"Wu Jun, are you up yet?"
「Early the next morning.」
Wu Jun groggily heard someone call his name. He jolted upright from his makeshift bed on the floor and rubbed his eyes.
"Wu Jun, it's Auntie Liu! Are you up? Everyone's waiting for you to open the door."
The calls came from outside the door again.
Wu Jun listened closely. It was noisy outside, like a bustling market. It sounded like a lot of people were waiting.
'What time is it?' The small supermarket had been open for over three years, and he'd never had this many customers so early in the morning.
'Could it be... the customers who tried the samples yesterday are here to buy the rice?' A jolt of joy went through Wu Jun. He scrambled up from the floor, threw on some clothes, slipped on his sandals, and rushed out of the room.
"I'm up, I'm up! Opening the door now," Wu Jun called back as he hurried to the entrance.
When he opened the door, Wu Jun was taken aback.
Outside the small supermarket were at least twenty elderly men and women.
"Wu Jun, hurry and weigh out some of that rice from yesterday's tasting for me. My son and daughter-in-law have to go to work soon. The water's already on the stove, just waiting for your rice!"
Auntie Liu from the 13th floor pushed her way into the small supermarket as she spoke, as if there was a big sale or some special promotion.
"Wu Jun, that rice from yesterday was 5 yuan a jin, right? Weigh me 20 jin to start." An older woman shoved a 100-yuan bill into Wu Jun's hand.
"I'll take 10 jin first."
"I'll take 20 jin."
A crowd of elderly people scrambled to shove money into Wu Jun's hands, afraid that if they were too slow, the rice would sell out and their early morning trip would be for nothing.
Many of them didn't even live in the supermarket's building. They were customers from other buildings who had heard about the free rice giveaway yesterday and had come over to get some.
Starting the day with such a bang made Wu Jun's heart bloom with joy.
'It seems the free rice giveaway yesterday really worked.'
"Everyone, don't rush! There's plenty, there's plenty! The stock is full. One at a time, please."
Wu Jun called out to the crowd, then turned back into the supermarket, pulled out the electronic scale, and began weighing rice for the customers who had paid.
He had just finished with that wave of customers and hadn't even had a chance to catch his breath when more arrived.
All morning, Wu Jun's hands grew numb from taking money, and his arms ached from weighing rice.
Some people who came in to buy small things like cigarettes, ham sausages, or bread were curious to see the small supermarket so explosively popular in the early morning. After asking and finding out the reason, they became intrigued by the rice everyone was talking about, and some joined the army of rice-buying customers.
He was busy until just after 8:00 AM, when the flow of customers finally started to slow down and return to normal.
By this time, the grandpas and grandmas had already seen their working family members off and had sent their grandchildren to school after breakfast.
They finally had a bit of time for themselves, heading out in twos and threes to the small park outside the residential complex to join the morning exercise groups.
The office workers had all gone to work, so naturally, fewer people came to shop.
After a hectic morning, Wu Jun hadn't even had a chance to eat breakfast.
Once the store was empty, he grabbed a ham sausage from the shelf and made do with that.
Between 8:00 and 11:00 AM, very few customers came to the supermarket.
Wu Jun sat back down in his boss's chair and began to tally his morning's earnings.
"Fifty, one hundred, two hundred fifty..."
The handful of colorful bills totaled 2,868 yuan.
He then checked his phone. The payment QR code on the counter had received a total of 3,021 yuan. All together, that was 5,889 yuan!
His income from one morning was more than the supermarket's usual profit for an entire month!
Of this nearly 6,000 yuan, less than 100 yuan came from selling other miscellaneous goods, an amount so small it could be ignored.
The rest was all from selling rice, which was basically pure profit.
'At a conservative estimate, breaking 10,000 yuan in a single day shouldn't be a problem.'
'If this keeps up for a few more days, Dad's surgery fees will be covered!' Wu Jun's heart pounded with excitement as he clutched the handful of cash.
Earning this much money in such a short time was an absolute first for him.
"Welcome." The sensor at the entrance chimed.
Hearing a customer enter, Wu Jun calmed his racing heart and stuffed the handful of colorful bills into the small drawer of the cash register.
He looked up and saw a woman who he couldn't help but look at twice. She was wearing a black skirt suit, had on delicate, light makeup, and carried herself with a refined air that made her age hard to guess.
"Excuse me, are you selling the rice that was in the small packages yesterday?" the woman asked Wu Jun, who was behind the counter.
"Yes, yes, we are. How much would you like? I can weigh it for you," Wu Jun said, getting up with a welcoming smile.
"Do you have any in whole bags? You know, like the big bags from brands like Fulinmen or Jinlongyu," the woman said. "I'd like to buy a bag to take to my parents so they can try it."
