All picked into the basket are vegetables

  Two people came to the front of a small grocery store, Lin Zhenhua took out money and food stamps, bought a package of crackers and two bottles of soda, and sat down with Chu Hongyang at a small table in front of the store door, eating and chatting.

  Lin Zhenhua ate for a while, then began to examine the small grocery store in front of him, with a sly glint in his eyes.

  This store is just a nominal grocery store, and it's actually just a small shed set up by the residents at their own door. The shed is supported by several large bamboo poles, surrounded by some oil felt and corrugated paper. Inside the shed, there are several wooden shelves, which are also made of unknown corner materials from somewhere, the shelves are nailed crookedly, and some places even need to be fixed with iron wire.

  Seeing this, Lin Zhenhua shouted at the shop owner who was standing aside with his arms crossed: "Boss!"

  The boss was stunned for a moment, and after confirming that Lin Zhenhua was calling him, he smiled and replied: "What kind of boss am I? My surname is Tang, just call me Old Tang."

  "Oh, Boss Tang." Lin Zhenhua insisted on his way of addressing him, "Is this store opened by yourself?"

  "Right."

  "Why don't we open up a storefront?"

  "Where can we afford to rent a storefront?" Old Tang sighed, "We don't even sell a few dollars' worth in a day. If we rent another storefront, the money we make won't even cover the rent."

  Lin Zhenhua said, "Boss Tang, this is where you don't understand business. Look at your store, it's actually just a shack. People passing by may not even want to come in and buy something from you. If you turn it into a storefront that looks high-end, with a bigger area and more complete products, the amount of money you make in a day will be much more than now. This is called investment, using money to make money."

  Old Tang said: "Little comrade, what you said is right, but I don't have the capital to do so. Besides, my home is just here, and if I go somewhere else to rent a store, it's also troublesome to run back and forth."

  Lin Zhenhua said: "Boss Tang, I have a suggestion, I don't know if you're interested."

  "What advice?" Old Tang asked, actually he wasn't particularly interested in Lin Zhenhua's suggestions, mainly because he was idle anyway, and someone was willing to chat with him, why not?

  Lin Zhenhua pointed to Lao Tang's shed and said, "This shed of yours is too simple. I suggest you dismantle it and build an iron shed with angle iron as the frame, cover it with galvanized iron sheets on the outside, and use iron sheets to make shelves inside."

  He said, standing up and gesturing to Old Tang: "You see, this shed can be made this big, so your business area can be expanded by half. You can not only sell the goods you have now, but also set up a breakfast stall, selling things like buns, fried noodles, tea eggs, and whatnot. I guarantee you'll make at least 300-400 yuan a month."

  Lao Tang laughed and said, "What you're saying, I've thought about it too, but where do I have the money to build such a tin shed? To make one like you said, at least 1000 yuan is needed. By the time I save up 1000 yuan, I reckon four modernizations will already be achieved."

  Lin Zhenhua said: "No need for 1,000 yuan, I'll sell a set to you for just 800 yuan. And you don't have to pay the money right away, I can do installment payments for you."

  "What is mortgage?" Old Tang was confused by Lin Zhenhua's words.

  Lin Zhenhua coughed twice to cover up his own loss of words, then said: "What I mean is that you only need to pay 20% of the down payment, which is 160 yuan. The remaining money can be paid in installments over 12 months, with about 50 yuan per month. After one year, this shed will completely belong to you. What do you think of this plan?"

  "Is that true?" Old Tang was finally moved, as a businessman, even the smallest one, he had some sensitivity to business opportunities. He could certainly come up with 160 yuan, and if he owned such a shed, it was entirely possible to earn an extra one or two hundred yuan per month, just by paying back 50 yuan of debt each time. After a year, the shed would be his own. To know that this iron shed's lifespan was not limited to just one year, this was equivalent to him starting to have fixed assets.

  Chu Hongyang listened to Lin Zhenhua's nonsense, feeling stunned and speechless. In the residential area of Hanhua Machinery Factory, the kind of iron shed that Lin Zhenhua mentioned was a common sight in every household, used as kitchens or storage rooms for firewood. The factory had many leftover materials like angle irons, so as long as one was diligent, they could collect some scraps, weld them together, and cover them with iron sheets or felt to make a shed. Of course, the shed that Lin Zhenhua suggested to Old Tang was slightly larger, with higher requirements for workmanship, but even so, Chu Hongyang couldn't calculate the cost of this shed exceeding 200 yuan. In other words, Lin Zhenhua had just earned a profit of no less than 600 yuan from selling a few packets of biscuits on the side of the road.

