Chapter 4: Brother, What Are You Doing

North Post Inn Lane, a street lined with internet cafés.

Chen Yansen sat in front of a computer, slid the mouse, typed a string of characters into the input box, and hit Enter.

"Hey, this page's UI is seriously old-school — at first glance I thought it was a bootleg."

Chen Yansen stared at Mama Ali's webpage and joked with a smile.

At the same time, he didn't forget to create a new spreadsheet on the desktop, then fill in the column headers row by row in the first row: Brand / Model / Storage Capacity / Screen Size / Screen Resolution / Battery Capacity / Battery Life / Supported Formats / Additional Features / Wholesale Price / Minimum Order Quantity, etc.

What came next was much simpler!

He just needed to sort MP3 and MP4 sales in descending order, log the relevant information into the table one by one, then filter out the best products and suppliers.

Of course, this was only the first round.

In the end, he'd still have to negotiate and lock in the most suitable wholesale price and settlement terms before pinning down the final supplier.

An hour later, only seven candidates remained in the spreadsheet.

Chen Yansen let out a soft sigh, planning to head to the counter to buy a bottle of water. Just as he was about to stand, he noticed Wang Zihao, who had originally been guarding the pyramid to fight zombies, staring at him with a face full of shock.

The emotions in his eyes were impossibly complex!

"Every last one of them is a crook! This MP4 is identical to the one I bought for 389 before. I haggled my ass off and only got ten yuan off — turns out the wholesale price is just 140."

Wang Zihao pounded his chest with both fists, his heart aching as if cut by a knife.

God only knew how hard he'd scraped together that money!

"That's the price factories use to fleece walk-in customers. The actual wholesale price will be even lower."

Chen Yansen twisted the knife again based on his experience.

"Holy shit!"

Wang Zihao was completely numb, wanting nothing more than to go home, grab a cleaver, and hack that crook to death.

Chen Yansen paid him no mind, walked straight to the freezer beside the counter, and took out two bottles of iced mineral water.

By the time he came back after paying, Wang Zihao had calmed down.

"So, you're planning to resell MP3s and MP4s?"

"Mm."

"But No. 1 High, No. 2 High, and No. 3 High are all on vacation — who are we going to sell to?"

"Mr. Ziren once said the vast countryside has great things to do. There are 22 townships near Chunshen. Even if each market town only sells 100 MP3s and 20 MP4s, do the math on how much we could make?"

After speaking, Chen Yansen casually twisted open a bottle of mineral water and downed a third of it in one go.

As August approached, the weather grew hotter and hotter. That damned internet café owner, trying to save on electricity, was sweating even with the AC on.

Serves him right for going bankrupt later!

"Brother Sen, you just said 'we,' so you're definitely taking me along to make money, right?"

Wang Zihao licked his face, his expression full of flattery.

"Fool! What should you call me?"

Chen Yansen patted Wang Zihao's shoulder, the corner of his mouth curling into a sly grin, wearing a 'you-should-know' expression.

"Adoptive father above, your son shall follow you from this day forth!"

Wang Zihao, thick-skinned, cupped his fists and kowtowed with practiced ease.

"My son, please rise quickly."

Chen Yansen let out a "heh-heh," smoothly lifting up his good son's arm.

"But we don't have any capital!"

Wang Zihao slapped his forehead with a "smack," reminding him with a hint of impatience.

He'd seen Chen Yansen's spreadsheet — the factory with the lowest minimum order required 3 units. The two of them pooled together didn't have enough to stock a few units, so how could they resell anything?

"Leave the money to me."

Chen Yansen was brimming with confidence.

Before meeting up with Wang Zihao, he'd already checked his bank card balance at the ATM — more than enough to stock up.

"You wouldn't be planning to steal Uncle Chen's money, would you?"

Wang Zihao's eyes darted, and he instantly figured out the source of his confidence.

"How can something between father and son be called stealing?"

Chen Yansen had no intention of hiding it from him and told him straight.

After all, Wang Zihao wasn't a fool — when the time came, based on the total quantity of goods, the other could easily calculate the wholesale amount.

"How about… we just don't make this money?"

Wang Zihao said cautiously.

Even though the plan looked fine on paper, how could any business be zero-risk?

If caught, Chen Yansen would get hung up and beaten by his dad.

"If we're not making money, are you going to support me?"

Chen Yansen shot him a look, replying irritably.

A man can't go a day without money — without a few million in hand for security, he wouldn't even have the confidence to eat abalone.

"That's not impossible either."

Wang Zihao grinned, lowering his head with a "shy" tone.

"You little punk! Two things. First, bring me two thousand yuan tomorrow — this business counts as one share for you. Second, help me find a warehouse — nothing fancy, twenty square meters will do."

Chen Yansen waved his hand and instructed in all seriousness.

"Uh, but I've only got two hundred yuan on me."

Wang Zihao turned out his pockets, his face helpless.

