Chapter 172: Business Planning

"Yes, you take the spiced tea eggs from me, and I won't make an exorbitant profit. I'll make twenty cents per catty of eggs after deducting the cost! OfG course, if you can get your father to give me a discount on the spices, you'll make even more."

Making twenty cents per catty meant two yuan for ten catties. However, selling ten catties oneself could yield seven or eight yuan, which meant he would still make a five-yuan profit!

And the best part was not having to boil them himself.

This was a deal worth making!

"Are you serious?"

Li Hu still found it hard to believe. What Xia Yan was doing clearly put her at a disadvantage; she could easily sell them herself and make much more.

"Would I lie to you? However, we have to divide our territories. The town will be split in two, and so will the vegetable market. You take the morning market, and I'll take the evening market!"

"What? You're willing to give me a morning slot in the vegetable market too?"

Li Hu was even more astonished. Everyone knew that the vegetable market had the highest foot traffic in town, yet Xia Yan was willing to share such a lucrative market with him.

Xia Yan nodded. "As you can see, no matter how hard I try to sell alone, I can only sell that much in a day, and I still have to take care of the children at home. Letting you join in can be considered mutually beneficial."

After all, once the Chinese New Year was over, Xia Yan would return to the mountain camp. By then, the business would be run by her mother-in-law. Given her age, she would sell even fewer eggs a day. Besides, who knew how many jealous people would try to muscle in on the business? If her mother-in-law, a stranger in town, ended up being bullied, who could she reason with?

Li Hu's burly figure was intimidating enough to deter troublemakers, so having him around to help out would be a good thing.

Li Hu asked again, "Then why did you choose me?"

Xia Yan patted Li Hu on the shoulder with a worldly-wise expression. "Because you're bold and thick-skinned!"

Hearing this, the older man's face flushed red. This girl had a rather unique way of complimenting someone.

"However, I must make one thing clear to you: our prices must be unified! You can neither raise them nor lower them!"

"I understand that!"

Only now did Li Hu truly believe that Xia Yan genuinely intended to bring him along in the spiced tea egg business.

After a moment of thought, Xia Yan added, "I have one more thing to tell you. There's a rule for getting eggs from me: you must take more than two catties at a time."

"Two catties? What will that even cover? Ten catties minimum each time!"

Li Hu was already picturing his stall surrounded by crowds of customers and counting his money. Once he made enough money in the future, he would find a pretty and capable wife—someone just like Xia Yan.

Xia Yan had no idea she had just become Li Hu's standard for finding a partner.

After agreeing on the pickup time for the next day with Li Hu, Xia Yan packed up her things to head home. Before leaving, however, she went to Sister Zhang's egg-selling stall and ordered another forty catties of eggs, specifying that she would need the first batch delivered the very next day.

Sister Zhang's jaw dropped in disbelief. Was this girl really just selling tea eggs? This was practically wholesale trading.

Now that she needed a baseline of twenty catties every day, the eggs would certainly run out fast.

During dinner that evening, Xia Yan told her family about her arrangement with Li Hu.

Lin You was unconvinced. "Tomorrow, I'll go check out this Li Hu to see if he's reliable."

Chen Mei was just as puzzled as Li Hu. "Yan'an, our tea egg business is doing so well. Why let someone else in on it?"

Xia Yan took a large gulp of porridge. "Mom, I'm thinking about the future with this. Just think, after the Chinese New Year, we'll go back up the mountain. By then, you and Dad will be running this business, and you'll only sell about ten catties of eggs a day, sometimes even less.

"If I sell eggs to Li Hu now, even if you don't go out to sell them yourselves, you'll still earn two yuan a day! That's sixty yuan a month."

Hearing that she could make sixty yuan without stepping out the door, Chen Mei lost all her worries. She thought to herself that this was a great business—if it snowed or rained, she could just take a rest.

Lin Hai nodded in agreement. "Yan'an is right. This is a good method."

"Besides, I'll be creating some new breakfast items later. Our family will be the source, and by then we can find more partners. Once there are more people, Mom, all you'll have to do is stay home and count money!"

After saying this, Xia Yan turned to Lin You. "Husband, do you know anyone at the Administration for Industry and Commerce?"

"The Administration for Industry and Commerce? I think a veteran comrade-in-arms of mine went to work there. Why?" Lin You had never done business before and didn't understand the procedures.

"I want to register a trademark. That way, all our future tea egg businesses and food ventures can use this trademark. If anyone else wants to use it, they must buy into a franchise, and then we can charge franchise fees."

Xia Yan enthusiastically explained her plan, leaving the rest of the people at the table with question marks all over their faces, unable to fully grasp what she meant.

Still, seeing her so happy, they couldn't help but smile along.

"And I've already thought of the name: Fuwa, Fuwa Foods!"

...

Early the next morning, Li Hu pushed his cart to their doorstep.

Xia Yan didn't plan on setting up a stall today; she needed to go register her trademark.

Exchanging goods for cash on the spot, Li Hu took fifteen catties of tea eggs today, handed three yuan to Xia Yan, and hurried off to the vegetable market.

With ten catties of tea eggs in hand, Li Hu pushed his cart to the market, setting up at the same spot. This time, however, it took a lot of talking and offering free samples—on the condition that customers buy three after tasting—to get the business rolling.

The ten catties of tea eggs sold out in just over two hours. Although it was a bit slower than Xia Yan's pace, Li Hu was already quite satisfied.

This made him trust Xia Yan even more.

Meanwhile, Xia Yan went to the Administration for Industry and Commerce. The current procedures weren't overly complicated, but they still took time—roughly about half a year.

Xia Yan wasn't in a rush. On her way home, she stopped by the vegetable market and saw Li Hu packing up his stall.

She walked over and greeted him, "How was business?"

Li Hu smiled broadly. "Sold out completely! Xia Yan, your recipe is truly top-notch. Once I make enough money in the future, I'll put up the capital, and we can partner to open a restaurant. I guarantee it will surpass that state-run restaurant."

"Oh, I didn't realize you were already thinking that far ahead. Let's wait for the future; at least for now, I have no such plans."

Xia Yan had her own constraints. After all, stationed up in the mountain military camp, there were only so many families there, making it difficult to expand a business significantly.

"Why wait for the future? You should make money as early as possible. What are you waiting for?"

"Just focus on doing the tea egg business well for now. Before the New Year, I'll be preparing new food items! This business is already enough for you to make a profit!"

"But..."

What Xia Yan said made sense, but Li Hu was still a bit reluctant. After all, who would ever think they had too much money?

Xia Yan patted him on the shoulder. "Don't worry. If our cooperation goes smoothly in the future, I have plenty of ways to make money, and I guarantee I'll bring you along."

"You said it yourself!"

Only then did Li Hu agree, saying, "Right, I'll need twenty catties of eggs tomorrow. After I finish the morning market, I'll go tour around some other places."

"That's the spirit!"

Watching Xia Yan's receding figure, Li Hu felt that this girl possessed some kind of magical charm.