Who would still start a business seriously after being reborn?

Chapter 528 Smuggling
Huang Fei laughed and said, "Wow, you finally remembered your brother. I thought you were planning to keep a low profile and make a fortune all this time."

"Where did this fortune come from?" Cheng Yi chuckled and said, "I'm also desperate because of money. I still have tens of billions of yuan in loans from the bank."

"Tell me, what new way have you come up with to make money?" Huang Fei asked immediately.

His current businesses have been given an ultimatum, which states they will last until 2008 at the latest.

It's been a little over three years since then.

Therefore, Huang Fei now also wants to transform his career.

Although he can earn billions from foreign waste every year, he also supports a large group of people and has to give some kickbacks to customs officials in various countries. All things considered, he can only earn a little over a billion a year at most.

Sigh, it's tough being a garbage collector like him.

Cheng Yi said, "Brother Fei, I won't beat around the bush. I want to start a computer manufacturing company with you that produces 3 million computers a year, and we'll split the profits 50/50."

Huang Fei gasped in shock.

He even wondered if he had heard wrongly.

Has the God of Wealth come to his doorstep today?
However, Huang Fei was no ordinary person. He knew very well that there would be some troublesome things waiting for him when he was tempted by great profits.

Otherwise, Cheng Yi would never have given him 50% of the profits.

Cheng Yi is a philanthropist, but he couldn't possibly be philanthropic to this extent.

How much money would a 50% profit margin on a production of 300 million computers a year be? Based on current market profit margins for computers, it would be at least several billion yuan.

"This is a huge matter. Why don't you come to my house to talk?" Huang Fei said. "Do you remember the address of my old house in Yanjing?"

“I remember, I’ll be right there now,” Cheng Yi replied.

"Okay, come on, let's have a drink." Huang Fei hung up the phone after saying that.

Huang Fei's old house is located on Chang'an Street. It is a typical courtyard house. Cheng Yi has been there a few times and didn't feel very good about it.

Although courtyard houses are a cherished memory for old Beijing residents, living in one doesn't really offer much of a sense of experience.

It was damp, dimly lit, and had a mossy, fishy smell, just like old Beijing-style fermented mung bean juice.

Cheng Yi took Lin Yongxing with him and soon flew to Yanjing.

As soon as he stepped out of the airport, he saw Huang Fei waving at him.

There were two other people with Huang Fei.

One was Bai Biao, and the other, Cheng Yi, was someone he had never met before; he was a dark-skinned, chubby young man.

Huang Fei came up and hugged Cheng Yi, then introduced him to Cheng Yi: "Come, let me introduce you. This is my best brother, Qi Hongjun."

Qi Hongjun?
Cheng Yi was taken aback.

The name sounded familiar, but he couldn't place it in his mind.

“Starcom, his,” Huang Fei explained again.

"Young Master Qi." Cheng Yi suddenly realized, and he grasped Qi Hongjun's hands with both of them, smiling, "I've heard so much about you."

Qi Hongjun laughed and said, "Don't be so formal. I don't have any of Lao Huang's bad habits. Just call me Lao Qi."

"I'll still call him Brother Qi," Cheng Yi said with a smile.

Qi Hongjun looked Cheng Yi up and down and exclaimed in amazement, "You're really something! Of all the people Lao Huang has trained, you've grown the fastest."

"It's all thanks to Brother Fei's guidance," Cheng Yi said modestly.

"Alright, stop rambling here. Let's go back and talk over a drink," Huang Feizhi said with a smug smile.

Everyone got into Huang Fei's Hummer H2, and Bai Biao drove himself, quickly heading to Huang Fei's residence.

Huang Fei's courtyard house is very well-proportioned, with a 7-meter-wide alleyway that can be driven directly in from the bustling main street on the west side.

In addition, there is a garage in the courtyard, which can accommodate one car, and four to five cars can be parked in front of the courtyard.

"Come on, let's have roast whole lamb today." Huang Fei took the lead and walked into the yard. In the middle of the yard, there was a pile of charcoal with a barbecue grill on top of it.

Huang Fei brought out a lamb that was only three or four months old from the side room, skewered it with a steel skewer, and placed it on the barbecue grill.

There were no outsiders in the courtyard, only Cheng Yi and a few others.

Seeing Huang Fei start moving, Qi Hongjun also eagerly went up to light the fire.

The charcoal was lit, and Huang Fei rotated the grill, spreading sauce as he did so.

"Hey, hey, hey? This isn't how you make it taste good. Come on, let me do it." Qi Hongjun got angry when he saw Huang Fei's unprofessional technique.

