We agreed not to date, so why are you crying now that I've become the richest man?

Ye Chen stepped onto the fourth-floor staircase. The corridor was filled with the noisy shouts of people playing games, and the cement steps under his feet were worn shiny by the soles of the shoes of passersby.

Pushing open the half-closed wooden door of dormitory 417, a stuffy smell mixed with the odor of sweat and sneakers hit you. Sun Haoyu was sitting in front of the computer shirtless, slamming the mouse repeatedly.

"Old Ye, you beast, did you fall into the latrine?"

"Turn on your computer quickly, the enemy mid laner Shadow Fiend has pressured me three times already!"

"Haoyu, with your skills, even if Lao Ye comes, he'll just get a double kill. You might as well hope the other side suddenly loses internet connection."

"Stop talking nonsense, Lao Lu!"

"That last wave was clearly due to your failure to control it!"

Seeing his two roommates arguing heatedly at their desks, Ye Chen threw his black backpack onto the desk, pulled out a chair, and sat down.

These guys have absolutely no sense of crisis. They're already scrambling to grab the opportunities on group-buying websites and mobile internet, but they're still yelling their heads off in the dorm over the ownership of a mid-lane outer tower!

Just as he reached out and pressed the power button on his laptop, his phone, which was tucked into his thin sweatshirt pocket, suddenly vibrated.

Seeing this, Ye Chen picked up his phone, got up, opened the glass door to the balcony, and stepped out. He then closed the door tightly behind him, shutting out the noise from the dormitory.

The night breeze in mid-October was cool on his face. Ye Chen leaned against the iron railing, swiped his finger lightly on the screen, and answered the phone.

"Hey, Xiaodong."

"Mr. Ye! I hope I didn't disturb your rest?"

"I just finished reviewing the accounts and back-end data for the past two days, so I'm here to give you an update on the opening!"

"Still awake? So, how's business at the shop these past couple of days?"

"Mr. Ye, you're amazing! Absolutely amazing!"

"Yesterday was Sunday, and because we had a promotion offering one and a half hours of free internet access with your ID card, every single one of our 180 machines was occupied from 8:30 a.m. until midnight!"

"The line of people waiting stretched from the second-floor stairwell all the way to the curb outside the main entrance; even our lounge area was packed with people!"

Ye Chen had witnessed these situations firsthand in the store yesterday, and he knew perfectly well how powerful college students were at taking advantage of freebies.

"It's normal that many people are trying it for free, since they don't have to pay anything. Have you compiled the statistics for yesterday's total recharge, card issuance, and bar spending?"

"The statistics are in!"

"Although we waived the internet fee yesterday, we had a special opening promotion: 'Recharge 50 and get 30 free, recharge 100 and get 80 free!' This promotion is only valid for the first three days of opening, and each person can only recharge once. After this period, the price will immediately return to normal. Guess what?"

"The students saw this as an opportunity to take advantage of the deal and were afraid of missing out if they missed out for the next three days. Those with extra cash topped up their accounts with 100 yuan, while even those with tight budgets gritted their teeth and topped up with 50 yuan! Many others, seeing the long wait times, simply got special offer cards at the front desk to reserve a spot!"

"Yesterday alone, the front desk issued over 680 membership cards, and the total recharge amount for the day reached over 51,000 yuan!"

"And the best part is the beverage bar! Many students are saving on internet fees by using the internet for free, and with more money to spare, they can't resist the aroma of our freshly ground coffee and grilled sausages. Yesterday, the beverage bar's revenue exceeded 8,500 yuan!"

Ma Xiaodong on the other end of the phone swallowed hard, his breathing becoming heavy.

He had been running a traditional internet cafe for so many years. In the past, if the store sold Master Kong braised beef noodles and iced tea, he would be lucky to make three or four hundred yuan a day.

I've never seen a juice and coffee shop sell over eight thousand yuan worth of juice in a single day!

The gross profit margin of the water bar is extremely high. With a turnover of 8,500 yuan, after deducting the cost of raw materials, the net profit is more than 6,000 yuan!

"With 51,000 yuan in top-ups and 8,500 yuan in bar revenue, the data is acceptable, and we've recovered the initial advertising and material costs."

By leveraging the gimmick of free traffic generation and the scarcity marketing of limited-time offers, then retaining customers with a smoke-free environment and peripheral experiences far ahead of the times, and finally reaping the rewards with a high-margin water bar, this combination of tactics was a complete game-changer in the university town in 2010!

"Mr. Ye, yesterday, Sunday, was packed. Actually, Fatty and I were a little worried. We were afraid that these students were just coming for the free admission. Once the original price is restored today, Monday, the store will be deserted."

"After all, our main hall charges five yuan an hour, and the private rooms on the second floor are eight yuan, which is more than double the price of that shady internet cafe across the street!"

"But when we opened the door this morning, our eyes nearly popped out of our sockets!"

"What's the attendance rate today, Monday?"

It's worth noting that Monday is the busiest day for classes in the university town, and traditional internet cafes are considered to be doing well if they can maintain an occupancy rate of around 30% during the day on Mondays.

"Mr. Ye, just after nine o'clock this morning, 80% of the 120 computers in the lobby on the first floor were already occupied! They were all people who had tried out our high-end backlit gaming keyboards in the lobby yesterday, the mechanical keyboards in the expensive private rooms on the second floor, and the super-large LCD screens. They also had about a hundred yuan left in their internet cards, and they came here specifically to play games since they didn't have classes today!"

"By 2 PM, not only was the first floor completely full, but even the five-seater private rooms and couples' booths on the second floor were all marked as full!"

"Several female business school students, finding the school library too full, came together to our second-floor quiet area to order milk tea and work on their papers on their laptops. They stayed there until just now!"

"And many students who didn't get a turn yesterday heard that the 'top up 100 and get 80 free' promotion only lasts for today and tomorrow, so they rushed over to sign up for cards as soon as get out of class ended today!"

"I just finished calculating today's revenue. New card top-ups alone brought in over 24,000 yuan, and the water bar made another 4,200 yuan!"

"It's Monday, Mr. Ye! The customer flow is at least twice as much as we previously estimated for a weekday!"

On the other end of the line, Ma Xiaodong's breathing grew heavier, and his palms, gripping the phone, were sweating.

If this trend continues, even if it returns to the normal level of "recharge 100 and get 30 free" or "recharge 200 and get 70 free" in three days, considering the concentrated recharge and deposit funds in the first month of opening and the stable net profit of more than 100,000 yuan per month, it will take about a year to fully earn back the 1.5 million yuan transfer and renovation costs in terms of cash flow!

On the balcony, the night breeze ruffled the stray hairs on Ye Chen's forehead as he listened to the report on the other end of the phone, a smile flickering in his eyes.

"Now that customer traffic has stabilized, we must not let our guard down in terms of service and hygiene."

"Tell the network administrators and cleaning staff that anyone who dares to slack off on smoking bans and toilet hygiene will have their monthly performance bonus deducted without exception!"

Ye Chen encouraged Ma Xiaodong a few more times, then casually hung up the call, turned around, opened the glass door, and walked back to the noisy dormitory.