I met my whole family through Baidu Tieba.

Hearing Shen Kang's question, Yu Zeliang thought for a moment and said, "You didn't say the specific model, but at this price point of two thousand yuan, and it's a Nokia, we can roughly filter out the general functional parameters... If it's the kind of second-hand condition you mentioned, from what I know, college students will still buy that second-hand Nokia."

Seeing Shen Kang's interest in this topic, Yu Zeliang added, "Based on my experience making counterfeit phones recently, college students really care about brands. Nokia phones sell the best. I know quite a few students who scrimp and save to buy an expensive Nokia."

"For more niche brands, like Blackberry, there are students who like to buy them. The main selling point is that they are unique and different from others."

Those who buy counterfeit phones fall into two categories.

"A smaller minority are those who are after the special features of counterfeit phones. For example, counterfeit phones often have very loud volumes, and they also have special features like dual SIM dual standby, which are not available on branded phones. That's what they're after."

"There's another group, which is larger, consisting of students from less affluent backgrounds, since knock-off phones are cheap. The 'new stock for 1,000' you mentioned is already considered a bit expensive for a knock-off phone; the mainstream price is around 300 to 600. But even so, the profit margin for knock-off phones is quite considerable."

Because it involved trade secrets, Yu Zeliang did not disclose the specific figures, but smiled mysteriously and made a money-counting gesture, "I can only say that the profit margin in the mobile phone industry is too high. Even if it only sells for a few hundred yuan, the profit margin of counterfeit phones is already very high."

"Although I haven't had any contact with those who make legitimate mobile phones, I can tell from the counterfeit phones that the profit margins of legitimate mobile phone manufacturers are terrifyingly high..."

Yu Zeliang spoke eloquently.

Shen Kang listened with great interest.

Seeing that Shen Kang was listening attentively to what he was saying, Yu Zeliang felt quite pleased—look, even someone with such an important background listens to him so attentively.

So I talked even more. Except for some things that involved trade secrets, I said everything I could.

Shen Kang did indeed gain a lot of information.

After Yu Zeliang finished speaking, he said, "Student Yu, if I had a batch of used brand-name mobile phones, would you be interested in selling them together with me?"

Yu Zeliang thought of the secondhand website Shen Kang had mentioned earlier. "You mean your secondhand website?"

Shen Kang nodded. "Mm."

Yu Zeliang hesitated for a moment.

The main problem was that he had never done this kind of business before. When he thought about selling a used phone, he immediately thought about the quality issue: after all, used phones have been used and then sold, so who knows if there are any problems with the phone? And the possibility of problems is not small. Otherwise, why would the owner of the phone sell it? It is very likely that the phone has a problem.

If he were to sell this kind of phone to his customers, his reputation would likely be in trouble.

After some hesitation, Yu Zeliang finally expressed his concern in a tactful manner.

Shen Kang smiled and said, "You can rest assured about such concerns. I have already partnered with the School of Electronic Engineering at our university to develop a testing system that can guarantee the quality of the used mobile phones we collect. We will also formulate different standards based on the various conditions of the used mobile phones, such as 99% new, 95% new, 90% new, 80% new, 70% new, and so on."

"Different standards result in different prices. The better the overall condition, the higher the price, and the worse the overall condition, the lower the price. But even the worst condition phone can still guarantee that its basic functions are intact and will not affect its use. We will not accept phones that are below this standard."

Hearing Shen Kang speak so earnestly, Yu Zeliang felt a little relieved, but doubts still lingered.

However, he also wanted to befriend Shen Kang, and since Shen Kang had said so, he couldn't continue questioning him on that point. He could only change the subject: "If that's the case, then that's fine... But Shen Kang, didn't you just say you have a secondhand website? If you have any secondhand phones, you can list them there to sell, right?"

Then he volunteered, "I can also help you promote your secondhand website at our school. Then, if our students want to buy a secondhand phone, they can buy it directly from your website."

In any case, Yu Zeliang just wanted to extricate himself from this matter.

Shen Kang explained, "My sources are all in Yangcheng. If I were to sell across two cities, people at your school would be a little hesitant to buy from me. After all, these days, people feel most comfortable buying secondhand items face-to-face offline."

Yu Zeliang put himself in that shoes and realized it was indeed true.

