2003: Starting with Foreign Trade

Chapter 106 Zhang Xupeng's Awakening
Today's flight was a bit late, and by the time Tan Jincheng arrived at the hotel, it was already night.

The neon lights along the street were already lit, tables had been set up in front of the shops, and the bustling street was lively and vibrant.

As Tan Jincheng surveyed the street scene, he headed towards the hotel, where Zhang Xupeng and the others had already bought food and were waiting for his arrival.

"dong dong dong"

"Creak."

The hotel room door opened quickly, and Zhang Xupeng was there. The two brothers smiled at each other.

After entering the room, Sun Yuming and Liu Wenbin greeted Tan Jincheng, who nodded in response.

"How have things been? You guys haven't run into any trouble while I was gone, have you?" Tan Jincheng asked Zhang Xupeng, who was following behind him, as he put down his backpack.

“We live a very simple life, going back and forth between two points every day. What could possibly happen? Let’s not talk about this now, let’s have a drink.”

There was barbecue on the table, including various meat skewers, vegetable skewers, and canned Budweiser. Upon hearing this, Sun Yuming and Liu Wenbin quickly opened the cans.

"cheers!"

"cheers!"

A sip of ice-cold beer relieved a lot of the summer heat; it was already quite hot in Guangzhou at the end of April.

"Is everything arranged at home? What did Zhang Haiping say? Isn't he beaming with joy at seeing so many orders?"

"Absolutely! He was worried about this when I went there. And you, how many orders did the three of you get after I left?"

"Not bad, not bad. Although I'm not as good as you, I can still manage to go to Dongguan." Zhang Xupeng said with a smug look on his face.

"Oh? Did you acquire a new client or receive a $20 order?"

"Ahem! Can't we just complete both?"

Upon hearing this, Tan Jincheng looked at Zhang Xupeng with some surprise and said, "You've got some skills. When did you, the 'lying down' type, become so serious?"

Zhang Xupeng had never heard of the term "lying flat" before and didn't know its meaning, but judging from the literal meaning and Xiao Tan's tone at the moment, it probably wasn't a good term: "I am, after all, one of the company's bosses, so of course I have to make some contributions to the company."

“Okay, okay, not bad; what about you two?” Tan Jincheng then looked at Sun Yuming and Liu Wenbin.

"We're doing alright. We've taken some orders, and including Mr. Zhang's, we estimate we've received orders worth $40 in the past few days."

Tan Jincheng nodded. The three of them spent two days traveling back and forth and three days at home, a total of five days. They received orders worth $40, averaging $8 a day. For a business novice, that was a pretty good performance.

Tan Jincheng was somewhat surprised that Zhang Xupeng was able to complete the task, especially since he was the least attentive student when they were being taught.

It seems that the boss's remarks about wanting to control the lifeline of the company's business had an effect.

In every era, there are always some micro-companies where the boss has one or two employees and pays them a few thousand dollars in salary, yet the company still manages to thrive.

The boss is never in the company, so the employees are practically omnipotent, doing all sorts of work. After a year and a half, the employees have figured out all the processes and believe that they are capable of getting rid of the boss and taking over his clients to work independently.

However, things didn't go as planned. Even when the employees lowered prices, they couldn't steal the boss's customers. That's where the boss's abilities lay.

Tan Jincheng didn't expect Zhang Xupeng to have such abilities. He only hoped that Zhang Xupeng would have a customer base that would allow him to establish himself and not become dependent on him. If that were the case, Jinpeng Trading would lose its purpose.

It's good that Zhang Xupeng was able to wake up in time and take on his due responsibilities, which is a good thing for Jinpeng Trading, Tan Jincheng, and himself.

If I had known he would grow up, I wouldn't have needed to come. After all, round-trip airfare is really expensive.
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After dinner, Sun Yuming and Liu Wenbin tactfully cleaned up the table and returned to their own rooms, leaving the space to Tan Jincheng and Zhang Xupeng.

After a long journey and a few drinks, Tan Jincheng had no interest in chatting and quickly took a shower before going to sleep.

Seeing this, Zhang Xupeng had no choice but to play on his phone.

The next day, the four of them packed up their samples as usual and went to the exhibition hall.

At nine o'clock, the exhibition hall opened on time, and the crowd began to pour in.

With only one week left until the end of the exhibition, the number of visitors to the Canton Fair has decreased compared to the beginning, with the clothing, textile and footwear exhibition area showing the most significant reduction.

According to official data, the export value of clothing, textiles, and footwear is likely to decline this year, with footwear exports already clearly expected to decline significantly. This means footwear companies will face a tough year.

The main purpose of my return was to see if these three people had the ability to take orders. If they didn't receive any orders or the order volume was very small during the few days I was away, then there was nothing I could do but turn into a salesperson again.

However, based on their account last night, Tan Jincheng felt it was quite good, so starting today, he will not interfere with them too much and will let them do as they please.

