Chapter 52: Expansion

"Sister Yan, this soy sauce radish is really delicious. Did you make it yourself?"

"Yes, this is simple. I'll teach you later; I guarantee you'll learn it as soon as you try."

Di Yan took two small dishes from the kitchen and set them on the dining table. Just as she was about to go call Lu Hanming, who was sleeping in, she heard a knock at the door and instructed, "Fangfei, go open the door. It must be my little brother."

Xia Fangfei gathered her long hair that was draped over her shoulders, tied it into a simple ponytail with a rubber band, and walked over to open the door. Seeing Di Ye wearing a dark brown suit with a red striped tie, looking every bit the business elite, she couldn't help but laugh and teased, "Are you here to be my male secretary today?"

Di Ye put one hand in his pocket, struck a pose of feigned seriousness, and said, "Miss Xia, are you interested in a date?"

As the saying goes, clothes make the man. Di Ye usually wore ordinary clothes like down jackets, but having suddenly changed into a formal suit, he looked both handsome and upright. Xia Fangfei was a fan of good looks, and a feeling of admiration welled up in her heart. She reached out to pat his chest playfully and joked, "Let me check your body first to see if you're suitable for a date."

Di Yan came out of the bedroom, saw this, and said with a smile, "You show-off! Where is the egg pancake I wanted?"

"I brought it. Mom made it herself."

Di Ye switched from a cool, serious man to a gentle, warm man. He lifted the two thermal containers in his hands and said to Xia Fangfei, "I specifically bought you tofu pudding. I didn't let the owner add any seasoning; you can adjust the salt or sugar yourself."

Xia Fangfei beamed with joy and leaned in to kiss him. Di Yan saw this from behind and said with disdain, "Fangfei, you are too easy to bribe. You kissed him over a bowl of tofu pudding?"

"I'm doing it to take advantage of him, not for the tofu pudding."

"You really are a female hooligan... Come over and eat, don't stand at the door blowing in the cold wind."

Lu Hanming had been out for a business dinner last night and had drunk quite a bit of alcohol; he still had a hangover in the morning. He walked out of the master bedroom while yawning. Seeing Di Ye dressed so formally, he felt a surge of energy and asked, "Xiaoye, what are the plans for today?"

"Brother-in-law, go wash up first. We'll talk while we eat breakfast in a moment."

After Lu Hanming went to the bathroom to wash up and came back out, he saw Di Ye sitting on the sofa, holding a Yuncheng tourist map and looking at it. He asked, "Are you going out to play with Fangfei today?"

"No, I plan to open 10 Yingfeng branches in Yuncheng within today."

"What?!"

Lu Hanming was startled. Di Yan and Xia Fangfei were also very surprised and turned their heads from the dining table to look at him. Di Ye did not rush to explain, but instead recounted the matter of Fan Dazhi introducing new shareholders last night and asked, "Brother-in-law, do you know the background of these two people?"

Lu Hanming thought for a moment and said, "That Zheng Yingyong might be a relative of Zheng Kui, the Deputy Director of the City Construction Bureau. As for Ren Yinglian, I don't know."

Xia Fangfei interjected at this moment, "I know. Ren Yinglian is the mistress of Zhong Rongke, the General Manager of the Sanjiang Province Import and Export Company."

Lu Hanming clapped his hands and realized, "That must be it. Fan Dazhi took me to the Sanjiang Province Import and Export Company the day before yesterday at noon."

Di Yan was greatly surprised, looked at Xia Fangfei, and asked, "How do you know that?"

While drinking tofu pudding with a spoon, Xia Fangfei explained, "In order to develop members for the Film Fan Club over the past two days, Wenjing and I contacted some outstanding alumni working locally in Yuncheng. Zhong Rongke graduated from the Yun University Chemical Engineering College. He didn't let his wife join the club, but recommended Ren Yinglian instead."

Di Yan was even more surprised and said, "The film club you and Wenjing are running requires a recommendation from someone of status to join?"

"Of course. We are a high-end club, only accepting 100 members a year, and it's limited to women only."

Di Yan was very sensitive to matters of interpersonal relationships. She turned to Di Ye and asked, "You came up with this, right? Calling it a film club, but it's actually a pillow-talk club."

Di Ye shook his head in denial and said, "I asked Fangfei to find Wenjing to set up a film fan club to make it easier to promote VCD Players. As a result, the two of them made a fuss and started a so-called private film fan club, which is the opposite of my goal."

Seeing that Di Yan didn't believe him, Xia Fangfei helped defend them, saying, "Wenjing once accompanied Professor Liu to study in Dongying. Many companies in Dongying have a Staff Wives Association that holds regular activities to build relationships, so she wanted to start one at Yun University too."

"So that's how it is."

The mid-90s was the peak of the Dongying economy, and many people in the country blindly chased after their management culture. Di Yan was somewhat tempted and asked, "I'm not from Yun University, can I join?"

"Your brother is from Yun University, so of course you can join. I'll get you a Membership Card later."

Lu Hanming was not interested in the film fan club. He ate an Egg Pancake with Millet Porridge and asked, "Xiaoye, you just said you were going to open 10 branches today. How do you plan to do it?"

"Quite a few people have gone to Guangdong Province to buy discs in the last few days and opened 6 shops in Chenghuang Temple and Computer City respectively. Because our package deals have tied up most of the customers in Yuncheng who have VCD Players, the business at these shops is very cold. I plan to take them all over today and turn them into Yingfeng franchise stores."

