"Look, Boss Guo, considering the current circumstances, someone is still willing to buy your Vietnamese rosewood at twenty percent above the market price. You should be satisfied!" Yi Xiaolin complained.

"This is only because my uncle asked me to buy it. If it were up to me, I wouldn't offer a cent over the market price for your goods."

"But this is the last time I'll be coming. My uncle already said that if you're still unwilling to sell, then forget it. Worst-case scenario, he'll just find someone to buy it in Vietnam. At twenty percent above market price, he's confident he can get the stock there."

Big Boss Guo nodded grimly. "At twenty percent over market price, you can indeed find stock in Vietnam. But finding wood of the same quality as ours will be difficult."

"We're asking for thirty percent above market price, which really isn't much. If we weren't completely backed into a corner, we wouldn't sell even if you offered double the market price!"

"Think about it. We spent nearly two million per ton! We were hoping to bring it back and sell it for three million a ton."

"Even doubling the current market price, the very best Vietnamese rosewood only goes for 1.1 or 1.2 million per ton, which is just over half of what we paid for it."

"Thirty percent over the market price comes out to a little over seven hundred thousand per ton. We're really not asking for much!"

"Boss Guo, I'm just here to make a purchase for my uncle. I'm just an employee. My uncle said twenty percent, so it's twenty percent. If I unilaterally raised it to thirty percent, would that extra money come out of my pocket?" Yi Xiaolin retorted.

"Forget it. I won't make things difficult for you anymore. If you don't want to sell, then let's call it off. This is the last time I'm coming here anyway. My uncle told me not to bother trying to buy your stock again. He wants me to find a timber merchant familiar with Vietnam and buy directly from them."

"We can establish a long-term partnership, purchasing at twenty percent above the domestic market price."

"I appreciate your time these past few days, Bosses Guo. I'll take my leave now!"

With that, Yi Xiaolin turned decisively and walked away. He was making a gamble, betting on whether they would call him back.

If they don't, I'll just have to wait a few more days and come back to agree to the thirty percent increase.

The ten percent difference shouldn't be underestimated. For five hundred tons of high-quality Vietnamese rosewood, an extra ten percent meant an additional fifty to sixty thousand yuan per ton. Across five hundred tons, that was nearly an extra thirty million yuan, which was definitely not a small amount.

The entire annual production value of the modest Anguo Rosewood Furniture Factory didn't even amount to that kind of money.

This time, Yi Xiaolin's gamble paid off. Just as he reached the door, the Guo brothers called out to him in unison, agreeing to sell the five hundred tons of high-quality Vietnamese rosewood at a price twenty percent above the market rate.

Yi Xiaolin finally let out a breath of relief, a smug smile spreading across his face.

Once the price was settled, the rest was simple. After years of experience, Yi Xiaolin knew all kinds of rosewood like the back of his hand and was well-versed in market conditions.

Although all five hundred tons of Vietnamese rosewood were high-grade, there were still distinctions. Pieces with exceptionally large diameters or long lengths would naturally command a higher price.

After successfully completing the acquisition, Yi Xiaolin brought up another matter with the Guo brothers: going to Vietnam to source more Vietnamese rosewood.

"In this market, who would dare go to Vietnam to buy rosewood? Aren't they afraid of taking a massive loss when they bring it back?" Big Boss Guo said with a bitter smile.

"How could that happen? With my uncle backing you, what is there to worry about?" Yi Xiaolin said with a smile.

"If the market price is high, we'll pay twenty percent over the market price. If the market price drops, we'll cover your purchasing cost and add a thirty percent profit on top of that for you. In other words, for any Vietnamese rosewood you bring back from Vietnam, you're guaranteed to make at least a thirty percent profit. There's no possibility of losing money."

"We can sign a contract and pay a deposit right now to guarantee you'll make a profit."

"Are you serious? You guarantee we'll make a minimum profit of thirty percent?" the younger Guo brother asked, his interest clearly piqued by Yi Xiaolin's offer.

"Of course, it's true. Would I lie to you?" Yi Xiaolin said. "We're going to sign a contract, doesn't that put you at ease?"

***

Yi Anguo nodded in satisfaction when he heard the good news from Yi Xiaolin.

Starting in 2009, Anguo Furniture was poised for major moves. In addition to rosewood furniture, the company would also begin producing a new Chinese-style line of solid wood furniture made from imported oak and American black walnut, all to a uniform standard.

His strategy was to design and produce only the samples himself, then outsource the mass production while enforcing strict, uniform standards to quickly capture the national market.

