Forcing Me to Be Reborn?!

Outside the factory, Wang Anquan muttered to himself, "Brother Zhu just keeps spouting nonsense."

They had just graduated from high school, and in his eyes, Cheng Zhu had absolutely no experience in e-commerce.

He didn't have a store, let alone so-called negative customer reviews.

Even when the factory boss asked his age, he bluffed, claiming he was born in '92.

Wang Anquan doubted, "If you asked him what '92 corresponds to in the Chinese zodiac, Brother Zhu probably couldn't answer on the spot."

But you know what, another cigarette's time and the factory boss's attitude toward Cheng Zhu had completely changed.

Cheng Zhu called him boss, and he started to call Cheng Zhu boss in return.

Moreover, this factory boss was using that kind of complaining tone, "Boss, no one cuts prices like you."

"How could that be, just the style we've talked about, the price I quoted you definitely leaves you with a profit," Cheng Zhu immediately said.

He was quite satisfied with this factory.

The reason was simple: this factory indeed met the requirements he described—having a quality feel but without actual quality.

Cheng Zhu always felt that this type of products should be pursued like stockings.

Do they look full of quality, and do they feel silky smooth to the touch?

Meeting visual and tactile standards was enough.

As for quality, well, it was already hinted at in the earlier mentioned negative reviews.

"Sometimes you have to treat these things as consumables," Cheng Zhu thought to himself.

For garments, the return rate is relatively high.

Many customers use them first and then return them.

Like a piece of clothing, worn once and then returned within the return period.

But such "battle damaged goods" are not so easy to return, huh!

Even if you're shameless enough to try to return your girlfriend's or wife's worn items.

The premise is that they must be undamaged.

You've worn it to tatters, and now you talk about returning it and getting a refund—are you out of your mind?

That's one of the reasons why returns are low for these items.

"Of course, the quality can't be too outrageously bad." Cheng Zhu still had a clear understanding of this.

It can't be too high, nor too low.

At that moment, seeing that the factory boss was adamant about not lowering the price any further, Cheng Zhu immediately put out his cigarette, walked into the factory, and picked up the product that had caught his eye.

"Then I won't haggle over the price anymore, but can you add a zipper to this part of the pants for me?"

The factory boss visualized the design in his head and couldn't help but exclaim, "Brilliant!"

Wang Anquan glanced at the spot Cheng Zhu was pointing at, turned his head away, and thought about the ingenuity of adding a zipper, his heart beginning to race uncontrollably.

How does Brother Zhu manage to discuss these things so seriously? It's killing me!

Suddenly he felt his mouth go dry, while Cheng Zhu continued to flood him with words.

The reason was simple: the current Guan Yun hadn't developed the self-contained system it would have later, with just a small town propping up half the business for QQ-style clothing nationwide, even worldwide!

Guan Yun at present was just home to some very representative factories that had made a fortune from this, leading to quite a few people getting on the bandwagon.

After bargaining the price, Cheng Zhu wanted the factory boss to help with "dropshipping," but he was reluctant and said he had never done so.

"I'd have to do manual work to ship your packages, which would be more trouble," he hadn't expected Cheng Zhu to ask for more after driving such a hard bargain.

Cheng Zhu painted a bigger picture, mentioning that many factories in the country were already doing this to stay competitive, and so on and so forth...

Indeed, "dropshipping" was a service that emerged from the increasing internal strife among factories.

Competing in products, prices, everything had been competed in, and now they were left with competing in services!

For Cheng Zhu, it saved time, effort, cost, and more importantly, it reduced inventory pressure and the need for capital.

Frankly, he didn't think his products wouldn't sell like hotcakes with his experience.

"Nowadays, merchants on Taobao can still run dodgy operations in the 'Direct Train' system."

Cheng Zhu was an expert in this area.

He knew how to spend the least on promotion to get the maximum value.

But since his business was just starting, he still wanted to grab every possible benefit.

And don't forget, when starting out, it's not easy to negotiate good prices for shipping with courier companies.

But factories were different, they were already shipping all over the country and had long established good prices with courier services.

The difference in shipping costs alone could save a lot of money.

The factory boss listened to him and actually picked up a few points, realizing "dropshipping" indeed increased the factory's competitiveness, able to attract many customers, especially those just starting out.

"Nowadays young people are not simple," he said, looking at Cheng Zhu with a sense of wonder.

"I'll think about it, okay?" he didn't make an outright refusal.

"Okay." Cheng Zhu added him on WeChat and left his contact number.

After that, he pointed to the few products he had picked out and said lightly, "Boss, you have to give me the samples for free!"

...

...

In the taxi, Wang Anquan was holding a bag of samples.

He was thoroughly convinced by Brother Zhu.

When he heard the boss agree to give samples, Brother Zhu even picked a few more styles.

At the moment, the young man looked down at the items in the bag, feeling his blood boil and his heart beat faster.

As a young lad, he couldn't handle it.

Not like Cheng Zhu, who was already tired of those old designs.

He planned to first find a reliable factory to cooperate with, and then design his own new styles.

The second factory Cheng Zhu sought was not far from here, only about a ten-minute drive away.

Approaching the destination, Wang Anquan felt the samples in his hand burning hot and asked, "Brother Zhu, is it okay to bring these samples into another factory? Should I put them in my bag?"

"It's fine. It's pretty normal to compare goods from different sources when making purchases; just let the boss see them. We're offering them an opportunity to make money; what's there to feel embarrassed about?" Cheng Zhu said with a raised eyebrow.

Being a student meant having thin skin.

He scolded Wang Anquan, "Don't you fucking become one of those people-pleasing types."

That kind of personality was becoming ever more common these days.

"Huh?" Wang Anquan was initially stunned but out of admiration for Cheng Zhu which continued to surge, he quickly added, "Okay, got it."

Frankly, he also longed to be like Brother Zhu.

Just today, several times he thought Cheng Zhu was freaking cool.

That posture, that demeanor, tsk, he wanted to learn!

It's like when you go shopping with your mom and see her haggle over a little bit of money, you might even feel embarrassed.

But if a peer manages to leave a seller speechless, you might think, "Wow, that's kind of badass!"

That's just human psychology, absurdly complex.

At that moment, Wang Anquan saw Cheng Zhu pick up his phone and suddenly snap a photo.

He was taking a picture of the samples.

"Brother Zhu, who are you sending that photo to?" Wang Anquan urgently asked.

Not that he dared to order Cheng Zhu around; he was purely afraid that their leader would get a picture of his face.

Still thin-skinned.

"Don't worry, I didn't get you in the shot," Cheng Zhu saw right through to his concerns, "I'm looking for models, sending out the samples for people to see."

"We've got to have a seller show for our e-commerce business," Cheng Zhu explained matter-of-factly.

Hearing this, Wang Anquan couldn't help but look down at the bag with samples that could only be described as "shoddy."

"Look for… models?"

"Take… pictures?"

— Brother Zhu, you are my idol!

Right then, Wang Anquan's phone rang again—it was Chen Rongrong reaching out proactively on WeChat.

The message read, "What are you and Cheng Zhu up to?"

If it were before, Wang Anquan would have engaged in an enthusiastic conversation, completely missing the undertones and attitude in that message.

Of course, he still didn't pick up on anything extra.

But for some reason, as he looked down at the samples in his arms, he suddenly felt less eager to chat with Chen Rongrong.

He began to actively discuss the seller show with Cheng Zhu.

...

(ps: First update, currently the new book is fifth on the overall list, asking for monthly tickets and recommendation votes to continue climbing the ranks, once again thank you to our new friends for their rewards.)