When Chen Wei, a Jiangsu native, ran to Nanjing for the 8th time, it was close to the depths of winter, and the sycamore withered. In the community's living square, he called more than 30 "creditors". Su Xiyun, 68, was surprised that the owner of the closed fruit shop had decided to work three jobs to refund the membership fee. The temperature that day was minus three or four degrees, and she looked at the guy in front of her, "Thin, also dark." ”
Run 9 trips to Nanjing, refund 140,000 yuan membership fee. Nandu reporter learned that there is the power of integrity behind the story of Chen Wei's refund of membership fees, and there are also daily routines in which people in the community care about each other.
"The First Pot of Gold"
The name inquiry system shows that there are hundreds of thousands of people named "Chen Wei" across the country. Among them, Chen Wei, a native of Rugao, Jiangsu Province, was born in 1989 and worked as an operator in the machinery factory of his hometown after graduating from high school. The boss noticed that he was careful and steady, and that there were more warehouse jobs than others, and he transferred him to the office to learn computer programs. In 2008, 19-year-old Chen Wei went to Singapore with his boss to develop a career, staying for five years.
After working overseas and accumulating his first pot of gold, he returned to Nanjing from Singapore, did real estate sales, and opened a smart home store for 7 years. He recalled to the Nandu reporter that when opening a home store, customers encountered maintenance problems and called, he would not charge one or two hundred maintenance fees according to the market, word of mouth brought him a new source of customers, and someone introduced seven or eight businesses to Chen Wei in one breath.
In 2019, when Chen Wei visited a friend's store that opened a fruit shop, he found that the business was good, and he also learned how to pick fruit. In April of that year, he laid a façade in Nanjing's Qixia District, named "Orange Orchard".
Chen Wei's "Orange Orchard" fruit shop when it opened.
Here is a large living area located near the Maigao Bridge, the old community and the newly completed community are staggered, young people go to work during the day, and the elderly go out to buy vegetables, exercise or bring babies.
The small shop has witnessed some warm moments in the community.
Chen Wei told Nandu reporters that his personality was influenced by his retired father and longed for a community life of "no way to pick up". Because the fruit is fresh and the price is real, at its peak, more than 500 people come to the "orange orchard" every day to buy fruit. Evening is usually the busiest time, Chen Wei and the clerk often can not take care of eating, some elderly customers found, they brought some food from home to the clerk, and then picked some fruits in the store, chatted, acquaintances passed by, and chatted at the door of the store.
In order to purchase fresh fruit, at 4:00 a.m., Chen Wei drove a truck to the Nanjing Sinoma Wholesale Market, 20 kilometers away. At its peak, there were 4 employees in the store, cutting off the cost, and the monthly profit was about 20,000 to 30,000 yuan until the outbreak of the epidemic.
Chen Wei still remembers that on the second day of the Chinese New Year in 2020, he drove the cheli worth more than 10,000 yuan back to the store, and the community received a closure notice, and the batch of cheli entering the Spring Festival was unsalable, Chen Wei gave it to relatives, and the bad ones could only be disposed of. He optimistically estimated at the time that the outbreak might end in three or four months. During the epidemic, he drove a truck alone to pull a box of fruit to the hospital, leaving no information, but a few months later, the hospital found the source of the fruit and sent him a pennant.
change
The pandemic has changed the habits of many people, and online ordering is becoming more and more common.
Chen Wei found that many merchants with higher prices got a share of the "early entry", and he was also groping, "Orange Orchard" through community door-to-door delivery, WeChat group buying hard support. The staff gradually changed from 5 to 3 or 2, and before the store closed, only Chen Wei and a cashier were left. He told employees that they could find a job and then leave, during which time their salaries would be settled.
After all, the small shop is still unsustainable. In March 2021, Chen Wei explained to members in the WeChat group that the fruit shop was about to close. On April 3, the moment he emptied the shelves of fruit and closed the gates, Chen Weicai truly felt the end of this business. He owes nearly 140,000 membership fees, and he doesn't allow it to end there.
Chen Wei published his mobile phone number in the WeChat group, notified members to add his WeChat, and sent a "notification" in the group every two or three days.
On January 15, Chen Wei rushed to Nanjing for the 9th time and refunded the membership fee near the original fruit shop.
