Returning to '97, creating a new life

winter vacation.

Spring Festival.

A sufficiently long holiday; cold enough weather with limited outdoor entertainment; and plenty of money in pockets for the Lunar New Year.

Trinity.

It's a shop that doesn't have a sign but is nominally a sound equipment rental shop. Because of the nickname of the garage arcade next door, it's also known as the "Garage Video Arcade" by the people who frequent it.

If someone mentions going to the garage to play games, they're saying they're going to an arcade. If they say they're going to the garage to watch a movie, they're saying they're going to a video arcade.

Although the nursing and finance schools are on holiday, most of the students in ordinary vocational schools are local and may be located in different parts of the city. However, when classmates meet up, they still prefer to go to places they are familiar with, such as near the school.

Xu Kai and Song Jun became the two candidates.

Although the arcade next door lost some customers, it also attracted many new customers from this place.

Regular customers frequented the arcade, perhaps buying a dollar's worth of game tokens to play for half a day. New customers, on the other hand, came from afar, spending three or five dollars' worth of game tokens. As a result, the overall revenue actually increased, and the relationship between the two arcades became warmer, with no hostility and mutual benefit.

Once they got to know Song Jun better, those from wealthier families would secretly rent some "exciting" movies from him. During the day, when their parents weren't home, they could watch them alone if they had a VCD player, which was much more enjoyable than watching with a group of people.

Despite collecting deposits, they still lost some discs in just one month, with some disappearing due to damage or simply not being returned. Song Jun and Xu Kai were happy about this, as the rental fees and deposits were definitely higher than their purchase price. As long as a disc had been rented or screened even once, its historical mission was to make money.

Buying more goods allows for lower prices. The most important thing is to source "premium" or low-volume items from the supply chain. Sellers will definitely prioritize large clients.

I'd stay up all night, starting at an unpredictable time. I'd check when the current episode finished playing around 8 PM, tidy up a bit, and then begin my all-night session.

The price is neither cheap nor expensive, five yuan. If you add two "exciting" movies late at night and one movie with three parts, then the price is definitely not expensive.

There won't be too many people at night, so we won't sell too many seats. That's not how we make money. Xu Kai explained the concept of comfort to Song Jun.

"Why do we need to buy separate sofas or more comfortable chairs? Wouldn't putting up long benches allow us to accommodate more guests? We want everyone to be more comfortable. Watching those kinds of movies, with everyone crammed together, is a terrible experience. It's embarrassing if people notice your body movements. It's just that we don't have that kind of space right now. Otherwise, I'd rather earn less and create separate areas..."

The cabin is less crowded, making it ideal for regulars or groups of five or six. Paying an extra ten or eight dollars is no big deal, and the feeling of being surrounded by familiar faces rather than strangers is even better. If you're feeling a bit sleazy, you can chat together and even choose videos.

With this business, Xu Kai stopped selling small commodities at his stall and spent his free time going to the DVD wholesale market to select DVDs.

Choosing how many copies of the same film to stock is an art. Buying too few will result in lost rental income and customers, while buying too many will be a waste of money. It may not matter once or twice, but this is a business that requires constant replenishment and restocking over the years. If you don't have a good eye, you are destined to earn less than your competitors when comparing your products with others.

Xu Kai is not the first to do it, nor will he be the last.

It's still the same old friend model; even if you're looking for Song Jun, you need the support of the local young people. As for those "hot" films, there are very few wholesale outlets in the city, and with the frenzy, most people can't get good ones, and there are also some counterfeit and shoddy products that are just a bait and switch.

Xu Kai was also bold. He was mentally prepared for the loss. He transferred 500 yuan to the person who was in contact with the manufacturer south of the arcade. He then called to tell him that he wanted ten discs. The remaining money included postage and was a fee for helping with the errands.

A DVD that normally costs ten yuan would be more than three times that price after deducting postage. He didn't care; he just wanted to open up a channel. If he got scammed, he'd consider it a loss of five hundred yuan. If the quality wasn't good enough, he wouldn't use this route again. If the quality was good enough, the premium would be worthwhile. Good movies are in high demand these days, so Song Jun didn't rent them out; he only played them in his shop.

Those who stay up all night are all there for that movie. A whole room can bring in two or three hundred yuan for an all-nighter, and the extra charge for a single disc is nothing.

Song Jun coveted this opportunity, and Xu Kai didn't hide it from him.

In another year or two, with the emergence of internet cafes and computer malls, people will be able to burn their own discs and find movies online, and watch whatever they want. The current so-called "connections" that are being held back and hidden now do not conform to Xu Kai's underlying logic of making money together as a win-win situation.

Song Jun's ultimate goal is for everyone to cooperate stably for one to one and a half years, without the situation collapsing later on.

Despite constantly restocking, the three of them made a fortune during the two-month winter break. Compared to working hard in the wind and snow to earn money, some of the money they earned gave them a feeling of unease and smugness. Compared to their salaries and living expenses, this business was like a goose that lays golden eggs.

In just two months, three people each received 5,000 yuan.

Not to mention Song Jun, even Xu Dalong was shocked. Is it really that profitable? It's terrifying! There's still three thousand yuan left on the books, and the store has over a thousand discs in total, with the discs alone worth over ten thousand yuan.

