Volume 5: The Age of Storms Chapter 0621 Ascension in Broad Daylight
the next day.
Early in the morning, Nan Yi got into Chen Yuxiu's car and put a folder on the armrest. "I've been too busy lately and don't have time to go back to the village. This is the plan for the Bai Ri Fei Sheng Service Company. Please take it back and give it to Uncle Zong Qing."
"Ascension in broad daylight?" Chen Yuxiu turned his head and said to Nan Yi, "Does this name sound like it has something to do with funerals?"
"Look at the road. You don't have to look back. I can hear you."
Chen Yuxiu turned his head back, but he couldn't help but glance at the rearview mirror, "Is it a funeral?"
"Pull over, school beauty, you drive, you sit in the back seat."
Chen Yuxiu's uneasy eyes made Nan Yi feel a little uneasy. He didn't want to be one of the protagonists in the car accident.
After parking the car and exchanging seats, the school beauty continued driving forward.
“Are there many people repairing graves now?”
"Quite a few."
Chen Yuxiu nodded.
"There are several reasons why I want to focus on funerals. First, the cost of a tombstone is between thirty and fifty yuan, and it can be sold for more than two hundred or three hundred yuan after engraving. If it is carefully carved, it may be sold for thousands of yuan, which is a profit of several hundred percent.
Second, the business is highly scalable.
When the body is buried, shrouds and quilts are needed; when attending the funeral, elegiac couplets and wreaths are needed; when temporarily burying the body, portraits, incense, candles, paper money, wicks, vegetable oil, and firecrackers are needed; when keeping vigil, straw ropes, straw sandals, hemp ropes, coarse linen white clothes, and white coats are needed;
For the subsequent burial, funeral procession, burial, seventh-day cremation, fifth-day mourning, welcoming the tablets, and tomb sweeping on Qingming Festival, each step requires the preparation of some things, and among these, you can choose the one with relatively high profits.
The national mortality rate was 6.36% in 1981, 6.60% in 1982, 7.08% in 1983 and 6.69% last year. Based on this ratio, we can imagine how vast this market is.
Last year, the population of our country was 1.044 billion, and 6.69% is almost 70 million. If we assume that one-third of them build graves, that would be 23.33 million people.
I estimate that the land area occupied by a tomb is about 10 square meters, which means 233 million square meters are needed each year, which is approximately equal to 350,000 acres.
The year before last, the cultivated land area in our country was 1.47539 billion mu, and last year it was 1.4678 billion mu, a decrease of 7.59 million mu. The cultivated land area has decreased, but the population has increased by 11 million.
According to this year's trend, the population growth will approach 15 million, and the area of arable land reduction is likely to double. This is a very serious problem and directly threatens our country's food security. "
Nan Yi opened the water cup and took a sip of water, then continued, pursing his lips: "I can see this problem, and the country can certainly see it too. In order to ensure the arable land area, all we can do is increase revenue and reduce expenditure. We won't discuss increasing revenue, but let's talk about reducing expenditure.
In 1956, our country began to advocate cremation for reasons such as protecting arable land and saving land resources.
Advocacy means that you can listen or not listen, but I believe that in the near future, it will no longer be advocacy, but will become something that needs to be strictly enforced. "
Nan Yi said this and immediately changed the subject, "I won't say more. Let the village study the Taoist and Buddhist funeral methods, such as the Lingbao Pagoda. Of course, what I'm talking about is a long-term vision. In the short term, this business opportunity will not appear.
Let me say something about what we can do now. The Japanese have a long tradition of using coffins for funerals. They have used wooden coffins and stone coffins since the Yayoi period... The Yayoi period was roughly from 300 BC to 250 AD."
Nan Yi explained the time point of the Yayoi period, and then said: "Japanese funerals are mainly based on wooden coffins. In the past, they were mainly buried in the ground, but now they are mainly cremated, and the coffins will be cremated together.
A coffin is a must-have item at a funeral. It is the most important item when the deceased completes his or her last journey on earth and when his or her relatives bid farewell.
Japanese elderly people also pay attention to the cost of their coffins. In the last few years of their lives, many elderly people will live frugally in order to save money for a decent funeral.
Nan Yi said, and took out a document from his travel bag. After opening it, he pointed to a page and said, "This is a statistic made by the Japanese themselves. The average funeral cost in Japan is about 2 million yen. In addition to the cost of the coffin ceremony, the catering reception for the funeral attendees, and the temple chanting, the cost of the coffin, urn, etc. is the biggest part of it.
The Japanese are very particular about the material and quality of coffins, and they have their own set of procedures for choosing coffins:
First, you need to determine the height and religious beliefs of the deceased, and then choose the size, type, and price of the coffin. In Japan, the price of a coffin ranges from tens of thousands of yen to millions of yen.
