All the heavens begin with the love in the courtyard.

That awkward scene turned out to be a false alarm, and from that day on, the miracle of Jiangcheng Electrical Appliances City was officially born!

Lei Dongbao got up early that morning. Although he hadn't slept well the night before, he was still full of energy. All his expectations and the outcome were about to be revealed.

He sat in his office, quietly looking at the phone on his desk. It didn't ring at 8:30, it didn't ring at 9:00, and it didn't ring at 9:30.

His heart sank to the bottom, and he began to make wild guesses. They were supposed to call him in half an hour, but two hours had passed and not a single one of the four appliance stores had called.

Is it because business is so bad that they're afraid of being scolded?

Lei Dongbao raised his hand, looked at his watch, and saw it was 9:59. A strange sense of irritation welled up inside him!

"Never mind, I'll just call and ask myself!"

Just as he raised his right hand, the phone on his desk suddenly rang. Lei Dongbao was startled and quickly picked up the phone, putting it to his ear!

A burst of noise reached his ears, and Lei Dongbao frowned slightly. Then, an excited voice came from inside.

"Hey, hey! Brother Lei, can you hear me?"

Looking for Jianxiang's voice!

Lei Dongbao quickly replied.

"It's me, Da Xun. How are you now?"

Xun Jianxiang's voice was somewhat excited; the other end of the line was noisy, and he shouted loudly on the other end of the phone.

"Selling extremely well, extremely well! It's so popular! Everyone's grabbing it, hahaha, Brother Lei, this is the first time I've ever seen so many people buying appliances. You can't believe it, it's like a frenzy! Someone bought five electric fans at once! Oh, and two TVs were already won in the morning's lucky draw!"

Just then, another cheer came from the receiver, and Xun Jianxiang shouted several notes higher on the phone.

"Brother Lei, someone just won another TV set. I have to go now. Oh, Brother Lei, please ship the floor fan over as soon as possible. The warehouse here is almost full. I'll have someone report on the other items. I have to go help now. I'll call you back later to report!"

From beginning to end, Lei Dongbao didn't have a chance to ask a single question after the opening remarks, but Xun Jianxiang's excitement made it unnecessary to ask!

Lei Dongbao felt an indescribable sense of pleasure and excitement in his heart at this moment!

I succeeded!

It really worked!

Three television sets had already been taken away in just two hours, and Lei Dongbao was naturally excited!

Lei Dongbao absolutely did not rig the lottery; all the prizes were drawn by real customers. He had no reason to take advantage of the situation. However, he did tamper with the lottery tickets!

For example, how "evenly" are the winning tickets for twenty television sets distributed among twenty thousand tickets?

Lei Dongbao personally distributed the winning TV set lottery tickets to each prize box. Each lottery box contained one thousand tickets, giving a one in a thousand chance of winning.

The third TV set has already been won, which means that the Hangzhou store has used at least two thousand lottery tickets. Since the minimum purchase amount is 39 yuan, the sales volume in Hangzhou in the past two hours is already around 100,000 yuan!

Two hours, 100,000 units sold. In later generations, this would not be anything special, but in 1983, it was a miracle, a legend!

Yes, a legend!

He was already planning in his mind which cities to open more stores in. By the end of this year, he would open at least four more stores in Anyun Province and Zhijiang Province. Time was of the essence!

Lei Dongbao's excitement hadn't subsided when the phone on his desk rang again!

Lei Dongbao's smile finally came out completely!

The future is in our hands!

Chapter 90: 1983, a year of great harvest!

From the beginning of the novel "Love Fills the Courtyard", Chapter 90: 1983, a year of great harvest! From Hangzhou to Jinzhou, starting at ten o'clock, the phone kept ringing, almost all of them bringing good news and urging for the goods to be shipped.

Many items, especially the Thunder electric fan, are almost out of stock in several stores. Lei Dongbao naturally has to get everyone mobilized to stabilize the supply.

Almost every shop was being snapped up, and after 3 p.m., the flow of people peaked again.

Many people, hoping to enter the lucky draw, would buy their cars in the morning and then quickly organize groups of relatives and friends to come and buy in the afternoon, sometimes buying ten or eight cars at a time.

