by the time I got married. This year, I opened this shop with a partner, but the money I got from selling private servers is not enough. Add in the mortgage on the wedding house, and I'm already carrying over 60,000 yuan in foreign debt."

Chen Guiliang said auspiciously: "Selling computers is very profitable, only tens of thousands of yuan, it will only take a year or two."

"I hope so." Feng Tao got on the motorcycle.

My cousin lives in a high-end residential complex. He bought his house two years ago, and at the time, it was among the most expensive in the city, costing around 1000 yuan per square meter.

The price has increased now, to 1100 per square meter.

Feng Tao opened the door and entered the house, and the sound of cooking came from the kitchen.

My cousin Lin Chunhong called out from inside, "Please sit down first. There's another dish!"

Feng Tao turned on the TV and sat down on the sofa in the living room.

Chen Guiliang walked to the kitchen door and said, "Aunt, sorry to bother you. I came in such a hurry that I didn't even buy any fruit."

Lin Chunhong said, "Come on, we're all relatives, why would you buy any fruit?"

Chen Guiliang felt extremely complicated as he looked at the child on his aunt's back.

Lin Chunhong was very pretty, a village beauty. But she was uneducated and hadn't even finished high school. When she married her cousin, she wasn't even of legal marriageable age, and it took her more than half a year after the wedding to get a marriage certificate.

Currently quite virtuous.

A few years later, her family became wealthy and her heart became wild.

I met my online crush and ended up cheating on my cousin.

For the sake of their children, the couple divorced and remarried.

Later, my uncle was diagnosed with stomach cancer and had half of his stomach removed, which cured him for a time. But two years later, the cancer recurred. My aunt, Lin Chunhong, was determined to divorce him. She ignored my uncle's condition and even threatened to sell their house and car to divide the family property.

My cousin passed away.

My cousin's aunt disappeared and didn't care about her son at all.

The son lived with his grandparents, but they passed away one after another. In the end, it was Chen Guiliang's parents who adopted him.

In other words, the child that Lin Chunhong is carrying on her back at this moment is actually Chen Guiliang's younger brother in the legal sense.

The child was very sensible and later went to military school.

"Aunt, let me help you hold the baby. It's inconvenient for you to cook like this." Chen Guiliang said as he walked into the kitchen.

Lin Chunhong immediately put down the spatula, untied the child and handed him to Chen Guiliang.

"Wow wow wow..."

As soon as Chen Guiliang took over, the little cousin burst into tears.

Feng Tao laughed in the living room, "Hurry up and bring it to me. You can't handle it."

Chen Guiliang quickly passed his little cousin on, and the room was finally quiet.

Feng Tao teased his son and said proudly, "This child is shy and won't be held by anyone except his mother and father."

Chen Guiliang agreed with him and said, "It's better for boys to be more noisy."

Feng Tao boasted, "When I have enough money, I'll pay the fine and have a daughter. I don't have any big ambitions in life, just having a son and a daughter."

These were very simple and ordinary words, but when they came from his cousin's mouth, Chen Guiliang felt deeply moved.

Chen Guiliang said, "If you want to have both sons and daughters, you have to take good care of your body. You can go for a full body checkup every year."

Feng Tao joked, "I'm in very good health, so I won't donate to the hospital."

Chen Guiliang knew that persuasion was useless, so he could only wait a few more years. He would go back to his hometown every year under the pretext of having a full-body check-up and take his cousin to the hospital with him.

The uncle and nephew watched TV, entertained the children and chatted.

Soon, Lin Chunhong brought the dishes to the table and served them rice.

Feng Tao boasted, "Your aunt has no other advantages, but she's so virtuous, there's no one else like her. Tao Chenggang...that high school classmate of mine, is always envious every time he comes to my house for dinner, saying I'm incredibly lucky to have such a good wife."

"Aunt is indeed very virtuous." Chen Guiliang nodded in agreement.

Lin Chunhong smiled and went to hug her son: "Give it to me, it's time to feed."

Feng Tao brought out a bottle of Wuliangye and said, "How about having a couple of drinks with me? This is a good wine, a gift from Tao Chenggang. I usually can't bear to drink it."

Chen Guiliang raised his hand to hold the bottle: "Uncle, drinking is bad for your stomach. I heard that drinking frequently can easily lead to stomach cancer."

