That night, the phone Qin Xizhen sent vibrated. It showed an unfamiliar number. Cheng Ran answered the call and a female voice came, "Cheng Ran?"
Qin Xizhen's voice.
Cheng Ran paused and said, "No."
The voice on the other end of the phone laughed crisply, "… Pretending, still the same as before."
Cheng Ran had no choice but to say, "I hope you are well."
"It's impossible to be safe..." Qin Xizhen's voice was lazy, but full of leisure, "Two million... How many albums do I have to sell to earn that much... How come it's only worth 5% to someone? You're just a coffee shop. I can open another one with this money. There's more than enough money after paying for rent, water, electricity and labor. Your coffee shop is worth 40 million. In the photo Chen Muyi gave me, it's not built on a gold mine."
The corners of Cheng Ran's mouth curled up. This was Qin Xizhen. She came straight to the point without any greetings, and he could also tell that she was going to accuse him.
Cheng Ran laughed and said, "Didn't you let me decide it at will? Why are you going back on your word?"
"I was your partner after all, but you are so cold now... You are so casual. I helped you when you needed money. Shouldn't I be so touched that I almost cried?"
Cheng Ran laughed in silence. It turned out that Qin Xizhen was thinking that she was grateful to him, but she didn't expect that her reaction disappointed her. At this time, her tone was a little tight. In fact, now was the time when he needed money. Qin Xizhen came in time, but the main thing was that he still had a stable income from the sales of the board game section. However, it might take half a year to collect such a sum of money, so Qin Xizhen really helped.
Moreover, in her eyes, what Cheng Ran runs is just a coffee shop, which has a slow return on investment and is not very profitable, so she doesn't really want to invest in it. It's more that Cheng Ran seems to need money, and she came to show off her fortune, but in the end, Cheng Ran didn't feel as touched as he should have.
Thinking of this, Cheng Ran felt a little warm in his heart and said softly, "Thank you."
The person on the other end of the phone was stunned. Qin Xizhen, who had come to argue, seemed to be unable to react for a moment. After a moment, he said, "I'm not like you. At the music festival, you left without a gentleman's manner and didn't even say goodbye."
Cheng Ran said, "I remember what I said..."
The female voice on the phone, who is now regarded by many as the "Little Queen of Creative Writing", was not as sweet as usual. Instead, she sounded annoyed, "You, don't, have it!"
"Okay, okay, you have the final say."
Qin Xizhen took a deep breath and said, "You could have set up the stall like that, but I wouldn't be so irresponsible. Even if your cafe is not worth that much money, I still asked Chen Muyi to bring the money..."
"But this is not all for you. This is an investment I have considered for the long term... I have experienced it and realized that the money earned from records is not the biggest part, because piracy is very serious. To make money in this industry, you still have to rely on commercial performances, endorsements and concerts... But those more exposure will also affect the mood of creation. Besides, I earn more than I did as a teacher before, but who knows what the future will be like. Relying solely on records is not a long-term solution. I can't guarantee that my songs will sell well... If they don't sell well, where will the money come from... So now is the time to invest first. What my mother used to say makes a lot of sense. When you can make money, don't treat money as money. Although you don't have to spend it in two, you still have to use it wisely. With industry as a foundation, I don't feel panicked, and this place can be regarded as one of my bases. I used to go to Hong Kong to relax and vacation, and now it's just right. Chengdu has a back garden."
After finishing his words, Qin Xizhen heard that Cheng Ran on the other end did not respond, so he raised his voice and said "Hmm?"
Cheng Rancai said, "Why do I always feel like... I'm being kept."
Qin Xizhen chuckled, "You wish!"
After a pause, Qin Xizhen said, "Two million is just the first payment, but it won't be the last. I believe you will make proper arrangements... So, Cheng Ran, you know how much support I have for you. There is no upper limit to my commitment. You are not an ordinary high school student. You want to start a business and make some money now, just a small business. After you graduate from college, you will really enter a bigger world. I can provide you with connections and resources in all aspects. Although I don't like socializing and commercial performances, if it's for you, I can do it... So you understand how much I have sacrificed, and you only give me 5%?"
Why are you talking about sacrifice all the time? It's like you have to pay something.
Cheng Ran thought about it and realized that the so-called resources that Qin Xizhen mentioned did have potential value, so he said, "Then... let's just say 10%. That's not the coffee shop you imagined, nor is it just a rented space. The building currently belongs to us, and the period of use is 20 years. In the future, we will build it into an Internet cafe with cash flow and an entrepreneurial community famous for its clustering effect. The potential is huge, and it is definitely not the value you predicted..."
After a brief silence on the other end of the phone, Qin Xizhen said, "So that's how it is... I underestimated you... Okay, 10%, deal."
Cheng Ran then shook his head. When the girl heard what he had said about the future value, she agreed so readily. She must have been secretly happy as if she had made a fortune.
Qin Xizhen's eyes on the other end of the phone must have been exceptionally bright at this moment.
There was a pause on the other end, and then Qin Xizhen's voice came, "Cheng Ran, your initial 5% was not sincere. I originally wanted 30%, but after hearing what you said, I think 10% is enough... In fact, at the beginning, even if your cafe was only worth 500,000, I would be willing to take 2 million and the subsequent money, as long as 30% is enough. Do you know why?"
"Why is that?" Cheng Ran asked with a smile.
"Because..." At night, Qin Xizhen's perfect voice that could make countless people toss and turn in their dreams, with a playful and soft voice, "I want to feel involved... on your side."
…
After Qin Xizhen's incident, Tianxing Dojo opened as scheduled. In addition to good publicity, the promotion of popular board games and novel concepts brought an effect that even Cheng Ran was surprised.
Seeing the endless stream of people waiting in line to enter the venue, Cheng Ran still felt a little emotional about the old saying "If you stand at the outlet of the wind, even pigs can fly", but this outlet was created by him. The popularity of Three Kingdoms Killing has brought board games into the vision of young people in advance. In fact, before this, the first popular game was the killing game, but it was only popular in the white-collar circles of Shanghai and Beijing for a while, and ultimately failed to become widely popular. However, Three Kingdoms Killing, which gave the killing game the context of the Three Kingdoms, which is well-known throughout China, has been promoted with a more dissemination-friendly connotation.
If we look at it from the perspective of later generations, the craftsmanship of the board games released at that time could not be compared with those of later board games, and was almost at the level of playing cards. However, it was also this that reduced costs and allowed the board games to spread at the fastest speed.
Of course, in addition to Three Kingdoms, Cheng Ran also introduced some famous board games in his own Tianxingdao Gym, such as Catan, Railroad Tycoon, Power Plant, etc., but they were not translated into Chinese in this era. These are all English versions. However, Cheng Ran also admired the patience and spirit of people in this era to study for fun games, which is incomparable to the increasingly fast-paced and impetuous atmosphere in later generations.
Who would have believed that in the era of the Famicom, in order to play the glorious Three Kingdoms, you had to use a large Japanese dictionary and translate the game on a screen full of Japanese. And now it is the same in the board game cafe, a group of people can sit down and listen to the boring rules explanation for an hour or two, and then start their own performance on the board full of English, gradually getting into the game and enjoying it.
It is the longing and curiosity for new things that can break the long-standing barriers. It is the pursuit and exploration of the novel, interesting and unknown.
Looking at the crowded Tianxing Dojo, the chaotic, noisy, and lively atmosphere, Cheng Ran was a little distracted. This is the loveliness of this era.