Chapter 617: The Three Lis of Yanjing

Qu Xiaowei is going to go into the entertainment industry?

Lin Weimin looked at him in surprise. No, brother, don’t you understand your own attributes very well?

"Why are you going into business for no reason?" Lin Weimin asked.

Qu Xiaowei was full of fighting spirit. "The old man is on a tour in the south, and the domestic economic situation is very good. I feel that I am a bit underemployed in the cultural center. I want to go out and do something big!"

Liu Haiyan, who was picking vegetables, heard his movement and cursed: "Do something big, do something big, what big thing can you do? Look at the businesses you want to do? Either you set up a stall or open a restaurant, that's called doing something big?"

Qu Xiaowei was not angry when his wife sabotaged him, and retorted: "Which entrepreneur didn't start from humble beginnings? You can't look down on small businesses!"

After he finished speaking, he turned to Lin Weimin and asked, "Weimin, among our group of friends, you have the most active mind. What do you think of my idea?"

Lin Weimin shook his head, "Not very good!"

Qu Xiaowei was eagerly waiting for Lin Weimin's answer, but he was unexpectedly poured with a bucket of cold water. He couldn't help but ask, "Why?"

"You are not cut out for business."

Qu Xiaowei was unhappy, "You are looking down on me."

"Then let me ask you, do you have any specific ideas about opening a restaurant?"

"Yes, I plan to open a Sichuan restaurant. Sichuan restaurants have been very popular in Yanjing City in the past two years, but most of them are not authentic. I plan to open an authentic Sichuan restaurant, which will definitely be popular."

"You know there are so many Sichuan restaurants, but you still want to open one? Besides, have you ever thought about why the taste is not authentic?"

"Why?"

"To suit the tastes of the people of Yanjing! Do you think everyone is from Sichuan?"

Qu Xiaowei was speechless when he heard this. He stood there for a while before he managed to say, "Authentic Sichuan cuisine is also delicious."

"But the improved one is more in line with the tastes of Yanjing people."

Lin Weimin hit the nail on the head again. Qu Xiaowei opened his mouth and wanted to retort, but he really couldn't find an angle to do so.

Others were watching the conversation between the two and advised, "Xiaowei, forget it. Working at the cultural center is easy and stable, isn't that good?"

"Yeah, why make it hard on yourself?"

"You don't know how to do business, so don't join in the fun. The child is grown up, and there will be many places to spend money in the future!"

This group of people said more hurtful things than the other. Qu Xiaowei's self-esteem and self-confidence suffered an unprecedented blow.

Only Yu Hua wanted to act as a conspicuous bag, "I think Xiaowei can give it a try. This time the old man's southern tour is a good opportunity for people who are interested in the business world."

Lin Weimin sensed the uneasiness in his words and turned to look at him.

Young man, your thoughts are very dangerous!

Qu Xiaowei received support and became braver again.

"Yu Hua still has good vision!"

He stood up, ran to Yu Hua and put his arm around her. The two of them were whispering to each other, apparently discussing their plans to go into business.

"I'm telling you, your idea for a Sichuan restaurant is a no-go."

"Why is it not working?"

"Teacher Lin is right. There are too many Sichuan restaurants in Yanjing City. This is homogeneous competition."

"The more stores open, the more customers there are."

"Can you guarantee that you can definitely out-compete others? The requirements for chefs in a restaurant are too high. If the chefs are not skilled, how can the business be good? Besides, how much investment is required to open a Sichuan restaurant!"

“If not a Sichuan restaurant, what should I open?”

“BBQ place!”

"Barbecue?"

"Yes, a barbecue restaurant. Believe me, a barbecue restaurant is definitely more popular than a Sichuan restaurant. It also requires less investment and is easier to open."

Lin Weimin looked at the backs of the two men, and for some reason, two classic images popped up in his mind.

Crouching Dragon and Phoenix Chick.

Until dinner time, the two of them were still chatting about business at the table, completely ignoring the strange looks from everyone at the table. Liu Haiyan's eyes were rolling up to the sky.

"Well, it seems that the barbecue restaurant is indeed a good business."

After nearly an hour of brainwashing, Yu Hua finally succeeded in changing Qu Xiaowei's mind.

Liu Haiyan said, "You two, one works at the cultural center and the other works at the publishing house. Are they next to the barbecue restaurant?"

"What's wrong with not being related? No one has stipulated that you must do your own business when doing business! Besides, I work at a cultural center, what does that have to do with business?" Qu Xiaowei retorted.

Lin Weimin couldn't help but ask, "Have you ever thought about doing some business related to culture?"

"Cultural business? For example?" Qu Xiaowei asked without thinking.

Lin Weimin was speechless. What on earth was he keeping his brain for? He was still doing business with this?

"Why don't you say something?" Seeing that Lin Weimin didn't say anything, Qu Xiaowei thought he was keeping him in suspense and urged him hurriedly.

Lin Weimin ignored him and said to Liu Haiyan through him: "Haiyan, the passbooks and things at home are all hidden."

Liu Haiyan nodded firmly upon hearing this.

Everyone was stunned for a moment, and then couldn't help but burst into laughter.

Qu Xiaowei was furious. "Discrimination! This is blatant discrimination! I am responding to the government's call, following the trend, and conforming to the general trend of history!"

"The general trend doesn't guarantee that you will make money!" Zheng Guo complained.

Lin Weimin said earnestly: "Xiaowei, do you know that people who do business must have a basic skill?"

"What skills?"

"I can settle accounts."

"Know how to settle accounts? What kind of skill is that?" Qu Xiaowei said disdainfully.