"You have stomach cancer, I'll pour it for you." Feng Tao welcomed him warmly.

Chen Guiliang could only remain silent.

Feng Tao has a good alcohol tolerance, which he developed while working in Guangzhou.

He still had to work in the store tomorrow, so he only drank a little.

After the meal, Feng Tao, still drunk, called:
"Hello, Brother Gang... It's me... I have a nephew who wants to visit you because of your reputation... He's not in business, he's still studying..."

"Oh, she's a top student, studying in the experimental class of No. 2 Middle School. She can easily get into a 985 university... Let's just meet once. I can also delay you from making millions... Okay, okay, it's a deal."

Throwing his phone on the sofa, Feng Tao rubbed his face and said to Chen Guiliang, "Tomorrow morning, I'll take you to the game studio on my bike. You wait there slowly. It might take an hour or two. He's going there this morning anyway."

"Okay, thank you for your help, uncle." Chen Guiliang said.

Feng Tao reminded him, "He's a righteous man who loves making friends and is extremely concerned about reputation. As long as you give him enough face, everything will be easy to talk about. Let me put it this way, when he was in high school, he had the exact same temper as you. To avenge a friend, he once even stabbed someone with a knife. Now he's become much more tactful and hasn't gotten into a fight in years."

Chen Guiliang seemed to be looking in the mirror, and immediately said happily: "People like this are actually quite easy to deal with. You just need to find the right place to stroke their hair."

"That's what I mean." Feng Tao agreed.

Chen Guiliang asked again: "What does his game studio do?"

Feng Tao wanted to laugh when he mentioned this: "You'll understand when you get there. He even gave the game studio a nickname: 'Longdu Internet Addiction Treatment Center.'"

"It seems this person is very interesting." Chen Guiliang couldn't help but smile.

Feng Tao said, "Don't be skeptical. The studio has only been open for a little over a year, and it's already helped over a dozen students break their internet addiction. Some parents even went to give him a banner."

What the hell is this banner?
Chen Guiliang said, "Uncle, can I borrow your landline?"

"Use it." Feng Tao leaned on the sofa and dozed off.

Chen Guiliang took out a piece of paper with a number written on it and called the paging station from his landline: "Hello, please transfer xxxxxx... Leave a message 'son, cousin's house'."

My father doesn't have a mobile phone and still uses a pager.

About ten minutes later, my father, Chen Xinghua, called: "Are you out of living expenses again? I'll transfer money to you tomorrow."

"Not for now. You can send the money next month," Chen Guiliang asked. "Dad, how much debt is left?"

Chen Xinghua was silent for a few seconds. "In the past two years, your mother and I have changed our careers and started doing renovations. We earn more than we did at the construction site. Don't worry about these things, just focus on your studies. Don't worry about the university tuition either, I'm already saving money."

"How much foreign debt is left?" Chen Guiliang asked again.

Chen Xinghua said: "I have almost paid it back. There is less than 20,000 left."

A mere debt of 20,000 yuan was not a small sum that a migrant worker could easily come up with in 2003.

Moreover, Chen Guiliang is about to go to college, and his parents have to work to pay off their debts while saving money for his tuition and living expenses.

"Is Mom next to you?" Chen Guiliang asked.

Chen Xinghua said: "Your mother was taking a shower just now, so I came out alone to make the call."

Chen Guiliang said, "Then you should go to bed early."

"Okay, I'm hanging up," Chen Xinghua said. "Long-distance calls are expensive. I shouldn't have called you so late at night."

A phone shop is a small shop that specializes in making phone calls. Long-distance calls cost only 3 cents per minute.

Long-distance calls from public phones in ordinary stores are expensive. 8 cents per minute within 800 kilometers, and 1 yuan per minute for calls over 800 kilometers.

In order to save on phone bills, Chen Xinghua didn't say much and hung up the call at the right time.

Chen Guiliang also hung up the phone and went to lie down on the sofa.

I hope the business deal can be done tomorrow so that my parents can escape from their misery soon. They haven’t dared to go home for seven years.

After thinking about it, Chen Guiliang went back to the landline and dialed Bian Guanyue's cell phone number.

Bian Guanyue never left him her number.

But he remembered it today, when his uncle issued the receipt.

Chen Guiliang has had a good memory since he was a child.

(End of this chapter)