Chương 2: Chapter 2: "Big Sunflower Andrology Clinic".
"We're almost there."
Chen Miao looked down at the business card in his hand. Aside from the especially large font spelling "Big Sunflower Andrology Clinic," there was also the face of a middle-aged man in a white lab coat, which looked somewhat greasy.
Beside it, his own watch communication number was noted.
Since he was a child, he had one fairly good quality: his memory was quite good.
Of course, it wasn't as exaggerated as hyperthymesia; he couldn't remember every single detail of what he saw, but as long as he put his mind to it, he basically wouldn't forget things in a short time. Over the past seven days, he might not have traversed the entirety of Fengtian City, but at least he had combed through this district.
The street signs were all imprinted in his brain, so there was no way he'd get lost.
As for the man following beside him.
He was called Hungry Monkey.
They had met a few days ago. Hungry Monkey was a laborer who usually didn't have any steady work—he survived job to job, sometimes satisfied, more often hungry.
When Chen Miao first arrived in this world, he was a typical unregistered resident.
He had no household registration, no identity; even his clothes were "borrowed" in the dead of night, and he lacked even a watch, making it absolutely impossible to blend into society normally. Getting food was a problem, but what was that saying again—you can't be peed to death if you're alive?
He chose a lunchtime rush hour to approach a fast food chain next to an office building. At the door, he picked up a discarded receipt from the trash bin and strutted into the fast food joint with it.
He argued with the staff that he had just bought a rice dish here, but there were bugs in it, demanding a remake.
Just like that.
He obtained a green pepper pork rice dish.
And this whole scene was witnessed by Hungry Monkey, who was loitering aimlessly at the entrance. In that moment, it seemed as though he had discovered a new world, and decided he must try this himself—even if using the same trick in the same place on the same day might be inappropriate.
Hungry Monkey considered himself quite clever.
A bit brainy.
He then picked up a receipt from the entrance of a nearby mom-and-pop noodle shop and charged in, loudly complaining about bugs in his noodles. And that... got him loudly berated and kicked out by the owner on the spot.
Hungry Monkey knew he was a bit clever, but not very much so.
Meanwhile, Chen Miao was squatting by the roadside, relishing his rice dish, when he had a chance encounter with a dejected and puzzled Hungry Monkey, who had just been ejected. For a second, it even seemed like he could see the tears in Hungry Monkey's eyes.
Since then, Hungry Monkey had been following him, expressing a desire to learn the trick.
Why could Chen Miao succeed when he could not?
Chen Miao hadn't refused, so Hungry Monkey had been sticking with him ever since.
Having someone around did make things a lot more convenient. How did that saying go again—if you can't lead a team, you'll work yourself to death right here.
...
"We're here!"
Chen Miao stopped in front of a clinic that looked somewhat run-down. It was a ground-level shop in an old residential area, two stories high, with an appearance that seemed rather outdated, though it was very clean, without a speck of dust.
It was apparent the owner cared a great deal about the image of his clinic.
A sign was hung above.
"Big Sunflower Andrology Clinic."
However, the first character, "Big," clearly had been later added with a piece of tarp, not part of the original signage.
This clinic didn't seem to have any other employees; just a doctor in a white lab coat sitting inside. When he saw Chen Miao and his companion pause at the entrance, the doctor's eyes instantly lit up, and he rushed out, grasping Chen Miao's right hand firmly and shaking it vigorously, while a look common to that of spotting a potential mark spread across his cheeks.
"You're Chen Miao, right?"
"I heard from your men that you're out experiencing life, renting my clinic for a day to get a sense of running a clinic, correct?"
"I've got it all arranged with your people."
"From this evening until tomorrow evening, all the clinic's revenue goes to me, and you also have to pay me 3,000 credit points for the rental fee, is that right?"
"That's not correct."
Chen Miao stepped into the clinic, glanced around at the interior, where the familiar smell of disinfectant lingered in the air; it was rudimentary but tidy. He then looked at the greasy middle-aged man in front of him and said softly,
"After deducting your daily operating costs and normal profits, the rest of the revenue is mine."
"For example, if your clinic charges 50 points for a patient's IV on a normal day, but today the patient spends 100 credit points on that IV, then 50 of those points are yours, and the remaining 50 points are mine."
"Do you understand?"
"Absolutely!"
The greasy middle-aged man gazed at Chen Miao, grinning like he was staring at a simpleton, nodding his head like a pecking rooster, and he could barely control his smile from stretching ear to ear.
