96: Chapter 96 Deceiving, Not Scamming (Part 1)

"But you're cutting the price way too ruthlessly!" The shop owner's tone was clearly tinged with dissatisfaction.

"I just saw that some spots on the shelves are empty. Asking for 50,000—aren't you being ruthless?" Chen Sheng retorted firmly.

The owner hurriedly retorted, "Those pieces of equipment cost me nearly 40,000 to buy back then."

"You said it yourself—that was back then. Boss, you should understand the principle of cutting the price in half for acquisitions. I'm not just throwing out random numbers; I'll take over everything in the store for 20,000. If that doesn't work for you, you can handle it yourself."

Cutting 40,000 left 94,000, which was infinitely close to the upper limit of the shop owner's psychological price range according to the intelligence.

"You... I can't agree to this price."

Chen Sheng thought for a moment, then held up one finger to the shop owner. "How about this, I'll round it up to 100,000. But I have one request: if the deal goes through, you must give me a list of your supply channels."

The shop owner's expression was conflicted for a good while before he finally said, "That's too little. Why don't you add a bit more?"

"Boss, I'm sure you can tell that I'm a straightforward person. When I say 100,000, I mean 100,000. If you agree, we can proceed. If not, I'll keep looking, and you can compare other offers."

He was indeed straightforward, but that straightforwardness was predicated on the fact that he had never run a supermarket business before. Therefore, he was willing to raise the price to the upper limit of the shop owner's range as indicated by his intelligence, effectively paying for that information.

The shop owner took out a cigarette, offered one to Chen Sheng, then lit one for himself. He smoked the entire cigarette in silence before saying, "Let's exchange phone numbers. I'll think it over and give you an answer by tomorrow, or the day after at the latest. How does that sound?"

"No problem!" Chen Sheng pulled out his phone. After they exchanged contact information, Chen Sheng left the commercial street without a second thought.

At this moment, he had to maintain his "straightforward" persona; it was also a way to indirectly exert psychological pressure on the shop owner.

After leaving the commercial street, Chen Sheng returned directly to his car. He looked up the XX Studio that had designed the T-shirts in his navigation history and then drove there.

Upon arriving at XX Studio, the receptionist saw that it was Chen Sheng and immediately beamed. "Hello, sir. The boss just stepped out..."

Chen Sheng quickly interrupted her assumptions. "I'm not looking for your boss this time. I'm looking for Designer Zhang. Is he in the studio?"

"Yes, he is! I'll take you to him right now."

Seeing the receptionist making a move to leave the front desk, Chen Sheng waved his hand. "No need, I can find my way there myself!"

"Alright. Designer Zhang should be at his desk right now." The receptionist was quite diligent; even though Chen Sheng had declined her offer to guide him, she immediately tagged Zhang Tao in their work group chat after Chen Sheng walked away.

Consequently, by the time Chen Sheng reached the designers' office area, Zhang Tao had already stood up, ready to welcome him. "Hello, Mr. Chen!"

"Hello, Designer Zhang!"

After the greetings, Zhang Tao got straight to the point. "Mr. Chen, may I ask what brings you here today?"

"It's like this: our support group is organizing a charity event and we want to make it look a bit more official. I came here today to ask for your help in designing a T-shirt for the event." Chen Sheng recited the excuse he had prepared in advance.

"That's simple!" Once the conversation turned to his area of expertise, Zhang Tao immediately assumed the posture of a lead designer. He sat back down at his desk and, clicking his mouse, quickly pulled up a folder on his computer.

Opening the folder, it was filled with countless photos. As Zhang Tao enlarged a selected photo, he explained, "For charity event uniforms, we aim for a minimalist style. The front usually features a heart shape; there are standard templates for that."

"The back is printed with the event's slogan. These are the common styles used domestically. If you want the clothing to stand out, the key lies in the font design on the back."

"These are styles aligned with international organizations..."

After rattling on about a whole bunch of knowledge regarding charity T-shirts, Zhang Tao opened up some design software and asked, "Mr. Chen, do you know what the promotional slogan for your charity event will be?"

"Uh, well, we haven't reached a consensus internally yet. My main task in coming here today was just to get an idea of the situation, and if possible, take a sample back with me."

"That's no problem! We previously made a batch of standard template T-shirts for the Shu City Red Cross. We printed a few samples for ourselves back then, and they've been kept here in the studio. I'll go grab one for you."

Soon, Zhang Tao rummaged through the storage room and pulled out a wrinkled T-shirt. "Mr. Chen, I'm sorry. We have too many samples, so they just get piled up in the storage room..."

Chen Sheng waved his hand. "It's fine! I'm just taking it back to use as a sample anyway."

Chen Sheng took the T-shirt and unfolded it to inspect it. It was a very standard template charity T-shirt. Aside from being a bit wrinkled due to improper storage, it was in perfect condition.

Chen Sheng pulled out his phone and asked, "Designer Zhang, this T-shirt is great. How much do I owe you?"

"It's just a sample, Mr. Chen; you don't need to pay for it." Zhang Tao hurriedly stopped him. "I just hope that when you and your team make a decision, you'll choose our studio to help with the production."

"That goes without saying. We had a great time working together last time, and everyone really liked those T-shirts. If we go ahead with this, I'll definitely come to you again. But I still have to pay for this T-shirt."

Seeing that Zhang Tao still wanted to protest, Chen Sheng added, "I have a lot of people on my end. If I take this T-shirt back, it's bound to get dirty, so I won't be returning it. Just tell me how much it costs; consider it me buying this T-shirt."

Seeing Chen Sheng's persistent insistence, Zhang Tao could only smile bitterly. "Mr. Chen, it only costs ten yuan to make. You really don't have to."

"I insist!" Chen Sheng insisted that Zhang Tao pull up his payment QR code, then scanned ten yuan over to him.

"Mr. Chen, you're the best." Zhang Tao gave Chen Sheng a thumbs-up.

"That's just how I am. What's owed is owed. That's why everyone feels comfortable leaving the logistics to me." Having told so many lies, Chen Sheng could now spout them off without a second thought.

"Indeed. Mr. Chen, you're one of the few responsible people I've met in all these years," Zhang Tao continued, buttering him up.

Chen Sheng waved his hand. "I won't take up any more of your time, Designer Zhang. Once we've discussed it, I'll come back to see you."

"Alright! I look forward to your next visit, Mr. Chen."

Zhang Tao walked Chen Sheng out of the studio and stood at the doorway, watching until Chen Sheng's figure completely disappeared from sight. Only then did he withdraw his gaze and turn to head back into the studio.

Just then, the boss, who had just been out running errands, hurried back. Seeing Zhang Tao right at the doorway, he quickly called out, "Xiao Zhang, don't go yet. Help me carry these things into the studio."

"Sure!" Zhang Tao quickly turned and went to the car. As he helped unload the items, he reported, "Boss, that Mr. Chen who had us make the De Hua T-shirts a few days ago just stopped by the studio."

"Oh?" The boss stopped what he was doing and asked with some curiosity, "What was he here for this time?"