November 25th, Saturday.
The weather was fine and sunny, and Fang Bai went to T City for the fourth time to purchase used televisions.
The televisions in his rented room would be repaired in three or four days, and he would have his monthly exam in a few days, so he had to purchase them in advance.
This time, Zhang Guoping, the veteran driver he had cooperated with three times, was not in T City with his truck; the state-owned transport team arranged another driver for him.
Fang Bai didn't mind and, following his usual routine, found porters and arrived at Yaming Electronic Recycling Company.
After multiple purchases, he had become familiar with Chen Ming, Yaming Company's business manager, but the other party's status wasn't high enough to be considered a connection.
Although the other party wasn't a connection, he could still leverage him to find higher-level contacts. Fang Bai didn't want to miss this opportunity; building connections was too difficult.
Moreover, Yaming Company's high-level executives could obtain first-hand foreign electronic waste, so they must have deep backgrounds and connections he didn't know about.
Even without his Golden Finger, Fang Bai wanted to accumulate more connections, as they might be useful in the future.
Connections are a network; if one person can't help, perhaps a friend of a friend can.
After selecting the televisions, weighing them, and arranging for their transport, Fang Bai paid the 22,530 yuan for the goods and found business manager Chen Ming:
"Manager Chen, I deeply admire your company's high-level executives. Could you introduce me? I just want to get to know them."
The other party was silent for a moment, then nodded and smiled: "Boss Fang is a major client of our company, so this is not a problem. Our General Manager, Boss Luo, happens to be here; he is in charge of our company."
"Okay, thank you for the introduction."
"You're too kind, Boss Fang."
Fang Bai walked behind Manager Chen. The two crossed an area filled with electronics and arrived in front of a three-story office building. They went up to the second floor, to the largest office in the middle.
Chen Ming tapped twice on the door with his knuckles. A voice from inside echoed, "Please come in!" only then did he push the door open.
Fang Bai followed, glancing at the situation inside the room.
The office layout was somewhat similar to Wang Hengli's.
Inside the room, a square-faced middle-aged man, about fifty years old, was sitting on a solid wood sofa in front of a tea table, drinking tea and reading a newspaper. He looked up, saw that Chen Ming had brought someone in, and asked flatly, "Manager Chen, is there something you need?"
After Chen Ming approached Luo Hai, he respectfully said:
"Boss Luo, hello. Boss Fang is a major client of our company, with a monthly procurement volume of tens of thousands of yuan. He wanted to come and meet you."
Luo Hai, sitting on the sofa, was slightly surprised. He had thought the person brought in was just an ordinary young man, but he turned out to be a client of their company, and the transaction volume was quite significant.
Since he was a client, he was a god of wealth. He also stood up very politely, motioned for Fang Bai to sit down, and said with a smile:
"Oh, Boss Fang is young and promising!"
"You flatter me. I greatly admire Boss Luo, so I wanted to get to know you. Please excuse the intrusion." Fang Bai smiled and extended his left hand to shake his hand.
The other party froze for a moment, then switched to his left hand.
After shaking hands, Fang Bai handed over his business card, and then sat down.
"Haha, you're too kind. Where are you from, Boss Fang?"
"Wen City."
"Oh, then we're half fellow townsfolk. My ancestors were also from Wen City."
Fang Bai smiled. If I couldn't detect your information, who would believe that?
However, this wasn't important; he had obtained the information he wanted.
After exchanging pleasantries for a while, Fang Bai left Boss Luo's office; he still had to rush back to Wen City.
Upon returning to the site, he found that the number of connections had increased by one.
Sure enough, building connections this way was useful!
The background of the other party in dealing with foreign waste was somewhat complex. Luo Hai had a big boss above him who rarely appeared, and the information Fang Bai could probe went no further than that.
Their levels were different, and Fang Bai did not intend to interact with these individuals whom he could not yet provoke, and their methods were a bit shady, so he had even less desire to socialize.
That afternoon, around four o'clock, Fang Bai returned to Wen City.
While the part-time workers were moving televisions, the surrounding bosses were also curious about Fang Bai's workshop.
On the street where Fang Bai rented his room, the boss of the east neighbor ran a small workshop doing OEM processing for shoe insoles. His business was good, with an estimated annual income of tens of thousands, and he had been doing it for three or four years.
The house of the west neighbor was not rented out; the landlord lived there himself and ran a shop in the city center.
The landlord of the house one more block to the west produced zippers, and their business was also good.
This street was a unified planned plot of land in the town. After the landlords bought the land, they obtained a land deed certificate and then built their own buildings, owning the property rights.
Those who could afford to buy land and build houses on this street had some capital, mostly running small businesses.
After such a long time, the surrounding bosses probably knew that Fang Bai was engaged in refurbishing used televisions, but they didn't know where he sourced them or what the purchase price was.
They sold their goods cheaply, so it couldn't be called deceiving consumers.
Everyone quietly made money, and there were always some unsavory things that would be discussed privately but rarely exposed publicly, unless there was competition or conflict.
Generally, they would flatter each other, saying things like, "Boss Fang, your televisions are sold out again, business is too good."
"Oh, I can't compare to your family's zipper business; you're even doing exports to earn extra money."
"Not at all, not at all, zippers don't make money. It's not as good as Old Liu producing shoe insoles."
In short, no one would reveal their own money-making secrets.
For example, even if they knew where Fang Bai's televisions were sourced, they couldn't figure out how to repair them, but seeing that Fang Bai could do everything, they couldn't help but admire him.
After dinner, Fang Bai and his parents settled the revenue and expenses for the third batch of televisions.
The third batch consisted of about 500 televisions, and they had been set up for sale three times, with one more time to go.
When the family was halfway through summarizing, the power suddenly went out.
"Oh my goodness, the power keeps going out recently, it's really annoying." Liu Fengqing grumbled and complained, fumbling in the dark to find the flashlight first, then turning it on before looking for candles.
Soon, she found the candles. His father struck a match and lit a candle, placing it on the table, providing a faint light.
Power outages were common in those days, and every household always had candles on hand.
Fortunately, it wasn't summer, otherwise, without a fan at night, they wouldn't be able to sleep.
Fang Bai still remembered when he was a child, his parents would fan him with a palm-leaf fan until he fell asleep on summer nights.
Currently, many families still didn't have electric fans because they couldn't afford them.
Looking at the pile of money on the cardboard, Fang Bai felt truly happy.
It seemed that happiness was something that came from comparison.
I'm not as miserable as you, so I'm happier.
I earn less than you, so I'm miserable.
Alas, such values are not good.
Under the dim light, Fang Bai and his parents continued to settle the television revenue and expenses.
With complex emotions, Fang Bai took a pen and paper and began to organize the data, listing the procurement costs and other related expenses for each batch of televisions.
About ten minutes later, the settlement was complete.
The total revenue from the three sales was approximately 145,000 yuan!
Fang Bai's personal wealth also reached 405,000 yuan!
In less than two months.