Chapter 12 Consolidation of Shares

  Consolidated shares

  He Wan Nian looked up at Yao Fang's sincere expression and said, "Brother Yao, as a prominent merchant and member of a prestigious family, is willing to lift me, He Wan Nian, a humble small trader from the border port. I am honored! Please speak your mind, Brother Yao."

  Yao Fan saw that He Wan Nian was already on his way, and felt satisfied. He probed: "Brother He, you're in the pawnshop business, you must have many channels for selling goods."

  He Wan laughed complacently and said, "We pawnbrokers may not be able to communicate with all four seas, but we are connected to the three rivers. Although the pawnshops in this Qing dynasty cannot be said to be interconnected, they do have some connections. The items I collect here rely on the exchange of goods with fellow merchants and the purchase of various business establishments. While it's not possible to sell them nationwide, it's no problem to transport goods to seven or eight provinces in the south and north."

  Yao Fan felt that there was a possibility, and said: "To be honest with you, Brother He, my Yao family can only communicate with the Western world outside of Qing Dynasty, but as for the five lakes and three rivers in this country, we don't have any sales network. This time, our family sent me back to China for an important matter, which is to establish a domestic sales channel. I just ask one question, Brother He, are you willing to do this big business with me?"

  The watch on He Wan's wrist reflected the light of the oil lamp, with a comfortable texture of leather strap and a noble and elegant metal head.

  He Wan Nian carefully felt the watch on his wrist, and after hearing Yao Fang's words, he was almost overwhelmed with excitement, nearly jumping up.

  Before that, he accompanied Yao Feng and watched Liu Ziming and his men inspect the goods. These square boxes sealed with yellow adhesive paper had already moved He Wan's heart. After opening a few boxes of each product for inspection, He Wan was eager to discuss with Yao Feng and divide some to sell together. However, he was afraid that he would be too obvious and would be slaughtered by Yao Feng on the price.

  This is what Yao Fang said, he was willing to partner with him in this good business, how could he not be tempted! Where is the reason for not agreeing!

  Before he could finish speaking, He Wan Nian took a step back and bowed deeply to Yao Zhen with a 90-degree bow, almost hitting his head on Yao Zhen's belly due to the narrow space in the room.

  "Yao brothers, if you are not teasing me on my birthday, then take this bow from me!"

  Yao Fan was somewhat surprised, thinking that the other party would likely agree, but didn't expect He Wannian to be so serious. Yao Fan hastily said: "I regard you, Brother He, as my own brother, why bother teasing me."

  He Wan Nian stood up straight, his face filled with enthusiasm at this moment. He took a step forward, tightly grasping Yao Feng's hand and said: "Since Brother Yao is serious, then I, He Wan Nian, am willing to work together with brothers."

  Yao Fan saw that his plan had succeeded, and he couldn't help but feel delighted. He proposed: "Now let's set up a partnership and open a business together to sell these goods. We'll split the profits equally, what do you think?"

  He Wan nian solemnly shook his head: "This won't do, these goods were all brought in by Brother Yao's route, ordinary people can't even get them. I've seen that foreigner, he didn't bring such good things to sell in the Qing Dynasty either, but only used inferior goods to cheat our great Qing country, and yet they were taken as treasures by the officials of our great Qing country! It's really infuriating!"

  "Brother Yao is willing to share the benefits with me, it's already a great honor for me. How can I dare ask for 40% of the profit? Even if it's just 20%, I'll be more than satisfied."

  Yao Feng saw that he was sincere, and was somewhat moved by him. He said: "Then let's settle for 30%! We can't make less than that. As the saying goes, 'when there's money to be made, everyone makes it', this is the way of business."

  He Wan Nian was visibly delighted, and flattered: "Brother Yao is truly a man of great vision, this remark shows the demeanor of a nobleman! Alright, I won't decline, I'll take 30%!"

  Yao Fengshun pushed the boat with the water, and hurriedly discussed with He Wannian: "Brother Wannian, I'm a bit tight on cash right now, so you lend me 10,000 taels of silver first. I'll pawn this watch to you, you take it and sell it, the profit is all yours, and we'll calculate the price at 150 taels per piece as you said."

  He Wan Nian said: "This is easy to say, don't look at my He family's this small room, but if you want to talk about 30,000 or 50,000 taels of silver, that can still be taken out at any time. However, this would be taking advantage of Brother Yao."

  Yao Fandao said, "Well, I'll tell you the truth. The wholesale price of these watches in our family is 110 taels each. Now if you're willing to take them at 150 taels each, I can still make a profit. In the future when we set up our business, we'll calculate the cost based on the wholesale price of 110 taels."

  He Wan Nian was delighted to hear that the profit would be so great, and said: "That's a good idea. But I think it would be better if we set up the framework of this business immediately, I'll invest some silver, and Brother Yao will invest some goods, which will serve as our respective capital in the business. Then, using the company's funds to purchase Brother Yao's goods, and for those that cannot be bought, they will be considered as the company's debt owed to Brother Yao. This way, Brother Yao will have the liquidity to turn around, and the company can start operating immediately."

  "As for the calculator that Brother Yao left at my place last time, I'll have someone send it over right away."

  "This is exactly what Yao Fan wanted to hear. He immediately said: 'This is a great idea! ... As for that calculator, I'll consider it interest on the loan.'"

  He Wan Nian burst out laughing: "In just a few days, what's the interest? Brother, aren't you still angry with me because of that day when I didn't give you enough silver for the pawnshop? Or else, do you want to slap my old He's ears?"

