At seven in the morning, Xu Pengkun stepped into the Internet cafe right on time. Before he could do anything else, Chen Hao hooked an arm around his neck and dragged him behind the counter.
Chen Hao briefly explained the concepts of memberships and recharging accounts, then assigned the three of them their tasks for the day.
"There'll probably be a line later. I'll handle the payments and enter everything into the system, Old Ban will keep order, and Big Bird will work the front desk handling memberships. Otherwise, what a waste of that handsome face of yours!"
While there was no one around yet, Xu Pengkun pulled a thick envelope from his bag and handed it to Chen Hao.
"This is the twenty thousand from selling the account. It's all here. Keep it somewhere safe."
Chen Hao didn't refuse. He gave the envelope in his hand a shake. "Consider your share an investment."
"Exactly."
Chen Hao punched Big Bird in the chest, then put the money into the Internet cafe's cash box and locked it up. After so many years as brothers, they knew each other inside and out and had no need for many words.
At eight, the two burrowing moles behind the counter became three, all bored out of their minds.
A breeze swept through. Aside from the sounds of keyboards and mice, the place was deathly quiet.
Chen Hao wore a look of exasperation. Where the hell had everyone gone?
Finally, someone arrived—a man around thirty.
The three men shuddered with excitement. Groundhog Number One, Chen Hao, stood up, grinning like a rosebush in full bloom.
"Hello, welcome to Pentium Internet Cafe."
"I'm here to use the Internet."
"Sure. Our Internet cafe is running a promotion right now. You can sign up for a membership—"
"Don't need one. Hurry up." The man looked impatient. He had finally managed to take a day off, and he still needed to level up!
"Computer fourteen, please."
After the man walked away, Chen Hao's face fell as he tried to save face. "He definitely hasn't seen the flyer."
The other two shot him disdainful looks.
"Yeah, right!"
"No need to rush. This is only the beginning." Chen Hao calmly sat back down.
Not long afterward, a voice rang out.
"Excuse me, is this where you sign up for a membership card?"
They heard the voice but couldn't see the person. Groundhog Number Two, Xu Pengkun, shot to his feet, only to find a little boy whose head was level with the counter. No wonder he hadn't seen him earlier.
Seeing someone there, the little boy pulled out twenty yuan. "I'd like to recharge twenty first."
"How old are you, kid?"
"I'll be ten in two months."
These days, a child who could take out twenty yuan was a future little rich kid. Xu Pengkun spoke gently. "Turn left when you leave and walk two hundred meters. There's a game arcade that's more suitable for you right now. You're still too young. The waters here run deep, and I'm afraid you can't handle them."
"Okay. Thank you, Uncle." The little boy took his money back and left the Internet cafe.
Uncle?!
He was the campus heartthrob at university, with so many love letters that his drawer couldn't hold them all. He was a playboy and a friend to married women, yet someone had actually called him Uncle.
A hint of ferocity appeared on Xu Pengkun's handsome face. Looking utterly incredulous, he pointed at himself and asked his companions, "Do I really look that old?"
Chen Hao slapped Old Ban's shoulder and laughed until he couldn't speak. A rare trace of amusement appeared in Old Ban's eyes. Upon hearing Xu Pengkun's question, the two nodded in perfect unison.
"I'm going to kill you!" Before Xu Pengkun could spread his wings like Big Bird and leap up to commit murder, Old Ban pinned him to the ground.
Damn, he'd forgotten about Old Ban's combat ability.
Time quickly reached eleven-thirty.
Chen Hao did the math. During that period, a total of twenty-seven people had recharged and signed up for membership cards, with amounts ranging from one hundred to three hundred yuan.
Including the overnight crowd, the total amount recharged so far was only a little over four thousand yuan. Most of them were middle and high school students, with only a few college students. It was completely different from what Chen Hao had expected.
What had gone wrong?
Chen Hao was puzzled and racked his brains for the reason.
Oh, right. There had also been one office worker. That guy had signed up and recharged in one smooth motion, then immediately taken his card and left.
Xu Pengkun had asked him why he wasn't using the Internet.
