66: Being a scalper

"That doesn't sound right. Wasn't it Lin Hongyuan who was keeping the female college student? Now that the female college student has been sent in, didn't Lin Hongyuan's wife do anything to him, like filing for him to leave with nothing?"

Chen Xinyi pursed her lips regretfully. "Nope. I reckon his wife either considered the kids or felt that at over forty, she's no longer young, so she ultimately decided to give Lin Hongyuan a chance."

"Hey, so the only victim in this whole incident is the female college student?"

She had intruded on someone else's marriage, and on top of that, she had used it as leverage to try to start a business. Ye Su certainly didn't think that female college student was innocent.

But now, it was clear that the husband and wife were ganging up to bully the female college student, while Lin Hongyuan, the instigator, hadn't faced any real punishment and had even successfully recovered the 200,000 yuan. Ye Su didn't find this piece of gossip very satisfying.

"Who's to say it isn't?"

It seemed Chen Xinyi was also a bit indignant about the result, feeling that Lin Hongyuan and his wife were being too much of a bully.

"The only good news is that after this, Lin Hongyuan has been much better behaved at the company. I doubt he'll dare to have any improper intentions toward female employees again."

With the gossip finished, the two didn't continue chatting about the topic and started rambling about everything under the sun again.

Seeing that the time was about right, the two played another round of "poker," then fell asleep in each other's arms, feeling refreshed.

...

Gradually getting used to the System's existence, Ye Su had lost his initial excitement and no longer felt the need to deliberately time things, waiting for the intelligence to refresh.

Early to bed and early to rise—that's the only way to have a better body to welcome a bright future.

The next day, after waking up and eating breakfast, Ye Su leisurely opened the System.

[ Today's Intelligence (Level 2): Due to internal strife within a brand, the supply chain has been interrupted. A certain brand's flagship product, "Salicylic Acid Mask," will fall into a long-term out-of-stock state. The future product premium is estimated to reach 67% of the official price. Host may stock up at your discretion. ]

"A mask?"

Well, another blank spot in Ye Su's knowledge.

"Good grief, is doing business this casual nowadays? They start fighting internally and just stop doing business altogether, huh?"

Based on the brand provided by the intelligence, Ye Su searched online and easily found relevant news about the company.

"In 2021, when retail sales exceeded 1 billion yuan, the flagship product 'Salicylic Acid Mask' accounted for 30%."

"During that year's 618 promotion, this mask even topped the Tmall beauty wash-off mask list."

"In the following years, the brand's sales revenue continued to grow. Even with the overall economic downturn last year, it managed to achieve a counter-trend increase in sales revenue, with profits also increasing significantly."

He had never dealt with masks before, but just from these few news reports, Ye Su could judge that this brand indeed had quite a few loyal fans.

The intelligence indicated that the Salicylic Acid Mask, as a flagship product, would indeed see a significant premium due to being out of stock, which was true.

He opened the e-commerce platform and found the brand's flagship store. He didn't even need to search in the input box; the number one product was the Salicylic Acid Mask.

"Damn, a single wash-off mask costs 298 after coupons? This money is way too easy to make!"

He relied on the intelligence, panting and puffing to pick up scraps, and normally he'd only make twenty or thirty thousand yuan at a time. So, that's only enough to buy a few masks?

If the product premium reaches 67% of the official price, wouldn't that mean it goes up to five hundred yuan?

Is women's money really that easy to make?

It hadn't been wrong so many times before. Since Brother System said this mask would go up in price, he could just buy it with his eyes closed.

For the subsequent sales issue, he would just list the masks on his older brother Ye Xin's online store, split the earnings 80/20, and treat it as compensation for Ye Xin's packaging, shipping, and other costs.

After deducting the rent paid on thursday and making up for the one-month deposit, Ye Su had less than 130,000 yuan left.

If he kept twenty thousand-plus for emergencies and bought one hundred thousand yuan worth of masks, there would still be over sixty thousand yuan in price difference profit. He could take over fifty thousand, and Ye Xin could also get over ten thousand.

With a total investment of one hundred thousand in capital, Ye Su felt such a profit was already very considerable.

"What are you looking at again, so engrossed?"

Ye Su was staring at his phone, his mind quickly calculating the profits, which caught the attention of Chen Xinyi, who was by his side.

Should he pull her into the venture as well?

Ye Su had already figured out her financial situation and knew this little rich girl had at least over one hundred thousand in savings.

If he let her invest, he wouldn't earn more himself, but it would allow Ye Xin to get an extra share of the profits.

"Looking at masks."

"Hmm?" Chen Xinyi was very surprised. "You've got your eye on masks too? Do you feel that this big sister is naturally beautiful, making you feel more and more pressured, and you want to start taking care of yourself?"

"Then you're really overthinking it."

"Pfft!" Chen Xinyi was very dissatisfied with this answer. "Then why are you suddenly looking at masks?"

"Do you know this mask?" Ye Su pushed his phone in front of Chen Xinyi.

"Oh, you mean this one? Of course I do. It's been super popular these past few years, okay?"

"Have you been following the news? The brand owner and the channel agent are currently on very bad terms; it looks like they're about to have a falling out."

"That does seem to be the case, doesn't it?" Chen Xinyi said, her tone unsure. "So they have a falling out, so what? What does that have to do with you?"

"All the channels for this brand are handled by this one agent. Once they have a falling out, even the supply chain will be interrupted. In the short term, this mask will fall into a state of being out of stock."

"Oh!"

Chen Xinyi wasn't stupid. Hearing Ye Su say this, she vaguely realized what he was talking about:

"This mask is sought after by countless people. Last year alone, they sold millions of units, proving there are many die-hard fans. Once it's out of stock, the third-party price will rise with the tide. Are you planning to act as a scalper and stock up in advance?"

"Yes. Are you interested in making some extra money too?"

After tasting the sweetness of the ten thousand from last Monday, Chen Xinyi was naturally very tempted by the [extra money] Ye Su spoke of, but she didn't rashly agree. After all, making money wasn't as easy for her as it was for Ye Su.

"But how can you be sure that the brand owner and the agent will end up having a falling out? What if this is just hype between the two sides, and in the end, they come out with [We have reconciled], wouldn't you be screwed?"

"I see that they've reached the point of going to court. It's highly unlikely to be hype. Plus, with the brand's popularity in the market, they don't need to resort to notoriety for publicity."

"What you say seems to make sense." Chen Xinyi nodded, accepting Ye Su's point. "Then after you've stocked up, how are you going to sell them? You can't just rely on second-hand platforms and sell them one by one, right?"

In Chen Xinyi's view, because of the price increase due to the stock shortage, at most, the price would go up by a hundred yuan per unit.

If you stock up too little, you won't make much money. If you stock up too much, selling them one by one on second-hand platforms and having to ship them—who knows how long it would take to clear the stock?

"I plan to list the stock on my brother's online store after I've bought it, let him handle the sales entirely, and give him 20% of the earnings as his costs."