12dz Chapter 516 Something's not right.
Chapter 516 Something's not right.
Just as Li Xiangyang had predicted.
On the morning of the third day, Zhang Weiping brought back news from the town.
"Brother Xiangyang, Fatty Ma's side is really getting restless!" Zhang Weiping ran excitedly into the purchasing station. "Yesterday they raised their prices again, by 20%!"
Upon hearing this, Wang Ergou's face darkened: "Doesn't that mean the villagers will all be flocking to him again?"
"Let them run," Li Xiangyang said casually. "Anyway, the goods we've collected these past few days are enough to last us a while."
As soon as he finished speaking, villagers began to arrive at the entrance of the purchasing station, but they all peeked around cautiously, as if they had something to say but were too embarrassed to speak.
"Fellow villagers, just say what you need to say." Li Xiangyang took the initiative to walk to the door.
Old Tian from Hegou Village stammered, "Boss Li, I heard... I heard that the price at that purchasing station in town has gone up again?"
"Yes, I've heard about it too," Li Xiangyang nodded. "It's much higher than here."
The villagers' eyes lit up, and they were about to say something when Li Xiangyang added, "However, I think this price is a bit unusual."
"What do you mean?" someone asked, a look of displeasure already appearing on their face.
"Fellow villagers, in business, it's all about mutual benefit. In short, I won't raise prices anymore. Where you want to ship your goods is your own business. Our prices are based on the contract and won't change arbitrarily. Stable cooperation leads to long-term success."
After saying that, he turned and walked into the purchasing station, leaving a group of villagers whispering at the door.
Sure enough, in the following days, Li Xiangyang's supply of goods dried up again. The villagers all took their goods to Fatty Ma's purchasing station.
Wang Ergou was getting restless: "Xiangyang, this can't go on. The prices are higher there, so of course the villagers want to sell their goods there."
"No rush," Li Xiangyang said calmly. "Look at the goods in our warehouse, is it enough for what the higher-ups need?"
Wang Ergou took stock: "It's enough, but only enough for this month. What about next month?"
"We'll talk about next month's business then. I need you to do something for me now."
"What's up?"
"Go find a few trustworthy villagers and tell them we need their help."
“What’s the favor?”
Li Xiangyang lowered his voice: "Have them take all our surplus goods to Fatty Ma's place to sell, and give them all the profit."
Wang Ergou was stunned for a moment: "This...isn't this just letting them make money off us?"
"Foolish!" Li Xiangyang patted Wang Ergou on the shoulder. "Think about it, Fatty Ma's prices are 20% higher than ours now. How much profit margin do we have left?"
Wang Ergou calculated: "There's probably still about a 10% profit margin."
"That's right. We'll have the villagers help us sell the goods; at least we'll break even. On the surface, it looks like we're losing money, but what's the reality?"
Wang Ergou thought for a moment, then his eyes gradually lit up: "Actually, it's draining Fatty Ma's funds!"
"Brilliant!" Li Xiangyang nodded with a smile. "Fatty Ma thought he could steal our customers by raising prices, but he doesn't know we have this trick up our sleeve. The more goods he buys, the more he loses."
“But that means we’ll basically have no profit this month,” Wang Ergou said with some concern.
"It's alright. Losing money for a month means Fatty Ma is completely out of the game. It's a win-win situation no matter how you look at it," Li Xiangyang said confidently. "Besides, don't forget, we have a long-term contract with Boss Zhao in the provincial capital. If Fatty Ma expands his business rashly, can his sales keep up? How long can he hold out?"
Wang Ergou suddenly realized: "I understand! I'll go find someone right now!"
That afternoon, Wang Ergou found several villagers with whom he had a good relationship, including Lao Tian from Hegou Village and Grandpa Chen from Dongshan Village.
"Uncle Tian, there's a chance to make a fortune, do you want to hear about it?" Wang Ergou said mysteriously.
"What kind of opportunity to make money?" Old Tian asked curiously.
"Here's the thing, Mr. Li has a batch of goods he needs to sell, but he can't spare the time himself. He'd like to ask you to help him transport them to town to sell, and all the profits will be yours."
Grandpa Chen was a little puzzled: "Such a good thing?"
“Of course it’s true,” Wang Ergou said in a low voice, “but this has to be kept secret; we can’t let too many people know.”
Old Tian tentatively asked, "Approximately how much can I earn?"
"At the current prices in town, you can make more than twenty yuan per truckload of goods."
Old Tian and Grandpa Chen exchanged a glance, both seeing the excitement in each other's eyes. Twenty-odd yuan was no small sum.
"Then...how do we do it?" Lao Tian asked.
"It's simple. Tomorrow, after you've passed the wagon, load the wagon with hay. Then pretend to sell it to us, and then, under the pretense of not agreeing on a price, secretly load in the real hay and take it to the purchasing station in town to sell."
"Won't this cause any problems?" Grandpa Chen was still a little worried.
"What problems could there be? It's a free market," Wang Ergou patted his chest confidently. "Besides, it's a fact that they're offering higher prices over there."
The next morning, as expected, Lao Tian and Grandpa Chen brought the grass to Li Xiangyang's purchasing station.
As agreed, they secretly replaced the goods.
“Uncle Tian, these goods can fetch a good price in town,” Li Xiangyang said with a smile.
Looking at the truckload of goods, Old Tian calculated how much profit he could make, and his face lit up with a smile: "Boss Li is really generous!"
In this way, truckloads of goods flowed to Fatty Ma's purchasing station.
At first, Fatty Ma was quite happy, thinking his strategy had succeeded. But after a few days, he realized something was wrong.
"Where did all these goods come from?" Fatty Ma asked, looking at the mountain of goods with some confusion.
Faced with the questions, Wang Jianshe didn't take them to heart at all, and answered truthfully, "They're all sent from the surrounding villages. Now that our prices are high, of course everyone's willing to come."
"But at this acquisition volume, how much money will we lose in a month?" Fatty Ma did the math, his face growing increasingly grim.
"Boss, how about we lower the price a bit?" Wang Jianshe tentatively suggested.
"Lower the price?" Fatty Ma glared at him. "Now is the crucial moment. If we lower the price, wouldn't all our efforts be in vain? Let's hold on a little longer. Once we've squeezed that kid Li Xiangyang out of business, won't we be the ones calling the shots?"
But as time went on, Fatty Ma felt more and more uneasy.
They've received a lot of goods, but selling them has become a major problem.
The customers he had originally hoped for either didn't want the goods or pressured him to lower the price significantly.
What frustrated him most was that villagers would come to sell their goods every day, as if they could never finish collecting them all.
"This isn't right," Fatty Ma frowned. "Even if Li Xiangyang doesn't want to raise prices, with his reputation, surely he can't get any goods at all?"