Chapter 728 Nine out of ten are speculators
Lin Weimin felt that if people like Qu Xiaowei were in the old society, they would be complete prodigals.
He is also an indispensable supporting role beside every protagonist. Without his foil, how can the protagonist appear wise and brave?
"I plan to open a bookstore. You know me. I actually have a pretty good talent for writing, but unfortunately I gave up halfway. After all, I am a semi-cultured person. I will open a bookstore, drink tea and read books every day. Even if I make less money, I will be happy."
When Lin Weimin looked at Qu Xiaowei, he felt that four large, glittering words suddenly appeared on the top of this guy's head.
Industry underworld light!
Opening a bookstore seemed to be a very good business in the 1990s, especially for those literary young people. Bookstores, like coffee shops, were their ideal means of making a living in their dreams.
But after the 1990s, the bookstore business went from bad to worse. Only one or two out of ten bookstores survived in the country. Among the one or two that survived, Xinhua Bookstore accounted for half of them, and the rest were basically reduced to teaching supplementary book wholesale bookstores.
"you……"
Lin Weimin couldn't think of a way to attack Qu Xiaowei. He thought about it and decided to change his approach. He said, "Why don't you open an Internet cafe?"
"Internet cafe?"
Faced with this new term, Qu Xiaowei looked confused.
According to official data, the world's earliest Internet cafe was born on September 1, 1994 in London and was called Cyberia.
At present, new things like Internet cafes have not yet appeared, but this is not important because it is only a matter of time.
The earliest Cyberia was converted from a coffee house, and the owner's goal was simply to open a room equipped with computers and providing coffee specifically for female compatriots.
Internet coffe, this is the origin of "Internet cafe".
The word "Internet cafe" is a transliteration word that appeared a few years after Internet cafes were introduced to China and became popular. It is taken from Internet bar.
"You know about the Internet, right? Did you see the news that the Chinese Academy of Sciences was connected to the Internet some time ago?" Lin Weimin asked.
Qu Xiaowei nodded, "I know."
"Next year, China Telecom will provide Internet services to ordinary people. By then, people can use computers to communicate with people all over the world, and upload and search for various materials on their computers.
An Internet cafe is an internet coffee shop, which is basically the same as a game room, except that the services provided are different.”
Qu Xiaowei suddenly realized, "I see. Internet cafes provide internet and coffee."
He clapped his hands excitedly, "This is a good idea!"
The Internet and computers are definitely synonymous with fashion and high-end for people of this era, not to mention coffee shops. Isn’t this the livelihood that Qu Xiaowei has always dreamed of?
After a moment of excitement, Qu Xiaowei calmed down again, "It must cost a lot of money to open a store like this, right? A computer alone costs 10,000 or 20,000 yuan!"
Lin Weimin nodded, "The investment is definitely not small, but this is a new thing, and the pricing power is in your hands. There will be people who will pay twenty or thirty yuan an hour."
"Twenty or thirty yuan an hour?" Qu Xiaowei exclaimed. He couldn't help but ask, "Weimin, are you kidding me?"
"It's up to you whether you believe it or not. Anyway, I have shown you the way. It's up to you whether you do this business or not." Lin Weimin said.
The Internet cafe business, like the bookstore business, entered a red ocean market after 2005 and it was extremely brutal.
But unlike bookstores, Internet cafes really made money in the first few years after their establishment, and could make you rich overnight.
The predecessor of China's first Internet company, Yinghaiwei, was an Internet cafe. Shanghai Weigate, which was established a few months later than Yinghaiwei, charged 40 yuan per hour at the time, and people came to experience it in an endless stream.
You should know that the average monthly salary of urban workers at that time was only 500 yuan, and pork was 3 yuan per pound.
In the first few years after its birth, Internet cafes could be said to be high-consumption places, and only a small number of wealthy people were eligible to consume there.
Qu Xiaowei hesitated and asked, "You said that we can only connect to the Internet next year. Does that mean we can only open this Internet cafe next year?"
"Actually, it can be opened now, but it can't connect to the Internet, only the local area network. You know the kind of online connection that arcade machines have, right?"
Qu Xiaowei nodded again, "I understand."
He pondered for a moment, then said, "I'll study it carefully."
Seeing that her husband's entrepreneurial passion had been ignited by Lin Weimin's words, Liu Haiyan couldn't help but complain: "Can't you persuade him to work hard?"
"Your young master, is your advice useful? With his inability to carry anything, opening an Internet cafe is a good fit for him."
Liu Haiyan also understood that Lin Weimin had good intentions, but she was still dissatisfied with her husband's restlessness. "Oh, really, why do you always make trouble when you can live a good life?"
It is always difficult for women to understand that men over the age of 35, when they are no longer able to perform well in bed, will always find some weird hobbies to indulge in.
Obviously, the hobby that Qu Xiaowei found was entrepreneurship.
Two days later, the filming of "Forever Young" started.
This is the first film in the true sense of the word for Good Dream Company. Wang Shuo invited many friends to the opening ceremony, and the scene was very lively on the day of the opening ceremony.
"Forever Lost" was produced on a very low budget, with the male lead Guo Tao and the female leads Xu Fan and Ju Xue, all three of whom are not very famous.
Lin Weimin was invited to the platform today, purely as a mascot. He came just to take photos and chat with a few acquaintances.
