thefictionvixens Chapter 83 Florasis Store
Chapter 83 Florasis Store
"Ma Wu?" Yan Shuo raised an eyebrow; the name sounded familiar.
"That's Master Ma, whose real name is Ma Dechang. He's in his early forties, and his face is covered in pockmarks from smallpox," the police captain explained. "He manages the shady businesses in the old alleyways of Shanghai. The money thieves, pickpockets, and beggars all have to go through him, taking a cut. He used to be a dockworker, but because he was ruthless enough, Jin Xiaoshan took notice of him and made him a leader at the bottom. On the surface, he's the 'head of the alley,' mediating disputes, but in reality, he's vicious. Anyone who dares to pocket stolen goods will have their hands and feet broken. He also runs a place to sell stolen goods, hidden in a secondhand shop near the City God Temple, specifically dealing with items obtained by thieves like Chen Xiaoguai. His core role is to pass on intelligence from the alleyways to the higher-ups, such as which houses have strangers or which houses have contraband, in exchange for Jin Xiaoshan's protection."
Jin Xiaoshan? Yan Shuo knew the answer in his heart.
He knew this man; he was around sixty years old and a big shot in the Green Gang, a member of the "Tong" generation. He controlled most of the businesses in Shanghai's old city and the South City Wharf, including casinos, opium dens, secondhand goods sales, rickshaw rentals, and even some foreign smuggling operations in the concessions.
He worked under Huang Jinrong in his early years, but later started his own business, relying on his ruthlessness and cunning to navigate between the Japanese puppet regime, the foreign concession police, and the Nationalist government.
On the surface, he was a "philanthropist" who ran soup kitchens and free schools, but in reality, he was the uncrowned king of Shanghai's underworld.
Yan Shuo's Fengming Records and Film Company and his soda factory had previously been extorted by Jin Xiaoshan for protection money.
"Alright, you can take them with you now." Yan Shuo waved his hand and said casually, "I'll go see Jin Laohu tomorrow and talk to him about this."
In his eyes, no matter how powerful Jin Laohu was, he was just a burly soldier.
After Huang Jinrong's power waned, many of his men deserted. Despite his great reputation, he was actually weak inside and out.
If some rich people are a little bit assertive, he won't dare to provoke them.
The only reason someone can survive for so long among these three forces is because they are cunning and know how to change their stance depending on the wind.
Upon hearing that Yan Shuo was going to see Jin Laohu, Chen Xiaoguai trembled with fear and immediately begged for mercy: "Sir, I didn't know you knew our boss! Please don't go looking for him! I promise I'll never steal from you again! Please let me go, please!"
Those who own residences in the Western-style buildings along Fuxing Middle Road are not easy to get along with.
The police captain knew Yan Shuo's identity, which is why he explained the situation in such detail, for fear of offending this big shot.
Seeing Chen Xiaoguai beg for mercy, he immediately changed his expression and scolded, "You're scared now? Where were you before? This is an upscale residential area. You dare to break in and steal? Don't you want to die?"
"I know I was wrong, I really know I was wrong!" Chen Xiaoguai cried out while kowtowing, "I still have an elderly mother to support, I can't die! I'm kowtowing to you, please forgive me! Waaah..."
The police officers behind him, seeing how pitifully he was crying, all looked on with pity and turned their heads away.
Yan Shuo felt a mix of emotions as he looked at Chen Xiaoguai trembling.
This guy doesn't learn anything good, but instead becomes a habitual thief, which is truly hateful. However, his desperate pleading look also makes him seem somewhat pitiful, perhaps he really has some unspeakable secret.
But now that things have come to this, in front of the police, he can't really do anything to Chen Xiaoguai. If he really sends him to find Jin Laohu, it would make him seem like he's making a mountain out of a molehill.
Yan Shuo sighed: "Alright, remember this, you're not allowed to come to this courtyard again. I won't go looking for Jin Laohu anymore. You'd better keep your eyes open in the future and don't provoke people you shouldn't."
"Thank you, sir! Thank you, sir!" Chen Xiaoguai kowtowed twice and was pulled into the police car by the police.
"This is really frustrating," Yan Shuo muttered, then turned and went back to his room to sleep.
The next morning, after eating the breakfast prepared by the cook, Yan Shuo drove to the soda factory.
He loaded the finished Florasis cosmetics set into the car.
These were all produced in a small workshop in the soda factory warehouse, operated by a few dolls, and the workers had no idea that this small workshop existed.
Yan Shuo directly put all the used production lines, dolls, and finished products into his spatial ring. This time, a total of more than 3,000 sets were produced.
This cosmetic set is targeted at celebrities, socialites, and other high-society women, and is priced at two to three hundred French dollars per set.
The average person earns only about fifty yuan a month, which is not enough to buy such a thing, so this will not affect the lives of ordinary people.
Yan Shuo even considered pricing it at one thousand yuan, but ultimately abandoned the idea because he thought it was too outrageous.
Driving leisurely to Ximei Trading Company, Yan Shuo took out a hundred boxes of cosmetics from the back seat and trunk and said to Li Zhiyao, "Put these on the shelves, mark the prices, and the sales staff have already taught us how to introduce them. Today we're officially going to sell them."
As soon as the new goods arrived, Meng Jia immediately surrounded them, her eyes wide with excitement.
She already knew that Yan Shuo was developing cosmetics. She had seen the samples before and thought they were incredibly exquisite. Now that she saw the finished product, she was even more captivated by it.
Upon seeing the price tag of 280 French francs, she immediately hesitated.
Li Zhiyao grabbed a set and shoved it into Meng Jia's hands: "These are our own stuff, take one if you like. The price is different from the production cost, it's not that expensive."
"Sister Li Yue, this won't do, will it?" Meng Jia quickly waved her hand. "Even if it's not that expensive, it's still not cheap. It would be such a waste for me to use such exquisite cosmetics."
With a heavy heart, she took out a powder compact, a lipstick, and a bottle of hand cream from the set. "I'll take these few items; you can give the rest to those who need them."
The organization has rules against wasting things, so she just couldn't bring herself to take the whole box.
"You," Li Zhiyao smiled helplessly and distributed the remaining cosmetics to the other female sales clerks.
After arranging the cosmetics, Yan Shuo walked into Lucas's office, plopped down on the soft sofa, casually opened Lucas's cigar box, took out a cigar, and lit it.
"Lucas, the goods have arrived, one hundred boxes."
Lucas smiled as he watched him smoke his cigar and asked, "The cosmetics you were talking about?"
"Yes, the price is two hundred and eighty yuan per set," Yan Shuo said, taking a puff of his cigar.
"Okay, I got it." Lucas nodded, then suddenly remembered something, "By the way, does your friend still have any lighters? I'd like two thousand more."
"Okay." Yan Shuo twitched his lips and gritted his teeth in agreement.
These lighters were a losing proposition, but Lucas just couldn't resist selling them.
Last year, he didn't set up any production equipment and just took the goods that Xiao Zhi gave him. He lost 25 silver dollars for every one he sold, which made him very distressed.
Now, with the upgraded Xiaozhi equipment section in the store, I was able to buy a lighter production line and raw materials, which barely managed to reduce the cost to one silver dollar.
Besides lighters, Yan Shuo also supplied sandalwood soap to Ximei Trading Company, producing several styles and brands, as well as some high-end fabrics, all of which sold well.
"Next, I plan to set up a bullet production line," Yan Shuo said slowly, leaning back on the sofa. "The raw materials aren't expensive; a ton of steel costs only about a hundred silver dollars. It's just that the initial investment in equipment is quite large."