Madman!

Chapter 84: Spreading Rumors

Ah Qi did not expect Chen Wujun's question to be so... practical.

'Perhaps this counts as a test...' Ah Qi thought to herself.

"Brother Jun, I don't know the answer to that... There's too little information... I need more data."

"For example, where will the arcade be located? What is the foot traffic? What are the operating hours? What is the average daily visitor count? How many games does each person play? What is the rent? What are the labor costs and utility fees... and what is the protection fee?" Ah Qi threw back a series of questions instead.

Hearing this, Chen Wujun felt that she was at least more professional than himself.

"Located on Lung Tsun Road or the south end of Lung Kong Road. Foot traffic isn't a problem. There are no other arcades in the Walled City. The machines will be the newest models. Outside, they are packed every day with people lining up to play... Turnover is every five minutes. No labor costs. As for utilities... who pays for utilities in the Walled City?"

Actually, there were two arcades in the Walled City, but they only had old machines.

He was planning to buy old machines anyway; he could ask about them later. If they refused to sell... he'd have someone smash the place, and then there would be no competition.

As for labor costs, he had to feed his men anyway. Sending two over to watch the place wouldn't cost anything extra.

"Wait a moment..."Ah Qi stood up in the cramped space, hopping along while holding onto the furniture to rummage for things.

Chen Wujun turned his head, watching her hop around in her loungewear searching for items. He felt that the figure beneath her clothes... was as poor and shabby as this home.

A moment later, Ah Qi took out a notebook and pen, sat back on the sofa, and pulled the table over to take notes.

She was quite interested in Chen Wujun's problem. As a financial management student, she naturally gravitated toward this subject and wanted to put it into practice.

In any case, she would just calculate based on the information he provided.

If it wasn't accurate... then his information was inaccurate. He couldn't blame her.

"Doing business, the first step is to calculate costs clearly. These are divided into fixed costs and variable costs..."

"Initial investment: 15,000 per machine, so ten machines is 150,000... You'll need renovations and tables and chairs, right? Let's say 10,000 for that. There might be other miscellaneous expenses. I haven't been inside an arcade, only seen them from the outside..."

"Let's put the initial investment at 165,000."

"Then the monthly fixed costs. Rent is 5,000. No electricity, no labor, protection fees... if you say there aren't any, then there aren't. Maintenance reserve 1,000—machines will break, right? If they break, they need fixing... Other miscellaneous fees 500..."

"Monthly fixed costs are 6,500."

"Then there are variable costs, which fluctuate with business volume. But for an arcade business, variable costs are very low, so let's just bundle them into the monthly fixed costs..."

"Then there is revenue..." Ah Qi turned a page.

"Even if your arcade is open 24 hours, there won't be a queue all day long. One turnover every five minutes means 12 times an hour. Let's assume 120 times a day on average for weekdays. Weekends will be busier, let's say 160 times..."

"At 2 dollars a play, that's 240 dollars a day on weekdays. Over 22 days, that's 5,280 dollars."

"Weekends at 160 times is 320 dollars. For 8 days, that's 2,560 dollars."

"That means one machine brings in 7,840 a month. Ten machines make 78,400."

"Subtract the cost of 6,500, and the monthly income is 71,900 dollars... Of course, this is just a rough estimate; it definitely isn't precise." Ah Qi added a disclaimer after calculating.

Chen Wujun only saw the number 71,900. His eyes lit up.

That meant he could recoup his capital in just over two months, and the rest would be pure profit...

Investing less than 200,000 to earn over 70,000 a month—it was more profitable than buying real estate.

If there was a problem, it was that this Ah Qi calculated it wrong.

Ah Qi turned another page: "In business, you must consider risk."

"You should predict at least three scenarios."

"Conservative scenario: business isn't as good as you think, revenue is only 60%. Monthly income is only 43,140. In that case, it will take 3.8 months to recover costs."

"If the normal scenario follows what you said, monthly income is 71,900, requiring 2.3 months to recover costs."

"If business is even better than you say, the payback period will be even faster—less than two months."

"Calculated like this, it is quite profitable." Ah Qi felt that even a conservative 3.8-month return was incredibly high profit for a business.

Of course, this wasn't a business ordinary people could run.

"One more thing. You have to consider that once your business becomes popular, will others open similar stores to compete with you..."

"I understand." Chen Wujun nodded.

There would definitely be people competing with him.

As soon as he made it big, never mind Lidong, others in Hetu might try it too.

The Big Four and the Four Heavenly Kings wouldn't care for this kind of business, but others... well, it would depend on whose fist was bigger.

However, Ah Qi's calculations gave him a better understanding of business costs and profits. No wonder companies needed financial management talent.

He needed it too.

Although Chen Wujun had been used to making quick money since he started practicing martial arts...

He also knew that this kind of steady stream, a business that could continuously bring in cash, was the foundation.

Ah Qi originally had more to say, but seeing Chen Wujun's expression, she felt it didn't matter whether she said it or not.

She asked directly, "What do you want to learn?"

"Everything. My foundation... isn't very solid," Chen Wujun thought for a moment and said.

"What is your education level? Did you attend high school?" Ah Qi asked conservatively.

"Secondary school..." Chen Wujun said expressionlessly.

