Rise in Douluo Continent with the help of bean buns

The carriage passed through the bustling main street and turned into a relatively quiet alley in the south of the city.

The noise was mostly blocked by the courtyard wall. The bluestone path was clean and flat, with houses and small shops scattered on both sides. Although it was not as bustling as the main street, it was peaceful and quiet.

"Boss, there's a Fulai Inn up ahead. It looks pretty clean," Old Li slowed down and turned around to report.

"Let's go there." Lin Chen's voice came from inside the carriage, calm and indifferent.

The carriage stopped in front of the inn. Old Chen got out first to negotiate and book two superior rooms. When Lin Chen got out of the carriage, it was already dusk. The sunset painted the horizon orange-red, and the aroma of food from various restaurants wafted through the alley.

He stood at the entrance of the inn and glanced back at the main street.

In the distance, lights lit up one after another, forming a dazzling sea of ​​light, and the faint sounds of people could be heard, making it seem like another world.

It was a world apart from Blackrock Town, which became deathly silent at night.

"Master, the room is ready. Go upstairs and rest first," Old Chen said in a low voice as he walked over.

"Hmm." Lin Chen withdrew his gaze, turned around, and entered the inn.

On the first night, we stayed at the inn.

  

The next day, Lin Chen got up as soon as it was light.

After a quick breakfast, he took Old Chen out, intending to walk around the neighborhood and look for a suitable courtyard.

The South City is the residential area for ordinary people and small and medium-sized merchants in Tiandou City. Prices are relatively cheap, and it is close to the medicinal herb wholesale market in the south of the city, making it the most suitable place to settle down in the early stages.

Walking on the streets, one can truly feel the grandeur of Tiandou City.

The streets were wide and smooth, lined with shops on both sides: pharmacies, grain shops, cloth shops, blacksmith shops, soul guide equipment shops... one after another, with exquisite signs and bright facades. Pedestrians thronged the streets, dressed in various styles: commoners carrying vegetable baskets, wealthy young men in fine clothes, and merchants hurrying along.

The most striking are the Soul Masters.

In Blackrock Town, Soul Masters are rare, numbering in the entire town by the handful. Yet, on the streets of Heaven Dou City, one can see people wearing Soul Master badges everywhere. Some are Great Soul Masters of the teens or twenties, others are Soul Venerables of the thirties or forties, and occasionally one can even see a Soul Grandmaster-level figure walking by, their aura calm and composed, causing passersby to give way.

Here, being a Soul Master is just one of the ordinary professions.

"There are just too many Soul Masters in Heaven Dou City..." Old Chen lowered his voice and clicked his tongue in amazement. "When I used to travel the world, I wouldn't see a Soul Venerable for half a month. But this morning, I saw dozens or even hundreds of them."

Lin Chen remained calm and nodded slightly.

As the capital of the empire, it is only natural that Soul Masters gather here.

That's precisely why he needs to keep a low profile.

A level 12 Soul Master with one ring wouldn't even make a splash in Heaven Dou City; it's perfect for quietly developing one's abilities.

"Let's find a brokerage firm first and take a look at the yard," Lin Chen said calmly.

"Okay, sure."

The two men turned down two streets and found a brokerage firm with a fairly large storefront. Upon hearing that they wanted to rent a courtyard with a workshop, the broker immediately began enthusiastically introducing the place, showing them three different locations.

The first location was too small, with only two courtyards, making it difficult to operate the workshop. The second location was too remote, making it inconvenient to receive and ship goods. The third location was situated at the intersection of three alleys in the southern part of the city. It was a well-organized three-courtyard house with a spacious front courtyard that could be used as a warehouse, several side rooms in the middle courtyard for living, and a sizable empty courtyard in the back, which was perfect for converting into a small workshop.

The location is quiet despite being in a busy area, only a 15-minute walk from the main medicinal herb street, making it convenient for goods to be brought in and out.

"Boss, this one looks alright," Old Chen said in a low voice, looking around.

Lin Chen walked around, his gaze sweeping over the courtyard wall, houses, and open space in the backyard, silently making plans in his mind.

"How much is the rent?" he asked the broker.

"Young master, this courtyard costs one hundred gold coins per month, paid every six months," the broker said with a smile. "This is the most well-maintained courtyard in the area. Courtyards with workshops are rare to begin with, so if you've taken a liking to it, you'd better hurry, as many merchants are eyeing it."

One hundred gold coins per month.

In Blackrock Town, the entire Qinghe Hall's monthly expenses wouldn't even cost ten gold coins. But in Tiandou City, the rent for just one courtyard would be one hundred gold coins.

Prices have increased several times over.

But Lin Chen did not hesitate.

