Chapter 358: Meeting
As the year-end approaches, Internet cafes have sprung up like mushrooms after a rain. After the market has become saturated, Internet cafe operators have had to engage in price wars in order to compete for customers.
Zhongjing Street in Baiyun City is one of the components of Shangxiajiu Pedestrian Street. After Huang Dongheng learned that his nephew Li Quanwang had made money by investing in an Internet cafe, he borrowed hundreds of thousands of yuan and opened an Internet cafe in an alley on Zhongjing Street with a total of 40 computers.
The reason why they chose to open an Internet cafe here was because it was in the downtown area, but it was also a basement alley with a lot of people coming and going, but the rent was much cheaper than the first-floor storefront facing the street.
When the Internet cafe first opened, business was very good. After all, it was the only Internet cafe within a few hundred meters. The 40 computers were basically always busy 24 hours a day.
This made Huang Dongheng and Tian Jiahong very happy.
But the good times didn't last long. Just over a month after they opened, an Internet cafe with more than 50 computers opened next door.
Half a month later, an Internet cafe opened across the street, with two storefronts and seventy or eighty computers neatly arranged.
The price of electronic products changes every day. Before, it cost more than 10,000 yuan for Huang Dongheng and his team to buy a computer, but now it only costs 7,000 to 8,000 yuan. The cost of opening an Internet cafe is 100,000 to 200,000 yuan cheaper than it was when Huang Dongheng was there.
As more and more Internet cafes emerged, the price of Internet access became lower and lower. One Internet cafe even offered an outrageous price of 20 yuan for an all-night membership, which directly crushed its competitors.
On the counter, Tian Jiahong was ticking the abacus and her expression was becoming increasingly gloomy.
Huang Dongheng sat next to him and ate instant noodles.
It is now past midnight and there are seven or eight people surfing the Internet in the Internet cafe.
"The Internet cafe business is getting worse and worse. Last month, the profit was 70,000 to 80,000 yuan, but this month it's only 50,000 to 60,000 yuan."
Huang Dongheng was also very depressed and could not help but curse: "There is a computer company called Jianlai Technology that promotes Internet cafe computers everywhere. The boss is really a piece of shit. Internet cafes are everywhere and our business is getting harder and harder. People like this should be taken to the target shooting range."
The reason why these newly opened Internet cafes have the confidence to engage in price wars is because Jianlai Technology's Internet cafe computers have been drastically reduced in price. For example, if an Internet cafe has 100 computers, the cost of opening a shop will be reduced by 10,000 yuan almost every night!
At this rate of price reduction, those who opened Internet cafes early feel like they are working for Keyboard Technology.
The two of them became more and more angry as they talked. Tian Jiahong said with a sad face, "At the current rate of making money, when will we be able to afford to live in a big villa?"
Huang Dongheng was also very unhappy. When he thought about the fact that Li Quanwang's family, whom he looked down upon, could actually live in a big villa, his heart felt like it was being roasted on fire. The burning feeling was so uncomfortable.
Tian Jiahong asked, "How have you thought about the matter I discussed with you before?"
Huang Dongheng didn't react for a moment, and asked blankly, "Which one?"
Tian Jiahong snorted lightly to express her dissatisfaction with Huang Dongheng.
But then she said, "Join the Lingdong Mutual Aid Association. If you join now, you only need to pay 100,000 yuan and you will get 5% interest per month. After one year, you can get your principal back. This is much more cost-effective than keeping it in a bank."
After all, it involved money, so Huang Dongheng didn't dare to agree immediately. Instead, he frowned and asked, "Is this thing reliable?"
Tian Jiahong disagreed: "What's the big deal? You're just a coward. How could such a big chamber of commerce cheat us out of a few hundred thousand? Do you know what the president and vice president do? They run big businesses like hotels and export trade, and each of them has assets of hundreds of millions."
"But that doesn't mean they are trustworthy. What if they team up to cheat people?"
Huang Dongheng still couldn't make up his mind. After all, although he made a lot of money running the Internet cafe, he was used to being poor before and was afraid of being cheated out of everything.
Tian Jiahong glared at Huang Dongheng fiercely and cursed, "You are such a loser! If I wasn't also from Lingdong, even if we sent money over, they wouldn't necessarily want it. If we keep hesitating, when will we be able to move into the big villa?"
