C11 Sales

Yang Xiuyuan understood what James was worried about. He feared that taking the money might affect his reputation and hinder future construction opportunities. If he couldn't work as a subcontractor because of the sand issue, it would definitely be a bad deal. This wasn't an easy problem to solve.

For those who frequently travel outside, such issues are easily managed with a little under-the-table dealing. However, both James and Yang Xiuyuan were simple folks, with the city being the farthest they'd ever been, and they had no clue about such dealings.

Chenxuan explained, "Uncle James, we'll sell you sand at a certain price per truckload, and we won't disclose it. But when you sell it to others, just let us know the price beforehand, and we'll issue the invoice accordingly—five dollars, four eighty, or four fifty. At the start of each month, my dad will come with the ledger to reconcile last month's deliveries. Only our two families will know about this, and since we need your help with referrals, we won't reveal the lower price."

This plan was perfect! James's eyes lit up, and he was already on board, but he looked at Yang Xiuyuan for confirmation, as Xiuyuan was the head of the Yang family now.

Even if Xiuyuan wasn't the sharpest, he knew it was time to speak up. "James, I agree with this plan. I'm not great with words, but I think it's a good idea!"

James laughed, "Well, maybe I wasn't listening properly. Here, have an apple!" He handed them each an apple from the table. "I'll check on the sand situation tomorrow. I should be able to negotiate a few deals since they used to haul sand from the old place. I'll also need to inform the construction bosses about the change."

Yang Chenxuan immediately said, "Mr. Jiang, I didn't explain clearly earlier. My dad probably mentioned paying upfront. If you only want one truckload of sand at such a low price, we'd be losing money."

"So, four dollars is the price for fifty truckloads, and payment needs to be made in advance. For anything less than fifty truckloads, we charge four fifty per load, and you can pay per truck."

Mr. Jiang's face tensed slightly.

Chenxuan continued, "For these fifty truckloads, you can have John deliver ten loads, and Mike deliver five. No matter how you split it, we'll count it as a single order of fifty truckloads."

"Please understand our position. If we keep track load by load and things get mixed up, it would be hard to reconcile the accounts. With a round number like fifty, we just need to count how many sets of fifty you take, and there won't be any issues later."

"After all, clear accounts make for good friends. If we end up with discrepancies, it could harm our relationship."

After hearing Chenxuan's reasoning, Mr. Jiang found it sensible, though the upfront payment was a bit inconvenient.

Gathering fifty truckloads of sand seemed easy to Mr. Jiang.

With a slight smile, Mr. Jiang said, "Chenxuan, you've got a sharp mind. Alright, I agree. I'll ask around tomorrow."

With Mr. Jiang's agreement, they exchanged a few pleasantries, and Yang Xiuyuan stood up to leave.

After Chenxuan and Xiuyuan left, Mr. Jiang immediately grabbed some paper and a pen, hunched over the table to calculate. Worried he might make a mistake, he called over his middle school-aged son, Jack, and said, "Help me figure this out. If we earn five to eight cents per load, how much can we make from fifty truckloads?"

James looked at his father: "So, is it fifty cents or eighty cents?"

Mr. Johnson suddenly felt his son was being quite dense, not half as sharp as Alex, and was a bit frustrated: "Fifty cents counts as one, eighty cents counts as one."

James reluctantly did the math. It was just an elementary school problem, and he quickly figured it out: "Fifty cents a load, twenty-five dollars; eighty cents a load, forty dollars."

Mr. Johnson's eyes lit up, and he said to his wife, "Tomorrow, go buy some meat. The day after, I'm inviting a few people over for dinner."

Mrs. Johnson gave him a look, somewhat displeased: "Getting drunk again?"

Mr. Johnson glared at her: "You don't get it. The Smiths have given us a great opportunity. I'm planning to talk to a few contractors and get them to buy all their sand from us. We could make some good money! If they agree, making a couple hundred a month is no problem."

"That much?" Mrs. Johnson was shocked.

Mr. Johnson pulled out a cigarette: "That's the estimate. Also, don't go blabbing about what I discussed with Mr. Smith today, okay? Don't start showing off just because we're making some money."

He then shot his son another warning look: "You too, don't go spreading this around. If you say a word, you'll be in trouble!"

Mrs. Johnson was a bit annoyed: "Why are you getting mad at him? He hasn't done anything wrong."

James sighed with a hint of envy, "I just wish he would apply himself more!"

"He's third in the class!"

James was initially proud of his son's achievement, but thoughts of Alex Chen quickly dispelled that pride. "What's the use of being third? If he were half as smart as Alex, I'd be thrilled."

...

On the way home, Sam Yang was still pondering, "Son, how many people do you think James can bring in for us?"

Alex replied calmly, "Dad, it's not about how many people, but how many truckloads?"

"Uh... right, how many truckloads?" Sam admired his son's insight. The solutions seemed simple when Alex explained them, but Sam wouldn't have thought of them on his own.

Alex estimated, "Between one hundred and two hundred truckloads, no problem."

Sam wasn't surprised by the number. He had managed to negotiate one hundred and fifty truckloads in a day, considering a single house required fifty to sixty truckloads of river sand.

"What about the equipment?"

"The owner is asking for thirteen hundred, but I think we can get it for around a thousand."

"They'd drop the price by three hundred just like that?"

The cost isn't that high, but the domestic technology is a bit lacking right now. The retail profit is quite substantial, so there's room to negotiate the price down if approached correctly.

"Dad, don't worry! It's not a big issue."

By the time they got home, it was already past ten, and most people in the countryside were asleep.

The next day, Xiuyuan continued meeting with people, including a few construction foremen, to discuss plans. Armed with Chenxuan's strategies and methods, he felt confident.

Chenxuan sketched a simple diagram and asked Yuehua to gather all the sand diggers to discuss how to build a road to the river. With over a dozen teams involved, everyone needed to be considered.

The sketch was straightforward, resembling a "Y" shape. The top horizontal line represented the government-built highway, with a new entrance leading in. The main road within the sand site ran from start to finish, with each team creating their own short path to their section.

The main entrance and the central road would be a joint effort, while each team would dig their own path to their area. Since the entire site belonged to Chenxuan's family, they could dig as they pleased, as long as they avoided creating potholes.

Building such a road wasn't complicated; it was mostly about leveling and widening the path where needed. Yuehua took the sketch to the group, and they all agreed to stop digging sand for the day and focus on building the road.

Chenxuan watched the bustling scene with a slight smile. He knew leveling the entire area would take considerable effort. The biggest challenge would be dealing with other people's fields, which might lead to disputes. However, with so many people working together, the landowners were more likely to be cooperative, and some even helped dig their own fields.

Moreover, all this labor is free. Once his father secures a few more deals and the sites are fully excavated, he'll purchase the equipment and start the project!