Emily Thompson was just about to laugh and tease when Adam Clark interrupted, “Mr. Bennett is great, he can make money and cook, but I’m not bad either.”

“I’m about to start working at an import-export company—respectable, in an air-conditioned office. By the way, isn’t it hard for you to find clients assembling and repairing computers?”

Eric Bennett nodded, “Slowly saving up.”

Brian Carter grabbed a beer and signaled everyone to toast. After finishing his beer, he laughed, “I made a few more calls earlier. There’s a guy in the family compound who wants to open an internet café—he just got the license.”

“At least 200 computers. What’s the lowest price you can offer? If it’s under 2,000 yuan per unit, he can give us a 50-yuan installation fee per computer.”

“Mr. Bennett, this is big business.”

Eric Bennett was stunned for a moment. “It is big business. Even if it takes a week or two, it’s worth it. With his requirements, the computers will last a year or two in the café, no problem. But the wear and tear on keyboards and mice is a separate issue—we need to clarify that in advance.”

In the era when Audition was sweeping the internet, keyboard losses were outrageous.

2007 was also the tail end of the golden age for internet cafés as money-making machines. It’s not just that Brian Carter was a great salesman—at this time, anyone who could get a license instead of running a shady, unlicensed café had to have serious connections.

Adam Clark was instantly dumbfounded. “Damn, you guys are about to make ten thousand yuan?”

Brian Carter rubbed his hands excitedly. “Mr. Bennett, are we still splitting fifty-fifty? I’ll go back and hustle for a couple more days, see if we can get a hundred yuan profit per computer.”

The most glorious era of real estate was about to arrive. In Brian Carter’s adoptive father’s family compound… not to mention that people like Mr. Carter and Mr. Walker held high positions—everyone around Mr. Walker and the others was loaded.

Whether these second-generation kids in this big circle were gaming, starting companies, or setting up office computers, or just making a quick buck with an internet café, it was a huge market.

Eric Bennett poured some wine and smiled, “If you can negotiate, it’s all good between us. For this deal, even if it takes a month, it’s worth it.”

This was just like the first time he took Brian Carter to build a computer and told Mr. Thompson about making small profits but selling in volume.

Making 500 or 1,000 yuan per computer only happened with private deals for the second generation. Earning 20 or 50 yuan per unit wasn’t shameful either. Breaking into the circle of internet café owners—that was real business.

This deal could get Mr. Thompson to give him a kickback… Of course, Eric Bennett wasn’t about to ask for one.

Chapter 8: Becoming a Boss Already?

Over the next week or so, Eric Bennett kept working with Brian Carter and Lauren Harris on the 200-computer internet café deal.

During the process, he also took the initiative to explain and teach Carter and Harris a lot about assembling computers, including repair techniques. He wasn’t afraid they’d learn and then go solo.

If they chose to do that… well, they’d part ways on good terms, and the favor would be repaid.

It was his way of giving back for the help they gave him when he first crossed over, helping him get established in this world.

To put it bluntly, with the Heavenly Reward System on his side, getting into the computer assembly business was just a simple, natural move after graduating and facing unemployment, just to find a place to live.

With the system backing him, what did he have to fear about starving?

A new day began.

After Eric Bennett got up and jogged a few laps around the neighborhood, he was about to head home when he ran into Anna and Emily Foster carrying groceries. The two girls greeted him with a smile, and Anna showed off the groceries in her hand. “Brother Bennett, we’re here to mooch another meal.”

“How come your cooking keeps getting better?”

“I still want to eat your zhajiang noodles. Do you have some secret recipe? I’ve tried a few noodle shops lately, but none of them taste as good as yours.”

Eric Bennett beamed, “You’re welcome! Come on, let’s cook.”

Another week passed, and the weather in Beijing was getting hotter and hotter. His cooking skills had just reached the “excellent” (72/1000) level.

Besides rapidly improving his knife skills, heat control, and seasoning techniques, he was also accumulating experience in making all kinds of pastries, noodles, and other flour-based foods—from choosing flour to kneading dough, he was picking up all sorts of tricks.

For ordinary zhajiang noodles, from selecting the flour, prepping, and kneading the dough, Emily Foster and Anna could only provide things like sauce and minced lean meat.

“Excellent” meant he was a bit above average among human chefs—not as good as famous master chefs or the experts at century-old restaurants and famous snack shops.

But his home-cooked meals tasted better than many roadside eateries—that’s what “excellent” meant.

What made Eric Bennett happy was that, before crossing over, his strongest skill at age forty was driving. After crossing, where would he find a car? Now, it looked like his cooking skills had the best chance of breaking through to the next level.

When he got home and started cooking with the homemade noodles he’d prepared the day before, Emily Foster asked curiously, “Brother Bennett, Anna and I still can’t find good jobs.”

“Anna can sometimes get modeling gigs and make a little extra money. I can’t even get those—too many people have bad intentions toward me.”

“Samantha even asked me and Anna to go do runway shows at nightclubs with her… I’m kind of scared.”

“Does your business need people? Like handing out business cards or flyers outside—thirty yuan a day is pretty common. I could do that.”

Eric Bennett was surprised. “You’re not afraid of hard work?”

Most of his business so far had come through Brian Carter’s connections, but expanding his own client base by handing out business cards was necessary too. He’d met Emily Foster by handing out cards in the neighborhood.