Though Tong City was small, it did have a second-tier university, Tongcheng College.
Its accounting and finance programs were decent, but others were quite ordinary.
It had some reputation within the province, but in the entire country, probably no one had heard of it.
In '06, the new campus had just been completed and was very remote.
Twenty years later, that area would be bustling, with Evergrande on the left and Country Garden on the right, and very complete commercial facilities.
Tongcheng College started earlier than most, on August 18th.
At six in the evening, on the temporary snack street opposite the entrance of Tongcheng College's new campus, Chen Pingjiang and Zhou Guanghan set up a small stall with a loudspeaker beside it.
"Freshmen, working part-time to pay for studies."
"Direct sales from the origin, direct sales from the origin."
"Nationally renowned Sunshine Rose grapes, new product launch."
"Little Chen Selection proudly presents."
"Come on over, everyone, take a look!"
"Nineteen ninety-nine per bunch!"
"Last three minutes, only fifty orders, folks, first come, first served."
...
The stir-fried rice vendor next door glanced disdainfully at the grape stall,
"What Sunshine Rose? Have you ever heard of it? So expensive."
"It's a rip-off, twenty yuan a bunch."
Most grapes nowadays are sold for a few yuan a jin, and this bunch of grapes was only a bit over 2 jin, yet it cost twenty yuan.
Their complaint about it being a rip-off was not wrong.
If Chen Pingjiang had heard this, he definitely wouldn't have been pleased.
"What do you know? We're not selling grapes, we're selling love. Do you understand love? Priceless."
The surrounding vendors looked enviously at the crowds three deep in and out.
Bunches of grapes were displayed on the stall, large and plump under the sunlight, with a layer of fine water droplets on them, looking even more tempting.
A small wooden table next to it was covered with a clean white tablecloth, with a sign standing upright that read "Taste Test."
Individual purple grapes in a plastic box were very clean and thoughtfully had toothpicks inserted.
Next to the plastic box were cans of cola, a bouquet of roses, and tissues.
Next to the stall was also a white hanging cloth with some artistic lettering on it.
"Give a bunch of Sunshine Roses to your significant other (he/she)."
"Miss, here are your two bunches."
Chen Pingjiang handed over two exquisite gift boxes.
The grape photos on the gift boxes were Photoshopped to be as vibrant as possible, with a "Little Chen Selection" logo in the upper left corner, accompanied by the slogan "For your sweet one."
"Senior, you want three boxes, right?"
"Damn it, don't snatch! Yanzu, there's plenty of stock."
"Senior, you're so beautiful! Your boyfriend must be very 'sexually blessed' to have won you over."
...
The small stall, at dinnertime, was packed to capacity.
Zhou Guanghan was naturally slow-handed, and he also had to follow Chen Pingjiang's instruction to package exquisitely.
This significantly slowed down the sales speed, and the students behind even voluntarily started queuing up.
One packed, one collected money, they cooperated very well.
Zhou Guanghan watched the long queue, becoming more and more skilled at packing, but inexplicably received a kick from Chen Pingjiang.
Zhou Guanghan knew this was a signal, indicating that he should package more exquisitely, and slower.
Great-uncle said that only by improving service quality can there be repeat customers.
Being a novice fresh out of high school, sometimes when he encountered a slightly attractive girl, Zhou Guanghan's hands would tremble nervously, and he would feel uneasy all over from being stared at, becoming particularly nervous.
As more and more students came to eat, the queue also grew longer.
A young lady came over, tried a grape, thought it was pretty good, and turned around to join the back of the queue.
Some students didn't even taste it; everyone was queuing, so it must be delicious, and I want to queue too.
In less than two hours, the over four hundred jin of grapes they brought, a full two hundred bunches, sold out.
"Sorry, Seniors, we're sold out today. Your Junior is giving each of you a small snack as an apology. Remember to come tomorrow at 5 PM!"
Chen Pingjiang held a large loudspeaker, shouting, bowing in apology, and handing out small bags of snacks to the queuing students.
Strangely, no one felt something was wrong.
If you didn't get to queue, it's because you came late.
You must come earlier tomorrow.
With so many people queuing, the grapes must be delicious.
Darn it, tomorrow I must come early to buy a few boxes for Feifei, oh, and for her dorm mates too.
In short, Sunshine Rose was an instant hit.
A month had passed since their last scouting trip, and Chen Pingjiang and Zhou Guanghan weren't idle this past month, preparing for various preliminary tasks.
For example, making packaging boxes and negotiating transport channels.
It was also fortunate that Tongcheng College started earlier than regular schools, otherwise, this business wouldn't be possible.
For the first stock-up, over four hundred jin were prepared.
Aunt Chen Xiufen kept trying to dissuade them, fearing that if they couldn't sell them, they would rot.
