I just looked across the street, and I saw a lot of couples with flowers in their hands, most of them walking past Xiao Ai with happy faces, and she would also look up, and then pay attention to the mobile phone film that the vendor was cutting, and tell the vendor where to put it. In fact, there is no need for a film on that mobile phone, because the style is too old, and a screen is not as big as a matchbox.

The next moment, the giant LCD screen embedded on the top floor of the mall put out a Valentine's Day discount, and I realized that today is the annual Valentine's Day......

I felt a wave of complicated emotions of unknown origin in my heart, but I felt that I couldn't vent it, and finally I just raised my head and looked through the sunroof of the car to look at the suffocating buildings.

Before I finished smoking a cigarette, the traffic policeman's car stopped next to my car, and asked me to show my driver's license, and after confirming that there was no problem, he pointed to the traffic sign standing not far away, and said to me sternly: "Don't you see that parking is prohibited on this street?" …… Hurry up and get out of the way, don't interfere with traffic. ”

I hurriedly said hello and apologized, indicating that I had been negligent, but the moment I started the car, I looked across the street again, and she had disappeared into the crowd.

Then I left the crowded streets, and night fell, and the whole city seemed to be in a state of hustle and bustle for dinner. And I didn't know where to drive to make the night better.

……

After returning to Lane 24 and having a simple dinner at the roadside food stall, Yang Qu returned to his residence, while I walked along the street alone, and I met Uncle Qiang, who was selling flowers. He said that there were a few new varieties today, so I squatted in front of his stall and chatted with him.

I handed Uncle Qiang a cigarette, and then lit one for myself, and after chatting about the varieties of flowers and cultivation experience, I took a deep puff of cigarette and asked Uncle Qiang: "How much money can you make a day by selling flowers like this?" ”

"It depends on luck, if you can meet one or two customers like you a day, buy a dozen pots at a time, you can make a few hundred dollars a day, but most of the time it doesn't work; On rainy days, there are no people on the street, and a pot cannot be sold, which is a common thing. ”

I replied as a matter of course: "Then you should give yourself a holiday on a rainy day, and you can't go out of the stall all year round." ”

Uncle Qiang replied helplessly: "I can sell one more pot is a pot, I don't have any skills, and there are two children at home who want to go to school, the burden is too heavy......" As he spoke, he pointed to a snack stall opposite, and said: "That's my wife, and the whole family is pointing to us to do some small business." ”

I looked in the direction he was pointing and saw that it was a small stall selling skewers, and business was not good. And the middle-aged woman who was guarding the stall didn't play with her mobile phone or anything in her spare time, but just looked at the crowd coming and going on the street with a mechanical expression, for fear of missing a potential customer.

I don't know when it began, but I'm especially afraid of seeing some people who have been tormented by life to the point of numbness, but still have to live desperately. So, after thinking about it for a while, I said to Uncle Qiang: "We are all people who take flowers and plants as hobbies. You see, if not, let's make this business bigger. ”

After all, the communication with Uncle Qiang was not deep enough, and after listening to me, he said incredulously: "I see that you are definitely not a child of a wealthy family, and you must go to work to support your family...... It's not easy to do business now, you can't make much money in this industry, and Uncle can't just pull you into the water. ”

I didn't rush to explain to him, and I didn't want to talk too much, so I asked him very conservatively: "How much is what you sell now, plus the remaining goods at home, about how much is it worth, do you have a spectrum in mind?" ”

"It's not much, less than 10,000 yuan."

I nodded, then took out a stack of money that I had just withdrawn from the bank from my bag, and then said to him: "You can take this 10,000 yuan first, and bring all the goods at home tomorrow morning, and I will find a way to help you get rid of it at one time...... By the way, you give me another purchase order, and I will understand the wholesale price to facilitate shipment. ”

Uncle Qiang didn't take the money from me, and he replied, "If you really have a clue, then this matter couldn't be better...... However, let's talk about the matter, I can't mess with your trust, and it's not too late for you to give me this money when I hand over all the goods to you tomorrow. ”

"Okay, then we'll meet here by 9 o'clock tomorrow morning." As I spoke, I smiled and said, "You can also take a break these days, if I can get the goods out here, I will call you...... As for profits, let's just split fifty-fifty. ”

