Chapter 139: The Power of Connections (Part II)

Zhang Wenhao’s parents never mentioned to anyone the two million yuan reward the police gave their son for capturing Li Chunyang. After all, two million was not a small sum; if it became common knowledge, people would inevitably grow jealous. More importantly, they did not want anyone else to know about the connection between Zhang Wenhao and Li Chunyang’s arrest. It was a shocking event, and furthermore, who knew if Li Chunyang had accomplices? If they learned the truth, they might come seeking revenge against Zhang Wenhao.

In the eyes of his aunt, Song Huali, her elder sister Song Huafang was a very dutiful and honest woman. Although the living conditions of her sister and brother-in-law weren't exactly poor, they were certainly not well-off either. Both worked at a mold factory, with a combined monthly income of just over five thousand yuan. Her sister had always been content, so it came as a huge surprise when she suddenly opted for a leave of absence to venture into business.

Hearing that it was her promising nephew who had started the business in partnership with someone else, Song Huali was even more astonished. She praised Zhang Wenhao repeatedly for being capable and sharp, noting that he had only finished his college entrance exams a few days prior and was already organizing a business. No one in the Song family had ever been in business before; her nephew had become the first.

What Song Huali found most incredible was that her nephew had promised her a base salary of at least thirty-six hundred yuan a month before the business had even opened. To her, this was a truly massive sum.

Song Huali’s own life was no better than her sister’s. She had bad luck; the husband she married was not only incompetent but also spineless, earning less than two thousand yuan a month. This was even worse than her previous income at the winery. During the years when the winery was profitable, her monthly income had exceeded two thousand yuan, but over the past year, as the winery was squeezed out by large, incoming brands, her salary had dropped to eleven hundred yuan, making life for her family of three quite strained.

The new job Zhang Wenhao offered provided a timely solution to her urgent needs, leaving her both excited and grateful, though she remained worried about whether Zhang Wenhao’s business partner could accept such a high salary for her.

Zhang Wenhao’s words dispelled her doubts. He said, "Aunt, you can rest assured and work here. The current salary is the minimum; it will only increase in the future, never decrease."

Song Huali could not fathom how Zhang Wenhao had such confidence. In the Zhongxin Electronics City alone, an entire floor was occupied by vendors selling office supplies and consumables, not to mention the scattered merchants outside. This kind of business was no different from running a cigarette and liquor shop—the competition was too fierce.

However, on her first day of work, she was truly stunned by the scene before her.

It was Zhang Wenhao’s first day of business. Since that dinner, many people had called him, saying they wanted to come in person to discuss supplying goods, and Zhang Wenhao had scheduled them all for this afternoon. Upon opening, the shop was already piled high with various goods. Zhang Wenhao spent the morning with his mother and aunt familiarizing them with the models and prices of the items. His aunt had worked as a warehouse manager at the winery, so she was intimately familiar with the processes of stocktaking, receiving, and shipping, and she quickly got the hang of it, clutching the inventory list to deepen her familiarity with the stock.

Zhang Wenhao, meanwhile, sat at the computer teaching his mother how to use software to manage the accounts. His mother had a basic foundation in computers, and the software was simple and intuitive, so she quickly grasped the details.

To facilitate deliveries, Zhang Wenhao had contacted several van drivers outside the electronics city before opening and hired three experienced laborers. These men had previously worked for various merchants in the electronics city; they were honest, diligent, and hardworking. Zhang Wenhao offered them a generous salary of twenty-five hundred yuan, so the three became his exclusive delivery staff.

At noon, Zhang Wenhao, his mother, and his aunt had lunch at a restaurant. At one o’clock, the shop officially opened for business.

The neighboring shops looked down on Zhang Wenhao’s new store. In their eyes, Zhang Wenhao was an amateur—or rather, a "greenhorn." They mocked him, scoffing at how he had opened such a large storefront with so much stock and five employees right from the start. They calculated that his monthly overhead would be at least fifteen thousand yuan. How many orders would he need to cover that cost?

