336: Looking to form a joint venture

Yang Qi saw it was another unknown number, so he answered:

"Hello! Who is this?"

"Hello, is this Tide Cottage?"

Looks like another room booking! Yang Qi thought to himself.

"Yes! That's right!"

"Are you the East Sea Fisherman big shot?"

"Uh... I wouldn't call myself a big shot. If you're talking about the TikTok account, then that's probably me."

Yang Qi felt a bit awkward and spoke sheepishly.

"Then it's you! Hahaha, I finally heard your real voice!"

Yang Qi's face darkened. Was that even polite?

"It's like this, I just saw your post. I'm calling to book three Double Rooms for the 20th and 21st of this month, the 288-yuan ones."

The person on the other end seemed very happy, constantly asking if they could go beachcombing and fishing.

"Alright, I'll register that for you. We look forward to your visit then."

Yang Qi handed the task to his mother, letting her register these two orders.

Just as they were talking, his own phone rang again. Seeing it was another unknown number—anyway, he hadn't maxed out his credit cards or taken any online loans.

Yang Qi answered without hesitation. It turned out to be another fan booking a room. This time, two 288-yuan rooms were booked.

When making the advertising lightboxes, Yang Qi had put both his and his mother's phone numbers on them. That's why fans were calling him to book rooms.

In this way, within about an hour, including those two 188-yuan Single Rooms, all 14 rooms were fully booked. Most of them were starting from the day after tomorrow and within the following week.

If it was too far in advance, he definitely wouldn't accept bookings. He set a rule to only accept phone bookings within one week.

If someone called after that, it would depend on the time gaps left by those who had already booked. If the timing worked, he'd host them; if not, he'd have to refuse.

"Mom, check how the dates for tomorrow and the day after are. If they're auspicious days, we'll have the grand opening. If not, we'll just do a soft opening."

"Okay, I'll check in a bit. I never imagined business would be this booming! All the rooms were booked in just a short while!"

Mother Yang, Zheng Jin, exclaimed with emotion.

"Auntie, this is the power of the internet. You're benefiting from the internet dividend now."

Yao Shanshan held Mother Yang's arm and said with a smile.

"Yes, yes, Shanshan is right. You young people are still the ones with flexible minds."

Mother Yang grinned and patted Yao Shanshan's hand, looking very happy.

"Mom, record the guest registrations like this for now. Hubby, we need to prepare to use a computer for registration, and also cameras and stuff. We must arrange that tomorrow."

Bai Xue, holding the guest information she had just recorded in her notebook, spoke to Zheng Jin and Yang Qi.

"Okay, we'll do it tomorrow. I really forgot about those things."

Yang Qi nodded. He watched his mother walk toward the house, holding Bai Xue and Yao Shanshan by the hand, chatting and laughing. He and his father, Yang Limin, followed behind, smoking.

Meanwhile, Chen Lanying and Chen Lanxin, who had finished helping clean the homestay in the afternoon and went home to sleep, couldn't fall asleep for a long time, their minds filled with the image of the homestay being crowded with guests.

They both thought that if "Tide Cottage" was successful, they should discuss with Yang Qi and Bai Xue whether they could start one too.

What they didn't expect was that Yang Qi's side was already discussing this matter.

Because another fan had just called to book a room and, upon learning it was full, asked Yang Qi to help find a more reliable homestay.

Traveling is indeed like that; sometimes if the accommodation is frustrating, the whole trip is ruined. It's practically paying money to suffer.

Yang Qi told everyone about this and suggested asking his Mother-in-law and his Aunt if they wanted to run a homestay.

Without a word, Mother Yang took out her phone and called the Chen sisters, asking them to come over.

Yang Qi received a suggestive wink from Bai Xue:

"Good job! There'll be a reward later!"

"Hehehe,"

While Yang Qi was still fantasizing about what he might "unlock," the Chen sisters entered the living room together.

"Do it? Of course we'll do it!"

Chen Lanxin reacted very excitedly after hearing Zheng Jin's introduction. Chen Lanying also nodded repeatedly.

The most important issue for a homestay is the source of guests. Now, hearing that her sister-in-law's place was fully booked in an hour and many more people wanted to book, there was no reason not to do it.

And it's 288 yuan a room per day! That's over eight thousand yuan a month. If there were ten rooms, wouldn't that be over eighty thousand a month? Then in a year... While she was still fantasizing, Yang Qi's words splashed her awake.

"Generally, the peak tourist season is only a few months a year. However, if our service is good, there will certainly be individual travelers during the off-season."

"We need to take advantage of the National Sea Fishing Competition and provide good service, especially in terms of hygiene, which must be perfect. That's how we get repeat customers."

"By the way, Mom, Aunt, do you really not need to wait for Dad and my Uncle to come back and discuss it?"

Yang Qi changed the subject and asked.

"No need, no need. I can make the decision on this!"

Both of them had an "I'm the boss of the house" attitude, which made Yang Qi chuckle.

"If you do it, it's best to keep a few rooms for yourselves to sleep in and move all the other clutter to the old house. That way, you can free up about 10 rooms."

"I can help bring in guests in the early stages, but the later maintenance will depend on your own efforts. Strive to make the guests feel at home with your service."

"Our main focus is a warm and free atmosphere!"

"As long as we do it well, to say the least, you can still earn two or three hundred thousand a year. The houses are our own, so the money earned is all net profit."

After hearing Yang Qi's words, their eyes brightened. For a housewife to earn two or three hundred thousand at home was not something to be overlooked.

"Come up with a name for the homestay, and I'll go make the lightboxes for you tomorrow."

After Yang Qi finished speaking, he handed a cigarette to his father, and the two began to puff away, no longer interrupting the discussion among the women.

After a while, his Mother-in-law asked Yang Qi:

"Yang Qi, do you think we could do it together? All called 'Tide Cottage'. Your mother would manage it uniformly. This is called... that... that..."

"Forming a partnership!"

Chen Lanxin reminded her.

"Right, it's called forming a partnership. What do you think?"

Yang Qi began to ponder. Originally, he wanted their two families to run it themselves, at most helping them bring in guests in the early stages.

If they formed a partnership, there would be pros and cons.

The benefits were certainly obvious. First, the scale would be larger; at least for now, there was no homestay this big in Qingshan Town.

This would also be a great gimmick for publicity and promotion. 'High-end and grand' wasn't just empty talk.