"I'm fine, I'm not drunk!"
Zhao Cheng immediately sat up straight and cleared his throat to make himself appear very sober.
Unlike Cai Yilu, he didn't mince words and asked directly in a normal voice, "You sell 'Yingyingying' in Changsui? That thing sells very well in Changsui?"
"Hehe, as expected of the young prime minister, you are quite familiar with the 'Yingyingying' picture book!"
Cai Yilu patted Zhao Cheng on the shoulder and said, "Let me tell you this, apart from Kang Ye, Chang Sui's picture album is the most expensive!"
"Kangye? Isn't Kangye the capital of the Southern Zhou Dynasty?"
"Is it strange that such a good product is being sold in the capital of Southern Zhou?"
Zhao Cheng was a little stunned, feeling as if someone was praising his child's excellence to his face, and asked, "Then... how much does a copy of Kang Ye cost?"
"It will cost at least a hundred taels of silver, and there's no guarantee we'll even have the goods."
"What?! A hundred taels of silver?!" Zhao Cheng was so shocked his jaw almost dropped.
Cai Yilu looked at Zhao Cheng with some surprise and said, "Although it is outrageous, with the young prime minister's wealth, he shouldn't be so surprised, right?"
What's so outrageous?
It's absolutely outrageous!
Zhao Cheng was internally scoffing, "What does my surprise have to do with my wealth?"
I was surprised.
Is it because this catalog is making my business good?!
I only sold it for ten taels of silver in Yanchuan, and I thought the price was a bit high at the time. But after you guys kept driving it up to twenty or thirty taels of silver, I could tolerate it.
Now you've taken it overseas and it's fetched a hundred taels of silver!
I'm losing a lot of money!
My perspective is too narrow!
Zhao Cheng casually came up with an explanation: "I was surprised because... I have quite a few of these picture albums at home, they were all gifts from others, I didn't expect them to be so valuable."
“That’s all money!” Cai Yilu said, “You don’t need so much of this stuff. Just sell it all to me, and I’ll resell it to Southern Zhou. We can both make some money!”
"No rush, let me ask again how much this picture album can sell for in Changsui."
"The price of Changsui has stabilized, at fifty taels a book. If I buy it, I can get it down to more than forty taels."
"You not only sell, you also buy?"
"Sell it, but the profit margin is too low when selling it domestically. You can make big money by selling it through Southern Weekly!"
Zhao Cheng understood; this guy was just a middleman!
He then asked the most essential condition for the middleman: "Do you have channels in Southern Weekly?"
"Absolutely!" Cai Yilu patted his chest and laughed, "Young Prime Minister, have you forgotten that I am from Yunjing?"
"But not every person from Yunjing has this ability, right?"
“Of course. Others can only deliver goods to the border of Southern Zhou, or to cities north of Southern Zhou. As for me, I can deliver goods directly to Kangye,” Cai Yilu said proudly.
"Really?" Zhao Cheng sensed a strong stench of business opportunity and money!
"Hehe, I'm not going to drink too much of this."
Cai Yilu smiled, observing Zhao Cheng's expression, and asked, "It seems that the young prime minister is also quite interested in business."
"I know a little, I know a little."
"The person who produced this album is a business genius! His greatest achievement is not finding such a talented artist, but his precise market positioning. If the album had been sold cheaply at the beginning, making it affordable for ordinary people, the market would have been flooded, not only making it unprofitable in the future, but also potentially leading to a ban by the imperial court."
Cai Yilu looked on with admiration and pumped his fist, saying, "But he priced it at ten taels of silver a copy! Ten taels for a picture book sounds outrageous to everyone, but that's exactly the key to its success! What's even more amazing is that it's not a complete book, but divided into two volumes, which really whets the appetites of those rich people!"
"This picture album was first published in Yanchuan. Young Prime Minister, do you recognize this person?"
Zhao Cheng shook his head.
"It's okay if you don't recognize it!"
Cai Yilu pressed his advantage, saying, "Young Prime Minister is from Yanchuan, and a big shot there. If we can cooperate, you can get me the goods from Yanchuan at the initial offering price, and I can then sell them in Nanzhou. That would be incredibly profitable!"
Zhao Cheng smiled knowingly, realizing Cai Yilu's intention to befriend him.
As expected of a businessman, he won't get up early for nothing.
But that's for the best. When he makes friends, he wants to figure out what the other person wants from him!
Moreover, Cai Yilu's idea was indeed good. He could directly take the goods from Yanchuan to Kangye to sell, which would allow him to obtain the issue price from Yanchuan and save the expenses and time of going all the way to Changsui. It was indeed a huge profit!
However, Zhao Cheng also had his own considerations. The first volume of "Yingyingying" has now been discontinued and will not be released again in the short term.
"Brother Cai, many people have already read the first volume of this book. Some people buy it simply for collection purposes, so the market demand is not high anymore. If you do it the way you want, the profit will be large, but the volume in the later stages is unlikely to increase!"
"Why bother with a first volume!"
Cai Yilu immediately said, "Young Prime Minister, you may not know this, but the second volume is about to be released! If we're going to cooperate, we should focus on the second volume and seize the first wave of the Kangye market!!"
Oh my god...
Wow!
Zhao Cheng immediately realized, "That's right, the pre-sale notice for the second volume has already been sent out, so why are we still selling the first volume?"
Zhao Cheng tentatively asked, "If this second volume were sold to Kang Ye, it would probably fetch a hundred taels, right?"
"Hahahaha!!" Cai Yilu laughed without restraint, and said while holding Zhao Cheng's arm, "Young Prime Minister, you underestimate the allure of erotic pictures! Especially classic ones like this!"
"Let me put it this way: people who have already bought the first volume, will they buy the second volume? Of course they will! Only by collecting the whole set can you truly call it a collection!"
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