Chapter 381: 304

The black Land Rover “Range Rover” by the side had three roommates from dorm room 309 walking around it several times.

Dong Dong and Liu Feng even went so far as to start touching it.

Zheng Qingfeng maintained his cool and aloof persona, but deep in his eyes, a deep envy was evident.

After all, there aren’t many men who are completely indifferent to cars.

For many people, a car is like a second face when they’re out and about.

This generation’s Range Rover “Range Rover” had just been remodeled not long ago and, compared to the executive model, it added a sense of sportiness and fashion, appearing a bit more youthful and in line with the aesthetic preferences of young people today.

“Holy shit, Brother Zhu, this isn’t your new car, is it?” Dong Dong asked as he caressed the car’s body.

“Yep, just picked it up this afternoon,” Cheng Zhu nodded.

Mr. Dong: “…”

He was in quite a good mood today; he had even become more boisterous than usual.

Brother Zhu’s current car was borrowed. Although it was incredibly enviable to borrow a goddess’s car, anyone with a modicum of decency would drive a borrowed car with extra care and caution.

Those who borrowed cars to recklessly speed and mess around with were, in Dong Dong’s mind, of very low quality, not understanding how to appreciate others’ kindness and goodwill.

He firmly believed Brother Zhu wasn’t that kind of person, thus he also insisted that nothing beats the feeling of driving your own car!

Yet… how come you got a new car today!

Could you not at least let me be the first car owner in dorm room 309 for a few days!

What’s more, you didn’t even make a peep about getting a Range Rover–like it was as casual as running to the shop to buy a pack of cigarettes.

If it were Mr. Dong, he’d definitely warm up the crowd for a few days, first boasting in the dorm chat, then in the class group chat, and then post a “Versailles” style social media post pretending to complain but actually showing off, with the caption:

“I heard that Land Rover cars often have minor issues and breakdowns, I’m going to test it out for myself.”

At that moment, Dong Dong felt that his BMW 3 Series had lost its appeal.

“This domineering exterior, the completely redesigned interior… and it even… it even has a fridge! My God!” After sitting in the car, Dong Dong was totally blown away.

Cheng Zhu, listening to him, didn’t really react.

He was reborn. For him, the interior of these cars from ’14 still left something to be desired.

For example, Jiang Wanzhou’s Mercedes G-Wagen’s interior can’t compare at all with the newer models.

He glanced at Dong Dong, who was sitting in the passenger seat, and thinking that he would later be treating him to dinner, said, “Donger, back in ’14 like now, being able to drive a BMW 3 Series to university, you’ve already outdone the vast majority of college students nationwide.”

“For some, the car you can drive as a freshman might be the car of their dreams.”

With just a few casual words, Dong Dong’s sense of satisfaction grew once more.

Right! What Brother Zhu says makes sense!

Little did he know that Cheng Zhu had another motive; he genuinely hoped that Donger would stop trying to emulate him and stop comparing themselves.

With that little pride of yours, I’m afraid it’s not enough for me to wound.

What’s the matter, young man, do you still feel like you’re the protagonist of the world?

Sigh, I really shouldn’t shatter the young man’s spirit!

He was suggesting to have dinner not only as a small request, but his intentions were genuinely for the greater good.

“Dinner is on you still, right!” Cheng Zhu said as he drove.

“Ah? Brother Zhu, not going to celebrate getting a new car?”

“Next time, next time! Yeah, definitely next time!”

…

…

News of Cheng Zhu buying a car spread quickly through the school.

After all, young people’s interest in cars is quite high.

Furthermore, in Hang City University in ’14, a freshman managing to earn the money to buy and drive a Range Rover within a few months was indeed enough to stun the entire school, even the entire University City.

“Damn, I’m so jealous. If I drove a Range Rover to school, I’d change girls every month!”

“Wouldn’t that be freaking awesome?”

“Please, he’s not going to be lacking girls, he’s the campus hunk.”

“Shit, driving a car worth over a million to school every day!”

“Heh, trying to show off much?”

“Still in school, wouldn’t it be enough to just casually use a car to get around, this is really showing off, feels like someone is being a show-off.”

“Your mom, I’m going to earn money and get one myself!”

“Killed me, I’d be even more of a show-off if I were as dope as him! What’s the big deal, can you manage the money I earn?”

The discussions about Cheng Zhu seem to come up every once in a while ever since he enrolled.

And he himself couldn’t care less about what others said about him.

His reasons for buying the car were overly simple.

All you young people day in and day out with your couple shoes, couple clothes?

I went straight for a couple car!

Whether it’s parked alongside Ning Bao’s car or Baby Lu’s car, it just feels right to look at.

That afternoon, Cheng Zhu hadn’t gone to Star City but took some time to visit the “Persistent Visit” studio instead.

The reason was straightforward: today, the export team finally landed a big order.

During this period, the export team had received some wholesale orders but none too big.

Even orders worth several hundred thousand yuan were considered very good, with only one order exceeding a million.

Since the export model was focused on wholesale with the advantage of lower pricing, the profit margins were relatively thin.

Cheng Zhu, in his previous life, had seen many news stories about Guan Yun County and knew that the local QQ manufacturers would shift their focus to export in the coming years, with profits hovering around 20%.

From that point, Guan Yun officially gained a new title: the World’s QQ Underwear Capital!

Cheng Zhu didn’t bother to collect more data or conduct market research abroad but simply referred to the news he had seen in his previous life to price his products.

