APCF -Chapter 21 (2)

He couldn’t wait for Bo Ye and landed in front of him in a single leap, perching the sunglasses onto the bridge of the other person’s nose with unerring accuracy.

After a moment of scrutiny, he realised that the other person’s exposed eyebrows, nose, mouth and so on…… also was excessively good-looking, and very attractive.

Hence, he fished out a hat and with a “pia”, forced it onto Bo Ye’s head.

Bo Ye remained where he was, letting him have his way in manoeuvring him. He said helplessly: “Satisfied?”

“So-so bah,” Qi Xingchen clicked his tongue, “If there was a mask it would be even better.”

“……What sort of appearance do you want to cover me up until?”

“Don’t blame me,” Qi Xingchen raised both of his hands, “who asked you be this good-looking?”

Only after he had finished speaking, did he become aware that he had appeared to say his true feelings, and hurriedly shut up, pretending that he had not just spoken.

But Bo Ye was not deaf. He glanced at the camera and asked in a low voice: “What did you just say?”

Qi Xingchen: “……”

Bo Ye: “You think I’m good-looking?”

Qi Xingchen’s eyes darted from side to side, then vaguely tried to dismiss it: “Don’t I always compliment you on your good looks?”

Come to think of it, the little fan indeed did openly rainbow fart about him quite a bit. But a thing like rainbow farting was difficult to distinguish genuine from fake, how could it be as truthful as something said unintentionally?

Bo Ye was in an inexplicably good mood, Qi Xingchen stealthily stole a glance at the upturned corners of his mouth and said indignantly, “Is it worth it to go this far?”

Looking at his appearance, Bo Ye could not help but laugh out loud: “Thank you for the compliment, you are also very good-looking.”

Qi Xingchen: “……”
Qi Xingchen: “Heh heh.”

As for if it was worth it, it was quite worth it.

Qi Xingchen and a securely bundled Bo Ye went around the market and returned with a not so good look on their faces: “I just counted; there are a total of three ironware sellers in the market. One of them is at the intersection with the highest customer traffic, the other is pretty similar to Uncle Tie over here, but the price ranges from 3 to 10 dollars cheaper, so there are quite a few people buying.”

“That’s just the way it is, ai,” Old Tie sighed, “Originally, because of the sturdy iron and good paint job, there were still quite a lot of people who purchased from me here. After being unexpectedly suppressed by these two sellers, only the repeat customers were willing to find me.”

The crowd was in a quandary; Old Tie’s situation all boiled down to having a bad location, in addition, the price was not great. Although the quality of the products was not bad, a piece of ironware was only around 10 to 20 dollars, it being 4 or 5 dollars cheaper would be equivalent to cutting a quarter of the price. Naturally, customers were willing to go for a cheaper one.

Old Tie’s core competencies were too poor.

Liu Ziyu sounded out, “Uncle Tie, can you try lowering the price to sell a large volume6?”

“I’m afraid not,” Uncle Tie said with a miserable face, “Take this iron basin for example; it cost me 12 to make and I sell it for 16, in total, only making four dollars. If I sell it for 13 like the other sellers, I’ll only make one dollar.”

At most only 30 to 40 washbasins could be sold, if one dollar is earned per piece, 30 to 40 dollars would be made in one day, which was not even enough to eat two meals.

Old Tie was an honest and true peasant man, never forging a single defective good throughout the years, and was also above doing that sort of thing.

When everyone heard this, they were just as miserable as he was. They couldn’t cut the prices, nor could they change the location of the booth that was fixed in place; what other solutions were there?

Qi Xingchen pondered for a moment and said: “Since the current situation is already like this, we might as well try curing a dead horse as if it was alive, I have a solution……”

He briefly recounted his idea to everyone, and Zhang Yunfei made the final decision, saying, “I feel that trying it is possible, why not let’s try it out for the morning?”

“Okay!” Luo Qiuman began to set up according to Qi Xingchen’s idea.

Half an hour later, a farmer who was looking around while pushing a wheelbarrow, came to a halt in front of Old Tie’s booth. After examining to his left and right, he said displeased, “Other sellers’ washbasins only cost 13 dollars, why are you selling them for 25 here?”

Qi Xingchen said unhurriedly: “If it is expensive, naturally, it would have its merits. If you wish to buy cheaper ones, look, all these over here are the cheap goods.”

Qi Xingchen pointed to the washbasins at the other end. The farmer scrutinised it carefully and asked doubtfully: “But from what I see, this 13 one is exactly the same as your 25 one, even the decorative design is the same, where is the difference?”

“It’s also not bad, try it if you don’t believe me,” Qi Xingchen remained unhurried, “but it’s just not as good as the 25 one.”

The farmer picked up a 13 one and knocked on it. The sound was solid and it rang clear, indeed, it was stronger than the other sellers’.

If a 13 was already this good, how much better must a 25 be? The farmer pondered for a moment, then fished out 25 dollars: “I’ll just trust you, boy, this one time, give me the best one!”

“Alright,” Qi Xingchen was all-smiles as he drew a plastic bag and placed the washbasin in it, “Uncle, come back when it’s been well-used.”

“Good lei!” The farmer left happily with the washbasin. Old tie and the group of guests behind him were also unbearably happy.

A washbasin that had doubled in price was this easily sold, Luo Qiuman did not know whether to cry or laugh: “Xingxing, where did you get all these tricks from?”

“I’d seen an identical case before.”

“I have a question,” Zhou Yu started to nitpick, “what if all the customers are inclined to buy the cheaper ones?”

“There are bound to be people who will choose the expensive ones from comparison and out of curiosity. The money we earn from selling an expensive one can balance out the money we earn from selling four cheap ones, so one to four would not result in a loss in any way.”

“Hoh, a marketing wizard!”
Zhang Yunfei smiled and extended his finger, thinking of poking Qi Xingchen’s forehead, “You little brain, how are you so smart!”

However, his finger was halfway there when Bo Ye’s arm suddenly interposed itself between the two, “Yunfei-ge, the iron spoons out in front are out of stock.”

“Oh oh,” Zhang Yunfei had no choice but to withdraw his hand, “I’ll get them for you.”