He said he wanted to discuss matters, but his actions left no room for discussion.
The shopkeeper, seeing trouble had arrived, immediately thought not to scare off the customers in the store and said, "Alright, alright, how you want to discuss it, big brother, we’ll discuss it that way, but can these two customers leave first? They’re just here to buy clothes; let’s not waste their time."
Little Huzi glanced at Yan Huan and her brother standing aside and sneered, "You want to let them go so they can call for backup, don’t you?"
"No, they’re really just here to buy clothes," replied the shopkeeper with an ingratiating smile.
"That won’t do. They can leave, but only after I’ve dealt with this matter. Don’t worry, I won’t harm you all for no reason."
"Fine. Take your time to talk then. We’ll leave after you’re done," Yan Huan said, pulling over two stools from the corner of the wall and sitting down with Yan Ye.
Little Huzi walked around the store before turning back and saying, "Are you looking for trouble, kid? How much for your jeans?"
"Twenty-five, big brother? What’s the problem?"
After hearing the price, Little Huzi spat on the ground and, pointing at the shopkeeper’s nose, cursed, "Why the hell are you selling them for twenty-five? Why? Do you know how much jeans should sell for? The cheapest should be thirty, got it? Aren’t you afraid of losing money by selling them for twenty-five? You’ll drive us all out of business! I got two hundred pairs of jeans in stock and sold less than ten. How do you propose we solve this?"
The shopkeeper understood then; his low prices were attracting more customers.
Everyone was buying his jeans, which naturally meant fewer sales for the others.
His low costs didn’t matter, but others had higher overheads and couldn’t afford to sell at such low prices.
"So... what should I do?" the shopkeeper asked, feeling a headache coming on.
"Easy," said Little Huzi. "From now on, you’ll sell them at the same price we do. Otherwise, shut your shop and don’t sell a single pair. It’s your choice!"
Upon hearing this, sweat began to pour down the shopkeeper’s forehead.
He had put his whole fortune into this, ready to make a big move!
But the setbacks just kept coming, one after another!
"Big brother, business competition is natural; you can’t stop me selling just because you can’t make sales, right? I wanted to sell cheap to turn over a higher volume. You could also lower your prices," the shopkeeper argued.
"Bah! If we sell as cheap as you, will we make any money? Don’t think we don’t know, you make these jeans yourselves. Of course, your costs are very low." They also wanted to manufacture their own, but they lacked the right connections.
So they could only get stock from wholesale markets elsewhere!
"What about you then? You can’t block my way of making a living," the shopkeeper worried.
"Blocking your way is better than blocking everyone’s. You’ve got to understand, you’re challenging all the merchants in town by yourself. Choose, your life or your money! I’m not someone who takes the common path!" With that, Little Huzi took a large club and smashed a pane of glass in the store with a loud bang.
Watching this group bullying one person, Yan Huan grew restless.
"Are you sure your mediocre skills are enough to beat this group?" Yan Ye asked coldly as he watched the scene unfold.
"Do you think you can?" Yan Huan shot back.
"It’s precisely because I don’t have the ability that I said to watch a little longer," Yan Ye responded indifferently.