Chapter 16

Feeling depressed, originally planning to push for the new book chart, but ended up with a power outage today...

It's been a long time since there was a power outage...

***

Song Chen's words in the private room of the bar made Yang De, as well as Ye Lin and Chen Daohui, who had mocked him from head to toe, look at him with new eyes, and their attitudes improved significantly. Song Chen, who had originally thought these second-generation officials and rich kids were all arrogant and uneducated, was greatly surprised and inwardly sighed at the truth of the saying "birds of a feather flock together." The so-called "second-generation rich" in Song Chen's eyes went home and told their fathers about his high-minded speech, which immediately sparked widespread interest in Song Chen.

Unaware that he had already caught the attention of many people, Song Chen was still struggling with the issue of buying a computer.

Song Chen had two choices for buying a computer: the first was to build a DIY machine, purchasing components from the computer market and assembling them himself or with the help of a professional. The advantage of this was that it could reduce the cost of buying a computer by 20-30%, allowing him to save money to buy more compatible machines or use it for other purposes!

The other choice was to buy a branded machine, such as Lenovo, Founder, or Tongchuang, well-known domestic brands. Foreign brands were directly ignored by Song Chen. It wasn't that Song Chen was a nationalist, but foreign brands were too expensive, and their cost-performance ratio was much worse compared to domestic brands!

In fact, Song Chen was more inclined to build a DIY machine. His father had bought two computers over the past ten years, both of which were recommended configurations by hardware-savvy netizens, and Song Chen had assembled them himself. They had never had any major issues over the years. However, it was 1997, and DIY machines were still rare, more commonly known as compatible machines, because the early DIY market couldn't avoid compatibility issues between different components. Once a compatible machine was chosen, frequent crashes and blue screens might occur during use, which could lead to additional expenses.

Despite these issues, for Song Chen, who had limited capital, a compatible machine was still an excellent choice. For someone with over a decade of additional experience, so-called domestic brand machines were essentially just computer assembly companies! At this time, almost none of the computer components were truly "domestically produced."

Spending a whole day at the computer market on Dawn West Road, Song Chen inquired about the general prices and performance of computer components, got to know the owners of the component specialty stores, and wrote down the performance parameters of the components in his notebook.

The next day, Song Chen directly went to the stores and started asking the bosses, whom the future public would call JS, for configuration lists for personal use, with prices included. The bosses were very willing to provide them, and Song Chen left even more quickly! As soon as he got the configuration list, he rushed to the next store with the same request, and then the next...

Song Chen's actions raised the suspicions of many bosses. One enthusiastic boss, while Song Chen was waiting for a configuration list in a specialty store, approached him out of curiosity: "Classmate, do you plan to visit every store? Why go through so much trouble? How many computers do you plan to buy?"

Smiling, Song Chen turned and looked at the boss meaningfully, nodding: "If I were just buying one, why would I go through the trouble of visiting every store and asking for prices? But I'm not buying just one; I'm buying over a dozen! And possibly more in the future!"

"Over a dozen! And more?"

Song Chen's response immediately caused a huge stir. In 1997, when the computer industry was just beginning to flourish and the internet cafe industry was in its infancy, it was also the first year of the internet. The well-known websites like **, Sohu, and NetEase were founded this year. Large internet cafes didn't exist yet, and mainstream computer rooms had only four or five computers, rarely exceeding eight or ten. An order for "over a dozen" computers, at the current average price, would amount to sales of 80,000 to 90,000 yuan! Enough to buy a brand new apartment in the suburbs!

Song Chen knew one thing: the computer sales industry that emerged in the 1980s and 1990s was a highly profitable business! The biggest profits went to the foreign brands that monopolized the Chinese market, but the second and third-level sales bosses also made substantial profits!

Such a large order, not just the bosses of the compatible machine assembly and sales stores, but even the bosses of the branded machine shops, personally came to court him—though these worldly-wise people didn't believe Song Chen could come up with so much money, no one thought he was just here to play around!

This was Song Chen's goal: to throw out an order for "over a dozen" computers to gain the highest bargaining power, save on the budget, and get the best after-sales service!

The employee writing the configuration list for Song Chen felt a weight on his arm and saw his boss, with a friendly smile, indicating for him to step aside. The boss himself took over, smiling: "I am Lu Wei, the owner of Kunpeng Computers! Classmate, you've come to the right place. Our store may not have the best prices, but we definitely have the best quality and after-sales service!"

Song Chen teased: "The best after-sales service, from another perspective, doesn't that mean the product has a lot of problems, Mr. Lu?"

Lu Wei smiled: "All our components are produced by large factories abroad, and the quality is absolutely guaranteed!" As he spoke, his hand didn't stop filling out the quotation.

Song Chen glanced at it roughly. Although Lu Wei verbally didn't guarantee the "best price," each component was 10-20% cheaper than in other stores! Song Chen believed this price was extremely close to the wholesale price—because the faces of the bosses around him, who were staring at Song Chen like hungry wolves, began to change.

