Chapter 637: Chapter 262: Zhuang Shuyuan’s Plan_3
"Of course, the first bit of funding is always the hardest, but if one person can’t come up with so many Points, can’t more people do it together?"
"10,000 Points sounds like a lot, but actually, with thirty days in a month, it averages out to just over three hundred Points a day."
"Three hundred Points per day, and with the three of us, that means each of us only needs to earn around a hundred Points a day."
"Even without running a business, just going to catch fish, if we’re lucky, we can easily make several hundred Points a day."
"So actually, this price is very reasonable. As more people come to the Yangshan Shelter, business will only get better, and the Points we earn will increase, you know?"
Gao Jie felt numb, thinking that with Zhuang Shuyuan explaining it this way, maybe 10,000 Points a month really isn’t a lot.
"Sister Zhuang, are you planning to rent a shop to do business?" Bai Zhirui immediately focused on the key point and asked.
Zhuang Shuyuan nodded, "We need to seize the opportunity while others haven’t realized it yet and quickly get a good location."
"How many Points do you two have right now?"
Bai Zhirui instinctively said, "I think I have just over two thousand Points."
"What? Nai Bai, what have you been doing? You actually saved up over two thousand Points?" Gao Jie was immediately shocked and looked at Bai Zhirui in disbelief.
Bai Zhirui counted on her fingers and said, "Is two thousand Points a lot? I earn just from using my Superpower to make Nutrition Express, one bottle gives 1 Point. Many people get very tired from work every day and come to buy a bottle from me. If I had more Superpower Energy, I could definitely earn more."
Gao Jie was stunned and said, "No wonder you want to open a shop; selling therapeutic food is actually so profitable?"
"What about you, Sister Gao, how much did you earn?"
Gao Jie looked bitter and said, "I think I only have around nine hundred Points. That’s because I found several types of edible Mutant Plants, and Song Wen, the team leader, gave me an extra five hundred Points for that. The other four hundred Points are from my hard work catching fish, hunting, clearing land, and moving bricks."
She said it pitifully, and indeed, it’s true. Catching fish and hunting outside doesn’t earn much Points, and it’s time-consuming and labor-intensive.
And opening land for farming, digging mountains, and creating caves are all physical work, with not many Points given in return.
Since they were serving, Liang Yuan was already generous enough not making them work for nothing.
Bai Zhirui couldn’t help pouting, "That’s just a bit over three thousand Points. We still need seven thousand more Points!"
"Sister Zhuang, how many Points do you have?" Bai Zhirui couldn’t help but look at Zhuang Shuyuan. Now their only hope was with her.
Zhuang Shuyuan shook her head, "Don’t look at me. I have even fewer Points, just over seven hundred."
In fact, this was already the result of her exerting all her efforts.
Her Superpower was quite awkward, similar to the Mind Reading Technique, which couldn’t help her catch fish, hunt, or do manual labor with the patrol team. As a woman, even as a Superpower User, she couldn’t do it for long.
Song Wen considered this and let her stay in the farming area, helping Granny Li and the others with the crops.
But taking care of crops, how many Points can one earn?
She had to use her Mind Reading Technique to keep Granny Li and the others happy. Granny Li, in turn, looked after her by giving her some well-paying work, so she saved up over seven hundred Points.
Otherwise, even getting seven hundred Points would have been tough for her.
"What do we do now? The three of us combined have just around four thousand Points. We’re still six thousand Points short, how can we open a shop?" Bai Zhirui said, feeling dejected.
Gao Jie couldn’t help saying, "And if we spend all our Points renting a shop, we’ll still need to cover food and other expenses after opening the shop."
"How about I ask Yue Yawei for a loan?" Gao Jie hesitated, then couldn’t help but say.
Bai Zhirui also said, "I think that might work. Yawei works at the farm, she’s in charge of giving animals aphrodisiacs for breeding, she should have quite a few Points."
"I’m just afraid she won’t lend us any. I heard she’s dating Yuan Rui, and they’re both trying to save up for a house just outside the Fire Bamboo Forest." Gao Jie said in a low voice.
Bai Zhirui felt helpless and disheartened.
Zhuang Shuyuan, however, was not worried, "Don’t worry, I’ve already thought of a way."
"What’s the plan?"
Bai Zhirui and Gao Jie couldn’t help but look at her.
Zhuang Shuyuan smiled, "Our service period is one month. After this month, we’ll be free people. Right now, if we want to rent a shop, Mr. Liang won’t allow it."
"But this time, the opening will definitely bring in a lot of goods that everyone will want. But since everyone has limited Points, a lot of people won’t have enough."
"So instead of spending our Points right now, we should loan them out to others."
"We’ll loan Points for a month, with high interest rates. People eager to buy things from the shopping center will definitely borrow since the goods are both cheap and limited in quantity. No one will be able to resist."
"Our first bit of funding will come from loaning out our Points."
"Next month, we can collect the loaned Points with interest, and by then we’ll have had the whole month to save up more Points. This way, we should be able to come up with the 10,000 Points."
"By then, our Points will be enough, and we’ll have transitioned from service members to free people, so we can rent the shop from Mr. Liang."
As she spoke, her eyes shone with wisdom, and her noble aura was truly captivating.
Bai Zhirui and Gao Jie were both drawn in by her presence, feeling a sense of admiration for her.
Gao Jie slapped her thigh, "I think it’s a good idea! We can endure a rough month if it means setting things up."
Bai Zhirui came back to her senses, frowning, "But Sister Zhuang, what if, just what if, we can’t collect the loans back?"
Zhuang Shuyuan laughed, "We won’t have that problem."
"There’s going to be a personnel change soon. Mr. Liang will reassign us, some will get promotions, and some will fall from grace..."
She paused for a moment, hinting that she herself might be among those demoted, then continued, "This kind of reshuffling often causes some chaos, and Mr. Liang will surely make an example out of a few people to maintain order."
"No one will dare cause trouble at a time like this. We’ll play by the rules, and if we face any injustices, we’ll complain to the new authorities."
"New managers always want to make their mark, and they’ll be looking for opportunities to show their authority."
"So no one wise would risk defaulting on a loan right now."
"So this loan plan for just one month is low-risk."
The two women listened to her analysis, nodding in agreement; it made a lot of sense.
Just then, someone shouted from afar, "It’s seven o’clock! The shopping center is open!"
In an instant, everyone in the Fire Bamboo Forest stood up, rushing excitedly towards the shopping center!