Di Ye folded the map, showing only the city center area, and continued, "In addition, I also want to rent 4 shops near the Beimen of Yun University, the Municipal Government, Qingyun Road, and Fengyue Garden to open Yingfeng direct-operated stores. That makes 10 in total. I'll open another 10 over the next two days, striving to have a shop at the entrance of every large residential area in Yuncheng before the Lantern Festival, totaling about 50."

Di Yan was frightened by his grand plan. She put down her chopsticks and scolded, "Are you crazy? Do you know how much money it costs to open so many shops? The rent alone will be over a million a year!"

"Not that much. I don't have to pay for those 6 existing shops; I'll make them pay me, collecting franchise fees monthly. As for the other 44 shops, except for a few popular locations where I'll pay rent annually, I'll pay the rest monthly. If there's profit, I'll keep renting; if there's no profit, I won't rent next month."

"Commercial shops aren't residential houses. Who would rent to you by the month?"

Di Ye laughed and said, "Sister, I'm only renting commercial shops out of concern for the company's image. If I can't rent them, I'll just use residential houses to open branches. Not only will I not spend a penny, but I might even make money instead."

Di Yan was so angry she laughed, humming, "Nonsense!"

Lu Hanming was now a die-hard fan of Di Ye and didn't think he was talking nonsense. He asked with great interest, "Little Ye, how do you use residential houses to open shops?"

"It's very simple. Currently, a movie disc sells for 50 yuan, and renting it once costs 10 yuan. Brother-in-law, you give me a 1,000 yuan deposit plus a 500 yuan franchise fee. I'll give you the list of package customers in the Youdian Residential Quarter, then you go to my place to get the discs and rent them out to them. We'll split the rent 30/70, you get 3 and I get 7."

"The rent is deducted from that 2,500 yuan package fee, right?"

"That's right. When you rent them out, you won't collect cash, you can only register the customer's information. At the end of the month, you go to the Flagship Store to report it, and then you can collect your share."

"10 yuan to rent one movie once, and I get 3 yuan each time. With a 500 yuan franchise fee, I have to rent out 168 movies to break even. 168 movies is too many, it'll take a long time to rent them out, right?"

Di Ye shook his head and smiled, saying, "Yingfeng has 37 package customers in the Youdian Residential Quarter. Assuming each customer rents one movie a week, it would only take 5 weeks to rent out 168 movies. Everything after that is pure profit. Brother-in-law, this business doesn't require renting a storefront; you can do it at home. It's simple and easy, and you can break even in a little over a month. Are you willing to do it?"

"I'm definitely willing!"

Di Ye shrugged his shoulders and said to Di Yan, "See, Sister? I didn't spend a penny. With just a few words, I made Brother-in-law pay 500 yuan to open a branch in your house."

Di Yan thought Lu Hanming was spineless and glared at him, but she couldn't refute it, so she just took a big bite of the Egg Pancake and lowered her head to drink porridge.

It was rare for Lu Hanming to see Di Yan get bested. His face beamed with joy. He picked up a piece of Soy Sauce Radish for her and said, "Yanzi, don't talk to Little Ye about business topics in the future. His brain is too flexible; ordinary people can't compare."

Xia Fangfei felt the same way and comforted her, "Sister Yan, Di Ye is best at doing all sorts of crooked things. We are decent people, don't lower yourself to his level."

Di Yan was still unconvinced. After thinking for a while, she asked Di Ye, "Since that's the case, why do you want to spend money to rent commercial shops to open direct-operated stores? Why not just do it this way?"

Di Ye was somewhat helpless. He rubbed his forehead with his fingers and said, "First, I need to use the name of opening direct-operated stores to lock up the money in the company's accounts so those two new shareholders can't misappropriate it. Second, this kind of tactic has endless negative consequences, and I don't want to be a bad person and burn all my bridges."

Lu Hanming didn't understand and said, "What kind of endless negative consequences could this have? You earn the franchise fee, I earn the sub-rental fee, each getting what they need. It's quite good."

"Brother-in-law, human greed is bottomless. I'm a good person, so I only collect a 1,000 yuan deposit and a 500 yuan franchise fee from you. If I weren't a good person, I would collect a 3,000 yuan deposit and a 2,000 yuan franchise fee. After a few months, when you find there's no hope of making money and want to get your deposit and franchise fee back, I would have already run off without a trace."

"2,000 yuan franchise fee, I can earn 3 yuan for renting one movie, I'd have to rent out 667 movies..."

Seeing that Lu Hanming was still a bit confused and actually still calculating there, Di Ye couldn't help but shake his head and said, "Brother-in-law, I control the entire VCD market in Yuncheng right now. If I say the rent for a movie is 10 yuan, then it's 10 yuan! After a while, when various brands of video disc players and rental shops appear one after another, the rent for a movie might only be 2 yuan. If we split it 30/70, you'd only earn 60 cents per rental. How long would it take to earn back that 2,000 yuan franchise fee?"

Lu Hanming was speechless. Di Yan laughed out loud, followed suit, picked up a piece of Soy Sauce Radish for him, and repeated, "Hanming, don't talk to Little Ye about business topics in the future. His brain is too flexible; ordinary people can't compare."