"That's it," he said calmly. "Sign the contract."

"Okay, that's great!" The broker was overjoyed and quickly took the contract.

The contract was signed on the spot, six months' rent was paid, and the broker was given two gold coins as a service fee. The courtyard was then considered settled.

That afternoon, Old Li hired someone to clean and tidy up, and also bought some essential furniture and sundries. By evening, the yard was all ready.

Goods were stored in the front yard, people lived in the middle yard, and the workshop in the back yard was simply tidied up first, with equipment to be added gradually later.

Standing on the steps of the central courtyard, looking at the clean and tidy courtyard, Old Chen breathed a sigh of relief.

"Master, we've finally settled down."

Lin Chen nodded slightly, his gaze sweeping across the sky above the courtyard wall.

The sky in Tiandou City seems higher and farther than that in Blackstone Town.

Settling down is just the first step.

The real test is yet to come.

For the next three days, Lin Chen didn't rush to open for business.

He took Lao Chen with him and they spent every day at the medicinal herb wholesale market in the south of the city.

Baicao Street, the largest distribution center for medicinal herbs in Tiandou City, is lined with herbal medicine shops and wholesale stores. It offers everything from the most common herbs to rare, century-old medicinal materials, and from raw materials to semi-finished medicine powders.

Every day before dawn, the place is crowded with pharmacy owners, itinerant doctors, and caravan managers who come to buy goods. The place is bustling with noise and the sounds of bargaining rise and fall.

Lin Chen, dressed in an ordinary blue long gown, looked like an ordinary young master, browsing through shops one by one, looking at goods, asking prices, chatting casually, and collecting information without making a sound.

Old Chen followed beside him, occasionally asking about the market and helping to cover for him.

After three days of exploring, Lin Chen had a good grasp of the layout of the Tiandou City medicinal herb market.

The market is huge, more than a hundred times larger than that of Heishi Town. There are hundreds of pharmacies of all sizes on Baicao Street alone, and behind them are numerous planting bases and processing workshops, making the entire industrial chain extremely mature.

However, the competition is extremely fierce.

The market for low- to mid-range medicinal herbs and powders is basically monopolized by a few major local herbal medicine dealers. The top three are: Baicaotang, Huichunge, and Wanyaotang.

Baicaotang and Huichunge are established local forces in Tiandou City, with deep roots and distribution channels throughout the city. They drive prices down so low that ordinary merchants simply cannot compete. Wanyaotang is Wancheng's business. Although slightly inferior, it is still a top ten merchant with a very stable wholesale channel.

Small and medium-sized businesses can only survive in the cracks, either by dealing in niche medicinal materials or by doing low-end retail, with very thin profit margins.

"Master, business in Tiandou City is probably going to be tough," Old Chen said with a frown when he returned to the courtyard that evening. "Those big merchants are driving prices down too low. If we sell our goods at their prices, our profits will be too thin."

Lin Chen sat under the lamp, with several sheets of paper spread out in front of him, on which he had written down the prices and categories he had inquired about over the past few days.

He didn't speak, but he was communicating with Doubao in his mind.

"Doubao, analyze the current market situation and the direction for breaking through it."

[Received. Analyzing the Tiandou City medicinal herb market... Model complete.]

Market Overview:

1. Overall scale: It is more than 100 times the size of Blackstone Town, with an annual transaction volume of over 10 million gold, and a huge market capacity.

2. Competitive landscape: The top three companies (Baicaotang, Huichunge, and Wanyaotang) occupy more than 50% of the wholesale market share. They have strong brands, stable channels, and low costs, and their chances of winning in direct competition are less than 20%.

3. Current product status: Low- and mid-range products are highly homogenized, leading to fierce price wars; mid- to high-end medicinal powders are few in number, with varying effects, generally commanding high premiums but exhibiting poor quality control, leaving a market gap.

4. Consumer pain points: Ordinary calming powders and body-tempering powders have mediocre effects, high-end products are expensive and prone to counterfeits, and mid-range, cost-effective products are scarce.

Analysis of our strengths and weaknesses:

Advantage:

1. The optimized formula outperforms similar products on the market by 30%-40%, and its quality surpasses that of competitors in the same price range.

2. Costs are controllable; after optimizing planting and processing techniques, the cost is only 20% higher than that of ordinary products.

3. With the help of Wanyaotang's distribution channels, the initial entry difficulty is reduced.

Disadvantage:

4. Lack of brand awareness, no established distribution channels, and zero initial trust.

5. Small scale and limited production capacity make it impossible to engage in price wars.

6. Without local connections, they are vulnerable to suppression from leading businesses.

[Strategy for Breaking the Impasse:]

Optimal approach: Differentiate your strategy and attack the weak points.