"Xiao Jiang, you are at a loss like this, and you are advancing money to buy my goods, and you have to share ...... with me"

I interrupted Uncle Qiang, with a smile that made him relax, and replied: "Uncle Qiang, I'm not stupid, and I'm not a philanthropist, what I'm thinking about is that we can cooperate for a long time, and in the end, it's best to have a win-win situation...... As for this shipment, don't worry...... It won't rot in your hands. ”

Uncle Qiang looked at me and proposed: "You are advancing money again, and you want to share fifty-fifty with me, I am really not down-to-earth in my heart, and I can't take advantage of you...... Otherwise, I will have 30% of the profits...... If it's fifty-fifty, we'll take the risk together, and we can't ask you to pay for this batch of goods first. ”

I said half-jokingly, half-seriously: "Aren't you afraid that I will take your goods away?" ”

"Don't be afraid...... If you want to do it, I'll admit it...... However, I don't believe I'm going to look away, you're a genuine lad! ”

I nodded, and finally reaped some joy of being trusted on this night. At the same time, I am also glad that I have lived to be 30 years old, but I can really do something related to my hobby.

……

The next day, Uncle Qiang transported all the goods stored in his house to my residence in Lane 24 at the appointed time, and after we took stock together, I gave him 2,000 yuan, and asked him to take this small amount of money to take his wife to have a good meal, and also buy some new clothes for the two children.

After seeing off Uncle Qiang, I drove to the "Tulip" hotel. Then I found the marketing manager of the hotel, although I had not dealt with it before, but I heard that it was a middle-aged woman with a good reputation in the industry.

After waiting for a while, she received me in the conference room......

She said to me with some surprise: "I know all about you, including the entrepreneurial experience in Shanghai, and the decision to refuse to take over the Tulip Hotel...... It is because of this that I am more curious about what you are coming to me for. ”

I replied straight to the point: "The main purpose of my coming to you is to become a supplier of flowers and trees for the hotel...... I know that a lot of flowers will be used to decorate the wedding site, and the demand for hotel rooms is not small, so I hope that Manager Li can give me a chance to cooperate. ”

"This ...... Let's call you Xiaojiang for the time being...... I really don't understand, why are you in this business? ”

"I like it......"

After a pause, I said to her again: "When I talk to you, you must not have any extra thoughts, just treat me as an ordinary supplier, if there is no special advantage compared to other suppliers, you can directly refuse...... However, I also have to admit that I did have a bit of selfishness in talking to you as the first target customer...... Because you have the opportunity to speak directly to a senior executive of your level; Moreover, if I can take down your list, my business will be carried out easily, because everyone has a herd mentality, and knowing that Tulip Hotel is also my customer, it will definitely give me more trust......"

The marketing manager smiled and replied: "This idea is quite reasonable, but we already have a flower and wood supplier here, and it is a very powerful supplier, and the goods and prices are very good...... If you're going to replace them, you've got to have the advantage of being able to make a move...... However, if you want to talk about favors and face, I will definitely do this business for you, and you know why. ”

"Don't talk about face, talk about advantages...... Today, I am really grateful for you to meet with me in person to talk about this. ”

The marketing manager nodded and said very sincerely: "Xiao Jiang, before we talked, I didn't expect you to be such a humble and honest young man...... It's not easy for you to do that. ”

"I have nothing to be proud of, I am just a child who grew up eating a hundred family meals, the hardships of life, and the difficulty of living, I know better than anyone else. So treat me, you just have to take a business attitude. ”

"Well, but I'll ask you one more thing, I heard that you have always rejected everything that the chairman gave you, why did you take the initiative to come here today? This seems to be very different from what I know about you. ”

"Actually, it's easy to explain, because before I came, I only regarded the Tulip Hotel as a hotel that could be cooperated, and compared to other hotels, it was not particularly ...... So we both have to treat this matter with a business attitude...... Manager Li, if it's convenient, can you show me the quotation that supplier gave you......"

This time, after all, I was facilitated because of my identity, and it was impossible for the other party to give you a real quote when talking about business normally, but Manager Li gave it to me, which also made me truly know myself and the other in this competition.

Actually, there are some things that I haven't said to Manager Li explicitly, but I am no longer willing to drill between receiving and giving. I don't feel like Tulip Hotel has to be owned by me, but I don't rule out that it can be a great resource for my own business...... If I can make good use of it and start a flower and tree business with Uncle Qiang, wouldn't it be a good thing to help others and satisfy myself?

