How to make money?

In the small, eighteenth-tier city of Longdu, what kind of business could one do in the early 2000s?

Apparently, not much.

There were already a few large and medium-sized supermarkets in the city center. Community mini-supermarkets were a possibility, but Chen Guiliang didn't have the capital.

Although the county didn't have Western fast food, the city already had KFC.

What about Chinese fast food?

Heh, that wouldn't take off for another twenty years.

This was one of the birthplaces of the three major Sichuan cuisine schools. Diners' palates were extremely picky. Anyone who tried to do Chinese fast food here would fail.

Dealing in things like movie discs and cassette tapes might have been viable over a decade ago, but now they were everywhere and worthless.

He had to focus on the internet.

Taobao was actually the first choice, but it wasn't suitable for doing business here; logistics and transportation were insurmountable problems.

Of course, he could also contact manufacturers for direct shipping. The problem was that once sales increased, the cooperating manufacturers would inevitably cut him out. In an emerging market, his online store brand was useless. He had to stock goods himself to guard against the manufacturers.

The direct shipping model from manufacturers would only be useful after Taobao became highly competitive.

"Talk business?"

Feng Tao listened, shaking his head repeatedly. "I'm just a poor laborer, and you're just a poor student. What business can we talk about?"

Chen Guiliang asked, "How much of a stake do you have in this store?"

"Only 20%. The remaining 80% belongs to my high school classmate," Feng Tao sighed. "I'm still in debt from buying into it."

This uncle was the son of Chen Guiliang's great-aunt (his grandmother's biological sister).

He happened to be exactly ten years older than Chen Guiliang.

Feng Tao was also a child from the countryside, graduating from a vocational college in the mid-90s.

At that time, a vocational college degree still had some value.

But Feng Tao had spent several years drifting in Yangcheng and Pengcheng without much success. He had also suffered heartbreak and, disheartened, chose to return to his hometown to live and accept his parents' arrangement for an arranged marriage.

It wasn't until the beginning of this year that an old high school classmate brought Feng Tao into the Legend Private Server business. After making some money, he switched to selling computers.

After finishing his call with his wife, Feng Tao said to the employee, "You can get off work now."

The employee was a bit slow-witted, smiling and bowing as he said goodbye.

After the employee left, Feng Tao introduced, "This is my apprentice, Yang Xiaolong, from the neighboring Yangjiaba Village. He failed the college entrance exam this year and didn't continue studying. Now he's following me to learn how to assemble and repair computers. He doesn't quite understand how to deal with people yet, but he learns things quite quickly."

"Is Uncle still doing Legend Private Servers?" Chen Guiliang asked.

Before his rebirth, although Chen Guiliang had been in the gaming industry for many years, he had always focused on operations and marketing.

He knew absolutely nothing about technology.

Now, wanting to make money from games with a small investment, he could only consider Legend Private Servers.

However, the development of Legend Private Servers had gone through multiple stages, so Chen Guiliang first needed to inquire about the market conditions.

"I just stopped doing it," Feng Tao said.

Chen Guiliang asked, "Why did you stop?"

Feng Tao explained simply, "More and more people are opening private servers, and the competition is too fierce. Making a little money is fine, but making big money is very difficult. It's better to honestly sell computers."

In the autumn of 2003, Legend Private Servers experienced their first boom.

Various versions of private servers sprung up like mushrooms after rain. There were too many competitors, severe homogenization, and insufficient innovation. It was no longer a time when you could just pick up money anywhere.

Moreover, in just over a month, five ministries and commissions would jointly launch a special crackdown, scaring many forum and private server webmasters into disappearing.

Feng Tao continued, "My classmates are too lazy to promote online anymore. They only set up private servers in their own internet cafes. They're all barely surviving, only making a few small bucks."

Chen Guiliang asked again, "With Uncle's skills, can you design a private server yourself?"

Feng Tao shook his head. "My self-taught programming is only so-so. I can only buy other people's private server frameworks and make small modifications in a few places. If you force me to design a private server, I can, but only the simplest kind. Adding a few more features will cause bugs."

Chen Guiliang was a little disappointed. His envisioned first partner was definitely his trustworthy uncle.

Now it seemed he had to find someone else.

Chen Guiliang asked again, "How much does it cost to buy a private server framework?"

"You don't know anything and you want to do private servers?"

Feng Tao teased him but still answered seriously, "It ranges from a few hundred yuan to tens of thousands of yuan. The more expensive ones are, of course, better."

A private server costing a few hundred yuan was definitely a common product with no appeal.

A private server costing tens of thousands yuan, on the other hand, had various features and could even be customized according to one's own ideas.

Chen Guiliang currently had no capital, only a little living expense money from his parents. He definitely couldn't afford a private server costing thousands or tens of thousands.

He planned to integrate pay-to-win gameplay, but he didn't understand the technology himself. He had to bring in a backer and find some technical personnel to modify and maintain the game.

Sigh, I should have learned programming in my previous life.

Not understanding the technology now was quite awkward.

Chen Guiliang then inquired, "Uncle, can we talk about that high school classmate of yours?"

