Chapter 133: Man Proposes (2/19 Thanks to Drunk on Many Wines for the 10,000-Coin Tip!)

Around noon, Wang Qiang came back to the old man's rice noodle shop that he visited last time. After having tasted it once, he had been missing the flavor quite a bit.

He ordered a serving of pork liver and double egg rice noodles. It was the same old recipe, the exact same familiar taste—ah, utterly delicious.

With his stomach full, he strolled leisurely back to the inn, packed a dozen sets of four-piece bedding into his suitcase, and then returned to the Jiahua Clothing Wholesale Market.

Not knowing which shop did the best business, Wang Qiang simply decided to emulate later-day food delivery marketers and went door-to-door to pitch his products.

The first stop was the very first shop on the eastern side of the wholesale market.

At the entrance, the boss was lying lazily on a recliner with his eyes half-closed, presumably because business was slow around noon.

Wang Qiang walked over and gave a gentle cough. "Boss?"

The male boss, in his thirties, slowly opened his eyes. He was slightly cross-eyed. He stood up with a smile and asked, "Looking to buy clothes?"

Wang Qiang walked in and beat around the bush, asking, "May I have your family name?"

"No need to be formal, my last name is Ding. Just call me Old Ding," the boss replied.

"Business must be pretty good, Boss Ding?" Wang Qiang didn't rush to change the subject.

Unable to hold back any longer, Boss Ding asked with a puzzled look, "You're not really here to buy clothes, are you?"

Seeing that the other man had cut straight to the point, Wang Qiang stopped beating around the bush and stated his purpose, though he spoke skillfully and didn't immediately try to sell the bedding sets.

"You know Sister Xu's shop right at the back, don't you?"

"Yeah, I know it. What is this really about?"

"She's been selling four-piece bedding sets lately. You know about that too, right?"

"I've heard a bit about it. My wife even went and bought a set—pure cotton for sixty-five yuan. Come to think of it, that's remarkably cheap."

Having opened up the conversation, Wang Qiang smiled and said, "Actually, the wholesale price for pure cotton is only fifty."

"What? That cheap? How do you kn—" Halfway through, Boss Ding snapped to his senses. He looked at Wang Qiang, amused yet exasperated, "So you're here to pitch bedding sets?"

Wang Qiang nodded, not giving him a chance to refuse, and directly opened the suitcase. He took out one set of poly-cotton and one set of pure cotton, holding them up in both hands, and said to Boss Ding, "Take a look at the designs. The light yellow one on the left is a poly-cotton four-piece set, and the white and blue checkered one is pure cotton."

Boss Ding's interest was slightly piqued. "Let me take a look." He reached out and took the two sets, first unboxing the poly-cotton one to touch the fabric, and then doing the exact same thing with the pure cotton one.

Seeing that the man was interested, Wang Qiang wasn't in a hurry and stood quietly waiting for a response.

Boss Ding examined them quite meticulously, taking a full two minutes before raising his head. "The quality is not bad. How much did you say the wholesale price was again?"

"Thirty-five for poly-cotton, fifty for pure cotton. Would you like to take a few sets to test the waters?" Wang Qiang inquired.

"Let me think about it." Boss Ding pondered for a long while. Because of his slight cross-eyes, when he was deep in thought, it looked as though his pupils were about to merge. He was well aware that the shop further inside had been selling bedding sets lately, and it was also true that his wife had gone to buy a pure cotton set.

In fact, when Boss Ding first heard that Sister Xu's shop was selling them for only fifty yuan, he had felt a bit tempted and even joked with his wife that if he could find the supplier, he would take some to sell as well, since the price was far below market value. But now that Wang Qiang had actually shown up at his doorstep, Boss Ding felt a bit uncertain because he had no idea whether the bedding sets would sell well. Selling well meant no problem and making a profit; if they didn't sell well, the losses wouldn't be trivial. A businessman naturally placed making a profit as his primary objective.

After pondering for quite a while, he said, "I think it's a bit expensive. Can't you lower the price a bit? I'll just take a couple of sets to try out in the shop."

Clearly, he was interested.

Lower the price even further?

That was out of the question. Wang Qiang politely declined, "That won't work. This is already the lowest price."

Boss Ding shook his head. "Then I won't take any."