Tan Jincheng himself sat at the back of the exhibition area, checking whether there were any problems with the contracts they had signed.

The standardized contract and translation were provided. In addition, Tan Jincheng contacted the lawyer he had previously worked with, instructing Zhang Xupeng and the others to consult the lawyer if they had any questions. Basically, before leaving, he explained everything he could think of.

The Canton Fair attracts merchants from all over the world, with clothing being a major category. Even with expectations of a decline, the volume of purchases is still substantial. If a company can't even get a share of the profits from such concentrated purchasing, it would be incredibly incompetent.

According to official data, from April 15th to April 24th, a total of 10 days, the entire apparel category achieved a total transaction volume of US$15.7 billion, equivalent to approximately RMB 128.6 billion.

The daily transaction volume of clothing is approximately 13 billion RMB, which is a considerable figure. However, this is just the official average figure, and the actual figures cannot be calculated in this way.

For example, multinational giants like Carrefour and Walmart purchase a large amount from a well-known company, which exceeds the average value for a particular day.

Large enterprises take the lion's share, while smaller trading companies like Jinpeng Trading only get a small portion.

Zhang Xupeng secured $40 in orders in just five days, which isn't a small amount, but it's not exactly outstanding either; strictly speaking, it barely even meets the minimum requirement.

"The next few days will still be your priority, keep it up; there are seven days left until the 5th, so how about the three of you try to secure another $700,000 in orders?"

"And what about you? What are you doing?" Zhang Xupeng asked.

Tan Jincheng: "I'll help you with the logistics. I just said you should take the lead, not that I won't take orders."

"Are you trying to slack off?"

“I’m not being lazy. I’m training your order-taking ability. If you can take on a lot of orders, we won’t even need to participate in the Autumn Canton Fair, which will save you hundreds of thousands of yuan, enough for you to buy a new car.”

Then, Tan Jincheng said earnestly, "I'm going to set up a factory later, and the energy I can spare will definitely be limited. You have to support the company. If the factory I set up goes bankrupt, with you here, I won't be sleeping on the streets, right?"

This is the first time this year that Tan Jincheng has explicitly mentioned to Zhang Xupeng that he will no longer spend much energy on Jinpeng Trading; previously, the two had kept it a tacit understanding.

For a moment, Zhang Xupeng fell silent.

After a while, Zhang Xupeng laughed and said, "Alright then, I promised to protect your business, and I always keep my word. Go ahead and do it with confidence. If it really goes bankrupt, I'll protect you."

"That's right, brothers united can move mountains."

"That's right! But speaking of which, when we get back, I'll have to drive your new BMW for a few days. You bastard, you haven't earned a single penny from your new company, and you're already driving a BMW. I think you're getting too cocky."

"Haha, okay, no problem. I'll let you drive it for a few days when we get back. I'll look at some documents first." Tan Jincheng laughed heartily.

“Okay, go ahead.” Zhang Xupeng nodded with a smile.

Actually, Tan Jincheng wasn't looking for any information right now. Instead, he remembered the news about Mahua selling the company for several million yesterday. He hadn't seen it before and wanted to look it up online. He remembered it was from the early 2000s, but why hadn't he seen it before?

The information services at this Canton Fair were quite good, with dedicated internet access areas. Tan Jincheng carried his computer to the designated area, where there were many people who needed internet access. He connected to the network, but the speed was a bit slow; however, it was still usable.

After entering various keywords, Tan Jincheng still couldn't find the results he wanted. No wonder he remembered them wrong?
It can't be that bad. News of big companies getting humiliated is something the public enjoys. If you can't find it, there's only one possibility: it hasn't happened yet!

Next, Tan Jincheng carefully examined his QQ account and made the biggest discovery that QQ Space, which was once very popular but has been almost abandoned in later generations, had just been released for internal testing this month!
This year, the most prominent companies in the internet industry are not Jack Ma and Pony Ma, but Sina and Shanda. Even Sohu, which has since declined, is far stronger than QQ.

"The internet is still in its early stages; it seems like portal websites still dominate," Tan Jincheng sighed to himself.

Oh, and there's Fetion. Everyone says it's such a pity that it's no longer around. I don't know why, but it seems to be quite popular now. However, Tan Jincheng has never used it. Mainly because users in later generations have already developed the habit of using QQ or making phone calls and sending text messages if they don't have WeChat.

"Interesting, interesting. So Pony Ma isn't a big shot yet? Huh? It's already listed on the stock exchange?" Tan Jincheng exclaimed as he refreshed various news articles about QQ.

Oh, it was launched on June 16th last year. How come I didn't notice it before?

"What the hell!?"

Tan Jincheng was shocked when he checked QQ's current stock price! Today's real-time price is HK$5.4! Holy crap, that's so cheap? Isn't that like making a fortune?
(End of this chapter)