Chapter Five: Buy One Get One Free

  "Big sale, big discount! Welcome new and old customers to our store. Buy one stone of white rice and get a small bag of millet for free! Limited quantity, don't miss out!" Two shop assistants stood at the door, one on each side, their faces red and necks thick as they shouted in unison, not that it took much effort, but rather because they couldn't bring themselves to do it, feeling like they were peddling goods on the street.

  People on the street couldn't help but glance over, and before long, dozens of people had gathered around Delong Rice Store, which was usually deserted. They pointed and whispered to each other in hushed tones. "Buy white rice and get small rice for free, is this for real?"

  Most people just stood by and watched, but didn't enter the Delong Rice Shop. Shen Chongming looked at his two partners who were getting more and more overwhelmed as the crowd grew larger and the noise got louder, and with no other choice, he personally took up the knife to work.

  "Ladies and gentlemen, fellow townspeople of Shaoxing City, I am Shen Chongming, the young master of De Long Rice Shop. De Long Rice Shop is a century-old local business in our Shaoxing City, and its current prosperity is all thanks to the care and support of our fellow townspeople. To express our gratitude, starting from today, we will hold a grand sale with discounts and free gifts until all the millet is given away. The quantity is limited, so please hurry up and come to our shop to make your purchases, don't miss this rare opportunity!"

  Although this business has always been losing money, the century-old store is not just a boast. The warehouse in the backyard has enough white rice to fill 500 or 600 stones. So although there are more and more people rushing to buy, it's impossible to empty the stock in one go. It's just that the dozen or so apprentices who were idle to the point of being bored out of their minds are now busy to the point of having no time to rest, and the elderly Tao shopkeeper is even worse off, getting dizzy and overwhelmed every now and then. Shen Qing sees that he can't take it anymore and has to personally step in. However, his face is full of smiles, as if he had returned to his youthful days when he followed his father to help out at the store. At that time, De Long Rice Store was thriving, with people coming and going, a scene not much different from now.

  Wan Tong Rice Shop is right across from De Long Rice Shop, usually it's not as lively and bustling as De Long Rice Shop. But unexpectedly today the sun rose in the west, our own shop was empty with no one around, while their shop was busy with people coming and going!

  Standing in front of the door for half a day, Wan Tong, the boss of the Wonton Rice Shop, still couldn't figure out what was going on. He furrowed his brow and beckoned to one of his employees, whispering instructions: "Go change into some other clothes and go across the street to see what's happening." The idle employees had been squatting at the door watching the commotion earlier, and now that they heard the boss's orders, they responded with a "yes" and ran off to change their clothes. Since this shop was relatively formal, even the work uniforms were issued by the owner, with the prominent characters for "Wonton" emblazoned on the chest. They couldn't go out to gather information wearing those clothes.

  Things were simple, and after the fellow had gone to De Long's rice shop and made a thorough investigation, he ran back to Wan Fu with a fawning expression on his face and said: "Master Wan, I've got everything cleared up."

  "What's going on?" asked Wan Fu. The partner told the whole story again, and Wan Fu frowned even deeper, unexpectedly thinking that the opponent would come up with such a plan, it was really infuriating! There are rules in business, these grain prices were all discussed together by everyone, what they did was no different from selling at a discount.

  Wan Fu glared at the bustling Delong Rice Shop, let out a loud hum, turned around and got into his own carriage heading towards the Wan Mansion. This matter is of great importance, he must hurry to tell Master Wan about it and ask for his instructions. If they continue to indulge Delong Rice Shop like this, the loss will not be small.

  "Haha, good move, Shen Qing has finally figured it out." Wan Yulin was a few years older than Shen Qing, and the two were old acquaintances. Shen Chongming's little trick was easily understood by Wan Yulin, an old hand, after a bit of deliberation, although simple, not bad at all.

  When it comes to the Wan and Shen families, they were not much different in the past. One was De Long Rice Store, the largest rice store in Shaoxing City, and the other was Wan Tong Silk Store, the largest silk store in Shaoxing City. However, with the generation of Wan Yulin, the gap opened up, all because Wan Yulin was cleverer than others, seized opportunities and made several big deals at the risk of being beheaded, but the details are not worth mentioning to outsiders.

