Chapter 64 Cooperation
"What do you want from our shopkeeper?" the old woman said to Jiang Tangtang.
"I have a business deal I'd like to discuss with your boss," Jiang Tangtang said. "It's a big deal that could change your silver shop's predicament."
The old woman looked at her warily and asked, "How do you know our silver shop is in trouble? Who are you?"
"Isn't it obvious? There's a jewelry store diagonally across from you. It's bigger than yours, and it's better than yours in every way. And what about you? I've been here for so long, and there's not a single customer in the store..."
Jiang Tangtang listed the differences between their shop and the one across the street before asking, "Would you like to help your boss seize this opportunity?"
The old woman hesitated for a moment and said, "Come with me!"
The old woman asked someone to take Jiang Tangtang to the private room on the second floor. After a while, a girl of about sixteen or seventeen walked towards her.
Seeing the little girl, Jiang Tangtang was stunned for a moment. Could this be the owner of Jiuxia Silver Shop? She was so young?
The girl invited Jiang Tangtang to sit down and said, "I am the owner of Jiuxia Silver Shop. Chu Mingyu, sir, I wonder what business you would like to discuss with me?"
Although the little girl is young, she doesn't speak in a childish manner and has her own aura.
Jiang Tangtang didn't beat around the bush.
Using the bag as a cover, she took out a few pieces of jewelry she had practiced with from the space. "This is the jewelry I designed and made myself. What do you think, Mr. Chu?"
After seeing the appearance of the jewelry, Chu Mingyu's eyes flashed with excitement, but he quickly restrained himself and said calmly, "You want to sell jewelry?"
"No!" Jiang Tangtang shook her head and said, "I want to cooperate with you."
Chu Mingyu looked at her with interest and asked, "How do you want to cooperate?"
"Invest in the business!" Jiang Tangtang said simply, "I'll invest my technology and the jewelry I have. We'll split the profits in half."
Before Chu Mingyu could say anything, the maid next to her shouted, "You're dreaming! No matter how beautiful these pieces of jewelry are, they're only worth a few hundred taels of silver. You took a few hundred taels of silver and took away half the shop. You're simply robbing! How shameless!"
Jiang Tangtang said with a smile: "It seems that the Chu family can't make the decision."
Chu Mingyu said to the maid beside her with a cold face: "Apologize to this guest!"
"Miss!" the old woman said aggrievedly, "Don't be fooled by her, Master—"
Chu Mingyu interrupted sharply, "Mrs. Duan, if you don't listen to me, please go back to the old house and retire!"
Mrs. Duan was clearly dissatisfied, but seemed afraid of being driven away. Finally, she knelt down unwillingly to apologize to Jiang Tangtang and said, "I overstepped my bounds just now. Please don't hold it against me, young lady."
Jiang Tangtang smiled, as if she didn't take what she just did seriously. Chu Mingyu said, "Mrs. Duan, you go down first!"
When there were only two people left in the room, Chu Mingyu said, "I wonder what this guest's name is?"
"My last name is Jiang." Jiang Tangtang said.
Chu Mingyu said, "Madam Jiang, I think with your intelligence, you wouldn't just take these few pieces of jewelry and claim to take away half of the profits from my Jiuxia Silver Shop, right?"
Jiang Tangtang smiled and said, "Of course. In addition to the few pieces of jewelry I already have, I will provide five pieces of jewelry to the jewelry store every month. In addition, I will propose a business model that is suitable for the store and design new jewelry designs for the store."
"Your offer does tempt me, and the designs of your jewelry are indeed beautiful, but even so, it's not enough for me to bet half of the shop's profits."
Chu Mingyu said, "Madam Jiang, if you want half of my shop, you have to show some sincerity!"
This is because they are afraid that she doesn't have the real ability, so they deceive her!
Jiang Tangtang smiled slightly and said, "Although your silver shop is smaller than the one across the street, it's actually not bad. It's even in a better location than Jingfu Building. But do you know what the problem is?"
"Their styles are more novel than ours, and the prices are cheaper." Chu Mingyu was a little depressed.
Jiang Tangtang said, "Besides the style, your shop looks too deserted and lifeless. If you leave it to me, I can make your shop lively in less than half a month."
There are so many ways to accumulate popularity in modern times, just pick a few that are suitable for this era.
"Then according to you, what should we do?" Chu Mingyu said.
Jiang Tangtang smiled and said, "I'm sorry, Mr. Chu, I can't tell you before we sign the contract!"
"If you doubt my ability, we can add a clause to the contract. If the shop's revenue doesn't increase by more than 15%, my condition of getting half of the shop's profits will not be met.
Consider my ideas as my free advice to you. When the time comes, all you have to do is give me the money from selling my jewelry."
Chu Mingyu hesitated for a moment, then nodded and said, "Okay, I'll sign, but the profits will only be shared over three years. After three years, Jiuxia Silver Shop's income will no longer be yours. In addition, the shop's income must increase by more than 30% compared to before."
Jiang Tangtang was very confident about the increase in the shop's income and did not raise any objections, but he was not very satisfied with the profit distribution over the past three years.
She thought for a moment and said, "At least five years."
"Three and a half years." Chu Mingyu said.
"At least five years. Any less than that, forget it." Jiang Tangtang was very persistent on this point. "Boss Chu, think about it. You've only lost half of your profits in five years. But if it weren't for my advice, how much longer do you think your silver shop could have lasted?"
Chu Mingyu smiled bitterly.
If the silver shop was not in dire straits, her father was seriously ill and bedridden, and her uncles were eyeing her house covetously, how could she have taken the risk and agreed to Jiang Tangtang's ridiculous suggestion.
She struggled for a while, but finally gave in. The two of them wrote a contract and had it notarized at the county government office.
The contract not only specified the duration of the two people's cooperation and the treaties that each party should abide by, but also, at Jiang Tangtang's special request, the account books of Jiuxia Silver Shop for the past year were taken out and the monthly profits of the silver shop in the past year were clearly written into the contract.
The contract was divided into three copies, one for Jiang Tangtang, one in Chu Mingyu's hand, and a notarized copy kept in the yamen.
In this way, no one has to worry about the other party breaking the contract.
By the time the contract was signed, it was already past noon. Chu Mingyu invited Jiang Tangtang to a restaurant for dinner. While eating, the two talked about the renovation of the silver shop.
"First, close the silver shop and renovate it according to my plan. Second, pick a new group of sweet-talking girls to work as waiters..."
Jiang Tangtang talked in detail about the operation of the silver shop, from decoration to employment, methods of attracting popularity, promotions, etc. By the time the meal was over, an hour had passed.
Seeing that it was getting late, Jiang Tangtang rubbed her temples with a headache. Time passed too quickly, and she still had a lot of things to do!
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