It was as good as making tomorrow's money without fail, plus an extra 3,000 in rental fees.
Where can one find such a good deal?
It sounds complicated, but essentially, it meant that any surplus from the marked-up business must go to Chen Miao, which is pure nonsense. The clinic isn't a hospital; the prices are clear-cut. If your prices are higher here, people will just walk a few steps more to the clinic next door.
What serious illness can one get that they can't manage to walk those few extra steps to the clinic?
If it were so easy to mark up prices, he wouldn't be in a situation where he can't even scrape together next month's rent.
"Mm."
Chen Miao nodded slightly and then sat on a chair inside the clinic, looking at the middle-aged man in front of him: "Are you the boss? Where's the doctor?"
"I am, it's just me in this clinic, I take care of everything."
"Just you?"
Chen Miao's eyebrows knit slightly as he glanced outside: "Doesn't your sign out front say you're open 24h? How can you operate 24 hours a day by yourself?"
"I sleep on the counter at night. If a patient comes, they tap on the counter, and I wake up."
"…"
Chen Miao was somewhat silent and didn't speak. This guy was truly desperate. If even such a person couldn't make money, it further proved that when the market lacks demand, no matter how hard the content producer tries, it's futile.
Effort doesn't change fate.
That saying isn't entirely true either. At the very least, excessive effort can make your life shorter, which, from a certain perspective, is also changing fate.
For instance, the situation of the clinic was such that the market demand was too low and it wasn't the first choice when there was demand.
The solution naturally is to prescribe the right remedy.
Creating market demand generally falls into two types: the first is creating hard demand, which directly involves tricks in the nearby community, such as on the door handles of security doors or on elevator buttons with flyers, thereby greatly increasing the chances of the surrounding people catching colds or falling ill.
Isn't that hard demand there?
The second type is creating soft demand, which is more troublesome. It's more or less about promoting to the nearby residents that drinking some anti-inflammatory drugs before autumn can effectively prevent colds and diseases, or cross-branding cold medicine with coffee, and so on. Through public opinion, manufacturing social needs, expressions of filial piety, love for girlfriends, etc. But such tactics aren't well suited for a clinic whose customer base is limited to the nearby community and that looks like it's on the verge of closing down.
Especially an andrology clinic.
It's rather troublesome to operate.
But that has nothing to do with him; he isn't there to be a strategist giving advice but to make a quick buck and leave.
...
"Cut to the chase."
After pausing for a moment, Chen Miao continued: "How much do you charge for one circumcision?"
"Fore 'lil bro' skin?"
"Yeah."
"800 to 4000, depending on the surgical method, prices vary."
"I'll be responsible for bringing in clients. You do the surgery when customers come. No matter how much the client pays, you only take your due share of cost and profit, understood? Everything above that is my profit."
"Understood!"
The middle-aged man in the white coat nodded vigorously, speaking earnestly: "Don't worry, no matter how much you make, I won't be envious. I've been as calm as still water since I was young and don't have much desire for money."
"I run a clinic simply because I love to save lives and help the injured."
His mouth said one thing, but internally, the mischievous part of him was so excited he couldn't help but laugh out loud. Mark up my ass, who do you think you are? The prices for this stuff are crystal clear. If you make your prices that high, what idiot would agree?
"What shall I call you?"
Chen Miao took out a pack of cigarettes from his pocket, handed two out to Hungry Monkey, lit one for himself, and after a puff, looked at the burning cigarette in his hand with a sense of nostalgia. The cigarettes in this world are a bit too bland.
Especially without Liqun.
Smoking anything else gives him a headache.
"Doctor Gou is fine."
"Your full name?"
"My full name is Doctor Gou. My parents hoped I would become a doctor since I was young."
Chen Miao lifted his gaze to the middle-aged man with a grin plastered on his face, paused for a long moment before chuckling: "Nice name. Okay then, let's start tonight, continuing until this time tomorrow. No problem, right?"
"No problem."
Once Doctor Gou agreed, Chen Miao waved at Hungry Monkey and said, "Go fetch those flyers from the stand next door and change all the prices on them to 128."
"A circumcision, just for 128 credits."
"Make sure you're sincere enough when handing out flyers to passersby."
Quà tặng
-- Nhận quà Tình trạng nguồn điện hàng tuần
-- Xếp hạng
Quyền lực 
-- Đá
Quyền lực