  Yao Wenhao burst out laughing.

  The two then discussed the sales channel, Yao Fan didn't quite understand, and only heard He Wannian talk a lot.

  Yao Fan believed that someone like He Wan Nian, who had been immersed in the Qing Dynasty business world for so many years, must have more experience than himself. So he let He Wan Nian take care of the charter of this business with ease.

  The two men had made up their minds, and came outside to find that the restaurant's dishes had already been sent over by the waiter, consisting of coarse foods such as braised meat, dried tofu, coarse grain buns, fried pancakes, scallions, and salty fermented bean paste.

  Yao Fan looked down on these things, but the crowd of partners drooled and surrounded him, standing by his side. As long as the master didn't speak up, no one dared to eat first.

  He Wannian asked Yao Fanxian to join in, and Yao Fanxian didn't stand on ceremony. He immediately grabbed a pancake, broke off a green onion and dipped it in sauce, then stuffed two slices of braised beef inside and started eating with gusto. He Wannian also casually rolled up a pancake. The other workers saw that the two bosses had already started eating, so they couldn't wait any longer and began grabbing food to eat.

  Yao Fan and He Wannian took their pancakes and walked into the courtyard under the moonlight to eat.

  "Hmm, not bad, fragrant, whose pancake is this, it's quite chewy."

  "Brother Yao, aren't you also eating jianbing overseas?"

  "That's it, my ancestors were from Shandong Province, so I naturally often eat it."

  He Wan Nian's spirit was high as he said, "This is the pancake from Shi's restaurant, it's not that delicious. Tomorrow I'll ask my wife to make some pancakes for you to try. By the way, Brother Yao, where are you planning to spend the night tonight?"

  He Wannian probably thought that Yao Fang wanted to go to Chunmiantang.

  "I have goods piled up here, I'm worried, so I'll have to keep an eye on them overnight."

  He Wan Nian nodded, as if he wanted to say something, but hesitated and stopped.

  He Wan Nian finished eating and returned home, ordering his family to send over the best bedding, quilts, pillows, and other household items. Even iron pots, water ladles, and brooms were sent over.

  Yao Weng lay down early and spent the night in a house at the back of the courtyard that served as a warehouse.

  He's family left three people to help Yao Fang's three new employees guard the goods, these three were He Wan Nian's request when renting a house from Yao Fang.

  The next morning, He Wan Nian rushed over excitedly and invested 60,000 taels of silver. Yao Feng priced the goods according to his plan from last night: each watch was priced at 110 taels of silver, each bar of soap was priced at one mace of silver, each bicycle was priced at 70 taels of silver, and each bolt of printed cotton fabric was priced at three taels of silver. The total value of the four types of goods - cotton fabrics, soaps, bicycles, and watches - was valued at 140,000 taels of silver and converted into shares. The two men invested in a ratio of 3:7 and formally established this business.

  He Wan Nian calculated the total price of the goods, and it was over 470,000 taels. He couldn't help but secretly admire the wealth of the Yao family represented by Yao Fan.

  "Yao, the remaining 338,498 taels of silver can be considered as an advance payment to you by our company. Let's first take out 38,498 taels from the public funds and pay it to you, and then we'll write off the small change. The remaining 300,000 taels, how much interest do you think is reasonable?"

  Yao Fan knew that there would be many places to borrow money in the future, so he readily accepted the goods and casually said: "No interest is required for the first three months. Just sell the goods and give me the money back. I think it's not impossible to sell them within three months, right?"

  He Wan Nian said: "Alright, it's settled then."

  The two of them continued discussing in Yao Fang's locked-up shop.

  "Brother Yao, this watch must be selling well, I've never seen a watch like this worn on the wrist before."

  Yao Fan knew that watches, as precision mechanical products, had very high processing accuracy and craftsmanship difficulties. Within 70 years of their debut, they could not be mass-produced. In the first few decades, the annual output of top watchmakers in Europe was only a few dozen or several dozen, which was still not enough to meet local demand. It wasn't until the development of electrically driven precision machine tools in Europe, which ensured processing accuracy and production capacity, that Rolex watches entered China for the first time in 1905, appearing on the Qing Dynasty market at a price of 500 taels each!

  "Brother He, these are all new products that were not previously available on the market, so opening up the market is crucial. Just focus on selling them boldly and try to open up sales channels as soon as possible. Even if the price is a bit lower, it's okay, the most important thing is to ensure the quantity of goods sold."

  He Wan Nian said: "Alright, I've taken note of it. I'll quickly get the goods out on display. Brother Yao, I'll go and arrange for a location to set up our main store. Do you have any further instructions for us regarding this business?"

  Yao Fang reminded: "I still have those two sentences 'hurry up with the goods, low profit and high sales', don't worry about the source of goods."

  He Wan nodded and said, "I plan to open a large shop in Qingdao first. Our headquarters will be temporarily set up here in Qingdao. What do you think?"

  "The route is convenient for Qingdao's sea transportation, and it can connect Tianjin and Liaoning in the north, as well as Shanghai and Guangzhou in the south. It's a good choice to choose this place." Yao Fang nodded in agreement.

  He Wan Nian laughed: "Brother Yao told me last time that he didn't have a courtesy name yet, so it's quite difficult to come up with a name for this shop."

  Yao Fan scratched his head: "The practice of having a courtesy name isn't popular overseas, and as businessmen we don't mind who takes what. I'll just give myself one then - let's call it Zao Fan."