Chapter 38

The day after returning from Pengcheng, Li Mu began to register domain names.

The first domain name he tried to register was Facebook.

Unfortunately, this domain had already been registered in 1997.

Upon careful reflection, it seemed that Mark Zuckerberg indeed initially lacked the funds to buy the Facebook domain and only acquired it after raising capital.

Li Mu didn't mind and decided to look for some good Chinese two-character domain names to register. They cost less than 100 yuan per year, and it would be nice to have a few for fun.

Although many two-character domains had already been registered, quite a few well-known future domains were still available, such as Taobao.

The domain for Taobao was registered in 2003. Before Jack Ma, no one had thought of the name "Taobao" on the internet.

The name "Taobao" was likely a brilliant idea from Jack Ma's mind. Of course, the Taobao model itself was impressive, but it's undeniable that the name "Taobao" was also remarkable. It was very intuitive and vivid, easy to remember and pronounce, and it conveyed a subconscious message: "I have many treasures, come and shop."

Therefore, the significance of Taobao to Jack Ma was almost the same as Facebook to Mark Zuckerberg.

Hehe, sorry about that...

Next, the name "WeChat" also didn't escape unscathed. Thinking about how Baidu would start Baidu Tieba in a few years, Li Mu registered Tieba.com and Douban.com. He also wanted to register "Zhidao.com," but unfortunately, it had already been registered by someone else.

Thinking about his music portal plan, Li Mu eventually registered Eting, which could be interpreted as "E-listen" or "Easy-listen," and it was easy to remember and type.

Registering a bunch of domain names didn't cost much, but they would be extremely useful in the future.

...

After securing the domain names, Li Mu went for a stroll on the street.

He had the idea of opening a specialty store for his parents. Now that he had the money, it was time to put this plan into action.

Li Mu headed straight to the most bustling commercial street in Haizhou to check out the rental situation, looking for suitable shops and inquiring about rental prices.

From his memory, the commercial street in Haizhou only began to flourish from 2002. At this point, it hadn't truly become the center of retail commerce. People's shopping habits were quite simple and low-end. They would go to various small markets or the outskirts for basic needs, and for slightly better items, they would go to the department store, which had various stalls selling all kinds of goods. For higher-end items, they would have to go to the provincial capital.

Therefore, on this commercial street, there were only a few specialty stores and some slightly upscale restaurants. Most of the shops were for sale.

When he saw a shop of over 100 square meters selling off-season wool pants at a discount, Li Mu couldn't help but laugh.

Outside the shop, a large white sign read "Last Three Days!" in bold letters.

In Li Mu's memory, these vendors usually rented stalls by the day or week, moving from place to place. Now, they had rented such a large and centrally located shop, which could only mean one thing: the rent was cheap.

It wasn't surprising. In 2001, Haizhou's economic development was still lagging behind, and people's consumption concepts hadn't been cultivated. Even those doing business in the city hadn't fully grasped the market.

The Li Ning store was deserted. Their shoes were too expensive, selling for 200 to 300 yuan per pair, and their clothes were also pricey. Unlike Benetton, which had a thriving business, partly due to the advertisements featuring Andy Lau and partly because of their more affordable prices.

A pair of jeans cost around 99 to 119 yuan, and a short-sleeved shirt could be bought for just over 20 yuan. In winter, a down jacket could be bought for 100 to 200 yuan.

However, whether it was Li Ning, Benetton, Shuangxing, or Jeantex, Li Mu noticed a common feature: the shops were too small.

Among the few shops, the Shuangxing store was the smallest, about 5 to 6 meters wide and less than 10 meters long, totaling around 50 square meters.

Benetton, Li Ning, and Jeantex were slightly larger, with double-door layouts, about 10 meters long but not very deep, totaling around 90 square meters.

After looking around, Li Mu saw a dark and muscular shop owner selling off-season wool pants on the last day, smoking a cigarette with a bitter expression. He bought a pack of Zhonghua cigarettes, opened it, and walked over.

