pjbooks Chapter 90 [Disparities in Cognition]
Chapter 90 [Disparities in Cognition]
Chapter 90 [Disparities in Cognition]
Chen Youyin's words were quite cryptic. He first praised himself, then abruptly shifted the focus to the core of the problem: "But here's the problem: what about the remaining 60%!"
"Your platform has only given up the space you already had, or that you were supposed to give anyway. So why should we, who provide genuine raw materials, labor and technology, and take on quality control and production, be treated the same?"
Warehousing and shipping—so many suppliers who put in real investment and responsibility, and they all get the same share?
"I, Old Chen, am definitely not satisfied with getting 30% as well. I think 20% and 40% is more reasonable."
Liu Zhuohao watched the two arguing as if he were an outsider.
What Chen Youyin said was certainly reasonable.
This issue is somewhat similar to the relationship between Meituan, the store, and the delivery rider.
However, compared to Meituan, Bilibili is not a large platform at the moment, and it does not have the power to force merchants and bloggers to submit.
Fat Cat's smile faded slightly, revealing a hint of helplessness: "Boss Chen, you can't say that."
"Without our platform and the customers attracted by this shop, there would be no way we could talk about these products and sales."
"Our platform provides channels for export."
Chen Youyin immediately retorted, speaking faster, "That's right! Without your platform, this business might not have been able to succeed."
"So, does that mean this business can succeed without me as a supplier, without my meatballs? Just having a shop without goods to sell is just an empty shell, isn't it? This business can't function without anyone—"
Just as the two were about to get into a heated argument about "who is more important," Liu Zhuohao quickly coughed lightly and interjected at the opportune moment, his voice not loud: "We're not sitting here today to compare who is more indispensable, but to discuss how to work together to build a business and make money."
He reached out and picked up the brandy bottle on the table, calmly refilling the nearly empty glasses in front of Chen Youyin and Fat Cat. The amber liquid poured in slowly, the action itself a silent act of calming.
"Arguing about this will only hurt feelings and won't get us anywhere." He put down his bottle and looked calmly at the two of them. "Since we both have our own opinions on the profit-sharing ratio, and we can't reach an agreement right away, how about we try a different approach?"
Fat Cat and Chen Youyin both stopped talking and looked at him.
Liu Zhuohao then proposed a compromise: "We can have a trial operation, you know, we can sign a short-term contract first, like a year, or even six months would be fine."
"Let's start with a preliminary agreed-upon revenue sharing ratio that everyone can accept. The key is to see the actual sales volume, the market feedback, and how much profit we ultimately make."
"Once we have concrete data, we can sit down and discuss the specific profit sharing for the long-term contract. At that time, the data will speak for itself, and no one can refute it. Wouldn't that be fairer?"
It's unclear whether this deal will even go through, yet both sides are already arguing over profit sharing.
As Chen Youyin listened, the serious look on his face gradually relaxed. He laughed and patted Liu Zhuohao's shoulder forcefully: "Young man, you're quick-witted! You explain it clearly! That's exactly the point! Just do it, and we'll see!"
Fat Cat nodded and said, "This suggestion is quite pragmatic; we can accept it."
"Let's sign a six-month contract first, and use the actual sales data within six months as the basis for evaluation before discussing the revenue sharing plan for long-term cooperation."
"Then it's settled!" Chen Youyin readily raised his freshly filled glass, his voice booming, "Come on, let's have another one! For the opening and prosperity of our shop!"
The glasses were refilled and clinked together. The previously written project proposals were exchanged, and the initial cooperation was considered settled.
Chen Youyin's niece led a group of people into the house, carrying plates filled with beef, offal, tripe, and beef balls, and once again took on the role of waitress.
Taking advantage of the relaxed atmosphere, Liu Zhuohao felt it was time to add fuel to the fire and inject more confidence into the newly reached cooperation agreement.
He picked up his phone, swiped the screen, and opened his Bilibili account.
"Actually, I already did a soft product placement test for this beef ball a while ago." He turned his phone screen towards Chen Youyin and Fat Cat, playing a video clip from "Random Challenge Episode 2".
In the video, a family of three sits at a table, and the camera zooms in on a round, plump, steaming beef ball in a soup spoon.