The controversy surrounding the Thunder Fan from last year has gradually faded away. Moreover, after the controversy subsided, people realized that the electric fans they had used for two or three years were actually not faulty.

With Jiangcheng Electrical Appliances City's three-year quality guarantee, incredibly low prices, and a lucky draw at the end, the enthusiasm of people in the four cities was completely ignited!

Don't underestimate the power of word-of-mouth in this era. In later generations, neighbors rarely talk to each other, but in this era, there are no secrets about who lives next door!

The metal table fan I bought for 39 yuan felt incredibly refreshing in the early summer. When the neighbors saw that the person across the street had bought a new electric fan, they would always praise it. But when they found out that it only cost 39 yuan, and that Old Wang next door had also bought a 39-yuan electric fan and won an imported tape recorder worth several hundred yuan in a raffle, the neighbor was so envious that he couldn't wait to run over and buy one!

The most crucial element was those one hundred television sets, which deeply excited the general public. If someone in a certain neighborhood won a television set...

The next day, all the elderly people in the neighborhood were drawn to the electronics store. With so many people and such a high winning rate, seeing customers winning electric fans every now and then made them feel like they were being bitten by ants if they didn't buy one themselves. It was so agonizing!

The lottery event held by Jiangcheng Electronics City was something that had been done to death in later generations, but in this era, it was practically a god-like phenomenon.

The event was incredibly successful; the crowds didn't gradually disperse until after 8 p.m. the entire day.

The eighteen Arhats and their disciples worked tirelessly for twelve hours before finally closing the gates at 9 p.m.

Because they were so tired, many people were exhausted and hungry, and could fall asleep leaning against a shelf. The newly appointed accountant and cashier would obviously have to work overtime tonight.

Lei Dongbao received the sales statistics for the first day very early the next morning!

Jinzhou's total sales for the day amounted to 573,439 yuan!

Wucheng's total sales for the day amounted to 712,200 yuan!

Jinling's total sales for the day amounted to 665,124 yuan!

Hangzhou's total sales for the day reached 551,933 yuan!

The total sales amount in the four cities was more than 2.5 million yuan. Although this number is not very appealing, it was indeed an astronomical figure in those days. That very night, several local banks provided door-to-door service and quickly deposited the money into the banks!

Lei Dongbao was not surprised by the success of Jiangcheng Electrical Appliances City, but he did not expect it to be this successful.

From the reform and opening up to the beginning of the new century, in these two decades, although the government said that some people should get rich first, it only provided a method of "crossing the river by feeling the stones," which meant that many Chinese people could only create wealth in their own way.

The business principles inherent in the Chinese people quickly became popular in the 1980s and 90s. Many businessmen who experienced the 1980s and 90s had only one word to describe that era.

"wild!"

Yes, they're all self-taught and there's no law regulating them. They make money in front of others, while the law chases after them behind. When they realize that their business is now regulated by law, the smart ones quickly clean up their act, while the unsmart ones quickly become dust in history!

Take false advertising, for example. This practice, which has long been prohibited by law, was still used by many successful companies in the 1980s and 90s.

The Chinese people's tendency to boast seems to have become ingrained. When this "fine" tradition is brought into the business world, everyone sees who can boast more convincingly, more outrageously, and more people will believe it. Many entrepreneurs, by boasting, quickly build up their net worth of millions or even hundreds of millions. They even believe the boasts they've made!

The next day, Lei Dongbao announced that during the ten-day promotional event, all employees would receive a subsidy of five yuan per day. This subsidy would not be included in wages or bonuses, and each employee would receive an extra fifty yuan this month. Not only would the staff of the electronics factory receive the subsidy, but other employees working at the electronics factory would also receive the subsidy.

Lei Dongbao was neither a bloodsucking capitalist nor a great philanthropist. This kind of reward was enough for workers of this era. When running a business, the boss cannot be too willful. With just a few words from him, he could increase the factory's costs by tens of thousands of yuan.

However, the reward of tens of thousands of yuan was clearly worthwhile, as it strengthened everyone's willpower once again. High-intensity work without corresponding rewards can easily lead to resentment among employees.

As the event became a huge success, all one hundred television sets were quickly snapped up. Unlike later merchants who would increase the number of prize tickets in the final days to dilute the odds of winning, Lei Dongbao did not do the same.