Hearing her words, Wu Jun's heart skipped a beat. He'd been so happy about making money that he'd forgotten some important things!
'My rice doesn't just lack packaging, it doesn't even have a name! It's a completely unlicensed product!'
"I'm very sorry, but this is a new variety of rice that hasn't been officially released for sale yet. The manufacturer just wanted people to have a taste and see the market's reaction. If you want whole bags, you'll probably have to wait a while," Wu Jun said, making up an excuse to placate her.
"Oh, I see. That's all right. I'm just buying it for my parents, not as a gift, so it doesn't have to be fancy. Packaging would be best, but it doesn't matter if there isn't any. Weigh out 50 jin for me, then." The woman took a red wallet from her shoulder bag, pulled out three 100-yuan bills, and handed them to Wu Jun.
'Thank goodness for understanding people.' Wu Jun took the money, gave her 50 yuan in change, and turned to weigh out 50 jin of rice for her.
Carrying the 50 jin of rice out, Wu Jun noted it was quite heavy. It would probably be a struggle for a woman to carry it.
Since there were no other customers in the supermarket at the moment, he helped her carry it out and loaded it into the trunk of a dark blue Smart car.
Don't be fooled by its small, toy-like appearance; a car like that cost well over 100,000 yuan. Shimen City had been developing rapidly in recent years, and parking spaces were getting scarcer, so a compact car like this was very convenient for parking.
"Thank you. When you get packaging, remember to contact me. My bank often gives gifts to clients. I tried your rice at a friend's house yesterday, and it would definitely be very popular for networking and favors." The woman was clearly pleased with Wu Jun's gesture. She smiled and handed him a business card.
'My bank?'
Wu Jun was momentarily stunned. He took the business card and looked at it. It listed the woman's name and position: Jiang Yi, Key Account Manager, ICBC Shimen City Xinhua District Branch.
"Definitely, definitely. I'll be sure to contact you as soon as they're available." Realizing Jiang Yi was a potential major client, Wu Jun quickly agreed after putting her card away.
Jiang Yi drove away, and Wu Jun returned to the supermarket.
He checked the time. It was just 8:30 AM, still nearly three hours until the peak customer flow.
Between 8:00 and 11:00 AM, he wouldn't sell much. On a normal day, he wouldn't even sell 100 yuan worth of goods, and the profit would be even less, just a dozen or so yuan.
Rather than wait around to earn that dozen or so yuan, it would be better to use the quiet time to sort out the rice's "identity" so he could contact Jiang Yi later.
Selling it obscurely like this wasn't a long-term solution.
Besides, selling it by the bag would move a lot more volume than selling it loose.
Furthermore, bulk goods always gave off a low-end, cheap feeling, which didn't match his high-class, premium rice at all.
Once the idea struck him, he acted on it. Wu Jun closed the supermarket, washed up, changed into a clean set of clothes, and headed out.
Right near the North Second Ring Road, there was a wholesale market. This was where Wu Jun had bought his small packaging bags.
In the southwest corner of the market, there were numerous agencies that handled company and trademark registrations.
Wu Jun arrived at the market and randomly walked into one of the shops.
"Hello, sir. What service can I help you with today?"
As soon as he entered, a girl in a black business suit and glasses, who had a very quiet and gentle look, came up to greet him.
Wu Jun averted his gaze from the girl and got straight to the point. "I'd like to ask, do you handle things like trademark registration here?"
"That's exactly what our company does. Sir, please, have a seat over here, and we can discuss the details." The girl led Wu Jun to a sofa and invited him to sit. Then she turned, walked to a water cooler, and poured him a cup of water in a disposable paper cup.
"My name is Chen Lin. May I ask for your surname, sir?" Chen Lin placed the paper cup in front of Wu Jun and sat down gracefully on the sofa opposite him.
"My surname is Wu. Wu Jun."
"Hello, Mr. Wu. What kind of trademark are you looking to register?"
Wu Jun said, "I want to register a trademark for rice. I've contracted several hundred mu of land back in my hometown to grow rice paddies. There are a lot of others growing rice in the area too, so I want to do some further processing before selling it."
"I see. In that case, have you prepared all the necessary documents? Will you be registering under a corporate entity or as an individual?" Chen Lin said professionally. "There are 45 classes of trademarks. Rice falls under Class 30, for food items, in group 3008-Rice..."
Chen Lin then went on to list a huge pile of various documents that needed to be prepared, speaking for a good ten-plus minutes without a pause. Her expertise was obvious.
Wu Jun was dumbfounded when he heard about the mountain of paperwork required and that the entire process would take over a year.
'All I want to do is register a trademark! Why does it feel harder than the journey to the Western Heaven to retrieve the scriptures!'