Chapter 6: Opening an Internet Cafe
"Mom and Dad, you're overthinking it. I'm just me. What's so strange?" Chen Pingan said with a grin.
In his heart, however, he was thinking, 'Mom and Dad, please don't notice anything unusual about me.'
Fortunately, Chen Pingan was indeed overthinking it. No matter how smart his parents were, they couldn't possibly guess that their son in front of them was a Rebirth.
Moreover, given his parents' age, they probably didn't even know what a Rebirth was.
"There's something I wanted to discuss with you," Chen Guoqing suddenly said.
"What is it?" Yu Xiuying asked curiously.
"I have a friend, Old Li, you should know him. We had dinner together last time."
"Old Li told me that they plan to open a hotpot restaurant and asked if I wanted to partner with them."
"The hotpot restaurant they're opening is quite large, requiring an investment of about two million. If I'm willing to invest, I can put in two hundred thousand."
"If this hotpot restaurant really takes off, earning a few million a year won't be a problem. Then our family can also benefit from it." Chen Guoqing said, a hint of anticipation in his eyes.
Chen Pingan was stunned, and then a distant memory slowly surfaced in his mind.
"Damn, I remember Dad also invested in a hotpot restaurant back then, but he lost over three hundred thousand!"
Chen Pingan complained internally.
He had forgotten this memory before, but now it suddenly came back to him.
In his previous life, their family had invested in a hotpot restaurant, most likely this very one.
At first, they really only invested two hundred thousand, but later, when the renovation funds for the store weren't enough, Chen Guoqing followed up with another one hundred thousand, investing a total of three hundred thousand.
However, after the hotpot restaurant opened, it only did well for about a month. In less than a month, business began to plummet.
As for Old Li, he directly absconded with the money.
By the time Chen Guoqing reacted, it was too late.
All the equipment in the store had been taken away and sold, and Chen Guoqing directly lost over three hundred thousand.
In just one night, Chen Guoqing's hair turned gray.
Back then, Chen Pingan was just a high school student and wasn't interested in such matters, so naturally, he didn't ask about it.
He wasn't clear about the specific situation.
He just remembered that this incident had a significant impact on their family.
After all, losing three hundred thousand all at once would be difficult for any family.
Not to mention for an ordinary family like Chen Pingan's.
Chen Pingan's mind raced, but he didn't know how to persuade them.
Yu Xiuying said hesitantly, "Business isn't that easy. If it doesn't go well, we could lose money."
"Dad, I also support Mom's view. Doing business has risks. Have you thought about it? If this business loses money, and all two hundred thousand goes down the drain, can you accept such a result?" Chen Pingan interjected.
It was also a kind of assist.
"Can't you say something positive? What if I get rich?"
Chen Guoqing said in a deep voice.
"Dad, our family isn't rich. Before investing, we must first consider the worst outcome. Just tell me, if all two hundred thousand is lost, can you accept such a result?" Chen Pingan continued to ask.
Chen Guoqing fell silent for a moment. If all two hundred thousand were really lost, he couldn't accept such a result.
It's important to know that their family's total savings were only a little over two hundred thousand.
Moreover, this money had specific uses; it was all planned for Chen Pingan's university tuition and the cost of buying a house after he graduated and got married.
Chen Guoqing and his wife had worked hard their whole lives and only had this much savings.
If it were all lost, he probably would feel like dying.
"Dad, do you know what kind of business you shouldn't do?" Chen Pingan continued to speak.
"What kind of business shouldn't I do? You're not trying to say that the hotpot business shouldn't be done, are you?" Chen Guoqing said unhappily.
"It's not that the hotpot business can't be done, it's that partnership businesses can't be done, especially businesses where several shareholders partner up. You definitely shouldn't do those."
"Dad, think about it. If you partner up for business and you're just a small shareholder, then who decides how the business is run, you or them?"
"How much to spend, how to run the hotpot business, isn't it all up to them? In that case, isn't the fate of the hotpot restaurant in someone else's hands?"
"Investing two hundred thousand just to bet on their abilities, isn't that too big a gamble?" Chen Pingan retorted.
"If we had the ability to do it ourselves, we would have already. But we don't know how to do business!" Chen Guoqing said with a hint of anger.
He was also a man in his middle age who had achieved nothing, so naturally, he had his own ideas. He also hoped that through this investment, he could change his family's living situation.
His idea was good, but he was too naive.
"Dad, since you're planning to invest two hundred thousand in a business, why don't we do it ourselves?"
"We can start a small business that we're confident in. Whether we profit or lose, we'll know the reason ourselves."
"If you invest these two hundred thousand and it all goes down the drain in the end, you won't even know how it happened."
Yu Xiuying, hearing Chen Pingan say that, also said with relief, "Our son is right. Investing two hundred thousand in someone else's hands is not as good as investing it ourselves."
Chen Guoqing said with a bitter smile, "How would we know how to do business? If we really did it ourselves, I feel like the chances of losing money would actually be greater."
"Who says? I know a business that can make money, and it's guaranteed to make money," Chen Pingan suddenly said.
Chen Pingan had also suddenly thought of what business could make money at this time.
"Tell me then, what business can be done that is guaranteed to be profitable and not lose money?" Chen Guoqing became interested and asked.
"Do you know about internet cafes?" Chen Pingan said with a smile.
Thinking of the internet cafe business, Chen Pingan also became interested.
"Internet cafe? What's that?" Chen Guoqing asked, puzzled.
"An internet cafe, isn't it a shop with many computers that people use?" Yu Xiuying thought for a moment and said.
There was a newly opened internet cafe not far from the hotel where she worked, and she had seen it.
"Yes, Mom, that's an internet cafe," Chen Pingan nodded.
"Did you go to an internet cafe, you rascal?" Chen Guoqing seemed to have realized something and said unhappily.
After all, Chen Pingan was in a crucial period of his third year of high school. If he went to an internet cafe at this time and delayed his studies, the impact would be significant.
"How would I have time to go to an internet cafe? I just saw one along the way."
"I'm talking about internet cafes because I have a Classmate whose family runs an internet cafe. Their internet cafe business is really good. I heard that surfing the internet at an internet cafe now costs five yuan an hour."
"One computer for five yuan an hour, 24 hours is 120 yuan. If there are ten computers, that's 1200 yuan a day, thirty-six thousand a month, and over four hundred thousand a year."
"And this is just for ten computers. What if it's twenty or thirty computers?"
"The key is that an internet cafe is a one-time investment that can keep making money. You don't need to restock daily; the only daily expense is electricity."
"How much does electricity cost?"
"The hotpot restaurant business is different because hotpot requires stocking ingredients. The vegetables bought today can't be used tomorrow."
"As long as business is bad, the hotpot restaurant will close down in ten days to half a month."