Chapter 21

"Hello, Mr. Li, the section chief, right? We are from the General Affairs Office of the Municipal Experimental School. My surname is Su, and this is my colleague, Mr. Wang." Under the guidance of a plump salesperson, Jia Hongjian met the section chief of the small appliances department. He presented a forged letter of introduction that he had written himself.

In the 1980s and 1990s, a letter of introduction was a very important document. For example, if you were on a business trip to another city, without a letter of introduction, you would basically not receive any hospitality from the other company, and you might even be unable to find a hotel to stay in!

In the letter of introduction that Jia Hongjian wrote himself, he vaguely mentioned, "To support the teaching plan, we need to purchase several scientific calculators," without specifying the exact quantity. This vague wording piqued the curiosity of Section Chief Li, who invited Jia Hongjian and Wang Danqing to sit down, served them tea, and then asked, "Mr. Su, how many calculators does your school need to purchase?"

"About a dozen," Jia Hongjian said without any hesitation. When he said this, Wang Danqing's face turned a bit red, but fortunately, it was covered by foundation. She felt that if she had to say it, she would definitely be embarrassed to ask for a dozen calculators with a letter of introduction.

"A dozen? This quantity... hehe... isn't enough for a whole class, right?"

"Indeed, our school is directly guided by the Shanghai Normal University and is under the jurisdiction of the Experimental Education Bureau. It is an experimental school for primary and secondary school curricula. Recently, during our research trip to the United States, we found that they have students use calculators for calculations. Some states even set the value of pi to 3 to make calculations easier for students. However, the United States is still the world's leading country... hehe. Our school wants to study this topic, so we have selected a class for the experiment. The total experiment duration is one semester. The class is divided into two groups: one group continues to use manual calculations, while the other uses calculators..." Jia Hongjian explained with a natural, bitter smile.

"Really? In the United States, pi is 3?" Section Chief Li's eyes widened; he found it hard to believe. "In such an advanced country with such good education, pi is not 3.1415926 but 3?" He thought it was unscientific!

Indeed, it was unscientific, but it was true. Seeing Section Chief Li's reaction, Jia Hongjian knew his little trick had worked. Li's attention had shifted to the strange educational methods in the United States, rather than questioning the authenticity of the letter of introduction or the logic of buying only a dozen calculators.

"Mr. Su, do you have any specific models in mind?" Section Chief Li shook his head and took out a stock ledger. At this point, the plump salesperson immediately reported the specific models. After checking the purchase prices and other information in the ledger, Li thought for a moment and said, "Although the quantity is small, we usually don't offer wholesale prices for a dozen calculators. However, since Mr. Su and Mr. Wang are doing this for the scientific and educational research of our country, if your experiment succeeds and is promoted throughout the city and the country, it will benefit all students and contribute to the four modernizations. So today, we will make an exception and offer a 95% wholesale price. How about that?"

"Thank you, Mr. Li!" Wang Danqing, hearing Jia Hongjian thank him, quickly followed suit. She was filled with surprise and joy. She had never understood why Jia Hongjian had gone through the trouble of forging a letter of introduction, but now she realized he was aiming for a wholesale discount! Together, they had a thousand yuan, and a 5% discount would save them 50 yuan!

However, to her surprise, Jia Hongjian spoke again, "Mr. Li, if our small-scale experiment achieves some success, we will expand it to the entire school. At that time, the purchase quantity will not be just a dozen. To give you an idea, our school has over 2,000 students from elementary to high school..."

Wang Danqing tried her best not to show her surprise. She was stunned by Jia Hongjian's ambition. Was he really going to haggle for a 95% discount and then make promises about future bulk purchases? For her, it was a "why" question, but for Jia Hongjian, it was a "why not" question.

Then, Jia Hongjian, as if he were really there to discuss procurement for his alma mater, gradually negotiated the price with Section Chief Li. An hour later, he managed to get the price of a dozen calculators down to 80% of the original. As Wang Danqing marveled at Jia Hongjian's previously unseen haggling skills, he suddenly said something that surprised her even more.

"Mr. Li, there's one more thing. When we get the invoice, can you mark the price a bit higher?"

