Rebirth of Bayi Fishing and Hunting in the Northwest

Chapter 1033 Chen Hongjun's purchasing station has opened, and some people want to reap the benefits.

In the end, Chen Hongjun still felt that Li Long's payment of 20,000 yuan for 30% of the shares was a bit too little, so after some back and forth, they settled on 35%.

Li Long was adamant about not accepting 40%. He told Chen Hongjun:
"Brother Chen, it's not that I don't trust you, but once you get into this industry, you'll find that as long as you get the relationships sorted out and build your network, making money is really easy. Maybe by the end of the year, you'll have earned more than 20,000 yuan yourself, and maybe then you'll think that my 20,000 yuan for a 35% stake was a bit too much..."

"No, no, absolutely not!" Chen Hongjun was a little agitated. He felt that Li Long's words were somewhat disrespectful of his integrity, so he raised his voice on the phone and said, "Old Chen, I've also worked in a purchasing station before. I know that in running a purchasing station, experience is important, and money is important too. Without enough working capital, you can't buy much at all."

So this initial funding is really important, I understand, and you don't need to remind me repeatedly. Once I get there, we'll sign a contract and put this in writing. No matter what happens in the end, once it's on paper, there's no going back.

At this point, he said, half-jokingly:

"You're giving me too much. Actually, I can't wait to go to Ma County and sign the contract with you right now. I'm afraid you'll regret it! Twenty thousand yuan! Some people never see twenty thousand yuan in their entire lives, right?"

Li Long now earns several hundred thousand yuan a year, and he's no longer the young man who would get excited about earning just a few dozen or a hundred yuan.

After hearing Chen Hongjun's words, he realized he might have been undervaluing money. However, he felt the bald teacher's statement was absolutely correct: what's the most valuable thing in the 21st century? Talent!

With Chen Hongjun overseeing the purchasing station in Beiting, as long as the service is good and the prices aren't driven down too low, its success is inevitable.

So when Chen Hongjun arrived by car in the afternoon, the two of them discussed the contents of the contract, wrote two copies, signed and pressed their fingerprints. Li Long then explained to Chen Hongjun, point by point, the aspects that needed attention when opening a purchasing station, especially the need to improve service quality and the standards of the purchased goods. He emphasized this many times.

"Don't worry about that. My colleagues and I have analyzed why you can earn so much money. It's because the quality of the things you bring is high! Whether it's fritillaria or leather, the quality of the things you bring is higher than others, so naturally we'll buy from you first when it's time to collect."

Who doesn't like high-quality things?

This is something Li Long has always insisted on, and he's gotten used to it so much that he hasn't paid much attention to it. On the contrary, Chen Hongjun, an outsider, sees it more clearly.

Li Long was truly used to it; he would reprocess everything he collected. For example, leather would be combed and the grease scraped off; fritillaria bulbs would be washed, dried, and sorted by size; wild mushrooms would have their stems removed and any debris sifted out, and so on.

How could something made like this not be of good quality? Who wouldn't like it?

When Chen Hongjun was working at the purchasing station, he really liked the things Li Long sold. Now he thinks that the service attitude Li Long mentioned is secondary; the important thing is to make sure the things he buys are handled well.

So he asked very detailed questions about this.

Li Long didn't hold back at all and told everyone... Actually, it wasn't a big deal. Some people valued it, and some didn't. If they valued it, even if he didn't say it, others would figure it out.

Chen Hongjun chatted with Li Long until the last bus was about to depart before hurriedly leaving, saying that once he made money, he would open a phone at the purchasing station so they could stay in touch.

The phone call absolutely needs to be made, but the amount of money and the shares have already been agreed upon. In Li Long's view, the 20,000 yuan is nothing more than the cost of two or three hundred pieces of leather, and it's impossible for them to come up with any more money for the phone call.

He didn't want to pay for the phone call anymore, so he decided to leave it at that for now. Li Long believed that Chen Hongjun could handle things well before the first payment came in, since that place wasn't a branch of this purchasing station but a separate unit. He had only invested in it, and the contract stipulated that he wouldn't interfere with its operation.