Feng Tao said, "His name is Tao Chenggang. His parents were both workers at a boiler factory (a state-owned enterprise). Like me, he only got into a junior college. But he's got a flexible mind and somehow made hundreds of thousands. He came back to Longdu a couple of years ago and opened internet cafes."

"Now he has eight internet cafes, a gaming studio (for farming gold), and he also owns 80% of this computer shop. He was the one who led me to make money back when we were doing Legend Private Servers."

Chen Guiliang said, "I'd like to visit him."

"What do you want to see him for?" Feng Tao treated Chen Guiliang like a kid.

Chen Guiliang said, "Just meet up with him."

Feng Tao thought about it carefully and felt it wouldn't cause any trouble, so he nodded and said, "Okay, I'll help you arrange it. But tomorrow and the day after are holidays, and I can't leave the shop. You'll have to go see him yourself."

"Thank you, Uncle." Chen Guiliang offered another cigarette.

"Why thank me?"

Feng Tao tucked the cigarette behind his ear, got up, closed the shop, and prepared to go home.

Chen Guiliang followed his uncle to the parking lot and soon saw his uncle's ride – a used Jialing motorcycle.

"You're a boss, after all. Why are you driving such a beat-up car?" Chen Guiliang teased.

Feng Tao complained endlessly, "Boss my ass. The money I earned working in the south was all spent when I got married. This year, I partnered up to open this shop, and the money I got from the private server wasn't enough at all. Plus the mortgage for the wedding house, I'm carrying over sixty thousand yuan in debt."

Chen Guiliang said something auspicious, "Selling computers is very profitable. Sixty thousand yuan is nothing, it's just a matter of a year or two."

"I hope so," Feng Tao straddled the motorcycle.

His uncle's residential area was quite high-end, bought two years ago when it had the most expensive housing prices in the city. It cost around 1000 yuan per square meter.

Now the price had increased to 1100 yuan per square meter.

Feng Tao opened the door and entered the house. The sound of stir-frying came from the kitchen.

His aunt, Lin Chunhong, called out from inside, "You guys sit down first, there's one more dish!"

Feng Tao turned on the TV and plopped down on the living room sofa.

Chen Guiliang walked to the kitchen entrance, "Aunt, sorry to bother you. I came in a hurry and didn't even buy any fruit."

Lin Chunhong said, "Just come as you are, we're family. Why buy fruit?"

Chen Guiliang looked at the small child on his aunt's back, his heart filled with complex emotions.

Lin Chunhong was very beautiful, village beauty level.

But she wasn't very knowledgeable and didn't even finish high school. When she married his uncle, she hadn't even reached the legal marriage age. They had the wedding banquet for over half a year before going to get the marriage certificate.

Currently, she was quite virtuous.

In a few years, when the family became wealthy, her heart would also become wild.

Online dating and meeting up, cheating on his uncle.

For the sake of the child, the couple divorced and then remarried.

Later, his uncle was diagnosed with stomach cancer, had half his stomach removed, and once recovered. Less than two years later, it relapsed. His aunt, Lin Chunhong, insisted on getting a divorce, and regardless of his uncle's condition, she even made a fuss about selling the house and car to divide the family property.

His uncle passed away from the illness.

His aunt disappeared without a trace, completely abandoning her son.

The son lived with his grandparents, but the grandparents also passed away one after another. In the end, it was Chen Guiliang's parents who stepped in and adopted him.

In other words, the small child currently on Lin Chunhong's back was actually Chen Guiliang's legal brother.

This child was quite sensible and later attended military academy.

"Aunt, let me hold the child for you. It's not convenient for you to cook like this," Chen Guiliang said as he walked into the kitchen.

Lin Chunhong immediately put down the spatula and unstrapped the child, handing him to Chen Guiliang.

"Waa waa waa waa..."

As soon as Chen Guiliang took him, his little cousin started crying loudly.

Feng Tao laughed from the living room, "Quick, bring him over to me, you can't handle him."

Chen Guiliang quickly handed the little cousin back, and the house finally became quiet.

Feng Tao teased his son, saying proudly, "This child is shy with strangers. No one can hold him except his mom and dad."

Chen Guiliang went along with him, "It's good for boys to be a bit rowdy."

Feng Tao spoke with grand aspirations, "When I have money in the future, I'll pay the fine and have a daughter. I don't have any big ambitions in this life, just having both a son and a daughter."

These were simple and ordinary words, but hearing them from his uncle, Chen Guiliang felt a surge of emotion.

Chen Guiliang said, "If you want to have both a son and a daughter, you need to take good care of your health. You can get a full body checkup every year."

Feng Tao joked, "My body is very healthy, I won't donate money to the hospital."

Chen Guiliang knew that persuasion was useless. He could only wait a few more years and use the excuse of getting his own full body checkup to drag his uncle back to their hometown to go to the hospital together every year.

The uncle and nephew watched TV, teasing the child and chatting.

Before long, Lin Chunhong brought the dishes to the table and also served them rice.

