Rebirth: He Decides to Lie Flat
Chapter 403 - 403 398 The Cause of Sorrow

Chapter 403: Chapter 398 The Cause of Sorrow Chapter 403: Chapter 398 The Cause of Sorrow “Yes, the store that’s for sale is right here.”

Yang Dan said as she pointed ahead, “Ding Yamin said it had closed before the new year, and the notice for sale has been up ever since. It probably hasn’t sold, or the notice would have been torn down already.”

Ding Yamin did call the owner once, wanting to ask how much they wanted for it, but the owner said the price needed to be discussed in person and was not to be revealed just yet.

Jiang Yan looked back at East Gate, it was at most three hundred meters away, the location was okay, but unfortunately, this whole street was devoid of people. Not to mention a milk tea shop, the other stores weren’t doing well either.

“Shall we go to South Square to look at the store for rent?”

Since they were there, they might as well check it out.

The group entered from East Gate, passed through Normal University’s campus, and exited the south gate to reach South Square.

This scene was starkly different from the street by East Gate, bustling with people and filled with noise, lively was an understatement. Besides being close to the women’s dormitories of Normal University, there was also a technical college about five hundred meters away.

Situated between two universities, it would be strange if business didn’t thrive at South Square.

Jiang Yan asked Ding Yamin and Yang Dan, “Did you ask the owner why they stopped running the business?”

“We did, they mentioned they had a successful matchmaking back home and planned to get married and start a business there. The store was also rented, with a six-year lease signed initially, and only three years had passed.”

As they stood at the milk tea shop doorway, looking through the closed glass doors, others also stood there peering in, clearly indicating that many were interested in this shop space.

But such a small place demanding twenty thousand in rent per year, sixty thousand for three years, was indeed not cheap.

So while they stood at the doorway for roughly ten minutes, two groups had come and gone, their expressions signaling that negotiations had fallen through.

Mu Jiawen preferred to be direct about matters; she wasn’t skilled in business, or more accurately, if she wasn’t in full control of the business, she couldn’t guarantee a 100% profit, and a loss would mean compounded losses.

But if she owned the shop, at worst she would lose the operating costs; at least the shop’s value would be preserved. Or if she later decided to stop running it, couldn’t she just rent it out and earn rental income?

Put simply, she had the money, she only wanted to buy, not to rent.

Hence, she said to the others, “I am not really interested in renting, what do you guys think?”

This was her thought, if Yang Dan and the others wanted to set up here, she would lend them money, and she’d opt out of involvement.

Yang Dan actually didn’t mind either way; she would be happy to proceed, but she wouldn’t face a loss if they didn’t.

Guan Jiao and Ding Yamin were purely workers, they naturally followed Mu Jiawen’s lead.

The group returned to East Gate, where Ding Yamin called the owner to set up a meeting for two in the afternoon.

Then they found a restaurant, where over a meal they discussed plans for the store.

“This store is quite large; operating it simply as a milk tea shop wouldn’t do it justice, and it would be a waste.”

Jiang Yan looked at Mu Jiawen, asking her, “What do you want to open then?”

“I’ve heard you talk about internet cafés before,” she paused, then asked, “What do you think? Is it feasible to open a high-end internet café, that also offers food and beverages?”

The other three heard this term for the first time and didn’t understand at first. But after Mu Jiawen explained, it was as if a light bulb went on for them.

Especially Ding Yamin, boys, after all, hardly ever dislike surfing the internet, and he specifically thought of the gaming internet cafe opened by Jiang Yan near the gate of Beijing University; the computers and their configurations inside were not available on their side.

If the internet cafe Mu Jiawen mentioned also had those kinds of computers, he dared to say, not to mention around East Gate, even in the most remote corner, it could be popular.

Ding Yamin’s eyes shone as he looked towards Jiang Yan, “Can you get the same type of computers as your internet cafe?”

Mu Jiawen had the same idea; if it could truly be called an internet cafe, then everything from the computers, to the keyboards, mice, and even the headphones must be high-end—as the typical quality simply wouldn’t meet the requirement.

Those computers were produced by electronics factories, and for Jiang Yan to order dozens for them was no problem at all, not only was it no issue, but it could also be a perfect chance to run a promotional campaign for Feixue.

Once what kind of shop was decided upon, Jiang Yan began to explain to them the specific business model of an internet cafe—aside from needing high-end computer configurations, the internet speed must be fast, the tables and chairs should be clean and tidy, the service excellent, and smoking strictly prohibited…

In the end, he said to them, “As far as I know, there aren’t any internet cafes in the country yet. If you manage to open one, you’ll be starting a trend in this area. Do well, and you might even be able to turn it into a nationwide chain.”

The moment Mu Jiawen heard this, she immediately diverted the subject, while blinking guiltily. Talk of a chain of stores and the like could wait for later; the pressing matter was to secure the shop first.

The housing prices in Luyang were not high; shops in an area like Normal University generally ran for a little over two thousand per square meter. The shop they wanted to purchase looked to be about eighty or ninety square meters, but it was not until the owner arrived that they realized, the bookshop next door, now closed, also belonged to the same owner, and he wanted to sell them both together.

The owner was a man who looked to be in his early thirties, wearing a crumpled down jacket, his hair messy as if he hadn’t washed it for days, heavy dark circles under his eyes, and when he opened his mouth, the smell of alcohol wafted out; he looked both slovenly and defeated.

“To tell you the truth, I’m divorced,” he said.

Jiang Yan and Mu Jiawen, along with the others, felt a jolt in their hearts, thinking, I’m just here to look at a shop, do I have to take responsibility for playing matchmaker too?

If I don’t find you a match, you won’t sell your shop?

Five bewildered youngsters stared at him with wide eyes, completely unsure of how to respond to his statement.

Offer condolences?

Congratulations?

But looking at him, he definitely didn’t seem like someone who wanted to hear either of those responses.

In reality, the man didn’t have any expectations for them to reply. Perhaps after a night of heavy drinking and sleeping for the better part of the day, he had to suddenly negotiate a sale upon waking up, and seeing strangers, he just wanted to vent what was weighing on his mind.

“When we got married, she had nothing. To give her a sense of security, I registered both this shop and our marital home in her name. She didn’t want to work, wanted to open a bubble tea shop, so I let her. I even opened a bookshop next door and let the revenue go to her. I never complained about the bubble tea shop not making money; I even gave her most of my salary. When she wanted me to help her brother find a job, I did so without question, and when she wanted me to find a partner for her sister, I made introductions as well…wuwuwu… what more does she want? Haven’t I been good enough? Why does she insist on divorce? Can’t we just live a good life?”

What a good man!

Jiang Yan and the others shed a sympathetic tear for him; in this day and age, it’s already quite rare for a man to go so far. His wife, no, his ex-wife now, had she become so spoiled by him that she wanted to cause trouble?

It was obvious she didn’t know the good life she had.

“Big brother, take care of yourself—no, what I mean is, your ex-wife didn’t appreciate you; she isn’t worth your sorrow. A good man like you will definitely meet someone better in the future. Really!” Jiang Yan said, and he even gave him a comforting pat on the shoulder. Seeing a grown man crying so heartily in front of strangers made him empathize deeply.

Because in his previous life, when he couldn’t sleep at night, he too would go to a secluded place and cry his eyes out. Loneliness, isolation, emptiness, and even the meaningless of life would often bring him to tears uncontrollably.

The reasons for sadness might differ, but the purpose of crying was the same.