Huang Dongheng thought of the arrogant faces of Li Quanwang's family, and immediately gritted his teeth and made a decision: "Then join the club! It's a waste to keep the money in my hands anyway, so why not give them money to make money."
Seeing that Huang Dongheng finally figured it out, Tian Jiahong smiled and said, "That's right. Tomorrow morning, go to the Lingdong Club at the end of Chunbi Road and find Liang Shuzhen to apply for membership. She seems to be the rotating president this year."
"good."
The next morning, Huang Dongheng and Tian Jiahong came to the Lingdong Club with a black briefcase containing 100,000 yuan in cash.
Liang Shuzhen is the rotating president of the Lingdong Financial Mutual Aid Association. When she heard that someone wanted to join the mutual aid association, although the business in the hotel was very busy, she still rushed to the Lingdong Club as quickly as possible and began to contact Huang Dongheng about joining the association.
The reason why Liang Shuzhen is so active now can be traced back to when she lent money to Wu Qiuping.
Because Wu Qiuping's family was "wiped out", the money that was originally lent was directly wasted. In order to make up for the accounts, those who advocated lending money to Wu Qiuping in the first place all paid a heavy price.
Actually, paying money is a small matter. After all, there are losses and gains in business, and no one can guarantee that they can make money every time. The key is that this matter is quite bad. The Wu family was wiped out, and many people accused the mutual aid association of lax auditing, which increased the risk . Therefore, a lot of funds were redeemed, and there were fewer new members. The capital pool shrank a lot at once, which was equivalent to shaking the foundation of the mutual aid association. This is why Liang Shuzhen was anxious.
Hot tea had already been brewed in the negotiation room. When Huang Dongheng and Tian Jiahong came in, Liang Shuzhen said to them with a smile, "Welcome, both of you. Ms. Tian, you are from Lingdong, right?"
Huang Dongheng and Tian Jiahong were both from ordinary families. They worked as civil servants. Although it was respectable, their lives were still difficult. Later, they opened an Internet cafe, which was considered a turnaround. Even so, compared with Liang Shuzhen, a big boss who opened a restaurant, it was still not good enough.
Therefore, seeing Liang Shuzhen being so polite, Huang Dongheng and Tian Jiahong were flattered.
"Hello, President Liang."
Tian Jiahong's tone was full of flattery.
"I'm from Lingdong. I heard that the Lingdong Mutual Aid Association is recruiting new members recently and the policy is very good, so we wanted to come and ask."
Liang Shuzhen took out two brochures from the drawer , handed them to the two people, and said, "Yes, the entry threshold of our mutual aid association was very high before, which invisibly excluded many Lingdong fellow countrymen, which is not in line with the original intention of our mutual aid association. Therefore, in order to allow more fellow countrymen to enjoy the convenience of the mutual aid association and achieve success faster, we lowered the threshold, and the minimum amount of money required to join is only 100,000."
Huang Dongheng and Tian Jiahong looked at the brochure very seriously.
There are six threshold levels, the lowest being 100,000 yuan, followed by 500,000 yuan, 1 million yuan, 2 million yuan, 5 million yuan, and the highest being 10 million yuan.
The services that members of each level can enjoy are different.
For example, those like Huang Dongheng who join with a minimum deposit of 100,000 yuan can only enjoy the agreed monthly interest rate of 5%, and cannot apply for a loan from the mutual aid association.
In order to be eligible to borrow money from the mutual aid association, one must jump up two levels, that is, to become a member at the million-dollar level.
Members above this level are not only eligible to participate in borrowing, but also receive higher deposit interest rates.
Liang Shuzhen continued, "Now that the mutual aid association is open, not only has the entry threshold been lowered, but we have also launched a referral campaign. After joining, you can recommend others to join the mutual aid association. Once successful, we will have rewards of varying amounts."
When Tian Jiahong heard that there would be rewards for recruiting people, her eyes lit up: "What rewards will we get if we recruit people?"
Liang Shuzhen introduced them, saying, "The mutual aid association is now a big business and is in great need of funds. If you can recruit people to join, you can get 10% of the principal paid by the other party, and then another 2% every month for a year."
Then he emphasized: "This can be accumulated. The more people you bring in, the richer the reward will be."
Tian Jiahong thought about it and was immediately delighted. She said hurriedly, "I will work hard and recommend more people to join. When we have saved enough money, we will also come and upgrade! Let's pay 100,000 yuan to join today."
"Can."
