My wife and I are both time travelers.

Chapter 106 Mutual Benefit
Although Xu Guoqing said that there was no need to set up stalls at Xigong for the time being, it was to deal with the warehouse matters first.

However, Lin Ying was not idle. In the next two days, she planned to deal with those calculators.

When we were promoting the calculators, East China Normal University had already ordered three units. Now that we have the goods, we naturally have to keep our promise and send the three calculators to them first.

In addition, there were quite a few calculators in this shipment. Besides dozens of function calculators, there were also some slightly less advanced ordinary calculators. Although these calculators were not as professional as the ones the professors needed, they were still good calculation tools, and they were much cheaper than function calculators. Lin Ying wanted to take this opportunity to bring them to the university and have a good talk with them.

Lin Ying told Zhou Jiye about this. Zhou Jiye was surprised that Lin Ying would come up with such a unique idea as to open up sales channels in a university. Since that was the case, why wait? The next day, they went to the Shikumen area to pick up some calculators, and then the two of them went directly to East China Normal University.

Once they arrived, Lin Ying went to find someone first. As for Zhou Jiye, his task was to carry the goods and act as Lin Ying's "protector."

The trip to East China Normal University went very smoothly. The two professors were overjoyed to hear that the ordered calculators had arrived. They had been eagerly anticipating this for days, and after waiting for so many days without seeing Lin Ying, they had worried that there wouldn't be any more calculators available.

Now that the items have arrived, of course I won't go back on my word. The calculators I bought before have made them quite the talk of the town, and these past few days several colleagues and friends have been asking me if I have any calculators.

The two were very satisfied with the calculators they brought, but they also made a condition: they hoped Lin Ying could lower the price a little more.

Lin Ying had anticipated this situation. After some haggling, she gave a discount of twelve yuan on each function calculator and ten yuan on the less powerful ones.

That wasn't all. Lin Ying seized the opportunity and proposed a collaboration where the two professors would act as their downstream agents. She would be responsible for shipping the products, while they would handle sales. As for who would ultimately buy the calculators or at what price, Lin Ying wouldn't care; they would simply settle accounts according to the price they had agreed upon.

The two professors thought the suggestion was good and immediately agreed. Lin Ying generously left them two extra calculators that she had brought that day, and they agreed to settle the bill together in a few days.

The other party said that this was absolutely no problem. In order to make the first cooperation pleasant, the other party took the initiative to write a note, which specified the model, quantity and price of the calculator, and signed it.

"Aren't you afraid they'll renege on their debts?" Zhou Jiye couldn't help but ask as they left the school.

Lin Ying wasn't worried at all. She patted the pocket where the note was and said with a smile, "This is the 1980s, do you think it's decades later? You have to understand that they are highly educated intellectuals and university professors. They all care about their reputation. Besides, they're not stupid. This kind of cooperation is good for everyone. Helping to sell a calculator will earn you ten or so yuan in extra income. Although professors' salaries are high, this amount of money is not small."

Zhou Jiye thought it made sense. People nowadays are still quite simple and honest, especially highly educated intellectuals like university professors. They value their reputation and credibility. If they break the contract, they will only lose two calculators, but the other party will lose much more.

After leaving East China Normal University, Lin Ying decided to make a detour to the Textile Institute across the street. Wasn't the first function calculator she sold to the math teacher at the Textile Institute? Since it was close by, she might as well go and find him, and also talk to him about cooperation.

For two days in a row, Zhou Jiye accompanied Lin Ying to several universities in southwestern Shanghai, developing a network of contacts. These contacts might seem like just university teachers, but their connections were considerable. Furthermore, these individuals were generally high-income earners; a price of over one hundred yuan might be expensive for ordinary people, but it was nothing to them.

The products were good and helpful for scientific research, so they were very willing to spend money on them. In just a few days, each of them sold more than a dozen units, and the number of calculators in their hands continued to decrease.

After running around for the past few days, Lin Ying decided not to expand further. After all, they had a limited number of calculators, and if they expanded further, they wouldn't have enough stock to sell. Current sales were sufficient for now; it seemed like they could sell out of calculators through this method in less than a month. They would try to get more next time they had the chance.

That day, Zhou Jiye and Lin Ying had just returned from several universities. They had settled accounts for more than a dozen calculators in one go, and had over a thousand yuan in their pockets. In addition to the sales in the previous few days, the two of them had already recovered more than three thousand yuan in payments just from calculators.

"I didn't expect these things to sell so well. I'll bring back more next time I go to Lingnan," Zhou Jiye said excitedly. He had calculated that the calculators from this batch alone, plus the ones left over from last time, would be worth more than seven thousand if sold.

We've already sold about half of it, and at this rate, it won't be long before it's all gone. No wonder when Xu Guoqing said he'd give some goods to Awei, Lin Ying deliberately didn't include the calculator in those items; it turns out she had already planned to use this method to sell the goods.

Compared to other products, calculators have incredibly high profit margins, and they're small and don't take up much space, making them far superior to other products. Zhou Jiye now regrets not having stocked more calculators; if only all of them were calculators. "Stop dreaming," Lin Ying said, pouring cold water on Zhou Jiye's daydreaming look. She told him that calculators have a limited audience, with only universities and research institutes having a demand; ordinary people don't need them at all.

