Rebirth 04: Starting from Taking an Unconventional Approach

Han Fei and Zhang Ruiyi parked their car outside the intersection of Jianshe Road. When they arrived at the entrance of the business hall, the owner was leaning against the door, holding half a watermelon and eating it with an iron spoon. He looked like he had gained a lot of weight.

He sized up Han Fei with a dull gaze, blinking twice: "You are...?"

"Don't you remember me?" Han Fei said with a smile.

The shop owner pressed his finger to his forehead, lost in thought, staring intently at Han Fei for a long time before finally revealing an expression of sudden realization.

"Oh, you are... half a million!"

"Five hundred thousand?" Zhang Ruiyi said, "You have that nickname too."

"He's talking about the number," Han Fei whispered to Zhang Ruiyi, turning to the shop owner. He was about to shake hands with him, but seeing the owner's hands covered in watermelon juice, he immediately changed his mind. "Long time no see, Mr. Zhou."

Boss Zhou laughed loudly, as if Han Fei had told a joke, and even his limp body trembled.

"Is President Han here to patronize my business again?"

"certainly."

"No problem, no problem, please come in."

They went into the store.

Besides the smell of rotten watermelon rinds, the room also smelled of unwashed dishes and T-shirts soaked with sweat hanging on the back of chairs to dry.

Han Fei felt as if he could see the bacteria-filled gas in the air.

Five seconds later, Zhang Ruiyi had had enough of the smell, turned around and said she would wait outside.

Boss Zhou placed the watermelon on the counter, wiped his hands on his trousers, and sat down in an armchair. The armchair creaked under its weight.

"President Han, please have a seat. How were the results with that batch of phone numbers last time?"

"The results are fantastic," Han Fei said, sitting down. "So the reason I'm here is to discuss a long-term partnership with you."

Boss Zhou's face lit up: "A long-term partnership?"

Han Fei briefly explained the SP business model again, and then talked about his need for a large number of mobile phone numbers.

"So," Han Fei concluded, "I want you to be my agent and help me collect phone numbers."

The boss blinked: "What do you mean by 'agent'?"

"It's similar to last time, except this time we need to expand the scope. You're responsible for contacting the business halls in various towns and villages, collecting their phone numbers, and selling them to me. For every 10,000 numbers you collect, I'll give you a commission of 500 yuan. You don't need to put any money upfront; you're just a middleman."

Boss Zhou made a gurgling sound, and Han Fei knew it was his laughter.

"President Han," Boss Zhou drawled, "your business is quite large."

"good."

Boss Zhou tapped his knee with his fingers: "Ten thousand pieces cost five hundred yuan. If we can collect one hundred thousand, that's five thousand yuan. Five hundred thousand pieces would be twenty-five thousand yuan. That's quite a lot of money."

Han Fei realized the direction the conversation was taking, and that Boss Zhou was even smarter than he had anticipated.

"But..." Boss Zhou began.

"how?"

"President Han, you may not know this, but collecting phone numbers these days carries considerable risks."

Han Fei glanced at him expressionlessly: "What risks?"

Boss Zhou leaned closer to Han Fei and lowered his voice: "You're in the cultural business, so there are some things you might not know. These phone numbers are divided into different grades. The ones sold by the mobile company are the legitimate ones, expensive, but clean. But the quantity you want, you can't get it all at once through legitimate channels, and you can't afford it."

Han Fei waited quietly.

"The phone numbers in the hands of township and village service centers come from all sorts of sources. Some are dead numbers that people pay out of their own pockets to open because they can't meet their SIM card opening quotas. Some are obtained from middlemen who specialize in going to rural areas. They buy an ID card for ten yuan and open dozens of numbers at once. Others are obtained in cooperation with certain units, such as driving schools and construction sites, where hundreds of numbers are opened at once, and the workers themselves don't even know that they have an extra mobile phone number under their name."

"So?" Han Fei asked.

"So you need to be aware of the risks involved." Boss Zhou held up three fingers with bitten nails, then bent another one down. "First, some account holders don't even know they have this number. If you send a text message, no one will see it, and it's a complete waste."

"Um."

"Secondly, some accounts are 'nurtured'. What does 'nurture' mean? It means that someone registers a batch of accounts, keeps them there, and then sells them after the mobile network's risk control period has passed. But these accounts have a problem: their usage history is too clean, making them easy for the mobile network's system to judge as inactive users. The push notifications may go directly to the spam folder or even be blocked by the gateway."

"Um, what exactly are you trying to say?"

Boss Zhou chuckled: "President Han is a smart man, so I won't beat around the bush. The phone numbers I can get are divided into three tiers: the cleanest, the average, and the worst of the worst, which might have been in arrears for years. Ten thousand numbers for five hundred yuan is certainly possible, as for the tier..."

Han Fei sat up straight in his chair and nodded: "Your categorization is quite detailed. It seems you've done a lot of research."

Boss Zhou let out the same short, sharp laugh: "Of course. Business is business, you always have to think things through."

"But do you know," Han Fei said, "that selling numbers that even the account holders don't know about, or numbers obtained through irregular channels, is actually a violation of telecommunications regulations. Once the mobile company verifies this, not only could the business hall's license be revoked, but the operator would also bear legal responsibility. Do you want to lose the operating rights of this business hall and be invited to the police station for questioning?"

Boss Zhou burst into laughter again: "Come on, President Han, if you dare to complain about me, your business will be affected too. Besides..." He waved his hands, "I haven't broken any laws."

"Have you ever thought about this?" Han Fei asked, "Why did I come to find you?"

Boss Zhou could no longer laugh.

"The last batch of numbers really worked out, so you were the first person I thought of," Han Fei said. "But that doesn't mean I can only contact you. Look how many towns and villages are around Shanghai? How many branches are there in each town? I could go to them all, talk to them one by one, and it would take me half a month to get everything going. It's just that I'm short on time and don't want to go through that trouble, so I thought of having you as an agent to earn some easy money. If you don't want to earn this money, there are plenty of other people who do. You should know that better than I do, right?"

Boss Zhou crossed his arms over his chest, stared at Han Fei, and ran his tongue over Han Fei's yellow front teeth.

"Okay," he said, "one thousand dollars for ten thousand numbers."

"Four hundred," Han Fei said.

"Four hundred? But you..."

"Three hundred," Han Fei said.

"Deal!" he roared, raising his arms high. "When do you want it?"

"The sooner the better, ideally a batch can be delivered tonight," Han Fei said, leaning back in his chair and taking out a pack of cigarettes.

Ten minutes later, Han Fei walked out of the mobile phone store, got into his Alfa Romeo sports car, and Zhang Ruiyi was waiting in the car. By then, dusk had fallen.