The real world, especially business matters, was far more complicated than what the two youngsters had imagined.
Everyone had only one goal: to transfer the money from your pocket into theirs.
No one was here for charity. As long as it was reasonable and legal, any means could be employed, and any weakness could be exploited.
To put it bluntly, whether it was buyers or sellers, suppliers or distributors, the most fundamental relationship between them was that of opponents!
Opponents did not distinguish between good and bad people, nor between honesty and deceit.
You hoped for merchants to be honest, while merchants saw you as kids who were easy to fool—both perspectives were perfectly normal.
Moreover, how could you be sure that honesty wasn’t just another weapon they used against you?
“Leave it to me!”
After telling Tang Xiaoyi and Wu Xiaojian to wait outside, Qi Lei entered the young woman’s shop for the fourth time.
When Zhou Tao saw it was Qi Lei again, she was completely out of ideas. Smiling wryly, she greeted him proactively, “Why did it take you so long this time?”
Qi Lei replied with a smile, “My mom has almost finished selecting the goods over there.”
Zhou Tao remained calm on the surface, but she had already guessed as much. Such a long time surely meant they had chosen goods from another store. It was a bit of a pity, though. If they had purchased everything from her, it would have been ideal.
But it didn’t matter much. Business in the underground market was booming, and she wasn’t lacking those few dozen pairs of shoes.
She said cheerfully, “What’s the matter? Are these the only two items left? The price I gave you was fair, right?”
“Yeah, yeah!” Qi Lei nodded, showing full agreement.
“But my mom told me to ask again: if we order a larger quantity, can it be any cheaper?”
Upon hearing this, Zhou Tao felt a bit displeased again. “I usually only give this price to regular customers. It’s already the lowest you can find in the underground market.”
“Yeah, yeah!” Qi Lei continued nodding innocently. “I already told my mom that. But she said we’re ordering even more, so she told me to ask a few more shops to see if we can get a better deal.”
“Ask a few more shops?” Zhou Tao thought to herself, “So this kid didn’t just come to my shop?”
But the price she had given him was genuinely not high.
Unhappily, she asked, “How much is your family planning to order? The price is already very low.”
Qi Lei then held up two fingers. “This much.”
Zhou Tao, “Twenty pairs?”
Qi Lei, “Two hundred pairs.”
“How many?”
Zhou Tao was stunned. “Two hundred pairs? In total?”
Qi Lei, “Two hundred pairs of each.”
“!!!”
“That… that really is quite a lot…”
Zhou Tao had to admit she was surprised. Customers who placed such large orders were rare. Especially since Qi Lei’s little notebook contained notes on more than just these two items.
She immediately felt a pang of regret. Why hadn’t she paid more attention to this little rascal earlier? This was a genuinely big order. No matter how good business was, she couldn’t afford to miss out on it. Unfortunately, it was too late now. They had probably already finished most of their purchasing.
After thinking for a moment, she called over a salesperson to take over the customer she was handling and pulled Qi Lei aside. “Little brother, is your family really ordering this much?”
Qi Lei nodded. “Yes, really!”
Zhou Tao immediately lowered her head in thought, then broke into a wide smile. “How about this? Go back and tell the adults in your family that for this order, I’ll treat it as making a friend. I won’t make any profit from you. I’ll give you 1.5 and 2.2—this is already my bottom line.”
“Next time you come to my shop, I’ll still give you the same price!”
Qi Lei quickly thanked her. “Thank you, Sister Xiaotao!”
“But… but…” He stammered, looking as if he had more to say but was hesitating.
Zhou Tao could tell at a glance that the boy still had something on his mind and pressed further, “What’s up? If you have something to say, just say it. No need to be polite with me!”
“Alright then!”
Qi Lei gave in, pulling out his little notebook again and pointing out the circled categories one by one for Zhou Tao to see.
“This one, this one, and this one—how much are they?”
Zhou Tao was stunned. So it wasn’t just two categories?
“These… your mom hasn’t placed an order for them yet?”
Qi Lei: “Nope, not yet.”
“All of them, 200 pairs each?”
“Yep, all 200.”
“…”
Zhou Tao’s heart swelled with joy. So it wasn’t too late after all?
This was a big buyer!