“Considering that in ’16, a 20% profit margin was feasible, it would be outrageous to set a 20% margin for ’14,” he thought.

At present, very few people in China are exporting QQ underwear on a large scale, and almost no one is on par with him in size.

He was essentially starting an internal roll with his foreign counterparts.

The order placed with “Persistent Visit” today amounted to a whopping 8.97 million yuan when converted!

“That means, after subtracting what needs to be paid to Chen Bin, the sales commissions, and all that…,” he mumbled.

“I essentially earned back the money for the Land Rover today!”

“Damn it, if I knew earlier, I wouldn’t have bought the low-end model!” Cheng Zhu thought to himself.

In his previous life, when he had become well-off, he also dabbled in cars for a while. If you’re into cars, you mostly choose to buy second-hand ones, drive them for a while, get tired of them, and then swap them for a different second-hand car.

Over time, you develop a habit: buy base models for new cars, go for higher-end models when buying second-hand.

Because for many luxury brands, if you buy a new car with high-end specs, you’ll lose more when you sell it later–the depreciation ratio can be much higher.

This habit continued even after he was reborn.

After driving the car to the “Persistent Visit” studio, he saw Wang Anquan waiting for him downstairs.

“Why are you standing downstairs in this cold weather?” Cheng Zhu asked incredulously.

“I just wanted to see Brother Zhu’s new car, it’s killing it!” Wang Anquan commented, his gaze fixed on the new, yet unlicensed, car.

“Enough with looking, you’ll be able to drive one too in the future,” Cheng Zhu patted him, signaling to head upstairs quickly.

He wasn’t just painting a rosy picture for Wang Anquan; in his past life, Wang Anquan did make a good amount of money each year, having acquired both cars and houses.

After they both sat down in the office, Cheng Zhu asked, “You mentioned over the phone just now that the person who placed the order is a return customer from England?”

“Yep, he previously ordered a batch of our Christmas edition.”

Cheng Zhu nodded slightly upon hearing this.

“Such return customers will only increase over time, so remember to maintain good customer relationships,” he reminded. “Keep the shift system as I mentioned. We have to deal with different time zones across countries and ensure someone can be contacted 24/7.”

“Also, draw up a data report for me soon. I want to see the return customer ratio,” Cheng Zhu added.

“Roger that,” Wang Anquan nodded.

Cheng Zhu had emphasized before that there would be many return customers.

Now, reality was proving him right.

Wang Anquan, out of curiosity, asked, “Brother Zhu, you were so sure we’d have a lot of return customers, is it because of our service and quality advantages?”

Cheng Zhu scoffed at the question, “QQ underwear has quality advantage my ass!”

Wang Anquan laughed.

It was as if he had reverted to his early days as a customer service rep, recalling how their products, practically indestructible, had once received a bad review.

“The quality is too good, I tried to rip it three times and failed, it’s embarrassing and disgusting!”

In reality, that product was indeed easy to rip–it just so happened that the customer was exceptionally weak, a rare breed.

So, he quickly corrected himself, “It’s the feel, our products feel good.”

“Uh-huh, that’s correct, our stuff does have a different feel, but it’s only part of it,” Cheng Zhu chuckled.

“The main thing is the price,” he said.

Cheng Zhu could already picture it in his mind.

A group of foreigners, satisfied smiles on their faces after receiving their goods, then sitting down to work out the cost if they didn’t buy from China and made the products themselves.

After doing the math, they’d surely be dumbfounded, and even unable to resist shouting, “WTF!”

The selling price at “Persistent Visit” might be roughly the same as their calculated costs, or even lower!!!

That’s the scariest thing!

When my selling price is lower than your cost, then you have no other choice!

It’s a given that the clothing industry is all about copycatting–not just in China but abroad too. Even so-called luxury brands are frequently called out for plagiarism.

If someone else copies the design, pursuing international intellectual property rights is bothersome and exhausting.

What Cheng Zhu aimed to do was simple: make it pointless for anyone to copy, because doing so would be futile.

If you want to earn more, the best way is to buy from me.

When he read the news about Guan Yun County in his past life, he saw people in the comment section ridiculing, “Are they idiots? The fashion industry with only a 20% profit margin, I’ve never encountered such in the clothing business!”

“Did anyone think this through? QQ industry profits are excessive!”

Little did they know that the aim for others was narrow profit margins and high volume, capturing the global market as quickly as possible.

Guan Yun County had sparked a global QQ market revolution!

And for that very reason, it managed to become the World’s QQ Underwear Capital.

What Cheng Zhu intends to do now is to usher in this storm a year or two early, even elevate Guan Yun to become the World’s QQ Underwear Capital ahead of time!

Everyone’s still caught up in the domestic e-commerce market.

Adhering to the principle of Chinese not competing against Chinese, Cheng Zhu has already set his sights abroad.

Taking out foreign QQ manufacturers, one by one.

Die, all of you, just die!

At this moment, Cheng Zhu sat in the office chair, legs crossed, looking at Wang Anquan with a smile, “Remember what I said when I first planned to do exports?”

Wang Anquan nodded, for he did remember.

What Cheng Zhu said was:

“I’m going to drive down global QQ underwear prices!”

Now, it was only just the beginning.

…

(ps: The second update, asking for monthly tickets, suddenly the mid-month leaderboard competition is heating up.)