novellhall Chapter 7 Down Payment and Final Payment
Chapter 7 Down Payment and Final Payment
It was another lonely and unbearable late night.
The snoring in dormitory 404 was constant. I don't know if it's just because the military training is too tiring and it's only recently started, or if it's just a habit and will become the norm. If it's the latter, then it's really suffering.
Chen Che buried himself under the covers, staring intently at his phone screen with burning eyes and rapid breathing.
They were doing things that boys would secretly do alone late at night.
I just posted a question on the Dark Souls forum asking how to send an international parcel to Japan to send razor blades to Hidetaka Miyazaki.
The great Sun Knight Solar, a warrior who bravely journeyed alongside the player, a righteous warrior who brought down a thunderbolt during the battle between the two gargoyles, a spiritual mentor who provided the player with support and redemption along the way, ultimately met his end by being parasitized by the Sun Worm and driven mad.
Hidetaka Miyazaki, you have no heart.
Of course, this is not the main purpose.
Although he had told Xu Zhen that he would take care of the mobile application development, it was easier said than done.
So I spent several days browsing the school forums and online communities before I finally found a post.
"Our computer science graduate students undertake desktop and mobile application development, as well as undergraduate graduation projects. Reliable quality and reasonable prices. Contact us via QQ..."
The next evening, when Chen Che arrived at the graduate student dormitory, Xu Chong and Liu Wei were playing Skyrim with great enthusiasm.
In that world of swords and magic, a death row inmate about to be beheaded escapes. The distant and ethereal melody of "From Past to Present" makes one feel as if they are there, with one foot on soft grass and the long road to Whiterun stretching before them.
Chen Che glanced at the computer screen, then at the two people. When they realized they weren't just visiting classmates, they sat up straight with serious expressions and said, "Ahem, you're the junior who contacted us on QQ, right?"
"Yes."
"Don't worry, we are a professional team." Xu Chong patted his chest.
"What do you want to make?"
Chen Che thought for a moment, then handed over his phone, showing the Ele.me app directly: "It's basically a copy of this model. How much will it cost?"
"Um, are you doing a college graduation project?" Liu Wei asked, pushing up his glasses.
E-commerce and O2O models are currently very popular, and 80% of the graduation projects in computer science departments are various forms of e-commerce transaction systems. It is quite easy for two people to work on such a project.
"No, I mean actual business scenarios, something that needs to be ready to go live," Chen Che shook his head.
The two men glanced at him, exchanged a few words privately, and finally replied, "We can't do it."
Why?
"Junior, you might not understand since you're not a computer science major."
"The development of front-end and back-end applications is not the difficult part. The key is the high-concurrency scenario, payment process, server, database, and city-level dynamic route planning, etc."
"So, it's impossible." Xu Chong shrugged.
Since undergraduate graduation projects don't involve real users, these practical considerations are unnecessary.
"It's not that complicated." Chen Che sighed and explained the real business scenario he was facing to them. The platform displays products, customers place orders, and the order information is sent to the backend. In the early days, electronic payment was not yet implemented, and it was still a cash-on-delivery model.
Currently, we are only considering covering male dormitories. Even if we cover the entire school, there are only about 10,000 students per grade. Including faculty and staff, the maximum number of students would not exceed 50,000. There are also no flash sales or promotions available at the moment, so it is difficult to achieve such a high concurrency.
Moreover, I don't need so many complicated functions for the time being.
The two discussed it privately for a while. The software part was fine, but the server part needed some consideration.
"Why don't we use the lab's equipment? It's more stable and doesn't cost any money."
"What if my advisor finds out? Won't that be a disaster?"
"So what if he's arrogant? Last time, the boss didn't give us a single penny for that outsourcing job. He just gave us a meal and said 'thank you for your hard work' to appease us like beggars. What's wrong with taking some lab resources for free?"
"Alright, fine."
The two did some quick calculations, then solemnly said to Chen Che, "Junior, you should have a general understanding of the market. If you have actual business dealings, consider your scenario and the functions you need."
"We're all alumni, so I'll be frank with you, senior. Ten thousand, absolutely a friendly price."
"Hmm," Chen Che nodded, "Can you handle 8,000?"
"Junior, the price we quoted is already very reasonable. Think about it, we handle the front-end, back-end, UI, and everything else for a project. If you were to hire someone properly to do that, how much would it cost...?"
Chen Che shook his head and said, "Senior, I know. It's not your fault, it's mine. I'm poor."
"...Alright then."
After all, they hadn't made a sale in a while, so the two thought about it and agreed.
"How long will it take to deliver?" Chen Che asked directly.
"Uh... about half a month, our focus is still on studying, and we only take on some side jobs in our spare time." Xu Chong was taken aback, never expecting to hear the word "deliver" from a freshman.
"Hmm, it's acceptable." Chen Che nodded.
"Junior, shall we pay in cash or online banking?" Xu Chong asked with a squinting smile.
This junior didn't haggle and was a straightforward person. You have to deal with people like this when you're doing business. When you encounter other students who start by saying, "Hey bro, I'm a student, can you give me a discount?", your blood pressure will go up and you'll feel like you're about to break your legs.
"Cash, please," Chen Che thought for a moment.
"Okay." Xu Chong rubbed his hands together expectantly.
After saying that, Chen Che took out his wallet from his pocket, and then took out ten bright red Mao Zedong bills from the wallet and handed them to Xu Chong.
"Uh... junior, what does this mean? Didn't we just say eight thousand?" Xu Chong was a little confused.
"It's eight thousand." Chen Che nodded.
"It's only a thousand, isn't it?"
"This is the first payment," Chen Che said seriously. "The rest of the money will be given to you after I've actually used it and there are no problems."
"This..." Xu Chong was both amused and exasperated.
Large contracts typically do indeed have initial payments, intermediate payments, and final payments, with payments made according to the progress of the work.
The problem is, this only costs eight thousand dollars.
It's neither too little nor too much.
"Junior, we only have a few thousand yuan worth of work, and we don't even have a contract. Is it really necessary to go through all this trouble?" Xu Chong said helplessly.
Chen Che thought for a moment and said, "That's true."
"Right?" Xu Chong chimed in.
"Then why don't you guys draft a contract when you have some free time? I'll also take some time to register a company," Chen Che said seriously.
"..."
"Don't worry, look at all the businesses in my snack group, they're all generating real revenue, there's no way I'll skimp on your money." Chen Che's face was full of confidence, talking about hundreds of businesses making hundreds of dollars a day as if it were a multi-million dollar project.
…………
When Chen Che came out of the graduate student dormitory, he made a quick phone call to Xu Zhen and told her about the situation.
"Hey, senior, the development of the mobile app has been arranged, and it should be available by the end of the month."
"Yes, don't worry, I've found a professional team. Don't worry about the fees yet; let's save the money for other purposes."
"For now, I'll just do what I'm supposed to do. I'm only a freshman, unlike you guys who are seniors. I need to enjoy my youth."
"Hey, I really didn't make any personal attacks."