Chapter 505: Hunger Marketing

Only selling 200 catties?

Not selling even one more catty?

What a miraculous way to sell.

Brother, we have the goods, why only sell 200 catties? If you're worried about supply not keeping up, we can just dig a few more ponds.

Ye Cheng shook his finger, "A Yong, you don't understand, this is hunger marketing. The less there is, the better people think it is. This is psychology; just do as I say."

Damn, this hunger marketing also hurt Ye Cheng back then.

That damn rice phone, as soon as it came out it was just doing this kind of hype; he tried to grab it several times but never succeeded.

Finally, angry, he refused to buy it; "Is it not okay for me not to buy?"

But regardless of whether Ye Cheng buys it, the rice phone remains just as popular afterwards.

Why?

Because there's profit to be made.

What the domestic market lacks least is scalpers; once something has profit, scalpers appear.

From train tickets to milk tea to phones, you can see the shadow of scalpers.

As long as the product is solid and can earn a margin, Ye Cheng believes these 200 catties of crayfish aren't enough for scalpers to grab.

Duan Yong was still digesting what Ye Cheng said when the auntie came running over, bringing the contract.

Ye Cheng looked it over, no problem: three years, 700 per month, 8400 per year, three years total.

After paying, the auntie left happily.

Ye Cheng calculated his savings; he had only over 70,000 in cash left, needing to hurry to make money.

After handing over the keys, Ye Cheng took Duan Yong to buy some cleaning supplies; the two of them thoroughly washed the floor and also scrubbed the inside of the water tank.

Since it's a new opening, Ye Cheng also ordered two big flower baskets; this is to draw traffic, and it's needed at the start.

Most importantly, Ye Cheng got a big blackboard and wrote on it with thick chalk:

Only sell 200 catties each day.

These big characters can be seen from 100 meters away.

"A Yong, the flower baskets will come tomorrow; you hang up the blackboard as well."

Duan Yong stared at those big characters with a bitter face, nodded, but didn't know whether Brother Cheng's method would actually work.

After finishing up, it was almost dinnertime; the two didn't feel like rushing back to the village, so they went straight to the small restaurant to eat.

As soon as the boss saw them, he warmly greeted them: "Young fellows, I heard you've rented the shop?"

Just now, Auntie Qi came over and gave herself a red envelope with 200 dollars.

"Okay, we've rented it; we'll open tomorrow. Boss, fry us a few side dishes, hurry up—we have to go back after eating."

"Sure, no problem, very quick."

The boss placed an order with the kitchen, then turned and chatted with Ye Cheng and the others: "Young fellows, what seafood are you selling? You're so familiar with it, give us a discount."

Ye Cheng smiled slightly: "Boss, we sell crayfish; can you cook them here?"

Upon hearing 'crayfish', the boss immediately stood up, slapped his thigh, and said: "Of course we can cook crayfish; we sold them well before."

"But it's not the season now, right?"

The boss asked curiously.

"Wild ones are out of season, but we raise them ourselves in our farm; they're big and hygienic, guaranteed to be better than before."

"Hehe, young fellow, I'll take a look tomorrow; if it's really as good as you say, I'll buy ten catties tomorrow."

The boss spoke grandly, but Ye Cheng calmly smiled: "Boss, our crayfish sell only 200 catties a day at 15 dollars per catty; are you sure you want it? If you're sure, I can reserve ten catties for you this week, but after that it's uncertain."

"15? Per catty?" The boss's mouth gaped open, face full of disbelief.

These two couldn't be idiots, right? 15 per catty is more expensive than lean meat.

He looked at Ye Cheng, still wearing a confident expression.

Forget it, these two don't look like they'll last long.

"Well, 15 per catty is too much for my small restaurant; you'd better sell to the big hotel."

He didn't buy, and Ye Cheng didn't insist; after eating dinner with Duan Yong, he hurried back to the village.

The boss watched their backs, shook his head contemptuously: "Only someone with water in their brain would buy at 15 per catty; just wait, they'll be closed in less than a month."

Back in the village, it was almost 8 o'clock; Ye Cheng had just turned on the light when Han Xiaotao came over.

She clutched the corner of her clothes, looking timid; seeing her, Ye Cheng's Adam's apple rolled hard.

"Little Han's wife, what's wrong?"

Han Xiaotao's expression was a bit strange; she lifted her head to glance at Ye Cheng, then lowered it and said nothing.

Seeing her like that, Ye Cheng knew she had a request for him.

He thought for a moment, then felt moved: "Are you wanting to go help out at the farmhouse?"

Han Xiaotao suddenly lifted her head, nodded, then felt a bit embarrassed: "Brother Cheng, I want to find a more lasting job."

"Alright, I got it; then you go find Auntie Zhang tomorrow. Anyway, I was originally planning to let you two manage the farmhouse together, but first let's be clear: you still need to finish this spool of thread work for me."

"Okay, thanks Brother Cheng, thanks Brother Cheng." Han Xiaotao, upon hearing she could go to the farmhouse, instantly became happy, grabbed her things and ran off.

Ah.

Ye Cheng sighed; the team had grown, hard to manage.

The next day, Ye Cheng had originally planned to go out to sea, but he didn't expect to get a call from the repair shop saying the big ship was fixed.

Damn!

The big ship's fixed; why bother with a small boat?

Ye Cheng didn't think twice; he directly summoned Xiao Hu and Duan Chunsheng, preparing to go out to sea—today he had to drag up a net no matter what.

Three people hurried to Matou, Old Jiang was already waiting there.

"Old Jiang, is the Boat ready?" Ye Cheng said excitedly.

"All right, the parts arrived yesterday, I installed them and it's fine—try starting it up."

Not letting Xiao Hu aboard, Ye Cheng himself, unable to wait, rushed aboard and ignited it!

After a thunderous roar, the Boat started up.

"Set sail!"

Ye Cheng shouted excitedly at Xiao Hu and Duan Chunsheng.

The only big ship at Matou was about to set sail, and several bosses came over to congratulate.

The fishermen caught a lot, and they also sold a lot.

Lao He also came forward specially to say, "Lao Er, I heard that these past two days the patrol boat has been patrolling at sea—be careful, there are places where they don't allow net‑dragging, so don't end up having to pull in your nets halfway through."

Speaking of this, Ye Cheng had also seen it before: "We've seen it too—haven't we finished yet? How many days will the patrol last?"

Lao He gave a bitter laugh: "No, supposedly it's a gang selling counterfeit phones—no idea why they decided to come through our area; the police still haven't figured out their route."

"Alright, I'll try to avoid them."

After saying goodbye to everyone, the three set out in the Boat, heading into the morning sun.

The big ship is just better than the small boat—you stand higher, see farther, and it feels especially powerful to drive.

This is just like how many people nowadays like driving SUVs—they like that field of view.