Chapter 42: Profits Explode

“Honey, you’ll never guess how many blind boxes we sold today!” That night, as Shen Yuequn was reading, he heard his wife exclaim excitedly.

“How many did we sell?” Shen Yuequn asked, just as curious. He’d been at the site in the morning, but had to leave by afternoon for other pressing matters, so he wasn’t clear on the details.

“A full 1,800 boxes!” his wife practically shouted.

“So many!” Shen Yuequn was stunned. Even on their best days before, they had never sold more than 800 boxes in a single day. Now they’d sold a thousand more—how was that even possible?

“It’s true! And when we left, there were still plenty of people lining up,” his wife said.

“This must be the effect of the Jiangnan Coin, right?” Shen Yuequn asked.

“Yes. I had thought those who traded in their leather goods for Jiangnan Coin would lose interest in buying more blind boxes, but to my surprise, almost everyone, after exchanging for Jiangnan Coin, turned right around and bought our blind boxes. And not just one at a time, but ten at a time! After buying, they’d immediately return the goods for more Jiangnan Coin,” his wife said, beaming.

“These repeat customers alone bought at least a thousand boxes today. And they brought in many new customers, too. We made a killing! In the end, we had to deliver four truckloads of blind boxes, and actually brought seven truckloads of returned products back. I think we won’t even need to restock from the head office anymore. We can just repackage the returned products as blind boxes and sell them all over again—the profits will be ours alone!”

“Don’t be silly. Do you think those phones we get from the company are free?” Shen Yuequn shook his head. “Each phone costs us three thousand yuan. The leather goods exchanged for 8,888 Jiangnan Coin also cost around three thousand yuan each. Every time you trade out a phone, the company still gets their money. Did you really think you could cheat the company?”

“And another thing—the company sent two accountants yesterday to take charge of all our financial reviews. From now on, you can’t just pocket all the money yourself. After every transaction, all the money must go to the accountants. After they register and deduct the company’s share, only then do we get our cut!”

“So they don’t trust us?” Shen Yuequn’s wife was instantly disgruntled. “They just don’t believe in us, afraid we’ll skim off the top. How could they think we’d do something like that?”

“Weren’t you just thinking of repackaging the returned products yourself, without going through the company?” Shen Yuequn teased. His wife grinned awkwardly and fell silent.

“Set those thoughts aside. I spoke with some friends at the head office yesterday. The chairman said at the last meeting that the company will soon diversify its business and move everything online. Networking is the future for enterprise development. From now on, all individuals and companies will have to be connected to the network and operate through it to improve efficiency,” Shen Yuequn said.

“Networking? How does that affect us?” his wife asked, puzzled. She knew nothing about networks; in fact, this was the first time she’d even heard the word.

“That’s why I’m reading this book called ‘What is the Network,’” Shen Yuequn said, waving the book in his hand. “I don’t really get most of it, but from what I gather, everything will be connected and controlled through the network. No matter how far away the northeast is, the chairman will still be able to keep a close eye on things!”

———

“Brother-in-law, here’s the report on the nationwide rollout of the Jiangnan Coin system. If I hadn’t seen it with my own eyes, I wouldn’t believe it. On average, every stall’s blind box sales have increased by at least fifty percent; some even grew by two hundred percent. In just the last week of this month, we made over thirty million, which is equal to all the profit we made in the previous two weeks!” Leng Zhiruo exclaimed, holding the report in her hands.

“Yes, and not only are our profits up, but our inventory is depleting more slowly. Originally, we thought the stock would last six months at most, but now it looks like it could last a whole year!” Huang He had already memorized these figures.

“But brother-in-law, there have been some complaints. Some people are reselling returned products themselves, without going through the head office. That means those profits don’t show up on our books at all. Preliminary estimates put our lost profits at over three million!” Leng Zhiruo said, her tone worried.

“Don’t worry. That’s just the numbers on paper. As long as they’re still getting phones from us, we can’t lose too much,” Huang He replied unconcernedly.

“But brother-in-law, this is only going to get worse. As the business grows, I’m afraid these people might completely go rogue. That would be a huge blow to Jiangnan Group!” Leng Zhiruo said, her worry quite realistic. After all, money tempts the heart, and skimming from the head office is something anyone might be tempted to do.

“So what do you suggest?” Huang He drummed his fingers on the table.

“Just like we did in the northeast: set up a company to directly control and operate all the businesses below, formalize and corporatize everything, take back the vast powers held by individuals, and use a system of rules to regulate and manage them—take back control completely!” Leng Zhiruo answered smoothly, clearly having thought this through. Her answer left Huang He a bit surprised.

“Is this your own idea, or did someone else suggest it?” Huang He looked at her. As far as he knew, his sister-in-law was very meticulous in her work, but he hadn’t thought she had such strategic insight.

“Well... it was Zhiwen’s idea. She saw me worrying about it yesterday and helped me come up with a plan,” Leng Zhiruo answered honestly.

“Tsk tsk, Zhiwen really shouldn’t be in sports!” Huang He sighed.

“What should she be doing then?” Leng Zhiruo shot back.

“She should be in government!” Huang He chuckled. “She’d be much better as an official than as an athlete!”

Leng Zhiruo was at a loss for words. She had never seen any sign of leadership talent in her cold and taciturn younger sister.

“But let’s not talk about this now. The issue with those profiteers isn’t serious yet—it’s not time to deal with it. I want a comprehensive plan before we act. For now, set it aside. Come with me to OO later,” Huang He said.

“Is something wrong at OO?” Leng Zhiruo grew worried about her younger sister. A high school graduate, now serving as the company’s CEO—though Huang He still managed the big picture, she hoped her sister wasn’t in trouble.

Though Leng Zhiruo was Huang He’s secretary, she really wasn’t involved in OO’s business. Everything over there was reported by Leng Zhimeng, who would often spend half an hour or more, even several hours, in her brother-in-law’s office. This left Leng Zhiruo with mixed feelings—she used to be the only one who enjoyed that privilege!

“It’s not a problem—quite the opposite, it’s great news. Our OO has finally completed testing and will launch across the entire network this afternoon!” Huang He said with a wide grin.