For those small, fledgling shops, profit margins were nowhere near thirty percent. The most crucial factor was kickbacks, which were the root of securing clients and orders. Sometimes, the kickbacks received by procurement officers were higher than the shop’s actual profit. Consequently, to cover a monthly cost of fifteen thousand, one would need a monthly turnover of nearly a hundred thousand just to break even.

Every merchant here had developed through a specific pattern: starting with a stall rather than a storefront to keep initial costs as low as possible, then desperately chasing clients. Only after building a stable client base and reaching a certain scale of revenue would they consider upgrading to a storefront. Zhang Wenhao’s decision to open so grandly seemed like a recipe for disaster.

Song Huafang couldn't help but feel worried. She had calculated the costs for her son: her own salary of over five thousand, her sister’s over three thousand, the seventy-five hundred for the three deliverymen, plus rent, electricity, and management fees—the monthly overhead exceeded twenty thousand. The sum was staggering, and she was not optimistic about their profitability.

As soon as they opened, Song Huafang pulled Zhang Wenhao aside and whispered, "Wenhao, with my salary so high, won't your friend be unhappy? Since we might not make money right away, maybe I should forgo my salary for now. After all, our family owns forty percent of this shop."

Zhang Wenhao had previously lied to his mother, claiming that while the registered capital was five hundred thousand, the actual cost was only one hundred and fifty thousand, and their family had contributed fifty thousand for a forty-percent stake, with the rest considered "resource equity." Seeing her lack of optimism, he smiled and comforted her, "Mom, don't you worry. After two o'clock, you'll understand."

Song Huafang didn't know why she had to wait until two o'clock. She had no idea that Zhang Wenhao had already arranged for the procurement officers who had been calling him to come at that time. When two o'clock arrived, Song Huafang saw the first customer walk straight toward their shop.

A man of about thirty-seven or thirty-eight, dressed in a formal suit, walked in. Seeing Zhang Wenhao, he asked politely, "Excuse me, are you Manager Zhang Wenhao?"

Zhang Wenhao nodded and asked, "And you are?"

The man hurriedly and enthusiastically reached out to shake Zhang Wenhao’s hand, smiling, "I’m Little Chen from the Hengjian Group. We spoke on the phone yesterday. I wonder if you remember?"

Zhang Wenhao certainly remembered. Hengjian Group was the company of Yu Hongyu, one of the ten top executives, and was one of the leading real estate development groups in Jiangcheng.

Zhang Wenhao replied politely, "Manager Chen, how could I forget? You are very punctual."

Manager Chen smiled and said, "Director Yu gave orders that we must not show any negligence." As he spoke, he pulled a list from his briefcase and handed it over. "Manager Zhang, please take a look at this list. Everything we need is here."

Zhang Wenhao took the list and was startled.

On this list, they wanted two hundred boxes of A4 paper alone—five packs per box, totaling a thousand packs. The cost of the A4 paper alone was over sixteen thousand yuan. They also wanted fifty HP black-and-white toner cartridges at nearly five hundred yuan each, amounting to twenty-five thousand yuan. With other miscellaneous office supplies, the total exceeded sixty thousand.

Zhang Wenhao couldn't help but ask, "Manager Chen, do you really need fifty toner cartridges?"

Manager Chen laughed loudly, "With so many departments in the group, almost every one has a printer, as do the project departments and sales offices below us. The usage is massive. Furthermore, in our industry, internal documents and directives from above must be communicated to every department, project office, and sales center. Printing various contract terms consumes much more than in an average company."

Zhang Wenhao nodded. "That’s settled. I’ll arrange for someone to deliver the goods as soon as possible today."

"No rush, no rush," Manager Chen said with a smile. "We still have some surplus. You can arrange it according to your schedule; any time is fine."

Zhang Wenhao laughed, "Your company is my first client, so I certainly won't be negligent with the service. Please rest assured, I will arrange it immediately."

