Chapter 89: Persuasion

It was the fourteenth day of the first lunar month, almost eight o’clock in the morning.

The four members of the Su Chunfeng family were seated around the table eating breakfast. Suddenly, a crisp telephone ring echoed throughout the house.

Su Chunyu jumped up and dashed over to the sofa by the bedroom door. He picked up the phone from the small table nestled between the sofa pieces. “Hello, who is it?” In those days, not many rural households had the means to install a telephone. Even after getting one, calls were infrequent. So, whenever the phone rang, Su Chunyu would get all excited and rush to answer it, feeling as if handling a call was something classy and prestigious.

Soon, Su Chunyu turned his head and said, “Brother, Third Maternal Grandfather is looking for you.”

“Huh?” Su Chunfeng, who had been chewing a steamed bun, had a gleam flash in his eyes. He quickly put down the bun and his chopsticks, took a slurp of porridge, continued chewing the bun, stood up, and strode over. He took the phone and unceremoniously nudged his younger brother aside to sit down. Speaking with his mouth full of bun, his words were a bit muffled: “Grandfather, it’s Chunfeng. Any news?”

Su Cheng and Chen Xiulan, the husband and wife, both looked at their eldest son Su Chunfeng with some bewilderment—what business did Third Uncle Chen Xian have calling the home? And why specifically ask for Xiaofeng?

“Mm-hmm, mm-hmm.”

“Okay, I understand… yes.”

“No problem, no problem.”

“Sounds good!”

All they heard was Su Chunfeng sitting on the sofa, holding the phone, giving simple responses like “uh-huh” and “ah,” without knowing what Chen Xian was saying on the other end.

A full three or four minutes later, Su Chunfeng finally said, “Alright, alright, let’s leave it at that for now. Thank you for the trouble this time, Grandfather… Okay, goodbye.” After hanging up the phone, Su Chunfeng looked exactly like a teenager who had just received incredibly good news, brimming with excitement. He clapped his hands vigorously, got up, and walked back to the dining table, beaming as he said, “Dad, my Third Maternal Grandfather has asked someone to find a good plot of land for us. It’s cheap and the location is great! Let’s go to Pingyang City later to take a look first.”

“What?” Su Cheng was stunned.

Chen Xiulan also wore a puzzled expression, asking, “What plot of land?”

Su Chunfeng smiled as he sat back down. He picked up his chopsticks with his left hand to grab some food, continuing cheerfully, “You forgot already? Didn’t we discuss becoming an authorized sales agent for Combine Harvesters on New Year’s Eve? Well, when we went to my Third Maternal Grandfather’s house to pay New Year’s respects on the sixth day, I talked with him in his study. I asked him to help see if he could find a plot with a better location and cheaper rent. Actually, I wasn’t sure if it would work out, so I didn’t tell you guys in advance.”

“You little rascal…” Su Cheng couldn’t help but be astonished.

“This… are we really going to sell Combine Harvesters?” Chen Xiulan said hesitantly, “None of us in our family knows how to do business. What if we lose money? Right now, your dad driving the truck to haul goods for people is pretty good, isn’t it? We earn quite a bit as well.”

Honestly, after New Year’s Eve, Su Cheng and Chen Xiulan hadn’t really taken the matter to heart.

As the saying goes, without real skill, how could one dare venture into something challenging?

The family’s Combine Harvester business was doing well, and the freight truck was barely idle. For example, after returning from visiting relatives and paying New Year’s calls in Pingyang City on the sixth day, Su Cheng immediately drove the truck to transport eleven tons of feed out for the Feed Factory. On the seventh day, a cable factory in Jinzhou County called and pleaded with Su Cheng to help transport a load of cable for them first… During the busy New Year period, they had been working from the sixth day until the thirteenth day of the first month. Moreover, there were still two truckloads of goods to ship out from the Feed Factory. If not for the upcoming Lantern Festival on the fifteenth, would there ever be any idle time?

Instead of sticking to the decent transportation business, why invest and fuss with becoming an authorized sales agent for Combine Harvesters…

Anyone would probably find it hard to accept the idea immediately.

Furthermore, the investment itself was a big issue.

Su Chunfeng slurped down a mouthful of porridge. When he put down his bowl and chopsticks, his expression had shifted from that of a somewhat overambitious, youthful teenager to one that seemed much more mature and steady. He said seriously, “Dad, Mom, please don’t blame me for talking about unpleasant things during the New Year. Actually, deep down, I’m against Dad being a truck boss and doing freight hauling. As the saying goes, driving a truck is like playing with a tiger. No matter how much you earn, it’s ultimately not very safe. Now, becoming an authorized sales agent is a very good opportunity. If we don’t do it, others certainly will. Only by getting ahead of others can we make money… Dad, Mom, you might not fully understand yet. Being an authorized sales agent doesn’t just mean we help sell; the most important thing is that in Pingyang City, only our family will be allowed to sell this brand of Combine Harvester and the necessary spare parts. If we have enough capability, we could even negotiate with the manufacturer to secure exclusive sales agency for several cities.”

Su Cheng and Chen Xiulan exchanged glances, both showing surprise on their faces.

“Xiaofeng, how do you know all this?” Chen Xiulan couldn’t hold back her mix of confusion and pleasant surprise.

“My political studies teacher at school talked about this stuff,” Su Chunfeng lied as if it were the most natural thing. “Besides, there are already many brand agency stores for various goods in the county town.”

Su Cheng nodded with partial understanding. He might not know the term “monopoly,” but anyone with a bit of sense could figure that a business with demand but no competition would surely be easier to run. After brief consideration, Su Cheng still felt somewhat hesitant and said, “Well, other brands of Combine Harvesters, others will sell them too. What if they outsell us…”

Su Chunfeng chuckled, “Dad, just because you’re in the freight business, can you stop other trucks from hauling goods?”

