Although Xiao Fangfang's flight back to Hong Kong was slightly later than Zhang Guorong and Mei Yanfang's, the three of them still passed the security check together.
Li Mu and Dong Ai watched the three of them leave. The three of them kept turning back and waving before entering the security check.
Seeing the three of them enter, Dong Ai turned her head and gave Li Mu a shock. He didn't expect her to be crying like a pear blossom in the rain. Her tears couldn't stop flowing.
Li Mu couldn't bear to see her like this, so he comforted her, "They definitely won't be gone for long. It'll be great if they can only live for two or three months at most. Why are you crying like this?"
Dong Ai shook her head and said, "You don't know how difficult it has been for Aunt Mei. Her family situation, her parents, and her siblings … If you knew about these things, you would definitely think that it was very difficult for Aunt Mei to get to where she is today. I didn't expect her to have this kind of illness …"
Li Mu seemed to have heard that Mei Yanfang's family seemed to value boys more than girls. They fought for inheritance and auctioned off her personal belongings. Thinking about it carefully, it was indeed very strange. It made people sigh.
However, Li Mu didn't show it. He only said, "It's already a blessing that it was discovered early. Don't worry, it'll be fine."
Then, Li Mu said, "If you really want to go to America, get a passport and apply for a visa. 3321 is already on the right track. You've been working hard for so long. It's only right for you to take some time off."
Dong Ai said, "It's easy to get a passport, but it's said that it's very difficult to get a visa in America. Most of them will be rejected."
Li Mu laughed and said, "That's easy. Both me and Makino Technology have registered a company in America. I can send you a business invitation. You can take the invitation to the embassy to sign it. The chances of it being approved will be much higher."
Dong Ai suddenly got excited. "Really?"
Li Mu said, "There's no point in me lying to you."
Dong Ai hurriedly said, "Then I'll hold on for another half a month. When all the freshmen start school in early September, I'll go to America to see Aunt Mei."
Li Mu nodded and said, "I approve. When the time comes, I will personally sponsor you with 100,000 yuan of travel expenses as a private reward for your long time in 3321."
Based on the current scale of 3321 and Dong Ai's status as the CEO, it was reasonable for her to have an annual salary of a few hundred thousand. However, she personally controlled her monthly salary to five thousand yuan, which was considered to be doing her best for the charity. Li Mu had always wanted to find a chance to thank Dong Ai. After all, 3321 was his golden banner. The better 3321 developed, the more he dared not say he would be more pretentious, but at least he would be less afraid of it. It was especially significant to him.
Looking at it this way, 100,000 yuan was indeed a little too much. However, Li Mu made up his mind that when the time was right, he would definitely give Dong Ai a big reward as a gift.
When Dong Ai heard Li Mu say that he would give her 100,000 yuan as travel expenses, she said in shock, "100,000 yuan is too much! You need so much money to go to America? "
Li Mu said, "The American imperialists value the US dollar. If you don't bring more money when you go out, they will look down on you. When the time comes, you don't have to worry about the plane tickets. I'll get Qing Ya to book it for you. First class for both trips. You can lie down comfortably when you go to America."
Dong Ai couldn't help but laugh. "Sleeper? Who are you kidding? Do you think I've never been on a plane before? First class is just a little more spacious. How can I really lie down? "
Li Mu curled his lips. "I can tell that you've never been abroad. First class for domestic flights is boring. If you want to sit in first class for international flights, then sit in first class for international flights. It's not just a little more luxurious than first class for domestic flights."
Dong Ai snorted. "I'm just an ordinary laborer. How can I enjoy the high-end treatment that only capitalists like you can enjoy? I'd better sit in economy class."
Li Mu said, "You talk too much nonsense. When the time comes, I won't send you an invitation. Let's see what you'll do if you get refused."
Dong Ai hurriedly smiled and said, "Li Zong, don't be angry. I'm just being polite in front of you. If you buy me a first class ticket, I definitely don't mind lying down when I go to America."
Li Mu deliberately put on a fake smile and asked her, "How did you get here?"
Dong Ai said, "Senior Sister Qing Ya arranged a car to send me here. She left one for me to go back later."
Li Mu nodded. "Then hurry up and go."
Dong Ai asked him in surprise, "You're not leaving?"
Li Mu said, "I'm waiting to pick up a friend."
Dong Ai asked curiously, "Pick up Su Yingxue? Isn't the school starting in half a month? Why are you here so early? "
Li Mu said helplessly, "Why are you so nosy? Pick up Zhao Kang, my good buddy. Do you know him? "
Dong Ai shook her head. "I don't know him. Is he from the National People's Congress?"