Huang Fei immediately handed all the sauces to Qi Hongjun, then gave Cheng Yi a smug smile.

Cheng Yi suddenly realized.

Huang Fei did this on purpose, just to give this hard labor to Qi Hongjun.

However, Qi Hongjun was enjoying himself. He used a knife to cut slits in the lamb while turning the grill and brushing sauce into the cuts.

Before long, the lamb began to sizzle and release its oil.

"Sit down." Huang Fei and Cheng Yi sat down at the stone table in the courtyard, watching Qi Hongjun busily working there.

Huang Fei glanced at Cheng Yi and asked, "Let's talk about the details first. You're giving me 50% of the profits, this must be a difficult task, right?"

Cheng Yi laughed and said, "It would be difficult for others, but for Brother Fei, it's just a piece of cake."

"Stop flattering me and get down to business," Huang Fei said with a laugh, but judging from his expression, he seemed to enjoy Cheng Yi's flattery.

There's no way around it; it all depends on who's doing the flattery.

For ordinary people, flattery is utterly tasteless.

But if it's flattery of a national philanthropic pioneer, then it's a bit more interesting.

Cheng Yi immediately said, "Brother Fei, as you know, I signed a truce agreement with Microsoft."

"Hmm." Huang Fei hesitated for a moment, then said, "I spent a lot of time and effort to get this agreement done for you."

Cheng Yi immediately looked surprised.

He truly did not know that Huang Fei had helped him in this matter.

Because Huang Fei never mentioned it.

Before Cheng Yi could speak, Huang Fei said, "Forget about thanks, let's get down to business. I'm not just helping you out for no reason. You're my big clients, after all. If you were to go out of business, who would I sell my electronic waste to?"

Cheng Yi wasn't one to mince words, and he chuckled, "Okay, then I'll continue. The agreement we signed stipulates that our system cannot leave China, and Microsoft systems cannot enter the internet cafe sector." "However, these past few months, Microsoft has been creating obstacles for us overseas, so I wanted to exploit a loophole in the contract." Cheng Yi looked at Huang Fei and said very seriously, "I want to smuggle computers into the overseas market."

"Smuggled computers? You mean, manufactured in Handong Province and then sold overseas?" Huang Fei asked, somewhat surprised.

Cheng Yi nodded and said, "That's right. Currently, Honor computers are produced at around 170 million units per year. If production is expanded, the annual output can easily reach 300 million units."

Huang Fei fell silent.

Seeing that Huang Fei remained silent, Cheng Yi didn't say anything more.

This is a big deal.

Huang Fei asked, "Computers are valuable items. People who buy them probably wouldn't choose no-name brands, right? Especially regarding repairs, how do you handle that?"

Cheng Yi said, "Computers are not delicate things. Most common problems can be solved by computer repair shops. Even brand-name computers don't really have any after-sales service, even though they advertise a three-year warranty."

Huang Fei shook his head and said, "Even if it's just a facade, it still needs to be erected, otherwise it will affect sales."

Cheng Yi said, "Then let's erect a memorial archway, and within three years, we'll replace it instead of repairing it."

Huang Fei asked in surprise, "You're not kidding, are you?"

Cheng Yi laughed and said, "I'm not kidding, but the round-trip shipping costs are on our own. Let's learn from those luxury car brands. Don't you also pay for the shipping costs when you send your Hummer back for repairs? Besides, our prices are more competitive."

"..." Huang Fei suddenly felt that Cheng Yi's words made a lot of sense.

Is it unreasonable to charge you over a thousand yuan for factory repairs?

Huang Fei then asked, "How much do you plan to sell it for?"

"A computer with performance comparable to a Pentium 4 only costs 1200 yuan at the factory, which is one-fifth of the market price," Cheng Yi replied.

"1200 yuan?" Huang Fei's eyes narrowed, and he said, "Is there any profit left?"

Cheng Yi laughed and said, "Our profit here is 400. As for how much the black market people sell it for, that's none of our business."

"Oh?" Huang Fei sensed a huge business opportunity.

How could it be unrelated? Many people in the black market are essentially his people.

If he sells it for 2000 yuan, he'll earn 200 yuan domestically and 800 yuan overseas.

A 10,000-ton cargo ship can transport more than 200,000 computers, which would cost more than 200 million yuan in one trip.

After deducting costs and his share with his black market associates, his net profit was at least 100 million.

This deal is much better than dealing with imported garbage.

Foreign waste is collected from all over Europe, and after a lot of hard work to transport it, it still doesn't earn ten million.

"Don't you plan to sell it domestically?" Huang Fei asked again.