Feng Tao boasted, "Your aunt has no other virtues, but you won't find a second person as virtuous as her. Tao Chenggang... that's my high school classmate, every time he comes to my house for dinner, he's envious and jealous, saying I got incredibly lucky to marry such a good wife."

"Auntie is indeed very virtuous," Chen Guiliang nodded in agreement.

Lin Chunhong smiled and picked up her son, "Give him to me, it's time for him to nurse."

Feng Tao brought out a bottle of Wuliangye, "How about you have a couple of drinks with me? This is good wine, Tao Chenggang gave it to me, I usually can't bear to drink it."

Chen Guiliang raised his hand and pressed down on the bottle, "Uncle, drinking is bad for your stomach. I heard that frequent drinking can easily lead to stomach cancer."

"Stomach cancer my foot, let me pour you some," Feng Tao said enthusiastically.

Chen Guiliang could only remain silent.

Feng Tao had a good tolerance for alcohol, developed from running sales when he worked in Yangcheng.

He still had to be busy at the shop tomorrow, so he only drank until he was slightly tipsy.

After finishing the meal, Feng Tao, with a bit of alcohol in him, made a phone call:

"Hello, Brother Gang... it's me... I have a nephew who wants to visit you because he admires you... He's not in business, he's still studying..."

"Oh, he's a top student, in the experimental class at No. 2 Middle School, he can easily get into a 985 university... Just meet him, it won't delay you from making millions... Okay, okay, it's settled then."

Throwing the phone onto the sofa, Feng Tao rubbed his face and said to Chen Guiliang, "Tomorrow morning, I'll take you to the game studio on my bike. You can wait there, it might take an hour or two, but he'll be going there in the morning anyway."

"Okay, thank you, Uncle," Chen Guiliang said.

Feng Tao reminded him, "He's a loyal person, likes to make friends, and is very concerned about face. As long as you give him enough face, everything will be easy to talk about. Let me put it this way, when he was in high school, he had the exact same temper as you. To help a friend get revenge, he once even injured someone with a knife. Now he's become more smooth, he hasn't gotten into a fight for many years."

Chen Guiliang felt like he was looking in a mirror and immediately chuckled, "Someone like that is actually quite easy to deal with, just find the right spot and stroke their fur the right way."

"That's the idea," Feng Tao agreed.

Chen Guiliang asked again, "What does his game studio do?"

Feng Tao wanted to laugh when he mentioned this, "You'll know when you get there. He even gave his game studio a nickname, called the 'Longdu Internet Addiction Treatment Center'."

"It seems this person is very interesting," Chen Guiliang couldn't help but smile.

Feng Tao said, "Don't disbelieve it. The studio has only been open for a little over a year, and it has already helped more than ten students overcome their internet addiction. Some parents even specifically went there to give him banners."

Giving banners, what the heck!

Chen Guiliang said, "Uncle, can I use your landline?"

"Go ahead," Feng Tao leaned back on the sofa, dozing off.

Chen Guiliang took out a piece of paper with a number written on it and used the landline to call the paging station, "Hello, please transfer to xxxxxx... Leave a message 'Son, at Uncle's house'."

His father didn't have a mobile phone and was still using a pager.

About ten minutes later, his father Chen Xinghua called, "Are you out of living expenses again? I'll send you money tomorrow."

"Not needed for now, sending it next month is fine too," Chen Guiliang asked, "Dad, how much debt is left at home?"

Chen Xinghua was silent for a few seconds, "These past two years, your mom and I switched to doing renovations, we earn more than we did at the construction site before. Don't worry about these things, just focus on your studies. Don't worry about university tuition either, I'm already saving money."

"How much external debt is left?" Chen Guiliang asked again.

Chen Xinghua said, "It's almost paid off, there's less than twenty thousand left."

A mere twenty thousand yuan of debt was not a small sum that migrant workers in 2003 could easily come up with.

Moreover, Chen Guiliang was about to go to university, and his parents had to work and repay debt while also saving for his tuition and living expenses.

"Is Mom next to you?" Chen Guiliang asked.

Chen Xinghua said, "Your mom was taking a shower just now, I came out alone to make the call."

Chen Guiliang said, "Then you should rest early."

"Okay, I'm hanging up," Chen Xinghua said, "Long-distance calls are expensive, I didn't go to a phone booth late at night, did I?"

A phone booth was a small shop specifically for making calls, where a long-distance call only cost 3 mao per minute.

Public phones in ordinary shops were much more expensive for long-distance calls. Within 800 kilometers, it was 8 mao per minute, and over 800 kilometers, it rose to 1 yuan.

To save on phone bills, Chen Xinghua didn't say much and hung up right on time.

Chen Guiliang also hung up the phone and walked over to lie on the sofa.

He hoped tomorrow's business would be successful, so his parents could escape their suffering sooner. They hadn't dared to go home for seven years.

After thinking for a moment, Chen Guiliang returned to the landline and dialed Bian Guanyue's mobile number.

Bian Guanyue hadn't given him her number.

But he had remembered it today, when his uncle was writing the receipt.

Chen Guiliang had had a good memory since he was a child.