Chapter 8: The Shop Owner of the Black Internet Cafe
Although Chen Qiao had written about rebirth novels, researched a lot of materials, and watched various wealth-building courses, he was not just all talk; he was also a working warrior, struggling at the bottom of various industries.
In 2009, an otherwise ordinary year, a virtual currency named Bitcoin quietly emerged. Its initial value was so low it was almost negligible, with the price of 5,000 bitcoins around $25, which, based on the current exchange rate of RMB to USD, is about 170 yuan.
In May of that year, Bitcoin began entering the public trading market, with very low trading volume, and it did not attract much attention from the public.
As the decentralized nature and security of Bitcoin gradually gained recognition, more people started to participate in trading. By the end of the year, Bitcoin’s price began to rise and was expected to break the one-dollar mark the following year.
A large amount of Bitcoin purchased in a short period would quickly drive up the price and attract the attention of discerning individuals; there are always clever people in this world, and the slightest wind or movement would lead someone to catch the scent.
In addition to gradually buying Bitcoin, Chen Qiao also planned to mine it himself. At the inception of the Bitcoin network, the initial Bitcoin reward was 50 bitcoins per block, and it was halved every four years, a process known as halving.
When Bitcoin was first created, the mining difficulty was nearly zero, and ordinary home computer CPUs could easily complete the hashing computations needed to find the correct answer for the block reward, without requiring expensive professional mining machines. However, continuous high-intensity computations would inevitably lead to skyrocketing electricity bills, especially in an era lacking energy-saving awareness and technology.
Chen Qiao intended to mine in the Three Gorges Reservoir area, where electricity was the cheapest and cost-effective. However, he planned to hold onto Bitcoin until it exceeded $20,000 around 2017 before selling; after that, prices fluctuated wildly, surging dramatically due to the U.S. financial policies, breaking the $60,000 mark, but it was all a massive bubble.
From 2005 to 2007, there had just been a major bull market, and many investors were dreaming of the next windfall, but this was the final song of the big A market.
Between 2000 and 2015, whether to buy a house was the most transformative behavior for ordinary people regarding their class status, now was the time to catch the last train of real estate.
Lastly, there were various internet entrepreneurship and the mobile internet revolution; android smartphones had not yet become ubiquitous, and one needed to secure a ticket to enter.
A grand blueprint unfolded before Chen Qiao, but when he truly wanted to do something, he realized that a clever woman could not cook without rice—he had no startup capital left, just seven yuan in pocket money.
Age was also a limitation. With Chen Qiao’s small stature and little say, he had to remain in the background until he reached adulthood. He needed to find an agent, but unfortunately, his relatives were of little help. There was also the prerequisite of unconditionally trusting him, ensuring they wouldn’t abscond with any money.
The former issue was manageable, but the latter was too difficult. His sister was a candidate, but she was just a junior high school student. Moreover, Chen Qiao hoped his sister would have a happy childhood, and it felt somewhat like putting the cart before the horse to burden her too much, though there were minor tasks that still required her assistance.
Indeed, his sister, who was in the eighth grade, seemed like a little girl in Chen Qiao’s eyes. Could this perhaps be considered a sisterly relationship? It felt like a reversal of roles.
His cousin-in-law, who was somewhat unfortunate, might be another option. His cousin had perished in a mine last year, and cousin-in-law Zhang Haixia had met him through a matchmaking situation. Now only nineteen, she worked in a laboratory at a nearby cement factory. She graduated from the high school division of Lanhhe Town’s junior middle school, though that division would soon be completely canceled after two more classes.
Cousin-in-law did well enough academically to attend a vocational school or a third-tier institution, but her family clearly wouldn’t waste money on her further education. After graduating, she went to Pengcheng to work for half a year but returned to her hometown due to adverse reactions to the local environment. Just then, the cement factory was hiring, and she got in through some connections.
However, her father, Zhang Dafu, was eager to marry her off, seeking matchmakers just to get that bride price, setting the auspicious figure of 88,000 yuan, which was now considered the ceiling for bride prices.
Though cousin-in-law had barely just come of age, there were still people among Chen Qiao’s classmates who got married right after middle school, though it was far less common than in previous generations.
Zhang Dafu was three years older than his cousin-in-law, and they were straightforwardly engaged after just one meeting. They hadn’t even managed a second encounter while he had already passed away, but Zhang Dafu had already taken half of the bride price to gamble, known for even using his house as collateral. It was said he was deeply in debt; his wife couldn’t take it anymore and had committed suicide in the vegetable garden a few years back.
Zhang Dafu still wanted the remaining bride price, otherwise, he would have cousin-in-law remarry. The maternal family, already devastated by the accident involving her cousin, was further troubled by such a connection and demanded that Zhang Dafu return the money. But where would Zhang Dafu find the funds?
Caught in between, cousin-in-law faced tough decisions. She ultimately chose to ingest pesticide in the vegetable garden where her mother had committed suicide, and that happened during this summer vacation when Chen Qiao and his sister were nearby gathering mulberry leaves to raise silkworms.
Raising silkworms was also an interest for many primary and junior high school students, kept in pencil cases and brought out during breaks to show off to girls. When the silkworms reached the pupation stage, they could even be sold to restaurants in the market.
