Summer #17

Don't Turn from Summer (莫负寒夏) by Ding Mo (丁墨)

Chapter 17

Mu Hanxia looks up at the blue sky. The sun shines so strongly that she can hardly open her eyes. With slightly squinted eyes, she looks at the numerous lychee trees, leaves green and fruits red, bunches and bunches of lychees hanging heavily from the bruches. She smiles softly and thinks to herself, if she really succeeds, that would be like living a dream.

What she is feeling now, is like walking on the high wire. She is a gambler who’s make a last strike, gambling huge with herself in an unnoticed corner.

Zhang Yulei stands a few steps beside her, gazing at her. They were high school classmates and haven’t seen each other for a few years. But there are some people who make you feel trust and warmth whenever you think of them. To many people, the once God-favored Mu Hanxia is probably someone like this, even though she is experiencing her life lows right now.

Zhang Yulei remembers clearly that she used to wear a white dress, hair neatly combed to the back, smiling brightly and slyly among classmates. Now, her smiles are the same, her spirit is still high, but something has changed in her look.

It’s a calm and quiet kind of change.

“Honey peaches from Zhen Jiang, mushrooms from Hu Bei, and Lychees from Hai Nan, they truly live up to their fame.” Mu Hanxia turns to look at him smilingly, “Da Lei, please give me all you can produce from the lychee farm next week. I will also take the products from the several lychee farms nearby.”

Zhang Yulei is quite taken aback. He already knows Mu Hanxia is only an unimportant sales assistant in the supermarket.

“You...you want? What do you want? Where do you get money from?”

Mu Hanxia grins and gives him a light punch, “Why? Think so light of me? Can’t I ever come to do business with you? The thing is, I’m not a sales assistant now, I’m in the sales department. If you could give me the opportunity, I will talk to my manager and purchase directly from you.”

Zhang Yulei thinks for a moment without answering immediately. Although his father is still managing the lychee farm, he is almost in charge of most of the business. As far as the price is fine, he should be able to make decisions. And privately, he is even willing to let Mu Hanxia have a price that’s a little lower. Although the request she raises is a little abrupt, in his heart, he just trusts her.

So, he nods, “Fine. But you have to be fast. You know the Hai Nan lychees sell well, and it’s the peak season right now, the wholesale price changes every day. I can’t give you an exact price right now. But I can give you a small discount based on the day’s real-time price.”

Mu Hanxia looks at him gratefully, “I know. Thank you!”

The wholesale price for lychees in Hainan changes all the time, that she is certainly aware. This is why she came to Hainan.

The two of them walk through the lychee trees, stepping on the dirt path that has been hardened by the sunshine. Zhang Yulei listens to Mu Hanxia unhurriedly talking about her whole plan --

“As the assistant of the sales department, I dealt with numbers everyday, lots and lots of numbers. Sales data, supplies data, production data, supplier data, and so on. Gradually, I discovered a pattern. As you know, many seasonal and regional products, are not directly purchased from the production region by our supermarket, for example, lychees and other fruits, and rice in bulk too. If the store assigns people to procure every kind of product from out-of-town, they will need a lot of people, which is certainly impossible. So, like lychees, we just purchase from a supplier in Jiang Cheng. The supplier buys from you people in Hainan. Then there is a price difference in between.”

Zhang Yulei nods, “Exactly. But if you want to do direct procurement, you have to be responsible for the cost of shipment and labor. You won’t have any gains from it. Why would you do that?”

Mu Hanxia smiles, “Who said there won’t be any gains? I looked at those data closely every day, and discovered the problem in it. I went to discuss with the other more experienced employees in the department, but no one paid attention. Instead they thought I was looking for trouble. But the more I thought about it, it more certain I felt. There hides an opportunity in this market of supply and demand.”

“What opportunity?”

“Usually, if I change to direct procurement, we won’t earn more, right? Because the supplier in between doesn’t earn much after all. This is the automatic adjustment mechanism of market price.

However, I studied the the wholesale price of lychees in Hainan during the last five years in this season, around the twenty days about now to be exact. I also studied the price chart provided by the suppliers and discovered that, here in Hianan, the price changes everyday. The more the daily production is , the lower the price goes and the faster it goes lower, right? The price chart from our supplier shows the same tendency. But, because the suppliers vary in quality, and there is a distance between us and the production region, the supplier market is not well regulated, and the information does not flow very smoothly, there price adjustment is not as prompt as you the producer. There is a lag of 3 to 5 days in the least.”

Zhang Yulei’s heart jumps at the words. He seems to understand where the ‘opportunity’, as Mu Hanxia says, lies hidden.

Mu Hanxi’s eyes seem especially clear in the sun. Looking at her, Zheng Yulei feels as if he is looking at a different person. She says, “I’ve looked. The local price here in Hainan today is 7.2 yuan, while in Jiang Cheng, the supplier’s price is 8.4 yuan. And the retail prices in Le Ya and Yong Zheng are both around 10 yuan. Based on the sales pattern and the weather forecast, next week will probably be a sales peak in Hainan and the real-time wholesale price will be less than 5 yuan. But the prices in Jiang Chen won’t change until three days later. What I’m trying to do, is to take advantage of the brief time and price difference and take the lychees back through direct procurement.”