Soon, Wu Cheng announced that all thirty television sets allocated to him had been sold on the fifth day, meaning that Lei Dongbao's ten-day sales target was completed in just five days.

On the sixth day, all the television sets were taken from Nanjing. On the seventh day, television sets were taken from Hangzhou and Jinzhou one after another.

After all one hundred television sets were sold out, the foot traffic did indeed begin to decrease slightly, which is normal. In any event, the foot traffic is highest in the early stages. However, even though the television sets were gone, Jiangcheng Electrical Appliance Factory in these four cities had completely made a name for itself.

After the ten-day event ended, foot traffic returned to normal. The store's daily sales increased from hundreds of thousands to 30,000 to 50,000. Even with this sales volume, the profit is still very considerable. Compared to other department stores, Jiangcheng Electrical Appliance City has completely opened up the market in the four cities.

During the ten-day event, the four appliance stores brought Lei Dongbao over 16.3 million yuan in sales. After deducting the funds required for the event, the gross profit was around 3.3 million yuan.

In Lei Dongbao's view, the profit margin was actually quite low. The reason for such a low profit was that tens of thousands of special-priced table fans priced at 39 yuan were launched in the early stage, and there was basically no profit in this part. People in this era were quite frugal.

The 200,000 second-hand electric fans that were brought back from Jinzhou No. 2 Machinery Factory in the early stage were almost sold out in just ten days.

Lei Dongbao estimates that the remaining 300,000 electric fans will bring him more than 5 million yuan in profit this year. With just 500,000 electric fans, he can earn his first real pot of gold.

With money in hand, many things could be restarted. The original factory was expanded, and he had to build a standard factory. Workers also needed to be retrained, and all kinds of machinery and equipment needed to be purchased again, all of which were expenses.

Lei Dongbao also stepped up the recruitment of new employees, including management and technical talents, and began to inspect and select sites in some prefecture-level cities in An Van and Tri Giang provinces.

Lei Dongbao's business is booming, and his relationship with the Jiangcheng government is also in a honeymoon phase. In May alone, he earned millions in taxes and profits, which made the Jiangcheng government extremely happy.

Jiangcheng is not like Jinzhou; it is just a poor county-level city. They have to rely on Lei Dongbao, which is why the two sides can get along so well. However, no one can guarantee the people's hearts, and Lei Dongbao can only do his best to be on the safe side!

In the 1980s and 1990s, many state-owned and collective enterprises were transformed into private enterprises. In fact, there were no explicit legal provisions governing this process. Whether the reform and transformation could be successful depended entirely on the local administrators. Many of these events have become a historical murky mess.

Of course, if that day ever comes, Lei Dongbao can quickly transfer all his wealth, talent, and technology out. After all, he was just borrowing a shell. Even if someone else takes all the credit in the future, he can quickly start over. Lei Dongbao has had enough of the lessons learned from the past. Who told him to come from a poor background? Everything he has today is what he earned through his own hard work and what he deserves.

Lei Dongbao also put forward some plans and suggestions for Jiangcheng, such as building a well-connected transportation network. Taking advantage of its geographical location, it is possible to go to other cities and bring some long-distance and short-distance passenger routes through Jiangcheng. Lei Dongbao's suggestions greatly shocked the Jiangcheng leadership team, and the leaders of Jiangcheng realized the advantageous position of Jiangcheng for the first time!

By the end of July, Lei Dongbao had completely paid off the debt owed to Jinzhou Second Machinery Factory and had gradually recovered 464,000 second-hand Thunder electric fans. This number was less than Lei Dongbao had imagined, but it was still enough. These electric fans brought Jiangcheng Electrical Appliance City nearly 10 million yuan in gross profit and more than 6 million yuan in net profit, which completely solved Lei Dongbao's funding problem.

At the end of August, the fifth Jiangcheng Electrical Appliances Mall opened. In September, the sixth and seventh electrical appliance malls opened. On October 1st, the eighth electrical appliance mall opened. At this moment, Jiangcheng Electrical Appliances Mall officially completed its goal of opening eight stores this year!

In summer, the appliance store mainly sells fans, but in winter, the main products sold at Jiangcheng Appliance Store are heated tables, electric ovens, electric fire buckets, foot warmers, and other heating equipment.