68-year-old Su Xiyun added Chen Wei WeChat, her recharged account is still more than 200 yuan, heard Chen Wei say that the store closed, she felt pity, but believed in the character of the young man. She recharged 5,000 yuan in other stores, and the boss ran away. After the child took this matter as a lesson and recited it several times, Su Xiyun was gradually less sure, but when she asked Chen Wei every once in a while, the latter always said in detail where she worked, "The money will definitely be returned." ”
Re-worked three jobs
After closing the shop in Nanjing and returning to Rugao, Chen Wei went out at 5 o'clock in the morning, rode an hour to his aunt's mutton restaurant to help, around noon, he went to the decoration company to do small work, and in the evening he sent large couriers. The family thought he had stabilized and was only busy in the store. He asked his aunt to help cover up, and he didn't tell his parents about the money he owed until January this year.
During the debt repayment period, Chen Wei kept the phone open for 24 hours, sometimes he did not receive the call during the day, and at night he went back and told the other party that he would definitely refund the fee.
The three salaries add up to about 10,000 yuan a month, and he keeps three or five hundred yuan as living expenses. The first time he returned to Nanjing with more than 7,000 yuan to pay off his debts, he found that after a month of hard work, "it was still too little."
From the boss to the beat worker, Chen Wei has been lost. He didn't care about the cold words he suffered when he worked, but the opinions of his relatives still made him a little uncomfortable, "I think I'm so old, I shouldn't have done such a job [in the restaurant washing dishes]." ”
"At first, no one believed it." During his part-time job, a customer called and scolded him as a liar, "Why can't you even get a few hundred dollars?" He repeated the explanation, please give him a little time, earn money the first time to pay back.
exception
Chen Wei hand-wrote a list of repayments, and he repaid the loan according to the card number of the recharge. As soon as his salary was paid on the 15th of each month, he ran to Nanjing, paid the fees of more than 30 members at most, and called the police to find "creditors". He and his members are about at the "Old Place", the doorway of Life Square, the hub of the nearby community.
There are exceptions.
In July 2021, he went to Nanjing for the first time to pay back the money, and an old customer saw him and invited him to dinner at home. After the greeting, Chen Wei took out 500 yuan, indicating that this was a refund of the membership fee, this move made the other party feel offended, dissatisfied with Chen Wei's visit but calculating money, and hurriedly pushed Chen Wei out, "You go, we do not welcome you." ”
Chen Wei knocked on the door again, there was a shoe cabinet at the door, he put the money in a pair of shoes and left.
Later, he occasionally thought that if he was invited to finish eating first and then repay the money, maybe the other party would not be so angry, but at that time, he was bent on paying off the arrears quickly.
After 9 trips to Nanjing, the membership fee of 140,000 yuan was refunded. Asked how Chen Wei felt, he said that after the last refund, he did not return the same day as usual, but in the city where he had been staying for ten years, he met with friends, ate a hot pot, and visited the old city, and the original store door had been renovated into a beauty shop.
When the fruit shop was stressful, he could not sleep all night, and when he worked three jobs, he was often tired enough to go home and sleep. After paying off his debts, he finally felt at ease again.
Chen Wei likes to watch Stephen Chow's movies, and last night he re-watched "The King of Comedy". In the movie, yin Tianqiu, the character played by Stephen Chow, ran through the dragon set and opened an actor training class in the neighborhood welfare club, which experienced hardships. Chen Wei felt that Yin Tianqiu's persistence had touched him. After attracting attention, Chen Wei registered Douyin. He does not shy away from the doubts of using his reputation to bring goods, and intends to sell the local specialties of his hometown, "where you fall, where you get up." ”
On January 27, when he ended the call with nandu reporters, Chen Wei was still busy with the work of a small construction worker. The story of the little fruit shop is over, and there is another comforting Easter egg.
The aunt who had driven Chen Wei out of the house learned from other residents the truth about his part-time work to pay off debts, and when Chen Wei ran to Nanjing for the ninth time, he once again dragged Chen Wei to his home for dinner. The couple sighed bitterly, "We thought, so many members, when are you going to retire one by one?" But she still enlightened, saying, "If you have integrity, you must be able to do it." ”
Producer: Nandu Instant
Written by: Nandu reporter Huang Chibo