Chapter 5: New Model

For the next few days, I get to sleep until I naturally wake up.

After waking up, I prepare breakfast first, eating and drinking to my fill; only then do I open the shop for business.

In my free time, Li Zhongnan would play mobile games, read books, and sip tea. Whenever a repair job comes through the door, the instant I activate the system's repair function, it's fixed. Whether it's a mobile phone or a computer, there's nothing I can't repair.

My reputation has been growing, and business has been thriving. On my best day, I made over two thousand yuan—basically sitting there, collecting cash without doing much. Life was relaxed and comfortable.

However, after the excitement subsided, it increasingly felt rather dull.

Sitting here like this every day, earning tens of thousands a month, was already quite impressive for a small county town. But I'm still young, and my business has just taken off—I'm definitely not content staying this way. Besides, having lived in Jingcheng City for two years, I know very well that this amount of money is nothing special. Nowadays, rich people are everywhere.

I need to think of a way to expand the business.

One day, a customer came to retrieve his repaired phone. Upon seeing the mended device, he exclaimed excitedly, "Boss, you are really capable! My phone is more than two years old, but after your repair, it's like brand new."

Upon hearing this, Li Zhongnan admitted it was indeed the case.

Items repaired by the system were made as good as new. If I only charged for the repair, wasn't I incurring a loss? Or perhaps the idea of running a repair shop in the first place was misguided, wasteful of the resources.

With that thought, my excitement returned.

I reviewed my business strategy and decided to stop offering repair services. Instead, I decided to start buying and refurbishing old electronic products before reselling them. Doing this would undoubtedly bring in more profit.

No sooner said than done. First off, I changed the name of the shop from "Zhongnan Electronic Repair" to "Zhongnan Electronic City". Li Zhongnan was quite pleased with this name. A minor tweak changed the image entirely for the better.

Next, I replaced the posters and billboards out front.

Then, I had a sweet-voiced high school girl record several advertisements which kept playing out front through the loudspeaker.

"Good news, good news. Exchange the old for the new. Mobile phones, computers, tablets. We'll take everything. Don't want a thousand, don't want nine hundred and ninety. Take them for free. It's entirely free, don't miss out as you pass by."

"Buy back mobile phones, computers, tablets. We'll take everything and offer a good price. Don't miss out as you pass by."

"New mobile phones and computers available, selling at a 5% discount. Buy one get one free."

Not long after, a young man walked into the shop and asked Li Zhongnan, "Boss, can I exchange an old mobile phone for a new one here?" His phone was getting old and he had been thinking about replacing it, but he was a little tight on cash. Happening to pass by and hearing the advertisement about free exchanges of old for new, he decided to give it a shot.

"Yes, you can!"

Li Zhongnan smiled faintly.

The young man asked warily, "Is it free?"

Li Zhongnan nodded, laughing, "Yes, it's free, not a penny required. However, to exchange for a new phone, you need to bring in five old ones." He wouldn't run a losing business.

"Oh!"

The young man seemed to have an epiphany. If it were a one-to-one exchange for no extra cost, he wouldn't have believed it, assuming it to be a scam. Li Zhongnan's condition appeased him, and he continued asking, "Can I bring in broken ones? I only have one usable phone."

Li Zhongnan nodded.

Getting a positive response, the man was thrilled, "That's fantastic. I'll go home and fetch them right away. I have two broken phones, and so does my girlfriend. Counting the ones I currently have, that would make five." He knew a broken phone wouldn't fetch much, it was just sitting there, going to waste. Now that he could exchange it for a new one, it was a great deal for him.

Half an hour later, the young man returned with four old phones: an iPhone 6S, a Xiaomi 3, and two Meizu MX6s. After hesitating for a while, he asked, "Boss, will four phones be enough?"

Clearly, he didn't want to hand in the one he was still using.

However, whether old or broken, to Li Zhongnan, there was essentially no difference. The system would consume roughly the same amount of gold coins to repair each one. All that mattered was the brand and model. After a moment of thought, Li Zhongnan said, "Yes, I'll give you a Xiaomi."

The young man tried to negotiate, "Can I get a Meizu?"

"Alright, as you wish."

Li Zhongnan agreed. As long as it's not an Apple, both Xiaomi and Meizu didn't cost much different. He could make a bit less profit on the first transaction.

After getting the four phones repaired and giving the guy one of the Meizus, he was left with an iPhone, a Xiaomi, and a Meizu. The system used slightly more than one gold coin, meaning these three phones cost around two hundred yuan.

He could sell these three phones for at least four to five thousand yuan, couldn't he?

Haha!

If he were just fixing four phones, he could make at most around seventeen to eighteen hundred yuan. Now, the profits had increased several folds. Regardless of the business, a good model is essential.

"Thank you, boss!"

The young man was overjoyed to get his new phone. Buying such a phone would cost him at least a thousand yuan. But now, he only needed to exchange four worthless old phones for it—an epically great deal.

In his delight, he immediately bragged to his girlfriend, "Haha, I swapped four completely busted phones for a brand new one. Where? At Zhongnan Electronic City, across the street from No.1 Middle School!" He then told all his friends and family about it.

This was, in effect, free advertising for Zhongnan Electronic City.

By the end of the day, over a dozen customers stopped by. Of course, not everyone had that many discarded phones, nor did everyone want to exchange for a new phone. So, most of them sold directly, fetching a hundred to three hundred yuan each. Different phones fetched different prices, and he bought them all. However, he didn't take phones so outdated that even after fixing, they wouldn't sell for much.

When he closed up, he had over thirty new phones on hand, as well as two computers—one desktop and one laptop. He set these two computers up himself.

However, Li Zhongnan was beginning to worry. A day's time only yielded two Xiaomi sales, amounting to a little over a thousand yuan. It didn't even cover the cost of buying the old phones. If things continued this way, his funds would be exhausted in a matter of days as the business expanded.

And his system's gold coins dwindled even more rapidly.

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Thank you to Saiguo-Dance and I Love Your Book Ah for rewarding 2500. I just started the book, which means the pace is somewhat slow. I am still brainstorming the plot and writing the outline. So, the updates won't be fast. Please bear with me for a few days.