Reborn in 1993, Dark Sea

"Here's the thing, we put in a lot of effort to get the exclusive agency for Piaoshun shampoo in Shenhai City, and this business has always been managed by Lao Ba."

Lao Ba has also been doing a very good job.

While we were acting as agents, we were also trying to crack the formula of the Piao Shun shampoo. After spending more than half a year, we actually managed to replicate it. It's probably more than 90% similar, and it's very difficult for the average person to tell the difference between the real and fake.

So we produced the A-grade version of Piaoshun. The A-grade version is mainly supplied to some small shops for sale, and it has always sold well. Over the years, there have never been any problems.

However, a while ago, Lao Ba made a mistake when shipping goods and sent the counterfeit goods to the mall instead, and as a result...

Li Maocai stopped there and simply shrugged.

"What?! Wrong shipment! Ah Cai, don't take Lao Ba's side, he did it on purpose!"

You think people won't be able to tell the difference, so you simply send the counterfeit goods to the mall and sell the genuine ones in your own supermarket, right?

Eighth Brother, this business doesn't belong to you or me, it belongs to everyone! Everyone here has a share in it!

You messed things up, and everyone let it slide because of me. But then you come to me saying you want to rent the two floors downstairs. You know I already agreed to rent them to Ah Huo and the others. Why didn't you do that earlier?

"Fine, you're one of us, so I'll give you face and even offend Ah Huo to get rid of you. Now look what's happened, and you're telling me you're not confident? Tell me, aren't you asking for a beating?!"

Guo Xiangshui lost his temper again, and Lao Ba was so frightened that he trembled.

"Boss, I had no choice. I messed things up, and so many brothers still need to eat. I wanted to find a way for them to make a living, so I thought of renting this place downstairs to start a business, but I'm really not confident about it..."

"How dare you say that!"

Guo Xiangshui was furious, but was persuaded to calm down by the others.

So that's how it is... An Xiaohai finally roughly understood the relationship between them.

"Did you lose the agency rights because the counterfeit goods were discovered by the mall?" An Xiaohai asked after thinking for a moment.

This is no small matter. Piaoshun shampoo has been selling very well from the beginning, and it is also very expensive. In this day and age, it costs about 10 yuan a bottle. Being the general agent in Shenhai City is indeed a big business. No wonder Guo Xiangshui is so angry.

Lao Ba wants to rent the two floors downstairs, probably hoping to make up for his losses. He must have acted rashly in his desperation. If we can find a way to dissuade him from this idea, then this mission will be accomplished.

"We didn't lose the agency rights; we paid a high price to keep them. However, half of them were taken away, and we went from being the exclusive agent to just one of the agents. Our business suddenly dropped by half!"

Moreover, I suspect this is just a delaying tactic. If the other agent does well, we'll be out of the game in a year or two.

Li Maocai sighed and continued, "There are quite a few people who work with Lao Ba. If half of the business is lost, half of the people will be left without work and food. Lao Ba was so anxious that he thought of opening a shop downstairs."

"I see..." An Xiaohai stroked his chin. "Do you have shampoo? I'd like to take a look, both the genuine product and the counterfeit."

"Eighth Brother!"

Seeing that An Xiaohai seemed to have a solution, Guo Xiangshui immediately shouted "Old Eight!" Old Eight, being quite dedicated, immediately took out two bottles of Piaoshun shampoo from his bag and handed them to An Xiaohai.

An Xiaohai held the two bottles of shampoo in his hands and compared them. He immediately knew which one was real and which one was fake. The difference between the fake bottle and the genuine product was indeed noticeable.

"Is this the only way to make this bottle?"

"This is the best we can do," Li Maocai nodded, pursing his lips. "The genuine bottles are made on a special production line. If we wanted to replicate them, the cost would be too high. This is the best we can do."

"Brother Hai, don't underestimate our bottles just because they're a little worse than theirs. The contents are almost identical, and most people can't tell the difference!" Lao Ba, whose hopes had been rekindled by An Xiaohai, hurriedly explained to him.

An Xiaohai finally understood. It wasn't that they couldn't produce the bottle; it was that they weren't willing to spend the high cost of replicating the production line. But that was easy to understand. If they were willing to do that, why would they bother with shady dealings? They could even build their own brand from scratch.

An Xiaohai opened two bottles of shampoo, put a little on his hand, and carefully compared them. To his surprise, the two were almost identical in color, consistency, and scent.

"If we don't look at the packaging, and just send these two shampoos for testing, will they be able to detect the difference?" After a long pause, An Xiaohai asked again.

"It's very difficult!" Lao Ba shook his head. "We've almost figured out all the ingredients they use, but we can't perfectly replicate the proportions."

A highly experienced tester could distinguish between the two by color and smell, but instruments couldn't detect it because our formulas are identical!

"Oh, I see...that makes things easier!"

An Xiaohai smiled slightly: "Uncle Shui, don't be angry anymore. Brother Ba, don't worry too much. This matter is actually quite easy to resolve."

"What?!" An Xiaohai's words made everyone present sit up straight.

"Xiao Hai, if you can solve this problem, you will have given many people in Haiwei Village a chance to eat, and you will be their benefactor."

I, Ah Shui, am putting this out there: if you truly resolve this matter, from now on, you, Ah Hai, are a member of Haiwei Village, and your affairs are our affairs!

"Uncle Shui, look at what you're saying. If Fangfang hadn't saved my life a few days ago, I wouldn't be sitting here chatting and bragging with everyone."

"Alright, let's not talk about that anymore. Let's keep it to ourselves and discuss what to do!"

"That's easy. We still have half of the distribution rights, right? After we get the goods back, we can squeeze out the genuine shampoo, fill it with our product, and then deliver it to the mall."

We fill our bottles with genuine shampoo and deliver them to convenience stores and small shopping malls.

Uncle Shui, Brother Ba, how much do we pay for the genuine products directly from the manufacturer? How much do we pay the department stores? How much do we sell the counterfeit goods for?

"We get our goods from the manufacturer for 10 yuan, and sell them to the mall for 12 yuan. The mall sells them for 15 or 16 yuan, and malls in good locations will sell them for a little more. We sell the A-grade goods for 2.5 yuan, while small shops usually sell them for 5 to 6 yuan!"

"I'm quite anxious," said the myna bird somewhat anxiously. Everyone else was already deep in thought after hearing An Xiaohai's words, but he, damn it, didn't understand at all!

"Okay, from now on, we'll lower the prices for the malls to roughly match the costs, but at the same time, we'll raise the prices for the convenience stores to 8 or 9 yuan."

In that case, it won't be long before we regain all our agency rights.

"ah!……"

After hearing An Xiaohai's words, the myna bird was dumbfounded. He still didn't understand what it meant at all!