amaotonovel Chapter 1575 Two Street Vendors
Chapter 1575 Two Street Vendors
From that day on, Liu Yuan changed his lazy ways and became particularly attentive to his work, even taking the initiative to ask Qin Hao for more work.
Qin Hao patted Liu Yuan on the shoulder: "If you're trying to numb yourself with work, why not play some basketball? If you run into someone you don't get along with, you can fight them and vent your frustration."
"If your goal is to improve your skills and broaden your horizons, and to find a better partner in the future, I can reserve the general manager position for you."
Liu Yuan shook his head painfully, his voice low and somber: "There is no better girl in this world than Han Ling."
Qin Hao scoffed: "That's because you haven't met enough girls."
"Ask yourself honestly, why do you like Han Ling? Isn't it because she's beautiful and has a great temperament?"
Liu Yuan opened his mouth, wanting to refute, but found himself speechless.
"To put it bluntly, you're just looking at the world from the bottom of a well." Qin Hao stared into his eyes: "There are plenty of girls in this world who are prettier and have better temperament than Han Ling. You've only met Han Ling, how do you know you won't fall for other girls?"
Liu Yuan paused for a moment, then shook his head: "You don't understand. You make it sound so easy, but it's been four years for me. For four years, my heart has been with her. You want me to let go all at once? I can't do it."
“I didn’t expect you to let go all at once.” Qin Hao’s tone softened a bit. “I just want you to know that there are many girls in this world who are better than Han Ling and equally worthy of your affection. You can focus on your work and improve yourself first. When you stand higher and see further in the future, you may find that those things that caused you so much pain back then were not such a big deal after all.”
Liu Yuan lowered his head and remained silent for a long time before saying in a muffled voice, "You make it sound so simple."
"It's a simple truth," Qin Hao joked. "Only children talk about forever. The world changes, people change, and who knows, maybe one day even your sexual orientation will change—"
"Ugh, you're disgusting." Liu Yuan took a few steps back with a look of disgust, almost losing his balance in the chair.
Qin Hao laughed and patted him on the shoulder: "In short, don't jump to conclusions so soon. You can try to improve yourself first, and then decide whether you want to continue sitting in your dry well and rotting away after you've seen a wider world."
Liu Yuan looked up at Qin Hao, his eyes slightly red. His lips trembled a few times, as if he wanted to say something, but in the end he only managed to squeeze out, "Old Qin, thanks."
"Pretentious." Qin Hao picked up the documents on the table and flipped through them: "You've made great progress in the past two weeks. Keep up the good work. The real work will only begin after you've finished reading this stack of documents."
Liu Yuan sat up abruptly, a long-lost fighting spirit appearing on his face.
Over the next period of time, Qin Hao began to familiarize Liu Yuan with the business, teaching him some management skills and tricks. From how to deal with bosses to how to arrange employees' work.
Liu Yuan is actually very smart, but his mind used to be focused on Han Ling, so he didn't have time to think about these things. Now that he's calmed down, he picks things up quickly, understanding everything after just one explanation and mastering it after one lesson, saving Qin Hao a lot of trouble.
Perhaps due to the effectiveness of last year's promotion, the first edition of "Zhongguancun Yellow Pages" this year has increased from more than 200 shops to more than 400 shops. Of course, some of these are newly opened this year.
Of course, the main reason is that Qin Hao's pricing is cheap enough. Four hundred yuan a month can achieve a good advertising effect, which is a good deal for shop owners in Zhongguancun.
……
With the start of the new school year approaching, Wang Meng and his friends returned to school one after another. After learning that Han Ling had dumped Liu Yuan and gotten together with Xiao Ran, they all felt indignant on Liu Yuan's behalf.
"No." Wang Meng slapped the blanket onto the bed. "Xiao Ran is really unfair! We might not be brothers, but we've lived in the same dorm for four years. How could he do this?"
“That’s right,” Zhang Wei chimed in, tapping his cup on the table. “Han Ling, well, she dumped him, but what was she thinking? How did she end up with Xiao Ran? What’s she after?”
Just as Wang Meng and his friends were filled with righteous indignation, Chen Qiming, who was passing by the dormitory, heard what they said and questioned them.
"Why weren't you on my side when Qin Hao stole my girlfriend?"
Wang Meng said disdainfully, "How can that be the same? Sun Yumei didn't even think much of you. Besides, at least Sun Yumei made things clear to you beforehand. Han Ling handled this matter even worse than Sun Yumei."