But Chen Pingjiang was very confident.
Relying on his over ten years of sales experience and knowledge ahead of this era, with just a slight move, it would be the industry's limit.
With favorable timing, geographical advantage, and harmonious human relations all fully utilized, why wouldn't they sell?
First, Aunt's grapes didn't taste bad, but you couldn't necessarily say they were exceptionally good.
Regular fruit stalls retailed for only two or three yuan a bunch, but the remaining ten-odd yuan was the price of love!
Freshmen had just enrolled, and young couples who hadn't seen each other all summer—shouldn't you exchange small gifts to express your love?
Twenty yuan a bunch of grapes hurt to buy for oneself, but for gifting, it's truly the best.
Just returned to school was when living expenses were most plentiful, and when students were least reluctant to spend money.
University students, if they have money, they dare to spend it.
They are the god-level existence whose living expenses arrived yesterday, paid off debts today, and spent it all tomorrow.
Tongcheng College was in the suburbs, now considered a godforsaken place, with only one or two fruit stalls.
Accurate pricing strategy, clear target demographic, brand premium, exquisite packaging, attentive service, the stall had flair, and the marketing strategy linked Sunshine Rose with love.
When all elements were brought together, a big hit was born.
Chen Pingjiang had many sneaky tricks; he deliberately controlled the speed of delivery and packaging.
Sometimes he'd rather stay idle than lend a hand, just to make customers queue up honestly, creating an image of being sold out.
This led to some single people without partners and greedy little fairies joining the long queue for purchases; everyone wanted to try it and taste something new.
What's more, it was also a matter of pride to brag about it back in the dorm.
"Twenty yuan a bunch of grapes, with a lovely name, Sunshine Rose, super sweet and super delicious."
"No way, it's really popular now, and you haven't even tried it yet?"
"You have to queue, a particularly long queue."
"I heard it was just imported from abroad, not available domestically, it's a new product just launched this year."
"And honestly, this taste is better than the one-yuan-a-jin grapes outside."
...
One could only say that the seniors of Tongcheng College were precisely manipulated.
Many people already planned to rush over early the next day to buy two boxes.
A small restaurant on Renmin Road.
Chen Pingjiang threw the bulging satchel to Zhou Guanghan, poured himself a glass of iced beer, drank it all in one go, and reached out to wipe the foam from his lips.
"Count it!"
Zhou Guanghan had never seen so much money in his life.
He carefully emptied the satchel, and ten-yuan and twenty-yuan RMB notes scattered across the table, with red ones mixed in.
He counted it once, checked it again, and Zhou Guanghan looked excited and nervous,
"Great-uncle, three thousand nine hundred yuan!"
Chen Pingjiang nodded.
Excluding change for cigarettes and water, twenty per box, two hundred boxes, four thousand.
It matched up.
The usual purchase price was about 5 mao per jin.
If he paid Aunt one yuan, he would net 3400.
After deducting logistics losses, bad fruit, and rotten fruit, the remaining balance would be around 3000.
"Not bad! Not a wasted effort."
"Great-uncle, I seriously suspect you're showing off."
"You know too much."
Chen Pingjiang formed a pistol with his right hand and made a "Biu" sound.
In '06, in this fourth-tier small city, the average monthly salary was about 1500 yuan.
Working one night to earn two months' income for others was something Zhou Guanghan couldn't even imagine; he just felt that Great-uncle was too awesome.
"Eat quickly. After we go back, we still have to sort through the hundreds of jin of bad and rotten fruit in the rented room."
The two of them found a rented room near the station to serve as both their living quarters and a warehouse.
It was impossible to pick them fresh every morning, then pack, load, transport, and unload.
Small quantities were fine, but large quantities would be impossible to handle, and people would be exhausted to death.
In Dongfeng Village, Chen Pingjiang had already called, asking Aunt to quickly organize the village women to help pick and prepare stock, then contact the village truck driver to pick up the goods.
After unloading at the rented room in Tong City, they also had to trim and arrange them, remove bad and rotten fruit, and finally transport them by cart to Tongcheng College to set up the stall.
Before setting up, they would check each bunch for any breakage or damage.
After arranging them neatly, they would also spray them with water from a spray bottle to make every grape crystal clear.
The work didn't seem like much, but it was actually not easy, especially since Chen Pingjiang required that every bunch of grapes sold must not have any bad, rotten, or damaged fruit, directly causing costs to rise sharply.
"Erzi, you brought the juicer from home, didn't you?"
"I brought it, Great-uncle!"
Zhou Guanghan said indistinctly, with a large drumstick stuffed in his mouth.
"Tomorrow, we're going to damn well make a lot of money."
Chen Pingjiang took a deep drag from a Hongtashan cigarette and said, blowing out a smoke ring.
(End of this chapter)
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