Journey 1995:Non-Stop

Chapter 12 Doing Business

Fourth Uncle said that doing business is easy, but Yan Hui actually found it difficult to understand.

In Yan Hui's opinion, any big business involving hundreds of thousands of dollars requires extreme caution and meticulousness. He didn't expect that his fourth uncle would be able to free up his hands to come over at this moment.

Business, is it really that simple?
As for Shan Ge's matter, Yan Hui felt that he had done the right thing. It was obvious that Fourth Uncle and Shan Ge had a very good relationship. If he tried to make things difficult for them, he would be the one in trouble in the end.

Thanks to the harmonious, happy, friendly and mutually supportive village environment, Yan Hui has suffered a lot from this kind of loss since he was a child.

After hanging up the phone, Yan Hui bought some food at the store. Ever since the wood gang members left the mountain, there were fewer and fewer people in the forest farm, and it was not easy for Yan Hui to buy food on the mountain.

"You are all bosses here, and you just eat this?" The shop owner was a little confused when he saw Yan Hui bought a few cold pancakes.

"I'm not a boss, I'm just an employee."

"I just heard you say on the phone that you buy hundreds of cubic meters of wood." The boss thought it was quite interesting.

"I'm working here." Yan Hui didn't explain anything, just paid the bill and left.

The Liberation truck will not go up the mountain until tomorrow morning, so he will stay in the town for one night.

After leaving the store, he felt a little regretful. He should have had a few more words with the store owner and asked him where the cheapest accommodation was.

Fortunately, the town is not big, and there are several places to stay near the freight station.

It was already quite warm at the foot of the mountain. After a few bites of flatbread and a few steps, Yan Hui realized he was too dressed. He took off his coat and started walking around. This was the first time he had seen flowers since arriving in Northeast China.

The wild flowers on the roadside are small but very beautiful. You won’t see them in the mountains.

Yan Hui was in a good mood when he arrived at the freight station. He looked around again, but still didn't see Brother Shan.

I don’t know whether I’m happy or unhappy.

There are two types of hotels here, one with bathrooms and the other with ordinary beds. Some are single rooms, while others are double rooms and six-person rooms.

Yan Hui hadn't taken a shower for a long time, and he had a lot of money on him. Being in an unfamiliar place, Yan Hui knew that safety came first, so he chose a private room with a bathroom and spent more than ten yuan.

He washed for about an hour. It wasn't that he was slow, but he really hadn't enjoyed hot water in a long time.

After washing, he also washed the coat given to him by his fourth uncle.

In the mountains, he could only wash his ordinary clothes, and he couldn't wash his coat.

As for the weather in the mountains, I don’t know how long it will take for the weather to clear up. Without a coat, I can’t last long anywhere.

After washing the coat, Yan Hui wrung it dry and hung it up. He then soaked some flatbread in hot water and ate it. He felt indescribably refreshed all over.

The single room was not big, but there was a mirror. Yan Hui saw himself through the mirror and felt that he had unlimited energy. There were countless things he wanted to know and countless things he wanted to do.

Having not looked in the mirror carefully for a long time, Yan Hui discovered that his beard had become very obvious.

Pushing the door open and going out, Yan Hui originally wanted to get a haircut, but later he felt that it was too extravagant and he could just trim it himself with scissors, so he gave up the idea.

At this moment, he went out for a walk, for no reason, just because he was young and wanted to go out for a walk, without any other reason.

He walked freely on the street, not knowing why, but he was happy.

The spring breeze blew through his hair, and he felt
"Hey, young man, want to play for a while?" Yan Hui was looking around when his thoughts were suddenly interrupted.

He turned around and saw an older woman with thick lipstick on her face standing at the door of a small house, throwing him a wink?
Yan Hui was really not sure if it was a flirtatious look, he just felt a little uncomfortable all over.

He looked at the older sister and couldn't even remember her appearance. He just felt that her lipstick was very bright and attracted all his attention.

When the eldest sister saw Yan Hui’s face at this time, her eyes lit up!
Is there such a handsome guy in this small town?

Yan Hui had never seen anything like this before. He was stunned for several seconds before he hurriedly replied, "No."

"It's okay, it's okay. I'll give you a discount!" She smiled with red lips and walked closer.

"Sister, you play by yourself. I'm leaving first." Yan Hui suddenly felt the wind under her feet and left the place in a flash.

My God, this is too dangerous. Yan Hui suddenly realized that he was still too young and didn’t know what to do.