Therefore, we should trust Chen Hongjun.

After returning home, Chen Hongjun began to rent a courtyard, complete the necessary procedures, and hire people.

Once the formalities were completed, the news spread even faster, reaching not only colleagues in the unit but also former colleagues from the purchasing station.

They all rushed over to Chen Hongjun to ask what was going on, but Chen Hongjun was too busy for them to find.

The paperwork was handled smoothly through someone; the courtyard was also rented without any problems. After all, something had happened here before, so no one had taken it over. It's a public property, so nobody was in a hurry to rent it out.

Within two days, the sign for the "Red Army Purchasing Station" was put up, and the hired people arrived.

At first, Chen Hongjun was very careful about spending money, so he hired a handyman named Huo Bing, a young man from Sangong Township who came to the city to find work. Huo Bing had done odd jobs before. He was hired after talking to people in the odd job market. He had a half-month trial period and a salary of sixty yuan, with bonuses to be calculated separately.

Huo Bing was very diligent, keeping the purchasing station spotless. As soon as Chen Hongjun opened the door, he started collecting hides. The reopening of the purchasing station did attract some passersby, mostly just to watch the spectacle, but after half a day, people started coming in the afternoon.

They tentatively inquired about the prices of hides and medicinal herbs, and the answers they received surprised them. They immediately went inside to sell them.

In one afternoon, we collected five hides and less than ten kilograms of medicinal herbs, with a net outflow of less than one thousand yuan.

But Chen Hongjun was already confident about these things. What did that mean? It meant that the price he and Li Long had negotiated would be accepted.

Li Long also told him the purchase price offered by outside merchants for these things. At least for now, Chen Hongjun could roughly calculate that the profit for today alone would be more than 100 yuan, which was higher than his own salary!
It’s really profitable!

Chen Hongjun then thought of what Li Long had said: once you really get into this line of work, you'll realize that 20,000 yuan isn't much.

It's only been open for one day!
And this is without any ads!
Soon, his former colleagues learned that he had opened a purchasing station, and some people came to his door.

There were three colleagues who came with me. They looked at the yard of the recycling station with envy, curiosity, and questions.

"Old Chen, you're being a bit unfair." The colleague who had originally planned to partner with Chen Hongjun to open a purchasing station was quite envious, seeing the vendors coming in to sell their wares every now and then. He deliberately said while the vendors were around, "When you said you wanted to open a purchasing station, I told you we'd partner up. I was still waiting for you, and you just opened one on your own without a word... That's so unfair!"

Chen Hongjun smiled, took a piece of leather from the seller, and said as he looked at it:
"You didn't say it was a death sentence, so I thought you were joking. Besides, I was already planning to take a leave of absence without pay, and I didn't see you make any moves."

"Well, I hadn't thought it through back then..." The colleague blushed slightly. "So, now that I'm working with you, are we still partners? I don't want much..."

"You want to partner with me?" Chen Hongjun finished examining the leather and looked at his colleague, asking, "What can you contribute? How much money?"

Chen Hongjun is polite to his colleagues because they have worked together before and he doesn't want to ruin things. But if his colleagues are shameless, then he doesn't need to care about saving face anymore.

Once you've done business, you'll realize that there are some people you really don't need to contact, because these people are unlikely to achieve anything, and are more likely to cause harm.

"Spend money? I'll contribute manpower. There's an old saying, 'Those with money support with money, and those without money support with their presence.' I don't have much money, but I can bring my people to do the work." The colleague reacted quickly, and after saying that, he even laughed, thinking he had made a good point.

“That won’t do.” Chen Hongjun knew that this person would just be picking up the pieces if he stepped in now, so he said seriously, “Someone invested 20,000 yuan to get 30% of the shares in my purchasing station. If you come in without contributing anything, I’ll give you a few cents.”

Besides, right now at the acquisition station, I'm the manager and Xiao Huo is an employee. The two of us are enough. Wouldn't you be redundant if you came over?"

"What? You're offering 20,000 yuan for a 30% stake? Are you kidding me?" His colleague's eyes widened. To him, the purchasing station didn't seem worth tens of thousands of yuan at all.