Shen Kang continued, "Furthermore, if my website were to expand to your school, in the initial stages, your students wouldn't know about our website and wouldn't trust it, which would further increase the barrier to purchase. But it's different with you. Yu, you've sold quite a few phones and have a good reputation at school. If you were to come forward at the beginning, everyone's trust would be stronger, and they would be more willing to try buying."

Yu Zeliang cursed inwardly, "You just want to use my name, don't you?"

Shen Kang continued, "Of course, we haven't known each other for very long, and I'm the one making all the talk. You won't know the actual quality of these used phones; there might be some defective ones among them. So I can offer some guarantees, such as a one-year warranty. If the phone has any quality issues within a year, it can be repaired for free."

Shen Kang thought that Yu Zeliang would be more interested in his safeguard measure.

To his surprise, Yu Zeliang seemed not to have heard anything, his expression barely changing.

This puzzled Shen Kang: "Can't a one-year warranty give consumers confidence?"

Yu Zeliang glanced at Shen Kang and, seeing that Shen Kang didn't seem to understand the ins and outs, said, "A one-year warranty is something that many counterfeit phones also have, but in reality, it's almost non-existent."

"More than 90% of counterfeit phone manufacturers are actually not even registered as legitimate companies; they are just illegal workshops. And they have a lot of tricks up their sleeves."

As she spoke, she counted on her fingers and explained to Shen Kang the various situations involved: "One type of counterfeit phone manufacturer doesn't have a fixed after-sales service center at all. The so-called customer service phone numbers are all temporary numbers that are discontinued after two or three months, so customers can't find them at all."

"There's a type of counterfeit phone manufacturer that promises free repairs. But when you actually go for repairs, the repairs are indeed free, but they often say that parts need to be replaced, and the price of those parts is very high. Even if you pay a high price for the parts and actually get them repaired, those parts are very likely to be recycled, low-quality parts."

"There's another type of counterfeit phone manufacturer, which operates like a guerrilla force. Their repair shops are never fixed; they change locations every few days. You can't stand that..."

As Shen Kang listened to Yu Zeliang explain the ins and outs of counterfeit phone manufacturers, he gained a deeper understanding of the current counterfeit phone market.

I have a lot of respect for the various tactics used by those counterfeit phone manufacturers.

After Yu Zeliang finished speaking, Shen Kang thought for a moment and then made a clear promise: "Student Yu, you may not know this, but I own a housekeeping company called 'Anjia'. You can search for it online later; it's quite well-known in Yangcheng."

"Anjia Home Services is about to expand to more than a dozen cities in the province. If we reach an agreement, I will also set up a dedicated after-sales service point for your used mobile phone business in your area, so you don't need to worry about not having an after-sales service point."

"You can go to the site in person to see for yourself and confirm that we have a real after-sales service point before deciding whether to cooperate. We can also show you some materials about this after-sales service point so that you can be sure that we are committed to long-term operations and not the kind of operation that involves hitting one location and then moving on."

She even opened a housekeeping company?

Goodness, Shen Kang has really got quite a few businesses.

With this in mind, Yu Zeliang was finally starting to be tempted by Shen Kang's new proposal—if Shen Kang really did open a dedicated after-sales service point there, it would indeed be more reliable.

"If that's the case, then it's not bad..."

The two stood at the door and chatted for quite a while.

While a specific cooperation plan hasn't been finalized, a rough outline of the next steps has emerged. Whether or not the cooperation will actually take place, and how it will proceed, will depend on Shen Kang's next steps.

While the two were talking at the door, the members of both teams finally came out after buying souvenirs.

So the two paused their conversation, planning to discuss it online later.

For now, let's enjoy ourselves and not waste this precious time.

The group continued strolling along Zhuangyuan Street.

During their stroll, as they passed the former residence of Zhao Yijiong, Ye Jintong casually mentioned the "Three Sus" that Shen Kang had once mentioned, saying that messing with Yu Zeliang and his group would be quite fun. However, Shen Kang clearly couldn't explain himself, so he simply pointed to the sky, shouted, "Look, a UFO!", and then made a quick getaway…

Zhuangyuan Street is not very big.

After exploring the entire street, it was just about lunchtime.

Since none of them were familiar with the area, Shen Kang asked the driver if there were any good restaurants nearby.

The driver was quite familiar with the area and immediately drove them to a nearby food alley.