The moment it was bitten open, the live chat exploded with comments: "Is this a Chaoshan beef ball?"
"Only one! The blogger is so stingy!"
"It smells so good! Did you make it yourself?"
"Warning: This close-up is making my mouth water!"
"Ohhhhhh, wait, why isn't it spraying water!"
"One more, please!"
"It was originally presented as a pre-meal snack, and it wasn't explicitly stated that it was GG," Liu Zhuohao explained. "But it was quite effective. Many users asked about it in the live chat and comments section, and quite a few people also messaged me privately asking if I could buy it for them."
He swiped the screen to show screenshots of private messages inquiring about purchasing channels.
This video only reached number 8 on the site's all-time rankings, with nearly 900,000 views.
Meanwhile, the number one video in the same period was their own rights protection video.
When the video for "Random Challenge Phase 2" was first released, I uploaded a video to defend my rights within 24 hours, so this video was more of a traffic-generating video.
However, later on, it seemed more like the "rights protection video" was driving traffic to this random challenge video.
"Is this a lot of views?" Chen Youyin asked honestly, looking at the scrolling comments and data center numbers on the screen. "And these numbers floating around, it looks quite lively, but how many people will actually buy it?"
Clearly, he lacks an intuitive understanding of internet data.
"Uncle, this number of views is already incredibly high," Chen Min whispered, helping him with the calculations. "The population of one district in our city is only about 500,000. This is almost equivalent to the entire population of two districts having seen it!"
Chen Youyin's eyes widened, and the chopsticks in his hand fell onto the plate with a "clatter." He stared wide-eyed and muttered repeatedly, "Both districts—have you seen them both?"
He then frowned, subconsciously calculating, his tone rising slightly, "Hiss—if everyone comes to buy, the factory's current production capacity might really not be able to keep up."
His tone even began to sound worried.
But his words betrayed his overwhelming joy.
The crow couldn't help but laugh and explained, "Boss Chen, watching the videos is free, but buying things costs money."
"Views cannot be directly converted into the number of purchases."
"I estimate that there are at least ten thousand, no! a few thousand people willing to try buying, which would already be a remarkable conversion rate."
Under Liu Zhuohao's gaze, Chen Youyin's expression immediately turned disappointed. "Only a few thousand people—"
The difference between over 900,000 and a few thousand is indeed quite large.
"However, it could be even more; viewership is just the baseline."
Fat Cat added that he also took out his phone, presumably to open his Bilibili homepage and check his follower count.
Upon seeing this, his voice betrayed obvious surprise: "Wow! Boss Liu, congratulations! I remember your follower count was almost 20—oh, it's nearly 220,000?!"
215872.
In 14, this number would definitely place him among the top bloggers on Bilibili.
How long did it take Liu Zhuohao to complete this task?
Less than six months.
Strictly speaking, it was a month.
Since being reported at the beginning of this month, my follower count has skyrocketed from over 70,000 to nearly 220,000 in just one month.
It tripled!
Seemingly realizing the time it took them to create this account, Fat Cat and Crow kept exchanging glances, while Liu Zhuohao, sitting next to them, could clearly see the surprise in their eyes.
Yes, the speed at which I've gained followers is something even the gaming bloggers that the website was heavily promoting before probably couldn't achieve.
This is no longer just the result of website promotion, but the appeal of the work itself!
"It's mainly due to the attention brought by the recent consumer rights videos; their spending power isn't necessarily strong." Liu Zhuohao waved his hand, steer the conversation back to the business itself, "But even conservatively speaking, five thousand orders is actually not a small amount."
"Boss Chen, I've looked at your beef ball prices. They range from eighty to one hundred and twenty yuan per jin (500g). The selection is quite detailed. Let's take the middle price of one hundred yuan per jin and calculate it as follows—"
He quickly calculated in his mind: "Five thousand orders, that's half a million in sales." After all, this is food, not a one-off transaction.
"If it really tastes good, the repurchase rate won't be low, and then—"
He didn't finish his sentence, but the prospect of a booming business was already clearly presented to everyone.
After calculating the cost, Chen Youyin unconsciously licked his dry lips, his eyes gleaming like a starving wolf encountering a hare.
Chen Min also took a slight breath.
