Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
$200,000,000 Chen Jin actually had $200,000,000? Where did that money come from? Of course, it was from the sales in Forever Jewels within the past three months.
What kind of jewelry shop was so great that it could earn a profit of $200,000,000 within three months? This meant that the sales revenue reached billions? Did this mean that tens of millions of jewelry were sold daily? Was this like going to the supermarket to buy groceries, where customers had to go there daily for a little something?
Of course, it was not that exaggerated. In reality, the average sales profit each day from Forever Jewels was only around $3,000,000. A third of the clients were inclined towards investments. Because the little gold bullions were cheap, they had bought them in bulk as a hedge investment. There was even a ” rich hillbilly” client who got addicted to the gold bullions. He came on several separate occasions and bought more than 100 kilograms of the gold bullions in total.
In addition, there were some unbranded jewelry shops who, lacking in sources for cheap gold, discreetly sent someone over to bulk-buy the 999 gold bullion. At $298 per gram, they had seen how cheap the gold was selling for. They intended to rework the gold and then sell them again. This would allow them to make a small profit as an intermediary.
The investor clients and the unbranded jewelry shops contributed to more than half of the shop’s sales revenue. From normal retail clients, their average daily contribution to the sales revenue was not even $1,500,000. With Forever Jewel’s prime location in a prosperous and busy section of the city, its sales per square meter ratio was actually on the low side.
For the past three months, Chen Jin had to get double the amount of gold from Haierfa in order to satisfy the capital needs of Xing Hai Technologies. Each month, he took 200 kilograms of gold and divided them into 10 batches of 20 kilograms each. Then he would hand them to Chiu Wan-Ting, one batch at a time for her to deal with. That was 600 kilograms in three months, including the 100 kilograms of gold that was sold during Singles’ Day.
It was 700 kilograms in total which had been realized into an astronomical amount of $18,200,000,000. In addition, there were profits of almost $20,000,000 generated by sales in the jewelry shop in these past three months, of which Chen Jin had pocketed $18,000,000. Thus, the first deposit of 200 million to Ling Feng Technologies was successfully gathered.
In the next two months, Chen Jin had to gather $200,000,000 for the second 10% deposit to Ling Feng Technologies. This meant that for his next course of action, Chen Jin’s still had to try his very best to sell gold. He would have to sell at least 700 kilograms of gold or more. Did Chen Jin possess that much gold? How much gold did he have in reserve now? Unfortunately, not much.
He was still left with roughly three tons. Through the efforts of the exploration squad, who scoured the surroundings of the Base of Operations up to a range of 400 kilometers, Chen Jin had increased his gold reserves to almost four tons. All were thrown into the capsule factory and melted in high heat. After which, they were remade into gold bars of one kilogram each. Making 700 to 800 bars and then selling them on Earth for cash was a small matter. Chen Jin planned to sell off his gold in huge amounts in the period leading up the Lunar New Year. It was excellent timing as the demand for gold jewelry would be huge.
“During the Lunar New Year, there’ll be plenty of weddings and other happy occasions. An especially large number of people will be buying gold jewelry. Sales in this month alone account for 30% or more of annual sales figures. Recently, the number of customers going into the shop has started to increase. Sales revenue grew significantly too. Obviously, I have to grab this opportunity to sell as much gold as I can!”
Of course, there would definitely be a certain amount of risk involved, as it would shock many. For example, his mom. This was her response after she caught sight of the 800 gold bars, in addition to the big block of gold weighing 30 kilograms; Her mouth dropped wide open and her large eyes rounded in shock. She could not help but move closer. With gleaming eyes and an avaricious expression, she said, “This…. This is so much gold. It’s that friend who sent you all of this to be sold?”
Chen Jin nodded. “Yes, year-end is prime time for sales. He wants to sell more.”
“Son, now I finally believe that your friend has dug up a huge treasure. Just the gold in this room is enough to bring great danger to him.” As her eyes flashed with a gleam of avarice, He Li thought, As they say, onlookers have a share too. My son helped you to dig up so much gold, yet you use him as a tool. It’s not too much to share half of the gold with him, right? She even developed the notion and impulse to go for a round of negotiations and bargaining with this mysterious character.