Before he could finish speaking, a figure rushed over and shoved Wang Meng to the ground: "What did you say? Say it again!"
No sooner had he finished speaking than a figure rushed over and shoved Wang Meng to the ground.
"What did you say? Say it again!"
Wang Meng was stunned. He looked up and saw Xiao Ran. He was wearing a faded jacket, his eyes wide with anger, looking like an enraged, trapped beast.
Wang Meng got up from the ground, dusted himself off, and said with a look of disdain, "I told you so! Han Ling handled this even worse than Sun Yumei. At least Sun Yumei made things clear to Chen Qiming beforehand. What about Han Ling? She had Liu Yuan serving her hand and foot for four years, while she was secretly having an affair with you. What kind of behavior is that?"
Before he could finish speaking, Xiao Ran threw a punch at Wang Meng. Wang Meng was prepared; he dodged to the side and grabbed Xiao Ran's wrist, pulling him aside. Caught off guard, Xiao Ran lost his balance and crashed headfirst into the leg of the metal bunk bed, drawing blood from his forehead.
“You all saw it. He lost his balance on his own. It has nothing to do with me.” Wang Meng was also a little scared when he saw Xiao Ran bleeding.
Zhang Wei and Chen Qiming were stunned for a few seconds before hurriedly stepping forward to check on Xiao Ran's injuries. Xiao Ran, however, pushed the two away, stared intently at Wang Meng, and then staggered out of the dormitory.
A few drops of blood remained on the corner of the bed, appearing particularly glaring under the incandescent light.
"Wang Meng, is Xiao Ran alright?" Zhang Wei peeked out the door, then turned back with some concern.
Wang Meng stood there, his chest still heaving, but he said defiantly, "They ran away all this time, what could possibly happen? It's probably just a minor injury."
He paused, took out a cigarette from his pocket and lit it: "You know, I guess I've gotten revenge for Liu Yuan, right? He should at least treat his buddies to a meal."
The words had barely left his mouth when the dormitory door was pushed open, and a gust of cold wind carrying the smell of disinfectant from the hallway rushed in. Liu Yuan was wearing a dark blue cotton-padded jacket, carrying a plastic bag, and his hair was a little messy from the wind.
"Who's going to treat us?"
Wang Meng and Zhang Wei took turns recounting the entire scene, embellishing the details.
Upon hearing that Xiao Ran had been beaten up, Liu Yuan was in high spirits: "Alright, it's my treat. Tonight, we'll have all the barbecue and beer we want."
Wang Meng looked behind Liu Yuan and asked, "Where's Lao Qin? Should we call him along?"
Liu Yuan waved his hand: "I can't reach him, he went to Shenzhen."
Chen Qiming hesitated for a long time before finally leaning forward and shamelessly asking, "Um... can I join?"
Liu Yuan glanced at him sideways: "You can come if you want, but you're not allowed to say anything bad about Lao Qin, or don't blame me for being ruthless."
Chen Qiming curled his lip, his tone as if he were swallowing bitter herbs: "Alright, Liu Yuan, I know you're working for Qin Hao. He's not here now, so stop pretending to be a loyal minister."
"Stop spouting nonsense. If it weren't for the fact that we used to have a pretty good relationship, Chen Qiming, I would have punched you for saying that." Liu Yuan glared at Chen Qiming, enunciating each word clearly.
"He who eats another's food is bound to him," so Chen Qiming had no choice but to shut his mouth and follow him out the door.
On the night market street, the lights from the food stalls illuminated the entire street. A few people sat around a folding table, and the waiter brought over a large plate of grilled kidneys, a handful of cartilage, and several skewers of lamb. Wang Meng picked up a piping hot piece of kidney and bit into it, his cheeks bulging.
"Liu Yuan, school starts tomorrow, what's Lao Qin doing in Shenzhen?" Wang Meng asked vaguely.
Liu Yuan picked up his beer, took a swig, put down the glass, and tapped the rim of his bowl with his chopsticks: "Isn't it because there's a shortage of memory sticks in Zhongguancun lately? Old Qin went to Shenzhen to see if he could get some to buy from there and make a profit."
"Memory sticks?" Wang Meng looked surprised. "Isn't Lao Qin involved in that Zhongguancun Yellow Pages business, printing brochures and advertising? How come he's started dealing in hardware?"