Believe it or not, the invention of the heated table was actually invented by the Lei family. However, their Leiting Electric Appliance Factory neither applied for a patent nor had sufficient production capacity, so it was quickly copied by other factories. By October of this year, there were at least thirty similar manufacturers in Anyun Province, most of which were township enterprises.

Lei Dongbao discovered that this thing was actually quite good. After all, winter is the off-season for electronics stores, and this kind of product could solve the immediate problem. Most importantly, this thing sold quite well.

In those days, there were only a handful of household appliances. Compared to the wage levels of that era, appliance stores were truly high-end consumption. Even when buying light bulbs, many families had to think for a while about whether to buy a five-watt or a ten-watt bulb.

It's normal for products like table warmers, which don't require much technology, to be counterfeited; that's just how the business environment is in China.

With the funds secured, Lei Dongbao officially established a research and development department. At present, Jiangcheng Electric Appliances is still very weak, and it cannot develop some high-tech appliances. It can only develop some simple appliances, such as water heaters, rice cookers, electric kettles, etc.

Lei Dongbao had already planned for the future of Jiangcheng Electrical Appliance City. For some household appliances that did not have much technology, they would take the OEM route in the future. These appliances would be produced by contract manufacturers, and then labeled with the Jiangcheng Electrical Appliance brand before being sold on the market.

For some technologically advanced electrical appliances, he will set up a special department to apply for patents. His goal is to transform Jiangcheng Electric Appliances into a technology-driven company in the future, or at least to have patented technologies that are ahead of their time.

Of course, it's too early to talk about these things now. With the current funds, the technical team we've established can only be used to make money by borrowing resources. For example, we can buy some electrical appliances from abroad, disassemble and imitate them, and then conduct research and development based on them. As the saying goes, everything is difficult at the beginning!

Lei Dongbao is also accumulating strength. In the next few years, he will invest more than 20% of the profits into the R&D department every year, so that Jiangcheng Electric's technology will be at least leading in China!

Lei Dongbao's Jiangcheng Electrical Appliance City is indeed booming. Even during the winter off-season, the total monthly sales of the eight electrical appliance stores exceed one million.

The equipment and personnel of Jiangcheng Electrical Factory were gradually being improved, and the company became more and more standardized. For a whole year, Lei Dongbao was busy making changes everywhere. By the end of 1983, Lei Dongbao asked all departments to submit their annual reports. Seeing those achievements, he felt somewhat gratified!

In the past few months, Lei Dongbao has been trying his best to improve the various departments of the company. If Jiangcheng Electric Appliances wants to go further, Lei Dongbao must make Jiangcheng Electric Appliances gradually become more standardized. He is the head of this company, but he cannot have everything come to him. All departments should have clear division of labor!

A modern enterprise needs all of these, including R&D, manufacturing, production, marketing, logistics, supply chain, quality, human resources, operations, finance, and management. Lei Dongbao is working hard to improve these departments and aims to complete their initial form within the year!

In the past few months, Jiangcheng Electric Appliances has recruited more than 500 new employees. Combined with the original 800-plus employees, the number of employees at Jiangcheng Electric Appliances Factory has now exceeded 1,300. Of course, most of these are disabled and elderly employees from the original Jiangcheng Hardware Factory. Lei Dongbao is trying his best to use new employees and eliminate those elderly employees.

Of course, Lei Dongbao wasn't so cold-blooded. He would still give them two choices: buy out their years of service or accept the arrangement and work in peripheral departments, such as cleaners, or some departments with low technical content, such as warehouse management, general labor, canteen, etc. There was no other way. If Jiangcheng Electric Appliances wanted to continue to develop, it had to be filled with fresh blood!

In this day and age, people are actually quite hardworking and resilient. Most workers cherish their jobs. There's no way around it; finding a job these days is really not easy!

Don't underestimate the talents of this era. Lei Dongbao's sales department has expanded again by more than 200 salespeople. After a few months of probation, many salespeople have grown rapidly. For example, there is a young man named Zhou Shi'an. He saw that Jiangcheng Electrical Appliance City did not have air conditioner business, so he personally wrote a plan for Lei Dongbao. After reading it, Lei Dongbao felt that this young man had a very unique idea.