CHAPTER 391: CHAPTER 390 BETRAYAL AND FAITHLESSNESS

"Hello? Is this Brother Zhang? I’m Zhen Yu."

"Ha! Zhen Yu, huh!"

Zhang Liang had already received a call from Zhang San asking him to do some cabling work. Naturally, he knew the Zhen Family was about to open another internet cafe! So he had been waiting for Zhen Yu to contact him, after all, you can’t have an internet cafe without computers, right?

"Is it about the new internet cafe that you’re looking for me?!"

"Kind of! I’m urgently looking for two games! If you don’t have them, could you please contact someone in the Capital or somewhere along the coast to ask?!"

"What games are you in such a hurry for?" Zhang Liang asked in surprise.

Zhen Yu articulately said, "StarCraft and Age of Empires!"

"Sss! I’ve heard of Age of Empires! It hasn’t come here yet, but the South must have it. What kind of game is StarCraft? Where did you hear about this game?!"

"I saw it in the latest magazine! It was released at the end of March! You must help me look for it!!"

This time Zhen Yu really wasn’t making up stories! Although she had always been looking out for Blizzard games due to their huge success in her previous life, she genuinely couldn’t remember when exactly those games were released! Coincidentally, a new batch of books and magazines for her book rental business had arrived recently, and Zhen Yu, thinking it had been a while since she installed new games at the internet cafe, specially looked through magazines related to computers and games. And she indeed found news related to StarCraft!

"Alright! I’ll give them a call and ask around in a bit!" Zhang Liang promptly agreed.

Just as Zhen Yu was about to say goodbye and hang up the phone, something struck her mind. "Oh right! Please also keep an eye out for another game! I don’t know if it’s been released yet! It’s called Half-Life, or it might be called CS!"

"...Okay! I’ve noted it down."

"I’ll wait for your news! Hanging up now, Brother Zhang."

"...Sure! I’ll get back to you as soon as possible."

After hanging up, Zhang Liang fell into deep thought.

He didn’t doubt Zhen Yu’s words at all! In his view, the more books you read, the more information you have. This was very normal and completely logical!

Before the millennium, the vast majority of advertisements were still placed in print books and newspapers. Back then, the internet was not widely available, and online promotion was even less of a topic. Back then, TV dramas were broadcast in full episodes, not split half and half with commercials. Although the number of ads in television sets was sparse, each one was memorable and refreshing.

So, the reason Zhang Liang was deep in thought was that in the entire phone call Zhen Yu never once mentioned buying computers! Could it be... she was waiting for him to initiate contact and then drive a hard bargain?!

"Uh... this little girl sure knows how to play it cool!"

---

On the other side, Zhen Yu started to feel tangled up after hanging up the call.

She was unaware of Zhang Liang’s misunderstanding. Zhen Yu could tell from Zhang Liang’s tone when he first picked up the call that he was probably waiting for her to take the initiative to buy computers. But since she already had a better channel to get more cost-effective computers, she naturally wouldn’t order from Zhang Liang again.

The supposed long-term partnership was bound to fall through, but to end the cooperation silently and unilaterally was obviously not the right thing to do! It felt a bit... like letting someone down!

Zhen Yu pinched the bridge of her nose, beginning to seriously consider how to make some sort of compensation to the other party.

---

Zhang Liang didn’t make Zhen Yu wait too long; he called her back the next evening.

"Xiao Yu, that Age of Empires is in stock! I’ll have it in my hands in a day or two."

Zhen Yu quickly asked, "And the other two?"

"StarCraft is also available! But it’ll take at least ten or fifteen days to get here!"

"What about CS?"

Actually, Zhen Yu just recalled and casually mentioned it; she didn’t know whether this game had been released yet.

"Nothing. But I found out there are two games that are really popular in Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou! I’ve decided to bring them in. Why don’t you try them out too?!" Zhang Liang eagerly recommended to Zhen Yu the new games he had discovered.

"What are they called?"

"Counter-Strike and,"

Zhen Yu suddenly interrupted excitedly, "Wait a minute! You mean Counter-Strike?!"

"Yes! What’s up?" Zhang Liang asked, puzzled.

"That’s the one! What I called Half-Life, that’s it! So, it’s known by that name now!!"

Zhang San was full of doubts, "How many names does this game have?! Are you sure you’re talking about the same one?"

"That’s the one! You said there are two games, what’s the other one?"

"Need for Speed!"

Zhen Yu tried to sift through her Memory, "I seem to have some recollection... I want that one too!"

"Alright then! I’ll install them together when StarCraft arrives! Oh right! Resident Evil 2 is out too!"

Zhen Yu immediately said, "Put that one on as well."

Zhang Liang suddenly laughed. "Haha! Xiao Yu! I’m not trying to criticize you, but the computers in your cafe are last year’s models. Can they handle so many new games? The standard configuration of computers on the market has already been upgraded!"

Zhang Liang brought up the computers at Sincere Internet Cafe, trying to imply to Zhen Yu that the computers for the new cafe certainly couldn’t be sold to her at the original configuration and price!

An awakening for the dreamer! Zhen Yu suddenly thought of a good way to compensate Zhang Liang!

Perfect! She could use this opportunity to also bring up the fact that she’s not planning to buy any more computers! So Zhen Yu immediately asked, "Brother Zhang! Do you buy old computers?"

Zhang Liang was taken aback by the question, "Wha-what? Buy? I’m in the business of selling computers!"

Zhen Yu straightforwardly said, "Yes! Buy them back and then sell them! You helped me with a second-hand computer before, didn’t you know there’s profit in used computers?!"

Profits were certainly there... wait a minute! Why had his thoughts been led astray?!

Zhang Liang categorically refused, "Nope! Used ones don’t sell as well as brand-new!"

"Are you sure you won’t buy? What if the purchase price is super favorable? What if the profit is even higher than selling a new one?" Zhen Yu tempted.

"You just tell me what you’re getting at?! Are you thinking of replacing all the old computers in the internet cafe? And you’re getting the new ones from—"

Zhen Yu immediately cut him off, "No! I already have a better channel for new computers!"

Zhang Liang was shocked, "What?! You’re breaking faith and abandoning loyalty!"

"Do you want to break faith and abandon loyalty with me?"

Zhang Liang’s emotions were like a roller coaster, "...What do you mean by that?!"

"What I mean is that from now on, it’s a turn of tide! I sell the computers to you at a super discount price! Are you interested?!"

"...Yes!"

"Heh heh... Pleasure doing business!"

Zhang Liang gritted his teeth and said, "Pleasure doing business!!"