Chapter 133 Telephone
Wenli took a sip of tea, trying to calm her anxiety, but it had no effect.
After a few casual words, I was still forced to raise the price first: "Bai Lu, let me be frank with you, we have some chestnuts at home, and we were thinking of making some sugar-roasted chestnuts to boost the business of our fruit shop. I think your sugar-roasted chestnuts taste pretty good, would you be interested in partnering with us?"
"We can spend 10,000 yuan to learn a method."
Is 10,000 yuan considered extremely wealthy?
If Bailu were a naive country girl who had never seen the world, she might be tempted by such a small gain.
This perfectly illustrates Gao Jianchuan and Wen Li's ulterior motives: after obtaining the method, they monopolize sales and try every means to seize the market.
But the White Dew of today is not a short-sighted frog in a well; she won't take this "pie" that's been offered to her.
"It's rare that you two think so highly of roasted chestnuts. I'm quite satisfied with the current business model and don't plan to explore any new avenues for the time being."
Gao Jianchuan guessed that Bai Lu thought the price was too low, so he raised the price: "If you're not satisfied with this price, we can talk about it again. How about 11,000?"
Bai Lu smiled faintly: "Roasted chestnuts bring in a stable income now, so there's no rush to make quick money."
"Look at what you're saying. Partnering up isn't about making quick money. If you sell us your method for making roasted chestnuts, it just means there will be one more shop selling roasted chestnuts in the market. You can still continue selling roasted chestnuts. With one more shop in the outer city, the reputation of roasted chestnuts will spread further and wider, and our roasted chestnut business will be even better than it is now. Isn't that a win-win situation?"
Wenli, with a businesswoman's eye, amplified and elaborated on the benefits, attempting to change Bailu's stubborn mindset.
Gao Jianchuan also repeatedly listed how much profit Bai Lu could gain after selling the roasted chestnuts.
They didn't mention at all how they planned to operate the business after buying the recipe, how to make the reputation of sugar-roasted chestnuts well-known, or how to let more people know about sugar-roasted chestnuts.
Bai Lu just smiled and didn't say anything.
After Gao Jianchuan and Wenli buy the recipe, they can use a price war to win over customers and take away all her sales channels. Then they can launch a temporary low-price promotion to snatch away all the customers, stabilize their business, and then raise the price.
Finally, by leveraging their personal connections, they won over town merchants, disrupted the market price of chestnuts, causing it to fluctuate wildly before finally driving down the price of chestnuts in Xiaojia Village.
She won't need to do her business anymore.
The chestnuts produced in Xiaojia Village were taken away by the fluctuating prices in the market. In the end, the villagers of Xiaojia Village found that they had not made much money when they checked their accounts, and they could no longer make a living.
Gao Jianchuan and Wenli talked for a long time, listing all the benefits, big and small, but Bai Lu remained unmoved.
They all suspected that Bailu was mentally challenged.
They don't do businesses that can make big money quickly.
But since they couldn't find a recipe for roasted chestnuts, they were just wasting their time, so they had no choice but to get their hands on chestnuts.
Unexpectedly, after asking around for a long time, Bailu kept trying to get freebies, saying that the seller's chestnuts were stored properly, that the chestnuts were plump and tasted great, and that there were no worms at all.
They just didn't mention where the chestnuts were purchased.
We overturned all their plans that they had prepared before they arrived, and they didn't fall for a single one of them.
In the end, Gao Jianchuan and Wenli could only buy a few dozen kilograms of roasted chestnuts and leave. As for whether they would cooperate in selling chestnuts, they would decide after they had thoroughly studied these few dozen kilograms of chestnuts and if they still couldn't figure out how to make roasted chestnuts.
Bailu spent the whole morning busy seeing off both the chestnut buyers and sellers.
I closed the door and was about to go back to the market with my small shopping basket when another customer knocked on the door.
The door opened to find a middle-aged man and woman who were strangers.
The woman was holding a new cardboard box that was neither too big nor too small, while the man was holding a small toolbox.
"We've come from Pingcheng to install a telephone. Is this Xiao Cheng and Bai Lu's house?"
Bai Lu paused for a moment, then nodded: "It's our home."
The female shop owner didn't hear any other voices in the house, so she guessed that the girl in front of her must be Bai Lu, the lady of the house. She immediately explained the situation: "Your husband, Xiao Cheng, went to our store yesterday to buy a telephone and has already paid for it. He told us to come to Xinzhen today to install it and told us not to come too early, so we came at this time."
"Xiao Cheng also said that his wife Bai Lu was at home, and that we should just go find Bai Lu when we arrived."
"Oh well."
Bai Lu opened the courtyard gate and let the two of them in.
The couple on the phone were led to the main house.
As the female boss unpacked the new box, she asked Bai Lu, "Have you decided where to put the phone?"
Bai Lu was pouring tea for the two of them, slightly puzzled: "Didn't Xiao Cheng say anything?"
The female boss said with a smile, "He said it's all up to you; you can put it wherever you like."
Bai Lu paused slightly, smiled, and handed the tea she had poured to the couple on the phone: "Then let's put it here in the main house."
The couple who had been talking on the phone drank some tea and then started installing the phone.
The male boss didn't say a single word to Bai Lu from the moment he entered until he finished installing the phone and left.
The female boss did all the talking with Bai Lu.
Bai Lu was slightly surprised but didn't think much of it. Maybe the other person was like Xiao Cheng, not fond of talking and taciturn.
After the telephone was installed and the user manual, phone number, service hotline, and other precautions were explained, the telephone couple had successfully completed their mission.
Bai Lu had just seen the two of them to the door when Xiao Wei came home from school and stood motionless outside the door.
I watched intently as the couple on the phone left.
As soon as everyone left, the little guy darted into the house, looked around to make sure no one was there, and quickly closed the gate.
Looking up at Bai Lu with a serious and earnest expression, and a hint of barely perceptible wariness in his voice, he asked, "Are they the new chestnut sellers?"
"no."
Bai Lu noticed the little guy's wariness and wanted to pat his head, but worried that it might prick her hand, so she decided against it.
"The person who installs telephones."
Xiao Wei's wary eyes suddenly lit up: "We have a telephone at home?"
Bai Lu smiled and nodded: "Yes."
"It was when I was walking home from school today, passing by the shop opposite Li Shuixian's shop, that I heard it ringing. The shop owner picked up that thing and started talking to someone. Someone inside could hear it and talk to the shop owner?"
The little bald boy's face was full of excitement, and his bright eyes were practically blooming with joy.
Bai Lu finally couldn't help but touch Xiao Guangtou's bald head: "That's right, when your brother calls back, you can hear his voice on the phone and talk to him. The phone is installed in the main house. As soon as the phone rings, it means your brother is calling back."
"No matter how far apart we are, we can still chat."
Xiao Wei, carrying his small schoolbag, ran quickly toward the main house: "My brother said he'll call you every day."
Bai Lu: "..."
Why call her?
A proud and aloof big shot would never say something like that. It might be more likely if it were a drunk three-year-old. It's clear that Xiao Wei has misunderstood again.
On May 19, 1997, Xiao Cheng and Bai Lu installed their first telephone in their home.
(End of this chapter)
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