Chapter 388 - 389: Opening an Internet Café
"An hour costs two, three, four yuan, and there are morning, afternoon, and evening sessions. However, no matter which one it is, it’s just the merchants’ way to make money.
But at that time, a computer was indeed very expensive, costing about 10 to 20 thousand each. Initially, at least 50 computers would be necessary, which would be a total of over 500 thousand. Qin Xiangnuan only had about a hundred thousand in her hands, which was nowhere near enough.
So, in order to save costs, she planned to build two more floors on top of her family’s Siheyuan; this way, she wouldn’t have to pay rent. The geographical location of the Siheyuan was good, situated right among several universities. As long as the construction was completed, and the rear wall was knocked down, it would create a storefront facing the street. The rent, to put it bluntly, was a significant chunk. Although it seems small now, each month it would increase a bit. The larger the rented area and the more square meters, the more expensive the rent. Plus, once an internet cafe is opened, it cannot be casually relocated, and one’s own place is immovable.
She had crunched the numbers, and the internet fees were quite expensive at the time, three yuan an hour, sometimes even five. This industry indeed had huge profit margins. Catching the early market meant big investments, but it also allowed for earning while investing and even speculating in Capital City’s real estate market.
In fact, people also said, if you could afford to open an internet cafe, why not start another business? But Qin Xiangnuan was set on this path, mainly for her brother to get in touch with these things sooner. It’s said that his school was recruiting people to stay on as faculty. Those who stayed must be outstanding. Her brother had two more years until graduation. If he became a soldier skilled in high technology, he would be among the top in the army. Then her brother could stay at school and wouldn’t have to serve elsewhere, away from home for years. Given Granny Lu’s advanced age, she could hardly bear to be without her son.
She did another calculation: one computer making three yuan an hour for 20 hours a day would bring in 60 yuan. Ten machines would make 600, and fifty, 3000 yuan. What about in a month? Initially, she didn’t plan to use brand new computers. She wanted to wrangle a batch of used ones, costing about 4000 yuan each. So, a month down the line, minus the costs, she’d rather not say too much, but conservatively, she could make one hundred thousand yuan. If this wasn’t outrageous profit, what was? As for internet cables and such, their location had the perfect conditions because the telecommunications office was not far away. Even though internet access was expensive, the earnings were high too.
Qin Xiangnuan explained all this to Jian Zhiqing, who, despite not knowing exactly what was going on in Qin Xiangnuan’s head, was genuinely taken aback by such huge profit margins.
He didn’t think much of it. Qin Xiangnuan loved to be busy; let her be. The girl was too stubborn; once she decided on something, not even ten bulls could pull her back. So, her internet cafe was bound to open.
"Let’s do this..." he pondered, "Don’t mess with your family’s backyard. My Siheyuan is bigger than this one and has a quite large backyard, with even better geographical conditions, closer to the telecommunications office. Just build there. Don’t worry about the formalities; I’ll handle them."
"As for the money..." He tapped the table lightly with his finger. The table was slightly thick, and the sound it produced was heavy and solid.
"I have over a hundred thousand there; I’ll give it all to you. If it’s not enough, I’ll figure something else out, maybe take out a loan from the bank."
Qin Xiangnuan’s eyes widened in astonishment.