"Secondary school is fine. I'll give you a few problems first to check your foundation." Ah Qi thought about it and said.

A moment later.

Crack, crack... Chen Wujun expressionlessly snapped pieces off the corner of Ah Qi's table one by one, crushing them and then snapping off another.

That hand didn't look like a human hand at all; it was like a pair of large steel pincers.

Ah Qi's eyelids twitched, and her smile went stiff.

Even if his foundation wasn't solid... surely he knew basic algebra?

Having attended secondary school, no matter how stupid, one should know algebra, functions, and quadratic equations, right?

And his science and social studies were also terrible...

Watching Chen Wujun pinch pieces off her table like biscuits, Ah Qi wisely said nothing.

"Today was just to understand what you want to learn. I need to make some preparations. I don't have secondary school books; I'll borrow some tomorrow..."

"Then I'll come back tomorrow." Chen Wujun stood up and left.

As soon as Chen Wujun left, Ah Qi reached out to pinch the corner of the table. One hand wasn't enough, so she used both.

She used all her strength, even the strength she used for nursing, but couldn't snap off a single piece. Only then did she confirm that her table was indeed not a biscuit.

Chen Wujun walked out the door and saw Ah Fei and Xiang Zai smoking in the corridor. Xiang Zai was leaning against the wall, playing with a small object in his hand.

"What are you playing with?"

Chen Wujun took a glance and immediately realized it was a water ring toss game for children. A box with two buttons, filled with water and some small plastic rings. Pressing the buttons pushed the water flow, driving the plastic rings onto the two vertical needles in the center.

"Brother Jun, you're done so fast!" Xiang Zai hurriedly shoved the game into his pocket.

"What do you mean 'fast'? Speak clearly next time. Your cousin just asked me what I wanted to learn; she needs to prepare some teaching materials."

"And you, playing with kid's stuff! My little brother is only in third grade and he doesn't play with that anymore." Chen Wujun laughed as he walked.

"Exactly, I just said it was for kids too," Ah Fei added from the other side.

"It belongs to my little brother. I just picked it up to play with." Xiang Zai was a bit embarrassed.

"Ah Fei, find two shops on Lung Tsun Road and Lung Kong Road to open arcades," Chen Wujun ordered Ah Fei.

With profits this high, if they were going to open, they might as well open two at once.

As for the main road, that was Lung Tsun Road, which cut across the Walled City from east to west.

"Rent on the main road isn't cheap. How big?"

"As big as possible, but it doesn't need to be huge. Just enough to fit ten or twenty machines," Chen Wujun said.

"We can't just have Street Fighter II. We need other machines too, like Final Fight, shoot 'em ups, and a few slot machines."

"Street Fighter II costs two coins to play. The others, one coin."

Chen Wujun was familiar with arcades; he went often when he was in school.

He just hadn't known the profit margin was so huge before.

And back then, there wasn't a massive hit like Street Fighter II, so the profits definitely weren't this high.

......

At this time, in a unit of fifty or sixty square meters in the Walled City. Although it wasn't as large as Shark Jiu's residence, it was far more luxurious.

Ji Xiang was leaning back on the sofa watching TV.

"Boss, I've found out everything."

After Ji Xiang learned the full story of the conflict between Chen Wujun and Karen, he thought for a moment and spoke.

"Spread the news of the conflict between Chen Wujun and Karen."

"Just say... Chen Wujun is riding high now... Karen has been with Shark Jiu for so many years, yet Shark Jiu can't even protect her own subordinate..."

"Don't make it too obvious," Ji Xiang said, leaning back in his chair.

"Brother Ji Xiang, I know. I'll get it done right away," the minion said immediately.

After the minion left, Ji Xiang sat there in a daze for a while, then smiled.

Shark Jiu was the boss, true.

But subordinates like them had their own thoughts too.

And... getting things done relied on people like them down below.

First, bring the conflict between Chen Wujun and Karen into the open... Karen had to save face, after all...

Furthermore, if morale scattered, the team couldn't be led anymore.

Then he would go and rope Karen in.

Besides, Karen and Chen Wujun used to have such a good relationship, but now Chen Wujun wasn't giving her any face at all...

If Shark Jiu continued to let Chen Wujun run wild like this... Flower Boy Rong, Ah Hao, and Cun Bao would definitely start having second thoughts.

A moment later, Ji Xiang took out his phone, flipped through the phone book, and dialed a number: "Brother Nan, long time no see. Shall we sit down and chat?"

"Sure... see you there."

Fat Nan was Master Xin's man.

Ji Xiang was furious just looking at Chen Wujun now.

Chen Wujun's momentum was too strong, and with Shark Jiu's favoritism, it was seriously affecting his status.

Before, Shark Jiu always called him for company meetings. Now she took Chen Wujun. Even the minions could see that Chen Wujun held more weight in Shark Jiu's heart...

If he didn't do something, he would lose power sooner or later.

So he had to make two preparations.

On one hand, unite with Karen and the others. Shark Jiu had to consider their feelings.

Otherwise, who would feel secure working for her?

On the other hand, if he really couldn't stay any longer, he could always go work for Master Xin.

After all, Master Xin was the real big boss.

As long as Master Xin asked for him, if he went to work for Master Xin, even Shark Jiu wouldn't be able to say anything.