Chapter 12: Strategy
“This is your pearl milk tea.”
Saying that, Wang Heng handed the milk tea to the customer, breathing a sigh of relief.
In the previous full half hour or so, the shop had welcomed a wave of peak customer flow. He and Han Yixuan had been busy to the point of dizziness, and had finally managed to cope with it.
The shop quieted down, and behind him… without needing to turn around, Wang Heng faintly felt the gaze of a certain girl, so he didn’t dare to look back. He subconsciously took out his mobile phone to check, noticing there was a new text message.
Opening it, it was from his father: 【I’m at Computer City, I’ve found that brand’s computer.】
Wang Heng’s expression changed, and he squeezed the plastic case of his mobile phone until it creaked.
He typed two words, then hurriedly deleted them, simply calling his father instead. After anxiously waiting a dozen seconds, it finally connected.
On the other end of the phone came noisy environmental sounds, as well as his father’s voice: “Did you see the text message?”
Wang Heng hurriedly asked: “What are you doing at Computer City!”
“Buying a computer,” his father answered quite naturally, “You’ve already told me which brand’s computer to buy, so I can just buy it directly for you, right?”
However, Wang Heng felt no surprise, only shock.
He had indeed mentioned to his father last evening which kind of computer to buy. But the hardware configurations of computers had many intricacies. Online brand flagship stores were okay, but as for the merchants in Computer City, their credibility was questionable…
“Don’t go! That place is purely deceptive, buy online if you want to buy!”
“Why? Online shopping doesn’t provide after-sales service for you, but here if something goes wrong, you can still find the shop owner.”
Explaining to an outsider who was also an elder was the most troublesome thing, twice the effort for half the result, very likely a waste of breath. This moment was undoubtedly just that.
Fortunately, Wang Heng knew his father’s personality; he wasn’t particularly stubborn and should be persuadable.
Thinking about it, he said in a resolute tone: “Really don’t buy it. For which model of computer, I have my own plan. If what you buy doesn’t meet my requirements, it’ll be a waste of money.”
“Are your requirements that strict?” His father was somewhat surprised. “The one I picked for you is a five-thousand-yuan machine, that should be fine, right?”
“Not necessarily! A five-thousand-yuan machine in Computer City might only cost three or four thousand online. There are too many strategies there, really don’t buy.”
“I’m not an electronics idiot,” his father scoffed, “I bought the computer at home, and I use computers every day at work. How could they fool me?”
Wang Heng sighed helplessly: “I know you’re not a newbie, but this time you’re really too naive. The strategies in Computer City are absolutely more complex than you imagine. Let me put it this way: unless you’re familiar with all kinds of hardware and can assemble a machine yourself, you might get harvested leeks in Computer City.”
“That exaggerated?”
“It’s exactly that exaggerated, I’m absolutely not joking with you.”
His father’s tone became somewhat hesitant: “But I’ve already selected a machine, and payment has been made…”
Wang Heng’s mouth twitched twice, and he immediately followed up: “Has it been unboxed?”
“Not yet…”
“Then absolutely don’t let him open it, absolutely don’t activate it! Let me tell you, absolutely don’t activate it, I’m taking leave right now to come over!”
After saying that, Wang Heng hung up the phone, rushed into the back kitchen, and found the shop manager who was staring at her mobile phone not knowing what she was doing.
“Boss, I need to take leave, emergency.”
The shop manager looked up: “I heard what you just said… family got scammed?”
“Yeah, I’m going now to see if I can stop the loss.”
“Go, go. Come back as soon as possible, I have something to do later too and need to go out, the shop will be left to you and Xiao Xuan.”
“Got it.” Wang Heng nodded, took off his apron uniform, and turned to leave.
Out of the shop door, he immediately hailed a taxi.
Facing the risk of losing four figures in money to being harvested leeks, a little small money really couldn’t be cared about.
————
Regarding the shady dealings in Computer City, Wang Heng knew more clearly than anyone around. Because back when doing part-time jobs, he had worked two positions; the first was at the milk tea shop, the second was in Computer City.
Under the impact of the online shopping wave, profit margins in computer cities across the country had plummeted off a cliff, but land prices got more expensive year by year, and rent kept rising. Under the pressure of making profit or even survival, many shopkeepers had no choice but to stop being human.
When Wang Heng was doing part-time at Computer City, the most important skill the boss emphasized was called transformation.
Because the few computers with the best online reputation were mostly those with good cost-effectiveness; in other words, if sold at online shopping prices, physical stores not only had no profit margin but might even lose money. And even customers going to Computer City often checked online in advance, having a target in mind beforehand. Their targets were usually those with good reputation…
So as a store clerk, the most important mission was transformation. Convince the customer, go through a series of strategies, make the customer who originally wanted cost-effectiveness buy the chives-harvesting goods, and pay full intelligence tax.
Fortunately, when Wang Heng arrived at Computer City by car and found that shop inside, his father and the shop owner were in a standoff.
“Friend, isn’t it bad to toy with people like this? I called someone to fetch the goods from the warehouse, such a long way and so much effort, and now with one phone call you say you don’t want it…”
While the shop owner was justifying himself, Wang Heng suddenly burst in. He glanced at the cardboard box on the table, then at the marked price, and knew for sure his father had been harvested leeks.
So Wang Heng stood in front of his father and smiled: “Boss, take it easy. Your warehouse should be right upstairs, why put on a show?”
The boss frowned: “Who are you?”
“This is my dad, the computer is for me…” Wang Heng watched the man’s expression change and cut him off before he could speak, “Let’s be honest, what my dad originally wanted absolutely wasn’t this model, it must be your transformation strategy.”
The boss’s expression changed: “What nonsense are you talking?”
“Really, I’ll give you some face and not say it out… This obscure model you got, the profit is about this much, right?”
Saying this, Wang Heng took out his mobile phone, entered a number, and waved it in front of the boss.
The boss’s expression stiffened even more.
Wang Heng continued: “So, are you sure you want to force it on me? The machine hasn’t been activated yet, take it back now, refund me, and we’re even. Otherwise, I’ll call the police for consumer fraud, how do you think this will be handled today?”
The boss stubbornly retorted: “Call the police, it won’t help! I didn’t commit fraud, your dad agreed before I brought this machine over.”
Wang Heng laughed: “Yeah, and the money was paid, but you didn’t issue an invoice, right?”
Boss: “…”
Wang Heng: “How about it, have the police come take a look?”
The boss gritted his teeth: “Fine, kid, you win!”
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