Zhang Yulei asks, “How much do you plan to sell then?”

Mu Hanxia answers, “Yong Zheng, and all other supermarkets in Jiang Cheng are still selling at 10 yuan, only we sell at 5 yuan, a low price totally beyond imagination. What do you thing the customers would think? They would feel unbelievable and then fight to buy them out. Consequently, the lychees from all other supermarkets won’t be able to sell. As long as I succeed at this single thing, Le Ya will be regain customers’ attention and come back to life.”

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It is damp and sweltering at dusk in Hainan. Mu Hanxia stays in a very cheap express inn. After taking a shower, she changes into the loose T-shirt and shorts and lies in bed, gazing at the crystal blue sky out of the window.

Zhang Yulei insisted that she stay in his home but she declined. For one thing, she doesn’t want to bother him too much. Secondly, in Zhang Yulei’s home, it’s his father who’s the boss after all. Staying at his home like this may not be good for the business she’s going to do with them.

Today she has the spoken promise from Zhang Yulei, and with his help, she has come to agreement with another lychee farm nearby. After reaching just another two farms tomorrow, she could then report her whole plan to the sales manager.

Although she is only an unimportant person, she is sure that the plan won’t get neglected by the manager and will be reported to Meng Gang immediately. And Meng Gang is sure to agree and try his best to get it done.

But if Meng Gang wants to send another person to Hainan for the negotiation, it definitely won’t be soon enough to catch the price difference. So he can only rely on her.

Then, she will get what she wants to get.

But, would everything go smoothly as she plans? In her heart, she’s somehow uncertain.

Since the night she almost got hurt by Meng Gang, there has been a strong sense of valor in her heart. When she came up with the plan, the valor has driven her forward, regardless of anything. She wouldn’t think about how many difficulties she would encounter, nor how tiny how unimportant a role she is. She just gives all herself out trying to be successful at this one thing. D- it! Other people’s life is life, other people’s desire is desire. What about hers then? Isn’t hers what it is too?

......

However, what she doesn’t know is, in this hotel, there is another guest who’s also from Jiang Cheng.

The night is falling outside the window. The setting sun leaves just a little light, tinting the sky so dimly. Lin Mochen stands in his room, a little unpleasant.

He has never stayed in such a shabby hotel before. Cotton bed sheet, the two curtain drapes hanging like noodles, and the floor that are stained with tiny dots if you look carefully. Each more look just makes him slightly more sick.

But there’s nothing he can do; that woman is staying here.

About his decision of leaving everything in Yong Zheng behind and flying to Hainan, Chen Weiwei expressed her bewilderment, and says on the phone, “Jason, you are always steady and reliable. But now you suddenly put down the things I ask you to help with, I really don’t understand.”

Lin Mochen replied, “I can make clear judgment about what is the most important to me. I’ve made arrangement about the upcoming business plan of Yong Zheng. Even if I’m not there, it will run on its own. If you don’t understand, that’s your problem.” At these words he hangs up.

What is the most important to him now, is Mu Hanxia. With this thought, the corners of his mouth turn up coolly. In the business world, does one only rely on one’s brain? No, many times, one relies on instinct. The other day when he heard Mu Hanxia talking to He Jing, mentioning words like “market of supply and demand”, “data”, “opportunity”, he started to feel something wrong somehow. Then he heard her say “cut a gash in the seige of of Yong Zheng,” exactly what he doesn’t want to happen. So, how could he let this scourge develop right before his eyes? God knows the more unimportant one seems, the more easily one does something totally unbelievable.

So he followed her here. After following her for a day, he has learned what is woman basically wants to do.

On the ground floor of the hotel, there’s a very tiny and relatively serene courtyard, with a few tree growing in it. It’s dark now. Lin Mochen has been standing in front of the window for just a few moments when he sees the room across the yard is opened. Mu Hanxia comes out from it.

Lin Mochen turns slightly and stands behind the curtain, watching her.

She appears to be a little preoccupied. Circling the yard and touching the leaves and flowers a couple of times, she seems rather restless in her mind. Finally, she sits down at a partly damaged stone stool, with her back right against Lin Mochen’s window but very close to him. He can even see her skin behind the ears, white and fine, blurry under the soft yellow light in the yard.

Maybe he has been standing in this shabby room for too long, Lin Mochen suddenly feels a little anxiousness from within. But he keeps gazing at her, motionless and soundless.

She sits for a while, draws out a pedant from around her neck and holds it in her palm. Lin Mochen notices it’s a small jade Buddha hanging on a red string.

She closes her eyes, puts her palms together, and prays in a low voice, “Mom, you must bless me. This is the only chance I’ve got to stand back up. Bless me to be smooth, to have no trouble. Bless me to win this merit, so that no matter I stay or leave, there will be someone who thinks high of me. I don’t want to be a store assistant anymore, I don’t want to be slighted or insulted any more. I want to climb higher, climb to whatever height I can reach in my life.”

After saying this, she puts down her hands. As if she is purposefully relaxing herself, she makes a long exhale. And then, she walks back into the room and shuts the door.

It suddenly becomes extremely quiet in the yard. The moonlight on the ground is clear and thin as water. Above the building, the dark clouds are dimly piled. Lin Mochen suddenly curls up the corner of his mouth and smiles.