Courtyard House: Is Xu Damao a childless man? Let me help.

There's another crucial issue: the 'attitude' of the porters is also highly problematic. Although the porters are only responsible for collecting money, they should at least interact with the customers, exchange pleasantries, and chat about everyday things while collecting money!

This will make guests feel at home, and when they choose a restaurant again, they might remember your 'friendly face' and become repeat customers.

But Banggeng acts like he's the boss and he's awesome. He's incredibly arrogant when collecting money, which doesn't add points to the customers' experience; in fact, it makes them feel like they're losing points. So it would be a miracle if this shop did any good business.

Chapter 326 The Joke of Only Cutting Costs and Not Increasing Income

At this point, Banggeng also noticed something was wrong. The store had been open for more than two months, but his profits were not ideal.

The first month was alright; I was able to earn over three hundred yuan a month. Although it was much worse than before, it was still better than the hundreds I earned in the factory.

However, in the second month, the entire store could only earn about a hundred yuan for Bang Geng.

In other words, most of the money earned by this store actually goes towards rent, labor costs, and the cost of ingredients. Although Bang Geng himself can still earn a little money, his income of around 100 yuan is not much better than working in a factory.

What made Banggeng feel most desperate was that as time went on, his shop's business was getting worse and worse every day. If things continued like this, his income in the third month would probably only be a few dozen yuan, or even less.

If I open this shop myself, wouldn't it become like doing charity? I'd be helping the landlord, cook, waiter, general helper, and vegetable sellers build a platform for them to make money, while I wouldn't earn a single penny?

This was simply unacceptable to Bang Geng, but as mentioned before, Bang Geng was completely clueless about 'business operations,' so the only way he could think of to change the situation was to cut expenses.

This immediately led Banggeng to focus on the biggest expenses. The first one was, of course, the cost of labor. A general helper, a waiter, and a cook would cost Banggeng about two hundred dollars.

You can't really change the chef, but you can change the odd jobs and waiters!

That's right, it's about replacing them! Bang Geng didn't think about taking over the job himself, but instead came up with another way: ask someone else for a salary, then why not just squeeze some money out of 'his own people'?

Thus, Jia Zhangshi and Yi Zhonghai successfully completed their 're-employment'. Fortunately, the shop's business wasn't very good usually, so the two old folks didn't have to work so hard.

But as mentioned before, this store's business has been declining. If you don't think about increasing revenue and only focus on cutting costs, you're bound to go downhill eventually.

So after saving the cost of two employees, the restaurant successfully made a profit for another month before falling back into a loss-making mode.

Now, it's definitely not going to be possible to find a solution through manpower issues. After all, if the chef is replaced with a cheaper one, it's questionable whether anyone will even come to eat at the restaurant.

If there's no solution for labor costs, then there aren't many options left. One option is rent, but rent isn't something you can just ask for a discount on because your business isn't doing well.

It's not like you can just move to another place because you think the rent is too high. Compared to other options, the cost of moving is still too high, so you can't rely on rent as an excuse.

So that leaves only one direction: ingredients. Previously, Banggeng used fresh vegetables from the nearby market, having the vegetable vendors bring their own vegetables to the shop every day, and then letting the chef pick and choose a portion to use as ingredients for the day's opening.

This model saves time and effort for the hamsters, but since they are sourced from a nearby market, the price is naturally not as favorable.

So Banggeng was thinking, could he switch to a different vegetable vendor? Or... maybe he could just switch to some cheaper vegetables? Wouldn't that lower his costs again?

Well, actually, Bang Geng himself didn't realize that his idea was very similar to the reason why his first store failed.

And then... that was it. After squeezing every last drop of profit from labor and ingredients, the restaurant's business continued to decline day by day.

After enduring another two months of hardship, Bang Geng finally couldn't hold on any longer and had no choice but to give up his plan to continue opening the shop.

In the end, the store was open for about five months in total. To be honest, I did make some money, totaling more than 700 yuan.

But did you really make money? Not really, because there are some necessary costs that need to be deducted. The usual operating costs of running a store are nothing more than rent, labor, and food costs.

However, if the store closes down, Banggeng will still have to bear some additional costs, which are the depreciation costs of the equipment purchased when the store was opened.

A restaurant doesn't actually need that much equipment. Pots and pans, tables and chairs, plus the counter and signboard, all cost less than 500 yuan in total, and these things can be sold at a depreciation rate.

So all in all, Bang Geng actually earned a few hundred yuan over these five months.

However, after half a year, he only earned a few hundred yuan, which was less than what he earned working in the factory. So this attempt at "business" was undoubtedly another failure.

