1RomanceEB Chapter 17 Video Hall
Chapter 17 Video Hall
The idea of opening a video arcade suddenly popped into Li Si'an's head on the third day after the renovation team started work.
That day, Old Ma and his workers were scraping putty on the first floor. The mortar was splattered all over the floor, and the smell was so strong that it was unbearable to stay there.
Li Si'an moved a chair to the doorway and sat down, watching the people coming and going on the street with a bored expression.
July in Beijing is like a sauna, the cicadas are chirping and it's so annoying. Across the street is the gate of the Affiliated High School of Beijing Dance Academy, which is deserted during the holidays.
Occasionally, the old man who guards the gate will come out for a stroll, and then retreat back inside.
He glanced back at the empty space behind the shop.
He had always known about that piece of land. When he bought the house, Aunt Zhou mentioned that there was an empty space behind it where fabric and thread scraps used to be piled up.
He didn't pay much attention at the time, thinking that having a backyard would be nice, and he could store some goods there in the future.
Later, the renovation team came in and cleared away the weeds and piled the broken bricks in the corner. Only then did he realize that the area was quite large.
Li Si'an stood up, walked to the back, and measured the distance with her steps.
From the back door to the innermost wall, it's eight steps, each step is about 1.5 meters, and the width is slightly wider, so it's about nine steps. He did a mental calculation and realized it was at least 130 square meters, if not 120.
He squatted there, staring at the newly cleared open space, when a thought suddenly popped into his head.
The front is a cassette tape shop, and the back plot of land is just sitting empty. What if we built a building there, put in a big TV, and turned it into a video rental shop?
It costs five yuan per person to go in and watch whatever you want. There's one show in the afternoon and one in the evening.
Tens of thousands of students from Beijing Dance Academy, Beijing Foreign Studies University, Minzu University of China, and Capital Normal University will not go home for summer vacation.
There are even more people after school starts. If you have nothing to do at night, you can spend a few dollars to watch a couple of videos. It's much better than staying cooped up in your dorm.
This business is more lucrative than selling cassette tapes.
He mentally calculated: if there were forty people in one game, five yuan per person, that would be two hundred yuan for one game and four hundred yuan for two games.
That's 12,000 a month. After deducting the cost of electricity, movies, and snacks, you can easily net 8,000 to 9,000. On weekends when it's crowded, it can be even more.
Moreover, this business is stable. The magnetic card business has a ceiling; the more people know about it, the thinner the profit margin. Video arcades are different; as long as the movies are good, people are willing to pay.
But then he counted the money in his hand.
I bought the house for 150,000 yuan, and with my usual expenses, I only have less than 20,000 yuan left. The renovation team still owes me about 5,000 yuan.
The prefabricated steel house costs several thousand yuan to build, and the TV, VCR, stereo, and chairs all require cash payment.
He doesn't have enough money on him.
The magnetic card business brings in over ten thousand yuan a month, and the royalties are one or two thousand, but that's a steady stream of income, not something that can be taken out all at once. Building a prefabricated house and buying equipment all require cash, and we can't wait.
Dera people.
That evening, Li Si'an invited Sister Nan to Lao Zhao's restaurant.
When he arrived, Sister Nan was already there. She was wearing a maroon dress, her hair was permed into small curls, and she was sitting in a seat against the wall, tapping the table with her chopsticks.
Seeing him come in, his eyes lit up, and he called out to the boss, "Boss, beef noodles, large bowl, with two extra portions of meat—it's on him!"
Old Zhao responded from the kitchen.
Sister Nan turned to look at him, a smile on her face.
"Tell me, Anzi, what mischief are you up to this time?"
Li Si'an sat down opposite her and, without any ceremony, got straight to the point.
"See that open space behind my shop?"
"Look at this. A pile of broken bricks. What, you want to grow vegetables?"
"What vegetables should I grow? I want to build a shed over there to show videos."
Sister Nan's chopsticks stopped in mid-air.
"Video parlor?"
"Yes. One show in the afternoon and one in the evening, five yuan per person, you can watch whatever you want inside."
Li Si'an counted on her fingers, "Beijing Dance Academy, Beijing Foreign Studies University, Minzu University of China, Capital Normal University, tens of thousands of students. Many of them don't go home for summer vacation, and there will be even more after school starts."
Sister Nan stuffed the meat into her mouth and chewed, without rushing to speak.
"This business doesn't make money as quickly as using magnetic cards, but it's more reliable."
Sister Nan swallowed the meat and looked at him.
"Then why did you contact me? It's not like you're broke."
"After buying the house and finishing the renovations, I'm practically penniless."
Li Si'an spoke frankly, "The prefabricated steel house alone would cost several thousand yuan to build, and the TV, VCR, stereo, chairs, and DVDs would all cost close to thirty thousand yuan. I don't have that much cash on hand."
"so what."
"So I wanted to get you involved."
Sister Nan put down her chopsticks, looked at him, and her eyes became serious.
"How do you mix it?"
"Thirty thousand yuan, let's split it in half, fifteen thousand each. You'll be in charge of overseeing the store once it opens, and you'll be in charge while I'm teaching."
"And the profit?"
"Fifty-five."
Sister Nan raised her eyebrows.
