After acquiring the store, Lu Fei immediately took the property certificate to the bank for mortgage and received over 110,000. This covered the full loan amount for a thirty-year term, and after calculations, he only needed to pay a little over 800 each month, including both principal and interest.

This almost made Lu Fei burst into laughter. In the next twenty years, money would depreciate like toilet paper, and the most expensive asset would be real estate. Take this store for example, even now it's worth 170,000, and it would be impossible to buy it for that price in just five years.

Jokingly, this is an old street with a huge foot traffic. Any business here would be profitable. Who would be willing to sell it?

This is also why Lu Fei chose to buy instead of renting. With the current housing market, as long as you have it, you'll make money. And it's not just a little profit, but a significant sum.

Of course, only people like Lu Fei, who have advanced memories, dare to buy recklessly. Ordinary people would never even dream of it. For an average person, earning a couple hundred thousand in their lifetime would be considered good. Currently, the average salary in Fu City is only a little over 600, while in major cities like Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Shenzhen, it's around 800 to 1,000.

After completing the formalities, Lu Fei went to the telecommunications bureau to install internet cables and set up the network. He also found workers to do a simple renovation for the store. The next step was to purchase equipment.

In this era, internet cafes were a emerging industry with incomplete regulations and laws. Online gaming was just starting to develop. Hence, opening an internet cafe was not that complicated. Just install internet cables, obtain a business license, and you can operate without even paying taxes, as you can register as an individual business.

Of course, the period for individual businesses was coming to an end, as electronic games and internet cafes would soon face increased regulations and restrictions.

In terms of computers, the configurations were almost the same in this era. Lu Fei didn't choose any top brands but opted for a medium-range brand called Jia Pu. Moreover, Lu Fei knew that Jia Pu's quality was reliable and wouldn't likely have any issues later on.

However, even the medium-range brand Jia Pu still had a high price. It would cost around 2,700 or more if he were to buy them personally, which was far beyond Lu Fei's budget. Thus, he needed to negotiate and try to lower the price as much as possible, considering he was still quite poor.

After various calculations, he had about 150,000 or so left in his hand. If he bought the computers, he didn't want to end up with empty pockets. He still needed to keep about 50,000 or 60,000 for unexpected situations.

So, he approached the distributor with an order for fifty sets and estimated that they would offer a maximum of around 2,500 to 2,600 each, which he still couldn't afford.

"Fei Ge, Jia Pu is not cheap. Do we have enough money?" Tao Zi, who was worried, asked while the storefront was being prepared.

Tao Zi still felt anxious as the opening of the internet cafe was approaching. He was most concerned about how they would manage to pay the 15,000 monthly rent to Boss Hu. If their internet cafe's revenue couldn't meet that target, they would be in trouble.

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By now, the cashier and network manager for the Star Internet Cafe had been arranged. Lu Fei had made labor contracts with them, and they would take care of things there.

As Boss Hu had said, after Lu Fei had taken most of the profit, it would be difficult for them to earn much in the next three years. So, as long as those two individuals looked after the storefront, everything should be fine.

"It's not really enough," Lu Fei pondered for a while and said, "So we'll have to think of a solution."

"What solution?" Tao Zi curiously asked.

"Deception!" Lu Fei smiled.

"Huh?"

Confused, Tao Zi had a million question marks in his head.

In March, when the weather was warming up, Lu Fei went straight to the Star Internet Cafe early in the morning with Tao Zi.

"Fei Ge, what are we doing here?" Tao Zi asked, puzzled.

"We're going to get some deceptive stuff," Lu Fei replied with a smile.

"What's he up to?" Tao Zi could sense that Lu Fei had undergone significant changes recently, which left him a bit puzzled. Whether it was his words or actions, it gave Tao Zi a feeling of frustration and change, like he's a con artist!

"Just follow me."

Lu Fei didn't explain much to Tao Zi. With his intelligence, it would be dawn before he could understand everything.

In the morning, Lu Fei prepared a plan for a chain of one hundred internet cafes. The cyber café had a printer for cash transactions, so he printed it on the spot.

After printing, Tao Zi took a deliberate look at the plan and was dumbfounded when he saw the concept of a chain of one hundred internet cafes.

"Fei Ge, are you planning to open a hundred internet cafes? How are we going to manage them?"

Opening a hundred internet cafes would require a lot of money. Tao Zi simply couldn't comprehend it. They were still struggling to pay back Hu Lao Ban for the initial investment in their first internet café. How could they even think about opening a hundred cafes? It was insane.

Lu Fei glanced at Tao Zi, smiled, and said, "Isn't it impressive?"

"More than just impressive, it's mind-blowing!" Tao Zi grinned.

"Well, what if I told you that this is Shengguang Electronics' business plan? Would you believe it?"

"What's Shengguang Electronics?" Tao Zi asked.

Hmm...

Lu Fei forgot that Tao Zi was always puzzled, and his interests were different from others. After a moment's thought, he said, "Forget it, I won't explain. Let's go eat and then visit the electronics mall."

Shengguang Electronics was currently the largest electronic gaming company in Fucheng City, led by Lian Qianping. They had six major districts in the city and owned 150 gaming halls, virtually monopolizing the youth gaming market and being well-known in the industry.

However, in the next six months, Shengguang Electronics would close one after another in rapid succession as the era of online gaming approached.

Arriving at the electronics mall, they saw countless household appliances, but to Lu Fei, the styles were outdated. He didn't want anything, even the computers there looked like mini TVs.

At the entrance of Fuda Electronics, Lu Fei whispered, "From now on, you'll call me General Lu, understood?"

"Okay," Tao Zi nodded. Though he didn't understand what Lu Fei was up to, he always trusted him. They had been through thick and thin together.

It was Lu Fei who led Tao Zi into the business initially, so he wanted to help Tao Zi as well.

The sales point of Jacop wasn't as busy, with only one or two people casually looking around before turning away when they saw the prices.

Computers were not yet popular, and they were expensive. Therefore, the sales were poor. Furthermore, Jacop was a second-tier brand with limited recognition.

"Sir, are you looking to buy a computer?"

As they entered, a saleswoman in professional attire responsible for the Jacop brand smiled and looked at Lu Fei and Tao Zi.

"I'm here to see your manager."

"May I know who you are..."

"We're General Lu. We want to buy a batch of computers from your boss. Hurry and inform him!"

The saleswoman felt a bit frightened by Tao Zi's unfriendly words. He still had that aggressiveness, which couldn't be easily changed. Some timid people found it intimidating.

"Please have a seat inside and wait for a moment!"

A few minutes later, the two of them arrived in the reception room. Lu Fei casually said while crossing his legs, "Don't speak later, okay?"

"Got it!" Tao Zi nodded.

Lu Fei was worried that Tao Zi would speak too much and expose his true temperament. He wanted to avoid unnecessary suspicion.

"Also, don't touch the files on the table later!"

Tao Zi quickly nodded, his eyes darting around. "Understood!"