Volume One, Chapter 14: Profitable—Too Profitable!

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In the rented room, father and son leaned over an old dining table, happily eating steaming instant noodles.

Back in 1991, a packet of instant noodles cost seven-tenths of a yuan and was considered something of a luxury.

Tang Xiong-hua ate with great relish, while Tang Yi-chen treated his portion as a taste of nostalgia.

“We visited twelve markets and twenty-three stalls today. Including Boss Hu’s order, we sold a total of 258 jin.”

“But there’s only 1,771 yuan and five jiao here. Those small business owners are all shrewd as foxes. They haggled and shaved off nearly ten yuan in loose change. It should have been 1,780 yuan and two jiao.”

After slurping down another mouthful of noodles, Tang Xiong-hua freed one hand and began writing and calculating in a small notebook, checking the accounts.

The pages were densely covered with neat records of every transaction.

Looking over the notebook, Tang Yi-chen summed things up.

“The total cost of the goods and transportation came to 801 yuan, which means we’ve already made a net profit of 970 yuan!”

“And we still have more than 290 jin of stock left. If we can sell it all tomorrow, we should make more than 2,900 yuan in total.”

Tang Xiong-hua had been bent over the notebook when he suddenly heard Tang Yi-chen mention the figure of 2,900 yuan.

At first, he froze. Then his face filled with stunned disbelief.

Good heavens! More than 2,900 yuan!

There was no question that the figure struck Tang Xiong-hua like a thunderbolt.

Only a week ago, he had been a teacher earning 180 yuan a month—a salary that was considered quite high at the time.

After being ruthlessly dismissed by the school, he had faced unemployment, a complete loss of income, and the humiliating prospect of being looked down upon.

Yet in the blink of an eye, he could earn nearly a thousand yuan in a single day, and close to three thousand in two.

This… this was something he would never even have dared imagine in a dream!

After all, it had taken him two years of pinching every penny to save up barely three thousand yuan.

Now, after merely coming to Chuzhou once, he had earned that much…

What easy money! This was far too easy!

“Gulp…”

Tang Xiong-hua swallowed hard, nearly choking down an entire strand of noodles.

A moment later, he came back to himself and fixed Tang Yi-chen with blazing eyes.

“Yi-chen! We need to call someone in to help!”

“After running around all day, I feel as though my legs are about to give out.”

“And the crucial thing is, we haven’t even left Hankou District. If we’re going to cover all of Chuzhou…”

“We simply won’t manage it. There’s no way we can handle it all by ourselves!”

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Tang Yi-chen thought for a moment.

“That’s true. If we go by Boss Hu’s initial order of twelve jin, many of the stalls will need to restock in two or three days. Traveling back home to replenish the goods takes time.”

“More importantly, the dried fish and shrimp market is only just emerging. Seizing the market is extremely important.”

“Even just covering the markets is more than you can handle alone, Dad. We have to bring someone in!”

Tang Xiong-hua nodded emphatically.

“Exactly! We have to take advantage of the momentum and expand aggressively until we control the entire Chuzhou market!”

Control the market?

His father’s choice of words was rather impressive. He even sounded like one of those domineering tycoons destined to become the richest man in the country.

Tang Yi-chen smiled and then asked, “So, Dad, are you thinking of calling in Uncle or Aunt’s husband—or both of them?”

Tang Xiong-hua fell silent in thought for a moment.

“Here’s what I’m thinking. I’ll call the village later and ask your aunt’s husband to come over first. He can take the train arriving in Chuzhou at half past two in the morning to help us.”

“Kun-fei is a little lazy, but at least he’s quick-witted. He’ll be more suitable than your uncle for delivering goods, keeping accounts, and collecting payments.”

“At worst, we can buy another tricycle tomorrow. We’ll need it sooner or later anyway. I’ll take your aunt’s husband around for a few trips first. Once he’s familiar with everything, he can take over the restocking.”

“As for me, I’ll go cover the markets in the other districts…”

“As for your uncle, if we sell everything tomorrow, then once we return, we’ll have him mainly handle collecting goods in the village. Later on, he can also take charge of replenishing our stock.”

