La Jolla Cove.
Sayuri Hagiwara walked to the edge of the beach's isolation zone and admired the thirty or so seals lying lazily on the beach from the closest distance possible. Nan Yi stood on the tourist bridge on the other side and watched her.
"Boss, after our investigation, only Claude Deere is clean. The other two companies have many drug mules from the Tijuana Cartel."
“Zapatista.”
"Already developing sleepers."
"Okay, you go first."
After AB merged into the crowd of tourists, Nan Yi walked towards Hagiwara Sayuri. Once they met, the two continued along the bay.
Tired of the beach, the two went to the old town of San Diego and left their footprints in front of various Spanish-style buildings. Around eight o'clock, when Nan Yi and the other were having dinner in a restaurant, Beef Burger called.
"Boss, nice to meet you."
"Uh-huh, go on."
"Enedina was surprised by the $10 million offer, but she did not agree to sell the farm. She only asked to meet with the boss."
"Where are you?"
"There's another mile to the checkpoint."
"No need to come. You can visit again tomorrow and raise the price to $12 million. Tell Enedina that we only do legal business."
"Got."
Wuchuan, Chengdu Airport.
Nan Wuwei walked to the exit, glanced around, and soon saw the sign with his name on it. He pulled the straps of his backpack to make it fit closer to his body. He came to the sign, but before he could speak, Chen Ruishi, who was holding the sign, said, "Are you Wuwei?"
"Hello Aunt Chen, I'm Nan Wuwei."
Chen Ruishi put away the sign and lingered on Nan Wuwei's face for a while. Suddenly, a peaceful smile appeared on her face. "Wuwei, are you hungry?"
Nan Wuwei laughed and nodded vigorously, "Dad told me that there are many delicious foods in Chengdu, so I deliberately skipped breakfast and saved my stomach for a big meal here."
"Okay, Auntie will take you for a big meal." Chen Ruishi said, laughing unconsciously. She could see the shadow of Nan Yi in Nan Wuwei, and Nan Wuwei's words would automatically switch to Nan Yi's body.
Chen Ruishi took Nan Wuwei and the other two out of the airport and drove them to the roadside restaurant where she and Nan Yi had eaten before.
It was still the same Double Happiness face, still a full plate of dishes, and still lotus root and pork ribs soup, but the price had almost doubled to one dollar and fifty cents. Chen Ruishi saw that Nan Wuwei and Nan Yi had the same way of serving the dishes—five or six mouthfuls of rice, which forced away the soup, and the dishes were piled high.
There are now more than two tables in the restaurant. Although there are empty seats, Chen Ruishi still takes Nan Wuwei to squat on the side of the road to eat.
"Wuwei, your father said you were just passing through Rongcheng, where is your destination?"
Nan Wuwei ate his food in big mouthfuls and mumbled, "Gaole Village, Folou Township, in the county below Bacheng."
"What are you going there for?"
"The young and strong people in Gaole Village are all working on construction sites in Yangcheng. I want to go and observe how the village conducts agricultural production after losing its strong labor force, as well as the output of grain and livestock."
Nan Wuwei's words made Chen Ruishi slightly stunned, "Why are you observing this?"
"This is the summer homework my dad assigned to me."
Chen Ruishi thought to herself, "Does your father want you to be the village chief when you grow up?"
"Hehe, the village chief is too young, I want to be the township chief." Nan Wuwei laughed, "Aunt Chen, what kind of chief are you?"
Chen Ruishi smiled and said, "Auntie is a small section chief in the Department of Agriculture."
"Wow, Aunt Chen, the section chief in the hall, must have a lot of subordinates."
"Auntie has only a few people under her, but she has a lot of pigs and rabbits. She is in charge of feed management."
"oh."
Nan Wuwei had no idea about the organizational structure of the Department of Agriculture, let alone what the "feed management" job was all about.
"Aunt Chen, are you free this afternoon?"
"Yes, in order to entertain Wuwei, Auntie has taken a day off. Wherever you want to go, Auntie will go with you."
"I want to go to Lotus Pond to wholesale some things and bring them to Bacheng to sell."
"Okay, after dinner, Auntie will take you there." Chen Ruishi looked at Nan Wuwei's flower bowl, "Eat quickly, or you won't be able to get more food if you're late."