1. Product differentiation: Focusing on "mid-to-high-end, high efficacy, mid-range price", with the third-level mind-concentrating powder and the second-level body-tempering medicine pack as core products, the efficacy is comparable to high-end products, and the price is only 20% higher than mid-range products, giving it a cost-performance advantage.

2. Channel differentiation: Instead of retail, focus on wholesale, targeting small and medium-sized pharmacies and secondary distributors, bypassing the direct competition with leading merchants and entering the market from niche markets.

3. Differentiated cooperation: By partnering with Wanyaotang as a primary distributor, we can leverage its qualifications and channels to quickly distribute our products while retaining our own brand.

Expectations: Open up small and medium-sized channels within three months, achieve monthly sales of over 300 gold coins within six months, and establish a firm foothold within one year.

Risk: Leading retailers may follow suit with imitation or price cuts to suppress prices, necessitating continuous formula iteration to maintain a leading edge in efficacy.

Doubao's analysis was detailed and clear, listing the advantages, disadvantages, risks, and solutions one by one.

Lin Chen tapped the table lightly with his fingertips.

It was pretty much as he had expected.

A direct confrontation would definitely be no match for the established local power.

But he has a core advantage – the effectiveness of his products.

This is something no one else can copy.

As long as the results are good enough, there's no need to worry about not being able to open up the market.

"Old Chen," Lin Chen raised his eyes and said calmly, "Contact Liu He of Wan Yao Tang tomorrow and tell him we've arrived. Let's arrange a time to discuss cooperation."

"Hey, great!" Old Chen's eyes lit up.

With Wan Yaotang leading the way, it really saved a lot of trouble in the early stages.

"Also," Lin Chen continued, "starting the day after tomorrow, we'll begin small-batch trial production of Tier 3 Concentration Powder and Body Tempering Medicine Packs. Not many, just two hundred of each."

"Two hundred servings?" Old Chen was taken aback. "Isn't that too few?"

"Let's try a trial sale first," Lin Chen said calmly. "Whether the market accepts it or not depends on the actual results. Let's do a small amount and test the waters."

Take steady and solid steps, and avoid rash actions.

This is his consistent style.

"Okay, I'll do whatever the boss says." Old Chen nodded and wrote it down.

The next day, Old Chen went to the main store of Wanyaotang and handed over his name card.

Upon hearing that Lin Chen had arrived, Liu He immediately came out to greet him personally, displaying great enthusiasm.

"Master Lin, you've finally arrived! My manager has been saying that you must inform him as soon as you arrive!" Liu He said with a smile as he led Lin Chen inside. "If you don't mind, please have a cup of tea here first, and I'll have someone invite our manager over."

"Thank you for your trouble, Manager Liu." Lin Chen nodded slightly.

"No trouble at all!"

The reception room of Wanyaotang was elegantly decorated, with the aroma of tea wafting through the air.

Before long, a plump middle-aged man strode in; it was Wan Cheng.

"Young Master Lin! It's been a long time!" Wan Cheng greeted him with a beaming smile, cupping his hands in a respectful bow. "I've always remembered your life-saving grace! I'm so glad you've finally come to Tiandou City!"

"Manager Wan, you're too kind." Lin Chen stood up and returned the greeting, his expression calm. "It was nothing, Manager Wan, please don't take it to heart."

"Oh, that won't do!" Wan Cheng waved his hand, his face serious. "Saving your life is a debt of gratitude, akin to being given a second life. If Lin Xiaodong ever needs anything in Tiandou City, just ask. If it's within my power, I'll do it without hesitation!"

After exchanging a few pleasantries, the conversation naturally turned to cooperation.

"I heard that Lin Xiaodong's family intends to do medicinal herb business in Tiandou City?" Wan Cheng asked.

"That's the plan," Lin Chen said calmly. "I brought some of our own medicinal powders, and I'd like to test the waters first. I'll need Manager Wan's help out."

"Sure thing!" Wan Cheng patted his chest confidently. "Lin Xiaodong's products are guaranteed to be effective! Here's the deal: you leave your goods with me, and I'll get them through Wan Yaotang's distribution channels, with all eight branches stocking them simultaneously. I'll also promote them through wholesale channels. I'll only take a 10% distribution fee; the rest is yours. How about that?"

One-tenth of the cost is channel fees.

This is already a friendly price, you could even say it's half-price or half-gift.

Lin Chen nodded slightly: "Then thank you very much, Manager Wan."

"No need to thank me!" Wan Cheng laughed heartily. "We're helping each other out! To be honest, I'm hoping Lin Xiaodong's goods will sell well, so I can benefit from it too!"

