Chapter 1 Evening at Moyu Internet Cafe

The originally desolate internet cafe had suddenly gained a considerable number of customers.

Many young people walked into the cafe in groups of three or five, some repeatedly observing from the outside, confirming the location before pushing the door open.

"Are you sure it's here? There isn't even a sign."

"That's right, it's this place."

"Then what's with the neatly arranged row of computers over there?"

"This place isn't just a bar; you can also surf the internet."

"Also surf the internet? ...Why would I go to an internet cafe to surf the internet? I came here to drink."

"You can also drink here, and the drinks are even better than at regular bars. The main thing is to listen to music, listen to music!"

"Is it really that good?"

"Anyway, it's different from the resident singers in other bars. You'll know once you hear it."

At the door, several young people pushed their way inside.

The waiter immediately greeted them with a beaming smile, led them to their seats, presented them with hand towels, and politely asked what drinks they would like to order.

The most energetic of the group was a fashionably dressed young woman. After everyone had ordered their drinks, she began excitedly explaining how she had discovered this treasure of a place.

"Do you know how I found this place?"

"Actually, I'd passed by here before, but I glanced at the menu outside and saw that everything was so expensive, and there weren't many people inside, so I didn't go in."

"But then I happened to pass by again last week, and I heard someone singing!"

"I had just finished work at the time, so I listened for a while at the door and then came in, ordered a drink, and listened until closing time!"

"It was really too good. And it's not the noisy kind of style; it's a very light, very leisurely feeling, with a bit of melancholy. And with a drink, it feels especially right."

"And after coming a few times, I realized that although this place is expensive, the service is really good. The waiters are incredibly attentive; you don't even need to call them. As soon as they see you glance at them, they come over right away. It's so comfortable!"

Someone interjected, "Really? Can the waiters read minds or something?"

The young woman glanced at him. "Of course not. It just means the waiters are dedicated and keep a close eye on the customers. They can understand what you need from your subtle body language and come over immediately."

"And the waiters here don't say a word of nonsense; they don't try to sell you drinks or get you to sign up for a membership. They're very polite."

"Later, I started coming during the day too, ordering a coffee, reading a book. It's quite pleasant."

"Don't worry, the singer should be here soon."

"His name is Chen Lei, and he reportedly lives nearby. He didn't go to college after graduating from high school; he's been doing music at home."

"I don't know how this place found such a great talent."

"Quick, look at the stage! He's here!"

Chen Lei walked onto the stage with his guitar, and cheers immediately erupted from the audience. A girl shouted, "Chen Lei, I love you!"

Chen Lei's face turned red. He sat down on the stage, adjusted the microphone, strummed his guitar a few times, and pretended not to hear, eliciting chuckles from the audience.

Without pleasantries or warm-up remarks, Chen Lei was not a man of many words.

He simply cleared his throat and sang softly into the microphone, accompanied by the sound of his guitar.

"The lights are off, the moon is a lonely eye, quietly watching who tosses and turns in bed..."

The melodious tune flowed through the internet cafe.

The audience below drank their drinks and quietly immersed themselves in the atmosphere.

"So good."

"It's clearly very different from the original, but it still feels very similar."

"That's how Chen Lei is. He has a very strong personal style when he sings, the kind that makes you feel very relaxed, but when you listen carefully, there's a hint of melancholy."

"Wonderful."

A slightly weathered man took a sip of his drink, his eyes gazing at the blurry lights of the night outside the curtain wall, not knowing what memories the lights had evoked.

Suddenly, he looked at his glass with some doubt.

"What's wrong?" his female companion asked.

The man took another sip.

"This wine...it's actually real wine?"

The woman laughed. "What are you talking about? They have a legitimate business license. Would they sell fake wine to cheat you?"

The man shook his head. "You don't understand. These days, many bars commonly use cheaper liquor when serving expensive drinks. They’ll take a bottle of wine that costs hundreds of yuan at its original price, fill it with one or two hundred yuan worth of liquor, and sell it anyway. When it's mixed into a cocktail, how many people can taste the difference?"

"That's not even fake wine; it's just cheap stuff. Fake wine will give you a headache and might even send you to the hospital, but cheap stuff only has a very subtle difference in taste, and it's all the same once it's down the hatch."

The woman was still skeptical. "So you can taste the difference?"

The man smiled. "Of course. Wine that costs hundreds of yuan and wine that costs one or two hundred yuan, even though they're both real wine, definitely taste different. Otherwise, why would people sell the former for hundreds of yuan?"

"Anyone who knows a little about wine can feel the difference."

He gently swirled the wine in his glass and looked at Chen Lei singing on stage. "This place is really interesting."

"I can invite some old friends to come and hang out another day."

...

At the bar.

Ma Yang slowly drank a glass of wine, watching Chen Lei sing on stage, and said with emotion, "He seems... to sing better than you."

