Outsider: The Fifth Young Master of the Kang Family

Chapter 26 The second brother is going to close the hardware store?

The next morning, Kang Qirui went to school. He had two classes that day. Today's class was mainly about the artistic achievements of the Book of Songs.

"'Xing' is a relatively unique technique in the Book of Songs and even in Chinese poetry. Zhu Xi said it more accurately: 'Xing means to first talk about other things in order to arouse the words to be chanted.' Xing was originally a method of starting each chapter of folk songs with images of natural scenery. It means to rise. It has two meanings: to start and to arouse emotions. The poet describes the objective world that touches him and uses it as the beginning of the poem. This is the Xing sentence."

"For example, in "Qin Feng·Morning Wind": The morning wind blows, the northern forest is dense, but I have not seen the gentleman, and I am worried. The poet describes the image of the morning wind and the birds flying back to the northern forest. The image of the sentence evokes the woman's thoughts about her husband and makes her worried. Because the morning wind birds can still fly back to the forest, but the soldier who serves the slave owner cannot return home in time, how can she not be "worried"? Her painful lovesickness and resentment are caused by the image of the sentence, and are more profound and vivid through the contrast of the image of the sentence."

"All later generations who advocated the innovation of poetry and advocated that poetry should boldly express reality, all of these poets raised the banner of the Book of Songs and advocated the restoration of the elegant tradition of the Book of Songs. Therefore, the Book of Songs became a banner of poetry innovation in later generations. Secondly, the fu, bi, and xing techniques of the Book of Songs were widely borrowed by later poets. It is a unity of vivid images and profound content. It is the most important creative principle in the history of Chinese poetry. Okay, let's stop here for the Book of Songs. Next week we will talk about the formation of historical prose and the Book of Documents. Class dismissed."

Kang Qirui returned to the office after class and had just taken a sip of tea when he received a call from his second brother: "Ah? What's going on? Wasn't dad fine? Why is he sick again?" Kang Qirui had no choice but to hang up the phone and rush home.

"Dad, what's wrong with you?" Kang Qirui ran to Kang Ershou's room and asked worriedly as soon as he got home.

"Ah Rui, I don't think I can delay much longer." The old man sighed and said.
"Dad, let's go to the hospital. I'll take you there." Kang Qirui was about to pull Kang Ershou up and go to the hospital.

"No, no, I won't go." My father firmly disagreed.

"Dad, don't be afraid of illness or seeing a doctor. If you are sick, don't go to traditional Chinese medicine." Kang Qirui advised.

"I want to, but I don't believe in Western medicine." My father still shook his head.

"Then go see a Chinese doctor."

"No, I think even if Hua Tuo were alive, it would be useless for me to look like this now."

Seeing that his old father repeatedly refused to see a doctor, Kang Qirui knew that it was exactly the same as in his previous life. Kang Ershou was pretending to be sick to gain sympathy. He knew that his old father was most afraid of death. If he was really sick, he would definitely go to the hospital as soon as possible.

"If you don't go to the hospital, I will ask Wanling to ask a doctor from their hospital to come to our house to see him." Kang Qirui didn't intend to let his old father make a fuss. Just for his own happiness, the whole family was worried about him, especially the old mother who was in tears every day.

"Oh, I said I don't want to see a doctor." Kang Ershou was a little panicked, afraid that his youngest son would really bring a doctor back.

Kang Qirui closed the door first, then said, "Dad, it's just you and me now, don't pretend. The last time we checked at the hospital, everything was fine, what's wrong with you? Tell me, why are you pretending to be sick?"

Kang Ershou saw that his story had been exposed, so he stopped pretending and sat up and said excitedly: "As soon as they heard that I was no longer sick, they all treated me as invisible. All the things they said before no longer count."

"Then you can't pretend to be sick, old man. Do you know how sad the old lady has been these days? She cries secretly every day. Can you bear to let her go?" Kang Qirui brought up the old lady. He knew that the two elders had a good relationship.

"At most I won't pretend anymore." My father felt a little sorry after hearing this.

"Okay, okay, I'll go talk to Mom."

Kang Qirui walked into his father's room, came to the patio, and said to everyone in the Kang family, "Don't worry, my father is not sick."

"Ah? Is old man pretending to be sick?" The Kang family members were all surprised.

"It's all your fault. You all promised everything before, but when the results of dad's examination came out, you acted as if nothing had happened. You pretended to be sick because dad was angry." Kang Qirui said unhappily.

Everyone looked at each other, laughed awkwardly, and promised to do what they promised their father. Kang Qirui said a few words to the nanny Wang Yulian, asking her not to blame his father, and then planned to go back to the room.

Kang Qirui had just returned to the attic when his second brother and his wife followed him up. Kang Qirui couldn't help but ask in confusion, "What happened to the second brother and his wife?"