Li Mu waved his hand. "No, he's from another school. He's my childhood friend."
Dong Ai saw that Li Mu was not joking, so she said, "Okay, wait for me. I'll go back first."
Li Mu nodded.
Dong Ai was about to leave when she suddenly turned her head and asked him, "Hey, by the way, what's Xiao Wan busy with recently? Has she come to Yanjing? "
Li Mu felt a little guilty. He didn't know if Dong Ai was deliberately teasing him because Chen Wan talked about him and her, so he asked her back, "You two are so close. Don't you know if she came or not?"
Dong Ai said, "No matter how good my relationship with her is, it's not as good as yours."
Li Mu felt even more guilty.
At this time, Dong Ai smacked her lips and said, "Actually, I haven't had the nerve to look for her recently. It's mainly because she used to look for me when she came to Yanjing, but I'm always out of town. You know, 3321 is doing student aid, so I'm always going to those remote areas. She asked me out a few times, but I didn't come. I don't know if it's because she hasn't come to Yanjing recently or because she's angry with me."
Li Mu breathed a sigh of relief and said, "Why don't you give her a call and ask?"
Dong Ai thought about it and said, "Forget it. We'll talk about it in a few days."
After saying that, Dong Ai waved her hand. "I'll go first. Call me if there's anything."
"Goodbye."
After Dong Ai left, Li Mu went from the departure floor to the next floor. After waiting for another half an hour, Zhao Kang, who was tanned like "Gu Tianle", finally appeared at the exit.
Although Li Mu was wearing a mask, Zhao Kang still recognized him at a glance. They walked up to him, high-fived each other, and then walked out at the same time.
As they walked, Li Mu asked him, "How was your trip in the South China Sea?"
Zhao Kang smiled and said, "It's pretty good. It's just that I'm a little tanned. My parents really like that place."
After saying that, he couldn't help but ask Li Mu, "Why did you call me back? I've been waiting anxiously for a few days, but you didn't tell me. "
Li Mu said, "I called you back because I have a big plan to tell you. I'm not sure how big this plan is."
"It's such a big thing. Are you sure I can do it?"
Zhao Kang knew Li Mu. So far, Li Mu had never made such an evaluation of anything. How could he not be sure? Then this matter was probably really big.
Li Mu said, "If you're okay, you can do it. If you're not okay, you have to create the conditions. It doesn't matter if you can't handle it later. You just have to handle it at the beginning."
Zhao Kang immediately patted his chest and said, "As long as you say it, as long as I have the ability, I won't frown even if I have to climb a mountain of swords or go through a sea of flames. The only thing I'm afraid of is that I'm not capable enough and I'll drag you down."
Li Mu waved his hand. "Don't worry about this. Let's go back to the city and find a place to eat. We'll sit down and talk slowly."
…
The idea of opening an Internet cafe chain had been brewing in Li Mu's mind for a long time. This idea had been constantly perfected by him. He already had a perfect version 2.0 and a more ruthless version 3.0.
The reason why it was version 3.0 and not version 2.1 was because it had a qualitative improvement compared to version 2.0. It would increase the strategic level of the Internet cafe chain.
The two brothers sat in the private room of the restaurant. Li Mu ordered two bottles of iced beer. After they drank half a bottle, Li Mu said, "Actually, I called you back this time because I want to give you a mission to open an Internet cafe."
"Isn't the Internet cafe already open …" Zhao Kang said, "It's doing quite well now."
Li Mu knew that he was talking about the Internet cafe near the school that he had asked him to open. Back then, he had opened that Internet cafe to launder the money from selling the Legend of Mir cheat. Now that Legend of Mir was on the decline, the income from the Internet cafe was getting lesser and lesser. Hence, Li Mu didn't ask about it anymore.
However, although he was also looking for Zhao Kang to open an Internet cafe, it was much bigger than the previous one.
Hence, Li Mu explained in detail to Zhao Kang that he wanted to open an Internet cafe chain with the Shenzhou.
First of all, he wanted to cover all the cities in the future. Furthermore, there had to be at least one Internet cafe in each city. If there were more, there would be no upper limit. As long as the city could afford it, it wouldn't be a problem.
Secondly, he had to integrate the Internet cafe with the Shenzhou. This couldn't be done by himself. He had to bring the people on board the Shenzhou with him. Moreover, the future operations had to be closely tied.
After listening to Li Mu's plan, Zhao Kang realized how big of a project Li Mu was talking about was.
This was a project that would easily cost more than a hundred million yuan. Opening a hundred Internet cafes would cost about a hundred million yuan. However, Li Mu wanted to open five to a thousand Internet cafes. Who would be scared to death?