The most standard coffin is 180 cm long, the smaller one is 170 cm long, and the large one is about 195 cm long.
It can be customized if you have special requirements, but you cannot make it as big as you want. The crematorium has set a standard for the size of coffins.
The price of a coffin is generally around 100,000 yen, and the more expensive ones can cost millions.
Even if we calculate this price based on the official exchange rate and cut it in half as the profit for Japanese terminal dealers, the money we will get is about 614 yuan.
If the coffins are made according to our standards, the cost of purchasing raw materials, transportation, employee salaries, taxes, shipping costs, etc. will almost eat up our profits.
But the standards for Japanese coffins are completely different from ours. Don’t forget, their coffins are meant to be burned, so they are light and flammable, and they don’t pay much attention to the type of wood. As long as we do a good job of the ‘surface work’ and put more effort into the craftsmanship and decoration, the cost of wood can be minimized.”
Nan Yi said, flipping through a few pages of the document in his hand. "Paulownia, starting from the northeast in the north and all the way to here in the south, is distributed in most parts of the country. Paulownia grows very quickly. A Paulownia tree that is more than ten years old is twice as large in diameter as a poplar tree of the same age. As it grows for a long time, the trunk will become hollow.
Because it grows relatively quickly, the wood is light and soft, easy to process, and also has the advantages of being acid-resistant, corrosion-resistant, moisture-proof and heat-insulating, making it very suitable for the production of Japanese coffins.
Of course, the most important thing is that this wood is cheap.”
"So, making Japanese coffins can be very profitable?" Chen Yuxiu asked.
"To achieve an annual output value of over 10 billion is not an unattainable dream. If you want to make over 100 million a year, you can achieve it with a little effort." Nan Yi nodded slightly and said, "In addition, this business is not easy to be choked by others. Paulownia is not only available in China, but also in many places in Southeast Asia and America. The price of raw materials is not easy to drive up."
Nan Yi flipped the document back two or three pages, pointed to the image of a dog on the document and said, "This is an Akita dog named Hachiko. In Japan, he is called the loyal dog Hachiko..."
Nan Yi told the story of Hachiko, the loyal dog, and then said, "Perhaps influenced by Hachiko, Japanese people generally regard pets as members of the family. The lifespan of a cat is generally 20 years at most, and a dog is even shorter, usually 15 years.
Even if they did not die in an accident, the lifespan of a pet is definitely shorter than that of a human. Any family that keeps pets is bound to lose one or two of their pet family members.
Since pets are family members, they must also pass away in a dignified manner, with chanting of sutras, funeral music, coffins, and cemeteries all being necessary.
Pet coffins use less material but can be of various shapes, such as a sailboat, a cradle, or any other shape. You can also put the pet's favorite flowers, plants, and toys inside, so that the pet will have nothing to play with in the underworld.
The price of pet coffins is not as high as that of human coffins, but the profit is not low at all because of its high added value.
Okay, I have explained everything that needs to be explained. The rest is up to the village to research and think about. Funerals are a big business, a good business, and a business of infinite merit. The business attributes should be kept low-key, and the merit-making side should be kept high-profile. May the Buddha have mercy on us!"
Chen Yuxiu asked in surprise: "When did you become a Buddhist?"
“Does it matter?”
"It doesn't matter." Chen Yuxiu shook his head.
Nan Yi turned his head and looked out the window, and said quietly: "While the saying "get rich through hard work" is still correct, let the villagers suffer a little more, let the elderly persevere, work hard, and live well. If they can still move in the last few years, they can go out and see the world.
Staying in the village all my life, the farthest place I have been to is to work as a migrant worker. Such a life is not worth living.
At a higher level, we are all stereotyped, just with statistical ellipsis, the farmer Nan, the self-employed business owner Chen, oh, you have one more name, the deceased Chen at the scene of the car accident.
When playing chess, in order to kill the opponent in the last move, we will let the chariots, horses, cannons and pawns go to die voluntarily. If we win, the rest of the chessmen and generals will raise their glasses and cheer.
There is no such thing in this world that makes everyone feel it is a win-win situation. If you want to achieve great things, sacrifice is inevitable. Who to sacrifice and who not to sacrifice and what are the criteria for choosing?
Put aside all the closeness and distance, the dirtiness and filthiness, and if you don't want to be sacrificed early, you must demonstrate your own value and importance.
Being willing to sacrifice oneself is called dedication, and being sacrificed is called cost expenditure, a price that must be paid. "
Nan Yi turned his head back from the window, looked at Chen Yuxiu and said, "Even if you can't be the last cheerleader, you must live as a positive contributor and never become a property that can be consumed at any time.
Two years ago, a college student sacrificed himself while saving a night soil collector. This caused a heated discussion. Everyone was discussing and arguing whether it was worth it.