  "Tang Shifu, let me introduce you. This is the manager of our Hanhua Industrial Company." After being stunned for a moment, Chu Hongyang finally knew what he should do. He hastily walked forward and solemnly announced Lin Zhenhua's identity.

  "What is Hanhua Strength Company? What kind of unit is this?" Old Tang was still a bit puzzled.

  Lin Zhenhua had to take out his own work permit and explain for half a day the relationship between Hanhua Industrial Company and Hanhua Machinery Factory Labor Service Company, while also taking out two contracts with big red seals of the Ministry of Finance and Public Security Bureau for Old Tang to review. Only then did Old Tang believe that a big pie had really fallen from the sky and landed right in front of him.

  Lin Zhenhua then handed over the subsequent matters to Chu Hongyang for handling, including signing contracts and details of mortgage repayment. Chu Hongyang knew that this installment payment method was risk-free for Hanhua Industrial Co., because Lao Tang's down payment had already covered Hanhua Industrial Co.'s costs, and any money collected later would be pure profit. Moreover, Lao Tang's home was just nearby, so he wouldn't be able to default on the loan or run away.

  "Xiao Hua, you can bring business to such a place! How could I not think of making money from these people?" Chu Hongyang sighed with emotion after leaving the Tang family grocery store.

  Lin Zhenhua said, "Hong Yang, let me tell you a story. Once upon a time, two salesmen went to Africa to sell shoes. One of them sent a telegram back to the company saying: 'There is no market here because the locals don't wear shoes.' The other one also sent a telegram back to the company saying: 'The market is huge here because the locals still have no shoes to wear.' Can you understand the implication of this story?"

  Chu Hongyang said: "I understand what you're saying. Whether or not there's a market depends on how we look at the problem."

  "It's exactly like that. In the business world, there is a saying: 'As long as you are willing to pick, everything in the basket is edible.'"

  Chu Hongyang turned his head to look at the Tang family's grocery store, and smiled as he said: "I reckon this Old Man Tang still thinks he got a great deal, who knew that in Xiao Hua's eyes, he was just a dish."

  Lin Zhenhua also smiled and said: "There's another phrase, I'll teach you at the same time. It's called 'your poisonous weed, his elixir'."

  "What does it mean?" Chu Hongyang asked with a frown.

  "That is to say, some things that seem worthless and like trash to you are actually precious treasures to others. We were born in the factory, grew up in the factory, these iron scraps and dregs, in our eyes, aren't even worth as much as grass. But for people outside of the factory, these things become treasures."

  "I'm starting to understand now," said Chu Hongyang, "like the aviation circle that the Public Security Bureau wants, it's actually just a few steel pipes with a bearing. We had one in our elementary school days. But within the Public Security Bureau, no one knows how to make it, and this is what you call a 'miracle grass'."

  "This is just a small example. I'm telling you, there were people who specifically went to factories to pick up discarded gears and flanges, then welded them together into a piece of art, which could sell for tens of millions of dollars at an auction abroad. Tell me, doesn't that count as a magical herb?" Lin Zhenhua said, of course, he didn't say that not all discarded gears welded together can sell for sky-high prices, only those welded by artists count."

  "This is too far-fetched." Chu Hongyang directly filtered out Lin Zhenhua's mythological story, "What I'm thinking now is to find a place to sell the things we can do. I believe what you said, by the end of the year, it's entirely possible for us to give each worker a salary of 50 yuan."

  Lin Zhenhua said: "What you said is basically correct, but there's one thing that's not. That is, we don't just sell what we can do, even if it's something we can't do, as long as the market needs it, we'll still sell it. First get the order, then find someone who can produce it to produce it, this is the principle of the market."

  "I know what you're talking about." Chu Hongyang burst out laughing, "That computer control thing you told the Ministry of Finance, was that just something you made up? I've never seen you do anything like that before."

  Lin Zhenhua awkwardly said, "This, even if I don't know how to do it, I can find someone who does. When I get back, I'll ask Hu Yang to do it. I believe that with his brains, making an automatic control circuit is no big deal."