radicalducati Chapter 25 Wuji, remember this.
Chapter 25 Wuji, remember this.
The next evening, around 7 p.m., Xu Zhen rode his electric scooter with Chen Che for almost half an hour before arriving at Hong Lu's shop.
During the conversation, I also told him about the inside and outside of things since I took over the snack group over the past few years.
Some of the previous senior students came from poor families and wanted to earn money to supplement their daily lives. Some wanted to earn money to spend on their girlfriends. Others didn't have any special reasons; they just wanted to earn money for the sake of earning money.
After all, for most people, making money is the only main goal of Earth Online.
Whether or not someone can make money is the sole criterion for judging their success.
Xu Zhen is like that; since he's idle anyway, he might as well figure out how to make money.
However, this month, the feeling has changed. It seems to have transformed from simply making money into striving for one's own career.
Although he still couldn't see whether the road ahead was smooth or full of thorns.
The two arrived at a not-so-bustling commercial street. Overall, there was not much business, except for a bathhouse called "Qu Shui Liu Shang" which was glittering and bustling with customers, with several Cadillacs parked inside.
"Sigh." Xu Zhen glanced at it and sighed.
"What's wrong?"
"I wonder when I'll be able to drive a Cadillac here for a foot massage."
Chen Che smiled and said, "You're promising."
"From now on, I'll keep you pinned here and you're not allowed to come out until I've washed your skin raw."
Walk a little further in, and you'll see Honglu's storefront, a bright LED sign that stands out among the prime shops for rent on both sides.
It's almost 8 p.m., and there's still a Wuling van parked in front of the store. A plump-looking middle-aged woman is unloading the goods with the driver.
Being a self-employed individual is different from being a 9-to-5 office worker. Although being your own boss sounds glamorous, in reality, it means working year-round without a break, as long as there is business to be done.
Xu Zhen leaned over and affectionately called out, "Sister Lu."
Hearing someone call her name, Hong Lu naturally looked up, a smile spreading across her face as she smiled and said, "Oh, Xiao Xu, you're here?"
Xu Zhen nodded, scratching the back of her head a little embarrassedly: "You still remember what I look like?"
"Of course! You college students are all good kids who are self-reliant and hardworking. Auntie remembers you all."
"Didn't I tell you that you can just send me a message if you need any goods? You don't need to come all the way here yourself. You college students, it's too much trouble for you to run around like this." Hong Lu's words were a bit reproachful, but her tone was full of concern.
"Hehe," Xu Zhen smiled sheepishly, then pointed to Chen Che, "This is my junior, he also wants to do this business, and this is the first time I brought him to take a look."
This was a conversation the two of them had planned long ago.
Hong Lu looked to the side. It was dark outside late at night, and he couldn't see anyone else for a moment. But when he got closer and stood under the light, he saw that it was a tall and handsome young man with a somewhat youthful face.
Chen Che lowered his head and meekly greeted her, "Hello, Sister Hong Lu, my name is Chen Che."
"Hello, hello," Hong Lu said with a smile, her eyes narrowed into slits. "You're also planning to sell some snacks in the dorm, right?"
"Yes, that's right."
"That's good. This is a good way to get some early exposure to society, which will be helpful when you start working."
"Auntie can't do it. She doesn't have much education, so she can only do this kind of small business."
As she spoke, Hong Lu led the two into the shop and took out several sheets of paper, which were her supply list.
"Please make yourselves at home. Let's see what we're planning to bring in first. We can talk in more detail after I've finished unloading the goods."
"Okay, sure."
After Hong Lu went outside to unload the goods, Chen Che found a chair and sat down, beginning to observe the store's environment. On several large iron shelves, various fast-moving consumer goods, mainly snacks, were piled up according to brand and category, including various spicy strips, instant noodles, crispy noodles, etc., belonging to different brands. Hong Lu mainly dealt with products under the Wahaha brand.
The product list provided by Hong Lu listed the product name, ex-factory price, and suggested retail price, which is the retail price at the end.
Taking Wahaha's three-tier distribution model as an example, the profit of a whole case of 24 bottles of Wahaha AD calcium milk, from the three-tier distributors to the final sales terminal, is between twelve and seventeen yuan, which is about 50 cents per bottle.
However, it's impossible for Hong Lu's class to sell by the bottle; at the very least, it's four bottles per bale. Only when it comes to Xu Zhen, the final link in the chain, is it possible to sell by the bottle to other students.
Therefore, her list also stated that one board was the smallest sales unit, and the selling price to these students was six yuan, the suggested retail price was eight yuan, and each bottle was 2 yuan.
Hong Lu went in and out of the room, handling boxes of goods while chatting casually with the two of them.