The man said he worked nearby and had slipped out under the pretext of going to the bathroom to get the card. He had to hurry back.
Wait. Office workers. Today was damn Tuesday. Most people were at work.
And the lunch break started at eleven-thirty.
Looking at the clock on the wall, he saw that it was already 11:33.
Suddenly, the staircase beside them began to shake violently.
There could only be one truth behind something like this.
Chen Hao became as excited as a brothel madam and waved his hand grandly.
"Brothers, get ready to receive our guests!"
Today, Li Xiang and two colleagues ran straight to the bike shed as soon as their shift ended instead of going to the cafeteria as usual.
One of his chubby colleagues began panting after running for a while and started complaining, "Li Xiang, isn't this a bit much? It's only signing up for a card. It's not like they'll run out."
"Damn, if I hadn't played too late last night and overslept, I would've gone to sign up this morning. The discount is so huge, there'll definitely be a ton of people. Hurry up. I'm heading over first and will queue up for you. If we're lucky, we might even get to play for a while."
With that, Li Xiang mounted his beloved bicycle and sped away.
Li Xiang's workplace wasn't too far from Pentium Internet Cafe. Under normal circumstances, it took seven or eight minutes by bike.
But with Li Xiang pedaling as fast as if he had wind-and-fire wheels, sending sparks flying, he was about to reach his destination after only four minutes.
Damn, damn, damn!
From far away, Li Xiang saw the long line and sensed trouble.
When he reached the Internet cafe, he immediately drifted sideways, tossing his bike to the roadside.
Sure enough, the line extended out from Pentium Internet Cafe.
After roughly counting, he estimated there were forty or fifty people in line. It stretched more than ten meters, and more people were still hurrying over.
A tall, burly young man was maintaining order outside the line. Li Xiang walked over and asked, "This is Pentium Internet Cafe, right? Membership registration and recharging are done here?"
After receiving confirmation, Li Xiang looked at the competitors gradually arriving around him. He sprinted at full speed and became the first to reach the end of the line. A few seconds later, seven or eight people had lined up behind him.
He wiped the sweat from his forehead. This was damn exciting. He hadn't queued in ages. He vaguely remembered that the last time had been to register for a hospital appointment in Ice City. He had queued from four in the morning until eight and still hadn't gotten a number. Then a scalper beside him had sauntered over and casually asked, "Which department? Two hundred for a number." It had made him want to beat the man up!
Li Xiang gazed toward the front. The size of this line was no less impressive than the hospital's.
After watching for a while, he estimated that one person came out about every minute. In a little over half an hour, it should be his turn. If he was lucky, he might even get to play for a while.
When he saw his colleagues arriving late, Li Xiang waved at them. "Hey, Fatty! Over here!"
Li Xiang squeezed backward, making some room for his two colleagues to cut in.
A tall young man behind them wasn't happy about it. He reached out and tugged at Li Xiang.
"Hey, how can you two cut in line?"
Li Xiang had hurried over on an empty stomach, exhausted like a dog, only to find himself queueing. He was already irritated. Wasn't he just saving a spot for his friends? Why was this guy making such a big deal out of it—and even grabbing him?
The other guy had made the first move, so Li Xiang immediately blew his top. He turned around, pointed at the tall young man, and shouted, "Why did you pull me? Why did you pull me? Let me tell you, you picked the wrong person to mess with! Just because you're tall, you think you can pull me around?"
The two colleagues who had arrived after Li Xiang backed him up from behind. "Putting the facts aside, does grabbing someone make you right? Weren't you the one who touched him first?"
"So you think you can bully us just because we're short? Let me tell you, we're not to be messed with."
Faced with the aggressive trio in front of him, the tall young man saw that everyone behind him was only watching the spectacle and no one was stepping forward to support him. He became somewhat timid and defended himself in a low voice. "What, you cut in line and you're still in the right?"
"Saving a spot for a friend counts as cutting in line? If you have something to say, use your mouth and speak properly. You grabbed me the moment you came up—what did you mean by that?"
Having gained the upper hand, Li Xiang refused to let up. He pointed at the tall young man with one hand and kept talking.
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