usatvline Chapter 89 Doing Business
Chapter 89 Doing Business
Chapter 89 Doing Business
"What should we do?"
After listening to Lin Zhou's account, Chen Shanzhang realized that he had indeed been too hasty. Just as his disciple had said, the resources and power they had were indeed insufficient to achieve the industrial chain integration that Lin Zhou had described.
They are intellectuals, the very typical kind of intellectuals. The biggest problem with intellectuals is romanticism. Romantics usually do things on a whim, thinking "I can do it" and then they start doing it.
But once you start working on it, you'll find that things don't work here or there. Every aspect is full of crises and ups and downs. Today it might be that the supply chain is broken, or tomorrow it might be that the technical specifications can't be met. You invest money in steelmaking, and all you get is a furnace of pig iron.
This kind of thing happened all the time, not just in this era, but even back in Lin Zhou's time. For example, he used to know a female technician who worked for several years and then decided to open a coffee shop. After six months, she lost all the money she had painstakingly earned and went back to her old job the following year. She was still at the same service number 666 and was still asking, "Brother, would you like to add an extra hour?"
But how should I put it, this world cannot be without romantics, because every romantic is a potential revolutionary. Many things cannot be simply measured by winning or losing, so Lin Zhou decided to give them some advice.
"It's actually very simple, you don't even need to think. Just do whatever Qin Hui does, stick to his backside. When he restocks, you restock too; when he ships, you ship too. You can even ship goods to him instead." Lin Zhou said casually, "That's how I used to do it when I ran my shop. He might try to mess with someone else, but with your reputation, he can only suffer in silence."
The two old men exchanged a glance, and Mr. Li stepped forward: "Pingzhi, which side are you on?"
"Can't you see that? You guys are something else." Lin Zhou answered bluntly, not stopping him at all: "If you don't work for him, nothing will get done, but I just don't want to see him comfortable. Headmaster, can you go and get the emperor to execute Qin Hui?"
Chen Shanzhang looked up at the sky, remaining silent.
"Aren't you the emperor's teacher? Doesn't he listen to you?"
"Even if he were the emperor's own father, it wouldn't matter. Look at Emperors Huizong and Qinzong, they were his own father and brother, did the emperor ever think of bringing them back?" Mr. Li laughed: "That's just how the world is."
1
"Yizhi!" Headmaster Chen's gaze sharpened. "You mustn't spout nonsense."
Lin Zhou pursed his lips, but finally laughed: "Anyway, you'll just follow Qin Hui around. There will be a huge shortage of this stuff in the future. Your biggest advantage is that you have money and aren't afraid of being overthrown. As long as you hold on to the beginning and increase the scale and total volume, Qin Hui won't be able to do anything about you when he wants to."
Hearing this, Teacher Li was filled with curiosity and asked, "Why?"
"Look," Lin Zhou said, taking a handful of melon seeds from the plate. "These are like raw materials. If only Qin Hui's family needs them, the daily production capacity is only six seeds."
Teacher Li nodded gently: "And then?"
"With you all included, its production capacity is ten units. To ensure the production capacity of these ten units, shouldn't the mine be opened?"
Shouldn't people be hired? Shouldn't the roads be repaired? Shouldn't the caravans be maintained? These are all part of the costs, and they're all Qin Hui's costs; he has thousands upon thousands of people under his command who need to be fed.
"Yes, that's right." Headmaster Chen nodded repeatedly. "Indeed."
"What if one day you suddenly can't continue operating, and the demand suddenly becomes six? What about the raw material costs for the extra four? His subordinates need to eat too. Of course, he can continue to expand production, but Qin Hui's money isn't inexhaustible. The expansion cost of this thing is not low. A small steel mill can easily cost tens of thousands of strings of cash. Don't forget about the maintenance costs afterwards. How much money does he have to afford it?"
Lin Zhou started cracking sunflower seeds as he spoke: "Besides, once you get started, he'll also make money from the upstream supply chain. Why would he let you fail? So you just need to follow his lead. There's nothing else to worry about. The market is far from saturated, and the gap will only get bigger in the future. Qin Hui can't handle such a large market by himself, and he certainly wouldn't be willing to distribute this stuff to the general public. After all, refined iron and steel are controlled by the government, just like salt."
"yes!"
Teacher Li clapped his hands, his eyes brightening as he looked at Lin Zhou: "You rascal, you look so ignorant and incompetent, where did you learn all these unorthodox methods? Although we don't suppress commerce these days, everyone knows that business ethics are inferior. With your intelligence and wit, if you were willing to study hard, you might be able to find a way to make a living."
"I just enjoy doing business. You can't buy what I'm doing with money. People are willing to learn when they're interested." Lin Zhou didn't hide anything: "I'm really not good at anything else. Those things you guys talk about in class, like the Analects, give me a headache. But I'm happy doing business."
"So, have you made any money yet?" Teacher Li asked with great interest.
