The customer took out thirteen yuan. Just as Sister Three was about to make change, Yi Anguo walked over and said, "Forget the twenty cents. Just charge him twelve yuan."
"Our landlord sure knows how to do business!" the customer, who also happened to be one of Yi Anguo's tenants, said with a laugh.
Of course, the customer didn't care about twenty cents, but the gesture was what mattered.
At a supermarket, every cent counts, and everyone accepts that. But at a small, private fruit shop, haggling over twenty cents on a purchase of more than ten yuan just seems petty. The customer might not want to come back. If the amount were thirty or forty cents, that would be different. For a large purchase, you could waive it, but for something that only costs two or three yuan, you definitely have to collect those thirty or forty cents. You can give change if you have it, or a piece of candy if you don't. Isn't that what some supermarkets do?
For instance, with apples that cost three yuan per catty, the profit is between 1.50 and 1.60 yuan. If a customer buys three or four catties, it's no big deal to waive forty or fifty cents!
Yi Anguo shared all of his business experience without holding anything back.
Truth be told, running a fruit shop is exhausting. It's hard to find time for a proper meal, as the shop can't be left unattended or closed. This is especially true since many items are displayed outside, making it a huge hassle to close the doors. For a shop of nearly 200 square meters, one person simply can't manage alone if business is good. You have to hire someone.
Luckily, Yi Anguo had two people who could lend a hand when things were slow, but that wasn't a sustainable long-term solution.
He would restock the shop after 5:00 PM, but customers would still be coming in to buy fruit past midnight. People here were accustomed to the nightlife, so fruit shops generally stayed open until one or two in the morning.
All the newly purchased goods were on the shelves. A quick tally revealed that even before its official grand opening, the shop had already made over 3,100 yuan in sales for the day. The fruit that had been brought in was nearly sold out.
It truly lived up to its location in a central district of Shenzhen City. Although it wasn't the true city center and the location was a bit peripheral, the consumer spending power was astonishing.
Back in Dongguan, the small fruit shop Yi Anguo ran had never exceeded 2,000 yuan in revenue on its best day, and days like that were few and far between.
But on second thought, it made sense. His rent in Dongguan was only 800 yuan a month. Here, if he were actually paying rent, it would be at least seventeen or eighteen thousand yuan a month, if not twenty thousand.
That amounted to six hundred yuan a day for rent alone, not including utilities. If he hired someone, there would be labor costs, too. All told, daily expenses would be around seven hundred yuan. With a revenue of 3,000 yuan, the gross profit would be less than 1,000 yuan at best.
Although he only started doing business at 5:00 PM, the busiest hours were indeed after five. Business in the morning was generally slow.
Therefore, to be profitable, the daily revenue had to be at least 5,000 yuan. At that rate, they could make around twenty thousand yuan a month. The couple planned to rent a place for themselves, which would cost another two or three thousand, especially since they intended to bring their child to Shenzhen.
If they hired an employee, the long hours meant the salary couldn't be too low—at least 3,000 yuan. Adding the child's schooling, monthly expenses would be at least another thousand yuan. After subtracting all the costs, the couple would be left with a monthly saving of around thirteen thousand yuan.
However, if the average daily revenue fell below 5,000 yuan, the couple's monthly income might only be a few thousand yuan.
Buoyed by the success of the first day, Sister Three's husband called Yi Anguo early the next morning to go with him to restock. This time, they used a large truck and brought back nearly ten thousand yuan's worth of goods.
Dry goods like candy, cookies, and snacks could be stocked in larger quantities since there was no worry about them spoiling. As for fruit, if business was good, they would definitely need to restock daily to ensure freshness.
The shop was considered officially open only after the fresh fruit arrived. Since firecrackers were banned, the customary celebration was skipped. One could say it opened without a whisper.
The next day, with a fuller stock, more passersby noticed the new fruit shop and came in to take a look. Seeing that the fruit was fresh and the prices were comparable to, if not cheaper than, other shops, many people bought fruit, along with snacks like egg-yolk pies, to take home.
That evening, the final tally showed that revenue had exceeded 5,000 yuan, reaching over 5,300 yuan. It was a promising start.
With such strong initial revenue, they had nothing to fear. After a while, once everyone knew about the new fruit shop, business would surely get even better. On weekends or holidays, it was only a matter of time before daily revenue broke the 10,000 yuan mark.
About a week later, the share price of National Wine finally fell below 21 yuan, hitting an all-time low. Yi Anguo decisively moved in, sweeping the market at an average price of twenty-one yuan and buying two million shares.
At this point, out of the 1,000 apartments, just over seventy remained unrented. The security deposits from the more than 900 rented apartments alone totaled over 5 million yuan. Including the rent, the income was nearly 8 million yuan. After paying last month's mortgage of 2.65 million, there was still over 5 million left. The monthly mortgage payment of 2.65 million yuan was no problem at all.
Furthermore, the remaining 70-plus apartments would all be rented out by the end of the month, which would bring in at least another five to six hundred thousand yuan in rent and deposits. With over 38 million in his bank account already, spending 40 million to buy two million shares of National Wine wouldn't affect his ability to make the monthly bank payments on time.
No sooner had this been settled than Yi Anguo's phone suddenly rang. A look at the screen showed it was President Zhuo, the developer of Blue Coast.
President Zhuo, the developer, is calling me? I wonder what this could be about.
He wondered this as he answered the call.
"President Zhuo! Hi there!"
"Brother Yi! Are you free right now? If so, come over to the Marriott Hotel. I'd like to introduce you to a few friends. We can meet, have dinner, and relax a bit," President Zhuo said, laughing over the phone.
"President Zhuo, you're all titans of industry, worth billions. I'm just a poor guy. It would be out of place for me to join you," Yi Anguo replied with a wry smile.
"You shouldn't say that. A hero isn't judged by his origins. Besides, you're no poor guy. You own 1,000 apartments and are a magnate worth hundreds of millions. Who would dare look down on you? Who would dare call you a penniless kid?" President Zhuo said.
"I think you mean I owe the bank hundreds of millions. It's not like I personally have a net worth of hundreds of millions," Yi Anguo said.
"Having the ability to owe the bank money, and the guts to do it—that's a skill in itself! Which wealthy person doesn't owe the bank? I owe the bank far more than you do. By your logic, wouldn't that make me even more of a poor kid?" President Zhuo countered. "Alright! I genuinely consider you a friend, which is why I want to introduce you to my friends. I greatly admire your courage for buying 1,000 apartments, and I'm very optimistic about your future. I believe you will surely have a place in the business world of tomorrow. But if you really don't want to come, I won't force you."
"Okay! I'll be right there! It's rare for you to think so highly of me, President Zhuo. How could I be so ungrateful?" Yi Anguo said earnestly.
「」
"Brother Zhuo, who are you inviting that's so important?"
"Haha! A very interesting young man. The one who bought 1,000 of my apartments in one go," President Zhuo replied with a chuckle.
"Ah, so it's that 'poor kid' who didn't spend a cent but still ended up with over 38 million!"
"Poor kid?" another person scoffed. "Have you ever seen a 'poor kid' with over 38 million just sitting in his bank account?"