  Shen Qing and Wan Yulin knew each other since they were young, spending their youth recklessly in the land of fireworks. Their relationship was extremely close, and it's said that they had even promised to become sworn brothers if they had sons, or sisters-in-law if they had daughters. However, as the Wan family rose to prominence and the Shen family declined, this matter was never brought up again.

  The difference between Shen Qing and Wan Yulin is no longer just a little bit. Now that Shen Qing has suddenly come up with a plan to make the old shop, which was on the verge of bankruptcy, red-hot again, how can Wan Yulin not be surprised?

  "What to do now, Master?" Seeing his own master still smiling, Wan Fu couldn't help but feel anxious. He was the head of the Wan Tong Rice Shop, but at the same time, he was also one of the two deputy managers of the Wan family, with the other being Wan Lu, who was in charge of the silk business. Now that the senior manager was getting old and about to retire, it was a critical moment for either him or Wan Lu to take over, and if the rice shop's business plummeted, then the position of senior manager would easily fall into Wan Lu's hands!

  How could Yu Lin not know what was on their minds, although the two of them were always at odds, but he also saw it as a good thing, after all they were in the same mind to do business well, this was more important than anything else. "Hehe, do you have any countermeasures?"

  "Old master, in my humble opinion, Delong Rice Shop's move is no different from lowering the price of grain, which goes against the prices set by our merchant association. We can convene a meeting to discuss this matter and ask Shen Qing to stop this buy-one-get-one-free activity." Wan Yulin was the leader of the Shaoxing Merchant Association, so it was easy for him to invite all the bosses in Shaoxing City to hold a meeting.

  "Although it is said that way, others are just buying one and giving one away without lowering the price of one stone of rice to five cents silver. We have no reason not to let them do so." Business can be done so big, Wan Yulin is not just relying on being bold, but also being fair and reasonable in handling matters and convincing people with reason.

  "We can't just let them keep doing this, or our business will be ruined!"

  "Don't worry, Shen Qing is not a person who doesn't understand reason. When the time comes, he will stop this buy-one-give-one business himself, otherwise he will be criticized by everyone and won't have any face to stay in Shaoxing City anymore. Besides, if he can do it, we can too, there's no need to use strong tactics to bully people and make them resent us, understand?" Wan Yulin educated, being safe but thinking of danger, the bigger the business, the more it provokes jealousy, one must be careful and cautious in doing things, lest a careless move provoke others to harm oneself.

  Wan Fu was in a difficult situation, and this would inevitably reduce the income of the rice shop. He would be at a disadvantage compared to Wan Yu Lin. Seeing him like this, Wan Yu Lin guessed his thoughts and said with a smile: "Alright, starting tomorrow, we'll buy one get one free for two days to lure back customers."

  After hearing him say this, Wan Fu finally put his mind at ease and happily responded with a "yes" before hurrying out to rush back to the Wan Tong Rice Shop.

  "Hehe, great, too good!" The long-lost smile reappeared on Shen Qing's face. In just one short day, more than 400 dan of white rice were sold out! If it weren't for the late hour, I'm afraid all the stored grain in the warehouse would have been sold out today!

  After carefully calculating the abacus, Shen Qing was overjoyed and unexpectedly earned twelve taels and three mace of silver in one day! "Hehe, if this continues, it won't be good," Shen Qing said excitedly, but then sighed for some reason.

  Everyone was exhausted after a day's work, except for Tao Zhanggui, who had rested for half a day and still stood spiritedly behind Shen Qing. Young master Shen Chongming and more than ten apprentices were already sitting on the ground, panting heavily.

  "The master of the house, having been in this business for so many years, has never seen such a scene as today." Tao Zhuanggui also said with a smile on his face, without feeling any shame at all for his initial distrust of Xiao Dongjia.

  To be honest, Tao Zhu's excitement was not fake at all. After all, the business of the shop was good, and his wages would also increase. Moreover, during the Chinese New Year, the boss would definitely give him a big red envelope with real benefits!

  "Gui'er, come here." Shen Qing put away the account book and beckoned to Shen Chongming. Looking at Shen Chongming walking crookedly in front of him, Shen Qing smiled: "Gui'er, are we still buying one and giving one tomorrow?"

  "Let's do it for two more days, but this is not a long-term solution. To make the business prosperous, we need to think of other ways." The market has a saturation point, and the buying frenzy caused by "buy one get one free" will dissipate after a while. Only by leveraging this storm to enhance services can we retain customer loyalty.