Chapter 28: Chen Yang's Plan

Although Du Yue'e was angry and returned to her own room, the door wasn't closed, so she could still hear the conversation in the living room clearly. Upon hearing that Chen Yang planned to open a supermarket in Qingshui, her heart fluttered.

"Weiwei, is what Chen Yang said reliable? Or is he just trying to cheer up Dad?"

"Sister-in-law, don't worry. Since he took the initiative to bring this up to Dad, he'll surely follow through."

Lin Wei had never seen Chen Yang do business, but she still had confidence in his investment judgment.

In Xingcheng, that Sunshine Garden Community—she only went for a stroll and felt it had great appreciation potential. Being able to act decisively and buy when others hesitated, who among ordinary people has such courage?

Of course, she also hoped Chen Yang would stay and develop in Qingshui City long‑term. Even if it was just a small supermarket, as long as it was under her nose, that little vixen Qingqing wouldn't stand a chance.

Lin Wei pushed Du Yue'e out of the room and then pulled her back to the table. Seeing Du Yue'e embarrassed to speak, she took the initiative to ask Chen Yang: "Honey, are you really planning to open a supermarket in Qingshui?"

Hearing her call him "honey" for the first time, Chen Yang felt comfortable and spoke more readily. "If you also support it, then I'll definitely open this supermarket."

Lin Wei gave Chen Yang a roll of her eyes. "What do you mean 'you also support it'? Of course I support you! Since this guy is getting full of himself, I'm happy to add fuel to the fire." "Can you handle two supermarkets at once? I know you have zero experience in this."

"Leave it to me, you can rest assured!" Chen Yang had indeed never opened a supermarket, but he had money in his pocket and had lived through a rapidly developing era. He understood how to make money better than many people of this time.

"Don't exaggerate?" Seeing Lin Jianguo's displeased face, Lin Wei knew Chen Yang was getting a bit overconfident. She gave him a light kick with her foot and said: "You need to lay out a concrete implementation plan so Dad and sister‑in‑law can understand whether it's feasible or not."

Chen Yang immediately grasped Lin Wei's meaning. After a moment's thought, he said: "I plan to first buy a few storefronts at the newly built Shuanglin Market near the South Gate. The planning there isn't grand enough, the storefront space is narrow, and it can't attract big businesses. Small traders are limited by funds, so many are holding back. I heard from my aunt that the developer has dropped the price from 150,000 to 100,000 per unit, yet many storefronts remain vacant."

"However, although Shuanglin Market is a bit small in scale, its location is excellent. To the east is Qingshui Wei School, and to the north, west, and south are old residential neighborhoods. Opening a distinctive supermarket there would guarantee a steady flow of customers."

Lin Wei noticed Chen Yang mentioning the word "specialty" and asked curiously: "Honey, what kind of specialty supermarket are you planning to run?"

Chen Yang continued: "I have two plans. First, sell agricultural products; second, sell cheap clothing."

"Selling agricultural products is a bit difficult. Because the old residential areas around Shuanglin Market all have fixed temporary vegetable markets, ordinary people won't go the extra distance to buy vegetables elsewhere."

"Selling clothing, we can source from wholesalers or factories in southern cities. Take the hot‑selling jeans on the street: market price is a few dozen to over a hundred yuan per pair, while factories charge only a dozen or even a few yuan. The profit is quite substantial!"

"Selling agricultural products might not work; we should go with clothing instead!" Du Yue'e cooks at home every day and is experienced in buying vegetables. From her perspective, she wouldn't travel far just to buy groceries.

"Selling agricultural products isn't impossible either." Chen Yang smiled and added: "Most people have a psychology of liking a bargain. If we spend a little on advertising and lower the vegetable prices somewhat below market rates, they won't mind walking a bit farther."

"If you lower the vegetable prices, how will you still make money?" Du Yue'e, who had never done business, didn't quite grasp Chen Yang's idea.

Chen Yang explained: "We can cut costs at the source. Ordinary vegetable vendors buy from the agricultural wholesale market; we can go to suburban or county‑town rural areas to purchase directly, turning the middleman's margin into profit."

Lin Wei pondered and said: "We save on the middleman's margin, but the labor cost of going to the countryside to procure, the round‑trip transportation fees, and spoilage during transport—could these make the cost even higher?"

Chen Yang explained: "We can partner with the local township government or village committee to set up an agricultural procurement point that collects goods centrally and delivers them door‑to‑door. They gain income and solve part of their idle labor; we save on some labor costs—it's a win‑win."

Lin Wei was somewhat impressed by Chen Yang's brain—who would have thought to cooperate with grassroots units? Qingshui City is the poorest city in Dongjiang Province; aside from the urban area, its subordinate counties all wear the poverty hat. Before returning to Qingshui, Xu Li had also specifically mentioned to her the problem of agricultural product backlog in Qingshui's counties. Chen Yang's move also indirectly inspired her future work direction.

"As far as I know, the grassroots officials in the nearby counties only see big distributors. A little supermarket like yours might not catch their eye."

Chen Yang laughed: "Even mosquito meat is meat. I'm not sure about other places, but back home those corrupt officials—give them a little sweetener and the problem is solved in minutes. Once we build up our brand image, they'll be the ones coming to us for favors."

As soon as he finished speaking, Lin Jianguo furrowed his brows, and Lin Wei secretly kicked him under the table.

Lin Wei feigned a threat: "Honey, my dad despises corrupt officials the most. If you dare to collude with them, watch out for our family's punishment!"

Chen Yang also realized his slip of the tongue and immediately corrected himself: "I can first raise the purchase price of the products, then haggle with them once the market gets going."

Lin Jianguo seemed unsatisfied with Chen Yang's words. He stubbed out his cigarette and said sternly: "There are many ways to make money; shady methods are best avoided. If one day I find you have issues, don't blame me for cutting off all ties."

Having said that, Lin Jianguo put on his police uniform and left.

After his footsteps had completely faded down the stairwell, Chen Yang finally breathed a sigh of relief. This old father‑in‑law really is hard to get along with.

At that moment, Lin Wei embraced Chen Yang from behind and whispered reassuringly: "Honey, it's fine. Since my dad can say the words 'cut off all ties,' it shows he already treats you as family. But you must promise me you won't engage in any illegal or unlawful acts."

Chen Yang thought that was reasonable—at least he'd avoided the beating he'd expected. In this regard, he was luckier than his previous incarnation's Zhang Jun.

Moreover, his intention to open a supermarket in Shuanglin Market was actually meant to annoy Zhang Jun. In a few years, the Zhang family plans to acquire the entire Shuanglin Market and rebuild it as a commercial skyscraper. He, however, will become a thorn in the Zhang family's side—a holdout household.

Chen Yang even had the idea of having Liu Shijie come to Qingshui early to swoop in on this project.