"Brothers keep clear accounts. If you have capital, I'll count you as a shareholder. If not, work with me; I'll pay you a hundred a day. Choose your path."

Chen Yansen said without the slightest courtesy.

They were indeed close friends, but he was not Wang Zihao's biological father. He had given the opportunity; whether the other could seize it was up to him.

"Alright, I understand."

Wang Zihao opened his mouth, his face slightly awkward. He wanted to say something but held back, finally nodding heavily in agreement.

He understood Chen Yansen's meaning but could not accept such blunt words.

Seeing this, Chen Yansen smiled and left him alone.

Young people have thin skin. If he can figure it out himself, whether in business or human relations, he will climb another step in the future.

"Hello, boss. I am the Procurement Director of Zhoulai Garment Factory. We plan to purchase 10,000 MP3 players and 3,000 MP4 players. Can you provide an exclusive quote?"

Chen Yansen turned his head, typed a line on the keyboard, copied and pasted the message, and sent it to seven suppliers in one breath.

Zhoulai Garment Factory did exist, but in these days, small-town enterprises below the third tier relied mainly on offline orders from surrounding areas. They had no internet awareness at all; the landline listed online had been abandoned eight hundred years ago.

Verifying suppliers entails high costs and great difficulty!

Moreover, as long as his money and orders were real, who would care about his identity?

Chen Yansen was naturally adept at bluffing sales representatives from factories.

By setting traps in advance within the script, he could learn their commission tiers, payment term bottom lines, and extra discounts, as well as whether they could give away memory cards, earphones, and so on.

Wang Zihao, sitting nearby, watched his friend switch chat windows constantly and haggle skillfully, hardly believing his own eyes.

"Your product parameters meet our requirements, but the price is slightly high. If you can lower it by 8 yuan, we will prioritize your company and consider increasing our order volume."

"If the unit price of the MP4 can drop to 100 yuan, we can make a bulk purchase. The total amount is expected to exceed 600,000 yuan. Would it be convenient to apply for a more favorable bulk price?"

"We prefer cash on delivery, no payment term delays, and fast capital turnover. If the unit price can drop within 105 yuan, we can pay the deposit today to lock in the order."

Wang Zihao felt Chen Yansen's bragging was a bit too big; his face flushed repeatedly, and he felt somewhat embarrassed.

"Do you think they will all believe it?"

Chen Yansen glanced at him and said with a smile.

"Then why do you still say that?"

Wang Zihao scratched the back of his head, feeling a bit itchy.

"In business negotiations, the most important thing is not your strategy, but understanding the other party's needs."

"When we were in the first year of high school, the cheapest MP3 player cost over 300, and the MP4 was over 800. The selling price was comparable to a mobile phone. What about now?"

Chen Yansen put down the mouse and asked back in a calm tone.

"An MP3 is around 150, and the cheapest MP4 is just over 300."

Wang Zihao frowned, trying hard to recall the prices he had seen while canvassing the streets.

"What does this show? With mass production and compressed raw material costs, the prices of products like MP3s and MP4s will only get lower and lower. Meanwhile, the electronics factories in Yangcheng and Shencheng are located in first-tier cities, where competition and survival pressure are even more terrifying."

"Even a bone with no meat, if it has just a hint of grease, they will smell it and pounce."

Chen Yansen chuckled, quite confident.

"I'm in!"

After hearing Chen Yansen's explanation and being swayed by his several professional terms, Wang Zihao immediately felt this business had great potential.

"Brother, what are you going to do?"

Just then, a lively figure burst into the two men's line of sight.

Chen Yansen followed the sound and saw a thirteen- or fourteen-year-old girl standing behind Wang Zihao.

She was about 1.68 meters tall, far taller than her peers, wearing a blue-and-white T-shirt. Her fluffy short hair fell over her shoulders. She had a melon-seed face, peach-blossom eyes, and Bai Xi skin with a faint pink glow; a tear mole under her eye was faintly visible, making her highly distinctive.

Her nose was small and straight, her lips curved slightly upward, revealing a row of clean, even pearl-white teeth, and her eyes were full of bright starlight.

An underage version of Wang Ziyan!

Chen Yansen instinctively stood up to run, fearing the girl before him might pull out a ring at any moment and force him to marry and register.

"Haozi, meet at the usual place tomorrow."

Only after walking to the internet cafe entrance did he turn around and shout.

"Brother, don't you think Chen Yansen is a bit strange today?"

Wang Ziyan stood frozen, her face full of suspicion as she said.

"Him! He's completely off. Let me tell you..."

Once Wang Zihao opened his floodgates, he poured it out like beans. Except for the matter of the two of them doing business, he complained about everything else.

Upon learning that Chen Yansen and Zhou Keyuan had 'broken up,' Wang Ziyan's eyes lit up, and the complex emotions hidden in her heart immediately surfaced.

Gazing at the retreating figure, Wang Ziyan silently clenched her fist, and a faint smile spread from the corner of her mouth.

(End of this chapter)