Chapter 5: Tactful Handling
Chapter 5: Tactful Handling
"Okay, no problem. We'll try the business here today. If it goes well, we'll continue tomorrow. Please take care of us, brothers." Yang Wendong took out the money and handed it to the leader with a smile.
He had also inquired about the price before, which was fifty cents a day, which was basically equivalent to an ordinary person's normal working income for half a day.
In fact, it is because this is a vegetable market with a large flow of people. It is much cheaper than other places, but there are not many people in other places either.
The young man in the lead took the cash, looked at Yang Wendong with satisfaction, and said, "Okay, you know the rules. What are you selling?"
"I made the bamboo tube myself to catch mice." Yang Wendong said with a smile.
"Catching mice? Not bad, not bad. How effective is it? My family is almost annoyed by mice." The leading person said hurriedly, obviously having some interest in this thing.
Yang Wendong immediately said, "It's a sure bet to catch a mouse. Why don't you take a few back and try it out? It's free."
"Well, okay. If you catch the mouse, I'll take you to a more crowded place tomorrow." The leader was not polite at all. He and his men each took a mousetrap and left.
It seems that taking things from vendors is the most normal thing.
"Brother Dong, you are so polite. Aren't you afraid that they will come back tomorrow and take our things for free?" Zhao Liming said with some concern.
Yang Wendong nodded and said, "It's possible, but our cost is not much, just a little time. The most important thing is to be able to gain a foothold here. If we can sell half of them, we will also make a profit."
In this era, if you set up a stall, you would have to face the issue of protection fees from gangs and the British Hong Kong police, and even the gangs were nothing more than the latter's running dogs.
Fortunately, in order to stabilize the market and avoid abandoning the donkey after it has done its job, the entire market still has some basic rules. Generally, as long as you pay, you will not be targeted for no reason.
Although it is very unhappy, there is no other way. When we have no ability to change society, we can only adapt to it.
The first day of the duo's stall passed quickly, and thanks to Yang Wendong's shameless and eloquent tongue, they only sold 2 mousetraps in total, with a turnover of HK$1.
They made 5 cents, not including their wages.
Fortunately, there were only people in the vegetable market in the morning. After the afternoon, Yang and Zhao went back to make mouse-catching bamboo tubes again, and they made more than a dozen.
The next morning, they showed up at the same place again. Before they even received any customers, they welcomed the few people who had collected fees yesterday.
"Boy, this thing of yours works really well. It caught a mouse in my house." The man from yesterday said with satisfaction after charging again.
Yang Wendong said with a smile: "Brother, there should be a lot of rats in this market. Why don't you buy some? My price is only 1/10 of the price of a rat trap."
"Haha, you are quite smart. But I can't make the decision on this matter." The leader said with a smile.
"Brother, if we can do it, how about a 73-7 split, you take 3 and I take ." Yang Wendong said in a low voice.
"That's quite bold. This is the first time I've heard of such a ratio in the East Vegetable Market." After hearing this, the leader praised and said, "How about this, I'll go ask. If it works, I'll come back to you."
"Okay, I wonder what to call you, big brother." Yang Wendong said with a smile.
"Just call me A Biao." said A Biao.
Yang Wendong nodded and said, "Okay, Brother Biao."
"Well, follow me inside, there are more people there." Ah Biao added, "I can't guarantee what you just said, but if there are more people inside, your business will be better."
"Thank you, Brother Biao." Yang Wendong thanked him quickly. If he wanted to make money here, he really had to rely on others. He didn't need help, but just wanted to avoid being targeted.
Ah Biao added: "But the rule inside is one dollar a day, and this cannot be changed."
"Okay." Yang Wendong agreed. As long as he could sell a few more, he could make back the cost.
Seeing that Yang Wendong was also quite understanding, Ah Biao said, "Let's go, I'll take you there. And be careful not to interfere with the normal stalls."
"No problem." Yang Wendong nodded and agreed readily.
Following a few people, I came to the entrance of the vegetable market. It was not indoors yet, but the flow of people was much greater than the previous location.
Many other street vendors looked at Yang Wendong and his companions with hostility.
However, after A Biao and others left, they learned through communication that Yang Wendong was selling mousetraps, so most people didn't care about it, and some people were even quite interested in it.
Yang Wendong also took the opportunity to show off his eloquence and fooled several people into buying the products. These people mostly sold food and had rat problems at home.
"Strange, didn't these people buy other things to target rats before?" Zhao Liming asked in confusion after seeing several people buying a few mouse traps.
Yang Wendong smiled and said, "Maybe both, but do you think rats are so easy to kill? They are very smart and cautious.
Once other rats are caught or killed in some way, the others will learn from the lesson, and they will also emit a smell to warn others of their kind."
"So powerful?" Zhao Liming had never thought of it. He was extremely poor. The house he lived in was so shabby that he couldn't store much food. Although there were rats around him, there were not many.
"It's much more serious than what I said. No matter what method you use, catching mice is just a temporary solution." Yang Wendong said with a smile.
Even developed countries have tried their best to control rat infestation, but they can usually only suppress it temporarily. Once the intensity weakens, the rat population will come again.
Zhao Liming took a bite of the steamed bun and asked, "Is there no way to completely solve this problem?"
"Yes, there are definitely not many rats in Taiping Mountain. Once each of us lives in a house like that, there will be no such problem." Yang Wendong laughed.
Zhao Liming said: "What are you dreaming about?"
Yang Wendong added: "It is the government's job to solve the problem. We just need to take care of ourselves. Making more money is the most important thing now."
"Yeah." Zhao Liming nodded and agreed with this point of view.
In just half a day, the two of them had sold seven or eight. Although they had not yet made back their investment, they saw hope. At least they could earn much more than doing hard labor.
Of course, it may also be because it has just appeared and attracted nearby vendors, so it may not be so smooth in the future.
In the next few days, Yang Wendong and Zhao Liming paid 1 yuan every morning to set up their stall, and came back in the afternoon to continue cutting bamboo to make new mousetraps.
I can make a net profit of several dollars every day. Although it’s not a lot, it’s much better than before.
On the afternoon of the fifth day, Yang Wendong and Zhao Liming came back from the East Vegetable Market. Su Yiyi came up to them and said, "Brother Dong, today I saw someone making the same mousetrap as us."
(End of this chapter)