Seeing Ge You with a shiny bald head, he patted him on the shoulder and said, "Hey, isn't this the Cannes Film Festival winner?"
Ge You smiled bitterly, "Teacher Lin, please stop humiliating me!"
"You are a real movie star, how can you say you are shabby?"
The bitter smile on Ge You's face became even wider, and he didn't know how to answer.
While the two were talking, Zhang Yimou appeared on the set. He walked up to Lin Weimin and greeted him.
Lin Weimin said with a smile: "How come you, a busy man, have time to come here?"
Zhang Yimou's expression is exactly the same as Ge You's.
At the Cannes Film Festival just two months ago, Zhang Yimou participated with his new film "To Live" and won the festival's Jury Grand Prix, Best Actor Award and Humanitarian Award.
Although it cannot compare with the Palme d'Or of "Farewell My Concubine", the Jury Prize is second only to the Palme d'Or, and there is also a Best Actor award. Logically speaking, "To Live" should be considered to have won glory for the country again.
Unfortunately, in May, which should have been a month of media coverage, domestic public opinion was completely silent. Apart from one or two local tabloids that occasionally dared to report that "To Live" had won the award, all official media fell into silence.
The fundamental reason for all this is that "To Live" did not pass the review of the Film Bureau and participated in the film festival privately.
Participating in the competition without review was of course a political taboo, which directly led to the domestic ban of "To Live".
Zhang Yimou has been very busy with film matters recently and has been trying to smooth things over. Unfortunately, this approach of acting first and reporting later is too offensive, and the Film Bureau has just changed its leadership, so no one is willing to facilitate such a film.
"This is not Yimou's fault. It's Mr. Qiu who is too anxious."
After the opening ceremony, everyone had nothing to do, so Ge You took Lin Weimin aside to talk about the inside story of "To Live" participating in the Cannes Film Festival.
It seems that these two people are here for Lin Weimin today.
"To Live" started filming last year, and at the beginning of the project, it had already received an invitation to the Cannes Film Festival.
Last year, "Farewell My Concubine" won the Palme d'Or. Both the film festival organizing committee and investors have high hopes for "To Live".
From early preparation to mid-term shooting and then to post-production, the film has gone through the entire process and there is less than a month left until the Cannes Film Festival.
After the film was finally completed, Zhang Yimou took the finished film to the Film Bureau for review. The Film Bureau raised a lot of questions. It was very difficult to make changes and it would take a lot of time and money. It would definitely be too late to participate in the Cannes Film Festival.
Investor Qiu Fusheng was anxious and did not want to miss this opportunity, so he urged Zhang Yimou to submit his film to the competition.
Qiu Fusheng was an investor after all, and Zhang Yimou had no way of refusing his request.
So, he took "To Live", which had not been approved in the country, to the Cannes Film Festival.
"Mr. Qiu is too eager for quick success!" Ge You couldn't help but say again.
Lin Weimin shook his head. "It's not that they are eager for quick success, but that they don't care about the government and the domestic market at all."
There is more than one Cannes Film Festival, and there are more than one influential international film festivals. Qiu Fusheng dared to ask Zhang Yimou to attend the film festival privately. To put it bluntly, he has no reverence.
His funds themselves belong to overseas investment. Nowadays, the mainland has strict restrictions on the box office revenue of these overseas investments, so he certainly did not expect to recover the investment by relying on the mainland market.
Since you don't want to rely on the mainland market to recover your investment, what is there to be afraid of?
On the contrary, he must have thought about the consequences of allowing the film to violate the rules and participate in overseas competitions, which would enrage the Film Bureau, ban the film, and even ban the director.
The consequences were serious, but had nothing to do with Qiu Fusheng.
As long as the film participates in overseas competitions, it will inevitably be labeled as a "banned film" to greatly stimulate the curiosity of the overseas market, and it can also play a positive role in the film's awards. As an investor, he can make a fortune without any effort.
"Yimou, you are confused. You are being led by the nose!" said Lin Weimin.
Zhang Yimou was scolded by Lin Weimin and said with shame, "I..."
"He is a kind person. After all, Mr. Qiu paid for the movie. If there are major changes, Mr. Qiu will definitely have to make additional investments, and he might not even get his money back." Ge You defended Zhang Yimou, and he added: "Besides, Yimou also suffered because of this. There are rumors that the Film Bureau wants to ban him and even the novel "To Live" will be banned."
"I'm not blaming Yimou, it's really Mr. Qiu who is too outrageous. Didn't Yimou help him make money before? His actions not only ruined the movie, but also very likely ruined Yimou. Such short-sighted investors who don't respect our mainland market should not be allowed in."
Lin Weimin's brows were furrowed, his tone was serious, and the content was even more explosive.
Many people from the film industry came to today's opening ceremony. Lin Weimin's voice was not loud, but it was loud enough to reach many people's ears, and everyone had different expressions.
Everyone naturally understood what Lin Weimin meant by "come in".
Those who have made it to where they are today are all shrewd people, and no one believes that Lin Weimin said this unintentionally.
What does Mr. Lin mean? Ban the investor from Wandao?
That's unlikely. He's a friendly person after all.
"Teacher Lin, they are friendly people, be careful with your words!" Ge You reminded.
"Be careful with your words! You call them friendly people. Nine out of ten of them are opportunists!"
Lin Weimin made no secret of it. With his current status, how could he care about that group of speculators who claimed to be "friendly"!
(End of this chapter)
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