C17 Rent(2)

"That much?" Yang Xiuyuan was taken aback. "I haven't even wronged them!"

Yang Chenxuan replied calmly, "Dad, you haven't upset them, and you even offer them cigarettes. But you're not letting them make any money."

"Not making..." Xiuyuan started to say, then realized that with his equipment and all the clients he had drawn in, others were struggling.

If it weren't for his son's advice, he might have even considered letting his daughter take whatever was left.

Chen Guifang, worried, said, "You all better think of something! I'm afraid they'll sneak in one night and smash the machines."

With that, she left.

"They wouldn't dare!" Xiuyuan stood up angrily.

Chenxuan replied, "Dad, what wouldn't they dare? In the middle of the night, how would you know who it was? And with so many people, who would you hold accountable?"

Xiuyuan retorted fiercely, "It's just those few people."

Having tasted the profits, Xiuyuan wasn't about to let this money-making venture slip away.

Chenxuan shifted the topic, asking his sister, "Chenxi, have you figured out the costs?"

Chenxi handed her brother a piece of paper. "In just one week, we sold 122 loads for $502. Most of it was prepaid, though there were some smaller, individual sales."

Including Mrs. Guihua, we hired four people, paying them a total of $72. Meals and cigarettes cost another $12, and the electricity bill was $46, bringing our total expenses to exactly $130. We made $372 in profit.

Earning $372 in a week was what Yang Xiuyuan used to make in four months.

Yang Chenxuan thought for a moment and said, “We haven’t factored in the cost of the venue. On average, it’s over $3 a day. Plus, there’s wear and tear on the machines. They’re bound to break down eventually, so let’s say $1 a day for that. And then there’s logistics, which adds at least another $5 a day to our costs.”

Yang Chenxi agreed, “That still leaves us with $337.”

Yang Chenxuan pondered for a bit and then suggested to his parents, “Let’s lease out the machines.”

“Lease them out?” Yang Xiuyuan was taken aback. Those machines were his cash cows!

Zhang Yuehua was also surprised, “Xuan, we can’t let them scare us into this. We’re making tens of dollars a day. Where else can we find such a good deal?”

Yang Chenxuan initially thought about hiring someone to help with the digging, but after considering it, there were too many uncertainties. Everyone in the village was familiar, which made management tricky. It would be easier to lease it out directly.

Yang Chenxuan explained, “I designed a sieve with Mr. Huang, so we won’t need manual labor to sift the river sand. Four people can consistently produce over twenty-two truckloads a day.”

Zhang Yuehua and Yang Xiuyuan were delighted. Their son hadn’t let them down.

Yang Chenxuan continued, “We’ll lease the machines to the villagers for free, but they can only sell the river sand to us at $1.50 per truckload. We’ll sell it to larger buyers, like Jiang Youcai, who order fifty truckloads at a time and pay upfront, for $4 a truckload. For drivers who specialize in hauling river sand, we’ll charge $4.50, giving them a little profit. For smaller, scattered orders, it’ll be $5 a truckload, and we’ll standardize all invoices at $5.”

Yang Xiuyuan's eyes lit up. "We don't have to do any work, and we can still make at least two dollars and fifty cents per load? That's a great idea."

Yang Chenxuan glanced at his father. "There are costs like site fees, machinery wear and tear, maintenance, and customer retention. If we can make two dollars per load on average, we're doing well."

"That's still good—pure profit!" Yang Xiuyuan thought his son's mind was sharp.

Yang Chenxuan nodded. "Tomorrow, let's hire two or three people to load the sand onto the trucks, paying them three dollars a day. We'll have Uncle Jun lead the team for $150 a month. We can give Mrs. Jun a cooking job for $90 a month. We'll subcontract the machinery to someone we trust and have Wu Daxiang manage the subcontractors for $150 a month as well."

Yang Xiuyuan had no objections to Zhou Jun working, but he wasn't thrilled about paying Wu Daxiang $150 a month. "Why bring in Wu Daxiang?"

Yang Chenxuan felt a bit exasperated. Why couldn't his father see the bigger picture?

"Dad, subcontracting the machinery will inevitably lead to some issues. Managing those could upset people. To be honest, Wu Daxiang is better at handling these situations than you are."

"He's well-liked in the village, so let him handle the tough stuff. If he doesn't do well, you can hold him accountable. Otherwise, just focus on collecting the money. Don't be stingy. If we're the only ones benefiting, others might get envious. The river is public property, and they could find something to hold against us."

"Also, in the next couple of days, let's take out some money and buy three to five machines. Find some reliable locals to manage them. Each machine can earn about forty dollars a day, so with five machines, that's two hundred dollars daily."

"Actually, as long as we have a group of people who think we're doing well and can make money with us, if others try to cause trouble, we won't even need to step in. They'll handle it themselves, just like today with Mrs. Smith. If she hadn't spoken up, we might not have known until the machines were damaged."

Yang Xiuyuan stayed silent.

Zhang Yuehua thought her son made sense. "Xiuyuan, let's go with what our son suggests!"

"Alright then," Yang Xiuyuan replied, feeling a bit deflated. He had hoped that by managing one machine well, he could reclaim some authority as the head of the family. In the end, it was his son's idea that prevailed.