"Classmate, there's a problem with our configuration list, let me change it!"

"Classmate, there's a problem with mine too, let me change it as well!"

Lu Wei glanced at Song Chen, who was sitting in front of him, placing the computer configuration list on the table for the bosses to take. A knowing look flashed in his eyes, followed by a more intense gaze!

If this boy, in his early twenties, didn't have the capital, why would he go to such lengths?

But what was this boy buying so many computers for? Was he planning to open a computer room like others?

Lu Wei, suspicious, carefully wrote down the component names and the prices he could accept on the configuration list.

In the afternoon, after putting the thick stack of quotation sheets in his bag, Song Chen smiled at the bosses staring at him and said, "I'll talk to each of you tomorrow based on the prices on the configuration lists!" With that, he left, leaving the bosses behind, who looked at each other with strong doubts—was this kid just playing with them?

...

Song Chen was clearly not playing with these JS, but he also didn't understand the pros and cons of various computer hardware before the Pentium 4 era. He could only eliminate some components that didn't meet the requirements through comparison.

So when he got home, he immediately drew a table on a large sheet of white paper. He categorized the components by processor, memory, independent graphics card, hard drive, etc., and wrote down the different brands and prices of the hardware from the configuration lists. Based on the price range, he first crossed out the most expensive and cheapest components, then crossed out the brands he had no impression of, such as the Cyrix processor that could rival Intel, and mass-market motherboards.

For Song Chen, he didn't know that many classic brands had emerged in the 1990s, some of which were even better than the mainstream brands of the future. He could only use this method to determine the quality of the machine.

He kept busy until it was completely dark outside. Li Wan knocked on the door to call Song Chen for dinner, and he put down his pen.

During dinner, Li Wan gave Song Chen a bite of vegetables and asked with a worried expression, "Xiao Chen, did you go to buy a computer today?" Li Wan knew about Song Chen's plans. However, knowing was one thing; for Li Wan, who had only a vague impression of computers, the high price of several thousand to nearly ten thousand yuan was terrifying, so she had been unable to calm down for the past two days.

Every time she ate with her son, she wanted to persuade him to give up, but she couldn't bring herself to say it, especially since the house had already been mortgaged, and her son was determined. Li Wan was at a loss!

"There's no money to buy one now! I'm just comparing prices and doing some preliminary work!" Song Chen smiled, as if he could see the worry in his mother's eyes. He comforted her, "Mom, don't worry, everything is under control!" Song Chen spoke lightly, but in reality, as a first-time businessman, he was also nervous. However, he had a "predecessor" to refer to, so his choices seemed more confident.

Just as Li Wan was about to ask her son if he could temporarily put off starting a business and work for two years instead, the fixed-line phone in the living room rang. Song Chen smiled at his mother, put down his chopsticks, and answered the call.

The call was from Yuan Likai, who brought the news Song Chen had been eagerly awaiting: "Xiao Chen, you really have a name! Our bank manager personally took care of your loan application and coordinated with the appraisal company to give your house the best appraisal price: 2,500 yuan per square meter, a total value of 200,000 yuan! The actual loan is 140,000 yuan, with a five-year mortgage, an annual interest rate of 10.53%, and an equal principal and interest repayment of 3,011.23 yuan per month, 36,134.76 yuan per year, with a total repayment of 180,673.8 yuan, including 40,673.8 yuan in interest! Is this okay?"

Song Chen was overjoyed: "Really? Yuan Brother, didn't you say it would take three or four days? How did it get done in just two days?"

Yuan Likai smiled: "Didn't I say our bank manager personally took care of it? How could it not be fast? The appraisal company didn't even need to be mentioned! Xiao Chen, it might be because Cui Yao told our bank manager what you said, which moved him! Our bank manager praised you as a rare genius!"

So it was the cheating that worked!

Song Chen, whose face was already red, smiled: "Tomorrow, you... it would be best if my mother also comes to sign the contract in person, and then you can take the money!"

"Sure! Thank you, Yuan Brother!"

"You're welcome!" Yuan Likai raised his eyebrows with a smile, saying meaningfully, "Who knows, maybe your brother's job will depend on you in the future!"

"Brother, you're too kind..." Song Chen chatted politely with Yuan Likai and then hung up the phone.

Turning back, Song Chen excitedly returned to his seat and said to Li Wan, "Mom, we can go to the bank tomorrow to sign the contract and get the money!"

Li Wan's slightly thin face turned pale, and she forced a smile: "Really? So fast! I thought it would take a long time!"

Song Chen understood what his mother was worried about. He sighed and said seriously, "Mom! Although I mortgaged the house for five years, it's not because I need five or six years to earn the capital. It's because I don't want to repay this money so quickly starting from my first year of college! Mom, believe me! At the latest, I'll earn back the 180,000 yuan, including interest, within half a year!"

"Is that possible?" Li Wan looked at her son's confident face and murmured.

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