If it were any other child, Chen Ruishi would be surprised, but she didn’t find it strange at all that Nan Yi’s son wanted to do business.
"Uh-huh."
At around 1:00 p.m., Chen Ruishi brought Nan Wuwei to the Lotus Pond Wholesale Market.
Standing at the entrance of the market, Nan Wuwei looked at the streets filled with a wide variety of goods and the crowded crowds in front of him. He felt emotional and a little undecided.
"What should I bring?"
Since he was still in Nan Yi's arms, Nan Wuwei was taken to various markets by Nan Yi, including wholesale markets, livestock markets, and vegetable wholesale markets. Nan Wuwei had an idea about business. He also knew that Bacheng was on the ancient Tea-Horse Road. While doing his homework, he could also conduct bilateral trade.
The Sichuan-Tibet Line, an ancient trade route with a very early origin, is the famous Ancient Tea-Horse Road.
The Sichuan-Tibet Line, also known as the Ancient Tea-Horse Road, is divided into two lines, the Sichuan-Tibet Line and the Yunnan-Tibet Line. The Yunnan-Tibet Line is also known as the Yelang Road.
How did this Ancient Tea-Horse Road come about?
This originated from the border trade between the Central Plains and Tubo in ancient times. During the Tang and Song dynasties, the nomadic peoples of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau had very frequent trade exchanges with the Central Plains. The imperial courts of all dynasties attached great importance to the bilateral trade with the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, and there was a very rigid exchange demand between them.
First of all, the herders on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau are very dependent on tea. Due to the high altitude, harsh climate, and high altitude lack of oxygen, the herders have been eating beef and mutton as their staple food all year round. The only crops they have are barley and no vegetables. Their daily diet depends entirely on tea to break down body fat.
Tea is indispensable and highly dependent on the herdsmen on the plateau. If they don't drink tea for a few days, their whole body will be full of problems. Even their poop will be like that of a patient who has just undergone an anal fistula operation and is still in the wound healing period. What they poop is glass shards, which is so sour.
However, the snow-covered areas do not produce tea, so the Tibetans’ tea supply depends only on the tea-growing areas around Ya’an, XSBN and Dali.
During the Song Dynasty, bilateral trade was very prosperous, and the main trading market was in Kangding. However, the copper and iron coins traded during the Song Dynasty were often used by the princes and chieftains of the vassal states to privately cast weapons, fearing that they would rebel.
Therefore, as early as the Song Dynasty, tea, especially tea supplied to plateau areas, was classified as a strategic material. The Salt and Tea Bureau was established and the imperial court was responsible for unified management. Private trading was not allowed.
From then on, the bilateral trade between the plateau and the Central Plains became barter.
It can be said that the Central Plains has always enjoyed great advantages by controlling the supply of salt and tea in the plateau areas and exchanging them for large quantities of cattle, sheep, horses and furs at low prices. This is the famous tea-horse trade.
Nan Wuwei had already made up his mind that when he came back, he would go to Kangding to visit the fur and cordyceps transfer station there, so that he would not go there empty-handed.
"But what should I bring in?"
Nan Wuwei recalled the information about Rongcheng and the lotus pond that he had heard from Nan Yi and others.
Chengdu is an important city in the western region and also the most important commodity distribution center in the western region. From the North Station Passenger Terminal, it only takes a tricycle for more than ten minutes to reach the Lotus Pond Wholesale Market.
The Lotus Pond Wholesale Market is, without a doubt, the largest small commodity wholesale market in the entire southwest region with the most complete products and the largest throughput.
The surrounding streets are all lined with shops selling textiles, food, clothing, department stores, etc. The market opens at 3 a.m. and reaches its peak at 8 a.m. Crowds of people can be seen everywhere, tricycles pulling goods, large and small packages of goods, and trucks coming and going. Although Chen Ruishi and Nan Wuwei arrived at the lotus pond at noon, it was still crowded with people.
The most common businesses are food and clothing. Almost all clothing stores in Wuchuan purchase goods from here, and major domestic clothing brands also have branches and offices in Hehuachi.