"You don't think I have that much money, do you?" Chen Hongjun smiled and said to the seller, "Winter pelts are more expensive, but this pelt has bullet holes, so it's considered damaged, but the fur color is good. It's rare to see such a large yellow sheep pelt. How about I give you sixty-five yuan for this pelt?"

"Okay, okay." The seller immediately agreed upon hearing the price of sixty-five yuan. "That's a good price! It's higher than the price offered by the previous purchasing station here. I'll sell it!" Chen Hongjun registered the transaction in a notebook, had someone sign it, and after paying, he asked Huo Bing to take the leather to be combed and oiled. Then he said to his colleague:

“I have no reason to lie to you. Look, I collect a lot of hides and medicinal herbs every day... You used to work at the purchasing station, so you know that this business involves stockpiling goods, and you need to have enough cash flow, otherwise you definitely can't make it work.”

Besides, renting such a big yard for a year wouldn't be cheap... I'd definitely need to invest money to find a partner, and I don't have any myself, and you certainly don't either, so let's not even talk about partnerships. I'm doing all the work myself, so I definitely don't need anyone else to help..."

The colleague wanted to say something more, but found that he had nothing more to say.

Chen Hongjun shut him down, and even if he wanted to do it, he didn't have the money.

He wanted to take advantage of the situation, while the others wanted to gain experience.

These people all know that running a purchasing station is profitable. After all, they've been in the business for so many years and know that it's very easy to buy low and sell high, making a profit from the price difference.

However, the original purchasing station in Beiting was in poor condition, so some people hesitated. But now that Chen Hongjun has started it up, they immediately realize that it is indeed a viable business.

Of course, although Chen Hongjun hasn't made any money yet, they are all insiders in the industry. They know what the original purchasing stations were all about, and they have all thought about how they would make money if they opened their own.

So now that Chen Hongjun has taken the lead, everyone is eager to start asking him about the details of opening a purchasing station.

Chen Hongjun didn't hold back, explaining everything about the procedures, the courtyard, and the process of taking leave without pay.

However, the biggest problem for these people is that they lack start-up capital. Without working capital, these acquisition stations cannot be started no matter what; at most, they can only operate on a small scale.

After all, right now, Chen Hongjun is earning 65 yuan for each piece of leather. If he collects ten pieces a day, that's 600 or 700 yuan. And if he adds other things, he might end up spending 1,000 yuan a day.

So, while 20,000 yuan is an astronomical sum for them, it might only last them for about 20 days!
If these people calculate their own wealth, even if they borrowed from everyone around them, they could only borrow a few hundred or a thousand at most. It would be impossible for them to borrow tens of thousands!

At that time, people didn't have the habit of borrowing money from banks. They generally thought, "Even if I went, why would they lend me money?"
At this time, banks do have policies to support loans, but due to a lack of information, some people simply don't think to go to the bank to get money.

Of course, there's also the worry that if we lose money and can't pay it back, that would be a huge problem.

So after asking the questions, they got stuck at this point and fell silent.

A clever person pulled Chen Hongjun aside and whispered:
"Old Chen, look how big Beiting is, opening two or three purchasing stations shouldn't be a problem. Could you help me ask the person who invested in you if I could also get some shares? I don't even want 20,000 yuan, just 10,000 yuan, I'll give him 50% of the shares!"

Chen Hongjun thought to himself, "This guy is even more formidable than me!"
He nodded and said, "I can relay this message, but I can't guarantee it will work."

"Thank you so much! I'm very grateful that you forwarded this message!"

This colleague wasn't the only one who thought of finding a financial backer through Chen Hongjun. With Chen Hongjun paving the way, these colleagues were genuinely interested in finding a way to raise money and open a purchasing station.

After all, seeing Chen Hongjun collect three or four hides in a short time today, even though they didn't know the exact profit per hide, they could guess that it would add up to at least a hundred yuan.
How could you not be envious if someone earns a month's salary in a single day?
Some people have forgotten how that old purchasing station closed down, and they've also forgotten how much stock that station could hold onto!
When Chen Hongjun called Li Long to tell him about this, Li Long laughed at him:

"Old Chen, you're too kind-hearted! You actually asked around for him! Aren't you afraid he'll actually open a purchasing station and steal your business?"

