17
The Bet
Zhou Tao was utterly speechless. Auspicious? How could anything be auspicious when dealing with such a troublesome character?
In the end, she could only watch helplessly as Qi Lei and the other two teenagers clumsily carried over a thousand pairs of socks out of her shop.
She finally couldn’t hold back, “So… where’s your mom?”
Alright, even now, Zhou Tao still couldn’t believe she had been defeated by a kid.
Qi Lei and the other two turned around coolly, flashing bright smiles, “Goodbye, Sister Xiaotao! We’ll come to your shop again next time!”
To Zhou Tao, this was clearly the gloating of victors, making her so angry she wanted to bite someone.
Pointing at Qi Lei, she gnashed her teeth fiercely, “You little brat! Just wait till next time!”
Her resentment and humiliation were palpable.
Yet after saying this, she couldn’t help but laugh at herself, “Take exit B2 to catch the bus to Shangbei.”
If the “kind shop owner” hadn’t given them directions, Qi Lei would never have known they could take a cargo bus directly from the underground wholesale market.
This was a unique feature of the 80s and 90s – buses that only carried goods, not passengers, with even the windows sealed shut.
They operated from various wholesale markets in the provincial capital, transporting all kinds of daily necessities to various parts of Heilongjiang.
In this era of underdeveloped transportation, they played a more crucial role than logistics for short-distance transport.
Typically, shippers would load their goods onto the bus, then comfortably take a train or passenger bus to their destination, where they’d pick up their cargo.
By the time Qi Lei and his two friends arrived with their socks, the bus was about to depart.
The driver glanced at them, charged ten yuan, and told Qi Lei they could collect the goods in Shangbei.
At this point, Qi Lei once again demonstrated his talent for being earnest, sweet-talking, and thick-skinned, pestering the driver until he agreed to let them hitch a ride.
The driver hadn’t wanted the trouble initially, but today’s load was light, and his usual partner had taken unexpected leave, so he charged the trio another ten yuan.
He also made them agree to help unload cargo along the way if needed.
…
These cargo buses had no seats, so the three boys squeezed among the goods, curled up in a corner against some softer packages.
Though not exactly comfortable, it was definitely much better than cramming into those old green trains.
Even as the bus rumbled into motion, Tang Yi and Wu Ning hadn’t quite processed everything, feeling both excited and somewhat disbelieving.
“Damn! Who taught you all that, Shitou? That was fucking amazing!” Tang Yi exclaimed.
To which Qi Lei replied, “Your dad. He’s even more crafty than me!”
“Really?” Tang Yi pursed his lips, thinking carefully. “Makes sense. Old Tang’s definitely no saint.”
The three shared a laugh, finding amusement in mocking their fathers.
After laughing, Qi Lei got down to business, telling Tang Yi, “We overspent today. That extra six hundred counts as your share, so you’ll get more when we divide the profits.”
Tang Yi waved it off casually, “Count it as everyone’s. No big deal.”
Was Tang Xiaoyi short of six hundred yuan? What he craved was the thrill!
Anyway, today’s events had thrilled him. Even though he hadn’t been the one in charge, Qi Lei’s commanding presence felt just like his own – the excitement was what mattered.
While Tang Yi was excited about discovering something fun, Wu Ning remained calm.
Of course, his blood was boiling too, and he was secretly savoring the moment, but…
“Shitou, over a thousand pairs of socks—how long will it take to sell them all?”
This single sentence snapped Tang Yi back to reality, his face falling. “That really is a lot. We couldn’t even finish selling them in one summer vacation!”
This was a harsh reality.
Although Qi Lei had secured a wholesale price that ordinary vendors might not have access to, seemingly giving him an advantage from the start, the fact remained that socks weren’t something you could sell in large quantities at a street stall.
Even though socks were a daily necessity—everyone wore them, and everyone needed several pairs over the summer, making the demand quite high—the problem was, there were just too many people in this business!
The night market was flooded with sock stalls. No matter how high the demand, when divided among all the vendors, the share for each was minimal. Otherwise, you wouldn’t see vendors at the wholesale market doing business in batches of just a dozen or so pairs.
Faced with their concerns, Qi Lei smiled calmly. “Don’t worry, we’ll sell them all. We’ll just slash the prices!”
“Slash the prices?” The two were puzzled. “How low?”
Qi Lei quoted an approximate price, and both of them exploded.
Tang Yi was so angry he jumped up. “No way! I carried these all the way back, and you want to sell them for practically nothing? Are you kidding me?”
Wu Ning chimed in, “Shitou, do you even know how to do business? What’s the point?”