"Ha ha ha, little brother, you really are..." Section Chief Li put on a "I understand" expression, "Sure, no problem."

"By the way, Mr. Li, let me take two or three different models back for our leaders to see. Don't worry, I won't take them for free; I can give you a deposit." After saying this, Jia Hongjian and Section Chief Li exchanged some polite words, and he left the Ziyun Mall with two hundred yuan, taking a Casio, a Sony, and a domestic calculator.

Wang Danqing followed Jia Hongjian to the bus stop. She secretly watched him for a while, hesitating whether to ask him something. Finally, she asked, "Why did you haggle with Mr. Li for so long and promise future bulk purchases?"

Jia Hongjian turned to look at her for a while and then smiled, explaining, "Do you think I wanted to? It's all part of the act. If we were really procurement personnel from an experimental school, wouldn't we do these things? Even asking him to mark the invoice at the original price is part of the act, to make him believe I'm a real buyer who would even ask for a kickback! This way, he won't suspect us when we verify the authenticity of the calculators... Besides, it looks like I'm asking for a kickback, so he marks the invoice price higher, but when we claim compensation, do you think they will look at the invoice price or the actual price we paid?"

Wang Danqing nodded, somewhat understanding but still puzzled, "Where did you learn all this? I've never seen you like this before..."

"Ha ha..." Jia Hongjian laughed, looking up at the little fox spirit and pointing to his temple, "Think more with this. Think about what kind of person Mr. Li would see and not suspect."

On the surface, that's what he said, but in reality, just imagining it wasn't enough; it also required a deep understanding of society and the details of various professions. Would Jia Hongjian casually share these details with others? He could think of them by putting himself in the role, but a girl like Wang Danqing, with limited social experience, wouldn't be able to think of all the details. This difference was because Jia Hongjian was an adult in a young person's body. If Wang Danqing tried to imagine and design roles based on what he said, she wouldn't be able to fool many people. If there were benefits, he would keep them to himself. Was Jia Hongjian the type to casually share his secrets?

Soon, the bus arrived. Jia Hongjian and Wang Danqing didn't go directly to Sony's Shanghai branch but to the Sony product repair center near the 80,000-person stadium. After getting a number at the repair center, Wang Danqing, who had been fascinated by the novelty of getting a number, asked Jia Hongjian, "Why did we come all the way here? Why not go to Sony's branch? Isn't this a bit of a detour?"

Jia Hongjian was in a particularly good mood. Seeing that Wang Danqing couldn't understand his choices made him feel especially smart and wise. No wonder middle-aged men liked to keep young girls in their golden houses; the girls knew nothing, making the men seem all the more capable, and the girls were also innocent and in their prime... tsk tsk.

"Because if we go directly to Sony's branch, their leaders might worry about offending the mall. Generally, these branches are responsible for sales and deal with mall personnel daily. If they offend the mall, the mall might make things difficult for them, and although Sony is a big company, it would be a hassle for the branch leaders. The repair center, on the other hand, has the ability to authenticate products and, being a repair department, wouldn't immediately think about offending the mall. Even if we went directly to Sony's branch, the branch leaders might avoid responsibility and send us to the repair center anyway..."

"Oh..." Wang Danqing nodded, struggling to understand. She felt particularly stupid today. Why couldn't she understand Jia Hongjian's well-reasoned and thoroughly considered choices right away? She had always thought she was quite smart, but today, she realized she was so stupid... No, that's not right! Her classmates and even her schoolmates wouldn't consider these things, so it wasn't that she was stupid; it was that Jia Hongjian was too smart today.

Soon, it was Jia Hongjian's turn. He quickly had the Sony repair personnel authenticate the calculator as a counterfeit and smoothly obtained a written certificate from the repair center. With the written certificate, half of the money-making process was complete. All that was left was to pick up the goods and then "claim the money" a few days later.

He waved to Wang Danqing, who was waiting obediently like a kitten, and walked out of the repair center with a confident stride. "In a few days, our thousand yuan will double," he announced to the former little fox spirit, handing her the written certificate with a confident smile.

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