It completely overturned her previous impression of Qi Lei. Before, he was just an unlucky kid, but now, no matter how she looked at him, he seemed like a Luck Bringer.
In total, Qi Lei wanted five categories, 1,000 pairs.
Besides that, his notebook also listed some high-end brands.
Those kinds of socks were expensive, and there was no way he’d want 200 pairs. Even if Qi Lei did want them, Zhou Tao didn’t have that many in stock.
Those were the kinds that usually sold slowly, were rarely wholesaled, and were mostly just for show.
For those, Qi Lei only wanted three to five pairs each, but he wanted a huge variety, covering almost all the high-end categories Zhou Tao had.
All in all, with everything jumbled together, the young woman did a rough calculation. Even with a bit more discount, the total would come to nearly 2,000 yuan.
Two thousand! And this was 1998. Even though her shop was bustling with customers, her daily revenue was only a little over 2,000 yuan.
Thinking about her mother waiting in the back and the fact that this little rascal had probably asked around at other shops too, she gritted her teeth and made up her mind. Instantly, she became incredibly enthusiastic, grabbing Qi Lei’s arm and not letting go.
“Little brother! Your family’s from out of town, right? Oh, coming all the way to Harbin must’ve been tough!”
“Alright then, little brother! Seeing as you’ve come all this way, for the two types I quoted earlier, I’ll give you a loss-making price—1.2 yuan and 2 yuan. For the rest, don’t worry, I’ll definitely give you a good deal too!”
“How does that sound?”
The wholesale prices for the two types, originally 1.8 yuan and 2.5 yuan, had already been slashed to 1.2 yuan and 2 yuan.
After hearing Zhou Tao’s quotes for the other categories, Qi Lei mulled it over and decided the price was acceptable.
Gradually shedding his naive demeanor, he said, “Alright!”
Zhou Tao was overjoyed. It seemed there was hope for closing this big deal.
“Little brother, you’re so young, but you’re quite straightforward. Go on, discuss it with your mom. I’ll wait for your reply.”
But to her surprise, Qi Lei said, “No need to discuss it. Let’s settle the bill.”
“…” Zhou Tao froze. “Settle… settle what bill?”
Just then, Qi Lei pulled out a thick wad of hundred-yuan bills from his pocket. “These five types, 200 pairs each, total 1,400.8 yuan.”
“The other 28 types, five pairs each, total 734 yuan.”
“Grand total: 2,134.8 yuan. Sister, you can double-check and see if I got it right.”
“…”
“…”
Not only was Zhou Tao stunned, but the other customers in the shop also fell silent, all turning to look in their direction.
First, they stared at the stack of cash in Qi Lei’s hand, then at his youthful face, all of them utterly bewildered.
A purchase of over 2,000 yuan? And from a kid?
A fifteen- or sixteen-year-old boy with a crew cut, wearing an oversized T-shirt, stood out starkly among the shrewd merchants crowding the shop.
Yet, reality was just this surreal. Qi Lei, clutching over 2,000 yuan in his hand, sharply announced the quantities and prices of the goods.
The entire shop was struck dumb, questioning the very nature of life.
As the center of attention, Zhou Tao felt particularly frustrated.
Yes, she was still young, but she had built this sock wholesale business from scratch—transforming it from a loss-making venture into one of the largest shops in the underground wholesale market—through countless trials and hardships.
She believed that even many older, more experienced merchants might not possess her business acumen. Yet today, she had been caught off guard by a fifteen or sixteen-year-old kid.
Dazedly calculating the bill, instructing the staff to prepare and pack the goods, she still couldn’t believe this was just a child.
But Qi Lei paid no mind to her thoughts. Grinning widely, he flashed his small white teeth and said, “Hey, sis, how about rounding it down?”
“Huh? Oh!” Zhou Tao snapped back to reality. “Sure! 2,134.8 yuan—rounding it down is normal. Just give me 2,134 yuan, forget the 80 cents.”
But then, Qi Lei grinned so wide you could see his back teeth. “I meant rounding down 34.8 yuan—how about 2,100 flat?”
“…” Zhou Tao struggled to suppress her anger again. “No!!”
“Then how about 2,108? For good luck!”
Zhou Tao: “…”
…