After confirming that Hongchun had not caught up with him, Yan Hui breathed a sigh of relief and began to review the situation. He imagined a mature image of himself who was cheerful and talkative and could easily handle such embarrassing situations. He felt that he should have done better.

But he had no idea that some adults didn't feel embarrassed at all.

He reviewed it several times and looked around. He was already near the station. This was the place he was most familiar with and he had been there several times.

There are also timber shops near the station, after all, there are forests everywhere nearby.

When Yan Hui saw the lumber shop, he subconsciously felt a sense of familiarity. Although he had not been in the business for long, he already had some understanding of lumber.

Passing by a wood processing shop, Yan Hui happened to see a businessman negotiating prices.

When the price of larch was negotiated to 960 yuan per square meter, the seller expressed great difficulty and refused to give in at all.

The price the buyer wants is 850 yuan per square, and the two are still haggling.

When Yan Hui saw this scene, he felt familiar and couldn't help but stand here and watch.

Unexpectedly, the seller had a bad temper. Seeing an outsider staring at him, he immediately started to chase him away, saying to Yan Hui, "What are you looking at here, kid? Get out of here."

Yan Hui glanced at the boss, said nothing, and left.

In Fengtian, the market was full of all kinds of business owners, so even if Yan Hui looked ordinary, no one would usually say that. But in this place, anyone buying wood was expected to be older, so it was obvious that Yan Hui was not a buyer.

Of course, Yan Hui was not the buyer.

Yan Hui didn't go far.

He suffered this for no reason, why?
He was standing about fifty or sixty meters away, waiting to talk.

In the end, the buyer failed to reach an agreement and chose to "wait and see."

Comparing products from different stores is the most typical buyer's thinking.

After this person came out, Yan Hui found an opportunity and followed him.

He felt his heart beating faster for no reason, but this was completely different from the encounter with Red Lips just now. He quickly calmed down, caught up with the buyer, and expressed his purpose.

"Uncle," Yan Hui said, "Do you want to buy some wood?"

"Yes, what's wrong?" The uncle was a little wary. But after looking at Yan Hui again, his wariness was almost gone, and he was just a little impatient. "I see you want to buy larch. Do you want logs or planks? If you want planks, do you want squares or boards? What are the specific specifications?"

Seeing Yan Hui say this, the uncle knew that he was not just teasing him, so he said, "Your family sells lumber? Why, your prices are cheap?"

"Not really. If I just said it was cheap, I'm afraid you wouldn't believe me," Yan Hui said, as if he had some talent. "Uncle, it's like this. I've been in the timber industry for quite some time. I just came down from the forest farm today, but the farm doesn't sell wood to the public. To be honest, the wood we sell is at least over a hundred cubic meters, and that's only logs."

Yan Hui pointed to the shop he had just passed by and said, "I just passed by this shop. You saw how the owner treated me. So I wanted to help you."

"Why should you help me?" the uncle expressed his disbelief.

"This place is small. I asked one place for a price, but no one else can offer a lower price. You want 850 per cubic meter, right? I wonder how many cubic meters you want to buy? I can negotiate a price for you, guaranteed to be lower than 850. How about this: for every 100 yuan lower per cubic meter, you can give me 20 yuan."

"Can 850 be cheaper?" The uncle was a little skeptical. "Well, how about this, I'm looking at this larch tree. If you can negotiate it down to 100, I'll give you 30!"

"How many do you want?" Yan Hui was very calm at this moment.

"4 parties."

"Okay," Yan Hui said, "Then go ask for the price yourself. If you think the wood is of good quality, I'll negotiate with you later."

"Okay." The uncle nodded and pointed to the place. "Wait for me. I'll be back in half an hour at most."

"it is good."

The uncle went to ask the price, but Yan Hui couldn't sit idle. He immediately went to the convenience store he had just called, bought a notebook and a pen, and started writing quickly.

After finishing writing, Yan Hui returned to where he was just now. After a while, the uncle came back.

"Damn it, it's true. The lowest price is actually from the first store," the uncle said helplessly. "I think the first store can probably bargain down to 865."

"Well. Which one do you like? Take me there."

"Okay, follow me."

The two arrived at a store that was obviously very prosperous. The cutting machine was running non-stop and there were seven or eight workers.

Yan Hui ignored the uncle and went to find the boss alone and explained his purpose directly.

"Such a good board, and you told me 720 per cubic meter?" The boss was unhappy. "What are you thinking? Do you know the price of logs now? I have to pay 800 per cubic meter for electricity and labor. Forget it, you are just a child, you won't understand even if I tell you."