What's more, I can indeed do more advantages and more professional than the previous suppliers, so Tulip Hotel can also benefit from it, so why not?

After reading the quotation, I returned the quotation form to Manager Li, and then said to her: "I am indeed just starting to do this, so I hope you can give me another week, and I will definitely bring a sincere cooperation plan to talk with you again." ”

"Okay, I'll give you this time."

……

I've been thinking about this business since I came out of Tulip Hotel, and I felt that I had to go to the suburbs to contract a piece of land and grow it in batches, otherwise I wouldn't have a price advantage over that supplier. However, before that, we have to understand the land market in the suburbs. If the cost is relatively high, you have to think of other ways. As for the batch of flowers I got from Uncle Qiang, I plan to set up a stall to sell them for a few days, so that I can spend some time when I have nothing to do; Second, let's take this opportunity to understand the market and see if we can make some breakthroughs in retail. In short, opportunities are reserved only for those who are prepared and have ideas, not for lazy people.

When I went to the parking lot, I received a call from Yang Qu, who told me that I was already on the train back to Shanghai. I reminded her again not to rush to take the play, but her answer was still willful, and I really couldn't control her. I just think that if she really likes the art of acting, she still has to choose respect when she should be respected, after all, no one wants their own sister to be unhappy.

……

In the afternoon, I went to the local flower market to buy some tulip seeds and pots, and then spent half a day carefully cultivating them all in preparation for my own batch planting in the future. To be honest, in the past two years, my mood for planting flowers has been getting worse and worse, and I really want to get back to the feeling I had before.

In the evening, I selected a part of Uncle Qiang's batch of goods, and then set up a stall on the side of the street, although it was the first time, I didn't feel that there was anything particularly uncomfortable, on the contrary, I could talk to some customers who knew flowers about some more professional topics, which was much happier than staying alone in a small yard with nothing to do......

Just as I was selling a pot of Gentleman's Orchid to a customer, Jin Qiu came to me and brought me a steaming fried bun and soy milk.

Uncle Qiang is a life that can't be idle, even if I take over his stall temporarily, he still goes to his wife's stall to help.

At this moment, he was looking at Jin Qiu, who came to me in the opposite street. In his cognition, he may think that Jin Qiu and I can't be the same kind of people, after all, she came in a luxury car, and I seem to be a confused young man who hasn't finished his life at most.

I handed a small bench to Jin Qiu, and while she handed me the fried buns, she looked at the flowers I was selling, and sighed, "Your life is getting more and more back to basics!" ”

I took her fried buns and replied, "Growing flowers and grass has always been the joy of my life...... Do you think I'm doing this to be a bit unprofessional? ”

"It's really not a good job...... But since it's something you like, then you can do it boldly, I'm quite willing to support you. ”

This time, I didn't tell Jin Qiu the complete business plan, but just smiled at her; At this time, she also had a phone, so she got up and walked to a quiet place, and then said something to the other end of the phone like a command.

Gradually, her figure became more and more blurred in the dim yellow light, and another figure I had imagined took her place. If it was Xiao Ai in the past, she would not necessarily explicitly support me, but the next day, she would definitely move a small bench and accompany me in the market...... But in the end, that's just her ...... Life really won't pull us anymore, go back to the previous road, I should be sober!

After a while, Jin Qiu returned to me and said to me, "I just received a call from Liu Liu, saying that Dream Tree has a big project to take over, so I have to go back to Shanghai tomorrow." ”

I looked up at her, nodded for a while, and then asked in a low voice, "Do you remember what we agreed on the beach in Lianyungang?" ”

"Hmm."

"When you come back next time, we'll get engaged...... Almost, the house here in Nanjing should also be renovated. ”

Jin Qiu was stunned for a moment......

I asked again, "Do you think it's too fast?" ”

"I didn't ...... No, just a little suddenly! ”

I smiled and didn't say anything more, she smiled at me too, and then turned to look at the ancient city wall not far away, and she seemed to have a little bit on her mind...... Perhaps, it has something to do with her unknown experience abroad. However, none of this should stop us from getting engaged, because she already has me in her future, and she also exists in my future.