The two paid the money, went through the formalities, received a membership card, and then left with many thanks.
After leaving the club, Tian Jiahong thought about recruiting people to join the club, so she said to Huang Dongheng, "You heard about recruiting people to join the club just now. Go find Li Quanwang. The Tongxin Internet Cafe he runs has now opened in other cities. The speed of expansion is very fast, so he must be very rich."
Huang Dongheng was immediately displeased when he heard this, and his eyebrows almost twisted together: "Our two families have fallen out, and you still want me to go find him? Do you want me to go to his house and be laughed at by him? No!"
Tian Jiahong scolded, "Are you stupid? You can make money, why bother with face? Can't you just beg him humbly? As long as we bring in one million, we can get 100,000 on the spot, and another 20,000 every month, which adds up to 340,000! This is free money, what is your old face worth?"
"All right."
Faced with Tian Jiahong's glaring face, Huang Dongheng was extremely helpless and had to agree to go find Li Quanwang.
That morning, Li Quanwang came to school, found Lu Yiming, and said mysteriously: "Mingzi, I found a way to make a fortune!"
Since Lu Yiming took Li Quanwang to success last semester, Li Quanwang has been living a much more carefree life, but he is jealous of Lu Yiming's increasing wealth. Unfortunately, he has no business sense at all, and he can't think of anything to do to make money. After so long, he finally couldn't wait to find Lu Yiming to show it off.
Lu Yiming always thought that Li Quanwang was a lazy person, and in fact, it was true. The four words "muddling through" basically summed up Li Quanwang's life. He never expected that Li Quanwang would find a way to make money one day, and immediately said in surprise: "How to make money? Tell me about it."
Li Quanwang then told him about joining the mutual aid association.
He now keeps his monthly Internet cafe dividends in a card, which doesn't cost him much considering his living conditions. His biggest monthly expense is the property fee for his villa.
He once thought about asking his parents to stop buying groceries and live in a villa to enjoy their lives, but the two of them simply couldn't sit still.
The interest rate for money deposited in a bank is not high, but if you join a mutual aid association, the situation is completely different. The rate of return is much higher than any other bank financial product.
On the surface, this is definitely a financial product with an extremely high rate of return, and banks would shed tears when they saw it. But in reality, Lu Yiming had seen so many fraud and pyramid scheme cases that he knew how unreliable this thing was.
You are eyeing other people's interest, but they are eyeing your principal!
"Wangzai."
Lu Yiming hooked his arm around Li Quanwang's neck and said earnestly, "Something must be wrong when it's out of the ordinary. If someone is too kind to you for no reason, he is either a traitor or a thief. Why doesn't he do this money-making thing himself instead of telling you about it?"
Li Quanwang looked confused and puzzled: "Yes, why is this?"
Lu Yiming said helplessly: "Because this is illegal. Do you know that it is illegal fundraising? When you take out the money, it will no longer be your money."
Li Quanwang was skeptical and said, "No way? I heard that the president and vice president of the mutual aid association are both big businessmen. Reputation is more important to them than life. They won't commit fraud, right? Didn't our Tongxin Internet Cafe raise money in a similar way before? There was no problem."
Facing Li Quanwang, an illiterate and legally illiterate man, Lu Yiming wanted to give him three big slaps to wake him up.
"You know nothing. At that time, the banner we put up was recharge rewards, which can be explained as a commercial behavior, but it is actually skirting the law. And what you are doing now is definitely illegal fundraising, and you still want me to join? If I recharge a few hundred thousand or eighty thousand, believe it or not, you will have to spend a few years in jail?"
Li Quanwang was horrified when he heard that he could go to jail for charging money. "Are you serious? I thought I could really make money, so I came to tell you..."
Knowing that Li Quanwang didn't have the guts to break the law, Lu Yiming had no choice but to ask him, "Who gave you this bad idea?"
Li Quanwang answered honestly: "My fourth uncle Huang Dongheng."
When Lu Yiming heard this, he frowned immediately: "Didn't your two families have a falling out because of the loan issue before?"
Li Quanwang himself was puzzled by this matter: "Yes, but my fourth uncle came with gifts and said all the nice things. I can't just kick him out, right?"
Lu Yiming immediately sneered and scolded: "This guy is really the one who can bend and stretch."
Later, seeing that Li Quanwang didn't seem to realize the seriousness of the matter, Lu Yiming said in a serious tone: "Do you know how to raise it?"