The North Gate of Chengdu is the most important commodity distribution port in the city's planning due to its convenient transportation and fast logistics. It has a strong radiation effect and has trade exchanges with surrounding provinces and autonomous regions. There are also large-scale building materials markets, electronic and electrical appliance markets, food markets, etc. in the surrounding area. Busy scenes can be seen everywhere.
At present, most workers in state-owned enterprises are still working in three shifts in the factories, while here every inch of land has long been valuable and people are making huge profits every day.
Nan Wuwei has a business mind, but lacks practical experience. All his previous business-related work was guided by Nan Yi. He knows how to shout and how to bargain, but he has only been involved in certain links of a complete business and has not yet formed a closed loop.
So, he is now at a standstill, and has been hesitating about whether to wholesale something.
Chen Ruishi looked at Nan Wuwei who was in a daze. She did not urge him, but just stood quietly by the side. Nan Yi had called her and told her to help take care of Nan Wuwei, but not to worry about what he did.
After communicating during the meal, Chen Ruishi also figured out something. Nan Yi obviously wanted his son to come here to gain experience, and perhaps the experience would include suffering a little.
"How cruel! He is only a child of a few years old."
Nan Wuwei thought for a while, stopped standing there, spread his legs and stepped forward, starting to walk among the stalls. Ge Pudao stepped forward to act as a mouthpiece, helping Nan Wuwei to inquire about prices.
In 1993, it was still the golden age of small commodities, and it was still very possible to make a fortune, but you wanted to make some money very easily. The hard part was not in the business , but in the moving and lifting, and the extortion and exploitation by the local bullies.
In the market, any passerby you see may look awkward as they drag large and small bags, but any one of them can earn as much as three or two months' salary after working for just one or two days. Compared to a farmer who works hard in the soil for a living, it may be more than enough for ten years.
Instead of going out to do odd jobs, he just asks for money from the land. How much can a load of unplanned grain be sold for at the grain station? Will the barber ask for IOUs, or will the noodle shop be able to use the IOUs to buy flour?
There is a lot of competition in Lotus Pond. There are many shops selling various brands on the roadside, and most of them have signs hanging at the door - clothing wholesale, how much for one piece.
Most of them are within 10 yuan, and summer clothes are even cheaper. Shirts and casual pants are everywhere for two or three yuan, and there are even cheaper ones.
There are so many leather shoes that Nan Wuwei would pick one up from time to time to look at the upper, glance at the seams, press the sole, and most importantly, smell it. If the smell is different from the leather at home, it is most likely artificial leather.
Most shoes are of very low quality, let alone real leather, there are not many shoes with soles that are not made of cardboard. They use the "double-temperature process", and the two-temperature process in Zhejiang Province is the main force in the production of leather shoes today.
I wore them twice with cardboard pads on them. As long as my feet sweat, the cardboard will melt. The third time I wore them, they hurt my feet, and the fourth time they were broken. This kind of shoes is a rip-off. Nan Wuwei looked at a lot of shoes before he found a few without cardboard. The quality was acceptable, but the wholesale price was too expensive. He could only get 18 yuan for two hundred pairs.
After asking several more places, he couldn't get a very low price. Nan Wuwei gave up the idea of ​​wearing leather shoes. He thought that the characteristics of the plateau area are coldness and high altitude. Even in summer, it is not hot, especially after crossing Erlang Mountain. In April and May every year, there is often a thick layer of ice on the banks of the ditches.
In winter, it gets even colder. When people from the south go there, the cold and the altitude sickness will freeze their hands and feet. So, if we put some leather gloves and hats in the store, it should sell well.
[In the 1990s, the supply of goods in remote areas was still difficult. Goods were not very seasonal, and selling cotton-padded jackets in summer was not a joke. Some people even specialized in taking out-of-season stocks and engaging in counter-season sales, which brought in considerable profits.
Moreover, in rural areas, if there are cheap winter clothes at the market in summer and autumn (the time after the two grain deliveries), farmers with more money will buy them first as new clothes for the New Year, especially for children.
Nan Wuwei thought about this and walked towards the cotton spinning market.
After walking a few steps, I found two Tibetans wearing double-breasted clothes and beads around their necks walking around in the market. Thinking of Nan Wuwei, who had appeared with the bright light, I followed their footsteps.