The deal fell through, and Wang Qiang felt a tinge of regret. However, it was impossible for him to lower the supply price any further. Leaving aside the fact that a hundred-percent margin was already quite conscientious, if he gave Boss Ding a discount, what would Sister Xu say if she found out? Saying nothing more, Wang Qiang simply took back the two bedding sets, closed the suitcase, exchanged pleasantries, and prepared to leave.

Just as he reached the door, Boss Ding called out to him.

"Hey, hold on a second."

"Is there something else?"

"Can you really not lower the price?"

"I'm giving Sister Xu that exact same price."

"Well..." Boss Ding hesitated for a long while, tapped his two index fingers together to make the sign of a ten, and said, "Get me ten sets to try out—five sets of poly-cotton and five of pure cotton."

Wang Qiang enthusiastically pushed for more, "Don't you want to take a few more?"

"No, I'm afraid they won't sell. I'm already taking a risk with these ten sets." Boss Ding refused without hesitation.

Very well.

Though it was only ten sets, it was at least a good start.

Wang Qiang consoled himself, opened the suitcase again, and let Boss Ding pick out ten sets. In an instant, only three sets of poly-cotton and three sets of pure cotton were left in the suitcase.

Collecting four hundred and twenty-five yuan, he turned around and proceeded to the second shop to make his pitch.

...

The second shop.

"Boss Lady, business is doing pretty well, right?"

"Just get straight to the point."

"Well, you know that shop further inside that sells four-piece bedding sets, right?"

"Never heard of it."

"I do wholesale for four-piece bedding sets, and the poly-cotton ones are only thirty-five..."

"Not interested."

His luck wasn't as good this time.

As soon as he stated his purpose, the female shop owner in her twenties flatly refused.

Wang Qiang had no choice but to look for the next one.

...

Third shop: refused.

Fourth shop: A young boss in his twenties bantered with Wang Qiang for a good part of the afternoon. He expressed interest several times and repeatedly asked about the price of the bedding sets. Just when Wang Qiang thought the deal was about to be sealed, the young boss stated he didn't want any. Wang Qiang almost coughed up blood. If you didn't want any, why did you ask about the price over and over again?

Were you playing with me?

Or were you just that bored?

With a dark expression on his face, Wang Qiang left.

Fifth shop: refused.

This was already the sixth shop.

The owners were a couple looking to be in their fifties. From their conversation earlier, he learned that the boss's surname was Tan and his wife's surname was Qiu—both relatively rare family names.

After chatting for a bit, Wang Qiang stated his purpose. The couple didn't immediately refuse; instead, they expressed a desire to see the quality of the bedding sets.

Approaching the counter, Wang Qiang put the suitcase on the floor, opened it, and handed one set of poly-cotton and one set of pure cotton to the couple.

Sister Qiu, with her short hair, took the purple pure cotton set first, while Boss Tan picked up the other set—yellow with white stripes—to examine the poly-cotton.

"How is it? Interested in taking a few to sell?" Wang Qiang leaned against the counter and asked.

Boss Tan remained silent.

Sister Qiu nodded. "Looks pretty good."

A wave of joy washed over Wang Qiang, thinking he had a chance.

Unexpectedly, Sister Qiu changed the subject. "But I don't know if they'll sell well. If they don't, wouldn't taking them mean making a loss?"

Wang Qiang let out an "uh" and frowned in thought.

Having experienced the failures of the previous four shops, he knew that active pitching alone wasn't enough; he needed some other marketing tactics.

Thus, he probed, "How about this: I won't charge you for now. You can settle the bill after they are sold. If they don't sell, you can just return the bedding sets to me. How does that sound?"

There was no other choice; this was all he could do.

Boss Tan looked at Sister Qiu, and seeing his wife nod, he finally spoke, "Alright, bring some over for us first."

"What time do you close?" Wang Qiang still needed to pitch to other shops, so he planned to deliver them a bit later.

Boss Tan replied, "Seven o'clock."

"I'll deliver them to you at five," Wang Qiang said. He then stated his supply price and market pricing, using Sister Xu's pricing as a reference.

Hearing that they wouldn't have to spend a single penny and might even make a profit, Boss Tan and his wife naturally raised both hands in agreement.

...

With the previous success under his belt, Wang Qiang was no longer fixated on receiving payment immediately. After all, opening up sales channels for the bedding sets was the most crucial thing right now.

