Chapter 5

Everyone fell silent for a moment, not speaking, each lost in thoughts about their future prospects.

Old Feng, the dorm leader, was the first to speak. He patted Qi Feng's shoulder, with the air of a senior appreciating a junior, and said in a half-joking, leadership-like manner, "Not bad, not bad! It’s quite surprising that Fengzi is already considering career planning in his sophomore year. I’m very pleased as the dorm leader. I never thought that Fengzi, who usually doesn’t care about anything, would mature so quickly. I think Fengzi’s idea is great, and we should all discuss it together."

Old Feng, as the dorm leader, was a rather ambitious person, a little scholar in the dorm. He was quite diligent, attending morning and evening study sessions regularly and never forgetting to encourage everyone to progress together. He would almost always call out to his roommates to join him, but unfortunately, few responded. So, he was very interested in exploring this topic with Qi Feng.

Old He was also very interested, as he was the only one in the dorm who wasn’t single. He had more expenses than the others and often felt financially strained.

Haozi, who was usually the most calm and rational, asked a very pointed question: "Fengzi, what’s your target amount?"

Qi Feng extended his index finger: "Ten thousand. Ten thousand should be enough." He really didn’t want to practice the Seven Injuries Fist, and he felt that the best fit for him from Wei Xiaobao’s side was the Dragon Elephant Bodhi Power.

Haozi thought for a moment, then suddenly looked up and asked everyone, "How was the beef for dinner today?"

Everyone was quite unanimous: "The taste was excellent!"

Haozi shook his finger and added, "And the price was very cheap! Think about it, our school has tens of thousands of students. If we sell this beef, and just one percent of the students buy it each day, the daily sales could easily exceed ten thousand. Even with a profit margin of just ten percent, we could make a thousand a day, thirty thousand a month. Rent a stall, hire an employee, and making ten to twenty thousand a month is not a problem. Ten thousand, in just over a semester."

The others looked at Haozi with changed expressions, as if they were seeing a god. A problem that everyone found very troubling was solved with just a few words from him.

"Amazing, Haozi! You’re usually so quiet, I didn’t expect this!" Old He gave him a thumbs up.

Haozi showed no sign of pride, shaking his head: "Actually, it’s not that impressive. And the plan isn’t feasible."

The others were puzzled: "Why not?"

Haozi shrugged: "It’s simple. The beef looks very profitable because it’s very cheap, too cheap! You can check the market price of raw meat. I estimate it’s even below the cost of raw meat. It’s impossible to get such low prices every day. The taste is good, but if the price is high in school, there won’t be much of a market. To open a store outside, the investment would be huge, completely deviating from the original goal."

"Ah, I see... Just a mirage..." The reasoning was quite simple, but everyone had forgotten to calculate in the heat of the moment. Now, faced with reality, they couldn’t help but shake their heads. Money wasn’t that easy to earn!

Only Qi Feng hesitated: "Maybe... it’s possible..."

"Oh?!" Everyone’s hopes were rekindled, but they also looked at Qi Feng with some disbelief.

Qi Feng explained: "Actually, the cow is raised by a friend of mine. Getting it at this price isn’t a problem, but I’m not sure if he can supply such a large quantity... I’ll go ask him."

Haozi was a bit unsettled: "Really? He could make more money by selling the raw meat directly in the market. What’s the difference between supplying you in bulk and giving you money?"

Qi Feng laughed: "Don’t worry, I have my ways. I’ll be right back." He pushed the door and went directly to the Yuelai Inn in the Legends of the Heroes. Everyone thought he was just going to make a phone call, not thinking much of it, as business secrets needed to be kept.

A short while later, Qi Feng returned excitedly. Everything was settled. The innkeeper had no objections to the bulk purchase, but refused to give any discounts. Ten pounds of braised beef for one tael of silver, which was equivalent to 15 RMB per pound! The extraction of silver in ancient times was very difficult, and the price of silver was vastly different from the present! In ancient times, one acre of land cost less than ten taels of silver. The inn could supply up to 200 pounds per day without any issues.

Qi Feng revealed the price and quantity to his roommates, and everyone was shocked.

Haozi was the most surprised. He had only mentioned it casually, but it actually came true.

Qi Feng wasn’t a selfish person. The idea was proposed by his roommates, and although it was just a small stall in the cafeteria, he had no experience. One person’s plan is short-sighted, so Qi Feng suggested that the entire dorm should participate, each contributing their efforts and sharing the profits equally.

