Chapter 41
Lei Tingjun was lucky when he arrived.
Just then, his friend who collected recyclables in the county found out that a noodle shop at the corner of the street ahead was closing down and the owner was looking for someone to take over the business.
The noodle shop is about twenty square meters in size, which is not large for a noodle shop. It can only accommodate four long tables. However, if it were opened as a general store, it could hold a lot of goods.
His friend immediately took Lei Tingjun to see the storefront, saying, "Brother Lei, although this used to be a noodle shop, its advantage lies in its good location. It's easy to find, right at a crossroads, and it's spacious. After you take it over, you can simply renovate the walls and storefront yourself."
"If you need help, I know some friends who specialize in painting and carpentry. They can come and help you, and it will be done in half a day."
"What do you think? If it's okay, I'll go talk to the noodle shop owner right now."
Lei Tingjun stood across the intersection, glancing around. The flow of people passing by was decent, and the location was indeed easy to find. Crucially, it wasn't in any of those hidden, dirty alleyways; Ji Wanmei probably wouldn't like such a filthy place.
My friend is right. Although this place is currently a noodle shop and its facilities are nothing like those of a general store, we can easily renovate it ourselves after taking it over.
Lei Tingjun nodded, lit a cigarette, and said, "Okay, this is the place. Go ask about the price and try to lower it."
"Don't worry, Brother Lei, your problems are my problems, leave it to me!" the friend readily agreed.
Lei Tingjun tossed a pack of cigarettes from his pocket, waved, and turned to leave.
Meanwhile, Lei Tingjun's group had their eye on the storefront that was up for sale, while on the other side, Ji Xingguo's friend in the county also had his eye on the same shop.
Ji Xingguo didn't come to look at the shops himself, but asked an old friend who ran a watch repair business in the county to help him find a suitable shop to open a general store on the nearby streets.
The old watch repairman went out for a stroll and also saw the noodle shop that was planning to sell.
They were all business people from the neighborhood, and they all knew each other. When they went up to ask, they learned that the couple who ran the noodle shop were planning to move south to do business, and they didn't plan to continue operating the noodle shop for the time being.
When I asked about the transfer price, it wasn't expensive at all; it was quite reasonable.
The watchmaker then made a phone call to Director Ji's office and told him about it.
Upon hearing this, Ji Xingguo said, "Then I'll trouble my old friend to help me finalize the shop reservation. Tell him to hold it for me, and I'll take some time to go and check it out tomorrow."
“Okay, I’ll go negotiate the price.” The old friend agreed.
Neither Lei Tingjun nor Ji Xingguo knew that they had both taken a liking to the storefront and had both asked friends to negotiate the price.
The noodle shop owners were a couple who had been selling noodles in the county for several years. Recently, they heard that there was a trend of migrant workers going to the coastal cities in the south, and that even opening a noodle shop there would be more profitable than opening one in the county.
Fortunately, they had a well-connected relative there who could help them find a suitable stall, so the couple decided to head south and try their luck.
These days, if you can't get a stable job, you have to make money by doing business.
However, in Pingquan County, there is a large factory that can earn some money for the workers to occasionally eat out.
But there aren't many of them.
One reason is that the factory already has a large canteen that provides meals and accommodation, as well as a food subsidy. If you don't eat at the factory, you can't use that subsidy.
Moreover, Pingquan County is just a prefecture-level county town, mostly inhabited by local residents. Even the workers who work in nearby factories prefer to go home and eat at home after work, rather than going out to restaurants.
Opening a noodle shop is barely enough to support a family of three. There's no way to earn more or save more money for the children's schooling.
I heard that the wages for migrant workers in coastal cities are one-third higher than those in inland cities.
If we don't seize this opportunity to make money, we'll have even less of a chance when our children are older.
The couple then decided to sell their noodle shop in their hometown county and head south to do business.
To everyone's surprise, as soon as the news of the storefront change was released, two groups of people came to inquire about it one after the other.
Now the young man who collects recyclables on the street behind me comes over and asks, then he's all smiles as he tries to negotiate the price.
Then the old watch repairman at the far right came over and asked, and then calmly negotiated the price with them.
The couple asked them what they planned to do with the storefront, whether they wanted to open another scrap metal recycling station or a watch shop.
Both of them shook their heads and remained silent, their expressions mysterious, only saying that they were helping a friend find a match.
Since they were in business and everyone knew each other, it wouldn't be good to favor one side over the other. So the couple simply said, "Anyway, there's only one storefront. You all know the rent; it's about the same price on this street. You can deal directly with the landlord. The only issue is the transfer fee. Whoever can offer a higher fee, we'll transfer it to them."
The young man who collected recyclables frowned, turned around and walked away unhappily.
The old watch repairman pondered without saying a word, then turned and left with a stern face.
The couple looked over and exclaimed, "Huh? What's going on? Didn't these two just say they had their eye on this shop?"
Why do you get that expression as soon as you hear about bidding?
That afternoon, Lei Tingjun received a message from his brother, who said that someone else had also taken a liking to the noodle shop and was planning to offer a higher price to take it over. He asked Lei Tingjun what to do.
That same afternoon, Ji Xingguo also received a call from an old friend who said that the scrap collector on their street had also taken a liking to the noodle shop and was negotiating with them, possibly offering more transfer fees to snatch it up. He asked Ji Xingguo what he planned to do.
Without saying a word, Lei Tingjun said without hesitation, "Then we'll offer more than them, no matter how much they ask for, we'll offer ten yuan more."
Ji Xingguo replied over the phone, "The location of that shop is not bad. It's not impossible to offer ten or twenty yuan more in transfer fees than the other party. I'll trouble you, Lao Xu, to help me negotiate again. In short, we need to get the shop."
Originally, I thought that whoever offered the highest price would get the storefront, but I ended up offending both potential customers.
As a result, both sides returned that afternoon!
This delighted the couple who ran the noodle shop.
It seems that both sides are determined to take over their shops, so they can just ask for whatever price they want.
So, the noodle shop owners, who got too excited, asked for an exorbitant price, raising the original transfer fee of 150 yuan to 200 or 300 yuan!
What does 300 yuan in 1988 mean?
That's three months' salary for an employee.
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