Of course, since it was actually profitable after all, the costs could still be recovered. In addition, with timely "loss-cutting" later on, the principal that Bang Geng had obtained by stealing and selling parts was still under his sentence.

So after the restaurant went bankrupt this time, Bang Geng quickly started thinking about new ways to make money.

Since running a restaurant is no longer as profitable as before, could I perhaps try a different approach and switch to a different business?

The idea is good, but isn't it obvious whether he has the talent for business? He doesn't even understand such a simple business operation as slightly lowering the prices of dishes in a restaurant and taking the path of small profits and quick turnover. How can he possibly understand any business?

Moreover, given Bang Geng's mindset, from the moment he started wanting to do business, he never actually thought of any path of his own. At first, he wanted to open a grain, oil and non-staple food store, which was something he learned from Xu Damao.

Later, when he wanted to open a small shop, he copied Old Yan's idea. The restaurant he opened later was also copied, but whether it was copied from Sha Zhu or Old Liu's, no one knows.

Chapter 327 Ye Jianchuan's 'Big Move'

In short, Bang Geng couldn't think of any suitable business to do, so he could only look at what the people around him were doing to make money.

But back then, people lived in courtyard houses, and everyone saw each other all the time. Plus, all the aunts and uncles were gossipy, so there were no secrets in the courtyard houses.

You used to be able to find out what kind of business each family was doing by asking around, but things are completely different now. Now that Banggeng lives in an apartment building with Jia Zhangshi, the neighbors don't visit each other as often.

Even if you manage to say hello, get to know each other, and chat for a bit, it's very difficult to steer the conversation towards what kind of business someone else is in.

Therefore, this time, Bang Geng can't find any suitable reference.

However, Banggeng's mind was still quick. Since he couldn't find anyone to copy homework from, he decided to wander around outside and see who had a lot of money!

And then... well, the person with the most money around was Ye Jianchuan, and Ye Jianchuan owned a factory. Bang Geng looked at his own capital of only one or two thousand yuan. Own a factory? More like a hammer!

So what about the rest of them? Soon, Bang Geng found another way to 'make money': foreign trade!

That's right. Since 313 wants to copy homework, then naturally they should find someone they are relatively familiar with, or at least someone they have heard of, to copy homework from, right?

After making some inquiries and discussing it, apart from Ye Jianchuan, who can be called the "richest man", among the people Banggeng knew, it seemed that only the former director of the steel rolling mill, Director Li, had made a fortune.

That's right, it's Director Li. This guy committed all sorts of crimes for a long time during those ten years. Although he was imprisoned for a while during the subsequent purge, he started doing foreign trade business not long after he was released.

I've heard that people here now live in villas and drive cars. I don't need to aim that high. As long as I can earn one-tenth of what Director Li earns, that'll be enough for me to live on for the rest of my life!

So Banggeng quickly turned his attention to the 'foreign trade' market, hoping to find a way to get rich in this direction.

However... as mentioned before, Bang Geng's talent points have basically all been allocated to cunning and shrewdness, leaving virtually no points for business acumen.

Therefore, it would be extremely difficult for him to make a fortune through foreign trade. Moreover, although Bang Geng found out that Director Li was in the 'foreign trade' business,

However, after studying it for a long time, Banggeng still couldn't figure out what this "foreign trade" actually was.

Fortunately, Yi Zhonghai also managed to see a glimmer of hope for 'retirement' at this point, so he continued to help Bang Geng come up with ideas.

Let Banggeng not rush into starting his own business now, but first learn a little about 'foreign trade' so that he won't be completely clueless when he does business.

And so, Bang Geng began his learning journey, while Ye Jianchuan quietly started to put in his efforts during this time.

Because time had unknowingly moved to the mid-1980s, at this point in time, there was a perfect opportunity for Ye Jianchuan to make a fortune.

That was the signing of the historically famous Plaza Accord, which was signed in 85. It was an agreement signed because the United States wanted to alleviate inflation by stimulating exports.

After the agreement was signed, most people sold off large amounts of dollars, causing the dollar to depreciate significantly.

Furthermore, the island nation of Japan, where people were living comfortably, experienced rapid industrial development. As a result, in just three years after the agreement was signed, the yen appreciated by a full 100% against the dollar!

Of course, if it were just about making money that doubled in value over three years, Ye Jianchuan wouldn't need to go to such lengths. After all, if it only took three years to double his money, Ye Jianchuan felt he could easily do it by selling instant noodles.

So this matter is certainly not that simple. After this agreement was signed, there was another huge impact, which came from Japan's own country.

