Chapter 10

Any policy is not created out of thin air or suddenly. There is always a gradual process behind it. The year 1998 was a turbulent year for the real estate industry. To boost domestic demand and promote economic growth, the state introduced a series of policies. However, before this, many regulations had already appeared, gradually stirring the lukewarm real estate market. For example, the "Urban Real Estate Mortgage Management Measures" implemented on June 1st of this year had such an objective.

However, it was not easy for individuals to obtain loans with real estate as collateral. This issue was not well resolved until after the millennium. Song Chen wanted to take out a loan in his mother's name for the apartment he was living in, but the procedures were complicated and time-consuming.

For this reason, Zhang Ruoxi, who was concerned about her boyfriend, had to find a friend to help him.

At a restaurant near the school, Song Chen met "Lingling" whom Zhang Ruoxi had mentioned.

"Song Chen, your sudden decision to take a leave of absence really scared a lot of your classmates!"

Upon first meeting Zhao Lin, Song Chen's eyes lit up.

Zhao Lin was extremely beautiful, with a tall and slender figure. Wearing high heels, she was about the same height as Song Chen. She had a delicate oval face, long eyebrows, and very fair and tender skin. Her small cherry lips, shoulder-length curly hair, and neatly parted bangs gave her a romantic princess-like aura.

Zhao Lin was also a local from Dongou City and a good friend of Zhang Ruoxi from the same neighborhood. However, although she attended the same school as Zhang Ruoxi and Song Chen, she was not in the same major. She was a student of art and design at the School of Fine Arts and Design.

Unlike Zhang Ruoxi, whose family was wealthy due to her father's business, the Zhao family had a long history of government service. Zhao Lin's father was a senior civil servant in a provincial city in central China, and her grandfather was the second-in-command in a powerful department in the capital.

With such a background, the beautiful Zhao Lin naturally had no shortage of boyfriends. When she first entered university, she was like a princess surrounded by stars, more popular than ordinary rich girls. She quickly found a boyfriend who was equally well-connected and handsome.

Song Chen took the initiative to pull out the wicker chair for the two girls, and his gentlemanly behavior pleased Zhao Lin and her girlfriend, Zhang Ruoxi.

Sitting next to Zhang Ruoxi, Song Chen poured water into the glass in front of them and smiled, saying, "Why would anyone pay attention to me? I'm not a popular figure at school! I even took a leave of absence before joining any clubs. How could anyone care about my existence?" The reason he took a leave of absence rather than dropping out was due to Li Wan's and Zhang Ruoxi's insistence. Song Chen didn't care; he wouldn't return to school whether his business succeeded or not!

Zhao Lin glanced at Zhang Ruoxi, who was sitting next to Song Chen and smiling silently, and teased, "Someone in your class covered for you, saying you dropped out to prepare for a business like Bill Gates, to not burden your divorced mother... Plus, that someone is the most beautiful rose in the class. It's hard for her to accept being taken by a dropout! I bet many boys are sharpening their knives to snatch her away!" As she said this, Zhao Lin couldn't help but giggle.

"Don't talk so much, no one will think you're mute!" Zhang Ruoxi shot Zhao Lin an annoyed look. Just then, the waiter came over to take their order, and Zhang Ruoxi, whose face was as red as an apple, hurriedly ordered the dishes, glancing at Song Chen's calm expression out of the corner of her eye.

Zhang Ruoxi had her own selfish reasons. She didn't want people to ask about her boyfriend and find out that he was a dropout with nothing to his name. At the very least, the information she publicly disclosed should be convincing enough to show that Song Chen was an ambitious and filial man... But since she did this without his knowledge, she was afraid that Song Chen might be unhappy with her taking the initiative.

Song Chen, who used to be very reserved in Zhang Ruoxi's eyes, seemed to understand her anxiety. He turned to her and smiled, and Zhang Ruoxi breathed a sigh of relief, returning a sweet smile.

After Zhang Ruoxi ordered their favorite home-style dishes, Zhao Lin leaned back in her wicker chair and asked curiously, "What kind of business do you plan to start? Do you need Ruoxi to help you find someone at the bank?"

Song Chen was taken aback and glanced at Zhao Lin, who was smiling at him. He understood his girlfriend's intentions. After all, such business opportunities should not be openly discussed. Admiring her wisdom, Song Chen smiled at Zhao Lin and said, "I plan to open a computer room near the school. Although the school has rules against opening video game arcades, there's no explicit mention of this, so I decided to give it a try!"

"Is it a place where people play games on computers?" Zhao Lin asked curiously, then added, "What kind of games are there? Are there any games for girls? Honestly, learning to type and use Wubi at school is so boring!"

Song Chen was speechless. As someone born at the end of the 1970s, the first games he played were not the well-known "Chinese Paladin" or "Red Alert," but the very "advanced" "Legend of Mir," which he played for five or six years! After giving up "Legend of Mir," he moved on to "World of Warcraft," which white-collar workers couldn't put down, until his mother's passing...

Although he wasn't clear about many of the internet milestones at the end of the 20th century, he knew some information about the internet economy and the internet cafe industry. However, if he were to name some popular games now, he could only think of a few well-known ones like the "Chinese Paladin" series, "Red Alert" series, "Empire" series, and "Xuan Yuan Sword" series. Otherwise, he couldn't recall them unless they were mentioned to him.

"Games that girls like, I'm not very familiar with, but there are many that boys enjoy!" Song Chen smiled and shrugged, "After all, the customers in a computer room are mostly boys! In internet cafes, there are more girls!"

"Going online!" Zhao Lin said with a smile, "Ruoxi and I have been there before, and it's really interesting. Sitting in front of a computer, you can connect with people all over the world through a single wire, it's amazing! Why don't you open an internet cafe?"

Before Song Chen could speak, Zhang Ruoxi shot Zhao Lin an amused look, "Where's the money to open one? If we had the money, would we need your help?"

"I understand! Haha!" Zhao Lin laughed and nodded, "Okay, I'll call my dad tonight and ask who can help you. What's your home phone number? I'll write it down!"

As she spoke, Zhao Lin took out a small notepad from her pink bag and looked up at Song Chen with bright eyes.

With the funding issue seemingly resolved, Song Chen felt a weight lifted off his shoulders. He looked at Zhao Lin gratefully and wrote down his home phone number on her notepad.

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