Stronger by Paying Salaries and I Have 1 Billion Employees

”6.9 yuan with free shipping? Brother Sen’s request... I wouldn’t dare bring it up. I’d probably get my ass kicked.”

Upon hearing Chen Yansen’s demand, Li Hui waved his hands in dismissal and plopped down on a bluestone slab by the orchard, instantly losing all his motivation.

For a 1.5-kilogram bundle of navel oranges, once you added in the costs of picking, packing, the box, and shipping, 6.9 yuan didn’t even cover the expenses.

On platforms like Taobao and Jingdong, fruit sellers would only offer a ”1.5 kilograms for 9.9 yuan with free shipping” deal when they were trying to boost sales volume, and even then, they would strictly limit the stock.

But Pinbei wanted to sell without limits!

Zhang Yifeng and Yuan Wei exchanged a look, equally troubled. They had only managed to negotiate the 9.9 yuan price point because of Cloud Speed’s discounted shipping rates.

”Yifeng, what’s your plan?” Yuan Wei frowned, his mind a tangled mess.

”I’ll go talk to Boss Wei,” Zhang Yifeng said, gritting his teeth as he quickly made up his mind.

The boss had made his request, and they had to find a way to make it happen.

Wei Yucheng was the largest local fruit distributor, with his own fruit washing facility, crate factory, and cannery. He also had vast orchards under contract.

After Zhang Yifeng communicated with the local agricultural association, they introduced him to Wei Yucheng.

This type of direct-from-the-source e-commerce collaboration was not the first of its kind.

Juhuasuan had collaborated with orchards and vegetable farmers in Qilu as early as the first half of the year, but they had to give up in the end due to unstable supply quality and a constant stream of negative reviews.

Zhang Yifeng’s team learned from Ah Li’s lesson and went straight to the biggest ”local bully” to cooperate. The advantages were obvious: an abundant supply of goods and the ability to rein in any fruit farmers who might try to pass off inferior products as high quality.

’People’s hearts are hard to fathom.’ Zhang Yifeng knew full well that the three of them could manage to keep an eye on things during packing and shipping, but when it came to actually procuring the fruit, they didn’t have the skills for it.

”I’ll go with you,” Yuan Wei said to Zhang Yifeng after a moment’s thought.

”Brother Feng, Brother Wei, wait for me!” Li Hui, who had been sitting on the ground, saw the two of them getting on a motorcycle to head to town and hurried to catch up.

The three of them bumped along the mountain road, rounded a peak, and drove into the grounds of the Fine Fruit Food Company.

Hearing the commotion downstairs, Wei Yucheng came down enthusiastically to greet them.

When they first met, Wei Yucheng had looked down on Zhang Yifeng and his team a bit. After all, the three of them were only in their twenties and didn’t seem very reliable.

But his attitude changed instantly after learning they were managers from Pinbei responsible for recruiting merchants.

The internet and e-commerce were developing rapidly. Chen Yansen had sold FoxTao and cashed out for tens of billions, and because of that, Pinbei had also made a name for itself in the industry.

Wei Yucheng had opened a flagship fruit store on Taobao, but due to limitations from seasonality, costs, and his own operational skills, business had always been lukewarm.

Through the agricultural association’s introduction, he had taken the initiative to connect with Pinbei.

Even though Pinbei hadn’t launched yet, word on the internet was that Penguin would give it a top-level entry point on QQ and WeChat, leading to hundreds of millions of impressions daily.

Wei Yucheng didn’t even dare to imagine how many tons of navel oranges he could sell in a single day as one of Pinbei’s first-batch merchants.

If the collaboration went smoothly, he could sell sugar tangerines later on.

Therefore, Wei Yucheng took special care of Zhang Yifeng and his two companions.

When he heard they were staying in a shabby hotel in town, he immediately invited the three of them to his home, treating them to good food and drink.

”Manager Zhang, the quality of this year’s navel oranges is quite good, isn’t it?” Wei Yucheng said with a smile, leading the three of them upstairs for tea.

Zhang Yifeng sat down, looked at Wei Yucheng, and sighed. ”Boss Wei, the product is indeed good, but when I reported the navel orange specifications and prices, the company demanded that we lower the price of each grade by another 3 yuan.”

”How much? 3 yuan!”