Starting with vegetable greenhouses in 1988

Chapter 151 Manager Sun

On the morning of the second day, at the Mona Lisa Restaurant.

Sun Tao was wearing a brand-new yellow down jacket. He had bought it some time ago, but he couldn't bear to wear it because he did chores like moving vegetables every day. Even the best clothes wouldn't last more than two days.

Yesterday evening, he went to Li Zhe's house to inquire about the progress and learned that Li Zhe had arranged to meet the section chief of the service center of an agency under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs at a Western restaurant to discuss the rental matter, and asked him to come along as well. He was worried that wearing his old clothes would embarrass Li Zhe, so he specially changed into this new down jacket.

Hey, you know what? Wearing this new outfit into the Western restaurant really gave me a lot more confidence. If I were dressed in rags, I'd be too embarrassed to even step through the door!

A waitress with short, ear-length hair walked over and placed a cup of coffee in front of him.

Sun Tao was taken aback. "Comrade, I didn't want a drink?" He had just seen a sign at the door that said they accepted foreign exchange certificates, but he didn't have any of those, and even if he did, he wouldn't be willing to spend them.

"Mr. Li ordered this for you," the waitress said, turning and leaving.

Sun Tao glanced at his coffee cup, then looked towards the coffee shop. Li Zhe was talking to someone there; one was the restaurant owner, and the other was probably the section chief of the service center under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Sun Tao picked up his teacup, took a sip, and found it both bitter and sweet. How to describe the taste? Not bad.

Although it wasn't mealtime yet, foreigners were coming and going from the restaurant. Some ordered a coffee, while others ordered a drink, which looked red and green, and it was hard to tell what kind of alcohol it was.

Sun Tao glanced at the menu and was speechless. A cup of coffee cost five foreign exchange certificates? And that cocktail, the cheapest one was ten foreign exchange certificates?

Good heavens, what's the difference between this place and robbery?
A while later, Li Zhe and his two companions came out. Sun Tao tilted his head back, finished his coffee, and hurriedly went to greet them.

When Li Zhe saw him coming over, he took the initiative to introduce him, "This is Ms. Shen, the owner of the restaurant, and also a good friend of mine. In the future, if she needs any dishes, you can just send them over."

He then pointed to a man in his thirties and said, "This is Section Chief Cheng from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Service Center." Then, he said to Section Chief Cheng, "This is Manager Sun from our vegetable store. If I'm not in the store, you can look for him if you need anything."

Section Chief Cheng nodded slightly: "Okay, I'll take you to the shop to take a look. If you like it, we can proceed with the rest of the formalities."

After saying goodbye to Shen Yanan, Li Zhe and his two companions rode their bicycles to the Diplomatic Residence.

Unlike last time when he was very cautious, this time, with Section Chief Cheng leading the way, Sun Tao felt much more at ease. When he saw the man with the red armband from last time, Sun Tao even made a point of greeting him.

Upon arrival, Section Chief Cheng took out his key, unlocked the door, and led Li Zhe and the other person into the shop. He explained, "This used to be a state-owned clothing store, but the styles and designs were outdated, and business was never very good. It closed down last year. Take a look at those two rows of shelves over there; they used to be used to store clothes."

Li Zhe walked around the shop. The shop was square, with a storefront nearly seven or eight meters long. Sunlight streamed into the shop, making it look very bright. "Section Chief Cheng, how big is this shop? How much is the rent?"

Section Chief Cheng recalled: "I remember it was over 80 square meters, less than 90 square meters. It was previously rented to a clothing store for 300 foreign exchange certificates per month. What do you think of that price?"

This differs from the way shop rents are calculated in later generations, but it's still quite simple. Li Zhe could easily afford this price; finding such a good location wasn't easy, and it was all thanks to his second sister's connections, so Li Zhe didn't intend to haggle: "Okay, let's go with the price you mentioned. How do we calculate the payment?"

"One month's deposit and three months' rent in advance is fine," Section Chief Cheng replied, then asked, "Mr. Li, are you sure you want to rent this shop?"

"Yes, I'm sure." Li Zhe said confidently. Not far from the shop was the entrance to the Diplomatic Residence, and the residents had to pass by this road to and from work.

Originally, Li Zhe had planned to have Sun Tao stand guard at the shop entrance all day to see how much customer traffic there was. But then he thought it best to avoid trouble; if Sun Tao were arrested as a spy, things would become much more complicated.

“Mr. Li, if you want to rent this shop, please hand over your documents and information first. I need to conduct a background check for you as is customary. Of course, it's just a formality. You were introduced by Miss Shen, so there shouldn't be any problems.” As he spoke, Section Chief Cheng took out a key from his pocket.
"Here are the keys to the shop. Please put them away first. Once the background check is completed in a couple of days, you can come directly to the service center to sign the contract."

Li Zhe shook hands with the other party: "Section Chief Cheng, thank you so much!"

Li Zhe gave Sun Tao a wink, and the latter took out two Marlboro cigarettes from his bag.

Li Zhe took the Marlboro cigarettes and handed them to Section Chief Cheng: "I'm sorry to have troubled you to make this trip. This is a small token of my appreciation, please accept it."