"No problem. Well, this isn't something you can do well just by doing it. After listening to so much of what you said, I've only realized how important my thoughts are, and how important yours are too. Service and quality are both indispensable."

But honestly, my colleagues... really aren't capable of thinking of and doing both of those things. Besides, if you're not afraid I'll open a purchasing station and steal your business, why should I be afraid? If I were really afraid, I wouldn't have taken unpaid leave.”

"Well said!" Li Long laughed. "That's the spirit of yours, Lao Chen! I have faith in you. Tell your former colleague I'm not applying anymore; I don't have the energy to focus on it. Also, if there are similar cases in the future, just reject them for me. By the way, how's things going on your end?"

"It's alright. It's just the beginning. We're processing about ten hides and a dozen kilograms of medicinal herbs a day. The warehouse is still empty. But we'll take it slow. I'm not in a hurry. I'll take advantage of the smaller number of people to practice what you mentioned, so we won't be too busy when spring and the fritillaria season come."

"Alright, alright, take your time to adapt." Li Long could tell that Chen Hongjun wasn't in a hurry to achieve instant success and was still in the adaptation phase. He felt that Old Chen was still impressive, and experience was invaluable. Although he had been away from the industry for several years, he still had the foundation and a good temperament.

This collaboration is a sure win.

Just as Li Long had predicted, Chen Hongjun's purchasing station business improved steadily. After all, Beiting City had several times the population of Ma County; with a larger market, more people wanted to make money, and many people knew about the newly opened purchasing station.

Although most middlemen still habitually acquire large quantities of goods and transport them to Ma County, those who operate on a smaller scale feel that going to Ma County is too far and a waste of money, so they come directly to Chen Hongjun.

By the end of February, Chen Hongjun's purchasing station had a daily turnover of nearly two thousand yuan, having collected nearly thirty hides and twenty to thirty kilograms of medicinal herbs.

If this continues, his funds will probably be depleted in less than twenty days.

Fortunately, Li Long also told Chen Hongjun that Zhao Hui would come to collect the hides in another five or six days. It would be the last batch of hides before the snow melted. As long as Chen Hongjun was ready, Zhao Hui could come and take them directly.

Chen Hongjun was quite emotional. Zhao Hui was someone he used to have a relationship with, but now he was much closer to Li Long than he was to Zhao Hui.

That makes sense. They only got in touch because of the purchasing station. Now that the station is closed, Zhao Hui naturally doesn't need to contact Chen Hongjun as often. Besides, they don't have a phone. Meeting up for a meal when they happen to be passing by is already considered good enough.

In early March, the snow had already begun to melt. In the fourth team's area, the snow melted very quickly, and the roads had already become muddy.

After Xu Chengjun finished attending the meeting in the township, he called a meeting of the village representatives upon his return.

"The snow is melting soon. This year's snowfall is heavy, so the floods will come earlier. Therefore, the township has notified that as soon as the snow melts, each village must concentrate manpower to start clearing the ditches and do a good job in flood prevention."

Xu Chengjun first conveyed the spirit of the township meeting, and then began to deploy the work.

Village representatives usually only bring their heads to meetings. Li Jianguo habitually brings a notebook to jot down anything so he won't forget it.

"Go back and hold a meeting with the people in each village group. Here are the things you need to do," Xu Chengjun said, holding his notebook, which contained a summary of the tasks he had compiled.
"First, clear the ditches in front of each residential area. When floods come, let the water flow away through the ditches. Don't let anyone who blocked the irrigation ditch last year for watering winter wheat end up blocking the floodwaters and causing them to overflow into the residential area this year—"

If something like that really happens, whoever blocked the breach will have to compensate the other family! Even if the flood doesn't reach anyone's house but washes away the road in the residential area, we'll still go and fill it in!

These were strong words, and the village representatives immediately said they would do as instructed.

Now, the main event is about to begin.

(End of this chapter)