It was Labor Day, but Shi Zhen's construction site did not stop work.
The losses from construction site shutdowns are significant. Work usually stops when it rains or something that prevents continued work; otherwise, workers don't have any holidays except for the Lunar New Year.
They didn't want to stop work either, because on construction sites, the more you work, the more you earn; stopping work would mean they would earn less money.
However, his workers did not get a holiday, but Shi Zhen himself... he gave himself a holiday.
Guan Baiyu's internet cafe is opening, and he plans to go and support it.
Shi Zhen set off at around 5 a.m. so that he could arrive before the opening at 8 a.m.
Around 7 a.m., Shi Zhen entered the provincial capital.
The temperature on Labor Day was just right, neither too cold nor too hot.
Perhaps because smartphones haven't yet prevented people from going to bed early and waking up early, there were already quite a few people on the streets, and the breakfast shops along the street were especially bustling.
Some shops put tables and chairs outside, but they were still full of people.
Unlike ten or twenty years later, when many shops grew bigger and bigger, most shops nowadays are quite small, just one storefront, doing a small business.
Even after Shi Zhen entered the newly built commercial district, the shops here were still small, unlike in later years, where a mobile phone store might have only a few products but take up a lot of space.
Therefore... Guan Baiyu's two-story internet cafe looks extremely large.
Once it grows bigger, it stands out among the smaller shops.
Shi Zhen felt that anyone who came to this commercial street would immediately notice the internet cafe called "Bai Shi".
Looking at the name, Shi Zhen chuckled.
When Guan Baiyu was thinking about a name for his internet cafe, he gave him some suggestions, thinking that Guan Baiyu could come up with a better name for his internet cafe.
As a result, Guan Baiyu directly used this name and even said it was to advertise his company.
Then... let's advertise for him.
Shi Zhen parked his car not far away.
The internet cafe wasn't open yet, but to Shi Zhen's surprise, there were people waiting at the door.
He walked over and saw the people discussing the internet cafe: "I heard this internet cafe opened today. For the first ten days, everyone gets a 20% discount, and it's only four yuan an hour!"
"I heard about it too, so I came here specifically to see."
"The first internet cafe around here is the one I went to from far away last time. It was a very small place with only a few computers, and I had to wait a long time to get a turn."
"I heard there are a lot of computers here."
"A new internet cafe must have new computers too!"
...
Guan Baiyu did a lot of promotion before opening his internet cafe.
So many people come here because of its reputation, and some even wait here early in order to grab a computer.
People tend to follow the crowd. After some people waited outside, others stopped here. Shi Zhen even heard some elderly people asking the young people waiting to come to the internet cafe what they were queuing up for.
Upon hearing that it was waiting for the internet cafe to open, some of them were confused, while others understood: "Oh! It's a place where you use computers!"
Then these elderly people will explain to their peers who don't know what computers are what they are.
In 1998, most primary and secondary schools in the provincial capital were equipped with computers.
Although a school may only have one computer lab, at least there are computer classes, so people are no longer so unfamiliar with computers.
However, since the school computers are empty, students usually just play with the built-in "Paint" app during computer class, and they use "Paint" to draw a picture for their final assignments. Therefore, the children are not very interested in computers.
That's why computers aren't something parents fear anymore; in fact, many parents hope their children will learn computers well.
Although they don't know what they can learn.
Shi Zhen watched from the entrance for a while, and seeing that more and more people were coming, he went around to the back and entered the internet cafe.
He came to see Guan Baiyu a while ago, went to an internet cafe, and even had the internet cafe's key.
Inside the internet cafe, everyone was busy. All the workers were present, and the internet cafe had already been cleaned spotless.
Upon seeing Shi Zhen, Guan Baiyu immediately narrowed his eyes and smiled.
However, with outsiders present, neither of them said anything, just watching the time tick by.
At 8:00 AM sharp, the internet cafe opened its doors.
Guan Baiyu didn't hold a particularly fancy opening ceremony, mainly because he was out of money, and now it seems... there's no need for it.
Almost immediately, countless people rushed in to register for internet access with the network administrator.
At that time, the government had not yet issued regulations prohibiting minors from accessing the internet in internet cafes.
These regulations won't be out for many years, mainly because right now, you really can't see much online.
There weren't even portal websites or search engines yet.
Most of the games are single-player games; large-scale online games simply don't exist.
However, Guan Baiyu still instructed the network administrator that young children should not be allowed to use the internet.