In addition, there are some special professional needs of certain departments, but Lin Ying dared not touch or inquire about them. Although there are many universities and research institutes in Shanghai, there are only so many of them. Right now, these calculators are rare in China, and they have found a suitable sales channel. Once the market demand begins to saturate, they will not be easy to sell.

"In business, the first bite is crucial. The more people do a trade, the more products there are, and the greater the competition becomes. It's harder to make money then. We were lucky; we stumbled upon a bargain. Once everyone realizes what's going on, no one else will have thought of this."

Zhou Jiye was stunned and speechless. Yes! Isn't that how business works? Whatever sells well in the market, everyone rushes in soon enough, and the market is flooded with similar products. The original profits are getting thinner and thinner in the competition until the market is ruined. Then they find another track and repeat the same actions over and over again.

They were among the first in Shanghai to enter this industry, and you could say they were the first to try something new.

By chance, and with the goods they had acquired last time and this time, they made a lot of money in a short period of time. However, such opportunities will gradually lose their advantage over time, especially since the special economic zone in Shenzhen is about to be established. Once the special economic zone is established, the policies in Lingnan will be completely opened up, and the restrictions on goods leaving the province will no longer be as strict as before. At that time, a large number of people will go south to Lingnan, which is the beginning of the saying in history, "From east to west, north to south, get rich in Lingnan".

Even now, Xu Guoqing is still distributing some of his goods to Awei for sales. There are many smart people like Awei in Shanghai, not just Awei.

Moreover, they sold goods in Xigong some time ago, and those with a sharp mind have probably already figured out where their goods came from. However, due to limited information, obstructed channels, and the fact that the Pengcheng Special Economic Zone has not yet been established, these people are not yet able to go south to directly obtain goods.

"So, does that mean we won't be able to continue in this line of work for much longer?" Zhou Jiye asked, frowning.

"It depends on how you interpret it, and how you define 'how long'," Lin Ying smiled. "It's not impossible to continue, at least for a few years, and even into the 1990s. However, as time goes on, more and more people will enter this industry, the exorbitant profits will disappear, and the profits will decrease while the risks increase. What? You really plan to be a self-employed street vendor doing this kind of small business for the rest of your life? I say, Xiao Ling, is your vision really that limited?"

"Hehehe, how could that be!" Zhou Jiye chuckled awkwardly. How could that be? What kind of future is there in being a self-employed person for life? Did he really come to this era just to be a self-employed person? Self-employed people could be self-employed in his time too. If that were the case, wouldn't he have come all this way for nothing?
If I don't take advantage of this booming market where even pigs can fly, I can become a general manager, a CEO, and marry a beautiful and wealthy woman... Well, I'll put that beautiful and wealthy woman aside for now. Zhou Jiye glanced at Lin Ying with a guilty conscience, but reaching the pinnacle of life is definitely a must, so that my journey won't be in vain.

The two chatted and laughed all the way, and quickly arrived near their home. Just as they were about to enter the residential area through the alley in front, they spotted the man squatting at the entrance of the alley smoking. Wasn't that Old Wen?
"Brother Wen, what are you doing here? Did you come here specifically to wait for us?" Zhou Jiye asked suspiciously as he stopped the car.

"Good heavens, you're finally back!" Old Wen looked up and saw Zhou Jiye and Lin Ying arriving beside him in their car. He quickly patted his bottom and got up.

"Looking for us? Didn't we say we went to the university to sell calculators? What's up?"

"Something's wrong, of course something's wrong!" Old Wen smiled, and seeing that his expression didn't seem like anything bad, Zhou Jiye and Lin Ying were relieved.

"Aqing said things are all sorted out over there, and we can resume our stall tomorrow," Old Wen said cheerfully.

"It's all settled?" Zhou Jiye and Lin Ying exchanged glances subconsciously. Five days had passed in the blink of an eye. Xu Guoqing had said it would be settled in three to five days at most. These past few days, they had been busy running around to the university every day and hadn't paid attention to what was going on there. They didn't expect that Xu Guoqing's promise of three to five days would actually come true. Today was exactly the fifth day, and good news had arrived.

"How did you manage to do it?" Lin Ying asked curiously.

"I don't know the specifics. He left a message on a public phone. I'll just ask him when I see him tomorrow. But since he said he can set up a stall, it should be fine. Okay, I'll let him know. See you at the Shikumen area tomorrow, and then we'll go to Xigong together." Old Wen was in a particularly good mood, but it's no wonder he had been waiting for five whole days. Lin Ying and Zhou Jiye were able to go to the university to sell calculators every day, while he had been idly waiting at home.

The wait was particularly agonizing, especially since you have goods but can't set up your stall. Seeing that you can't do business makes you feel anxious. So this afternoon, I received a voicemail from Xu Guoqing saying that the matter had been resolved and asking Lao Wen to inform Zhou Jiye and Lin Ying. Lao Wen was overjoyed when he heard this.

(End of this chapter)