Journey 1995:Non-Stop

Chapter 154 Fame
Yan Hui had three main purposes for meeting with President Teng this time.

The first is to maintain the existing cooperative relationship, which is very stable. It can be maintained by having a meal together, or even without meals.

The second issue concerns cooperation on logs. Mr. Teng has a monthly demand for logs, and the supply price for these logs is mostly around 670 yuan per cubic meter, which doesn't generate much profit, but Yan Hui felt it was worth discussing.

The cost of logs is 500 yuan per cubic meter, and the transportation cost per cubic meter is about 120 yuan. At this price, the profit is only 50 yuan per cubic meter. For a truckload of 60 cubic meters, the profit is only 3000 yuan.

The advantages are also obvious. First, the cycle is short; you just need to get the timber and load it onto the truck. Second, the capital tied up is small; the freight cost is less than 4 yuan per truck.

Moreover, the price Yan Hui received for the logs was not actually 500 yuan. Because he estimated the amount of timber he received more accurately, he was able to get about 3%-4% more timber. Therefore, his actual purchase price for the timber was about 485 yuan, which meant that the profit per truckload was about 3900 yuan, with a profit margin of nearly 10%.

For pure log transportation, this profit margin is already quite considerable.

The third objective was to expand into other business areas. Expanding business directly through Mr. Teng was impossible, because most of the people around Mr. Teng who needed timber were his competitors.

Yan Hui mainly wanted to hear President Teng's story and see what he could learn from it.

That evening, Yan Hui smoked and drank, enjoying a pleasant conversation with Mr. Teng. Yan Hui's own entrepreneurial history was relatively short, while Mr. Teng had over a decade of experience and had much to share. The two talked for a long time, and Yan Hui truly learned a great deal from his conversation.

Leaving aside the specifics, Yan Hui's health had actually recovered long ago, and he no longer had any problems drinking alcohol; it's just that Yan Hui felt it wasn't necessary for him in his daily life.

Mr. Teng knew that Yan Hui didn't drink, but when he saw Yan Hui actually pick up his glass this time, he felt that Yan Hui was giving him face. After a few drinks, he already regarded Yan Hui as his own younger brother.

After finishing his drinks, Yan Hui took a taxi and went back to his hotel by himself.

Mr. Teng is truly a seasoned veteran; he didn't mention the crucial parts of his past adventures. Fortunately, Yan Hui isn't an outsider and was able to deduce some things from them.

After arriving at the hotel, Yan Hui, taking advantage of the fact that he wasn't too drunk, took out paper and pen and started taking notes.

After writing down some crooked words, Yan Hui grew increasingly sleepy and fell asleep as soon as he lay down on the bed.

The next day, Yan Hui got up early and took a shower, which made him feel much more awake. At this time, he saw his notebook and sat down to think for a long time.

Many people like to say that there were more opportunities in the 1980s and 90s, and regret that they were born at the wrong time. This is actually hindsight. In the 1980s and 90s, due to the limited access to information, it was difficult to "have ideas" in itself, let alone dare to take risks and have a clear direction. After all, people in that era didn't really know what business was.

What industry sectors, what private domain information, what financing—things that are familiar to everyone decades later were unknown to anyone back then.

Mr. Teng is a very insightful person. He worked on construction sites in his early years, and there were countless people working with him, but only Mr. Teng discovered some business opportunities.

From initially selling cigarettes, to later helping construction sites with procurement, and then to learning every detail about the construction site.
Mr. Teng could no longer handle these construction site matters, so these things weren't confidential to him, and he could easily tell Yan Hui. As for Mr. Teng's core business logic, he wouldn't reveal that.

After breakfast, it started to drizzle outside. Yan Hui had made plans to go boating with Su Jin today.

He bought an umbrella and prepared to walk slowly to his destination. The rain wasn't heavy, just a light drizzle, which only made him feel cool. Yan Hui strolled along the riverbank, walking all the way to Zhonghua Gate, where he unexpectedly ran into an acquaintance.

"Brother Lü? What are you doing here?" Yan Hui spotted Brother Lü immediately; he was one of the foremen of the moving team.

Brother Lü and two others set up two carts here to sell timber.

"President Yan!" Brother Lü immediately came over when he saw Yan Hui. "President Yan, you're back!"

"You still recognize me? I was afraid you wouldn't recognize me after a while," Yan Hui said politely, then took out some Zhonghua cigarettes from his pocket and handed a few to Brother Lü and the others.

"Everyone knows that President Yan is a big boss now, how could we not recognize him!" Brother Lü enthusiastically introduced Yan Hui to his two subordinates, and the two of them struck up a conversation.

The Zhonghua Gate was actually built by Zhu Yuanzhang and has a very long history. The bridge next to it is called Changgan Bridge. Brother Lü and others set up a waterproof tarpaulin next to the bridge and took advantage of the reduced market activity during the rain to set up a stall and sell timber for retail.

"Brother Lü still has ideas. Doing a small business is better than nothing," Yan Hui remarked.

No matter where you are, there are always people who are ahead of you.

"Yeah, anyway, it's raining, so the market isn't busy. They'll come and call me when it gets busy. I can sell a little bit here, more or less. Half an hour ago, a house builder bought one and a half square meters!" Brother Lü said proudly.

Their prices are definitely cheaper than those of lumber shops.

They already know many people, so they get very favorable prices for goods. The shipping cost is just a little physical labor. In addition, they don't have expenses for rent, utilities, or labor. They are a breath of fresh air in the retail industry.

"Wow, that's amazing, Brother Lü. When I come back next time I see you, I'll have to call you Boss Lü," Yan Hui exclaimed.

"Haha, Mr. Yan, you're too kind! Speaking of which, your brother even asked us to help move your goods before! I heard you supply goods to that Mr. Teng, and Mr. Teng always uses that Steyr truck to pick them up! It's really impressive! I never would have guessed you were such a big boss before!" Brother Lü always showed great respect to bosses who could handle railcars on their own.

A train has a strong carrying capacity. There are about 50 cars for timber transport, and each time a train arrives at this market, there are usually 20-40 cars. Some cars are unloaded along the way. That means this market can consume 1000-2000 cubic meters of timber at a time, and the total monthly freight volume is about 6000 cubic meters, and possibly more.

Yan Hui wasn't sure if this number was correct; he could only make a rough estimate.

Yan Hui can currently supply about 160 square meters of boards per month, which accounts for about 3% of the market supply. It can be said that there are no more than 10 suppliers in the entire market who are larger than Yan Hui, and most of them are never seen.

“What big boss?” Yan Hui shook his head. “I still have to rely on Brother Lü for help with many things.”

With that, Yan Hui handed the remaining Zhonghua cigarettes to Brother Lü. There was no need to talk too much. He said goodbye to Brother Lü and went to find Su Jin to go boating.

Yan Hui himself didn't expect that after not returning for a few months, he would actually become famous in the market, which he guessed was largely due to his cousin.

(End of this chapter)