All the heavens begin with the love in the courtyard.

Since keeping to himself and Yang Shaodong's distance, Yang Xun quickly restored his channels. After investigating Lei Dongbao, Yang Shaodong took the initiative to befriend him and provided some assistance to Yang Xun in certain aspects. Yang Xun was also good at seizing opportunities. Starting in August, he used this assistance to quickly establish a presence in major markets, shopping malls and department stores in Licheng!

As mentioned earlier, Yang Xun used a commission of one yuan per unit to get salespeople in major department stores to promote the Dianfeng brand electric fans to him. Now that the distribution channels have been reopened, he has become even bolder.

He not only gave discounts to sales staff, but also to the managers of each shopping mall, and gave them commissions based on sales volume. This behavior could actually be considered bribery, but he did it very discreetly. In addition, the money was his own commission, and the shopping mall did not lose anything. He actually created a network of relationships for them.

In addition to opening up channels with major department stores, he also took another step: all customers who purchase Peak brand electric fans and Hongyun fans can enjoy free home delivery and free installation services.

He recruited a large number of young people locally and arranged for several young people riding tricycles in each shopping mall. These tricycles were decorated with advertisements for Peak and Hongyun brand electric fans. Every customer who bought these two brands in the mall could receive free and considerate service within a 10-kilometer radius.

Many customers buy things at the department store and have to walk several kilometers home carrying their purchases. Now that there is a free shuttle service, many people will subconsciously remember these two brands of electric fans!

With the cooperation of the sales staff, the strong recommendation from the department store counters, and various thoughtful services, Yang Xun's sales in Licheng skyrocketed almost explosively. By the end of August, when Lei Dongbao saw the sales figures in Licheng, he thought he had misread the numbers!

Will Yang Xunhua lose money after paying such a high price?

Of course not. Lei Dongbao had previously set a sales commission rule that the more sales, the higher the commission. Yang Xun seized on this point and directly broke the highest commission rule, reaching the highest level. For metal electric fans, the commission could reach up to ten yuan per unit. Yang Xun did it!

In August, aside from all expenses, Yang Xun's income successfully exceeded 100,000!

This bonus represents the highest sales commission among hundreds of agents in the entire Jinzhou Second Machinery Factory, making this one the most outstanding!

Lei Dongbao would naturally pay special attention to such talent, so at the end of September, he directly asked Yang Xun if he was interested in going to Guangzhou with him to attend the Canton Fair and broaden his horizons.

Yang Xun readily agreed. Without the platform of Jinzhou Second Machinery Factory and Lei Dongbao's appreciation, it would have been impossible for someone like Yang Xun, a grassroots talent, to achieve anything in this era.

In the original story, although he stumbled along until the early 1990s when he had a net worth of millions, only he himself knew how much suffering he had endured before that!

Lei Dongbao neither encourages nor opposes Yang Xun's sales model. If something goes wrong, he will still make Yang Xun take the blame. This is the mindset of someone in a position of power.

Lei Dongbao's reason for trying to win over Yang Xun was not only to appreciate him, but also to broaden Yang Xun's horizons. Sometimes, success in one place can easily lead to arrogance. Lei Dongbao naturally hoped that Yang Xun could go further in the future, which is why he chose to bring him along.

Jinzhou No. 2 Machinery Factory actually participated in the Canton Fair in the 1960s, and the last time it participated was in 1978. After that, due to the lag in product styles and quality, it rushed to participate for two years but achieved zero sales. In the end, Jinzhou was disqualified from participating!

This year, Lei Dongbao led Jinzhou No. 2 Machinery Factory to participate in the Canton Fair again, naturally with the mission of redeeming himself!

This was Lei Dongbao's first time attending the Canton Fair. Most of his knowledge of the Canton Fair came from information he had seen in later generations, so he was indeed quite curious!

With more than a day to go before the curtain falls, Lei Dongbao gave his team a day off so they could explore Guangzhou.

With nothing else to do, Lei Dongbao, along with Yang Xun and another young man named Li Jin, strolled around the streets and alleys of Guangzhou.

Guangzhou, the city in Lei Dongbao's mind, he had lived here for more than ten years and could be considered a half-knowledgeable person of Guangzhou. But when faced with Guangzhou in the early 1980s, he was completely clueless!

However, compared to Jinzhou and most cities in Anyun Province, Guangzhou was already at the forefront of the country in the 1980s. The fashionable men and women on the streets seemed to be from the countryside compared to Jinzhou.