Therefore, he proceeded to negotiate with other shop owners based on the terms he had agreed upon with Boss Tan: supply prices would be thirty-five and fifty, they could set retail prices at fifty and sixty-five, payment would only be due after the bedding sets were sold, and unsold items could be returned unconditionally.

And wouldn't you know it?

Doing this vastly increased the probability of shop owners taking the goods.

Wang Qiang couldn't even be bothered to waste breath like he did initially; he would just run into a shop and proactively state his purpose.

The seventh shop.

"Boss, I'm in the four-piece bedding set business."

"Not interested."

"Here's the deal: to help the factory open up sales channels, we can provide the goods first, and you pay us after they're sold."

"There's such a good thing?"

"Yes. If you want some, I'll bring them over later."

"What about the price?"

"The supply prices for poly-cotton and pure cotton are thirty-five and fifty respectively. If you sell them, the minimum market price cannot be lower than fifty and sixty-five. No other requirements."

"Then get me some."

After agreeing on a time with the middle-aged boss, Wang Qiang went next door to pitch again.

Many bosses expressed a willingness to take some goods to try out when they heard it didn't cost anything upfront, though some still refused, perhaps genuinely lacking interest.

The worst experience was at the fifth shop on the west side, belonging to a young boss in his mid-twenties. The man had a volatile temper. Hearing Wang Qiang pitch his products, he didn't even give him a chance to speak further and directly drove him away with a broom.

That left Wang Qiang fuming with anger. He thought bitterly that if the four-piece bedding set business took off and this punk with hair dyed half green and half red ever came asking for goods, he absolutely wouldn't give him any—not a single piece.

Sigh, but that was just wishful thinking for the moment.

Opening up sales channels for bedding sets wasn't that easy.

Besides, perhaps their clothing business was doing so well that even if the bedding set business boomed in the Jiahua Clothing Wholesale Market, this young punk might not even be envious.

The ninth shop...

The tenth shop...

Soon, Wang Qiang used the "free supply" method to pitch to ten shops, and then stopped. That was because he currently only had one hundred sets each of poly-cotton and pure cotton bedding. Aside from the first shop, which voluntarily paid and took ten sets, Wang Qiang planned to supply twenty sets to each of the other nine shops, while the remaining shop would sadly only get ten.

Two hundred sets of bedding had essentially been pitched.

However, if they didn't sell, he wouldn't be able to recover the payments, making it no different from failing to sell them at all.

The third shop from the end on the western row.

Wang Qiang had just finished pitching the bedding sets to a female boss in her forties.

This boss surnamed Wang sat behind the counter, smoking a slim ladies' cigarette. "Little Wang, what on earth are you plotting by supplying these for free?"

Squatting on the ground to zip up his suitcase, Wang Qiang casually replied, "Didn't I just tell you? The factory wants to open up sales channels, so they're letting me use this method to test the waters."

Boss Wang let out an "oh" and said nothing more.

Wang Qiang picked up his suitcase and stood up. "I'll go back and get the bedding sets now, and bring them over to you in a bit."

"Go ahead." Boss Wang didn't even say goodbye, smoking away on her own.

Wang Qiang turned and walked outside, a sigh involuntarily welling up in his heart.

What was he plotting?

Wasn't he just plotting to get these bedding sets sold?

Several thousand yuan worth of goods had been supplied "for free." If they didn't sell well, this trip would truly have been all for nothing.

He was counting on the bedding sets selling well so he could gather thirty thousand yuan as soon as possible. Otherwise, he would genuinely have to give up a portion of his company equity just to get the business off the ground. If he stubbornly refused to budge on the equity, it would undoubtedly ruin the relationship between him and Old Zhu.

Old Zhu and his family had been more than good to him.

From a moral standpoint, Wang Qiang couldn't bring himself to do something that would damage that bond. While some people might use any means necessary to make money, he wouldn't. A person had to have a bottom line. Even though Wang Qiang knew that if he stubbornly held onto his equity, Old Zhu and Old Yao might eventually compromise, doing so would violate his principles. He had always been a decent and generous person.

In his past life, some people had called him pedantic.

Yet Wang Qiang considered this to be his strength.

No use overthinking it; he would just have to wait and see how the bedding sets sold.

Man proposes, God disposes. For the time being, Wang Qiang had no other options and could only leave it to fate, hoping that these bosses who took the bedding sets would enjoy a surge in business.