Chapter 166: Bidding

Bai Zimu had followed Dong Yuxiu and the Lei family since childhood. Just from what he had seen and heard, he had already stepped one foot inside the door of business. It was just that he usually didn’t have any competitive mindset, nor anyone he absolutely had to compete with. Now that he had an opponent, after analyzing it seriously, he quickly made arrangements.

He first let Sun Xiaojiu completely take over the fish pond and the purchase of agricultural goods, transferring Fang Qi out to follow him to the city to prepare for the new shop.

Upon receiving the notice, Fang Qi packed his luggage without a second word and followed him.

Baichuan Supermarket had been purchasing agricultural and sideline products from the surrounding area for the past few years. Living conditions in the nearby villages had improved quite a bit along with it. In Lei Family Village alone, quite a few family workshops had opened, obtaining business licenses and health permits.

The shops were small, but the word-of-mouth for their products was not bad. Also, because the production volume was small, they could better guarantee pure manual production, no additives, and green, healthy food. Like the village’s previous tofu workshop, nowadays besides selling tofu and soy milk daily, it also produced some convenient and durable soy products. The most famous was their home-produced yuba (tofu skin), which was both fragrant and chewy.

There were quite a few others similar to the tofu workshop nearby, all having long-term supply partnerships with Baichuan Supermarket.

Bai Zimu leaving Sun Xiaojiu in the countryside was firstly because he was a local, having advantages others didn’t when making contacts. Secondly, because the warehouses on the storage side were all run by Sun Xiaojiu. With these few matters stacked together, handing them to him was also reassuring.

Before leaving, Bai Zimu specifically went to find Sun Xiaojiu and instructed him with a few words:

“Xiaojiu, these matters handed to you seem like trivial chores, but they are very important and can be of great help at crucial times. Remember this, if anything happens, call me directly. Besides what I’ve instructed, if my brother tells you to dispatch goods, you must also tell me in advance, hear me?”

Sun Xiaojiu was stunned for a moment, somewhat hesitant:

“Not even the boss…?”

Lei Dongchuan beside him urged:

“Listen to him!”

Sun Xiaojiu nodded repeatedly:

“Ah, I’ll remember it!”

Bai Zimu waited for the car to arrive and left with Fang Qi.

Fang Qi still wore a set of washed and clean, semi-old clothes, but had changed the glasses on the bridge of his nose. Aside from that, he only carried a small bag with him and got in the car.

Sun Xiaojiu sent them off, didn’t delay much, and went to the fish pond first.

He couldn’t figure out what Bai Zimu was thinking, and didn’t make things difficult for himself. He simply stopped thinking about it and worked earnestly. Anyway, listening to what the bosses said definitely couldn’t be wrong!

Sun Xiaojiu ran between the fish pond and the warehouse, working very hard.

A few people who usually had a good relationship with him instead felt slightly indignant for him, feeling he had been wronged:

“Ninth Brother, why didn’t the boss take you to the city? Old Fang got all the good things, looking decent and respectable in the city. How come all these chores fell on you? No matter how much you do, the merit can’t be seen…”

Sun Xiaojiu glared:

“Bullshit, were all the report summaries I wrote every week written in vain? The boss saw them, it’s just you who can’t see!”

The other party muttered a sentence in a low voice.

Sun Xiaojiu had sharp ears. Hearing it, he waved his hand and said:

“What do you guys know? This is the boss valuing me!”

“Ah?”

“Don’t understand, right?”

Sun Xiaojiu revealed a proud expression, and asked them, “Wasn’t Old Fang the first among us to be assigned a car, the first to follow the boss to run supermarket business?”

“Yeah.”

“Isn’t Old Fang the first to follow the boss to the city to open a hypermarket this time?”

“Yeah.”

“Then think again, what did he do in the very beginning?”

Sun Xiaojiu pointed at the large expanse of fish pond in front of him, and gave a suggestive cough.

Those few people looked at each other in dismay. After a moment, they probed:

“This… raising fish?”

“Exactly, it’s raising fish!”

Sun Xiaojiu said excitedly, “Think about it, this fish pond was set up single-handedly by the boss. What’s this called? This is called a treasured land of Feng Shui! When Old Fang first came, it was because he basked in the glory of knowing how to raise fish. I won’t hide it from you either, I haven’t slacked on secretly learning from Old Fang these past few years, I’ve written several notebooks of notes! I finally caught the opportunity. Old Fang had good luck and raised fish first. You guys just watch, after I raise fish for a while, I’ll immediately be able to ‘carp leaping over the dragon gate’ just like Old Fang!”

Sun Xiaojiu spoke with resounding and forceful words. The surrounding boys were shaken there, all believing it.

It seems, it really made quite a bit of sense.

Wasn’t what their boss did in the very beginning exactly raising fish?

When the few people turned to look at the fish pond, a trace of fiery passion gradually revealed in their eyes. What’s so enviable about Old Fang, this piece of fish pond is the real treasure!

A rumor slowly began to circulate internally among the Lei Family Village boys. [Read on RanaTranslations🌸] Everyone firmly believed that if they wanted to get promoted, they had to go raise fish first.

For a time, not only was Sun Xiaojiu extremely enthusiastic about the fish pond, but many boys from Lei Family Village would also stroll around the fish pond whenever they had nothing to do, helping out and doing chores. Just to be assigned a bit of work related to the fish pond, they would all roll up their sleeves and work exceptionally hard.

Dongchang small city.

The city held a meeting, extending an olive branch for the development of a commercial street in the new district.