The high-rise buildings under construction in the distance show that the city is undergoing dramatic changes. The traditional Chinese characters on the signs all over the streets make the city feel more like a port city. The popular music from Hong Kong and Macao playing in the streets and alleys makes the city seem particularly young and energetic.

There were far more individual business owners on the streets than in any other city in Anyun Province. The group strolled around the streets and alleys at will, and came across an unknown street surrounded by stalls selling all sorts of novelties, which dazzled Yang Xun and Li Jin.

From watches to sunglasses, calculators, tape recorders, cassette tapes, and even television sets, everything was there, which greatly surprised Lei Dongbao.

Lei Dongbao knew, of course, that these things couldn't be legitimate goods; they were probably all smuggled in. But Lei Dongbao hadn't expected that these people would dare to set up stalls so openly. From the bustling crowd, one could tell just how big this market was!

Unfortunately, none of these were to Lei Dongbao's liking. Lei Dongbao told Yang Xun and the other man to wander around on their own, and the two of them happily went shopping.

Lei Dongbao walked to a stall selling electronic watches, picked up a plastic electronic watch, and asked about it.

How much is this watch?

The shopkeeper glanced at Lei Dongbao and called out a price of fifteen yuan. Lei Dongbao looked at it, smiled, shook his head, and put it down.

This thing, whose mass production cost can be controlled to within one yuan, is definitely foreign junk. But even this kind of foreign junk is a high-tech novelty for Chinese people today!

In the early 1980s, this thing was still a bit expensive. In a few years, there were factories in China that produced it themselves. However, there was another thing that was quite profitable in the 1980s and 1990s.

That's a video game console, but unfortunately Lei Dongbao doesn't know much about it. Of course, he could start a project right now and hire people to research it, but he decided against it because he didn't have that much energy.

He picked up another tape recorder, looked at it, and felt that the quality was just so-so. After picking and choosing, he finally chose a tape recorder that looked to be of decent quality. He also got a few cassette tapes of popular Hong Kong pop music from the shop owner. Of course, the tapes were definitely pirated.

The shopkeeper initially quoted 160 yuan, but Lei Dongbao thought for a moment and then asked the shopkeeper to bring him another one of the same models. He also asked for an extra cassette tape and bargained with the shopkeeper to get 300 yuan for both models. He also asked for two sets of packaging, which was done in a simple way before he continued browsing.

Since we're already here, we should definitely bring some gifts back. Lei Dongbao is a straight man and doesn't know what to give, so let's give everyone the same thing. That should be fair, right?

After a day of shopping, Lei Dongbao bought two more suits, one for himself and one for his brother-in-law.

Yang Xun also bought a large bag full of things, but Li Jin was obviously short of money and just followed behind Yang Xun to watch the fun. In the end, Yang Xun gave him a tape recorder, and Li Jin quickly thanked him happily.

Yang Xun is quite good at winning people over. Not only Li Jin, but also the other people who came with Lei Dongbao bought gifts. He even bought a watch worth more than a thousand yuan to give to Lei Dongbao, but Lei Dongbao refused.

Lei Dongbao didn't say anything about this guy's blatant small favors, but he secretly re-evaluated Yang Xun's character. Yang Xun was obviously used to using this method to get closer to people, which Lei Dongbao didn't think was a good sign!

Right now, he's just an ordinary small agent. Even if he's made some money, like over ten thousand in the last few months, this kind of recruitment method will work. Once he gets a taste of success, what will happen when he truly becomes a millionaire, a multi-millionaire, or even a billionaire?

Back then, he would still use this method to build relationships with the people he was dealing with, but he wouldn't be giving those little trinkets anymore!

Perhaps his method of cultivating relationships is easy to succeed in China, but if you walk by the river too often, you'll get your shoes wet sooner or later!

Therefore, Lei Dongbao took the opportunity that evening to have a serious talk with Yang Xun. Yang Xun nodded and bowed, indicating that he realized his mistake. However, in the blink of an eye, he went to invite a few people around him to dinner. Obviously, behind Yang Xun's smiling face, he didn't listen to a word he said!

In the end, Lei Dongbao had no choice but to give up lecturing. Perhaps in Yang Xun's eyes, he had no background or connections, so to create a career, he had to have his own set of rules for doing things. Although he knew that these rules were not the safest, they were the easiest way for Yang Xun to achieve his goals!

Who knows what the future holds? Let's leave the future to the future!

In the past two days, Lei Dongbao has seen many foreigners who have just arrived. These foreigners were invited by the country and all have special hotels for accommodation.

