OFR – Chapter 27 Taobao shopkeeper.

“This post was from a QQ friend named ‘Clever Star,’ whom Mu Bai couldn’t remember when he had added. ‘Clever Star’ was in the online friends category, meaning they only knew each other online and had never met in real life.

When Mu Bai first created his QQ account, the system automatically recommended some friends, and he added them without much thought. After that, they barely chatted, which led to him having many online friends he couldn’t remember.

But this time, ‘Clever Star’s post caught Mu Bai’s attention because it contained pictures of jade stones and jewelry, along with a note that said, ‘Wenyu Taobao Store, New Year’s early discount sale. Contact me via QQ for an additional 5% discount on top of the 20% New Year’s sale. Cashback will be issued after you confirm receipt of the goods.’

Seeing this post, Mu Bai decided to contact ‘Clever Star.’ After all, he had some spare money now and was thinking it was time to buy some jade to upgrade the magical space. To make more money, the only way was to upgrade the space.

Mu Bai opened the chat with ‘Clever Star’ on his phone.

‘Are you there? I need some jade.’

Ten minutes later, in a small, inconspicuous jade shop located on a bustling commercial street in the northern district of Nanjing City:

‘Twenty thousand worth of jade?’

A young woman, around 25 or 26 years old, with a decent figure and a reasonably attractive face, looked at her QQ chat on the computer, a bit surprised.

This shopkeeper was ‘Clever Star’ on QQ, whose real name was Mi Xuan.

Mi Xuan had a degree in computer programming, but with so many graduates flooding the IT industry each year and limited job opportunities, she struggled to find a job in her field after graduation. Even when she occasionally landed a programming job, the intense workload and constant overtime were unbearable for her. After all, staying up late is rough on anyone, but especially for women.

So Mi Xuan eventually gave up on leveraging her degree and joined the e-commerce boom that had taken off in recent years.

Her parents already ran a jade shop, so she decided to open an online store selling jade and jewelry.

Thanks to some good luck, she made tens of thousands in her first year running the Taobao store. To put things in perspective, her parents’ physical store only made around 70,000 or 80,000 yuan annually.

After witnessing her abilities, her parents felt confident leaving the jade shop in her care.

Since taking over the shop, Mi Xuan had been diligent in running it, adding her frequent buyers to her QQ contacts.

One could tell from her QQ friend groups that she had a somewhat materialistic side. Besides groups for family and friends, her QQ friend groups were labeled: ‘Big Spenders,’ ‘Wealthy,’ ‘Middle Class,’ ‘Commoners,’ and ‘Broke.’

Mu Bai was in the ‘Broke’ group.

The people in this group were often customers with poor purchasing power who liked to ask a lot of questions and haggle heavily, even to the point where profits would be lost. After buying, they might also nitpick and cause trouble—customers that no online store owner enjoys dealing with.

Of course, this ‘Broke’ group also included friends she couldn’t remember adding but who rarely chatted with her.

When Mi Xuan checked her chat history with Mu Bai, she found that he fell into the latter category, with no chat history at all.

But she was still shocked that Mu Bai was asking for 200,000 yuan worth of jade. That was equivalent to her store’s monthly revenue.

And now, this person, whom she had never spoken with, was placing an order equivalent to her entire monthly sales. It seemed almost unreal.

‘Are you sure you want 200,000 yuan worth of jade?’ Mi Xuan double-checked, thinking perhaps the other party had made a mistake.

However, after confirming, there was no change in the order.

Mu Bai replied, ‘Yes, 200,000 yuan worth of regular jade. I don’t need jade jewelry, just plain jade. And I need it shipped today. If not, I’ll have to look elsewhere.’

It’s rare for online customers to demand same-day shipping, and most shopkeepers only promise to ship as quickly as possible.

In the past, when customers had made similar demands, Mi Xuan would usually ignore them. But this time, she couldn’t afford to. This was a 200,000 yuan order—a month’s worth of revenue. The profit alone would be 10,000 yuan.

She worked an entire month for that same amount.

In a fluster, Mi Xuan quickly replied on QQ, ‘Dear, I’ll do everything in my power to ship it today. Please consider our shop—it’s small, but I’ll provide you with the best service. If there are any issues after purchase, we offer a 15-day no-questions-asked return policy. If you don’t request a refund, I’ll provide 24/7 customer service for you. I’ll be your dedicated after-sales support!’

‘Hmm, such sincere language from the shopkeeper,’ Mu Bai thought as he read the message on QQ.

Feeling moved by her words, Mu Bai decided to purchase the jade from her store.

‘Alright, send me the Taobao link, and I’ll place the order.’

‘Thank you so much, dear! I’ll do my best to provide you with excellent service!’ 

Back at her computer, Mi Xuan was ecstatic after receiving Mu Bai’s confirmation. She quickly sent him the link to her Taobao store’s regular jade section and then moved him from the ‘Broke’ group to the ‘Wealthy’ group.

As for the ‘Big Spenders’ group, no one was in it yet. Mi Xuan felt only customers who spent over a million yuan could be placed in that group. For now, it remained empty.

The ‘Wealthy’ group, including Mu Bai, now had only two people—customers who had spent over 100,000 yuan at her store and whom she made sure to provide exceptional service.

Soon, her Taobao shop’s backend notification popped up.

‘Ding! User 188108***** has placed an order for 200,000 yuan worth of regular jade. Shipping address: Longzhou Road, Southwest District, Nanjing City. Contact number: 188108*****. Remarks: QQ Little Mu, please ship as soon as possible.’

‘Wow, big spender!’ Mi Xuan couldn’t help but cover her slightly rosy lips in surprise as she looked at the expected notification.

This was the largest order she had ever received.

Her heart raced as she quickly messaged Mu Bai to confirm receipt of the order and immediately began organizing the discounts, after-sales service, and contacting the courier.”