Chapter 57: It Was Simply Her Way of Doing Things

That was the first point.

The second was that Qin Hongfei could not possibly waste all her time making money on the computer; this was not the path she wished to follow. All she wanted was to earn a little money to make life easier for the Xia family, not to destabilize an otherwise steadily developing society with her skills. Certainly, she might profit from it, but such actions would disrupt the balance of the electronics market, something she never intended.

With this in mind, Qin Hongfei paused and added, "Uncle, don't mention the computer's performance to anyone. If someone asks, just say it was bought at a high price." If word got out, it might cause trouble. She only wanted to study and live quietly, without anyone disturbing the peace of the Xia household.

Xia Shangxu didn’t quite understand, but since Qin Hongfei insisted, he naturally agreed. “I don’t know why, but if you don’t want to reveal it, I absolutely won’t say a word…”

Qin Hongfei said, “And about the internet café?”

Xia Shangxu responded quickly, “If you know how to assemble computers, can lower the costs, and still keep the performance as good as this one, then of course it’s fine!” He was certain that not a single internet café in all of Qinhuai Street could match this level of performance. With such machines, there’d be no shortage of customers.

Besides, the initial investment could be greatly reduced. What might have cost five or six hundred thousand, he estimated could now be done with three hundred thousand!

If an internet café ran fifty computers for fourteen hours a day, charging two yuan an hour, that would be fourteen hundred yuan a day, fourteen thousand in ten days, and forty-two thousand a month. Even if electricity cost as much as two thousand, and rent was added, there would still be at least thirty thousand yuan of profit.

Why bother with the appliance business? To hell with appliances—he’d decided: the internet café it was!

Qin Hongfei spoke up. “Fifty computers require a lot of parts. We’ll need to have all the parts on hand first.” Collecting them from a repair shop was obviously unrealistic; today, someone had come for repairs by chance, but on ordinary days, it might be months before another opportunity arose.

Xia Shangxu suggested, “We can get them from the electronics market! It’s in the city, but I don’t know anything about those parts.”

Qin Hongfei thought to herself that even if he did, she wouldn’t feel comfortable letting him handle it. The electronics trade was fraught with pitfalls! “Uncle, book the tickets. In a couple of days, I’ll go with you.” She wanted to get all the parts before school started and settle the matter.

“But the money…”

Even if second-hand parts were cheap, buying enough for fifty computers would still require a substantial sum. The Xia family was poor, deep in debt!

Xia Shangxu, aware of his cousin’s financial state, said, “I’ll find a way to get the money.” He promised, hand on heart.

Yet, despite this, Qin Hongfei couldn’t just let Xia Shangxu shoulder the entire burden. If the cost per computer was five thousand, then ten would be fifty thousand, and for all the parts, she’d need at least two hundred thousand yuan—two hundred thousand! She had to think of a way; she’d contribute whatever she could.

As Qin Hongfei mulled this over, Xia Shangxu, having finished his meal, hurried off, clearly excited by the idea of opening an internet café. Just as she was deep in thought, someone suddenly pressed her right arm. The pain was sharp. She turned, frowning, to see Tang Jinnan.

Tang Jinnan didn’t look at her; his broad, slender fingers rested on her shoulder. Seeing how much pain she was in, there was a hint of helplessness in his eyes. “Is this one of those things you insist on doing, even through the pain?” All to pay off the family’s debts.

It took Qin Hongfei a second to realize he had misunderstood. Bearing the pain, she replied, “No, it isn’t.” For her, computers were as basic as learning one-two-three; it wasn’t something she had to grit her teeth and endure. It was simply her way of doing things.