Waterlily Brand

  "Dong dong dong dong——"

  Lin Zhenhua tapped his feet to the beat, and together with Yang Xin, they moved an electric fan that still smelled of fresh paint from Xiaofang's room to a small table in the living room.

  "Ladies and gentlemen, please take a look at this. This is the grand launch of Hanhua Industrial Company's Shui Lian brand desktop electric fan. Shui Lian electric fan, letting you sleep coolly on hot summer nights!"

  The brand "睡莲" sounded somewhat tacky to Lin Zhenhua, but everyone at Hanhua Industrial Company said it was good, so he went along with it. Perhaps people back then just had that kind of taste, and sometimes you really can't use later generations' standards to measure them.

  Everyone at Hanhua Industrial Company has seen this electric fan, but being able to take it out and show it off in front of outsiders still makes everyone feel very proud. Zhao Yongqun pulled the power cord behind the electric fan and plugged it into a socket on the wall. Yang Xin lightly pressed the piano key switch on the base of the fan, and the blades rotated lightly, the head slowly swaying back and forth along the horizontal direction, blowing a refreshing breeze to every corner of the living room.

  Although it is already late summer and early autumn, the heat has passed, but everyone in the living room still feels that the cool breeze blowing on their bodies is so refreshing.

  Tao Hui and An Yan also ran out of the inner room and gathered in front to carefully examine this electric fan.

  This is a fan filled with modern design concepts, sweeping away the common thick style of electric fans on the market today, looking delicate and slender, unique.

  In the market, almost all electric fan bases are a large square box, while this electric fan base is semi-circular in shape, with a size and thickness of only about half that of an ordinary fan. The fan's bracket is two thin steel pipes, and the wire obviously passes through the middle of the pipe.

  The motor is installed in the head of the fan, which is an indispensable part. However, the designer cleverly installed a small night light with a glowing diode on both sides of the head, covered with a small piece of colored organic glass. What's even more amazing is that the brightness of these two small night lights changes continuously, from bright to dark and then from dark to bright, perfectly matching the frequency of a person's breathing during sleep, giving people a sense of tranquility just by looking at it.

  "Too beautiful!" Tao Hui exclaimed, pulling at Xiong Lijun's arm and shaking it vigorously. "Lijun, I want a fan like this in my bedroom, how lovely! Even sleeping will feel fragrant."

  Xiong Lidao said: "Won't be, our home isn't equipped with electric fans? And they're even made in Shanghai."

  "Ugly to death!" Tao Hui categorically denied, "The stupid big black thick shape, the color is also vulgar to death. I just want Zhenhua and them to produce this kind."

  You're really my mom! Xiong Lijun muttered to himself. The electric fan they bought when they got married was the most expensive one on the market, a whopping 250 yuan, enough to buy two ordinary brand fans. He remembered that Tao Hui's comment on the fan at the time was: beautiful, elegant, stylish... and many more words were left unsaid.

  "Yanzi, do you think this fan is pretty?" Lan Wufeng asked hastily, seeing the two of them flirting and fearing that his own girlfriend would be left out.

  An Yan nodded: "I and Tao Hui have the same view, this electric fan is really beautiful, I think girls like me will like it. By the way, Yang Xin, what do you think?"

  Yang Xin smiled and didn't say a word. Zhao Yongqun answered for her, "Of course Yang Xin would say it looks good, this fan was completely designed by her after all."

  "It's not like that, I just offered some opinions." Yang said with a red face.

  Peng Shaozhe said, "Yeah, I can prove it. Yang Xin just made a comment. We've been working with Wei teacher for a month and finally came up with a design, and then Yang Xin took one look at it and said one word. Right, Yang Xin?"

  Yang Xindao said, "So what? I just said one word, that it's ugly. You guys are all men and don't understand what girls like at all. I told you to make the base and bracket smaller and more delicate, is there anything wrong with that?"

  Yang Xin is not that kind of domineering girl, but in front of Lin Zhenhua's younger brothers, she can still throw a tantrum. Among the four of them, Lin Zhenhua is the only one who already has a girlfriend, while Chu Hongyang and others are still bachelors. Bachelors generally pamper their brother's girlfriend a hundred times more, which makes Yang Xin able to throw a tantrum at any time.