"Hey, brother, are you from Meng Province?" Li Mu tried to get closer.

"Yes." The man, seeing that Li Mu was a young guy, knew he wouldn't buy the old-style wool pants, and responded casually.

Li Mu then took out a cigarette. The red color caught the middle-aged shop owner's attention, and he was amazed: "At such a young age, you're smoking Zhonghua? That's quite luxurious!"

Seeing the man's envy, Li Mu took out two cigarettes and offered one to him, saying, "I've always admired Meng Province; it's a great place!"

The middle-aged man caught the Zhonghua cigarette with both hands, feeling excited and immediately looked at Li Mu with respect. Since he had nothing to do, he took out a lighter and lit Li Mu's cigarette first.

Li Mu was very polite, holding the lighter with both hands to show respect.

The middle-aged man's impression of Li Mu improved significantly.

A local young man who smoked Zhonghua and was still so polite to him, a traveling vendor, was truly rare.

He lit his own cigarette and took a satisfying puff, saying, "Our Meng Province is picturesque. You should definitely visit someday."

Li Mu nodded and asked curiously, "Are you Mongolian?"

The man laughed and said, "Yes, I'm Mongolian. My name is Bayan, from the Blue Banner."

Li Mu nodded and said, "Your business must be quite tough, right?"

Bayan sighed, "You're right! I've been doing this for five years, almost traveling all over China."

Li Mu smiled and asked, "How long have you been in Haizhou? How's business?"

"Not good at all!" Bayan shook his head in dissatisfaction. "People here are too frugal and love to haggle. Those older folks would hold a 50-yuan wool pant and offer me 5 yuan..."

Li Mu smiled at Bayan's complaint. Haizhou's consumption capacity was low, and innerwear like wool pants didn't sell well. Besides, Haizhou's winters weren't very cold, so wool pants weren't a necessity for everyone.

Then, Li Mu asked the question he was concerned about: "This is the city center. Renting such a shop must be quite expensive, right?"

"Not really." Bayan flicked the ash. "It's 80 yuan a day. I originally planned to stay for a few days, but the sales haven't been good."

Li Mu was surprised. At 80 yuan a day, the shop looked to be at least 150 to 160 square meters. It was very messy inside, as if the previous renovation had just been torn down. There was nothing inside except a pile of hanging wool pants and two sleeping mats, which were probably for Bayan and his wife.

"The rent here isn't cheap. 80 yuan a day is a real bargain."

Bayan shook his head, "I thought it was a bargain at first. The landlord who sublet it to me said he used to sell fabrics here, but the landlord raised the rent this year, so he moved to a new fabric market with more foot traffic. The real landlord will reclaim the shop in a week, so he rented it to me for 80 yuan a day."

Bayan then said mysteriously, "They say the rent here used to be 5,000 yuan a month, but the real landlord is raising it to 7,000 this year!"

This was the information Li Mu wanted.

7,000 yuan a month? He wasn't sure if it was true, but if it was, it would be great.

But it made sense. The commercial sector was still in its infancy, with unclear market prospects and insufficient investment confidence. Once the retail industry, especially the clothing business, started booming, the rent here would skyrocket.

Bayan felt that Li Mu was very interested in the shop and, recalling how Li Mu had approached him and offered a cigarette, asked, "Little brother, are you thinking of renting this shop?"

"Yes." Li Mu nodded without hiding his intentions.

Bayan reached out and peeled off the big sale sign, revealing a printed A4 paper: "Shop for Rent, 139*****"

Li Mu's eyes lit up. He immediately took out his phone to note down the number, gave the remaining cigarettes to Bayan, and said, "Brother Bayan, thank you."

Bayan didn't dare to accept the cigarettes and tried to return them, but Li Mu had already walked away.

He didn't have a strong smoking habit in this life, and smoking wasn't a necessity for him. Plus, it was harmful to health, so he avoided it whenever possible.

---

End of the page.