"Fifty-fifty? The house is yours, and I only put up 15,000 and you take 50%? What are you thinking?"
"The house is mine, but you're in charge of the shop," Li Si'an said casually. "I rely on you completely when I'm teaching. Purchasing, managing people, collecting money, dealing with customers—you have to handle all of that."
Sister Nan chewed a couple of mouthfuls of noodles but didn't reply.
Li Si'an added, "So, half of your 50% is for the shop's wages. I can't let you work for free."
Sister Nan picked up her cup, took a sip of water, and thought for a moment.
"You really think it will work?"
"Why not? The house's just sitting empty anyway. You provide the labor, I'll provide the land, neither of us loses out."
Sister Nan stared at him for two seconds, then couldn't help but laugh.
"Okay. Fifty-fifty it is."
Li Si'an put down her chopsticks, her expression becoming more serious than before.
"Sister Nan, let me tell you the truth."
Sister Nan raised her eyelids to look at him.
"You're making all your money from this magnetic card business right now. But I reckon this business won't last much longer. At most, another year or two."
Sister Nan stopped eating.
"You're kidding me. You're making over ten thousand a month now, how could you not make it?"
"The longer it goes on, the more people will know about the discount cards. Sooner or later, the post office will have to sell them at a discount itself. Once everyone knows that phone cards are discounted, this business will be over."
Sister Nan chewed the piece of meat in her mouth, very slowly. She didn't look at him, staring at the noodles in the bowl, as if she was thinking about something.
How did you find out?
"How would we know without even calling?" Li Si'an leaned back in her chair.
"That's how it is with everything. If fewer people know about it, you can make money. If more people know about it, you can't make money anymore. Magnetic cards are like that, and all kinds of transactions will be like that in the future."
Sister Nan didn't respond.
Li Si'an took a sip of the Arctic Ocean soda in her cup and put it down.
"So this video arcade isn't just about letting you get involved. If the magnetic card business really goes under, you'll still have a way out."
Sister Nan was silent for a while. The only sounds in the restaurant were the sizzling of Old Zhao cooking in the kitchen and the sounds of two people drinking and playing drinking games at the next table.
"So you're just giving me a way out," Sister Nan said, her tone softer than before.
"Not entirely," Li Si'an smiled. "I also want to be a hands-off manager. If you keep an eye on the store, it'll save me a lot of trouble."
Sister Nan picked up the bowl and drank the noodle soup clean, sip by sip. She put down the bowl, wiped her mouth with a tissue, and then wiped her hands.
"Okay. I'll take the 55. I'll keep an eye on the shop for you, and the magnetic card account will remain the same."
"OK."
Sister Nan stood up and slung her bag over her shoulder.
"I'm leaving. I'll bring the money to you tomorrow."
He walked to the door, then paused. He didn't turn around.
"Anzi".
"Um."
Thanks.
Then she pushed open the door and went out. The maroon skirt swayed briefly by the doorframe, then disappeared.
The construction team for the prefabricated steel house was also introduced by Sister Nan.
The row of prefabricated steel houses behind Xidan Clothing City were built by them. Sister Nan said their craftsmanship was decent and their prices were fair. The foreman's surname was Guo, he was in his forties, had a round face, and a smiling face, looking like a Maitreya Buddha.
Li Si'an led him to the store entrance, took out his key, and opened the roller shutter door.
The two entered through the main gate, passing through the empty first floor—the floor tiles had just been laid, the shelves hadn't been set up yet, and sunlight streamed in through the shop windows, casting long streaks of light on the floor. Reaching the back, Li Si'an pushed open the back door, entering the backyard.
The backyard wasn't big; the weeds had just been cleared, and there were several stacks of broken bricks piled up against the wall. Beyond that was the grove of trees in Zizhuyuan Park, a lush green expanse.
Old Guo measured the distance with his steps, squatted down to look at the ground, and stood up to pat the dust off his pants.
"120 square meters. What materials are you planning to use?"
"We used corrugated steel sheets for the roof and asbestos tiles for the walls," Li Si'an said. "Every little bit helps."
Old Guo nodded, not surprised. This is how sheds are built these days; corrugated steel sheets are expensive, and using them all would be too extravagant.
He scribbled on the notebook for a while with a pen.
"Eight thousand including labor and materials."
"A few days?"
Five days.
"OK."
Old Guo arrived the next day with his men. Three workers, a van, and a pile of corrugated steel sheets, asbestos tiles, and steel pipes. They went through the main gate, passed through the first floor, and carried the materials to the backyard in trip after trip.
They worked for five days, clanging and banging. There was a rainstorm in the middle, which stopped work for half a day, but Lao Guo kept his word, and the shed was up by the evening of the fifth day.
The roof is made of blue corrugated steel sheets, and the walls are covered with gray-white asbestos tiles, with sharp edges, which are attached to the back wall of the house and take up most of the backyard.
The room was empty, filled with the smell of corrugated iron mixed with the dust from the asbestos roof. The ground was covered with a layer of cement, which hadn't dried completely yet. Old Guo had placed a wooden sign next to it that read, "Cement not dry, please do not step on it."
Li Si'an stood at the back door and looked around inside. Then she reached out and patted the door frame, making a loud bang.
I felt so happy.