With a guaranteed minimum of 400 yuan a day, plus the income from renting DVDs, Song Jun earned over 500 yuan in gross profit on average every day. He didn't even rest on New Year's Eve; he just went home for a quick meal and continued working into the night.

Song Jun bought a leather jacket, slung a pager over his shoulder, and even installed a landline phone in the store. He also stopped smoking only "Life's Edge" cigarettes and switched to "Tashan" and "Hong Guobin" cigarettes, looking quite dashing.

They wanted to rent another garage next door, but Xu Kai stopped them, and Xu Dalong also disagreed.

That's too ostentatious.

In Xu Dalong's area alone, four or five new audio-visual stores have opened in the past two months, VCDs have entered thousands of households, and rental services have become a daily occurrence.

After all, playing "Awesome" is borderline and doesn't fit Xu Dalong and Xu Kai's low-key, quiet way of making money. This business absolutely cannot be expanded.

………………

"We'll be closed for the next three days, only operating our leasing business. We'll put away anything that shouldn't be on the market."

With one phone call from Xu Dalong, the video arcade was shut down. Song Jun led his men to clean up, tidying up the sofas and chairs and only offering rentals in the front.

We're free now, not so busy anymore and don't need to stay up late. There's a place to go, with heating inside, and a few of us can get together to play cards.

This used to be a leisurely life, but now Song Jun can't stand it. If he doesn't earn a hundred or eighty yuan a day, he feels like he's lost something.

He cursed inwardly, initially out of helplessness, but after several repetitions, he almost ground his teeth to powder and grew bolder.

………………

School starts in March, and mock exams begin in April. Junior high students across the city are under immense pressure. Those who don't study feel no pressure and lie around all day, while those who want to get into high school or vocational school find their desks piled high with test papers and their daily homework increasing.

Xu Kai didn't have this pressure; he didn't even do his winter break homework. After the start of the new semester, Lü Yan began her polarized management style for the students.

As long as those who don't study don't cause trouble, Lü Yan doesn't care. She doesn't question those who skip class either. As long as you don't interfere with the students' studies, Lü Yan turns a blind eye.

She stopped checking on homework, and as for Xu Kai, the only student, Lü Yan would only offer a few words of advice. Seeing that he didn't listen in class but didn't do his homework, she knew that the kid was really lazy and could understand. If she were the one who became a special admission student, she wouldn't be as good as him.

There were only about a dozen students left in the evening self-study class. Among them, three or five were reading martial arts novels and comic books instead of studying. The rest were not skipping class; they simply didn't attend the evening self-study class. They would rather go home early instead of studying.

Xu Kai was informed by Coach Pu that he would be training with the basketball team, while Zhao Jian switched to focusing on the triple jump, aiming to achieve good rankings and results to compete for special admissions to sports colleges.

The weather warms up completely in May, and you can comfortably wear just a light layer of clothing.

After the fourth period in the afternoon, he was now one of the group leaving school at this time. He threw his schoolbag to Zhang Chunlei. Just like in his previous life, this guy didn't go to school after graduating from junior high school. He was going to join the army this winter. He was originally supposed to leave in the spring, but this lazy kid insisted on asking his family for more than half a year of free time to play as he pleased.

Standing far away, with the 'garage' dozens of meters in sight, Xu Kai stood inside the unit door, sighed, and lit a cigarette.

[It hasn't even been half a year yet, Song Jun, you really are hopeless.]

Twenty minutes later, a figure emerged from the store, carrying a bag, and walked quickly into the distance.

Xu Kai followed from a distance. After more than ten minutes, they crossed the road, crossed the railway tracks, and followed the path up the hillside to a cluster of bungalows on the hillside. Xu Kai watched the figure enter a house, find a sheltered spot far away, and stand there for more than an hour, watching as more than a dozen people entered the courtyard.

Inside the roller skating rink in the commercial building, Xu Kai, through Yunshang, found two delinquents who weren't in school, and the next day, they entered that small courtyard.

"One dollar a movie, all from Europe and America, it's really exciting."

"It starts at six o'clock every afternoon and continues non-stop until morning. You can watch any movie you want."

Yunshang took Xu Kai's arm and whispered in his ear, "Shall I help you find someone?"

Xu Kai shook his head: "The money has been divided, so we can't just sit back and do nothing. Let's see if my uncle can pull it off."

Yunshang rested her head on his shoulder: "This business isn't doing well anymore. Anyone with money can do it down here, but the higher-ups are starting to scrutinize the serious problems within this industry. My brother helped me find people to ask around. Before, nobody cared whether we were crossing the line or not, but now they think it's a menace. From now on, we might have to work in hiding."

Xu Kai nodded, not at all stubborn about this, and mainly listened to advice: "It's just a pity that the time was too short."

Yunshang: "It's not a legitimate business to begin with, so it's not worth living in constant fear."

Xu Kai knew in his heart that when this business started to operate covertly and fearfully, he would have to withdraw. It would no longer be a quick way to make money, but just a way to make a living by guarding a small shop: "Want to watch the show?"

Yunshang was interested in this: "Okay, okay!"