RBCT Chapter 16 Stockings
Chapter 16 Stockings
Lin Mu put on his shoes and went inside.
He intended to get straight to the point, but as soon as he opened his mouth, he shut up and instead took out a notebook from his briefcase and began writing furiously on it.
The note read: "Have you thought it through? This is a mutually beneficial arrangement for both of us, so you don't need to feel pressured. I'm looking for someone trustworthy to help manage these matters, which is actually quite difficult."
My cousin took the pen and paper and wrote down the words; her handwriting was beautiful.
She wrote: "Cousin, thank you. I promise you as long as it won't be a burden to you. But no one eats without working, and I don't want to just sit around making money. Could you introduce me to a job? I'd like to be a customer service representative."
"Oh?" Lin Mu thought for a moment and said, "That works too."
If she does nothing but sit and collect money, it would be a pressure for my cousin and make her lose her sense of value.
He wrote on the paper: "Okay, I'll arrange it for you."
Shortly afterward, under Lin Mu's guidance, my cousin registered a Taobao operations company.
Subsequently, Li Zhi handed over his shop to his cousin to manage, paying her five percent of the operating costs.
……
A few days later, my cousin started working at "Brother Li's Taobao Store" as a pre-sales customer service representative.
"Beep beep beep—" The Wangwang notification sounded, and the window even shook. A message came from the other party: "I'm 1.6 meters tall and weigh 160 pounds. What size underwear should I wear?"
Lin Wan thought to herself, "Isn't this height and weight just like a pillar?" As she thought about it, she couldn't help but laugh out loud, then covered her mouth, her cheeks slightly red.
Oh, that's really impolite.
She quickly pulled out her prepared electronic script and replied promptly, "Honey, we recommend size XL here~"
The clock on the wall ticked from nine in the morning to eight in the evening, and it was time for Lin Wan to leave work. She worked the day shift; the night shift was handled by other customer service staff.
She stretched comfortably, thinking to herself: "Going to work feels so good—it's new, interesting, and I can earn money through my own efforts. That way, even if my parents are gone in the future, I can support myself and put their minds at ease."
Lin Wan pursed her lips. Since becoming deaf, her anxious heart had finally begun to calm down.
I'll buy my cousin an expensive gift when I get paid.
……
Alibaba headquarters.
Lin Mu was working when Wang Zaixing excitedly came over and said, "Dayan, the trick you taught me is amazing! As soon as the new product went on sale yesterday, the traffic index skyrocketed, and we sold dozens of units just from organic traffic; plus the traffic from the forum, our sales reached 50 units on the first day!"
Lin Mu smiled and didn't look down on Li Zhi's mere 50 orders a day just because Li Zhi's shop had sales of tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands.
It's important to understand that nowadays, Taobao shop owners can live quite comfortably if they sell a few hundred or a thousand orders a month. After all, e-commerce wasn't as cutthroat back then as it is now, and net profits were generally good.
For a manufacturer like this, a single throw pillow sells for 20 yuan, with a net profit of five or six yuan. With over 50 orders a day, the daily net income is several hundred yuan, amounting to nearly ten thousand yuan a month. Moreover, this is just one product; other styles can be developed later.
Lin Mu said, "You're a quick learner."
Just then, his phone rang. He answered, and Li Zhi's voice came through: "Brother Lin, I have a female boss who owns a hosiery factory who wants to meet you. I've already investigated her; she's reliable and trustworthy."
Lin Mu understood immediately.
Li Zhi had previously mentioned that he had a group of factory owner friends who were on the verge of bankruptcy. During the 2008 financial crisis, numerous factories closed. Although the government introduced a 4 trillion yuan economic stimulus plan, it took time for the funds to reach the market, and many factory owners couldn't survive until the dawn of a new crisis. This female hosiery factory owner was clearly one of them.
Lin Mu knew that he was the only person he could truly trust in the world. Although Li Zhi said he had already investigated, whether this factory owner was worth his help was something he would have to investigate himself.
……
night.
A simply dressed woman, who looked like a market vendor, was chatting with Li Zhi. She gazed enviously at Li Zhi's bustling factory, thinking to herself: "This kid's really lucky; he's met a benefactor." The small factory, which originally had only about ten people, not only didn't go bankrupt, but expanded to forty or fifty employees.
Thinking of the dire state of her factory, Aunt Mao couldn't help but sigh. She wondered if this benefactor who was willing to help Li Zhi would also be willing to help her. With such a benefactor's assistance, could she, like Li Zhi, make a comeback?
Just as Aunt Mao was lost in thought, Lin Mu, dressed in casual clothes, walked in.
Li Zhi quickly stood up and introduced, "Brother Lin, let me introduce you. This is Manager Mao, who owns a hosiery factory. Her factory used to have forty or fifty people."
Aunt Mao immediately stretched out her hands enthusiastically, grabbed Lin Mu's hands tightly, and shook them vigorously, saying, "I knew my left eye had been twitching this morning! Turns out, the God of Wealth has arrived! Boss Lin, I truly admire you. You're handsome, capable, and willing to help others. Enough said, it's my treat today. Let's go to the Shangri-La and get a private room so we can get to know each other better!"
In his past life, after becoming a senior executive at Alibaba, Lin Mu had met many shrewd and worldly people like this. He knew that as long as he didn't refuse, this woman would definitely arrange things for him in a clear, comfortable way.
But Lin Mu didn't want to engage in pointless social interactions, and he didn't accept gifts from just anyone. Whether someone caught his eye or could be connected with him depended on their qualifications.
He calmly withdrew his hand and said, "No need for dinner, let's talk business. I heard from Li Zhi that Director Mao wanted to expand into online e-commerce channels, but progress hasn't been very smooth?"
Aunt Mao immediately praised him exaggeratedly, "Great! I admire people like President Lin. He's efficient and decisive, and he doesn't play those roundabout games with us older folks!"
She quickly replied, "Yes! I've opened stores on JD.com, Alibaba, and Taobao, but I just can't seem to make them successful. My best-performing store only sells a hundred orders a month. I tried using fake orders to boost my ranking, but the store got shut down! Mr. Lin, you're an e-commerce expert, could you give me some pointers?"
Lin Mu frowned. E-commerce in 2008 was no longer the chaotic early days. Fake orders required a certain level of skill and had to be carried out discreetly and cautiously. The blatant methods of fake orders from the past were no longer viable; doing so would inevitably result in the store being shut down.
He said, "Director Mao, order-faking is absolutely unacceptable. If you go too far, the risk control department might even blacklist your ID."
Factory Director Mao quickly said, "Oh, I didn't know any better, so I only placed a few hundred orders. Now that you've said so, Mr. Lin, I definitely won't do it again!"
Lin Mu said, "To find out the specifics, I'll first go to your factory and then check your e-commerce store to see where the problem lies."