After the summer break there would be one more fruit shop on this food street.
Zhang Xinzhou had heard the conversation between that owner and his friends with his own ears the day before. Not only did they have deep pockets, they had a cheaper supply line as well.
Once they arrived, Qingqing Fruit Shop’s business was certain to be badly hit.
Transferring the fruit shop now was entirely the right choice.
“Of course I mean it.”
Xu Ye explained with a smile, “But my shop’s reputation is already made. However short of money I am, I’m not going to hand it over for nothing, so on the question of price…”
Luo Wenbing was interested at once. “How much do you want?”
From where Luo Wenbing stood, Xu Ye transferring a fruit shop doing this well was simply moronic.
If he could get his hands on the place, the whole School of Finance fruit market would be his monopoly again — an absolutely guaranteed deal.
Xu Ye said it lightly. “Three hundred thousand.”
“Three hundred thousand?!”
Luo Wenbing was stunned.
Zhang Xinzhou hadn’t expected Xu Ye to name a figure that high either.
Bear in mind that when they had taken the place on themselves the transfer fee had been a hundred and eighty thousand, and they had been renting it for nearly a year already.
“Boss Luo, don’t get worked up. Three hundred thousand does sound like a lot, but you have to understand that what I’m transferring isn’t just a shopfront. I’ve built up a considerable body of repeat customers who have settled into the habit of buying from me, and compared to the rent, that’s worth far more. And most importantly of all, if I transfer it to you, you’ll be one competitor down.”
Luo Wenbing shook his head anyway. “Three hundred thousand is still too high.”
Xu Ye made a show of finding it difficult. “Name a price, then. But don’t open your mouth if it’s under two hundred thousand. However short of money I am, I’m not stupid enough to hand over a shop that keeps on making money at a knock-down price.”
Luo Wenbing thought about it for a long time, then said tentatively, “Two hundred thousand, then?”
Xu Ye wasn’t satisfied. He shook his head. “Two hundred and fifty thousand, and I’ll turn the shop over to you in mid-May. May, June, September and October are the best months for a fruit shop, so you’d make money out of it on top.”
Luo Wenbing seemed afraid Xu Ye would change his mind. He gritted his teeth. “Two hundred and twenty thousand, and we sign a contract within three days! And you have to guarantee you’ll never go into the fruit trade again!”
Xu Ye saw the excitement on Luo Wenbing’s face.
He knew that two hundred and twenty thousand was probably Luo Wenbing’s limit, but he didn’t give in straight away either. Instead he made himself look thoroughly torn.
Agreeing too readily at this point would only arouse suspicion.
Watching from the side, Zhang Xinzhou couldn’t help admiring Xu Ye’s acting.
“All right, two hundred and twenty thousand it is. Contract within three days, and you give me half a month to clear the fruit out of the shop.”
“No. Ten days at most.”
Xu Ye had been right just now — May and June were the best months for a fruit shop, and every extra day’s delay was a day’s earnings lost.
Xu Ye sighed. “Ten days, then. But you have to get me the money within three days as well. I’m very short of money right now, otherwise transferring it wouldn’t have crossed my mind.”
“Done!”
While the two of them were talking, the food had been arriving on the table.
But neither of them was in any mood to eat.
One of them was thinking about putting the money straight into the stock market the moment it was in his hands, and using leverage to make another killing while the A-share market was still climbing.
The other was thinking that once the shopfront was his he would change the sign and open immediately, and figured he could make fifty thousand back before the summer break — and if business was good, he might even recoup his outlay before the new year.
They ate hurriedly.
Luo Wenbing got up soon after. “Then that’s settled. You prepare the contract, I’ll get the money together, and we’ll have this nailed down within three days.”
“Good. Here’s to a booming business, Boss Luo. When I buy fruit at your shop in future, you’d better sell it to me at cost.”
Luo Wenbing laughed out loud, his mood lifting all at once.
They watched Luo Wenbing go, and Zhang Xinzhou immediately dragged his chair over next to Xu Ye. “If this guy knew somebody else was about to open a fruit shop on the food street, wouldn’t he die of rage?”
“That’s what making money off the information gap means. Find another way to confirm that news you heard yesterday.”
“Right.”
…
Xu Ye went back to the fruit shop and stayed until around ten in the evening before telling Li Tongwen and Xu Wanying about it.
Xu Wanying heard him out and said quickly, “I’m starting my master’s in the second half of the year, so there’s no way I could keep working here part-time anyway. This actually gives me a chance to get out and enjoy myself for a while.”
Xu Ye laughed. “You can come to me any time you need something at school, either way.”
“That goes without saying.”
“That’s it for today, then. We’ll do the cleaning tomorrow.”
Lights off, rolling shutter down.
Xu Ye, Zhang Xinzhou and Li Tongwen set off toward the dorm together, and only then did he start explaining to Li Tongwen why he was transferring the fruit shop…
Worried he wouldn’t understand, Xu Ye explained carefully. “Transferring the fruit shop at a high price now is our best option. One more competitor on the same street would affect us a great deal, and it’s actually very easy for capital to break a shop.”
“Let me give you a case. There was a billiard hall doing extremely good business with a very good reputation. Capital took a liking to it and came to the owner asking him to take on their brand as a franchise. But the owner wasn’t stupid — his business was doing fine, so why should he work for them? He turned it down flat.”
“Capital didn’t say much. It smiled and left. But within a month a new billiard hall opened opposite. Free play for three days when it opened, and after those three days the prices were still half what everywhere else charged. It was running at a loss on purpose.”
“It went on like that for the best part of six months, and the billiard hall that had been doing so well had all its customers taken and closed down.”
“The moment it closed, capital’s billiard hall put its prices straight back up.”
“So if we were making a hundred a day before, then one more competitor doesn’t necessarily just mean making eighty a day. Look what happened to Kangyuan Fruit Shop’s business after we opened — it plummeted, didn’t it?”
Zhang Xinzhou laughed. “We paid a hundred and eighty thousand to take this shop on, and I never thought that after running it for nearly a year we’d get two hundred and twenty thousand back.”
“Luo Wenbing’s been driven into a corner too. If his business were even slightly better he’d never have been willing to pay that much to take it over. Whatever happens, keep this quiet — don’t let him find out before the contract’s signed.”
“Don’t worry. I’ve got it.”
Xu Ye clapped Li Tongwen on the shoulder and laughed. “Once the fruit shop is transferred, come work at the office. The work over there is fairly easy too. It’s just a bit far from the dorm — but we’ve still got the two electric scooters, haven’t we, and once the shop’s gone we won’t need them. You and Yang Fei can have one each.”
Li Tongwen said, in a small voice, “Are you still short-handed? If you aren’t, I won’t come.”
“Of course we are. Why wouldn’t we be?”
When he had said it, Xu Ye reached over and squeezed Zhang Xinzhou’s shoulder, and Zhang Xinzhou took the hint at once. “We’re still short a customer service person for after-sales.”
Li Tongwen nodded and said nothing more.
Xu Ye stepped up onto the steps and said quietly, “Zhang Xinzhou and I are only children. You and Yang Fei have one younger sister each. We’re all the pillar holding up our families, and I hope none of us ends up as offcuts in society.”
The pillar holding up the family…
Offcuts in society…
Li Tongwen heard him out, and was deeply moved.
(End of Chapter 230)