You should also know the conclusion. No matter whether you agree with it or not, you must say it is worth it. This is called political correctness and correct public opinion guidance.
Let me make an assumption that is unlikely to happen. Suppose in a battle, a brigade commander or regiment commander sacrificed his life to save the life of a new soldier. Do you think it is worth it or not? "
"Needless to say, of course it's not worth it. The huge role that an excellent officer can play is far beyond the reach of a private, not even the best soldier. The ranks have long been clearly divided. Otherwise, why don't the troops have guards for the cooks?"
Nan Yi patted Chen Yuxiu on the shoulder and said, "So, we must be brave enough to sacrifice ourselves, but not be sacrificed easily. Businessmen have two extremely opposite attributes, negative and positive. They operate according to the law, take reasonable shortcuts, and pay taxes honestly, which infinitely magnifies the positive attributes.
Yu Xiu, our country needs foreign exchange. If we can exchange coffins for valuable foreign exchange, it will become a good story."
Chen Yuxiu had three black vertical lines on his temples, and asked nervously, "Uh, you don't want me to be the head of this coffin, do you?"
"You're dreaming. You're the one who deserves such a good thing?" Nan Yi spat, "You just need to be the boss of the game consoles, and make parents all over the country want to bite your flesh and drink your blood."
"Who wants to make game consoles? Erdong Electronics wants to make computers, super cheap computers. Even Deng Xiaoping said that we should start learning about computers from an early age." Chen Yuxiu said with his neck stiff.
"Yes, if you remember this, it's not in vain that I told you." Nan Yi turned his head and looked out the window again. "It will take some time to get to Fushan. I'll tell you something else. Remember what I say."
When Chen Yuxiu heard Nan Yi's words, he hurriedly took out his pen and work notes.
Seeing that Chen Yuxiu was ready, Nan Yi began to speak: "I have a few suggestions for Uncle Zong Qing. First, let Chen Guowen, the head of the second house who is in charge of the Yifa Street Market, be responsible for the management of the Bai Ri Fei Sheng Service Company; second, let the cashier Chen Lingbang be the person in charge of the other four electronics factories in Shencun;
Third, Nanchen Construction will soon have to make efforts, and hurry up to assign a deputy who is educated and knowledgeable about architecture to the head of the Third House, Chen Ruiwu;
Fourth, Nanchen Nonferrous Metals Group should be established as soon as possible, with Wei Kuang as the person in charge and Ming Di responsible for managing the overseas mines;
5. Be prepared to build a Heche Group. As for what this group will do in the future, you tell me in a month.
Have you remembered it?"
Chen Yuxiu: "Okay."
"Give me."
Nan Yi took the work notes from Chen Yuxiu, read the contents, took out his pen, wrote the word "Nan" on the notes, and wrote the date and time.
After closing the work notes and handing them back to Chen Yuxiu, Nan Yi said, "I'll treat you to a nice meal tonight. Do me a favor."
"What's the matter?"
"We will arrive in Fushan soon. There are many places to visit. I can only stay in Fushan for one day. Time is too tight. Can you help me visit a few places and contact a few products?"
"Which ones?"
"Lee Hei Kee's Daliang Sand, Lee Chung Sheng Tong's Po Chai Pills, Huang Xianghua's Ruyi Oil, Feng Liao Xing, He Ji's Blind Man's Cake, De Xin Zhai's Yun Zha Pig's Trotter, Gong Xing Long's Wedding Cakes and Sesame Cakes, and Fei Lu Electric Fans. There are eight places in total. Please help me run four of them."
Chen Yuxiu thought for a moment and said, "I'll go and get some food."
"Okay, I'll tell you what to pay attention to."
As Nan Yi informed Chen Yuxiu of the details that needed to be paid attention to in the negotiation, the car entered the city of Fushan.
After twists and turns, the car stopped at the gate of Changtian Soy Sauce Factory on Wensha Road.
"Do you have a pager signal here?"
“I don’t know.”
"Okay, drive away. I'll call you if anything happens. If I can't get through, let's meet at the entrance of Xinghua Shopping Mall at 4 o'clock in the afternoon." Nan Yi said after looking at his watch.
"good."
After getting off the car and standing at the gate of Changtian Soy Sauce Factory, Nan Yi saw Changtian Flavor Industry, a company with a market value of more than 600 billion yuan, through the mottled gate.
"Soybeans are used to make soy sauce, so they are a natural strategic partner."
Stroking his chin, Nan Yi looked at the gate and sighed. The little deer in his stomach started running around again, "I wonder if the technology of making soy sauce from hair has been invented yet?"
With his thoughts running wild and his feet filled with all kinds of soy sauce, including light soy sauce, dark soy sauce, fresh brewed soy sauce, and seafood soy sauce, Nan Yi approached the message room with a fierce look in his eyes. He reached into his bag and carefully took out a pack of cigarettes!
