"If you've seen enough, please head back, everyone. Mr. Shi, could I have a word?" Yang Rui's voice was quiet, but it still snapped Dong Junshi and the others out of their daze.
Hu Yanshan felt even worse. Ever since starting high school, he had swaggered around Xibao Middle School unchallenged, yet it seemed the world had changed overnight. Fine, he was no longer the most famous student. Fine, his father couldn't measure up. Fine, his buddies couldn't measure up... but what was this 2,000 yuan that seemed to have fallen from the sky?
"Is that remittance slip real?" the other two whispered.
"Stop embarrassing yourselves. It's real." Dong Junshi lowered his head and walked straight back.
Hu Yanshan no longer felt like going down the hill to eat, either. He called out and followed his soon-to-be crackpot strategist back to the dormitory.
Astonished and worried, Shi Gui came over to the side gate and explained apologetically, "I didn't mean to tell them about your writing payment... I thought they were your classmates or something, and figured they already knew..."
"Actually, I was going to offer you a way to make some money, but now..." Ignoring his explanation, Yang Rui slipped the envelope into his pocket and drew out his words.
Shi Gui hurriedly forced a smile. "It's my fault, all my fault. Well... what sort of opportunity did you mean?"
Yesterday, Shi Gui might not have taken Yang Rui's opinions so seriously, but after seeing a remittance of 2,000 yuan for his writing, he could hardly do otherwise.
If someone who could earn a year's worth of his income in one go didn't know a way to make money, that would have been strange.
Yang Rui studied him seriously for a while before saying, "The fact that you thought of delivering meals shows you really do have a head for business. And you dared to put it into practice. That puts you ahead of other people."
"It wasn't much of an idea. You've been the only one ordering deliveries all along." Shi Gui chuckled twice, not feeling proud of it.
Yang Rui smiled. "That's because you were ahead of your time. That's a good thing. It proves you can seize opportunities other people can't, like the one I'm offering you now."
Shi Gui straightened his back, looking ready to listen attentively.
At that moment, an outsider might have found it a little odd to see a secondary school student earnestly instructing an adult. Yet both people involved felt it was perfectly normal.
Yang Rui's mental age was about the same as Shi Gui's, and with the sense of superiority his rebirth gave him, his bearing was naturally different. Shi Gui was a young man who had outgrown his rebellious phase and longed for recognition. He didn't want to live a prescribed life like his parents' generation, but after opening his own little restaurant, he hadn't made much profit. A chance to change things was all the more precious.
"Have you been to the provincial capital?" Yang Rui found a large rock beside the road and sat down.
Shi Gui hurriedly sat down with him and said quietly, "A few times."
"Do you know anyone there?"
Shi Gui racked his brains. "Two of my classmates work there. I haven't been in touch for ages."
"Would you be willing to go to the provincial capital and try to make something of yourself?"
"Yes." After that series of questions, Shi Gui had guessed a little of what was coming. He asked, "What would you need me to do?"
"Sell study materials. College entrance exam study materials."
"College entrance exam study materials?"
"See those students over there? They came here to copy study materials." Yang Rui pointed at the little grove beside the school gate. There were several benches there. It had once been a place where literary-minded youths gathered to read poetry, but students from other schools had now taken it over.
Shi Gui had seen people there when delivering meals before, but hadn't known they were students from elsewhere. Only after Yang Rui explained did he understand a little. He said quietly, "You mean you want to print study materials and sell them in the provincial capital?"
"We'll start nearby, but we'll definitely expand into the provincial capital. Look, all these students have come from so far away. They have to pay for travel, and they waste time, too. Wouldn't it work better if you went straight to their schools to sell them?"
"What if they only buy one copy and copy it from each other?"
"Not everyone needs to buy one, but not everyone can copy it by hand, either. Visit one place a day, and as long as one student in ten buys it, that's a decent income. If we can sell in the city and the provincial capital, it'll be even more. Besides, we can keep releasing new editions, providing new answers and new solutions... in short, you don't need to worry about the papers. I guarantee they'll stay appealing. Once you've learned the ropes yourself, you can hire people to make the rounds, too."
"How will we print them, then?" Shi Gui asked the crucial question.
"To begin with... we'll use mimeographs."
