Chapter 584: Step by Step

Regarding the demolition of the Ninghai city government, Zhao Fusheng remembered that rumors had been circulating since his high school days.

However, because it involved the relocation of a large number of government departments and urban planning issues, it remained unresolved. It wasn't until around 2010 that it was formally implemented.

During this period, housing prices in Ninghai skyrocketed from around a thousand yuan to four thousand yuan. How much money real estate developers made through manipulation was impossible to know.

At that time, Zhao Fusheng stood under buildings dozens of stories high, looking up at the sky, and had fantasized countless times about how wonderful it would be if one day he became the owner of these buildings.

Eat whatever he wanted, buy whatever he wanted, buy two bowls of soy milk, drink one and pour out the other, buy two bowls of tofu pudding, eat the salty one, and leave the sweet one for Zhang Jike.

"Buying a house, I wonder how much it would cost."

Glancing at the cultural square opposite the city government, where there was a commercial property with the first and second floors marked for rent or sale, Zhao Fusheng rubbed his chin and pondered carefully.

Such thoughts occurred to Zhao Fusheng four or five times while he was choosing a location for the internet café.

There was no help for it; from Zhao Fusheng's modern perspective, the real estate market in Ninghai was practically paved with gold. In short, houses costing a few hundred yuan per square meter were everywhere, and all in prime locations.

In other words, if Zhao Fusheng wanted, he could buy a bunch of houses right now and just wait for their value to appreciate.

But the problem was, if he did that, he might as well raise money to do it in Beijing. And to be honest, doing that wouldn't give Zhao Fusheng any real sense of achievement.

Having been reborn once, he had to leave some mark on this world.

Days passed one after another. It had to be said, Tan Kaixuan was really strong in execution. Zhao Fusheng's taunt about him scamming meals seemed to give him endless motivation. Within just a week, he actually managed to get in touch with a certain leader from the municipal party committee.

That leader was a veteran and a big shot in the political and legal system. After Tan Kaixuan offered the suggestions Zhao Fusheng had previously given him as conditions, the other party keenly realized that this was a good opportunity to boost his reputation within his own system.

After all, according to Tan Kaixuan, all employees of their network technology company would be family members of political and legal system personnel and veterans.

In other words, this was a chance handed to him on a silver platter to build his reputation.

As for Tan Kaixuan's request for some preferential treatment within his power, he didn't take it seriously. Given the national conditions, if the other party had no demands at all, he would actually feel uneasy.

This was probably a matter of human nature; we always habitually consider whether others have ulterior motives when approaching us.

However, that leader also stated that as long as Tan Kaixuan's network technology company operated uprightly and honestly, if anyone caused them trouble, he would certainly not stand idly by.

But if they broke the law, they shouldn't blame him for being unkind.

That was exactly what Tan Kaixuan wanted to hear. From start to finish, he had never thought of doing anything bad. Like Zhao Fusheng, all he had in mind was how to make money.

As for stirring up trouble, come on, Tan Kaixuan, who had tasted the sweetness of making money, how could he have the unrealistic ideas typical of young people?

"How about it? Not bad, right?" Tan Kaixuan looked at Zhao Fusheng with a smug expression.

Zhao Fusheng nodded helplessly: "Not bad, not bad. You don't have to think about scamming meals from me anymore."

Tan Kaixuan was taken aback, then remembered that he had said he would eat shit because of that remark about Zhao Fusheng. He rolled his eyes, thinking he should just ignore that guy Zhao Fusheng.

"But have you made up your mind? How many internet cafes are we going to open?" Tan Kaixuan asked, looking at Zhao Fusheng.

Zhao Fusheng smiled. "How many do you plan to open?"

"It's hard to say," Tan Kaixuan scratched his head, looking a bit conflicted.

He meant it; after all, he had never been in this industry before, and he didn't know much about it. You see, knowing how to use the internet doesn't mean you understand the internet, just like knowing someone doesn't make them a friend.

Many people might not get this principle, but both Tan Kaixuan and Zhao Fusheng understood it.

"Given the current situation in Ninghai, opening too many won't do much good. I think four will do," Zhao Fusheng said after a moment's thought.

Tan Kaixuan frowned. "Isn't that a bit few?"

Zhao Fusheng shook his head. "It's already a lot. After all, people's spending power is limited, and the main customers are students. Besides, expanding too quickly doesn't make much sense."

In business, sometimes you need to consider not just cost and market, but also the market's capacity. In Zhao Fusheng's view, four large internet cafes were already the limit for Ninghai at the moment.

Any more, and they'd likely have very few customers.

It's often said that science and technology are the primary productive forces. But in a way, the development of science and technology also limits people's spending power. Times are different, and so is the money in people's pockets.

In the 1980s, forget about going online; just having enough to eat was good enough. In the 1990s, people's material needs began to increase. By the new millennium, they started to crave spiritual satisfaction. Singing, dancing, and a series of new things emerged, followed by the internet.

In fact, even the internet was just emerging at that time. It would take another three to five years for it to truly take off.

For now, the internet often gave people an impression of mystery. After all, many people's understanding of the internet was still superficial.

"Alright, you're the boss. Since you say we start with four, let's get it going," Tan Kaixuan shrugged.

On this point, he trusted Zhao Fusheng's judgment, after all, the guy had never been wrong.

Strangely enough, even though his family wasn't poor and his parents had always been quite fond of him, Tan Kaixuan never thought that one day he would decide on an investment of two or three million without batting an eye. Most importantly, he didn't even feel that investing so much money might lead to serious consequences if he lost everything.

Such a change, even Tan Kaixuan himself, had never expected.

And the root of it all came from Zhao Fusheng, from his confidence in Zhao Fusheng.

"Well, we can start recruiting now," Zhao Fusheng said to Tan Kaixuan.

Tan Kaixuan was taken aback. "So soon?"

Zhao Fusheng blinked. "Haven't you heard? Time is money..."

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