Lin Feng was deep in thought.
With a 30% profit margin, they had room to experiment.
He turned to Chen Ming.
"Survey responses are probably starting to come in by now. You can start filtering them tonight."
Chen Ming nodded.
"Tomorrow, after the placement exams, we'll probably be free for the rest of the day. I'll help you go through the filtered responses and put together a plan." He paused. "We should be able to handle it all and have something tangible by Wednesday morning."
He turned to Li Jun.
"That means you should prepare to place an order for Wednesday morning. We'll submit our market research results to you by Tuesday evening so you can work on that."
Li Jun raised his hand in a casual salute. "Yes sir."
Lin Feng then turned to Zhang Wei.
"Do you think you can complete the mini program by Tuesday evening?"
Zhang Wei considered for a moment, then nodded. "I should be done by then."
"Good."
Lin Feng took a breath.
"Now, let's talk business."
The others straightened up, sensing the shift in tone.
"Earlier, we were planning to go with Chen Ming's original idea - selling at slightly above market price and pocketing the difference. Essentially, people would be paying for our delivery service."
He shook his head.
"But with our extremely inflexible delivery windows and slow delivery speed - since there's only four of us - there's basically zero incentive for anyone to use our services. Especially not if they're paying more than market price."
The others nodded slowly, following along.
"But with this profit margin," Lin Feng continued, "we can experiment a little."
He held up a finger.
"We sell goods at around 90% of retail price. We still deliver within the delivery windows - slow and inflexible as they are. But now, people have an actual incentive to put up with our terms. They're saving money."
Chen Ming's eyes lit up. "So we're basically trading convenience for price."
"Exactly."
"But wait," Zhang Wei frowned. "Doesn't that mean we're running at a loss?"
"Not exactly," Lin Feng said. "It depends on how much we value our own labor. We're not paying ourselves for deliveries right now, so technically we're still in the green. But yes - our margins will be thinner."
He waved a hand.
"Don't worry about that for now. The business is still growing. If we manage to make enough sales within the remaining seven days of the month, we can start the process for registering as a legitimate business."
"At that point, we'll have to renegotiate the deal with the supplier. But we can also start employing fellow students as independent contractors - have them deliver items in exchange for certain benefits. Monetary and otherwise."
The others listened intently.
"With this upgrade, we can increase our profits. We could revert to selling at market price since the 90% discount was only there to give people an incentive to use our slow services. But with part-timers, we'll have greater flexibility. Our service becomes better overall."
He smiled slightly.
"In fact, we could eventually get away with charging higher than market price. But it's best to ease into it slowly. Not all at once. Otherwise, customers will feel alienated."
He looked at each of them.
"Do you understand?"
Silence.
"Why are you all so quiet?"
They just stared at him blankly.
Chen Ming scratched his head.
"It's just that... when Brother Lin talks, he really sounds like a bigshot businessman."
Zhang Wei nodded in agreement.
Li Jun tilted his head. "You sound just like my uncle does when he's on the phone with his partners."
Lin Feng sighed.
"Anyway, most of that is in the future. Let's focus on what we have now."
He glanced at his phone.
"It's about time for my work. You guys handle what we talked about."
All three raised their hands in mock salutes.
"Yes, boss!"
Lin Feng just shook his head and walked out the door.
…
After he left, the room fell quiet for a moment.
"Boss Lin is really incredible," Chen Ming said, leaning back.
Li Jun seemed deep in thought. At first, Lin Feng had seemed like a normal, sociable guy. Nothing particularly remarkable. But now...
Chen Ming suddenly clasped his hands together, eyes wide.
"Could Boss Lin be... the legendary young master?"
The other two looked at him.
"What?" he asked defensively.
"You should read fewer novels," Zhang Wei said flatly, standing up.
Li Jun placed a hand on Chen Ming's shoulder as he got up to leave.
"You should get to work."
…
Tuesday, September 22nd.
[Infinite Money System]
[Total System Balance: ¥940.00]
[Available System Balance: ¥940.00]
[Personal Balance: ¥4,885.00]
Lin Feng observed the system for a moment, then dismissed it.
His system balance would hit a thousand yuan tonight.
He climbed out of bed and woke the others. Today was the day of the placement exams.
After getting ready, they hung around the room, mostly studying. Lin Feng, whose English was quite good, helped the others review key concepts - grammar rules, common vocabulary, listening strategies.
"Your English is really good," Li Jun said, looking up from his notes. "You'll probably end up in the advanced level."
"Is it?" Lin Feng asked.
The others nodded in confirmation.
He smiled slightly but didn't say much.
Internally, he thought about how fortunate he was that the placement exams were happening now. If they had been scheduled earlier - before his regression - he wouldn't have placed nearly as well. His old self had been decent at English, but nothing remarkable.
But now? He could genuinely place in the advanced class.
While it might seem like there was no real difference between levels, there were significant opportunities that came with being in the advanced track. For example, he could take his CET-4 and CET-6 exams early, which had their own benefits - better tutoring credentials, improved job prospects, and a head start on requirements most students wouldn't clear until their junior year.
There were also exchange student programs, though he wasn't particularly interested in those. Leaving the country now would disrupt everything he was building.
The three of them continued studying until around 8 am, when they headed out for the exams.
…
The exams lasted about an hour and a half, ending at 9:30 am.
Just as Lin Feng had expected, the rest of the day was free. The staff would be busy grading papers and assigning students to their respective classes. Not so free for them, he imagined.
After the exams, Chen Ming and Lin Feng met up at a net cafe to analyze the survey results together. Their goal was to transform the raw responses into genuine, usable data for Li Jun to work with when placing the first order.
They had come here mostly for access to computers, but also to give Zhang Wei some space. He needed peace and quiet to develop the mini program without disruptions.
Li Jun had tagged along as well.
But unlike them, he was on the gaming side of the cafe.