Chapter 2: How much does rock candy cost per gram?
Ji Yan heard a cough, a sound he hadn’t heard in years, from his QQ messaging app.
He felt a bit dazed.
Followed by a wave of excitement.
He knew it!
He had a bit of business acumen!
This was the first customer who had come to his door to buy rock candy in these past few days!
Without a doubt.
This was confirmation of his business acumen.
Ji Yan happily clicked on the verification message.
He cheerfully added this person as a friend.
“Hello, this is the seller of rock candy. How much do you want?”
After sending the first greeting message, Ji Yan began the long wait.
His mood was ecstatic.
Although the first order might not bring in much business.
But this was a great start!
Having the first customer come to his door.
It meant that everyone could see his product.
Next.
There would be a second and third.
If that were the case.
He could get rich from selling rock candy!
He could strive for a comfortable life!
Ji Yan immersed himself in the beautiful blueprint he had drawn for himself.
At the same time, he anxiously waited for a response from the other person.
But a long time passed.
The person on the other end didn’t reply to him anymore.
“What the hell?”
“Weren’t they supposed to buy rock candy?”
Ji Yan felt a bit dissatisfied.
He directly sent a question mark to them.
Five minutes later.
The person who hadn’t replied for a while sent another message.
“How much does rock candy cost per gram?”
Seeing the message, Ji Yan furrowed his brow, looking confused.
How much does it cost per gram?
Or is this person asking to buy one piece?
Did they make a typo?
Who on earth buys rock candy by the gram?
Ji Yan pondered for a moment.
The only explanation was that the other person made a typo.
After thinking for a few seconds, Ji Yan casually typed a few words in response.
“Three mao per piece!”
Ji Yan quoted the price of the candies he sold to elementary school students.
Three mao per piece.
(Tln: In Chinese, “mao” (毛) is a colloquial term that refers to a unit of currency equal to 0.1 Chinese Yuan (CNY).)
After a while, the other person messaged again.
“I want one gram.”
Seeing these few words, Ji Yan was puzzled.
Just one piece?
How was he supposed to sell that?
Even the postage is more expensive than three mao.
Ji Yan immediately wanted to argue with this person.
But he restrained himself.
After all, this was his first customer.
The customer is god, and you can’t argue with god.
Plus, even a fly’s leg is still meat.
Having one piece of rock candy is better than having nothing at all!
However.
Ji Yan still explained to this person.
“…So little? Shipping not included!”
This time, the person on the other end replied quickly.
However, they didn’t address the shipping issue.
“I want it now, ship it today.”
Ji Yan tapped the keyboard a few times.
“Give me your address!”
The other person remained silent for a while.
Eventually, they sent an address.
It was in Hangzhou.
Seeing the deal was made, Ji Yan nodded in satisfaction.
“I’ll send you the account number later. Just transfer the payment there.”
After sending this message, Ji Yan couldn’t help but complain to himself.
In this day and age, WeChat Pay and Alipay haven’t become popular yet.
And this person contacted him through QQ.
He can only transfer the three mao to his bank account.
It really is quite troublesome.
The other person didn’t reply further.
Ji Yan didn’t pay much attention to it either.
He got up directly to get the rock candy.
The rock candy he sells at home is in large pieces.
But this person only wants one piece and is only paying three mao.
Ji Yan was also in a dilemma.
After thinking for a while, Ji Yan picked a relatively small piece of rock candy and found a small bag.
He simply threw the piece of rock candy into it.
After finishing everything, Ji Yan happily went out with the package.
He directly went to the local delivery station and sent the piece of rock candy to the address.
After sending the package, Ji Yan went to the bank to open an account for himself.
He planned to put all the money he earns from selling rock candy online in this account.
Having completed his first business transaction, Ji Yan felt extremely satisfied.
“Once you have your first sale, the second one will come.”
“In the future, I will be the leader of this industry!”
Ji Yan felt that there was no precedent for selling rock candy online yet.
The more he thought about it, the more he felt he was incredibly smart.
After returning home.
Ji Yan sent his bank account number to the customer.
“The goods have already been sent, just transfer the money to this account.”
The other person quickly replied.
“I’ll transfer it to you at 5pm.”
Seeing this message, Ji Yan didn’t mind.
As long as the money could be transferred to him, it was fine.
Shortly after, Ji Yan waited for other buyers online.
At the same time, he improved the product descriptions on his original links.
Unfortunately, besides the buyer from earlier in the morning, there was no more activity on his online store or QQ.
Ji Yan wasn’t disheartened though.
After all, Rome wasn’t built in a day.
After taking a nap, Ji Yan moved a lounge chair and sat in front of his shop, calling out to customers passing by.
Even though he was doing online business, he couldn’t neglect the business of his physical store.
Both online and offline sales were important.
Around 4pm, the bell from the nearby elementary school rang for the end of school.
Before long, groups of elementary students rushed out.
“Brother Ji Yan!”
A little girl with pigtails excitedly came over to greet Ji Yan.
She was a student Ji Yan had met a few days ago when he was managing the store.
At that time, she had been eagerly eyeing the candy Ji Yan had displayed.
Ji Yan had given her a piece of candy to eat.
“TongTong, you’re back from school.”
“Do you want some candy today?”
Ji Yan greeted the little girl with a smile.
TongTong glanced longingly at the candy display and shook her head in the end.
“No, Brother Ji Yan, eating too much candy will cause cavities!”
“Brother Ji Yan, I’m going home now, see you later!”
After saying that, TongTong bounced away, swinging her pigtails, and ran towards her home.
“Go ahead.”
Ji Yan reminded her to run slowly before she left.
Then, some teachers and students greeted Ji Yan.
Some were familiar with him from before.
Some had only just started talking to Ji Yan these past few days.
Ji Yan knew that in business, one should always greet others with a smile.
Regardless of whether they made a purchase or not, Ji Yan spoke to them with a smile.
By 5:10 pm.
Ji Yan’s phone received a message notification.
He estimated that it was the money from selling rock sugar that had been deposited.
Ji Yan happily took out his phone to check the deposit message.
Although three mao wasn’t a lot of money, it was still his first earnings from selling rock sugar.
It was still worth getting excited about.
Ji Yan’s current phone was an older model smartphone.
But he didn’t really mind.
After all, it was still a smartphone.
Soon, Ji Yan saw the message on his phone.
“Your bank account has been deposited with 300.00 yuan…”
When he saw this message, Ji Yan was stunned.
How much?
Three hundred?!
Was he seeing it wrong?
Ji Yan was afraid he had made a mistake, so he rubbed his eyes and looked at the message again.
The message clearly stated three hundred yuan.
After double-checking, Ji Yan was completely confused.
What was going on?
Didn’t he tell the person that it was three mao (0.3 yuan) per gram?
How did three hundred yuan suddenly get transferred?
Could they have made a mistake in typing or transferring the money?
Staring at the numbers in the message, Ji Yan was at a loss.
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