He looked at Qi Hongjun, who was roasting a whole lamb, and said, "I called this guy over to pave the way for you in the domestic market. I thought you were planning to sell in the domestic market."

"We're not considering the domestic market for now," Cheng Yi said with a smile. "In the domestic market, our products will only be sold to members who have reached a certain level of consumption. This is a verbal agreement between me and Lianxiang Group."

“Well, it’s good that you don’t do it in China.” Huang Fei nodded slowly and said, “If you really want to do it in China someday, just ask this guy to come with you. He can help you fend off the pressure from Lianxiang Group.”

"Okay." Cheng Yi nodded.

He knew how much influence Qi Hongjun had.

Perhaps one day we will actually need Qi Hongjun's help.

Huang Fei said, "Let me think about what you're saying. I need to do some research overseas first. I'll give you an answer in half a month. If there's really a market for it, I'll definitely make the money."

“Okay.” Cheng Yi knew that Huang Fei was a very cautious person.

These days, those who aren't careful in the smuggling business won't last long.

Huang Fei chatted with Cheng Yi about some things related to Momo Group. Cheng Yi didn't hold back and gave Huang Fei a general overview of the problems Momo Group was currently facing.

"Yes, you've taken a rather big step. Taking too big a step can easily lead to disaster." Huang Fei nodded slowly and said, "It's right to make timely adjustments. In any project, you'll find that there are significant deviations from your expectations halfway through. Smart people will make adjustments and improvements during the process, while fools will go all the way and keep hitting their heads until they're bloodied and bruised."

At this moment, Huang Fei suddenly said, "By the way, you just mentioned satellite dishes. Do you think we could smuggle TVs and satellite dishes out of the country as a package? Many overseas countries have raised their tariffs on our TV industry to 25% to 45%. If we package this together and export it, I think we could make a profit."

Cheng Yi shook his head and said, "No, television is a consumer good, completely different from computers, which are consumer entertainment products. If we touch television, it would be like poking a hornet's nest in Europe and America, and we would suffer more losses than gains."

"Oh." Huang Fei didn't know much about the television industry. Apart from watching the news broadcast every day, he rarely watched television programs.

At this point, you can already smell the aroma of roasted lamb.

Huang Fei stood up and laughed, "Old Qi, your skills have improved!"

"That's right." Qi Hongjun said proudly, "I dare not say anything else, but with this skill, no one can do it."

"Tsk tsk." Huang Fei turned around and shouted to Bai Biao, "Bai Biao, bring another lamb for our Young Master Qi. He's so good at it, let's roast two."

"Ok."

"Good? Good my ass! I'm good at cooking, not good at temper. If you want to eat, you fucking grill it yourselves." Qi Hongjun finally realized that Huang Fei was looking for free labor and immediately became unhappy.

Qi Hongjun shoved the sauce bottle into Huang Fei's hand and said irritably, "It'll be done baking soon, you can clean up now."

Qi Hongjun's whole roasted lamb technique is indeed excellent; it's roasted until crispy on the outside and tender on the inside, and most importantly, it has no gamey smell.

Cheng Yi and the others gathered around the stone table, eating freshly cut, sizzling lamb while drinking beer in large gulps.

Seeing Qi Hongjun address him as a brother, Cheng Yi suddenly felt that things in this world were truly amazing.

More than two years ago, this young master Qi was high and mighty, almost ordering him to sort out the troubles of Starcom Handong branch. Now, they are eating meat and drinking wine together.

That's what social circles are all about. When you reach a certain level, you associate with people at that level.

If you lack the ability, you can't force your way into this circle.

People in that circle will only say to you: "What level are you in? You use the same thing as me..."

Although Qi Hongjun appears rugged, he is very meticulous and knowledgeable.

Cheng Yi talked to him from the steam age to the computer age, from GSM to WCDMA, and finally to the Iridium satellite system.

Qi Hongjun graduated from Imperial College London in the UK and is very familiar with the communications industry.

Cheng Yi had a few drinks and started chatting about all sorts of things. He talked to Qi Hongjun about 3G networks and Musk's desire to restart the Iridium satellite system.

When the Iridium system was mentioned, Qi Hongjun's eyes became much more serious. He slowly said, "Actually, the Iridium system went in the wrong direction. They shouldn't have gone down the path of mobile phone communication. They should have gone directly down the path of satellite 3G. Think about it, their Iridium phones are bigger than mobile phones. Who would want to carry around that thing to make a call? But computers are different. No matter how big an Iridium phone is, can it be bigger than a laptop?"

Qi Hongjun took a sip of beer, looked at Cheng Yi, and said, "Brother Cheng, you work in the internet industry, do you think what I said is right?"

(End of this chapter)