The society planned by the city, the new district, was a fertile land. Not to mention anything else around it, just the work unit dormitory buildings relocated there numbered over a hundred. If a commercial street were to open like this, the shops would absolutely be prime retail space. To open a supermarket here, one must definitely occupy a good location, which would surely guarantee a booming start.

Mother Lei was a Dongchang local and naturally knew where the best location was. As soon as she arrived, she selected the central position of the West Street.

And that Boss He of He Jiale Hypermarket, relying on his seasoned business acumen from years of experience, also picked the exact same location.

The city didn’t want to offend either side. On one side was the local enterprise they had supported and raised themselves, and on the other side was a businessman they had spent great effort to specifically attract through investment. In the end, they could only come up with a compromise: bidding. To avoid hurting harmony, bids could be made three times during the bidding process, all being blind bids where neither side knew exactly how much the other bid.

When Mother Lei went to bid, she brought Bai Zimu with her.

After the bidding ended, they fell behind He Jiale Hypermarket by a gap of 1.8 million yuan, and that prime location went to Boss He.

Walking out of the hall after the bidding, Mother Lei held Bai Zimu’s hand, still comforting him:

“Zimu, it’s fine, don’t take it to heart. Although you wrote that number, I was the one who raised the placard! In my heart, I also agreed with the amount you said. Exceeding it by too much would be too much of a waste of money, we aren’t suckers after all…”

Just as they were speaking, they ran into Boss He head-on.

Boss He had a short and chubby figure, like a Maitreya Buddha. Usually, he was polite to everyone he met, but today his expression was truly poor, especially upon seeing the boss of Baichuan Supermarket, the skin on his face twitched twice, forcefully squeezing out a smile:

“Boss Fang, I truly didn’t expect it, you didn’t raise the placard the last time?”

Mother Lei said:

“Hey, thought we definitely couldn’t compete, so gave up.”

Boss He: “…”

“Congratulations to Boss He on getting that building. What you spent is all small money; Boss He must be wealthy and imposing, not even putting it in your eyes. We are different, small families with small businesses, spending a dime more hurts the flesh.”

Boss He’s flesh also hurt. Spending an extra 1.8 million for nothing truly made his heart ache, but he could only force a smile and exchange a few pleasantries with her.

When the two groups walked out of the door together, just as they were preparing to take their cars, Boss He’s complexion had already returned to normal, and he asked politely:

“Boss Fang, want to have a meal together to discuss the future sourcing arrangements?”

Before Mother Lei could speak, she saw a tall and sturdy boy walk over, wearing a white T-shirt and a pair of jeans, very casual. Standing beside her, he called out “Mom”. She turned her head to look, smiled and waved:

“Dongchuan, come, come over and meet him. This is your Uncle He.”

Lei Dongchuan went over and greeted him.

After shaking hands with him, Boss He said amiably:

“Just in time, let’s go eat together?”

Lei Dongchuan shook hands with him and said:

“Uncle He, truly unfortunate, there’s something to attend to at the shop. Next time, next time honor us with your presence and let me treat you to a meal at Quanfu Restaurant, there’s still a lot we have to learn from you.”

Lei Dongchuan’s hand strength was great. Boss He felt as if he had been clamped by a vise, holding on forcefully without losing his composure, and nodded:

“That’s truly a pity. Next time then.”

“Since we are all in the same industry, we should gather more often normally, and reveal any inside information.”

“What are you saying, I am an outsider, I don’t know much here.”

……

Lei Dongchuan spoke a few more sentences before letting go. [Read on RanaTranslations🌸] When he let go, there were finger marks left on the back of Boss He’s hand.

After Boss He left and got into his own car, he shook his hand, still feeling a bit of lingering pain.

The driver in the car saw his poor expression and didn’t dare ask more. Only when the secretary hurried over was the deadlock broken:

“Boss, the funds have been handed over…”

It would have been better not to say this. Bringing it up made Boss He’s heart start aching again. That 1.8 million was handed over for nothing. If he knew the other party would pull this move, he definitely wouldn’t have bet so big. He waved his hand and said impatiently:

“Alright. The other matters I told you to investigate, have you investigated them clearly?”

The secretary said:

“Also found out some things. The boss of Baichuan Supermarket is Fang Jin, and there’s no one behind her. She’s a small enterprise built up bit by bit from the countryside. Seeing they have many shops, but actually most are in townships. The largest one is around 1000 square meters, the rest are all small storefronts of 70 or 80 square meters.”

Boss He sneered:

“No wonder, so it’s because she doesn’t have money on hand. I knew it, she still thinks opening a small supermarket here is like their countryside costing eighty or a hundred thousand? Humph, wait and see, I want to see how much they can fork out daring to compete on the same stage with me in the city.”

He paused for a moment, and asked again, “Have you found out about those small household appliances, where did they get them?”

The secretary said:

“Heard they were transported from Qindao City, goods from Gemini Electrical Appliance Factory. Asked the people over there and verified it.”

Boss He:

“Has our purchase order for Gemini Electrical Appliance Factory been replied to?”

The secretary: “This…”

Boss He: “Tell me exactly what they said.”

The secretary said carefully:

“They said it’s exclusive supply. For other businesses in Dongchang, even if they take goods, they have to wait until after Baichuan, and the models and prices will also be different.”

Once these words came out, it clearly indicated these were things they couldn’t get.

Boss He was silent for a moment, and sighed:

“This Baichuan still has some confidence. Must have put in effort in Qindao City. Forget it, if we don’t have this, there are others. Has that batch of Changhong color TVs transported from Xichuan arrived yet?”

The secretary flipped through the booklet and said:

“According to original expectations, they can arrive in May.”

Boss He nodded and instructed:

“Catching the May Day holiday, release a batch to do an opening promotion.”

“Yes.”