However, her son was too kind-hearted and had a soft personality. He was also too insistent on not breaking certain ethics and had too much trust in the loyalty between friends. If it was her…
If Chen Jin knew what his mom was thinking right now, he would break out in a cold sweat. In terms of being calculating, how could he compare to his mom who spent half her life in accounting? He could only rejoice that he told better lies.
After which, with the help of his mother, this batch of gold weighing 830 kilograms was transported to Forever Jewels in its entirety. Store Manager Chiu Wan-Ting would help to deal with the gold.
He never imagined it would give her a shock as well. Waving her hands, she said, “Too much, this batch of gold is really too much. I dare not sell off anymore at the jewelry manufacturers.” Faced with this enormous amount of gold, her timid side was exposed.
Chen Jin said, “Auntie Chiu, we’ll go together. The security guards, Zhang Shun Fei and Xu Xin will follow behind us in another car. We’ll deal with the gold and they’ll act as a lookout.” In addition, Chen Jin also brought a handgun back from Haierfa. It was fully loaded with ammo. He hid it in his windbreaker, just in case it was needed.
“Ok.” Under Chen Jin’s multiple reassurances, Chiu Wan-Ting finally overcame her timidity and agreed to personally help him deal with the gold. At that moment, she realized that it was not especially easy to get her generous salary of $60,000 per month. One had to have a strong heart.
Using a period of three days, 800 kilograms of illegal gold was changed into their legal versions at the jewelry manufacturers.
In the following days, it was the busiest period of Forever Jewels, where business was at its peak. There was a promotion going on almost every day. The female staff put in their best effort to canvas potential customers and create an outstanding business performance.
They even organized two very attractive activities. One was of them was “Pick A Gold Bullion,” where a transparent glass box was placed in the center of the shop’s foyer. In the glass box was a 30-kilogram block of gold. Customers coming and going could put their hands inside and use two fingers to try to pick up the block of gold. The gold would belong to whoever managed to pick it up and take it out of the box!
“For real? The gold will belong to whoever picks it up with their finger? I’ll try!”
“30 kilograms of gold worth tens of millions? You can really bear to part with this money?”
“It’s up, it’s really up! Ah, it slipped again!”
“Go away, my fingers are strong enough to crush walnuts. Let me try… Ah, no, the bullion is too slippery!” This person sighed as he hung his head in defeat.
“My good buddies, look closely here. If that bro over there can pick up the 30-kilogram block of gold with his fingers, it’ll belong to him. Everyone, it’s real gold! Look, look this man here has almost succeeded, Aaahhhh~! It dropped again, tens of millions are lost again!”
Many celebrity internet video hosts shot live recordings in the shop using their mobile phones. This brought much attention through the video sites’ increased traffic, and in essence, it was an advertisement for the shop. Even some newspaper media sent their journalists over to report on the situation, causing a heated discussion on the internet.
The second activity to attract attention was the “Gold Claw Machine.” Four of these gold claw machines were brought into the shop and placed at the entrance. It was not dolls or plushies inside the machines. Instead, there were gold bullions, silver coins, and jewelry such as necklaces, bracelets, and earrings (most were not made of gold or silver). Their value ranged from a hundred dollars to tens of thousands of dollars.
As for the probability of picking up the various prizes, gold was, of course, the prize with the smallest probability of success, around 1 in 1,000. The probability of picking up one of the jewelry pieces was around 1 in 100. The probability of picking up the silver coins was the highest, around 1 in 10.
Each try of the “Gold Claw Machine” cost $10. The cost to be entered into the chances of winning were higher.
Even so, from dawn till dusk, there were long queues of at least 10 meters at each of the four machines. There was a huge quantity of players!
It was because this type of claw machine was set up with a 100% reward rate. If one put in $100, one would definitely be able to pick out something that was worth $100. The shop used these machines as a covert method to sell off more of their merchandise, not to gain extra profits from the players. Therefore, the players with luck on their side were able to take advantage of the players with bad luck. The players with good techniques were able to pick up items that the players with poor techniques could not.
Everyone thought, it only takes one more try to move that dangling gold bullion that is worth tens of thousands out of the machine. It could fall into my hands…. And I only have to pay $10 to get that gold.
Faced with the temptation of a prize that was worth 1,000 times more than the $10 fee, people could not help themselves. The four gold claw machines brought in daily revenues of up to $300,000 in loose change! It represented 5% of the jewelry shop’s total revenue.
As one could see, the increase in business performance caused by a game-style marketing was instant.