"Hey Chen, you're so handsome, do you have a girlfriend yet?"
"No, Sister Lu."
"Then you must be a freshman in college."
"Yes, Sister Lu."
"No wonder. Once you show your face more often at school, I bet girls everywhere will be asking for your WeChat."
"It's a pity my daughter is still in high school, otherwise I would definitely introduce you two," Hong Lu joked.
"Hehe, Sister Lu, please don't joke around. I'm shy." Chen Che pretended to be a shy young boy without blushing or skipping a beat.
"Haha, Auntie is absolutely telling the truth."
Xu Zhen looked at Hong Lu, then at Chen Che, and felt that the former had never been so enthusiastic towards her before. Was being handsome such an advantage?
It must be because it was Chen Che's first time here that he talked a lot.
Seeing Hong Lu leave again, Chen Che turned to Xu Zhen beside him and asked, "Senior, have you read 'The Heaven Sword and Dragon Saber'?"
"I've seen it."
Which version?
"The TV series starring Alec Su is a classic. I really love Gao Yuanyuan's Zhou Zhiruo. Damn it, Mark Chao's portrayal of Zhou Zhiruo is an irreconcilable hatred," Xu Zhen said angrily.
"Hehehe, do you still remember what Yin Susu said to Zhang Wuji when she and Zhang Cuishan committed suicide together?" Chen Che smiled and asked a question.
"I definitely remember. People always say that the prettier a woman is, the more likely she is to lie," Xu Zhen repeated after thinking for a moment.
"That's right," Chen Che nodded, "but there's also a movie version starring Jet Li, which adds a line: not only can't you trust beautiful women, but you can't trust even seemingly honest men."
"Today, I'll add one more thing: you can't trust women who seem kind and gentle."
"Huh, what do you mean?"
At this moment, Hong Lu finished checking the goods and came over to talk to the two of them.
"How's it going, Xiao Chen? What kind of goods are you planning to stock?"
"Hmm, Sister Lu, I'm still choosing, I'm a little torn."
"It's alright, it's alright, take your time looking around. Don't worry, I'm giving you college students the cost price. Auntie doesn't make much money either. I'll go get you two bottles of water," Hong Lu said with a smile.
"No need, Sister Lu, you're too kind. But I have a few questions I'd like to ask you," Chen Che said in a deep voice.
"Go ahead and ask."
"Are you a Wahaha product distributor here?"
"That's right, I'm in charge of this whole area. I supply supermarkets and communities with products, and I also do some other things, but mainly Wahaha products."
"Oh, so that's roughly equivalent to a third-tier distributor, right?" Chen Che said after thinking for a moment.
"Uh...yes." Hong Lu nodded, feeling a bit strange. Normally, college students who come to buy goods would just give her an order and then deliver the goods themselves. Why was Chen Che being so hesitant, asking all sorts of questions, as if he had something in mind?
"Xiao Chen, just say what you want to ask." Hong Lu had a vague sense of unease.
"Oh, I did the math. You're the one primarily selling Wahaha products, so how come the profit margin is about the same as other things you distribute?"
Logically speaking, Wahaha, as the main brand operated by Honglu, is part of a vertical distribution system. With a lower unit price and larger purchase volume, its profit should be more significant than other products she purchases less of.
However, Chen Che did a simple calculation of the profit of the entire supply list and it was clear that Wahaha's products were no different from others, and some products that were easy to sell even had lower profit margins.
Upon hearing Chen Che's words, Hong Lu's habitual smile suddenly froze, and even her cheekbones showed signs of sagging.
Before Hong Lu could answer, or rather, before he knew how to answer, Chen Che added.
"And I've noticed something: in the boys' dorms over there, every time everything else is sold out, the same batch of goods is always left unsold."
"Assuming that the students in each building don't have any particular preferences, then the problem must be upstream. I heard from a senior that you are the supplier for our area."
Chen Che squeezed his chin, pausing deliberately, and Hong Lu's heart skipped a beat.
"I had a reasonable guess: maybe the upstream suppliers saw that we college students didn't have much social experience, so they dumped their surplus products on us."
"But when I met you, that concern disappeared. I could tell at a glance that you weren't the kind of person who would lie to us. It must have been a coincidence, right, Sister Lu?"
On a summer night, the room was not air-conditioned and should have been a bit stuffy, but Xu Zhen felt that the air around her was a bit cold and stagnant.
Chen Che habitually put on his fake smile mask, which was so friendly and natural that it contrasted sharply with Hong Lu's frozen smile.
"Hehe, yes, what a coincidence." Hong Lu managed to squeeze out these words.