  Of course, Yang Xin's usual main job is not to scold people, but to help these little brothers do delicious meals, and occasionally even help them wash their clothes. Building prestige is not just about status, but also about daily care for others.

  Peng Shaozhe heard Yang Xin's refutation and hastily apologized, "Alright alright, Yang Xin, I didn't say you were wrong. But just to meet your requirements of making it a little smaller and more delicate, I, Yongqun, and Teacher Wei have all racked our brains. Look at this base now, the inside is made of cast iron, otherwise how could such a small base support the entire machine? And this bracket, we used thin steel pipes, these are all costs."

  When designing this electric fan, Lin Zhenhua assigned the task to Peng Shaozhe and others. These people had sufficient understanding of industrial technology, but in terms of aesthetics, they were completely clueless. After the fan was designed, its appearance gave people the feeling of a crane, with a thick and sturdy look. When the design drawings were handed over to Lin Zhenhua, before he could offer his opinion, Yang Xin jumped up and strongly opposed it, saying that no woman in any household would want such an appliance.

  Lin Zhenhua suddenly realized that he had entrusted the wrong person, and hastily invited a group of women to participate in the design, including Yang Xin, Bi Min, Luo Yongmei, and even Wei Jingwen's wife. The women began to discuss and evaluate, while the men followed behind, discussing production techniques. After more than a month of repeated revisions, this fan was finally finalized.

  "I like these two lamps, one bright and one dim, it's really comfortable to look at," said An Yan.

  "This is called a breathing lamp. When you can't sleep at night, just press its frequency to take deep breaths, and you'll fall asleep in no time. Don't look at it as just turning on and off, this is something Teacher Wei has been thinking about for a long time."

  "Is it really that amazing?" Tao Hui asked, "Otherwise, I'll take this one back and try it out tonight? I usually love to stay up late anyway."

  Everyone cast a disdainful glance at her, and Tao Hui hastily added: "Not that, I'll let Li Jun pay the bill, at market price, not at ex-factory price, okay?"

  Everyone burst out laughing, Tao Hui was a bit of a city slicker and had a somewhat flashy air about him, but he wasn't annoying enough to make people dislike him. The people present all belonged to the same interest group, at least for now there were no conflicts or contradictions. Young girls were a bit vain and liked to be surprised, it was something everyone could tolerate, nobody would bother to argue with Tao Hui about anything.

  Lin Zhenhua said: "Xiao Tao, if you like it, just take it away. This is one of our trial products and there are over a dozen more in the warehouse. As for the money, let Lao Xiong handle it."

  "How much is this selling for now?" asked Xiong Lijun, who wasn't worried about whether he could afford it or not, but was assessing the sales situation in the market.

  Lin Zhenhua said: "The market price is 248, how about it?"

  "So cheap!" Tao Hui jumped up, "Lijun, it's even cheaper than what we bought."

  Xiong Liming also furrowed his brow: "Zhenhua, this price should still be able to go a bit higher. Look, we have this breathing lamp, which is considered a modernized product. If someone really wants to buy it, they won't care about spending a few dozen more yuan."

  Lin Zhenhua said, "This price has also been considered for a long time. People like you who got rich first are still in the minority after all. Our Hanhua Industrial Company is an enterprise in Jiangnan Province, and it's not easy to enter the Shanghai market and get accepted by the Shanghai people. Setting this price two yuan lower than that brand in Shanghai can attract more attention."

  Actually, Lin Zhenhua's initial pricing consideration was much lower than this number. In his previous era, electric fans and Chinese cabbage were not much different, and some organic vegetable-labeled Chinese cabbage even sold for more than electric fans. Lin Zhenhua referred to the current market price of Chinese cabbage and set a selling price of 80 yuan for this Sleep Lotus Electric Fan, still feeling uneasy in his heart, but unexpectedly, as soon as he mentioned this price, he was subjected to a barrage of criticism.

  In those days, all electrical appliances were luxury goods. Even a simple electric fan had a fairly high market price, basically all above 100 yuan. The one produced by Hanhua Industrial Company was uniquely designed and had a futuristic-looking breathing lamp, with a price tag of over 200 yuan, which was completely acceptable.

