Chapter 21

Wei Shufen still didn’t bring herself to take the initiative to do something with Hao Meng. She had a thin skin and felt embarrassed, so she finally sighed and decided to let things take their natural course. "Xiao Meng, I’m going upstairs first. You should go to bed early too, don’t stay up too late."

"Okay!"

Hao Meng didn’t think much about it. After Wei Shufen went upstairs, he finished watching the movie. Although he lived with Wei Shufen and Guo Niang, he didn’t feel awkward at all. It was a different era now, and co-renting wasn’t anything new.

Wei Shufen lay in bed, tossing and turning, unable to sleep. She thought about the past, the future, Guo’s deceased father, and her own fate. It wasn’t until the middle of the night that she finally fell into a hazy sleep. In her dream, a man pressed himself on top of her, doing something she hadn’t done in a long time. At first, it was her own husband, then his face became blurry, and finally, it turned into her current 'little boss.' When she woke up, it was almost dawn, but the dream from last night was still vividly clear.

Before they knew it, Hao Meng’s second-hand appliance supermarket had been open for almost half a month.

The daily revenue was consistently over 5,000 yuan. After deducting labor costs, rent, utilities, and other miscellaneous expenses, the net profit was about half. In the nearby neighborhoods, Hao Meng’s second-hand appliances had gained a certain level of recognition. The TVs, refrigerators, washing machines, and air conditioners he sold were almost all brand new, and so far, none of them had any issues.

"Brother Meng, you’re here."

Hao Meng pushed open the door of Bai Lan’s mobile phone store and walked in. Fei Yu was the only one in the store. She smiled and nodded, asking, "Where’s Sister Bai Lan?"

"She went out to contact suppliers. She heard there’s a big client today who has over a hundred tons of old mobile phones and parts to sell!" Fei Yu handed Hao Meng a bottle of mineral water and said with a playful smile.

Over a hundred tons?

Hao Meng was taken aback for a moment and then smiled, "That’s quite a big client." He had only been in the scrap recycling business for about a year, and the second-hand mobile phone refurbishment and recycling industry already had its own established supply chain. The initial period of high profits had passed because the pace of technological advancement was too fast. Some phones that cost thousands when they were first released might be reduced by a third or even half within a few months.

Some second-hand recyclers had already accumulated a large number of old mobile phones and parts, but those items could only be used for scrap metal recycling. However, for Hao Meng, they had significant value.

Bai Lan had rented a large warehouse nearby to store the old mobile phones they had acquired. In about a week, they had almost swept through all the 'loose goods' on the electronics street, and the quantity had exceeded 100,000 units. On average, each unit cost just over one yuan.

However, Hao Meng’s 220,000 yuan acquisition funds were almost depleted.

He had pooled all his resources to gather 15,000 units of old mobile phones, and after 'repairing' them, the number was reduced to around 10,000 units. It wasn’t that Hao Meng didn’t want to repair all of them; he simply didn’t have enough gold coins. The 'recycling station' didn’t offer credit! Hao Meng wasn’t in a hurry to have Bai Lan sell the goods. To establish a brand in the second-hand refurbished mobile phone market, a sufficient quantity was essential.

"Here you go!" Hao Meng handed Fei Yu the MINI tablet she had dropped, smiling. He had actually fixed it long ago but deliberately delayed to avoid her asking too many questions.

"My tablet?" Fei Yu was taken aback for a moment, then turned it on and played with it for a while before looking up and blinking at Hao Meng.

Hao Meng smiled without saying anything. Looking at Bai Lan’s mobile phone store, which was only 30 square meters, he thought it was too small and would be insufficient for future operations. He needed to find a larger place, and he would discuss this with Bai Lan later.

"Brother Meng, do you really not have a girlfriend?" Fei Yu leaned against the counter, giving him a flirtatious look.

Hao Meng nodded, tilting his head and smiling, "What, are you trying to seduce me?"

Fei Yu laughed, not caring at all, and said in a coquettish tone, "How can it be called seduction? I’m working for you now, right? You’re my boss!" She licked her lips and lowered her voice, seductively adding, "Don’t you want to take advantage of me a little?"

Hao Meng rolled his eyes, speechless, and looked at her with a mischievous smile, "Alright, I’ll take advantage of you. I’ll take you to a hotel later, okay?"

"Don’t be so direct, can you be a bit more subtle? I’m still young, you know." Fei Yu looked shy, lowering her head and acting cute.

"Young? What’s young about you? You’re not that young anymore!" Hao Meng stared at her chest and said with a grin.

"Bad boy... Sister Bai Lan is back." Fei Yu left Hao Meng and ran over to open the door for Bai Lan. After getting to know Hao Meng, they had become good friends, one playful and the other teasing. They got along well and often joked around, with no taboo topics.

Bai Lan entered the store and first turned on the fan. It wasn’t even noon yet, but it felt like a furnace outside. Just walking around for a bit made one sweat profusely.

"The person who contacted me indeed has a large number of old mobile phones. He’s selling them at 25,000 yuan per ton, and he claims to have no less than 100 tons!" Bai Lan looked at Hao Meng and said.

Hao Meng frowned and calculated, "25,000 yuan per ton is a bit high. If the price could be lower, we could buy them."

"How much lower?" Bai Lan knew that Hao Meng would make the final decision on the price.

"15,000 yuan, and we’ll take all 100 tons!" Hao Meng gritted his teeth. 100 tons of old mobile phones at 1.5 million yuan wasn’t too low.

"Impossible!" Bai Lan shook her head. Hao Meng’s offer was too low, with a 10,000 yuan difference per ton. The seller definitely wouldn’t agree.

Hao Meng thought for a moment and said, "Let’s negotiate, but don’t rush. The most important thing now is to start selling!" They were running out of money.

"Selling?" Bai Lan’s eyes lit up, and she smiled, "When do we start?"

"I’ve already brought the goods back. Over 10,000 units in total, 5,000 smartphones, and 7,000 non-smartphones." Hao Meng hadn’t been idle during this period. He contacted a cardboard factory to order a batch of unbranded boxes for the phones, then had someone pack them with chargers, making them look like new phones. However, no one was a fool, so they would still clearly state that they were refurbished phones when selling them.

"So many?" Bai Lan was taken aback, and Fei Yu, standing nearby, stuck out her tongue, looking at Hao Meng with a different expression.

Hao Meng smiled, "Is that a lot? Non-smartphones for 50 yuan each, smartphones for 200 to 300 yuan each. For bulk sales, the quantity and price can be determined by you, Sister Bai. Our lowest purchase price for non-smartphones is 25 yuan, and for smartphones, it’s 120 yuan."

He paused for a moment and added, "You can contact the channels and start distributing them across the province. Once this batch is sold, we’ll have enough capital to buy more!"

Non-smartphones: 7,000 units, 350,000 yuan. Smartphones: 5,000 units, 1,000,000 yuan.

If all these phones were sold, Hao Meng would make at least 1,000,000 yuan in net profit, even after deducting Bai Lan’s share.