"Teacher, your language is so filthy—"
After graduating from school, Lin Zhou opened a milk tea shop, franchised a roujiamo (Chinese hamburger) business, learned how to make Anhui-style noodles, and even researched "owner-owned clothing design brands," which are essentially tailors. But without exception, he failed in every endeavor. The reason was simple: there were countless talented people out there. He wasn't developing some high-end model or tinkering with data chains; everything that could be figured out had already been figured out. He couldn't compete with others in anything he did. At the end of the year, he had 30,000 yuan in capital when he went out, but only 2,800 yuan was left after returning home for the New Year.
In the end, he could only follow his second uncle to deal in fake antiques. Later, his second uncle started dealing in genuine antiques and got arrested. He also ended up here by chance, and after arriving, he continued his dealings—
There is some money, but it's not from reselling important supplies. It's like he was exceptionally gifted and well-versed in literature from a young age, and was eventually chosen to be the prince's companion. However, the reason for his selection was not because of his extensive knowledge, but because he was so strong that he could spin a wheel.
While I am honored to have benefited from my second brother's success, I still secretly yearn to realize my own ideals and ambitions.
"That's all I'll say, teachers. I'll keep both factories at roughly the same pace until they're finished."
"Huh?" Teacher Li was taken aback. "What do you mean?"
"You didn't know?" Lin Zhou was also surprised for a moment: "I was the one who set up the factory. The factory that you just got and that Qin Hui was planning to build was all set up by me."
"Hiss—it's you?" Mr. Li exclaimed in surprise, "Oh, so that's it—"
"That's right." Lin Zhou slapped his forehead after saying that, "By the way, Headmaster, does our school have any experimental fields?"
"An experimental field?" The headmaster's face scrunched up like a chrysanthemum. "An experimental field—what is that?"
"It's about farming. I have some high-yield crops. I gave some high-yield grain to Qin Hui before. I was thinking that since I only gave some to him, I should also give some to my dear teacher, right? He grows rice, so I'll give our school some other crops, the kind that yields 10,000 jin per mu."
With a thud, Chen Shanzhang slipped and fell to the ground, narrowly avoiding breaking his tailbone. Lin Zhou quickly helped him up, saying, "Are you alright? You mustn't have fallen."
"How much?" Headmaster Chen, completely ignoring the pain in his buttocks, demanded, "How much do you want?"
"Ten thousand jin or so—what's wrong?"
"Don't joke around. The highest yield per mu right now is only 300 jin, and that's still dependent on the weather. If the weather is bad, forget about 300 jin, even 100 jin is a struggle." Headmaster Chen's eyes were bloodshot as he gripped Lin Zhou tightly. "Are you serious?"
"Let's see how it goes, that's why I asked you if you have any experimental fields."
"That's possible." Headmaster Chen took a deep breath: "I'll take care of such a small matter."
"Hey, Headmaster. By the way, I haven't asked yet, what rank are you? I saw you assigning official positions to Lu You last time, and all you needed was a seal?"
His words made Teacher Li, who was standing next to him, laugh so hard she almost fell over: "You eccentric genius, you talk so eloquently about things, yet you don't even know this?"
Headmaster Chen smiled, but still explained for Lin Zhou: "Me? I am a first-rank Grand Tutor."
Teacher Li added: "The Grand Master of the Palace."
"Isn't that amazing?"
"I don't hold any official position, I'm just a teacher at the academy, here to teach a mischievous monkey like you a lesson." Headmaster Chen patted Lin Zhou's head and said with a smile, "Experimental field—I'll start after my break. There are quite a few people in the academy who know how to farm. If the yield per mu is really that high, I guarantee you a place in the Imperial Ancestral Temple."
"I'm not going. This is all thanks to you two. What does it have to do with me? I'm just bringing a seed. I have no say in how it's promoted."
"That kid knows how to handle people," Teacher Li said with a smile, turning to Headmaster Chen. "He's letting you take the credit."
"Haha, I don't care about such empty fame. You can have it if you want."
"I don't want it either," Teacher Li waved his hand and said, "As long as it can save the Song Dynasty, I'm willing to give up my life. What do I need those empty titles for?"
Lin Zhou sat there for a moment, processing what he was saying: "Hey, Headmaster, Teacher Li. So, am I considered a student if I'm just auditing the class?"
"Since you've already addressed us as your teachers, and we haven't refused, then it's natural to accept them. There's no such thing as social status when it comes to accepting disciples and teaching them."
"I'm not concerned about social status anymore." Headmaster Chen sighed softly, "In my life, I've trained fourteen top scholars. Don't you dare disgrace my family's reputation."
"I also mentored four," Teacher Li said with a smile. "But you, my little rascal, are the one I like the most."
"Huh? One every three years? You two together have monopolized it for seventy years?"
"During the Jingkang era, there were several extra imperial examinations in a row." When Chen Shanzhang mentioned Jingkang, he sighed deeply: "Never mind, you've been very thoughtful. Let's not talk about this anymore."
"Hehe—of course, of course."