Chapter 2601: Return on Investment

Beijing at the end of August was still very hot. The 6:00 PM sun was still hanging on the horizon, and Houhai was quietly windless, the water surface as calm and waveless as a mirror. Three painted boats were quietly moored at the pier.

Because the daily departure times for the painted boats were fixed—7:00 PM to 11:30 PM and 12:30 AM to 4:00 AM—guests wanting to board the boats needed to make reservations.

And compared to over a year ago, Houhai was now much more lively and prosperous. The district had done quite a bit for this, putting in a lot of effort, not only strengthening environmental sanitation management and greening work but also comprehensively renovating the roads.

Another thing was the further improvement of street lighting facilities. Street lights were added in areas that previously lacked lighting, and existing street lights were replaced with artistic new styles, making the entire Houhai area radiate a brand-new luster.

Zhou Andong's car slowly drove into Houhai and finally stopped in a parking space dedicated to the bar. The waiter welcoming guests at the entrance had sharp eyes and saw Zhou Andong's car from afar, waiting by the parking space a step ahead.

As soon as the car stopped steadily, the waiter bowed respectfully and slightly, gently opening the car door: "Chairman Zhou, hello!"

Zhou Andong got out of the car, casually took out fifty yuan from his pocket, stuffed it into the waiter's hand, and patted the other's shoulder with a smile: "Work hard!"

The waiter, having received this unexpected windfall, stared blankly at the fifty yuan in his hand, his face revealing an expression of disbelief. Chairman Zhou actually gave me a tip? Is this... still the "Old Miser Zhou" in Manager Zhang's mouth?

Zhou Andong looked up at the two storefronts being renovated not far away and said: "Are those two shops being renovated over there also opening as bars?"

The waiter recovered from his shock, clutched the fifty yuan tightly in his hand, took a deep breath, and respectfully replied: "It's said that one is a bar and the other is a coffee shop, and it seems they have the same boss!"

Zhou Andong looked at the bars in front of him, all of which had such booming business, and couldn't help but sigh inwardly. It was worthy of being under the feet of the Son of Heaven, a place where dragons hide and tigers crouch; there were truly many rich people. Whether it was those opening bars or those coming to bars to play, they couldn't possibly be poor people.

Thinking of those children born after 2000, especially those born after 2010—they had almost no understanding of the 90s and always naively thought that this era should be very poor, with low prices, where one mao could buy several jin of meat.

Actually, as early as the mid-80s, the social economy had already begun to accelerate, especially in southern coastal cities, where more and more rich people appeared and the affluent class gradually rose. And by the early 90s, due to the dual-track price policy, prices skyrocketed.

Especially for light industrial and heavy industrial products, the prices were so high that it was hard for children of later generations to believe. Just to mention the Santana sedan—in later generations, it could be landed for 70,000 to 80,000, but in this era, it required over 200,000. Even an ordinary celebrity pictorial could sell for five or six yuan. Can you imagine that?

Zhou Andong nodded and stepped into the bar. It was just past 6:00, and the bar was already 90% full; business was as good as ever.

A waiter saw Zhou Andong and greeted him: "Hello, Chairman Zhou!"

"Hello!" Zhou Andong nodded and responded with a smile: "Have your boss and boss lady arrived?"

The waiter hurriedly said: "They have. I'll go call them for you."

"Go ahead!" Zhou Andong walked inside.

At the usual spot, besides Shen Wenqi and his wife and Bai Hui, Wu Hongkang had actually come too.

Shen Wenqi had been watching the bar entrance. Seeing Zhou Andong arrive, he immediately stood up: "Chairman Zhou!"

Liu Aijun and Bai Hui also hurriedly stood up: "Chairman Zhou, hello!"

"Sit, sit, sit, don't be formal." Zhou Andong waved his hand and sat down beside Wu Hongkang: "Old Wu, why did you come over too?"

Wu Hongkang said with a smile: "I had nothing to do at home, so I ran over to join in the fun."

Zhou Andong smiled slightly. Wu Hongkang was kind-hearted and a warm-hearted person, but he absolutely wouldn't look for trouble for himself for no reason. So, Wu Hongkang appearing here must have been invited by Shen Wenqi.

After all, given his relationship with Wu Hongkang, even if he didn't speak, in a situation where he could either help or not, he would definitely give Wu Hongkang face and help out.

Bai Hui held a bottle of beer that had been opened, bent over to fill the glass in front of Zhou Andong, then raised her own glass and said: "Chairman Zhou, thank you for sacrificing your rest time to meet with me. I toast you with this glass."

Bai Hui raised her head and drank the wine in the glass in one gulp. This woman looked very calm on the surface, but if you looked closely, you could see that the hand holding the glass was shaking, showing that she was very nervous inside.

Shen Wenqi hurriedly introduced: "Chairman Zhou, this is my sister-in-law, Bai Hui."

"Zhou Dongzi!" Zhang Zuo's annoying voice came from behind: "What on earth is the matter that you had to make me come over?"

Zhou Andong looked up at Zhang Zuo standing beside him. Beside this kid was a beauty, none other than Jin Xi—Zhang Jingkuan's mistress, the younger sister who was studying at Peking University. The two were arm-in-arm, looking very intimate.

"Brother Dong!" At this time, Tang Lin and Nie Wen also came over.

Zhou Andong didn't bother with Zhang Zuo, that idiot, anymore and stood up: "It's too chaotic here; let's go to the office in the back to talk."

Nie Wen called over several waiters and said: "Take the wine and fruit platter from this table to my office."

"Yes!" Several waiters moved the wine and the fruit platter, then followed Zhou Andong and the others to the office.

After the waiters put the things down and pushed out, Zhou Andong pointed to the sofa and said to Shen Wenqi and Bai Hui: "Sit!"

Everyone sat down. Zhou Andong didn't introduce the two sides but looked at Bai Hui and said: "Wenqi and I are business partners. Since you are his sister-in-law, I'll call you sister-in-law too."

Bai Hui said somewhat flattered: "No, no, no, Chairman Zhou, you can just call me Bai Hui."

Zhou Andong laughed: "What you're called is just a form of address; you don't need to take it too seriously."

Shen Wenqi picked up the wine bottle to pour for Zhou Andong: "Chairman Zhou, I toast you. Regardless of whether the matter can be accomplished, I am already grateful that you could come to meet today. Although my ability is limited, if you have any use for me in the future, I will never refuse."

"That's too serious." Zhou Andong watched Shen Wenqi drink the wine, smiled slightly, and looked at Bai Hui: "Sister-in-law, please tell me the details of the matter."

Bai Hui took a deep breath, stabilized her nervous emotions, and detailed the course of events. It was about the same as what Shen Wenqi had said, just with a few more details, but it wasn't of much help to Zhou Andong.

Zhou Andong pondered for a moment and said: "Do you know who the person behind this is?"

Bai Hui shook her head: "I've asked quite a few people, but even though I wanted to spend money to buy information, I couldn't spend the money."

"That's interesting." Zhou Andong laughed and looked at Tang Lin, Nie Wen, and Zhang Zuo: "How about it? Are you interested?"

Just as Tang Lin and Zhang Zuo didn't understand what there was to be interested in, Nie Wen nodded: "A bit interested, but doing business naturally requires looking at the return on investment. If the return on investment is high, it can be invested, but if the return on investment is low, I think forget it; I'm afraid of trouble." ===== CHAPTER 2602 =====