The second sister-in-law took a chair and sat down, while the second brother sat directly on the bed. The second sister-in-law said, "It's the beginning of the month. Let's check the accounts of the clothing store last month." Hearing this, Kang Qirui also became serious. They had agreed to check the accounts at the beginning of each month. "Second sister-in-law, how was the business last month?"

"We opened on the 18th of last month and have been open for 14 days. The opening event and the purchase-plus-a-bumper-get-free event were both very good. The turnover was 473550, and the headquarters gave us a gross profit of 20%, which means that the gross profit for October was 10. After deducting employee salaries, employee commissions, store water and electricity bills, income tax and other expenses, the net profit was 94710. The details are all recorded in the account book, uncle, take a look." After the second sister-in-law finished speaking, she handed over a notebook.

Kang Qirui didn't answer, didn't even look at it, and said directly: "No need to look at Second Sister-in-law, you and I still don't trust each other. What's the situation of the goods in the store now?"

The second sister-in-law put away the notebook and said, "Except for the first batch of goods that need to be paid in advance, the rest of the goods will be held for a month, and the payment for the previous month's goods will be settled to the headquarters on the 15th of each month. So now the cash in the store is more than 52. Last month, in addition to the first batch of goods worth 20, we took 3 more batches of goods, of which more than 26 need to be paid this month."

"Okay, our cash flow is still quite safe. Second sister-in-law is basically in the clothing store now?" Kang Qirui asked when he saw that his second sister-in-law was so familiar with the clothing store.

The second brother, Kang Qizong, complained, "Yeah, this old woman works in the clothing store every day, and I'm the only one in the hardware store."

The second sister-in-law disagreed as soon as she heard it, and retorted: "Hey, why are you and I in a hardware store? Why are you staring at each other? The clothing store is busy, Yongfang can't manage it alone, so I have to watch over it, right? This poor man has invested all his wealth in it."

Seeing the second brother and his wife singing the same tune, Kang Qirui knew that they must have something else to ask him, so he said directly: "Okay, second brother and second sister-in-law, what else do you want? Just say it."

Er Lao smiled awkwardly and said, "Xiao Rui, it's like this, your hardware store is not doing well right now, but the clothing store is doing so well. What do you think about closing the hardware store and opening a clothing store?"

"Yes, Uncle Yao, you are the most capable. Can you help us think of it?" The second sister-in-law also looked at Kang Qirui.

In just half a month, they made over 6 yuan from the Metersbonwe store they co-founded, which is 2 yuan based on their own shares. They can get their money back in about 8-10 months. In comparison, they can only make less than 1 yuan from working so hard in a month at their hardware store, so they decided to close the store.

"There will definitely be no problem with a clothing store. Nowadays, young people not only like fashion but also sports. In addition to the Metersbonwe brand we are selling now, there are also sports brands like Li Ning and Anta." Kang Qirui affirmed the idea of ​​opening a clothing store to make money.

The second brother and his wife were excited and wanted to leave after hearing what they wanted to hear. Kang Qirui quickly stopped them, "Second brother and his wife, I haven't finished yet."

When Er Lao and his wife came back and sat down, Kang Qirui continued, "But Er Lao is not suitable for making clothes. Er Lao, don't look at me. Let me ask you, do we have men in our store?"

At that time, clothing stores did not have male shopping guides, and the first requirement for a shopping guide was appearance. Er Lao was obviously not suitable.

"Let me give you some advice."

"You don't have to close the hardware store. There have been rumors that the place will be demolished in recent years. There is no smoke without fire. If it is really demolished, the compensation will definitely be more than what you are paying for the transfer now. If you don't want to run the hardware store yourself, just hire a store manager. You are familiar with this business, so you should have someone you trust, right?"

The second brother nodded, "That's easy, then what am I suitable for?"

"One is to open an Internet cafe. The Internet is developing very fast now, but few families can afford to buy a computer. So there is no need to worry about opening an Internet cafe business. And I heard that it is still easy to open an Internet cafe now, but there will be a restriction order in the future, and it will be difficult to open one then." Kang Qirui knew that the "Internet Access Service Business Premises Management Regulations" would be issued in one or two years, and by then an Internet cafe license could be sold for tens of thousands of yuan.

"The second is to open a tea restaurant. It is different from traditional hotels and food stalls. This model is very popular in Hong Kong. We also have great opportunities here, and the catering industry is still very profitable." Kang Qirui wondered if Ruhao Tea Restaurant could be opened in advance, hahaha.

"Another thing is to open an electrical appliance mall. We are about to join the WTO, and electrical appliances will be much cheaper in the future. Many electrical appliances that we cannot afford now will probably have to be bought back home next year or the year after next."

"Then what should I do?" Er Lao was overwhelmed when he heard this.

"Internet cafes are more complicated, and many hooligans will come to cause trouble. Tea restaurants need to be unique and have a chef. Electronics malls require a huge investment. Whichever of these three problems you are confident you can solve, just open the one. Think about it slowly, after all, it's not impossible to make money from hardware stores nowadays."

(End of this chapter)