The two Tibetans seemed uninterested in clothing, and wandered around to the wholesale food area, where they stopped in front of a shop. When the shop owner saw them, he came out to greet them enthusiastically, and it seemed that this was not their first time dealing with them.
He didn't dare get too close, so he couldn't hear clearly what the other party said, but Nan Wuwei saw one of the Tibetans take out a list, probably a shopping list, with a wad of money sandwiched between it.
The boss took the money, took our order, and then happily prepared the goods and promoted other food.
After the two Tibetans left with all kinds of food, Nan Wuwei whispered to Ge Pudao, who then went up to the boss and said, "Boss, I want to ask you something."
The boss saw that he was a young man and didn't neglect him. "Go ahead."
"It's like this. I want to ask you for advice. I need to go to the snowy area to do some work. I want to bring some things with me to see if I can earn back the money for the trip. Do you have any recommendations?"
Nowadays, it is very common to take some things along the Sichuan-Tibet line. After all, it is a remote place, not easy to get in, and logistics is too expensive.
The boss thought it wasn't a big deal, but he was still enthusiastic. "Snow District, where are you going?"
"Bacheng, Kangding."
"You can bring some shaqi ma and some of our local specialty rice candy. Frozen rice candy is also fine. They are perfect to go with tea."
"Shaqima?"
"Yes, shaqi ma, rice candy, and sesame paste are all good sellers. Bring a few and set up a stall during market hours to sell them."
The boss is quite honest. If Nan Yi were here, he would bring rice candy and frozen rice candy without hesitation. These two things go perfectly with milk tea, whether eaten with it or soaked in it.
Namo Wei thought about it and it was true. Because the snow area is a high-altitude and cold area, foods like Shaqi Ma, which are high in calories, sweet and soft in taste, will definitely be loved by Tibetans. Moreover, the food traditions of the snow area, tsampa and barley noodles are a bit similar to this.
Ge Pudao looked at Nan Wuwei's eyes and said to the boss, "Boss, please recommend one to me."
The boss picked up two bags from the stall. Nan Wuwei took a look and saw that each bag contained 30 small bags.
"58 per bag, you can sell it for 5 yuan a bag, no problem, 6 yuan is also possible, how are you getting in, a passenger car or a truck?"
Ge Pudao asked, "Is there anything particular about it?"
"Not only do passenger buses have to pay for shipping, but they also can't take much. The owner won't accept more. For trucks, you can negotiate with the owner. It depends on your ability how much you can take." The boss took out a box of shaqi ma, which had 20 bags. "If it's a truck, I suggest you take one. I can give you a cheaper price of 1,100."
"I make 3 yuan for a bag, 90 yuan for a pack, and 1,800 yuan for one piece. Things are expensive in the snowy areas, so I can make more by bargaining and raising the price."
"Boss, where should we go to find the truck?"
"There are a lot of trucks. Hydropower stations are being built along the Dadu River. There are trucks transporting coal and cement. You can stop one on the roadside and tell me how much you want. If you want a lot, I can ship it to Ya'an."
“Can I stop a car in Ya’an?”
"Of course you can. Truck drivers know this. There are people stopping trucks everywhere on the road. If you bring some Shaqi Ma, it will be easy to stop them. Shaqi Ma is light. A layer of it on top of the coal is only about one meter high. You can carry 20 to 30 pieces. Just give the driver 200 to 300 yuan. It's worth it."
"Uncle, if we want 30 pieces, what price can you give us?" Nan Wuwei no longer let Ge Pudao act as a mouthpiece, and jumped out from behind to speak directly.
"This?" The boss looked at Ge Pudao in confusion and asked.
"My boss's son wants to start his own business." Ge Pudao explained simply.
"The little boss is really amazing. He started his business at such a young age. If you want 30 pieces, I can give you 1,050." The boss doesn't care how old the person he's negotiating business with is. As long as the business can be done, he will negotiate with the dog.
"Too expensive, 28,000."
"No, I can't even get in at this price, 31,000."
The two of them haggled over the price, and the boss refused to lower it even a penny after reaching 30,000. Nan Wuwei had no choice but to accept the price and threw down 1,000 yuan as a deposit to let the boss prepare the goods.