His sister loved the plump little silkworms and the silkworm’s cocooning phase, but she found moths disgusting and ended up making quite a mess of the pencil case, which Chen Qiao eventually had to throw away.
At first, Chen Qiao and his sister were puzzled about why cousin-in-law would be in such a remote mountain area, but when she showed no response, his sister recognized the pesticide bottle on the ground and rushed to carry her down the mountain with Chen Qiao assisting from behind to lighten her burden.
Cousin-in-law received treatment to induce vomiting and was then sent to the Twelfth People’s Hospital in Yangcheng for rescue, which was a specialized chemical poisoning rescue center.
Fortunately, her first treatment was timely, and with subsequent strong standardized treatment, cousin-in-law successfully escaped danger and was transferred to rehabilitation therapy for complications two weeks later.
When Chen Qiao and his sister visited cousin-in-law, she lay weak and emaciated in her hospital bed, clutching the pristine white sheets, her hollow gaze murmuring, “Why did you save me, why…”
Cousin-in-law’s gaze was devoid of life; did they really save her, or merely a walking corpse? Was it just prolonging her pain?
Afterward, cousin-in-law stayed in Yangcheng looking for work, and the next time Chen Qiao’s family heard from her was when she returned some money after his family experienced a mishap, saying she would repay the remaining debts slowly. The hospital bills had all been temporarily covered by his mom.
Not only did she repay the money owed to Chen Qiao’s family, but cousin-in-law also returned the bride price to her maternal family, and no one ever saw her again, as if she had evaporated from the world.
This time, he was determined to truly redeem cousin-in-law! He would find a day to chat with her after work; even if it was just to keep her company, to guide her, it would be better than her being in such an extreme mindset, wanting to end everything. Chen Qiao had harbored similar thoughts and better understood cousin-in-law’s situation, but he had his sister by his side. Should he step into the role of cousin-in-law’s brother?
Before he knew it, Chen Qiao arrived at the entrance of the black internet cafe, where a Star Ice freezer was placed on the side.
The young shop owner still looked lazy, as if she hadn’t slept well every day. Her daughter was leaning on the transparent glass counter, doing homework, her adorable twin ponytails bouncing as she glanced at Chen Qiao before returning to her work.
“Hey kid, why are you here alone tonight?”
“I finished my homework.”
Chen Qiao was quite familiar with the place, arguably the first to discover that this small shop was a black internet cafe; when the small shop had just opened, he enjoyed visiting such new places to see if they had new goods, intriguing snacks, toys, or cards to become the coolest kid in the village.
He hadn’t expected a bunch of computers casually set up in the adjacent room, looking like clutter—not even those bulky desktops, but rather LCD screens.
“Boss, are these computers good or bad? Can they go online?” Chen Qiao asked curiously.
“They should be good.”
“I’ll give it a try.”
Chen Qiao selected one, plugged in the power cable, and the computer successfully booted up, but unfortunately, there was no internet. Chen Qiao had brought game discs to play, including shallow landing games and a One Piece monopoly that he didn’t know how to play. What impressed him most was Xianjian; although he also loved the TV series and had bought the DVD to complete the collection, he only realized the plot was different after playing the game.
Later, the shop owner provided a computer desk, and Chen Qiao would invite his friends over to play single-player games, not needing to pay for internet access, just buying some snacks.
As for Chen Qiao’s friends, their relationships were good for a time, but as they progressed in their studies, they gradually lost contact in different classes. After graduating from university, when they reached out to him, it was often for him to “cash in” as they were getting married.
Chen Qiao’s mindset had shifted significantly, making it difficult to play with his past friends. He just wanted to act like a kid in front of his sister. Outside of that, he preferred to keep things private; he had his own aspirations and didn’t want too many people to know.
The days without internet lasted for about a month. By the time they officially went online, the rate changed to two yuan per hour, becoming the normal price for a black internet cafe. There were hardly any players left for single-player games, with racing games, dungeons, and 4399 taking over.
Chen Qiao could say he played a foundational role in this black internet cafe; each time he visited to go online, the shop owner would give him a small bottle of soda worth fifty cents, much to his friends’ dismay at the unfairness.
But the good times didn’t last long; the shop owner had only been running the cafe for about a year before transferring it to others. From her accent, it was evident that she was from out of town. The mother-and-daughter duo seemed to have appeared out of nowhere.
“I’ll play for two hours.”
Chen Qiao took out four yuan and skillfully opened the freezer, grabbing a bottle of cola.
“Two hours? Aren’t you afraid your parents will look for you?” the shop owner raised an eyebrow as she took the money. “Just don’t break my computers.”
“Not at all! I’ll sneak out the back door.”
The booth was kept very clean, unlike the usual dirty and chaotic black internet cafes, which likely had to do with the shop owner regularly cleaning, despite her seemingly lazy demeanor.
The only legitimate internet cafe in town was the dirtiest and smelliest place, filled with smoke smell. This place, because not many people noticed it, was unexpectedly a pure land.
The shop owner didn’t heavily promote the place; even parents and teachers were aware of it, but students were hesitant to come, fearing they might break computers, and given that the shop owner didn’t seem too concerned about making money.