"Mimeographs? Sell mimeographed papers?" No one in China in the eighties was unfamiliar with mimeographing. Any organization of any standing, whether a township government, a school, or a village committee, had its own mimeograph machine, large or small, and the results were much the same. Cutting a stencil took over ten minutes, but it could print at most a few dozen sheets before becoming useless. The lettering wasn't clear enough, either, and the ink easily dirtied your hands...
Yang Rui nodded. He certainly wasn't joking.
Shi Gui lowered his head and thought for a long time before saying, "I could spend a few hours cutting stencils in the evenings, but I probably wouldn't be very fast..."
Yang Rui laughed. "Nobody's asking you to do the mimeographing."
"Who'll print them, then?"
"I'll find people at school to do it." Yang Rui smiled as he spoke. "There are students in both the junior and senior high divisions willing to work part-time. With all the equipment in place, printing a few hundred copies of test papers a day, or a little more, wouldn't be hard. Then we'll bind them into booklets and sell them at a fairly low price. That's a pretty good way to make money, isn't it?"
There were no part-time jobs for students in 1982. For many students, even an income of one jiao a day could save their family one person's living expenses. That was an enormous help.
Shi Gui asked, "Couldn't we have a printing house do it?"
"First, we have small print runs and lots of different titles. A printing house wouldn't be flexible enough. Second, mimeographing costs less, so it's cheaper. Let's test the waters first, then decide whether to use a printing house depending on how things go. What do you think?"
Shi Gui said hesitantly, "I don't have much capital. I even borrowed money from relatives to open the restaurant..."
Yang Rui cut him off. "If you're willing to do it, I'll give you two options."
"Yes?"
"The first option is to become partners. I'll handle production, and you'll handle sales. We each pay half the initial cost of the mimeograph machine, paper, ink, and pens as our capital contribution. I get seventy percent of the profits, and you get thirty. The second option is that I cover all the expenses and pay you a salary of fifty yuan a month. You'll still handle sales, but your income will be guaranteed. Whichever option you choose, you'll have to hand the restaurant over to someone else." Yang Rui had been observing Shi Gui over the past few days and knew his restaurant wasn't doing particularly well. Although its income was more than twice fifty yuan a month, both he and his wife worked there.
Besides, township restaurants also had to deal with IOUs-that is, customers buying on credit-so it could hardly be considered an excellent livelihood.
Shi Gui still had considerable ambitions. Hesitantly, he said, "I don't think a seventy-thirty split is quite right. If two people are partners, shouldn't it be fifty-fifty?"
His tone wasn't very firm.
Yang Rui, however, shook his head decisively. "I provide the test papers. That alone represents a substantial expense. If the profits aren't substantial, I'd rather keep submitting articles to magazines. Besides, I'm also responsible for production and management. Seventy percent isn't too much."
Originally, his bottom line had actually been a sixty-forty split, but Shi Gui's loose tongue had lowered his expectations for their partnership.
In his eyes, Shi Gui, with his drive and eye for opportunities, was a rare business partner in these times. But if he didn't improve and change, their partnership wouldn't last long. Giving up another ten percent of the profits was therefore pointless.
Had Shi Gui known what Yang Rui had based his decision on, he would certainly have regretted it.
But he didn't know. He wrestled with it a while longer, then, realizing Yang Rui wouldn't budge, remained hesitant. Even if he invested only a month or two's income, failure would still hurt.
After a while, Yang Rui smiled. "You don't like either the first option or the second?"
"I do have some concerns..."
"Then how about I give you a third option?"
Shi Gui still wanted to do this business. He immediately straightened his chest. "Let's hear it."
"Commission. I'll reimburse ten yuan in travel expenses each month, and give you a twenty-percent commission on every set of test papers you sell. If you sell more, the commission can go up further. That way, you won't need to put in any capital." Unlike the first option, the third spared him the capital investment but reduced his future earnings. Once more people became involved in sales, Shi Gui would be no different from those who joined later.
Of course, this was also the option that carried the least risk for Shi Gui.
After briefly considering it, Shi Gui chose the third option, then added, "If I want to buy a share later, can I still do that?"
"Yes, but we'll have to discuss the actual profit split then."
Shi Gui nodded repeatedly, not feeling there would be any fundamental difference between negotiating now and negotiating later.
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