For them, this was money they really wanted to put in their pockets.
The crows and the fat cat were much calmer.
The two of them were just employees, sent by Bilibili to discuss business.
The final sales figure doesn't really matter to them; at most, they'll receive some bonuses because they secured this contract.
After a satisfying meal, Chen Youyin took the three of them on a tour of the factory in the afternoon, and then arranged a private car to take them back to their hotel to rest in the evening.
"They are employees after all, so we'll definitely have to have a video conference with the station manager tonight to confirm," Liu Zhuohao said softly at the factory gate, watching the departing car. "The contract signing time will probably take two or three days."
"It's alright, good food is worth waiting for."
Chen Youyin was very hopeful. "If this deal goes through, we'll expand our production and scale. Then, things might really turn out as you said, Boss Liu."
Liu Zhuohao was puzzled.
"It's Chen's!"
Chen Youyin reminded him, "We've already thought it through. If it really succeeds, we'll call it Chen's Family Beef." He added, "It's not just beef balls; we plan to do any business related to beef."
"If you really open a shop in the future, Mr. Liu, we'll supply you with the best quality goods at the lowest cost price!"
"Let's achieve a win-win situation!"
Liu Zhuohao smiled helplessly and echoed, "Yes, yes, a win-win situation!"
Then, as if he had just thought of something, Chen Youyin quickly looked at his niece next to him and introduced her more solemnly, "This is my niece, my brother's daughter. She graduated from a prestigious university and came back to help our family with some financial matters."
"Hello there."
Liu Zhuohao greeted him politely.
"Where do you young people chat these days?" Chen Youyin asked enthusiastically. "QQ? Why don't you exchange QQ numbers so we can keep in touch? Phone numbers are fine too."
Liu Zhuohao glanced at the woman in front of him who was also looking at him, and nodded, "Okay."
"Didn't you say the news about your interview was going to air tonight?" Chen Youyin suggested again, "Why don't we come to our place and watch it together?"
"Excuse me, Mr. Chen."
Liu Zhuohao replied helplessly, "Because I still need to post videos on my account and coordinate with the news team, I have to go back and monitor the data, so—"
"How is it?"
As Liu Zhuohao's figure disappeared at the alley entrance, Chen Youyin turned around, put his hands behind his back, and slowly strolled into the factory area. Suddenly, he asked his niece beside him a question.
"He's not the kind of uneducated, ignorant country bumpkin you imagined, is he?"
"Hmm—it's not quite what I expected." Chen Min spoke frankly beside him, her tone still carrying a hint of lingering surprise. "Mainly because when you mentioned his age, my first reaction was—it seemed a bit unreliable."
"I've already shown you those videos of him, but you still don't believe me." Chen Youyin shook his head helplessly. "Look at his attitude when he faced those regulatory officials. He was clear-headed and neither humble nor arrogant. He didn't seem like a young man who had just graduated from school. He was very composed."
He paused, then said with a touch of sagely wisdom, "Don't even mention your father; even your grandfather back then might not have had his composure."
"I still remember when I was a child, our factory was sabotaged by our competitors. Your grandfather was so worried that he didn't sleep for several days and nights, and he even got blisters on his lips."
"Doing business and working for someone else are two different things. Whether someone will cooperate with you depends on how strong your cards are and how unconventional your methods are. How can they possibly look at you differently just because you graduated from a prestigious university? Impossible. In the end, it all comes down to solid sales figures."
He turned his head and glanced at Chen Min: "Your education is a good stepping stone when looking for a job, but if you really want to move up, you can't get ahead with just that."
Chen Min pursed her lips and didn't reply.
She didn't really think so.
These older generations are like that; they always think that academic qualifications are meaningless and that it's better to go out into society early, work hard, save money, and become your own boss.
They don't understand that times have changed.
Nowadays, doing business, especially if you want to expand your business, build a brand, and expand beyond your local area, definitely requires a degree.
The systematic thinking, information acquisition ability, and even the network of contacts that academic qualifications represent are all crucial.
Without the corresponding understanding and vision, one may be forever trapped in the cycle of opening a factory, taking orders, and producing, unable to grow large or strong.
But she kept all these things to herself; reasoning with the older generation was pointless.