After leaving the shop, Nan Wuwei didn't walk far before he saw a group of people gathered in front of a belt stall on the roadside. He walked over and saw a paper shell on the stall with the words "Famous brand belts, discounted, 8 yuan each."
The trading scene was very hot, with people often buying dozens or even hundreds of goods.
Nan Wuwei picked up one and his eyes lit up. The belt buckle was automatic. He looked at the seam of the belt and smelled it. It was real leather. Although it smelled bad, it was not good leather.
Nan Wuwei hesitated, thinking that most of the workers working on the construction site wore canvas belts. The belt buckle is a rectangular metal frame with a roller in the middle. It is tightened by the stress of the canvas strip on the roller. If the belt buckle is broken, you can just tie a knot. He didn't see many people wearing other belts while working, but some people wear cowhide belts when going out on the street. He didn't know if this belt sold well in Bacheng.
He had heard from the workers that Bacheng was a poor place and it was hard to say whether a belt could be sold for more than ten yuan.
"Will Kangding sell well?" Nan Wuwei thought to himself, and turned to look at Chen Ruishi, "Auntie Chen, do Tibetan clothes need belts?"
"The waistbands of Tibetan men's clothing are wide woolen belts woven in red or other colors. There are also wide leather belts with exquisite decorations and pockets in between. There are also amulets with Buddha images tied to the ground, and there is no need to buckle the belt."
"oh."
After hesitating for a while, Nan Wuwei still approved 20 pieces, thinking that even if he couldn't sell them, he could take them back to Chengdu Night Market and set up a stall to sell them, so it wouldn't be a big loss.
Let Miao Xiaolan hold the belt while Nan Wuwei walked around the market and bought a lot of children's toys, such as balloons and soybean guns, many of which were produced by the Shao Youwei Toy Factory.
Young and promising, he leads the trend of children's toys in China. As long as the materials are paper, plastic or metal, he can launch new products by adjusting the mold. He keeps launching new products. There is no flagship product, and yet all products are flagship products. So far, there have been only three unsaleable toys.
It’s a pity that Young and Promising has never found a way to become a brand and has little brand recognition. After all, kids only care about whether the toys they play with are fun or not, and who would pay attention to which factory or brand the toys they play with are made from.
Wholesalers will not help young and promising people to promote their brands. They would rather cover up the channels and not let others know about it. The speed of counterfeiting is too fast. If a best-selling toy appears, counterfeits will be available within three days.
There had been a leak in the Shao Youwei Toy Factory. A toy had not yet been launched on the market, but a counterfeit one had been launched first. It was a product developed by the students of the primary school themselves, not something Nan Yi pulled out from his memory, so there was no possibility of a fake product posing as the real one.
Since that time, during the period when new products were in production but not yet launched on the market, the factory was completely closed and all workers had to eat, drink, defecate and urinate in the factory. Anyone who disagreed could resign. For such a "screw-driving" job, one could get more than 600 yuan in eight hours. There were almost no other jobs like this outside, and they could almost be eliminated. Even if there were, they would be from the "Nan Yi system."
A little after four o'clock in the afternoon, Nan Wuwei had finished his rounds of the lotus pond, and the wholesale work had come to an end.
"Aunt Chen, I have an uncle in Chengdu. We have agreed to have dinner at his restaurant tonight. Would you like to accompany me?" After walking out of the lotus pond, Nan Wuwei said to Chen Ruishi.
"You have an uncle?"
"He's not my biological uncle, he's my father's friend."
"Okay, Auntie will go with you."
The uncle that Nan Wuwei was talking about was Luo Kun. Six or seven years later, Luo Kun was no longer the same Luo Kun as before. He opened a restaurant early on, in a city of foodies, and with the porcini mushroom base in Siguniang Mountain, he could earn over a million a year in the early years. After a snowball effect, his business grew bigger and bigger, and his capital became more and more abundant. Now he is considered a top figure in Chengdu.
The place is completely different now. It is no longer the small shop of Longmenzhen. In front of the main door, Luo Kun, the boss with great style, kept looking at his watch and then at the street in front of him, waiting anxiously for Nan Wuwei.