Yan Hui didn't use any negotiation skills. He just took out the paper he had just written, handed it to the boss, and said, "This is today's log price. If you pay more than this, it means the purchase price is too high. I have resources from the forest farm here and can help introduce you."

Yan Hui was very nervous when he said this. He originally wanted to say something much more tactful than this, but when he actually said it, it became very direct.

The boss only took one look and knew that Yan Hui was not lying. Yan Hui wrote down the prices of several kinds of wood. This was not something that could be made up. Moreover, these were the real-time prices of the past few days, and even most people at the station would not know them.

"Are you from the forest farm?" the boss began to ask.

"My friend, I need 4 cubic meters of wood right now. Cash payment is required now. This business is very fast. Will you make money from this? I guarantee that other bosses won't know." Yan Hui knew that the more he spoke, the more wrong he would be.

"Four square meters is a lot," the boss thought for a few seconds and said without further ado, "750 square meters. And you absolutely cannot tell anyone."

"Don't worry, I don't have much contact with this town." Yan Hui nodded. He knew that the boss would make at least 300 yuan from this order, and if it was 720, he would only make a little over 200 yuan.

Yan Hui knew the price of logs and the wages of porters. He had even discussed storage, electricity and other expenses with his second brother's people. He had already calculated the accounts in great detail before coming here.

Everything went smoothly afterwards. The buyer bought 4 cubic meters of wood at a price of 750 yuan per cubic meter, for a total of 3000 yuan.

After buying from here, the buyer gave Yan Hui 120 yuan in full. He was not familiar with the place and did not dare to cheat Yan Hui for such a small amount of money.

As for the boss, he actually doesn't care about Yan Hui's identity.

He was only certain of one thing: if he didn't make the money, his neighbor would.

The so-called price alliance is only used to deal with outsiders.

The deal went quickly, and the seller, buyer, and Yan Hui were all happy. The only one who was upset was definitely the shop that had driven Yan Hui away. But that shop owner couldn't come over and say anything, as the owner of this shop had a lot of things to say to him.

Of course, even if the store owner was a fool, he wouldn't come over and say anything.

These are Yan Hui’s thoughts and reviews.

By chance, Yan Hui discovered a business opportunity.

Bargainer.

He didn't know how to pronounce this word, but it meant an introducer who stood between buyers and sellers and could make a certain profit from it.

He had no investment, relying only on information asymmetry. Now he had information about timber, and the only problem was how to acquire customers.

If you go to the store every time and see customers pulling away to communicate, you will easily be beaten to death.

Even if you wait at the entrance of a store, it's okay once or twice, but if you do it too many times you'll easily get beaten.

What Yan Hui was thinking about was naturally not this small town, but the Fengtian Tiexi Timber Market.

With Fourth Uncle there, he would be safer anyway. Fengtian was a big city after all, with relatively good public security. In this small town, Yan Hui would be targeted within three attempts at most.

Yan Hui was constantly perfecting his plan to make money in his mind, and he felt a little impatient.

I really want to return to Fengtian and realize my ambitions!
As he was thinking, Yan Hui had already arrived near his residence. After all, the town was so small.

The rest of Yan Hui's money was sewn inside his clothes. The 120 yuan was just earned and was still warm. Looking at the barbecue stall not far away, Yan Hui did not hesitate and bought a barbecue for a full 9 yuan.

Generally, children of Yan Hui's age would be lucky to have two or three yuan in pocket money. Yan Hui spent 9 yuan on buying 30 barbecues, which attracted the attention of several people around him.

To be honest, the grilling skills of this chef are not very good. A lot of the meat was roasted black, and I don’t know why, but the inside was not burnt.

It was just a few black spots, probably from the smoke. He didn't care and squatted beside the barbecue stall, eating all 30 skewers of meat in one breath, as if he had never eaten meat before.

Originally, people around him were looking at him, thinking that this young man was rich. But now, seeing that Yan Hui ate like a starving ghost, no one paid any attention to him.

After eating these, Yan Hui suddenly regretted it.

It should be eaten with pancakes!

Buy some more?
Yan Hui suddenly felt reluctant to spend the money. The 9 yuan he just spent was enough for him to eat at the market for a week. Today's spending was impulsive!
After thinking about it, Yan Hui finally decided to eat this much. He would not throw away the bamboo sticks for the time being. He could go back and chew the sticks to eat half a pancake.

(End of this chapter)