The conditions were much better than those of domestic guests like Lei Dongbao. Fortunately, it was already the 1980s. If it were the 1950s or 1960s, Lei Dongbao would still be eagerly waiting for his daily allowance of one or two ounces of pork!

The next day, the Canton Fair finally officially opened!

Chapter 69: This has potential!

Chapter 69 of "Love in the Courtyard": There's potential! This time, Jinzhou really values ​​Lei Dongbao. The location Jinzhou got in the home appliance section's exhibition area is at the corner. This location was naturally reserved for Jinzhou's Second Machinery Factory, and it's a pretty good location.

Unfortunately, no matter how good the location was, the home appliance area was not a highly valued place at the Canton Fair in the early 1980s. So it was placed in the innermost exhibition area, and people could see it was a home appliance made in China from a distance.

Apart from some underdeveloped areas, there are basically no big buyers coming to see it, and merchants from Europe and America rarely come to this place.

Lei Dongbao is hoping to make some US dollars from foreigners in Europe and America with his air fryer, but his African friends wouldn't want it!

Lei Dongbao glanced around and saw that the appliance section was full of competitors, mostly selling radios and electric fans. Of course, there was one vendor displaying domestic refrigerators, which were green, square, and looked like a big metal box, which immediately brought Lei Dongbao back to reality!

The appliances that Lei Dongbao brought looked to be a generation ahead of theirs. Apart from the electric fan, the bread maker, kettle, and even the store's signature air fryer were all designed by Lei Dongbao in accordance with European and American styles.

What is an air fryer?

To put it in a more fantastical way, it uses exclusive patented technology and high-speed air circulation technology. Heat is dissipated from the top of the fryer and accelerated, forming a powerful air convection inside the pot. This ensures that the outside of the food is quickly fried to a golden and crispy finish, while the moisture is intelligently expelled, leaving the inside of the food tender and juicy, resulting in a wonderfully fresh, fragrant, and crispy texture.

In simple terms, this thing is basically a metal rice cooker lid with a hairdryer attached!

Basically, it's a closed oven with a fan on top, which allows the entire machine to heat and circulate the food, making it heat more evenly, with high heat transfer rate and high cooking efficiency!

Most European and American ovens are huge, but this thing is only one-third the size of an oven, so how could it not be fast!

This thing is actually more for show than practical use. For Chinese people, there is absolutely no market for it. Perhaps in thirty years, when people are well-fed and have nothing else to do, they might buy one of these things, but in this era, absolutely no one will buy it.

Therefore, this thing may only have a market in developed countries in Europe and America. First, they are used to cooking food in ovens in their daily lives. Second, this thing directly addresses their pain points: it heats up quickly, and the aroma of food begins to waft out in two or three minutes, and it can be ready to eat in ten minutes.

The ovens they usually use have a large surface area, so they dissipate heat slowly. Even after half an hour, the food is still a bit undercooked. But now, it only takes ten minutes to cook the food. This is sure to attract high-end people from Europe and America!

Another advantage is that this thing only needs to be brushed with a little bit of cooking oil to achieve a texture similar to deep-frying, crispy and crunchy. This thing will definitely appeal to the tastes of high-end people. It's not that they realize it saves on oil, but it's healthy! Less oil means more health!

After all that, this thing is essentially still just a big hair dryer. How can you sell it at a high price if you don't talk about health or taste?

But this location is awkward. European and American customers almost never come to the Chinese home appliance section, so there's no one to promote it to!

On the first day of the Canton Fair, Lei Dongbao watched the bustling crowds come in, but this location was really awkward. Apart from a few old men with headscarves and dark complexions who wandered around, there were hardly any people around all morning.

Around 10 o'clock, Lei Dongbao finally couldn't resist any longer. He told them to watch the stalls while he put his hands behind his back and started browsing the exhibition area.

And you know what? The Canton Fair in those days, although it didn't have many high-tech products, had everything from needles and thread to ceramics, covering almost all the industrial products that China could produce.

From needles and thread to handcrafted bamboo baskets, from ceramics to embroidered silk, from toothpaste to washbasins, they have everything.

Lei Dongbao even saw a bicycle booth, with those classic old-fashioned bicycles, the quality of which was absolutely top-notch. A group of African guys patted the seats and placed an order for 10,000 bicycles with great enthusiasm, making the person in charge of the booth smile from ear to ear!

Lei Dongbao, with his hands behind his back, strolled around the several exhibition areas with great interest for most of the day. It wasn't until after 12 o'clock that he returned to his booth with a sigh. As expected, there were still zero sales.