"So you bunch of bumpkins don't understand Lao Qin at all." A barely perceptible smile appeared on Liu Yuan's lips. "You think he only makes money from advertising fees by running the Zhongguancun Yellow Pages? He's thinking much further ahead than you. Every day, he has his clerk compile a table summarizing the hardware price information they collect, then he sees which hardware is profitable, and then goes to Shenzhen to find suppliers. He not only helps these shops in Zhongguancun solve their immediate problems, but also makes a fortune from it."
Wang Meng and Zhang Wei were stunned. Their chopsticks froze in mid-air, and it took them a while to find their voices: "You can do that?"
Chen Qiming picked up a piece of kidney, popped it into his mouth, and rolled his eyes: "What's the big deal? In the end, he's just a middleman. What can he possibly amount to?"
Liu Yuan was immediately displeased and slammed his wine glass on the table: "What do you know! Do you even know how much Lao Qin earns a month? He's still nothing special!"
"How much?" Wang Meng and Zhang Wei both craned their necks.
"I'm not entirely sure of the exact amount, but based on the price difference of this batch of memory sticks, it's at least this much." Liu Yuan held up two fingers.
Wang Meng mustered his courage and guessed, "Twenty thousand?"
Liu Yuan curled his lip in disdain: "Is it really necessary for Old Qin to make a personal trip for just 20,000? It should be at least 200,000!"
Even Liu Yuan himself didn't realize that at some point, he had become indifferent to 20,000 yuan.
You know, at this time last year, he was racking his brains trying to find a way to save some living expenses to buy gifts for Han Ling.
Wang Meng and Zhang Wei were utterly astonished. Twenty thousand was an astronomical figure for them, and two hundred thousand was completely beyond their comprehension. Wang Meng opened his mouth, then closed it again, repeating this several times without making a sound. Zhang Wei suddenly felt that even the lamb skewers in his hand didn't taste so good anymore.
Chen Qiming was also shocked, almost dropping his chopsticks. He had originally thought that the tens of thousands of yuan Qin Hao had earned before was a lot, but now it seemed that that amount of money was nothing to Qin Hao. His lips twitched, and a complex light flashed in his eyes, which was quickly covered by an even more embarrassing jealousy.
However, this also made Chen Qiming even more convinced that Sun Yumei rejected him entirely because she wanted Qin Hao's money.
So Chen Qiming secretly vowed that once he graduated, he would earn far more money than Qin Hao, and then he would make Sun Yumei kneel at his feet and repent.
……
Meanwhile, in Shenzhen in March, the air already carries the scent of summer. While people in the north are still bundled up in cotton-padded coats, people here have already switched to lighter clothing, and the banyan trees lining the streets are sprouting new buds, tender green, glistening in the sunlight.
Qin Hao exited Guangzhou Railway Station and boarded a bus bound for Shenzhen. The scenery outside the window changed from fields to factories, and from factories to skyscrapers, with buildings flashing by like a fast-forwarded movie.
"Shenzhen Huaqiangbei is the distribution center for electronic components in China. As long as you have money, there is no product you can't buy."
The bus bumped along the Guangzhou-Shenzhen Expressway for nearly three hours before finally entering Shenzhen city. Qin Hao looked out the window and saw that the city was growing at an astonishing pace, with scaffolding and tower cranes everywhere, and high-rise buildings rising from the ground amidst the swirling dust.
The car stopped at Luohu Bus Station. Qin Hao got off the bus carrying a canvas bag and headed straight for Huaqiangbei.
Guancheng was established in 1984, but what truly made Huaqiangbei a national distribution center for electronic components was the SEG Electronics Supporting Market.
SEG Electronics Parts Market officially opened in 1988, becoming the first electronics trading market in China specializing in the sale of domestic and international electronic components. Located on the first and second floors of the SEG Industrial Building, the market wasn't large, but the stalls were packed tightly together, selling all sorts of electronic components—resistors, capacitors, integrated circuits, computer accessories, memory modules, CPUs, hard drives—almost every electronic product you could imagine could be found here.
In 1992, with the arrival of spring, the spring of the first generation of component manufacturers in Huaqiangbei also began, and Huaqiangbei became a huge success.
The entire street was packed with people, shoulder to shoulder. Shops lined both sides of the road, their signs brightly colored, displaying the names of various electronic products. Stalls were set up in front of the shops, surrounded by people, creating a lively atmosphere filled with the sounds of bargaining.
The air was thick with the smell of sweat and the distinctive plastic smell of electronic components, and the noise level was no less than that of Zhongguancun in Beijing, and perhaps even greater.
