Chapter 30: Discovering Business Opportunities

The fair-skinned and charming Bai Rou was, without a doubt, a beauty, while the tall, sunny, and handsome Zhao Guoyang could also be considered a striking young man. This pair of attractive man and woman strolling through the mall naturally drew much attention.

Zhongdan Mall was the largest shopping center in Yangcheng in the early 1990s. Yet, in Zhao Guoyang’s memories from his previous life, it left little impression. That was because, not long after, in 1996, with the arrival of Hetian Department Store—the nation’s first modern mall—other shopping centers gradually faded into the dust of history.

Of course, in this era, Zhongdan Mall remained the grandest and most imposing mall in Yangcheng. Walking on its neat marble floors, Zhao Guoyang couldn’t help but sigh. According to his recollections, he had visited shopping centers in Ninghai City a few times. Among the county-level cities under Guangling, Ninghai had the most developed commerce and was even known as “Little Songjiang” in central Jiangnan.

The main commercial street, Wuyi Road, boasted five or six large and small malls, such as Tianfu and Taishan, making it rather bustling for a county-level city. However, compared to Zhongdan Mall, the malls in Ninghai hardly merited mention.

Still, although Zhongdan Mall was lively, the variety of goods on display seemed rather low-end to Zhao Guoyang, who had lived two lives. The first floor was dedicated to electronics—VCRs, game consoles, and the hottest item of this era: color televisions.

Gazing at the rows of old-fashioned color TVs bearing various “Island Country” brands, Zhao Guoyang felt a wave of nostalgia. In his previous life, the incident that changed everything had happened in the seventeenth year of the new millennium. By then, televisions had already been upgraded several times over, and the mainstream products were curved, blue-light-filtered LCD screens. Now, confronted with these outdated, boxy color TVs, Zhao Guoyang naturally felt out of place.

Seeing Zhao Guoyang staring at the televisions, Bai Rou pursed her lips and smiled. “Guoyang, are you thinking of lugging a TV home? That would be so silly…”

Teased by a beauty, Zhao Guoyang scratched his head. “No, it’s just that in our small city, we don’t see so many brands. I was just looking. Come on, let’s head upstairs.”

The second floor housed stationery. Zhao Guoyang picked out two high-end fountain pens, planning to give them to his younger siblings as gifts. When it came time to pay, Bai Rou insisted on footing the bill. Unable to refuse, Zhao Guoyang could only thank her repeatedly.

“It’s just a little thing, no need to be so polite. Come on, accompany your big sister up to the third floor for a look!” Bai Rou said with a smile.

The third floor was a women’s specialty section: clothes, dresses, accessories—everything a woman could want. As they browsed, Bai Rou teased, “Guoyang, aren’t you going to buy a gift for your girlfriend? Your sister can help you choose!”

Zhao Guoyang quickly waved his hands, indicating that he didn’t have a girlfriend. Bai Rou’s eyes lit up, and she laughed. “Well, I won’t push you then. I’ll just shop for myself.”

After a while, Bai Rou selected a finely crafted butterfly hair clip for herself. After putting it on, she didn’t forget to ask Zhao Guoyang for his opinion.

Naturally, Zhao Guoyang praised her repeatedly. In fact, he wasn’t exaggerating; Bai Rou’s gentle southern charm suited this delicate accessory perfectly.

But when it came time to pay, Zhao Guoyang was a little stunned. He never expected such a tiny hair clip to cost eight yuan.

“This small thing costs eight yuan?” Zhao Guoyang couldn’t help but ask as Bai Rou paid.

“That’s right, good hair clips all go for about this price,” Bai Rou replied after some thought. “This is a reputable mall, so the quality is guaranteed. Of course, if you go to the small commodity market in the Baiwu district, the price will be much lower—maybe just one or two yuan. But the quality there…”

At this, Zhao Guoyang’s mind was in turmoil. He had examined the hair clip closely. The main material was just ordinary spring steel, S50C—not expensive. The butterfly design was intricate, but it was simply a matter of tooling—a straightforward process. With his understanding of mold-making, designing the mold for such a piece would take less than half an hour.

By his estimate, even with a hundred or two hundred yuan for the mold, when averaged out, the cost per piece couldn’t possibly exceed fifty cents. Yet here it was, selling for eight or nine yuan—a staggering profit margin that left him speechless.

Since his rebirth, Zhao Guoyang had been pondering how to earn his first pot of gold. For the first time, he realized that making money wasn’t as hard as he’d imagined…

As dusk fell, Zhao Guoyang returned to Sanyang Group, exhausted. Bai Rou had wanted to invite him to dinner, but Zhao Guoyang declined, citing work. It wasn’t that he disliked Bai Rou’s type—he just felt they hadn’t known each other long enough for that. Before she left, Bai Rou gave him her phone number and invited him to visit her food factory when he had time. Zhao Guoyang readily agreed, though he warned her that he might not have time on this trip. At the very least, it would have to wait until his next business visit to Yangcheng.

Because his cooperation with Sanyang Group had expanded and the new motorcycle frame required frequent technical discussions, Zhao Guoyang figured there would be more trips in the future. So, agreeing to visit Bai Rou’s factory posed no burden—he wasn’t worried about breaking his word.

“Guoyang, you’re finally back!” The moment Zhao Guoyang stepped inside, he was greeted by Ma Jian’s voice.

Seeing that Director Ma’s drunkenness had mostly dissipated, Zhao Guoyang grinned. “Director Ma, you really can hold your liquor. After all that drinking at lunch, you’ve sobered up so fast? Impressive!”

Flattered by Zhao Guoyang’s praise, Ma Jian feigned nonchalance and waved his hand. “Ah, I’m old now. If I were ten years younger, even with all three of Sanyang Group’s people combined, they wouldn’t be able to out-drink me!”

Watching Director Ma put on a brave front, Zhao Guoyang couldn’t help but smile.

“So, Guoyang, how was your afternoon out?” Ma Jian asked with concern.

“Nothing much, just wandered around. Bought my brother and sister each a fountain pen,” Zhao Guoyang replied.

Ma Jian nodded, patting Zhao Guoyang on the shoulder. “You kept the receipts, right? I’ll have a word with Director Mu later and get you reimbursed under public relations expenses.”

“Huh? Public relations expenses?” Zhao Guoyang repeated, bewildered.