The main problem is that his prices are very high, and children simply can't afford that much money. If they come to use the internet, they might have stolen money from home, and it would be quite troublesome if their parents came looking for them.
Of course, he was overthinking it; no children came in at all.
The kids can't afford it, and they're not very interested in computers anyway.
Even many of the adults who come to the internet cafe have never used this before. They pay five yuan to try it out, but when they actually turn on the computer... they don't know anything.
But everyone was still very interested in examining this new gadget, and some people even watched others play with it without spending any money themselves.
The internet cafes at that time were completely different from some of the illegal internet cafes that came later. They were high-end places where only rich people would come in to play. Once inside, everyone kept their voices down.
Of course, some people don't know how to use a computer, but some do, and some people even figure out how to play a game as soon as they open it.
Single-player games are mostly simple.
Then one by one, they exclaimed in amazement.
When the people around saw this, they started playing along.
Many people were using computers for the first time, so Guan Baiyu even printed out a list of website addresses for those who came to the internet. So even those who weren't very interested in playing games would open some websites using the addresses on the list and look at the content.
In short, there are all kinds of jobs available.
What surprised Guan Baiyu the most was that the private rooms upstairs were booked up very quickly.
It's probably because... all the people who come to the internet cafe are rich. For rich people, there's not much difference between five yuan an hour and ten yuan an hour, right?
Shi Zhen, however, thought it was quite normal.
Some so-called "internet celebrity" shops in later generations actually sell very expensive and mediocre food, but still attract a lot of people to visit them... Guan Baiyu's internet cafe at this time was almost the same as an internet celebrity shop.
It's something like... going out and telling people, "I've been to Baishi Internet Cafe," is something you can brag about.
Of course, not everyone was there to have fun. Guan Baiyu saw that some people opened their email accounts and started sending emails after they arrived.
There are also some college students who don't have enough computer lab time at school, so they pay to come here to study.
In short, they do all sorts of things.
Moreover… the more than one hundred computers quickly filled up with people. Those who arrived late had to wait until a computer became available before they could play. “This is so lively!” After Liang Qinxuan arrived with his friends, his friends immediately went upstairs to play, while he stayed downstairs with Guan Baiyu, watching the guests come and go.
Wow, there are so many customers!
Liang Qinxuan couldn't help but ask, "With so many people, how much money can they earn in a day?"
Guan Baiyu said, "We're having a discount for the first ten days of opening, only four yuan per hour. If each computer is used for sixteen hours a day, that's sixty-four yuan. Let's just say sixty. One hundred computers, that's six thousand a day... I have more than one hundred computers here! The one upstairs is eight yuan an hour!"
A daily turnover of eight thousand is no problem.
Liang Qinxuan gasped.
This is incredibly profitable!
In that case, his first month's dividend will definitely exceed 40,000, and he can recoup his costs in less than a year...
Guan Baiyu said, "Of course, I'm going to use the money I earn at the beginning to buy computers... There are still many empty seats here."
Liang Qinxuan nodded repeatedly.
He can accept receiving his dividends later!
It's better to suffer a little now so you can earn more money later!
Perhaps it's because internet cafes look very high-end nowadays, so the people who come to use them are all very well-behaved, and there's nothing messy going on.
Everyone takes good care of their computers.
Guan Baiyu was extremely satisfied with this situation.
People who come here to use the internet also feel that... this place is particularly high-end.
So that's how computers work!
"This game is so much fun!"
"I have a computer at home, but it's completely empty!"
...
The next day, Guan Baiyu went to the internet cafe and did some calculations... and was surprised to find that the internet cafe's revenue was over ten thousand.
This naturally includes the food and beverage consumption of people who come to the internet cafe.
Those people can afford to pay four yuan an hour for internet access, so of course they don't mind spending more money on drinks, even if the drinks at the internet cafe are 50 cents more expensive than outside, they don't care at all.
The people in the private rooms upstairs were even more extravagant. Liang Qinxuan's friends had all spent a considerable amount of money there, and they had even brought some other friends to be introduced to fun computer games...
However, although the internet cafe's revenue was not low, there were hardly any people in the internet cafe from 10 pm until 8 am.
People at that time didn't stay up all night online.
Guan Baiyu thought for a moment and decided to adjust the workers' working hours. Instead of three shifts, they would simply work in two shifts, with the internet cafe closing at 11 p.m. and reopening at 8 a.m.
This arrangement allows for more workers per shift and avoids situations where there are too many people and too many things to do in the internet cafe during the day, making it difficult for the staff to keep up.