Because the yen appreciated sharply in a short period of time, the export competitiveness of Japanese countries declined significantly. With domestic overcapacity and exports hampered, the government naturally had to find ways to support export-oriented companies.

These companies used the money to expand production and sell aggressively, and in the end, all the money they earned was used to repay bank loans, which is equivalent to indirectly making a lot of money for the banks.

In this way, banks become the big money-makers, but banks can't just put the money in vaults, can they?

Then, a large amount of capital eventually flows into real estate, and the most well-known type of real estate is, of course, real estate.

As a result, housing prices in Japan skyrocketed, reaching the highest level in the world in just a few years.

Ye Jianchuan saw this as an opportunity to stockpile ten or eight CBD buildings in Japan before the agreement was signed and before the yen began to appreciate wildly.

Then, when the housing bubble in Japan reached its peak—no, let's not even talk about the peak. After all, by 91, the collapse of Japan's housing market was comparable to a high dive. Compared to that, the domestic stock market could only be considered 'smooth'.

So as long as he waits until 90, or even 89, Ye Jianchuan can take his profits and reap a huge windfall.

In this way, along with the doubled appreciation of the yen and a huge wave of real estate bubble, Ye Jianchuan's investment this time may only be ten or twenty million US dollars, but when he comes out, it can bring him dozens of times the return.

Of course, it's said to be "only" ten or twenty million US dollars, but in reality, it's not something Ye Jianchuan could easily come up with.

After all, in 85, China's GDP was only 3000 billion US dollars. To expect Ye Jianchuan to contribute one ten-thousandth of China's annual GDP on his own is probably giving Ye Jianchuan too much credit.

But that's alright! Ye Jianchuan might not be able to come up with the money himself, but what if he teamed up with the Lou family? Then it would be relatively easier to get the money out.

Chapter 328 The Shocking Real Estate Speculators in the East

And so, after taking care of various projects in China, Ye Jianchuan scraped together another ten million US dollars. The Lou family also managed to scrape together a similar amount. Together, the two families stormed into the stronghold of the Japanese, Dongjing, and began a large-scale acquisition of several CBD buildings.

Besides benefiting from rising housing prices, real estate also has another advantage: while waiting for prices to rise, these things aren't just sitting there unused.

Without any restrictions, it's easy to create a nested pattern when buying a house.

Ye Jianchuan quickly contacted the bank in Xiaobenzi and mortgaged the several CBD buildings he owned, which allowed him to successfully obtain a loan of more than 20 million yuan.

And what do they do with all that money? The answer is, of course, to keep buying more properties! So they use the money to buy properties, take out loans for those properties, and then use the loan proceeds to buy more properties – a nested nesting of properties.

In other words, the restrictions on loans had not been completely relaxed at this time, so Ye Jianchuan only had a dozen or so layers of loans in total.

Even so, the fact that Ye Jianchuan owns the property rights to dozens of CBD buildings is enough for him to make a fortune in the future!

Of course, when it comes to loans, since the bank has no connection to you, they can't possibly offer you low-interest or interest-free loans; loan interest rates are usually quite high.

However, this is where another advantage of real estate comes into play: the property rights of these CBDs that Ye Jianchuan mortgaged are still in Ye Jianchuan's hands.

Although the loan interest is very high, if Ye Jianchuan is unable to repay the interest for a long time, these operations could cause him to lose everything, but it doesn't matter!

Even if the loan interest is high, can it be higher than the rent? Besides, the loan amount is ultimately a fixed amount, and the repayment period has been extended to ten years. The monthly repayment amount is already more than enough to cover the rent.

And so, after making a commotion in Dongjing, the stronghold of the little devils, Ye Jianchuan finally returned to China with satisfaction.

Ye Jianchuan can be said to have gained a lot from this trip to the small notebook. The more than 20 million US dollars he spent is nothing compared to the dozens of Dongjing CBD buildings in his possession.

Of course, this can only be considered as Ye Jianchuan laying the groundwork for the future. When this groundwork is detonated, that will be the time for Ye Jianchuan to truly reap the wealth of his followers!

However, Ye Jianchuan's actions also caused some unnecessary trouble. Because he and the Lou family had withdrawn a large amount of cash, many of his domestic businesses came to a standstill and could not expand further.

Fortunately, most industries have now reached their bottlenecks and no longer need large-scale expansion; otherwise, this move might not have been profitable in the long run.

Moreover... large-scale cash flow will inevitably attract some unnecessary attention, and Ye Jianchuan's network of connections includes many official relationships, so not long after Ye Jianchuan returned from his trip to Japan, people from above started questioning him.