"Mr. Li, you're too kind." Section Chief Cheng accepted the gift with a smile without refusing.

After exchanging a few more pleasantries, Li Zhe saw Section Chief Cheng off at the shop and watched him ride away on his bicycle.

Sun Tao walked over and asked in a low voice, "Brother Li, isn't 300 foreign exchange certificates a month's rent a bit expensive?" "The most important thing about a shop is its location. We're right next to apartments where foreigners live, how could we not make money?" 300 foreign exchange certificates is indeed a lot for Chinese people, but it's nothing to foreigners. Foreigners in this era were truly wealthy.

He said to Sun Tao, "If you have time tomorrow, go to the Chongwenmen vegetable market and tell Director Han about our shop rental. Urge her to speed up the process. We don't want things to be settled on our end before her special permit is issued."

“No problem, I’ll go this evening.” The thought of being in charge of the shop from now on filled Sun Tao with boundless energy. “Brother Li, what are the plans for the shop in the future? I’ll prepare in advance.”

Li Zhe's gaze swept across the shops: "Set up a cashier counter at the entrance on the east side, and put our vegetables in the most conspicuous place. In addition to greenhouse vegetables, potatoes are a must."

Sun Tao had heard Li Zhe mention before that he planned to sell other items besides vegetables, so he asked, "Brother Li, besides vegetables, how many areas will we divide up?"

Li Zhe countered with, "What are your thoughts?"

Li Zhe's words earlier had given Sun Tao some pointers, and he had thought about it specifically after returning home: "Brother Li, the things foreigners eat and use are quite different from ours. They don't buy our products, and we don't have any sourcing channels for theirs. So I'm thinking of starting with some basic categories. Once the business gets going, we can gradually find more sourcing channels and expand our product range."

Li Zhe nodded: "Good idea, tell me more about it. How many product categories are you planning to include?"

"I think we can also get some fruit in addition to vegetables. Foreigners are pretty much the same as us in this regard, so I can use my connections to find supply channels. In addition, we can add some meat. Foreigners love beef the most, so if we also get some pork, chicken, fish and shrimp, we should be able to make a lot of money."

Li Zhe thought for a moment and said, "Let's not bring in any fish or shrimp for now. The types of food foreigners eat might be different from what we eat. We'll study that carefully later."

Sun Tao mentally planned out the shop's space. "Brother Li, with only beef, pork, and chicken, won't the meat section have too few options?"

Li Zhe shook his head slightly: "Quite a few. Foreigners' diets are relatively simple, but they actually consume the most beef. A single cut of beef can be divided into seven or eight parts. Pork can also be divided into neck meat and ribs, and chicken can also be divided. Many foreigners like to work out and eat chicken breast, which is high in protein."

Li Zhe summarized, "Our store is small, and offering too many different products would increase costs. In fact, even if we only offered one type of beef, the profit would be quite substantial."

Sun Tao said, "Besides these three, I'm thinking of also making a side dish, such as luncheon meat, ham, braised beef, braised pig's trotters, and smoked chicken."

Li Zhe said with a smile, "Foreigners do eat luncheon meat and ham. But they probably don't like the other three types."

“Brother Li, I’ve noticed that there are not only foreigners but also Chinese people around this apartment. I think they are likely overseas Chinese. Foreigners don’t eat here, but overseas Chinese do. They also have foreign exchange certificates.”

“We’ll look into this later. If there are a lot of overseas Chinese in the apartment, we can make some targeted adjustments.” Li Zhe felt that since it was the beginning, it should be kept simple. He said, “Let’s start with vegetables, meat, and fruit for now, and we can adjust them later according to the market.”

“Okay, Brother Li.” Sun Tao took out a small notebook and wrote down Li Zhe’s words. This method was taught to him by Zhou Qinghe.

"I might not be able to come tomorrow because of something. Could you have someone clean the shop? Put the labor costs on the books, and the shop will reimburse you later." Li Zhe said, taking out his camera and snapping a few photos of the shop.

"Brother Li, there's something else I'd like to tell you." Sun Tao approached Li Zhe after he finished taking the photos.

"Go ahead," Li Zhe said, putting the camera back into his bag.

"I want to focus on running this vegetable shop. From now on, I'll have my brother help me transport cucumbers every morning. What do you think?"

"Okay, bring your brother over tomorrow to familiarize yourself with the place." Li Zhe was very satisfied with his attitude. If Sun Tao wasn't proactive and attentive, he really wouldn't feel comfortable entrusting the shop to him.

Of course, Sun Tao isn't without his weaknesses. Li Zhe reminded him, "Taozi, although the store will hire English-speaking staff in the future, they will most likely be part-time. So you still need to learn English. You don't need to learn it in great depth, just enough for daily communication."

Sun Tao was prepared. "I understand, I've already started learning. Shall I explain a few things to you?"

Li Zhe has had enough of listening to 'Chinglish' these past few days and doesn't want to torture his ears anymore.

He said jokingly, "I won't check now, I'll check on the day the store opens. If your English doesn't meet the standard, I'll have to deduct money from your pay!"

(End of this chapter)