Chapter 221 - 195: You Bought Alcohol, So Why the Cigarettes?

Chapter 221: Chapter 195: You Bought Alcohol, So Why the Cigarettes?

Chen Yuan wasn’t surprised.

How many people were even left in the countryside these days? There wasn’t a restaurant in sight — not even a convenience store.

If it had been anyone else pitching this idea, Zhang Hui would’ve straight-up called them crazy.

"I know you’ve got guts, little bro, but fishermen are a different breed. They come out here to fish. Grabbing a boxed meal or a quick stir-fry works fine for them, but sitting down for a fish hot pot? That’s an hour or two gone — they’re not going to go for that."

Zhang Hui shook his head.

Chen Yuan understood the point perfectly.

Anglers came to the fishing grounds to fish, plain and simple. Dragging them off for a hot pot meal would eat up an hour or two for no good reason, and a short sit-down wouldn’t even scratch the itch.

During events, the fishermen almost always went for boxed lunches — they even thought ordering side dishes was a waste of time, let alone sitting down for a full fish hot pot.

But the customers Chen Yuan was targeting weren’t really the fishing crowd.

"You’ve seen the changes around the village, Brother Hui. You’ve got a pretty good idea what those new buildings are for, right?"

Chen Yuan pulled out a pack of cigarettes and offered one over.

"Heard some of the fishing guys talking about it — water activities in summer, the whole leisure package."

Zhang Hui was genuinely on board with the Hot Spring Paradise concept. Summer was peak season for anything water-related, and if it was done right, it would absolutely pull in a solid crowd.

"That’s just the first step. The plan is to build Yu City Village into a full-on tourist resort — more projects down the line, and the guesthouses are already in a trial phase, set to expand fast."

Chen Yuan tilted his head, lit his cigarette, and took a long drag.

"A tourist resort?"

Zhang Hui was caught off guard. He hadn’t expected Chen Yuan’s ambitions to run that deep. A full resort was a whole different animal from what they had now — the scale was incomparable.

The regulatory landscape alone would be completely different.

Chen Yuan wasn’t losing any sleep over regulations. As long as the first phase went smoothly, the county government would back him without hesitation.

"Damn, look at you, Boss Chen~"

When Chen Yuan mentioned having the county’s support, Zhang Hui shot him a thumbs-up.

"Too early to call it impressive. It’s only impressive if it actually works out. Right now it’s all just talk."

Chen Yuan waved it off — there was still a long road ahead.

"Honestly, you’ve got me interested. I just want to know what the rental terms look like on your end, or whether there’s some other arrangement we could work out."

Zhang Hui smoked in silence for a moment, still on the fence.

Like Chen Yuan said — if it worked out, great. If it didn’t, everything would go up in smoke and he’d walk away with nothing.

Better to hear what Boss Chen was actually offering first. If the terms were right, it might be worth a shot.

The moment Chen Yuan heard "some other arrangement," an idea flashed through his mind.

And the more he turned it over, the more sense it made.

"Brother Hui, here’s what I’m thinking — I cover everything, from the fit-out to the rent, you bring in the staff, and we split the profits."

Chen Yuan took a deep drag and laid out his idea.

Attracting partners didn’t have to mean charging rent. A straight profit split was cleaner and simpler all around.

On top of that, it would sidestep the whole member discount issue and keep everything under one unified standard.

"So we bring nothing but manpower to the table?"

Zhang Hui’s eyes lit up instantly.

This kind of setup basically wiped out the risk. The worst-case scenario was losing a bit on labor costs — there’d be no serious financial hit to speak of.

And if Yu City Village actually took off, the returns would be hard to even put a number on.

It was the ultimate low-stakes, high-reward play.

"Pure sweat equity. I bring the space and the equipment — Brother Hui just brings the people."

Chen Yuan gave a nod.

Chen Hui took two quick drags off his cigarette, thought it over, then said, "Little bro, let’s keep this strictly business — don’t take it the wrong way if I’m being blunt, but there are a few things I want to get straight first."

"Go ahead, Brother Hui."

Get everything on the table upfront, avoid headaches later. Even brothers keep clean accounts — let alone a business arrangement like this.

Ask whatever needs asking. If the terms work, they work together. If not, no hard feelings.

"Two things — how do we split the profits under this model, and what does the contract look like? Specifically, if business is bad, can I walk away?"

Those were the two things that mattered most.

Every businessperson cares about the upside — but a smart one always plans for the downside too. What’s the floor? What’s the exit?

"We can set up a tiered profit-sharing structure — say, one split for monthly profits under ten thousand, a different one between ten and fifty thousand, and another above fifty."

Chen Yuan dropped his cigarette butt on the ground and crushed it underfoot.

As long as both sides wanted to work together, the details were easy enough to hammer out.

"Break it down for me, Boss Chen."

Zhang Hui perked up at that.

"Depends on how confident you are, Brother Hui. Or how ambitious."

Chen Yuan said with a grin.

"What do you mean?"

Zhang Hui looked puzzled.

"Simply put — do you want a guaranteed cut on lower profits, or do you want to go all-in and chase the bigger numbers?"

Chen Yuan kept it brief.

The idea was straightforward enough.

If Zhang Hui wanted a safety net, he could take the high-cut-on-low-profit route — say, for any month under ten thousand in profit, Chen Yuan would give him seventy percent.

That way Chen Yuan kept thirty, Zhang Hui took seventy, and even in a slow month, Zhang Hui would still walk away with something decent.

On the flip side, if Zhang Hui wanted to go for high profits with a high cut, he’d have to accept a smaller share during the lean months — and that came down to how much faith he had in the venture.

"If we’re going big — high profits, high cut — what’s the most you’d offer?"

The words were practically out of Zhang Hui’s mouth before Chen Yuan finished explaining. Clearly he was someone with ambition too — if he was going to do this, he was going to swing for the top end.

"Fifty thousand is the threshold. Clear that, and I’ll give you seventy percent. That’s the current plan — if business stays crazy strong down the road, we could set a hundred-thousand threshold and push it up to eighty percent."

Chen Yuan ran through the breakdown quickly in his head and laid it out.

Under ten thousand in monthly profit, he’d keep seventy percent, Zhang Hui got thirty.

Between ten and fifty thousand, it was a straight fifty-fifty split.

Above fifty thousand a month, he’d only take thirty percent and give Zhang Hui the seventy.

If things went gangbusters and monthly profit hit a hundred thousand, he’d be willing to give up as much as eighty percent.

It sounded like a lot to give away — but if business was solid, it would still beat charging a flat rental fee any day.