During the May Day holiday, Guan Baiyu and Shi Zhen spent most of their time in internet cafes. They even found a private room for two upstairs to play computer games together.
Although Shi Zhen doesn't like playing computer games, he can type, since he used them in his previous life.
Shi Zhen stayed for three days before returning home.
Meanwhile, the internet cafe's reputation was growing.
Even local media reported on this internet cafe.
Shi Zhen was very worried about negative reviews of internet cafes, but times have changed... When the media reported on them, they said that internet cafes could broaden people's horizons, and they praised them highly.
After all, the country has been vigorously promoting computers in recent years.
Although Guan Baiyu did some publicity for the internet cafe, and many people became aware of its existence through word of mouth, it still couldn't compare to the power of the media.
When this report came out, a lot of people actually came to the internet cafe to check it out and see what it was like.
The internet cafe's business improved, and more and more people came in just to look around without spending any money. Guan Baiyu even had to have workers patrol back and forth to remind everyone not to smoke and to keep an eye on their valuables.
Otherwise, with so many people here, it's very likely that your wallet or something could be stolen without you noticing.
Shi Zhen didn't get too involved in Guan Baiyu's affairs, as he himself had quite a lot to do.
However, he didn't expect that when he returned from the provincial capital, Zhao Qiujuan would tell him something that... shocked him a bit.
Zhao Qiujuan and Duan Hongming are dating, and they plan to get married.
Zhao Qiujuan took the accounting certificate exam in April and just received the entry-level certificate. Shi Zhen plans to come up during the May Day holiday and ask her to work as an accountant. Then, the matter of introducing her to a potential partner can also begin.
As soon as he mentioned it, Zhao Qiujuan said that she already had a boyfriend, Duan Hongming.
When did they talk? How come he didn't know anything about it?
Shi Zhen was initially taken aback, but after thinking about it, he felt that the two were quite a good match.
Duan Hongming is a very reliable person, but his marriage in his previous life was not smooth.
In his past life, he didn't try to recruit Duan Hongming. Duan Hongming got married before resigning to start his own business.
Then, the couple's relationship seemed to have been strained. Duan Hongming's wife stayed in her hometown and didn't come here.
However, he didn't know the specifics.
But most likely... Duan Hongming will not marry his wife from his hometown again.
"What are your plans?" Shi Zhen asked Zhao Qiujuan.
Zhao Qiujuan said, "He told his parents that they would come over in a few days and then the two families would meet."
"I will prepare well," Shi Zhen said.
He definitely needs to be present for this kind of meeting with the parents.
“Hmm,” Zhao Qiujuan said happily, but then she quickly remembered something, “Oh, right, there’s something else…”
"What is it?" Shi Zhen asked.
“Duan Hongming doesn’t seem to know you’re my brother,” Zhao Qiujuan said.
After she became familiar with Duan Hongming, she would sometimes ask him for help when she encountered something she didn't know how to do.
She didn't want to keep asking him questions, so she cooked some dishes and packed some for Duan Hongming to take home and eat.
After a while, Duan Hongming suddenly asked her if she wanted to date.
She was stunned.
She also wanted to find a better partner, but she never really thought about Duan Hongming. After all, Duan Hongming was a college student, had a good job, and was better than her in every way.
But she was definitely satisfied with Duan Hongming, so Zhao Qiujuan naturally agreed.
They then spent a month together in private. Recently, she passed her accounting certificate exam, and Duan Hongming said that she could meet his parents and get married.
This was originally nothing, but when Duan Hongming talked about meeting her parents, he assumed they were still in the mountains and even said he would take them to buy some nice clothes or something... After thinking about it carefully, she realized that Duan Hongming didn't know she was actually Shi Zhen's sister.
She didn't know how to tell Duan Hongming at the time...
Is that all? Shi Zhen said, "I'll go talk to him."
Shi Zhen didn't take the matter seriously, but since Duan Hongming's parents were coming, he would definitely have to discuss with Duan Hongming where to eat and such.
Thinking this, Shi Zhen went to find Duan Hongming: "Are you dating my sister?"
"You mean Qiu Juan? Yes!" Duan Hongming admitted.
Shi Zhen said, "If your parents are coming, I'll make some preparations... What do your parents like to eat? Tell me so I can arrange the meals and such."
"Wait... Boss, are you going to make the arrangements?" Duan Hongming sensed something was amiss.
“My parents don’t know much about these things, so I have to do it,” Shi Zhen said.
Duan Hongming pondered for a moment, then suddenly realized something—he thought he had found a pitiful little thing… but actually it was his boss’s sister?
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