"Why should you drive for me? I'll do the driving!" Li Zhongnan laughed and jumped in. Han Xue shuffled aside and sat behind him, her hands resting on his shoulders and their bodies slightly touching.
He took his pretty classmate for a spin and then they went somewhere to have breakfast.
Then, they went to the place she mentioned.
The location was indeed good, located on the side of a main road, directly across from a school, and near the old railway station. There would be a lot of foot traffic.
The shop looked to be about 30-40 square meters, spacious and well-ventilated. It was originally a bookstore, so its decorations were quite new. In addition, there was a two-bedroom apartment behind it, complete with kitchen and bathroom. Nice, one room could serve as a primary bedroom, the other as a storage room.
Li Zhongnan looked satisfied. "This is it!"
"Aren't you going to ask about the rent?"
Han Xue raised an eyebrow, then went to fetch the shop's owner, a middle-aged man with an air of a scholar. Han Xue introduced to the shop owner: "Uncle Yang, this is my classmate, Li Zhongnan. He's the one interested in taking over this shop. Could you give him a quote?"
Turns out they knew each other, no wonder it went so fast. Li Zhongnan extended his hand: "Nice to meet you, Uncle Yang."
"Nice to meet you!"
Uncle Yang offered a small smile, "As you're a friend of Han Xue, I'll give you a discount. Five thousand per month, pay for six months in advance and leave six months security deposit."
Considering there wasn't a transfer fee, and the rent was five thousand per month, this was quite affordable. Just as Li Zhongnan was about to accept, Han Xue gave him a look, then pleaded sweetly with Uncle Yang: "Uncle Yang, could we lower the price a bit more? My classmate just started, he doesn't have much money. Do it as a favor for him!"
Uncle Yang hesitated for a moment: "Alright then, fifty thousand for a year, I can't go any lower."
He managed to save a total of ten thousand.
Li gave Han Xue a grateful look. His business hadn't yet started, and decoration, furniture, and other things were to come later. At the moment, he indeed was short on funds. She really had thought things through.
He signed a contract, transferred fifty thousand to Uncle Yang.
The store now belonged to him, Li Zhongnan. Though it was not large, this was his business. It was much better than the time when he had just been expelled from school and roamed the streets of Jingcheng City.
Chapter Four
The usual transfer procedures had been completed.
He couldn't help but ask Han Xue about her relationship with Uncle Yang. Han Xue laughed and said that Uncle Yang's wife was a teacher at the school. Li Zhongnan suddenly realized. Now it made sense as to why he got such a generous lease. From the start, the owner had been doing her a favor out of respect for her father.
Okay, he owed her one.
Then, the busywork began. They had to clean, buy a counter, chairs, design posters for advertisements, and do a bunch of other stuff.
After buying all these things, they started to set up the store. They arranged and rearranged, working until dusk. The completed store had the feel of a telecommunications service center.
Still, this venture wasn't cheap. Including household goods, over twenty thousand was gone just like that. Li Zhongnan had to sigh, money sure burns easily. He had spent over seventy thousand in a day, and now there was only forty to fifty thousand left.
"Zhongnan Electronic Repair!"
Gazing at these six characters hanging in front of his shop, Li Zhongnan's chest swelled with pride. "Han Xue, do you believe that if I had a pole, I could lift the whole world?"
This place would be the starting point of his career.
Looking at his serious face, Han Xue found herself somewhat enchanted, her face flushing slightly. However, she teased him: "Oh come on, it's just a repair shop, aren't you making a fuss? Even if you became the richest person in the world in the future, you'd still essentially be a junk dealer!"
As it turned out, she was spot on. Li Zhongnan would go on to outstrip the world's richest families in wealth, becoming a real global tycoon, but he could never shake off his Junk King title.
No way around it, he had to keep recycling junk. Otherwise, he'd run out of gold coins!
······
With everything ready, it was time to open for business. He woke up early and opened the doors to start his new venture.
After reading for about a while, an attractive young girl of about seventeen or eighteen walked in. Li Zhongnan greeted her with a smile, "Hey there, how can I help you today?"
The young girl pulled out an iPhone, "Sir, my phone got water in it, and now it won't turn on. Can you fix it?" Li Zhongnan nodded, "Sure, leave it here. Come back in half an hour."
After she left, Li Zhongnan took out a hairdryer and blew the phone for about ten minutes. Then, he tried starting the phone again, and bingo! He got lucky, even saved himself some gold coins!
When the young girl returned, she asked anxiously, "Is my phone fixed?"
Li Zhongnan frowned, "Hey, be careful with your things. Your phone was on the brink of being written off. Thanks to my somewhat decent technical skills and much time and effort, I managed to fix it."
Bracing himself for the fallout when he set the price.
As expected, the young girl heard this and anxiously asked: "How much do I owe you?" Li Zhongnan thought about it, and generously replied: "Today's my grand opening, I'll charge you a bit less, five hundred." Looking at a girl her age using an iPhone, he presumed she must be well off.
"Five hundred? Are you kidding? You might as well rob me!"
Hearing his price, the young girl was so shocked she raised her voice and regretted not asking beforehand.
Li Zhongnan's face turned grave, "Listen, young lady, you can't talk like that. Doing business is based on mutual consent, I would never force you. If you don't want to pay, I can restore the phone to its original water-damaged state and give it back to you. I won't charge you a penny."