"Then let me ask you, you said you want to open a Sichuan restaurant, what expenses will you have to pay?"

Qu Xiaowei smiled contemptuously, "What else? Rent, decoration, pots and pans, water and electricity bills, labor, food money..."

After counting a few items, Qu Xiaowei was at a loss for words, "That's probably it."

Lin Weimin pointed at Zheng Guo and said, "Count for him, what else?"

"You need gas to run a restaurant, right? You need seasonings to cook, right? If you can't sell all the dishes, there will be losses, right? The restaurant needs to advertise, and some advertising expenses are not excessive, right? If regular customers come, you should give them a discount, right? If acquaintances come, they should get a free meal, right? You need to take care of government departments, right..."

Zheng Guo has always been frugal in life, so counting the bills is almost an instinct for him. How can one save money without being penny wise when it comes to daily necessities?

Compared with him, Qu Xiaowei is basically out of touch with worldly affairs. He is lazy at work and doesn't know how to cook at home.

He kept counting on his fingers and chattered on to explain science to Qu Xiaowei for several minutes. The more Qu Xiaowei listened, the less confident he felt and the more he feared the difficulty.

"That's about it. I've never run a restaurant, so these are all I can think of," Zheng Guo said finally.

When he finished speaking, everyone couldn't help but applaud.

Zheng Guo's performance is far superior to Qu Xiaowei's. In terms of business thinking alone, Zheng Guo crushes Qu Xiaowei.

Qu Xiaowei felt a little depressed amid the applause of the crowd, but Yu Hua said: "It doesn't matter. One person's plan is short, two people's plan is long, three cobblers are better than Zhuge Liang, and no one is born to do business."

Yu Hua's encouragement gave Qu Xiaowei some confidence, and he looked at Yu Hua as if he were a close friend.

"You still know me best."

Lin Weimin couldn't help but say, "Can you please stop making trouble?"

"How can this be a nuisance? Now that everyone is doing business in the seaside, it's understandable that Xiaowei wants to do it!"

Qu Xiaowei said: "That's right, others can do it but I can't?"

Lin Weimin shook his head helplessly. It was not that Qu Xiaowei could not do business, but that this guy really did not show any ability to do business.

If a contestant who doesn't even ask the price of vegetables when buying them is asked to do business, isn't he just waiting to lose money?

"Whatever you want."

Good words cannot persuade a damned ghost!

Everyone felt helpless seeing Qu Xiaowei being so stubborn. He would not turn back until he hit the wall!

Qu Xiaowei and Yu Hua were chatting enthusiastically about business, and no one paid any attention to them.

Li Guangfu and Lin Weimin got together and talked about the People's Art Theatre.

Li Guangfu was originally an actor of the People's Art Theatre. He started out as a businessman a few years ago and is now considered to have a successful career.

Compared with him, the current development of the People's Art Theatre is hard to describe.

The period from the mid-to-late 1970s to the mid-1980s can be said to be the peak period of contemporary Chinese drama. In this short period of less than ten years, domestic drama troupes flourished, classic works emerged in an endless stream, the number of audiences increased day by day, and tickets for many acclaimed dramas were often hard to come by. Audiences would rather pay a high price to watch a drama, and the entire drama market was booming.

But after 1985, the domestic drama market suddenly changed.

The number of audiences suddenly declined this year, and this decline lasted for six years. During these years, the number of domestic drama audiences has continued to decrease.

Many theater troupes found it difficult to operate under such circumstances, but fortunately, the drama troupes at that time were all supported by the state, so they were able to maintain themselves.

But the company can maintain it, but the employees can't stand it!

When the performance market was booming, actors received monthly salaries and subsidies for performances.

Now the market has cooled down, there are no performances, and the performance subsidies are gone. Many theater troupes cannot even pay salaries, and this delay lasts for half a year or a year.

The National Theatre of China is a national-level theatre troupe, so its conditions are naturally better than many local drama troupes, but the situation is also not optimistic.

"The performance subsidies for those theater troupes outside have been gone, and salaries are not paid on time, so many people have started looking for other ways out. The National Theatre of China is better, but now making movies and TV series outside makes much more money than acting in dramas, so many people have gone to act in movies and TV series," Li Guangfu said with emotion.

"In recent years, people's focus has shifted to economic development and material life, and they no longer attach as much importance to spiritual life as in previous years," said Lin Weimin.

"You're right. I just think it's a pity that our People's Art Theatre has produced so many masters and classics and has developed for decades, but in the end, no one watches them."

"It can't be said that no one watches it. It can only be said that in the past few years, the people's spiritual needs were too strong, which caused the demand in this area to expand abnormally. Now it is in a cooling-off stage. When everyone slows down, the drama market will naturally pick up, but it will definitely not reach the level of previous years."

"You always look at things from such a high-level perspective," Li Guangfu complimented.

"I say you are one of the 'Three Lis of Beijing' now, so stop flattering me all the time."

In the 1990s, there was a saying of "Four Lis" in Yanjing, namely Li Chengru who sold clothes, Li Chunping who hung out with rich women, Li Tuchun who sold calendars, and Li Xiaohua who sold Zhang Guang hair growth agent.

At this time, Li Chunping, who hangs out with rich women, and Li Tuchun, who sells calendars, have not returned to China, and the other has not made a fortune, but Yanjing City has gained a new person, Li Guangfu, who works as a real estate agent, professional agent, and decorator.

Therefore, the "Four Lis of Yanjing" in later generations became the "Three Lis of Yanjing" today.

"No matter how many Li you are, you are still my teacher Lin."

Li Guangfu raised his glass with a smile and clinked glasses with Lin Weimin.

(End of this chapter)