Qin Hao, carrying his bag, squeezed through the gate of the SEG Electronics Parts Market. As soon as he entered, a wave of heat hit him. There were even more people inside than outside. Walking along the aisle, there were counters on both sides, filled with all kinds of electronic components and computer accessories.
"What do you need, boss? RAM or CPU? I have both." A young man with a Cantonese accent poked his head out and greeted him warmly.
"What models of RAM do you have?"
"We have 386 and 486 gauges, 30-needle and 72-needle gauges. Which one do you want?"
How much is a 30-stitch pack?
"30 needles are cheap, 1MB is 300 per strip, 2MB is 500. How much do you need? We can give you a discount if you have a large quantity."
Qin Hao shook his head and turned to continue walking inside. He was calculating in his mind: while 30-pin memory sticks were cheaper, a 32-bit system required four sticks per group, resulting in lower stability. 72-pin sticks were the mainstream; one 32-bit stick meant two sticks would suffice, and they were compatible with everything from 386DX to 486, making them easier to sell.
He walked around the market several times, asking at every stall selling memory modules, but in the end, he returned to the stall where he had previously inquired about prices.
Inside the stall, the owner was a middle-aged man in his forties, with some graying temples, speaking in a broken accent.
"How much does a 72-pin 2MB FPM cable cost?"
The shopkeeper held up four fingers: "Four hundred and eighty. How much do you want?"
Qin Hao frowned: "It's too expensive. The previous stores only quoted 450."
The shopkeeper glanced at him and smiled: "Young man, you know quite a lot. The one for 450 is a counterfeit, without a warranty. Mine are all original imports, Samsung, 70 nanosecond, with a warranty. If there are any problems within a month, we'll replace it with a new one."
Qin Hao remained calm: "I want ten thousand. What's the price?"
The boss's eyes lit up: "Are you sure you want ten thousand?"
"Hmm, 10,000 72-pin 2MB, FPM. Give me a fair price."
The boss thought for a moment, then held out one hand: "Four hundred, that's the lowest I can go. My purchase price is already around three hundred and eighty, and I still have to pay taxes and rent, so I don't make much money."
"Three hundred and eighty."
"No, no, I'll lose money on 380 yuan." The boss shook his head repeatedly.
Qin Hao stood up, making a move to leave: "Then I'll go check out other places."
"Hey—don't go, don't go." The shopkeeper quickly stopped him, gritting his teeth: "Three hundred and ninety, this is the lowest price. If you lower it by even one cent, I can't do business."
"Deal made. How do we proceed?"
"Of course, it's cash on delivery."
"Pay 20% deposit first, and the remaining 80% within three days of the goods arriving. By the way, can you issue an invoice?"
"No problem, as long as the money is there, anything is fine."
The next day, Zhongguancun.
"Hey! Boss Qin! Back from making your fortune in Shenzhen?" The fat boss had sharp eyes and spotted Qin Hao from afar, looking travel-worn but with bright eyes, and greeted him warmly.
Without wasting any words, Qin Hao handed the other party the purchase order from Shenzhen.
"72 stitches...this stuff is good. Mr. Qin, what's the price...?" The chubby boss took the purchase order, his eyes lighting up.
Qin Hao held up four fingers and waved them steadily in front of the fat boss: "Four hundred and thirty, one."
"Four hundred and thirty?!" The fat boss's face twitched visibly, and his voice rose slightly, filled with exaggerated surprise. "Boss Qin, you're... a bit too much, aren't you? Our normal purchase price is over three hundred..."
“Thirty hundred was the price before the New Year. Besides, I have to make a trip to Shenzhen. How about this, four hundred and twenty a piece? Only you can afford this price. No one else can offer a discount.” Qin Hao lowered his voice.
"Tsk!" The fat boss took a deep drag on his cigarette, stubbed it out hard in the enamel mug full of ash, as if he had made up his mind: "Fine! Boss Qin is a man of few words, and I'm straightforward too! Four hundred and twenty it is! Give me fifty cartons first!"
"Okay, I'll have someone deliver it to you when the package arrives tomorrow."
Soon, the 10,000 memory sticks were divided up among these bosses.
In fact, these shop owners also know that it is cheaper to get goods in Shenzhen, but their shops only produce a few dozen pieces a month. Only those with large quantities in Huaqiangbei are qualified to negotiate prices. Moreover, after taking into account the time and other costs of going to Shenzhen, the price is not much different from the price Qin Hao offered.
Qin Hao calculated that after deducting all costs, he earned 28 yuan from this trip, which was much more lucrative than simply making money from advertising fees through yellow pages. (End of Chapter)