Chapter 480: Still Not Expensive After a Year

After speaking, Lao Er looked at Ye Cheng with a little apprehension, not knowing whether Ye Cheng could accept this price.

Ye Cheng asked three questions in a row: "3000? Per year? This mountain?"

Seeing Ye Cheng's expression, Lao Er immediately began to explain,

"Brother Cheng, although this mountain is barren, it's large—over a hundred mu—so it works out to about thirty bucks per mu, which... isn't really expensive."

Li Danniang beside him thought Ye Cheng didn't want to rent it, and hurriedly said,

"Why don't we first rent it for two years as a trial? If it doesn't work, we can simply not take the contract."

"That won't do; the Village Chief said the lease starts at ten years." Lao Er added.

"No, ten years is too long; I'll go talk to him." Li Danniang said and was about to get up and leave.

Ye Cheng quickly grabbed her, saying, "Don't, Auntie, 3000 for such a big mountain isn't expensive—why bother him?"

"Huh? You said it was expensive?" Li Danniang was bewildered.

"No, I'm just marveling at how cheap it is—this is a mountain, after all, unlike our tidal flats, which have nothing."

Li Danniang gave an embarrassed laugh and sat down again,

"Alright, it really isn't expensive; the village has always been at this price, but I feel we could still negotiate a bit lower. What do you think, Boss?"

Zhu Liwen nodded,

"Right, Brother Cheng, the price has always been like this, but since no one has taken the contract, I think we could knock off another 500 bucks without problem."

"If we can talk it down, that's best—saving even a little helps. So, you go talk to the village again and say we want a 30-year lease; see how much cheaper we can get."

"Okay, I'll go—" Zhu Liwen said, but halfway through he suddenly realized and looked at Ye Cheng,

"Brother Cheng, how many years did you say?"

"Thirty years, my older brother always takes contracts for thirty years." Xiao Hu interjected.

"Hmm, thirty years—I guarantee you won't lose."

Ye Cheng dares to guarantee it—he knows just how fast development will be over those thirty years.

Moreover, a place like Xia Ling Village will surely be a priority for future aid policies; securing a low-cost thirty-year lease means profit even if you do nothing.

Lao Er counted on his fingers and then said,

"Brother Cheng, thirty years would cost 90,000 bucks, plus money for buying chicks, building fences on the mountain and chicken coops down below—all that costs money."

Ye Cheng took a leisurely sip of tea and then said calmly,

"I'll cover all of that; you don't need to spend a cent."

Although he spoke softly, to the Zhu family it sounded like a thunderclap.

"Boss Ye, little Ye, you're paying for all that? That's over a hundred thousand—are you really that rich?" Li Danniang stammered.

Ye Cheng smiled,

"It's not that I'm rich; I just know this business will make money, so I can't not do it, right?"

"Hehe, yes yes." The Zhu brothers were still shocked, didn't know what to say, and could only nod and give a dry laugh.

Soon the second pot of chicken arrived; it wasn't as stunning as the first, but the texture was still great.

When everyone was seated, Ye Cheng put down his chopsticks and looked at Li Danniang and the Zhu brothers.

"Auntie, since we're going into business together, there are some things I think we should clarify first."

"Right, right, Xiao Ye, we'll listen to you." Li Danniang happily drank a few more cups, feeling a bit light-headed.

The Zhu brothers also put down their cups and looked at Ye Cheng.

"The main point is profit sharing: I'll provide the investment, you handle management and feeding, I'll use my connections to set up sales channels, but you'll have to do the actual selling—what share of the profits do you want?"

After saying that, Ye Cheng leisurely observed everyone, wanting to see their attitude.

When the talk turned to actual profits, everyone fell silent and looked at Zhu Liwen.

As the eldest, Zhu Liwen felt a bit of pressure.

If he asked for too little, he'd feel shortchanged; too much, and Ye Cheng might back out—after all, it's just talk for now, and if Ye Cheng gets unhappy and withdraws his investment, it would be all for nothing.

Zhu Liwen hesitated for a long time, unable to speak, which made the old lady anxious.

She slammed the table and launched into a tirade at the eldest,

"You're the eldest—make a decision already, stop waffling. Xiao Ye is helping us; do you really want to take more?"

"Listen, this is the right way—don't worry about how much you made before; those were shady dealings that will have to be repaid someday. Raising chickens for profit, even if small, is honest money."

"With my mother-in-law using it, I can finally rest easy!"

The old lady's impassioned words made Ye Cheng nod repeatedly.

Don't let their mountain hollow fool you—their values are truly upright.

Zhu Liwen's face showed guilt; he gritted his teeth and held up three fingers,

"Brother Cheng, what if we take 30% of the profit? The four brothers plus my mother make five people—we'll definitely work hard."

He also realized his mother was right—taking his brothers out to poach fish might earn quick cash, but someday they could end up in jail.

It's better to earn steady money than to live in constant anxiety; when times improve, we can think of other options.

Before Ye Cheng could speak, Li Danniang spoke first,

"What do you mean 30%? The money and the sales channels are all yours; we're just helping raise chickens on the mountain. Wanting 30% is shameless—I'm setting it at 20%."

Hearing their mother cut a full ten percent, the Zhu brothers' faces fell a bit, but they nodded resignedly.

Ye Cheng didn't rush to respond; he was mentally calculating the profits.

Based on 1,000 chickens, selling them all at 5,000 catties at 7 yuan per catty gives 35,000 yuan—not much.

Plus eggs—I don't know how many they'd produce, but let's say together they make 50,000 yuan.

Generally, free-range chickens take about half a year to raise; if all are sold, annual income would be around 100,000 yuan, minus 20,000 yuan in costs, giving an estimated profit of 80,000 yuan.

If they get 20%, the Zhu family's annual income would be 16,000 yuan—averaging just over 1,000 yuan per month for the five of them, which is worse than going out to work for wages.

If they get 50%, they'd have 40,000, which works out to over 3,000 a month; for a big family that's not much, but it should be enough to let them make a living peacefully.

As for his own profit issue, Ye Cheng still had other ideas.

He wanted to run a farm stay; although in 2002 farm stays weren't very popular yet, in a few years they would become extremely hot.

It's economical, the food is healthy, and one can experience rural life; city folks all like it.

Although later those running B&Bs drove the prices up to astronomical levels, ordinary farm stays still have great potential.

Since we're doing a farm stay, we need a flagship product; pure green things like homegrown vegetables and free-range chicken are exactly that flagship product.