“I’ll focus on making sure the supply channels remain reliable and that our market expansion proceeds smoothly. Those are the two key points. We’ll try it this way first and adjust gradually if it doesn’t work.”

“What do you think, Yi-chen?”

There was no denying that his father had thought things through very carefully.

He had already recognized that the two crucial points—the supply channels and market expansion—had to remain firmly under their control.

If they were going to ask relatives for help, Tang Yi-chen was not sure he could have come up with a better arrangement.

Still, he raised one important question.

“If Aunt’s husband comes to Chuzhou tomorrow, won’t the story about the county feed factory purchasing our goods be exposed?”

“Have you thought about how you’re going to explain everything to the family—and how we’ll keep this confidential?”

Tang Xiong-hua nodded.

“Yes, I know. It doesn’t matter. Now that we’ve come this far, they’ll find out sooner or later.”

“Even if I have to admit to your grandparents that I was dismissed by the school, I no longer have anything to worry about.”

“Besides, I believe your uncle and your aunt’s husband will keep our secret.”

“Your uncle goes without saying. Your aunt’s husband is three years younger than me, and we grew up playing together. I was the one who introduced him to your aunt in the first place.”

“That’s true.” Tang Yi-chen nodded in agreement.

At the same time, however, he was considering another issue.

Since ancient times, people had feared not poverty itself, but inequality.

When relatives and friends went into business together, they might begin in perfect harmony. Yet whether the venture ended in profit or loss, there were countless examples of them eventually turning against one another.

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He knew that his father wanted to lend a hand to his elder brother and his sister-in-law’s husband.

But was this really the best approach?

Actually, Tang Yi-chen had initially been more inclined to recruit local people in Chuzhou.

Locals would know nothing about their supply channels or purchasing prices, which would effectively prevent them from taking the business for themselves.

But if his uncle and his aunt’s husband immediately learned how enormous the profit margin was, how would the money be divided?

No matter how they divided it, resentment and estrangement were bound to arise.

After thinking it over, Tang Yi-chen decided to voice his opinion.

“Dad, I don’t think that even if we want to help our family, we necessarily need to have them work alongside us.”

“Rather than simply giving someone fish, it’s better to teach them how to fish. Once our business is running smoothly, we can have Uncle and Aunt’s husband follow us and learn for a few days, then let them set out on their own.”

“After all, strictly speaking, there’s no real technical barrier or difficulty to this business. Once someone has been shown how to do it, they’ll know the process.”

“The only barrier is a little start-up capital, and we could even lend that to them.”

“Besides, no one person can earn all the money in the world. As long as this untapped market for dried fish and shrimp remains, there are so many cities and so many rural sources of fish and shrimp across Great Xia. They can simply copy our approach, collect goods in other towns, and sell them in other cities.”

“They might even earn more than we do in Chuzhou.”

“What do you think, Dad?”

“This…”

Tang Xiong-hua sank into thought.

Seeing this, Tang Yi-chen did not press him.

People of his father’s generation had far stronger notions of family and their native communities than people of his own generation.

Moreover, in 1991, it was still highly unusual for a family member to strike out alone and go into business. His father needed time to digest the idea.

After a long while, Tang Xiong-hua drew deeply on his cigarette. Once he had exhaled, he looked at Tang Yi-chen.

“What you’ve said makes sense, Yi-chen. I understand that… But if we don’t call your uncle and your aunt’s husband here to help, where are we supposed to find people?”

Seeing that his father had come around, Tang Yi-chen answered readily.

“That won’t be a problem. We can put up a hiring sign at the train station or the market, and we’ll find people easily enough.”

“You’ve always worked within the township administration, Dad, so you may not know this, but these days the cities are hardly short of labor. What they lack are jobs. There are plenty of laid-off and unemployed workers with nowhere to work. Our country is going through the painful convulsions that come before major surgery…”

“As long as we choose carefully, we’ll certainly find suitable people.”

“Is that really so?” Tang Xiong-hua asked, unable to understand and somewhat doubtful.

Could it be that he wasn’t the only one who had lost his job? Had everyone become unemployed?