Chapter 731: Meeting Business Opportunities on Xiushui Street

He Zheng divided the work between Bang Geng and Yi Xiaotian, and the three of them each began to get busy.

He Zheng balanced romance and business, neglecting neither; Bang Geng dove headfirst into the antique trade, rushing everywhere to collect furniture, so busy he barely touched the ground.

Only Yi Xiaotian, on the contrary, became the one who least knew what to do.

One day, he wandered over to Xiushui.

There was a clothing and accessory wholesale market there, spearheaded by Chen Xueru, which was packed with people; many foreigners were strolling the street with bags, looking at clothes, asking for prices, and gesturing to haggle with the vendors.

Yi Xiaotian's eyes were not idle either; he stared intently at every wholesale shop, hoping to find a business idea.

As he walked, he spotted a stall selling fishing rods, surrounded by quite a few people.

He squeezed in too, wanting to buy a set of fishing gear for his retired father. He picked up a fishing rod to look at it; it was the kind that could be cast out, and the style was alright, but as soon as he got his hands on it, he felt it—the workmanship was extremely crude, which was somewhat unacceptable for him, a Level 6 Bench Worker.

He turned it over and over, the more he looked, the less he liked it.

Just as he was fiddling with it, a foreign youth tapped him on the shoulder and asked in broken Chinese: "Boss, I want to buy one thousand of these fishing rods, how much?"

Yi Xiaotian turned his head to look; it was a big guy, a fellow with blonde hair and blue eyes.

He said a bit embarrassedly: "Sorry, I'm not the boss. But your Chinese isn't very smooth; if you have any ideas, I can help you ask."

"Are these... fishing rods sturdy? How big of a fish can they catch? How far can the line be cast..."

Once Yi Xiaotian heard this, he realized this person was asking quite professionally.

He simply took out a small notebook and wrote down the questions the other party wanted to ask, one by one.

After finishing, he took the notebook to find the stall owner.

The stall owner answered two questions before losing patience, saying dismissively: "My fishing rods are just for fun, it's impossible to catch big fish, and I don't know how far they can be cast..."

After answering two questions, the Boss went to attend to other customers.

Yi Xiaotian relayed the words to the blonde youth. The youth spread his hands regretfully: "I want to do this business, but he doesn't know anything, what should I do?"

Yi Xiaotian's heart stirred; he suddenly caught the scent of a business opportunity and immediately asked: "Brother, what country are you from? Perhaps we can cooperate. Our company is also looking for foreign trade channels. And look at these fishing rods, they have absolutely no technical content; I can make them myself. As long as there are materials, I can make them much better than they do."

Upon hearing this, the foreign youth hurriedly introduced himself: "My name is Ivan, I am Yugoslavian. People over there like to fish, but the fishing rods are all made in Europe and are expensive as hell; many people can't afford them. I saw that the fishing rods here aren't expensive, so I wanted to ship a batch over. If you can make them, that would be great! By the way, I know quite a bit about the fishing rod industry and can tell you how to make them."

Yi Xiaotian's eyes lit up instantly: "Buddy, come take a look at our company!"

The two returned to the Global Trading Company, just in time to run into He Zheng and Tianzhen talking about down jacket production in the office.

Seeing Yi Xiaotian bring a foreigner in, He Zheng asked with a smile: "Brother Xiaotian, who is this foreigner? Won't you introduce him to us?"

After Yi Xiaotian finished explaining Ivan's intentions, He Zheng was also happy and said enthusiastically: "Welcome, Comrade Ivan."

When Ivan saw that this company had a large courtyard and the decor was quite impressive, he felt much more at ease—feeling that this company truly had some strength.

Coincidentally, Tianzhen knew Russian, and Ivan also knew Russian.

As the few of them chatted, whenever they hit a point they didn't understand, Tianzhen helped translate, and the entire negotiation proceeded very smoothly.

Ninety-five Courtyard, Nanluoguxiang, East Cross Courtyard.

Wang Xia was sitting with He Yuzhu, accompanied by Fang Deng, chatting about the Old Age Home.

Wang Xia sighed: "Zhuzi, ever since I started the Old Age Home, there weren't many people at first, but now there are more and more, and that courtyard the neighborhood office gave us is almost full."

He Yuzhu laughed upon hearing this: "Five yuan a month, it's not even enough for food, so of course more and more people are crowding in. It's time to raise the price; the cost of living is much higher now than before, and those with pensions should be charged more."

Wang Xia said with some difficulty: "But that wouldn't be fair, would it?"

He Yuzhu shook his head: "Your Old Age Home isn't a welfare institution; you have to hold the exemption power in your own hands—waive what should be waived, and collect what should be collected. Otherwise, as time goes on, many people will feel that they'd be fools not to take advantage of this."

Wang Xia nodded and sighed again: "I still thought about it too simply. Actually, an Old Age Home is really hard to run."

He Yuzhu smiled bitterly: "Dealing with the elderly is definitely harder than dealing with young people. Many people have formed their own habits; to put it bluntly, they are unreasonable. If you run into someone like that, they can drive you to death."

Wang Xia nodded vigorously and lowered her voice: "You don't know, an old man I just took in is particularly unreasonable. He only pays five yuan a month, yet he feels like he's bestowing charity upon the Old Age Home, constantly ordering others to help him do chores, treating people just like him as servants."

He Yuzhu said directly: "Don't keep someone like that; just advise him to leave according to the rules. It's not worth ruining the atmosphere of the courtyard for him."

Wang Xia hesitated: "But he's already been taken in..."

Just then, He Zheng walked into the living room, bringing Yi Xiaotian, Tianzhen, and a big guy with blonde hair and blue eyes.

Seeing this lineup, He Yuzhu couldn't help but laugh: "Are you all back here to sponge a meal?"

After greeting Wang Xia, He Zheng leaned over to He Yuzhu and said: "Dad, you have to do us a favor."

He stepped aside to reveal the big guy: "This is Ivan, from Yugoslavia. He wants to have us customize fishing rods; he has a bunch of ideas in his head, but he can't draw, and he can't explain it clearly no matter how much he talks. So..." He Zheng rubbed his hands, "Can you help draw the designs? So we can see if we can make them."

Upon hearing this, He Yuzhu smiled.

In his mind, he instantly flashed back to the Xiushui Street of the nineties in that former world, where there were many shops selling fishing gear—fishing rods, lines, hooks, all sorts of varieties.

In this life, these boys like He Zheng were actually going to do this.

"Alright, I'm leaving now!" Wang Xia said.

He Yuzhu handed a bankbook to Wang Xia.

Wang Xia opened it and was startled, but she didn't say anything more and left with Fang Deng.

With He Yuzhu's participation, through talking, gesturing, and Tianzhen's translation, He Yuzhu quickly understood what he wanted, so he picked up a pen and not only drew the design Ivan wanted, but also drew several more novel fishing rod designs on the side.

When Ivan took the drawings and looked at them, he was completely stunned.

He had been in this industry for quite a few years and had traveled far and wide, seeing many fishing rods, but he had never seen these designs before, nor had he even thought of them.