Although this type of furniture was not rosewood, it wasn't any cheaper than ordinary rosewood furniture; in fact, it was often more expensive.

However, the manufacturing process was relatively simple, with unified production standards that facilitated rapid mass production.

Rosewood furniture, in contrast, was made using traditional craftsmanship like mortise and tenon joinery. The process was relatively complex and difficult to adapt to an assembly line. It typically relied on a master-apprentice model, making standardization a challenge.

Additionally, the expansion of Anguo Furniture's specialty stores would accelerate, with both traditional rosewood and the new Chinese-style solid wood furniture sold side-by-side.

Moreover, since many young people disliked traditional Chinese rosewood furniture, Yi Anguo planned to launch a new Chinese-style rosewood line that would be more appealing to the younger generation.

Whether it was traditional antique-style rosewood, new Chinese-style rosewood, or modern new Chinese-style solid wood furniture, Yi Anguo had no intention of manufacturing it all himself on a large scale. Instead, he planned to rely on a contract manufacturing model.

His own furniture factory would be responsible only for designing the styles, creating the prototypes, and establishing a strict, unified production process.

Afterward, orders would be placed with other furniture manufacturers to handle the production.

To maintain strict quality control, the company would embed its own specialists at each partner factory. These specialists would oversee every stage of production to ensure the final furniture met the company's high standards for sale. Once an on-site quality control specialist signed off on a batch, the factory would deliver the goods to a designated logistics and warehousing center. After the center completed its own inspection and approved the shipment, the company's finance department would promptly pay the factory, ensuring no delays in payment.

The company planned to partner with manufacturers in every province, or near major central cities, to minimize logistics costs and reduce overhead.

Last Chinese New Year, the weather had been bitterly cold and full of snowstorms, so Yi Anguo hadn't gone home for the holiday. This year, however, he was determined to go back.

His eldest sister and her husband had been in Shenzhen for half a year. They hadn't managed to conceive, leaving his sister feeling a bit down.

During dinner one evening, his eldest sister said to him, "You should go home for the New Year this year. You have so many children now, it's time you went back to pay respects to the ancestors. Mom and Dad would be so happy to know."

"Yes, I'm going back! I should have gone last year, but the weather was too cold, there was rain and snow, and the roads were blocked. I'll definitely go back this year," Yi Anguo nodded quickly.

"That's more like it. I'm thinking of heading back in a couple of days. No one's been at home for so long, I can only imagine what a mess it is," his sister said with a satisfied nod.

"What does it matter? Your in-laws are there looking after the place, how messy can it be?" Yi Anguo said with a laugh.

"It's good that you're going back first. Can you go check on that new villa I had built? Tidy it up a bit and see what's missing. Just buy whatever we need so it's comfortable for us when we get back for the New Year."

"Also, you should check on the house in Jian'an City. Clean it up and air it out."

"You don't have to tell me. I would have gone to check and clean up even if you hadn't mentioned it," his sister said. "Before I came to Shenzhen, I used to go check on it almost every month."

"Eldest Sister, which do you like better? Life in Shenzhen or life at home? Are you coming back to Shenzhen after the New Year?" Yi Anguo asked with a smile.

"How should I put it? Life here is good. The food is good, the housing is good... it's just a bit too boring. I prefer being at home," his sister said, shaking her head.

"The food is good, the housing is good, you don't have to work, no farming in the hot sun... you have a TV to watch. How can you be bored?" Fu Huanhuan asked.

"Uncle, my mom was just born to work! You let her relax at home all day, and she just gets bored!" Huan Huan piped in.

"East or West, home is best. Even though our house back home isn't as nice or as clean as this one, it just feels more comfortable!" his sister said. "If I had to choose, I'd still say living in the countryside is more comfortable. It's comfortable whether you're poor or rich."

"If you have money, you can build a big villa in the countryside just like your uncle's. Isn't that more comfortable than living in the city?"

Her husband laughed and said, "You can be comfortable anywhere, as long as you have money. If you're rich and living in the countryside, not having to worry about food or drink, then of course it's comfortable!"

"But what if all you have is endless farm work that doesn't earn you anything? Your kids can't afford new clothes or an education. When you get sick, there's no money for a doctor."

"What about when boys grow up and can't afford to get married? How is that comfortable?"

"The same goes for the city. If you don't have money, you can't find a good job, and life is just as miserable."

"So, whether your life is comfortable has nothing to do with living in the countryside or the city. The key is money. If you have money, you can be comfortable anywhere!"

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