  Lin Zhenhua conducted some market research, examined the prices of various branded electric fans, and compared them with the advantages of his own electric fan before finally settling on a price of 248 yuan. After calculating the profit margin, Lin Zhenhua was overjoyed for several days and couldn't sleep well.

  Zhao Yongqun, like Lin Zhenhua, initially underestimated the price of this electric fan. Now hearing Xiong Lijun say so, he replied: "Old Xiong, don't be too greedy, this price is not low either. For this fan, actually not much material is used, the total cost, I and Shao Zhe checked, at most it's... hum."

  At this point, he stopped talking because he remembered that Xiong Lijun and others were outsiders of Hanhua Industrial Company, and he didn't know if it was appropriate to reveal the bottom price in front of them.

  "What's the price?" Tao Hui asked, she didn't think of herself as an outsider: "Why don't you say anything."

  "Confidential." Zhao Yongqun said.

  Tao Hui waved her fist and threatened: "Die! You still dare to keep secrets in front of your sister-in-law!"

  "Dead skirt?" Lin Zhenhua's face was gloomy, "Xiao Tao, what kind of title is this."

  "He isn't called Zhao Yongqun, is he? Look, we have Peak and Swan here, so let's just call him Qunzi."

  "It's actually this kind of skirt." Lin Zhenhua chuckled and looked at Xiong Lijun, saying: "In fact, this is not a secret either. Including the workers' wages, the cost of an electric fan will not exceed 100 yuan. We set the ex-factory price at 180 yuan, and the remaining 68 yuan is for sales channels to earn."

  "That should be enough." Xiong Lijun said, he roughly calculated in his mind, deducting transportation costs, storage, and store profits, etc. He took the goods from Hanhua Industrial Company at a factory price of 180 yuan, and an electric fan should be able to make around 20 yuan. Such a good fan, if priced at 248 yuan, should be able to move a considerable number of people.

  At that time, there was a very contradictory phenomenon. On the one hand, the common people were still very poor. The country had raised workers' wages several times and implemented policies to increase the purchase prices of agricultural products in rural areas. However, overall, the income of the people was still very low. The average worker's wage was only around 50-60 yuan, while the salary of government officials was even lower than that.

  According to statistics, by the end of 1981, the total savings deposits of urban and rural residents nationwide was 52.4 billion yuan, with an average deposit of 52 yuan per person. At this level, a family of five would have to empty their entire bank account to buy one such electric fan.

  On the other hand, the sales of various durable consumer goods on the market are very hot. The traditional "three essentials" (bicycle, watch and radio) go without saying, but a new "three essentials" has emerged in society. The definition of this new "three essentials" has never been clear, initially seeming to be electric fans, washing machines and color TVs, later joined by refrigerators, air conditioners, audio equipment, motorcycles and so on. Finally, one day, people lost interest in the definition of these "three essentials", because there were already ten or eight electrical appliances at home.

  In the earlier years, the supply of durable consumer goods was far from meeting demand. At that time, whatever was available in the market could be sold out, and even some defective products would be snapped up. People seemed to really not care whether the electrical appliances they bought were defective or not. Some washing machines had wires inside that came loose due to poor soldering, and consumers would simply take off the back cover, use a soldering iron to fix it, and didn't think there was anything awkward about it. Chinese men back then were all excellent mechanics, electricians, carpenters, plumbers, and masons; whoever couldn't even repair a bicycle tire would be too embarrassed to greet people on the street.

  A little further back, the situation changed. Market supply increased, and people's horizons also rose. When buying home appliances, they would look at the brand, listen to word of mouth, check the appearance, ask about performance, and so on. Some imported home appliances were priced half higher than domestic ones, but still became the object of everyone's scramble. As Xiong Lijun said, people who really wanted to buy didn't care about tens of dollars, especially young people like him who had just gotten married and would spare no effort to borrow money from seven aunts and eight uncles in pursuit of fashion.

  This atmosphere has been passed down to this day, but now young people are everywhere borrowing money in order to buy a house.

  From borrowing money to buy an electric fan to borrowing money to buy a house, only 30 years have passed.

  "Now that I've seen this, I'm confident. Don't worry, boss, I'll take care of the Shanghai market." Xiong Lijun patted his chest to guarantee it.