Other companies in the same industry had very few booths open, and each of them sat idly in front of their own booths, fanning themselves with their product catalogs.

However, Lei Dongbao wasn't in a hurry. He wanted to see how things went first, as it was only the first day and many customers hadn't arrived yet.

There are also some foreigners who are very shrewd. For the first few days, they didn't show up at all, just to keep you waiting. When it was almost over, many businesses that hadn't even opened yet had to produce for them at low prices, or even at a loss. They naturally understood that China urgently needed foreign exchange, so it wasn't them who were in a hurry!

However, Lei Dongbao wasn't in a hurry. He was sure he could sell those Thunder brand electric fans at a special price eventually. Anyway, he wasn't in a rush right now, so he would wait and see how things went!

Among the group of people Lei Dongbao brought were several highly educated individuals. Li Jin was among the first batch of college students after the resumption of the college entrance examination. His English level was so-so, but he could manage. Lei Dongbao brought them here to broaden their horizons and let them see what they were capable of!

Lei Dongbao told Li Jin and one other person to stay behind, while the rest of them went to eat with them!

Lei Dongbao once read in a book that the aroma of food baked on-site in an air fryer would attract foreigners, but when he arrived at the scene, he realized he had been mistaken.

First of all, there are no power outlets in this area. Even if there were, the security guards wouldn't let you run electrical wires around. With all this crowd, the organizers wouldn't turn on the power for you. If those wires accidentally electrocute a foreigner, it would cause a diplomatic incident!

Lei Dongbao walked towards the exit with his hands behind his back. As he stepped outside, the small square outside was filled with shouts and hawking. Lei Dongbao looked closely and was amazed to see that both sides of the street and the road outside were lined with street vendors. Upon closer inspection, he could hear accents from all over the country!

After watching for a while, Lei Dongbao gradually understood what was going on. Don't underestimate these stall vendors. Most of them are heads of township enterprises from all over the country, and some may be local state-owned small factories. These people went through all sorts of hardships to get to the Canton Fair, only to find that they didn't even have the right to enter.

From the 1950s to the 1990s, the Canton Fair primarily served large, high-quality state-owned enterprises across the country. After the reform and opening up, township and village enterprises emerged in various regions, but they were still not qualified to participate in the fair.

Even for state-owned enterprises, not everyone was qualified to participate. Many famous companies in later years set up booths outside the exhibition hall in the 1980s and 1990s.

Even Xiao Leijia wasn't qualified to participate. If Lei Dongbao were still in Xiao Leijia back then, even if he had invented an air fryer, he would probably be setting up a stall on the street like them!

Therefore, state-owned enterprises and township collective enterprises are not on the same level from the starting line. This also includes private enterprises that do not even have the qualifications to start. A large part of these collective enterprises will eventually be reformed into private enterprises in the next ten years or so.

Seeing the bustling crowd of vendors, and indeed, foreigners occasionally checking out the goods at each stall, it was clear that most of these vendors were unprepared. Even when foreigners inquired about prices, many of them couldn't speak English, and those who could only stammered and couldn't understand each other.

Don't underestimate these seemingly incompatible arguments. Many companies in the 1980s and 90s made their first fortune by simply using a product catalog at the Canton Fair.

With the domestic consumer market still not fully recovered, the overseas market is so vast that even a small amount of money can make a company rich overnight!

With such a large flow of people at the Canton Fair, finding food is a big problem. However, there is a food street nearby that provides catering services for everyone.

Besides these, some small stalls around also set up carts to sell food nearby. At mealtimes, you can see owners squatting on the ground and eating their boxed lunches with gusto everywhere!

There are also designated dining areas for foreigners, but those who are wealthier or more particular tend to eat at hotels or nearby restaurants.

However, at midday, many foreigners, just like the Chinese, casually ate a few bites, and you could see foreigners strolling around outside the exhibition hall with local delicacies everywhere!

Lei Dongbao stood outside the square, looking at the bustling crowd. Feeling somewhat annoyed, he waved his hand, telling them to go eat first and not to worry about him. He then followed the flow of people outside.

As he walked out of the exhibition hall and onto the opposite side of the road, he suddenly saw two rows of temporary sheds ahead. Upon closer inspection, he found they were selling boxed lunches and various kinds of braised eggs.

Lei Dongbao then realized he was a little hungry and went to order a boxed meal. Suddenly, he noticed an electric wire hanging on the wall next to him, paused for a moment, and then asked the owner if there was still electricity in the room.

The boss spoke with a thick Cantonese accent, revealing a set of yellow teeth, and said with a smile.