Haozi was the first to disagree, for a simple reason: "The plan can run mainly because of the strong supply chain. As the owner of the supply channel, Fengzi should be in a dominant position. Even if we all join, we can’t share the profits equally."

In the end, they agreed that Qi Feng would take 50% of the profits, and each of the five roommates would get 10%. (Of course, if they lost money, it would be shared in the same ratio, but no one thought they would lose money.) Thus, the 514 Dorm Economic Cooperative was established!

Old Feng, as the first chairman of the 514 Dorm Economic Cooperative, began assigning tasks. Since he was close to the school administration, he would handle the negotiations with the school office and management to get approval for their "work-study" project. Lao Ji, who was experienced and well-connected, would handle renting the stall in the cafeteria. Haozi would manage the finances. Lao Wu would handle the miscellaneous tasks in the store and hire employees. Lao He, with his wide network, would handle advertising and promoting the stall. Qi Feng would handle the daily procurement.

It must be said that this seemed like a small project—just setting up a stall in the cafeteria to sell braised beef—but in practice, there were ten times more tasks than they had imagined! Fortunately, Qi Feng had decided from the beginning to work with everyone. Otherwise, handling all these tasks alone would have been overwhelming, and it might have taken him a month or two to open, with many things potentially derailing the entire project. Now, Qi Feng had only one task before opening: buy silver! Otherwise, the dozen or so silver bars he had wouldn’t last more than a few days. He also had to buy it secretly, as it would be hard to explain why he was stockpiling so much silver.

After about ten days of preparation, the 514 Dorm Economic Cooperative’s cafeteria stall finally opened. The beginning is always the hardest, but once it opened, everything was smooth sailing. The entire 514 dorm sat at a table far from the stall, waiting for dinner time.

Although everyone had analyzed the situation and believed they wouldn’t lose money, at most it would be a matter of how much they would earn, no one was entirely sure until it was tested by the market.

Old Feng, as the chairman, was the most anxious. "Lao He, did you do a good job with the advertising?"

Lao He gave an OK sign, "Definitely no problem. I’ve advertised in all the school groups, organized taste tests in different areas of the school, posted soft articles on the bulletin boards (his girlfriend Lily worked in the student council’s publicity department), and even hyped it up on the BBS by criticizing the various issues with the cafeteria. Now, the BBS community is quite looking forward to our student-run stall."

Everyone had been busy with their own tasks and hadn’t communicated much, so they all gave Lao He a thumbs up for his marketing efforts, which were almost on par with professional online promoters.

Old Feng nodded and then asked Haozi, "Is the pricing okay? Is it too expensive? Will we make money?"

Haozi quickly wrote down a series of numbers on a piece of paper: "Thirty yuan per pound, which is 60% of the market price, is extremely attractive. The cost is 15 yuan, a 100% profit margin, which is the kind of absolute profit that makes people ‘dare to trample all laws’ (a quote from Marx). Each serving is one tael, sold for three yuan, and anyone can afford to try it."

As they chatted, they became so engrossed that they didn’t even notice that their stall had already opened. It wasn’t until Old Feng had gone through all the aspects he could think of, and the roommates had shared their preparations, that they finally turned their attention back to their stall.

"Wow, that crowd, are they all for our stall?"

The scene before them stunned them. No one had expected such a huge turnout from the start. They quickly got up to see what was happening, but they couldn’t even get close to the stall, let alone see the situation—people were blocking the view.

The six of them stared in disbelief at the surging crowd. Old Feng couldn’t believe it: "Lao He, did you bring all these people?"

Lao He was also a bit dazed, "I don’t think so. I thought having a hundred or so people show up would be good enough."

Regardless, the big stone in everyone’s heart finally landed. The first battle in the business world was a resounding success! Two hundred pounds of beef sold out in an hour! On average, three pounds per minute! Fortunately, each serving was pre-portioned, and the school cafeteria used meal cards for payment. Otherwise, just weighing and making change would have been impossible!

Lao Ji joked, "Selling three pounds of beef per minute, now we can call ourselves ‘making a hundred or eighty yuan every minute’."

The initial success boosted everyone’s spirits, and they eagerly proposed improvements, such as selling drinks and rice, implementing a quota system to ensure more people could buy, and continuing to promote on the BBS and other campus media.

In the end, when Haozi presented the first month’s financial report, everyone was stunned again. Every day, they sold out completely, and with the addition of drinks and main dishes, sales soared! The monthly net profit was an astronomical figure for a regular college student: ten thousand! In the 514 Dorm Economic Cooperative, each member received one thousand, and Qi Feng got five thousand.

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**End of Chapter**