Chen Xiulan couldn’t help but laugh out loud.

Su Cheng was taken aback for a moment, then picked up his chopsticks and gave Su Chunfeng a light tap on the head. He scolded him playfully with a smile, “You little brat, got some nerve, daring to talk to your dad like that.”

“Dad, let’s go to the city to check out the place,” Su Chunfeng quickly put on an ingratiating smile.

“Can we not go?” Su Cheng deliberately put on a stern face and said rigidly, “You already had your Third Maternal Grandfather help arrange it. If we don’t go, wouldn’t that be wasting his effort? That’s not right.”

“Right, right, right!” Su Chunfeng nodded eagerly.

By now, Su Chunfeng could already see that his father and mother were both becoming interested in this business venture.

Since being reborn, Su Chunfeng had constantly been thinking of ways to improve his family’s financial situation. Unfortunately, in his previous life, he lacked formal education and had been deeply immersed in cultivation, becoming quite detached from the social environment. Even after later entering the Jianghu of Esoteric Arts, he merely wandered within that world—he had never engaged in business or had any contact with such matters. So, last year when he had just been reborn, he could only suggest purchasing a Combine Harvester—a simple idea that could earn a bit of money but was truly a golden opportunity for this family to start prospering.

Last year, he had mentioned the two ideas of running a coal mine and doing freight hauling to his father. However, running a coal mine was too unrealistic and couldn’t be achieved. The idea of freight hauling was accepted by his father, who indeed bought a freight truck. Currently, it seemed to be going quite well, and relatively speaking, they were earning a decent amount.

But seeing his father work tirelessly from dawn to dusk, and remembering the horrific traffic accidents he had witnessed or heard about in his previous life—caused by fatigue driving and various other reasons—especially the fact that… his parents’ accidental deaths were also directly the result of a traffic accident, Su Chunfeng would often wake up from nightmares at night. Moreover, he knew that while being an independent truck boss seemed profitable now, one accident could make you lose everything!

Therefore, he had long thought that no matter what, he had to get his father out of the truck boss trade as soon as possible.

He hadn’t expected the opportunity to come so quickly.

After breakfast, father and son went to the Feed Factory. Then, Su Cheng drove the family’s Dongfeng truck, taking his son Su Chunfeng to Pingyang City.

Earlier on the phone, Chen Xian had already told Su Chunfeng the time, location, and the person in charge—9:30 a.m., two hundred meters north after passing the Erdaokou toll station on National Highway 107, on the east side of the road, opposite the Pingyang Driving School. Coincidentally, it was also at the intersection of National Highway 107 and South Ring Road. A person in charge named Xu Xiangdong would meet them there to discuss matters.

Soon, father and son arrived at the designated location.

Turning from National Highway 107 onto South Ring Road, they pulled over to the side and got out of the truck.

Checking the time, it was exactly 9:00.

Su Cheng pointed to a large expanse of desolate, pothole-ridden land southeast of the intersection and said, “There, this is the place your Third Maternal Grandfather mentioned. There aren’t any storefront buildings at all…”

“Mm,” Su Chunfeng nodded and said, “It doesn’t matter. Building a few rooms and putting up a surrounding wall, with tens of thousands of yuan, it should be more than enough.”

Su Cheng smiled wryly, “You little brat, you say it so lightly. Tens of thousands just by flapping your lips? And how much would it cost to rent this land?”

Su Chunfeng said nonchalantly, “Since my Third Maternal Grandfather said the land rent here wouldn’t be too expensive, then it definitely won’t be that high. Let’s wait for the person in charge to arrive and talk properly with him… Oh, Dad, if we can reach an agreement, we should rent at least three mu of land, right?”

“Actually, that’s not necessary,” Su Cheng surveyed the nearby situation, calculating in his mind. “We can rent less. We can leave a space about seven or eight meters away from the road. That way, we’d have a large area of land we don’t pay for, but it can only be used by us. Then, we could park three or four Combine Harvesters at the entrance, no problem… Actually, we might not even need a walled yard. Who could steal such a huge thing anyway?”

“Dad, you’re brilliant!” Su Chunfeng gave a thumbs-up and praised with a laugh.

“Get lost,” Su Cheng kicked his son lightly. “We still don’t know if we can reach an agreement. You, you just think too big, wanting to become fat in one bite! If we invest too much this time and the business doesn’t take off, your Third Maternal Grandfather would lose face in front of others too. Ah.”

Su Chunfeng smiled and didn’t say anything. He began looking around at the surrounding environment.

In terms of location, this was absolutely the best spot for setting up an authorized sales agency—the intersection of National Highway 107 and South Ring Road, right next to the city. It was truly convenient for transportation, with a huge flow of vehicles and pedestrians. Moreover, the area was open with a wide field of vision. Putting up a huge billboard later—how eye-catching would that be?

The one drawback was that after National Highway 107 passed South Ring Road heading north, it was considered to have entered the city proper. Although that stretch of road seemed the same width as here, it actually had sidewalks over two meters wide on both sides, plus, because storefront buildings and residential buildings were built along the road, there was an open space six to seven meters wide left in front of the buildings. Also, from the intersection going north for over five hundred meters was the south wall of the Pingyang City Railway Bureau. National Highway 107 turned right and merged into the city proper of Pingyang City.

Thus, this section of National Highway 107 resembled a huge convex shape, wide inside and narrow at the outer ends.

Su Chunfeng didn’t understand Feng Shui or Physiognomy/Divination Art, but as a master of Esoteric Arts, he also knew that the Qi Field/Energy Field formed by such a terrain existing long-term was unfavorable for the narrow outer openings.