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Chapter 469: Chapter 459 Middleman Trafficker
Indeed, Shen Yunfang’s spring couplets business was getting better and better, possibly because the New Year was drawing nearer, or perhaps because everyone knew there was a stall selling spring couplets here. So, after entering February, the number of people coming here to buy couplets increased.
"Shitou, don’t just play, take your brother and keep an eye on the stall," Li Xianglian said to her two sons during a break from rolling up couplets for customers.
"Alright, I know." Shitou tugged at his brother’s clothes, "You watch this side, I’ll go over there." They were preparing to divide the work, one watching each side.
"Xianglian, never mind them for now, hurry up, there are people waiting to buy over there," Liu Jianjun, while rolling couplets for customers, managed to keep watch all around.
"Alright, coming right up. Just a moment, please wait a little bit, I’ll roll it for you in a bit," Li Xianglian said with a smile, "Yours is done, that’ll be fifty cents, please take care." She handed over the rolled-up couplets and pocketed the fifty cents given to her into the military side bag she was wearing.
"Big sister, you stay busy over there, I’ve got this side," Shen Yunfang, after serving a customer, promptly moved to the other end to roll couplets for another customer. "Have you made your choice? Are you just buying couplets, or a whole set? It’s more economical to buy the whole set—you get everything, and it’s ten cents cheaper."
"Yunfang, change," Liu Jianjun called from his side.
"Alright, coming, right away. You keep choosing; I’ll roll it for you in a bit," Shen Yunfang hurried over to Liu Jianjun, took the ten yuan he handed her, and gave back nine yuan forty cents in change.
Since the start of February, the number of people visiting the tiny marketplace had been endless, and with that, the number of customers buying spring couplets had significantly increased. Often they would come in waves, with more than a dozen shoppers arriving all at once for couplets. At such times, Shitou and Shuanzi proved to be very useful.
During the busy periods, Shen Yunfang’s primary job was to collect money and give change. Li Xianglian and Liu Jianjun weren’t great at handling the accounts—they feared giving back too much change by mistake—so this arduous task was left to Shen Yunfang.
After a while of frantic work, they finally managed to send off this wave of customers.
Liu Jianjun took off his dogskin hat, wiped the sweat from his forehead, and exclaimed, "This is truly bizarre; what’s going on today? It’s as if the entire Capital’s populace decided to visit here all at once; there are just so many people." Just a few days ago, he had been worried about the lack of customers, but now he was anxious because there were too many and they were too busy to handle them all.
"Isn’t it better to have more people? The more people we have, the more couplets we can sell," Li Xianglian hadn’t stopped smiling since noon. Watching the crowd of people coming and going, she couldn’t hold back her grin even if she tried.
"It’s good, alright, but it’d be better if they could spread out their visits. All of a sudden, they all crowd over here, and we just can’t keep up," Liu Jianjun grumbled.
"You always have something to say. Hush now; someone’s coming. Get ready to serve," said Li Xianglian, spotting another potential customer and quickly getting into gear.
"Comrade, are you looking to buy spring couplets? We have everything here, anything you want. You can choose freely, and the prices are absolutely fair and reasonable. A pair of couplets for twenty cents, a big-calligraphy character for twenty cents, small ’Fu’ characters three for ten cents, door curtains three for ten cents, and if you buy a complete set, you’ll get a special price—fifty cents for a whole set," Li Xianglian recited her practiced pitch to arriving customers, one lengthy spiel instantly.
The newcomer was a young man who, after listening to Li Xianglian’s introduction, hummed an affirmative response and then began to seriously pick out each item from the start. Li Xianglian followed him, ready to roll up the couplets whenever needed.
The young man had spent half an hour looking from the beginning to the end but hadn’t picked out anything satisfying.
In the meantime, two more groups of customers had arrived, and Li Xianglian had long since moved on to attend to the other guests. Only Shuanzi and Shitou suspected something off about this young man—something very off—so they watched him closely with four eyes, fearing he might take the opportunity to steal something.
After that wave of people left, Li Xianglian turned back and asked the young man, "Comrade, have you made your choice? Which one do you want?"
"Sister, could you give me a discount if I buy more?" the young man asked, but his eyes were on Shen Yunfang, the woman handling the money, who seemed to be the decision-maker among them.
Li Xianglian didn’t understand his meaning and thought he was asking for a price reduction, "Big brother, our prices are already quite low, a pair of couplets is just twenty cents. If you buy a set, it’ll be ten cents cheaper. Just think, for thirty or fifty cents, you can decorate your home for a whole year. What a bargain, really not expensive."
"It’s not that, sister..."
"Sister, let me handle this," Shen Yunfang quickly intervened, "Comrade, how many do you want to buy?"
"Well, um... Comrade," the young man hesitated when addressing Shen Yunfang as he seemed younger than himself; calling her "little sister" felt a bit disrespectful, but calling her "big sister" would make her seem old, so after thinking for a moment, he played it safe and stuck with "comrade", "How many I buy will depend on how much you’re willing to discount."
Indeed, this guy was a middleman.
"Haha, we run a small business here, and there’s not much profit margin. If you really want to buy, I won’t beat around the bush. If you can take more than a hundred pairs, I’ll charge you sixteen cents per pair. If you purchase over a thousand pairs, I’ll give you twelve cents per pair. How does that sound?" Shen Yunfang stated the pre-considered prices.
The young man laughed bitterly after hearing this, "Comrade, I see you’re even younger than me, so I won’t hesitate to call you ’young lady’. You see, your prices are still a bit too high. I’m genuinely interested in buying your couplets, but you have to let me make some profit too."
It meant he wanted to further negotiate the price with Shen Yunfang.
Right then another group of customers arrived, "Comrade, the price I’ve offered is already the lowest possible. You must understand, printing these couplets isn’t cheap. We even have them printed in another province. Consider this, the paper costs money, the plate-making costs money, the printing costs money, and even transporting them all the way here costs money. The price I’ve given you is really a conscience price, I’m not making much profit from you. Take some time to think about it. If you think it’s okay, we can talk more later. As you can see, I’m not short of buyers for these couplets; they are selling like hotcakes." Leaving him with this, Shen Yunfang turned to greet other customers—a sales technique in itself.
Only after sending the latest wave of customers off did Shen Yunfang go back to negotiate the price with the young man.
Shen Yunfang held firm on her price, and the young man was not one to give up easily. The two went back and forth in their negotiations.
In the meantime, more people came to buy couplets. Shen Yunfang always gave priority to the customers, returning to the young man only once they had left.
Finally, Shen Yunfang seemed to be worn down and softened her stance somewhat.
"All right, as I said, we have costs as well, and if I lower the price any further, it’s going to be difficult for me. I can’t do business at a loss, right? If you can take over five thousand at once, I can lower the price a bit more for you." 𝓷ℴ𝓿𝓅𝓊𝒷.𝓬𝓸𝓂
"How much?" The young man lit up, seeing she had finally relented.
"The lowest I can go is ten cents each. That’s rock-bottom. If it works for you, pay up and take the goods. If you still find it too expensive, then I’m out of options. You can try your luck elsewhere," Shen Yunfang said, resigned.
If there were others, would he have wasted so much time here? "Young lady, I can’t make that decision alone. Let’s do this—I’ll go back and discuss it, and if it’s a go, I’ll come find you," the young man thought it wise to delay his commitment.
"Fine, it’s up to you. But we don’t have a surplus of stock, and it’s selling fast these days. If you come back too late, I may not have enough left to supply you," Shen Yunfang replied indifferently, confident in the uniqueness and demand for her product.