Zhang Yuan said sincerely, "Yeah. You're just hearing that now, Ma-ge?"

Ma Yang shook his head very honestly. "I didn't hear it; I saw it. When you sing, there aren't as many people listening, not as many people ordering drinks, and people don't listen as attentively..."

Zhang Yuan: "...Ma-ge, could you not stab me in the heart, for the sake of this drink?"

Zhang Yuan was speechless. Chen Lei was obviously blessed by the heavens. Was it really necessary to keep saying he sang better!

"So, how exactly are we going to pay him?"

Ma Yang asked a very serious question.

Last week, after hearing Zhang Yuan sing, Chen Lei inexplicably gained confidence and volunteered to sing on stage.

The effect was very obvious after he sang, and Ma Yang immediately asked him to stay and try singing for a week.

If he was satisfied after a week, he would sign a formal contract; if he was not satisfied, he would give him a thousand yuan as a hardship fee and let him go.

Now that the week was up, Ma Yang was very satisfied with Chen Lei.

But he had encountered a problem, which was how to pay him.

"How much is appropriate to pay a resident singer at a regular bar?" Ma Yang wondered if he could refer to the salary standards of bars.

Zhang Yuan knew all about this, since he used to do this job.

"Ma-ge, resident singers at small bars might only make around three thousand yuan a month. Of course, those are all unknown singers."

"The specific amount depends on the level of the bar, the singer's popularity, and how much the boss is willing to pay."

"Some large bars have a lot of foot traffic, and many singers are even willing to sing for free in order to become famous; conversely, small bars naturally have to pay more to hire resident singers with some fame."

"Based on Chen Lei's level, giving him four or five thousand, I think, wouldn't be excessive, or even on the low side."

Four or five thousand...

Ma Yang hesitated.

"It's not that I'm reluctant to spend the money, or that I don't think Chen Lei is worth the money."

"It's mainly that our internet cafe is still losing money right now."

"What do you think about this? Let's give him a base salary of 1500 yuan, and then give him a commission on everything else."

Zhang Yuan was stunned. "Commission? Commission from what?"

Ma Yang pointed to the drinks on the bar. "From the drinks. In the future, we'll just tell the customers that half of the profits from the drinks sold during the performance will be given to Chen Lei as a commission."

Zhang Yuan gasped. "Ma-ge, half is a bit too harsh, isn't it?"

"It's okay, we don't sell that many drinks anyway..." Ma Yang said nonchalantly.

Zhang Yuan was speechless. "That's true, and we sell real drinks, so the profit margin isn't that high."

"Thinking about it that way, it's acceptable..."

If they followed the model of a regular bar, drinks were the main source of profit.

Many bars, nightclubs, KTVs, and the like, more or less engage in some form of adulteration. For example, with XO, they recycle the expensive bottles, fill them with cheaper liquor, and sell them again; that's a common practice.

When sold like that, drinks are extremely profitable.

But from the very beginning, Boss Pei had repeatedly ordered that all drinks at Moyu Internet Cafe had to be real. Not to mention fake wine, not a single drop of inferior liquor was to be added.

Whatever drink was sold, it had to be that exact drink.

So even though they were both selling drinks, Moyu Internet Cafe's pricing included profit, but the profit couldn't compare to that of other bars.

What's more, with the current traffic, they couldn't sell that many drinks in a day anyway.

Zhang Yuan thought for a while. "Then you decide, Ma-ge. I think commission is fine. Maybe it can boost the sales of drinks."

Ma Yang immediately made a decision. "Okay, that's settled then. I'll talk to Chen Lei after he finishes singing tonight. I think he'll definitely agree."

"If we're really going to go with this model, I have a suggestion." Zhang Yuan suddenly thought of an idea. "Let's order a new batch of menus, with a price in parentheses after the price of each drink. The parentheses will say how much Chen Lei can earn as a commission."

"For example, a glass of Aurora Borealis cocktail sells for 60 yuan. The cost is about 30 yuan, and then there are the costs of the venue and labor. Let's assume our cost is 40 yuan, and the profit is 20 yuan. Half of that is given to Chen Lei, which is 10 yuan."

"Then we'll just write (10) after the price of the Aurora Borealis cocktail, so everyone will know that 10 yuan of that drink goes to Chen Lei as a commission."

Ma Yang frowned, a little hesitant. "Wouldn't that make people guess our approximate profit?"

Zhang Yuan shook his head. "Ma-ge, even if you don't write it, won't people know your profit? They can search the price of these drinks online."

"Most people who come to bars to drink know the profit margin, but that's how the whole industry is, and no one will take it seriously."

"If we write down the commission for the singer, it will also make us look very good to the singer, especially generous."

Ma Yang suddenly realized. "Oh, that's right! Then I think this method is good. Let's do it that way!"
Hu Die Lan