The price Qi Lei suggested was extremely low, almost leaving no room for profit.
His idea was to sell the cotton socks for 2.5 yuan per pair and the rest at five yuan for three pairs.
What did that mean?
The wholesale price for athletic socks was 2 yuan per pair, so they’d only make 0.5 yuan profit per pair.
As for the other four categories, the lowest wholesale price was 1.2 yuan per pair, and the highest was 1.4 yuan. Selling them at five yuan for three pairs would mean an average profit of just 0.3 yuan per pair.
And that was without even factoring in the three of them’ travel expenses to the provincial capital, the shipping costs for the socks, or the daily stall fees at the night market.
After accounting for all these miscellaneous costs, even if they deducted an additional 0.1 yuan per pair, they’d be left with a profit margin of just 0.2 yuan.
Twenty cents!! Seriously? Are we Santa Claus handing out gifts?
Wu Ning grew anxious. He couldn’t let Qi Lei do this. “Shitou, have you even done the math?”
“Your pricing is definitely low, and you’ll definitely sell more than others. But think about it—even if others sell 30 pairs a day, and you sell three times as many—no, 100 pairs!”
“If you sell 100 pairs a day, you’ll only make 20 yuan. What’s the point?”
Twenty yuan a day, 600 yuan a month—the three of them would be working themselves to the bone just to barely reach the average wage in Shangbei.
What was the son of a bureau director, let alone the son of the richest man, doing charity work like this?
Under Wu Ning’s pressing, Tang Yi also looked disdainful. “You still haven’t grasped Old Tang’s essence! Business isn’t done this way. Go play in the mud or something. Wu Xiaojian and I will take charge of this.”With that, he and Wu Ning took over, pushing Qi Lei aside and starting to discuss a reasonable price.”
Qi Lei didn’t stop them. This was a good thing. The fact that they had gone from outright refusal to active participation was the most important change.
Moreover, as someone who had been reborn, coming back over twenty years just to sell socks might seem embarrassing for a reborn individual.
But Qi Lei didn’t see it that way. He had little capital and no knowledge of future stocks or lottery numbers. He could only start accumulating from the basics.
No matter what he did, it was honest work—and there was no shame in that.
The other two were genuinely starting to take it seriously, carefully studying the matter, only to realize that there was quite a bit of nuance to it.
They needed to set a relatively low price to attract more sales, but not too low, ensuring there was still a profit margin.
In the end, the two brothers finally decided to set the price of the athletic socks, which cost 2 yuan to purchase, at 10 yuan for three pairs, while the other four types would be 10 yuan for four pairs.
This way, each pair of socks would guarantee a profit of just over one yuan, and they would definitely be cheaper than what others were selling.
Wu Ning did a more detailed calculation of the total profit if all the socks were sold. “Wow, if we sell over a thousand pairs, we could make over a thousand yuan in profit!”
He provocatively raised an eyebrow at Qi Lei. “So? I’m better at using my brain than you!”
Tang Yi also took the opportunity to tease, pointing at Qi Lei’s head. “He’s no good—his head’s been used to raise chickens.”
Qi Lei looked at them with a half-smile and suddenly said, “How about we make a bet? Let’s try my method first. If it turns out to be better than yours, I win.”
“Tch!” Wu Xiaojian sneered. “Wouldn’t that be unfair? It’d seem like we’re bullying you. Fine, let’s bet. The loser pays for an all-nighter!”
Though he claimed it was bullying, he didn’t hesitate at the chance to actually do it.
And the concept of an “all-nighter” was familiar in any era, though in Shangbei in 1998, there was no internet yet. An all-nighter just meant going to a computer room to play single-player games.
Qi Lei wasn’t very interested in that. A five-yuan all-nighter fee? Wouldn’t that be letting these two off too easy?
His eyes lit up with an idea. “An all-nighter is boring. If we’re going to play, let’s make it bigger.”
“After the high school entrance exam results come out, we still have to return to school, right? If I lose, when we go back, I’ll call my homeroom teacher ‘Little Liu’ in front of her.”
“If you lose, during the graduation photo, you two have to hug and kiss each other.”
“…”
“…”
The two brothers were a bit stunned. “Damn! You want to play that big?”
But after a moment’s thought, why be afraid? It’s not like we’re the ones who’ll lose!
Almost simultaneously, they said, “Deal!”
“Let’s do it!”
Well, these two idiots had been led right into Qi Lei’s trap.
Their minds were completely focused on winning or losing. If it were serious businesspeople, who would let you test such an unreliable price? And make a bet? Making money should be the top priority.
…