Chapter 205: A Kind of Business Acumen ②
To be honest, Nie Qiu hadn’t thought about doing anything special during the holiday after her exams. All she wanted was to help Nie Aifang sell vegetables every day and commute with her. Naturally, she put this thought into action. In the morning, she woke up early with Nie Aifang, ate breakfast at a small roadside stall on Nie Aifang’s tricycle, and then Nie Aifang would pedal the tricycle to meet Zhang Qitian. Together, they would go to the warehouse to pick up goods, transport them to the market, sort and wash them, arrange them on the vegetable stand, and then start selling. Around one or two in the afternoon, Nie Aifang would call for takeout. Because Nie Qiu was there, Nie Aifang would specifically order a meat dish. After eating, if they didn’t have enough stock, Nie Aifang would go with Zhang Qitian to the warehouse to replenish. Nie Qiu would watch the two vegetable stands. Since there weren’t many people at this time, Nie Qiu could manage both stands alone. If they had enough stock, they would wait at the vegetable stand for customers. Although one or two in the afternoon wasn’t a peak period, there would still be one or two people who would come to buy vegetables. Of course, their stall was at the doorway, and the prices weren’t inflated. People who came to the market at this time were usually in a hurry to cook, so they would usually choose the vegetables from Nie Qiu’s stall.
Nie Aifang happily introduced dishes to customers, packed them, weighed them, calculated the total, collected money, and gave change. For Nie Aifang, the better the business, the happier she would be.
One day, after Nie Qiu and Nie Aifang had just finished eating, a man with a big beard came to the market. Nie Aifang naturally greeted him with a smile, “Brother, what vegetables do you want to buy? Long beans or eggplant? We have everything here, take a look…”
Before Nie Aifang could finish speaking, the man glanced at Nie Qiu’s vegetable stall, walked past it, and headed straight for Zhang Qitian’s stall.
Nie Aifang wasn’t angry. In her eyes, even though the money from her vegetable stall was shared, if this person didn’t buy from her, she would lose a dollar or two. But she wouldn’t be jealous if he went to Zhang Qitian’s stall. She felt that since they were all stalls belonging to the boss, as long as he didn’t buy from someone else, it was fine.
Seeing Zhang Qitian take out a cigarette and offer it to the man, Nie Aifang smiled and said to Nie Qiu, “Qiu Qiu, do you think Mom should also keep a pack of cigarettes on her?”
Nie Qiu, who was still eating, sat on a small plastic stool and looked up at Nie Aifang with confusion.
Nie Aifang sat on a small stool opposite Nie Qiu and smiled, “In our market, both young girls and older women keep a pack of cigarettes on them. Look at that elder sister selling chili peppers, pepper, and dried goods over there. As soon as a man comes to buy something, she offers him the first cigarette. He feels too embarrassed not to buy from her. I heard she makes a lot more money this way each month!”
“Mom, we sell vegetables. If our vegetables are ordinary, we only earn three to four thousand yuan a month, which is one person’s salary.” Nie Qiu closed the disposable food container and threw it into the trash can Nie Aifang had placed. The trash can was full of vegetable leaves. “Earning three to four thousand yuan, let me put it this way! We buy a pack of cigarettes for ten yuan. A pack of cigarettes is ten yuan. Mom, calculate it, how many male customers do you encounter each day?”
Nie Aifang frowned and thought for a moment, “You know, there are quite a lot! At least three to four packs of cigarettes a day. A ten-yuan cigarette isn’t presentable; I see people buying twenty to thirty yuan cigarettes.”
“Exactly. We are in a small business, but what kind of business are they in?” Nie Qiu smiled and said, “Mom, let me tell you, for example, when we buy brown sugar. In the supermarket, a pack of brown sugar less than two liang costs three yuan fifty or five yuan. Their purchase price might only be eighty cents or one yuan. But if we buy brown sugar by the jin in the market, it’s eight yuan a jin. You say, does she not make money? Look, eight yuan a jin, four yuan is half a jin. You tell me, if the supermarket sells it and makes money, doesn’t the one selling it in the market also make money?”
“Qiu Qiu, you really think Mom is stupid!” Nie Aifang smiled and rubbed Nie Qiu’s head. “If it wasn’t profitable, no one would sell it! That brown sugar sold in large chunks by the jin also makes money.”
“Our business is doing quite well now. Didn’t the television station come to do an interview for a green organic advertisement before? Our vegetables have been selling quite steadily, haven’t they? Why waste that money?” Nie Qiu said, holding Nie Aifang’s hand and smiling.
“Alright, alright, I get it. I won’t buy cigarettes. No matter how you calculate it, it’s a losing business.” Besides, their stall’s business was good, and they didn’t need to do these useless things. Nie Aifang smiled and said, “Take the trash can to the back of the market to throw it away.”
Nie Qiu smiled and picked up the trash can from the ground. “I’ll go then.” Every day after eating, the trash can would be filled with vegetable leaves from sorting and disposable food containers they threw away after eating. When the trash can was full, Nie Aifang would ask Nie Qiu to take it to the back to throw away the garbage.
Their vegetable stall was at the entrance of the market, so they had to go to the back door, passing by Zhang Qitian’s stall. Zhang Qitian, who was talking to the man with the big beard, saw Nie Qiu and smiled, “Nie Qiu, going to throw out the trash?”
“Yes.” Nie Qiu smiled and nodded.
“Okay, after you throw out the trash, come over here for a moment. I have something to talk to you about,” Zhang Qitian said.
Nie Qiu glanced at the man with the big beard and nodded. After throwing out the trash, Nie Qiu carried the trash can and walked into Zhang Qitian’s stall. The man with the big beard hadn’t left yet; he was there holding vegetables, smelling and touching them.
Zhang Qitian smiled and introduced Nie Qiu, “This is the procurement officer from that big restaurant I told you about, Mr. Chen. Didn’t you say before that we could together…”
“Mr. Zhang, what are you talking to a little girl about?” Mr. Chen, who was looking at the vegetables, heard Zhang Qitian’s words and straightened up. Seeing Nie Qiu, he couldn’t help but frown, not understanding why Zhang Qitian would tell this matter to a fifteen or sixteen-year-old girl.
“Mr. Chen, you don’t know, all our vegetables are sourced from this young lady’s relatives. If you want to get goods from us, I have to discuss it with them first,” Zhang Qitian explained.
Nie Qiu extended her hand to the man with the big beard and smiled, “May I ask, sir, what kind of restaurant is it? What star rating?” Nie Qiu instinctively didn’t want to do business with this person. Although he was a businessman, the most basic common sense for a businessman should be that you can’t judge a book by its cover. This person looked at her with such eyes that made her very uncomfortable.
“It’s not a star-rated hotel, but in City A, everyone has heard of it.” Mr. Chen’s face also sank slightly. He didn’t shake Nie Qiu’s outstretched hand and said proudly, “What star rating or not, reputation is…”
“Since it’s not a star-rated restaurant or hotel, then… then why should we sell our vegetables to you?” Nie Qiu said with a naive smile.
Zhang Qitian was anxious and quickly whispered, “Nie Qiu!” to remind her.
Nie Qiu considered herself a polite person, but the person in front of her was not within her scope of politeness. Those who insult others will be insulted. She hadn’t offended him, so he should have at least basic courtesy. Even if she was a fifteen or sixteen-year-old girl, he could think she was overestimating herself with her smile, but he absolutely shouldn’t look at her with contempt, as if she were a piece of fresh dung. Although this analogy was a bit crude, his gaze was indeed like that.