Manager Chen took a corporate check from his bag and handed it to Zhang Wenhao, saying, "This is the payment, based on the price list you provided earlier. It should be correct, but you might want to double-check."

Zhang Wenhao hadn't expected the client to bring payment while ordering. He had been prepared to use the funds he’d cleared from Melody to cover any cash flow shortages, but with this "pay before delivery" model, there were no cash flow issues at all.

It was true that things were easier when you had connections. Zhang Wenhao checked the prices on the list against the amount on the check; they matched. He thanked the man, saying, "The amount is correct. Thank you for your trouble. When I send the goods over, I’ll have someone bring the invoice."

Manager Chen lowered his voice. "Director Yu said there's no need for an invoice. You can just write a receipt and stamp it with the company seal. That way, you can avoid some taxes."

Zhang Wenhao nodded. Although he didn't intend to do that, there was no need to be self-righteous about it; he would just have someone take the invoice over when the time came.

Manager Chen didn't ask for any receipt or voucher. Director Yu had instructed him to keep everything simple and fast, so he was happy to be done with it. After finishing, he said goodbye to Zhang Wenhao and left.

As soon as Manager Chen left, Song Huafang and Song Huali, who had been watching in stunned silence, crowded around. "Wenhao, we’ve only just opened, and there’s already business?"

Zhang Wenhao nodded and smiled, "Not only is there business, but they even paid in advance." He handed the list to his mother. "You and Aunt can look at this. The total amount for this order is over sixty-seven thousand yuan."

The two sisters looked at the order list, both shocked and delighted. A sixty-seven thousand yuan order, and they had paid in advance! Calculating it, they could clear a net profit of twenty thousand yuan on this single order.

"My goodness," Song Huali said, looking at Zhang Wenhao in disbelief. "Wenhao, in just this short time, you’ve already earned back the monthly overhead?"

Zhang Wenhao nodded, smiling, "Most of it, yes. After all, we still have to pay taxes."

Song Huafang sighed, "We’re selling consumables, which means once they use these up, they’ll need more and will come back."

Zhang Wenhao smiled, "Exactly. That’s the unique advantage of consumables compared to other goods: the consistency."

As the three were chatting, another person arrived.

This person was a procurement supervisor from one of the other ten companies who had spoken to Zhang Wenhao on the phone. Just like Manager Chen, he brought an order list and a check. Having finished, he left looking as relaxed as if he had just completed a simple task.

This order was slightly smaller than the previous one, totaling over fifty-two thousand yuan.

The surrounding shop owners were dumbfounded. They gathered together, whispering, "What is the background of this shop? They just opened and already have customers?"

"Hmph," one said dismissively, "Just a visitor; it doesn't mean they actually made a deal."

Another chimed in, "I’m right across from that shop. I just saw them looking at an order list and what looked like a check."

"No way?" the first man frowned. "I’d believe they got an order list, but to get a check before delivering the goods? Who does business like that?"

Just as they were whispering, a third person arrived!

A fifty-six thousand yuan order was finalized. Before Zhang Wenhao even had time to drink a glass of water, another person arrived!

Throughout the afternoon, all eleven companies and enterprises that had made appointments with Zhang Wenhao sent their procurement officers to submit orders and checks. Aside from the ten companies belonging to the executives, there was also Zhang Zhi’s Hanlin Ecological Park.

The total value of these eleven orders reached five hundred and eighty thousand yuan.

But that wasn't all.

Staff from other companies that hadn't made appointments—companies Zhang Wenhao hadn't even heard of—also came one after another. They followed the same routine, bringing order lists and corporate checks made out to Zhang Wenhao’s company. He had almost no rest the entire afternoon.

By five o'clock in the afternoon, with only half an hour left before the electronics city closed, Zhang Wenhao had received a total order value of seven hundred and ten thousand yuan.

A daily sales volume of seven hundred and ten thousand—this was a figure unheard of in the entire consumable section of the Zhongxin Electronics City! Not even a single store could reach this amount in a month, yet Zhang Wenhao had achieved it in just one afternoon!