He knew exactly what he was doing.

Lin Chen is a Soul Master at a young age, and he has three Soul Venerable guards, so his background is already extraordinary. Not to mention that he saved my life, so now I'm doing him a favor and making a good relationship with him, which is definitely a win-win situation.

Moreover, any medicine powder that Lin Chen could produce must be quite effective. If it's truly a high-quality product, Wan Yao Tang can also make money from it.

Why not do something that's a win-win situation?

The two finalized the details of their collaboration immediately.

Lin Chen will supply the goods first, two hundred portions each of the Mind-Concentrating Powder and Body-Tempering Medicine Pack, which will be sold at Wan Yao Tang on a trial basis. The price will be set by Lin Chen, with Wan Yao Tang maintaining a uniform price and taking a 10% commission on each package sold. Unsold items can be returned, with almost all the risk lying with Wan Yao Tang.

The conditions are ridiculously generous.

After finishing their business, Wan Cheng invited Lin Chen to stay for dinner, but Lin Chen politely declined.

He dislikes socializing and prefers to keep things brief.

Wan Cheng didn't insist and personally saw him to the door, repeatedly telling him to contact him anytime if he needed anything.

Back in the courtyard, Old Chen was still excited.

"Boss, Manager Wan is too generous! A 10% commission on distribution fees, plus returns and exchanges—it's practically giving away the distribution channel for free!"

Lin Chen said calmly, "A favor is a favor, and business is business. He's making things convenient for us now because he sees our potential and is also repaying a favor. But if things really come to a head, the rules still have to be business."

We cannot place all our hopes on personal relationships.

Ultimately, whether they can gain a foothold depends on the quality of their products.

"How are things going at the workshop?" Lin Chen asked.

"Everything's almost done," Old Chen replied. "The equipment and raw materials will arrive tomorrow, and we can start work the day after. Old Li is already overseeing it, making sure it's clean and hygienic, and done according to your instructions."

"Okay." Lin Chen nodded. "The quality of the first batch must be strictly controlled. The raw material ratios for each batch must be exactly as I gave you; even a slight deviation is unacceptable."

Quality is the lifeline.

Especially in the early stages, whether the first shot can be fired depends entirely on the effect.

"Don't worry, boss!" Old Chen said solemnly, "I'll personally oversee it and guarantee that every single one meets the standards!"

The yard became busy in the following days.

The small workshop in the backyard officially started operations, hiring three quick-witted local workers. Old Chen personally oversaw the production, ensuring everything was made according to the recipe and process provided by Lin Chen. Lin Chen would check on the production every day to ensure the quality was perfect.

Two hundred portions each of the third-tier Concentration Powder and the second-tier Body Tempering Medicine Pack were quickly produced.

On the same day the finished product was delivered to Wanyaotang, it was simultaneously put on the shelves in eight branches.

Lin Chen did not do any publicity, and didn't even put up an eye-catching sign.

It was quietly placed on the shelf, mixed in with other medicine powders.

He's not in a hurry.

Good things speak for themselves.

Once someone buys it, uses it, and experiences the effects, word-of-mouth will naturally spread.

It's okay to go a little slower.

stable.

More important than anything else.

As evening fell, Lin Chen stood under the grape trellis in the central courtyard, gazing at the sunset on the horizon.

I've been in Tiandou City for seven days now.

The courtyard was rented, the workshop was opened, and the goods were laid out.

The first step was taken steadily.

But this is only the beginning.

Tian Dou City is vast, and its waters are deep.

The behemoths like Baicaotang and Huichunge had not yet noticed him, this little newcomer.

The real test begins when they notice.

"Master, the meal is ready," Old Chen said in a low voice as he walked over.

"Hmm." Lin Chen withdrew his gaze and turned to walk towards the main room.

The meal was simple: two dishes and a soup, light and delicious.

Lin Chen ate slowly, but his mind was racing.

Next, we just have to wait for market feedback.

If the trial sales are successful, then expand production capacity and distribution channels.

If it doesn't work, adjust the strategy.

In short, there's no rush.

He has plenty of patience.

Conceal your strengths and remain humble, proceed cautiously step by step.

He will gradually settle down in this bustling imperial capital.

Until one day, it grows into a towering tree that no one can ignore.

As night deepened, the alleys in the southern part of the city quieted down.

The lights of the main street in the distance were still bright, making the night sky glow slightly.

The three-courtyard house was quiet, with only a dim light still shining in the workshop.

The boy sat under the lamp, flipping through the account book, his expression calm.

The prosperity belongs to others.

What he needs to do is to forge his own path in this bustling city.

And this journey has only just begun.