Just as Zhao Kang was digesting this huge project, Li Mu continued, "What I told you just now was a mature version 2.0. However, I have a more mature version 3.0. Let me tell you about it."
Zhao Kang was very uncertain. Version 2.0 was already very scary, what more version 3.0? Version 3.0 couldn't possibly mean opening Internet cafes overseas, right?
However, although he was uncertain, Zhao Kang still nodded and said, "Go ahead. I'll listen carefully."
Li Mu said, "For version 3.0, I want to bring in a lot of capital. Not only do I want to invest in Internet cafes all over the country, but I also want to invest in commercial real estate."
Zhao Kang was stunned when he heard that. He blurted out, "Don't tell me you're saying that I have to buy the storefront with my own money?"
Li Mu clapped his hands and said, "Yes, that's what I mean!"
Although Zhao Kang wasn't as crazy as Li Mu, he had been influenced by Li Mu, and his way of thinking had improved a lot. Once he heard Li Mu's words, he subconsciously said, "I'm afraid the burden of this asset will be even heavier!"
Opening an Internet cafe would only cost a few hundred thousand or a million yuan. If you opened an Internet cafe and bought a shop, it would cost at least a million or a few hundred thousand yuan. At most, it would cost two to three million or even three to four million yuan in a big city.
Seeing that Zhao Kang was so surprised, Li Mu smiled and said, "It's precisely because of the heavy investment that we need to pull in a lot of capital. We will invest our own money to start a business and show it to the capital. Then, we will pull in the capital and make it big quickly. It doesn't matter if it's heavy investment. For this kind of physical project, the heavier the investment, the more stable and reliable it will be."
Then, Li Mu said, "Think about it. If you invest ten million yuan to start an Internet company, what can the capital recover if it fails? If it's a good one, it can recover a few hundred thousand yuan in cash. If it's a bad one, it can only recover a batch of second-hand computers. If it's even worse, it might not even be able to recover the computers.
But what if you invest ten million yuan to open a few Internet cafes? If you invest in Internet cafes and buy a shop at the same time, if the Internet cafes fail, you can recover at least 10-15% of the cost with a large number of second-hand computers, and at least 50% of the cost of the shop. Maybe after a period of operation, the cost of the shop will increase, and you can recover 100% or more of the cost of the shop. "
Zhao Kang nodded, "That makes sense, but how are you going to convince those capitalists to invest a lot of money into this? Will they care about the little profit from opening an Internet cafes? "
Li Mu smiled and said, "The overall business model is this: Open the Internet cafes to make money, and if the Internet cafes close down, sell the land to make more money. This is the typical McDonald's overseas development model. Moreover, I have also integrated the e-commerce business. In the future, Internet cafes will not only serve Shenzhou, but they can also serve the entire Taobao's electronic products. Not only can they do pre-sales and delivery, but they can also help manufacturers do after-sales. This will not only save Taobao's logistics costs in the future, but it will also bring them considerable profits."
Speaking up to this point, Li Mu paused for a while and said, "Although Taobao has a lot of funds in its account, once it starts to burn money, it will not be enough. Taobao will definitely need to go through many rounds of financing in the future. I can first sign a framework agreement with these big capital investors. Those who invest in the Internet cafes first will get priority in financing for Taobao, and we can use Taobao to tie them in."
"Oh my god. How much money will Taobao burn in the future? You are preparing so early. Doesn't Taobao have a lot of money in its account? " Zhao Kang had heard from Li Mu that Taobao had a "current account payment" of up to one billion yuan, and Li Mu could use it at any time. How could such a large reserve of funds not be enough for Li Mu to burn?
Li Mu smiled. Zhao Kang would not understand. Now, Liu Xiaodong and Boss Ma would not understand. They had not entered the stage of burning money on the Internet, and they might not understand why they had to burn money instead of making money. However, to Li Mu, he must be prepared to burn money in advance, and he must be prepared to burn a lot of money.
How to burn money?
Very simple!
When Taobao starts to focus on improving the online shopping habits of users, when Taobao starts to face more competitors, Li Mu will most likely need to start burning money to ensure his position at the top.
At that time, once the competition becomes intense, the B2C self-operated business may lose money, and the C2C business may need to subsidize the sellers and buyers. All these require continuous capital investment.
It doesn't matter if he loses money or burns money. As long as he can ensure that the majority of the B2C and C2C businesses are in his hands, it will be worth it no matter how much money he burns. The more money he burns, the more he will earn in the future.
In short, there is only one goal: kick out the people who can't afford to burn money, and drag the people who can afford to burn money until they die. In the end, he will ensure his position at the top, and that will be the ultimate victory!
…
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