Divine Lucky Star
Chapter 555 - 554 You have to leave me a way out!

Chapter 555: Chapter 554 You have to leave me a way out!

At that moment, everyone present was looking at Wang Hao, not understanding what he meant.

To talk about buying tiles, they had looked at the model and knew the size, so if they were to buy, next naturally would be to discuss the price, but he wanted to see the actual tiles, what was he up to?

"Eh, what is Brother Hao up to?" Sister Fang quietly asked Zhou Liyan, "He hasn’t been speaking just now, so it’s not clear if he’s going to buy or not, and now he wants to see the actual tiles?"

"Who knows," Zhou Liyan was also full of confusion, "But I think this young fella seems pretty decisive, you wait, let me ask."

"Brother Hao," Zhou Liyan gently nudged Wang Hao, "What do you mean by looking at the actual product? Do you also know how to inspect tiles?"

"A little, a little," Wang Hao winked at Zhou Liyan, "Isn’t it because Sister Zhou you want to buy, so I was thinking of helping you talk the price down? Any discount is a good discount, hehe."

"Well done!" Zhou Liyan laughed out loud and immediately told everyone, "Brother Hao is beginning to discuss the price now, let’s cooperate with him first, we can talk about whether it works later! We can’t turn our backs at such crucial times, we need to stand by our own people!" With that, Zhou Zhou loudly directed at the shop owner, "Hurry, hurry, this is our interior design consultant, do you know what a consultant is? You may fool us amateurs, but it’s not easy to fool him!"

Several people around nodded together, "Yes, yes, hurry up!"

Ah, such perfect teamwork!

Wang Hao secretly gave a thumbs up to the few of them—worthy neighbors indeed, so united!

"I’m not afraid of you inspecting," the shop owner shouted towards the back warehouse, "Little Liu, aren’t you done yet?!"

"Coming, coming!" As he spoke, the shop assistant Little Liu came out pushing a cart, "It’s all here, look at it any way you want!"

Those were tough words from the shop owner, everyone turned their attention to Wang Hao, just waiting for him to speak.

"Let’s not rush, I’ll try it first," Wang Hao smilingly picked up the outer packaging of the tile and began demonstrating to everyone, "When looking at tiles, there are five points to consider, let’s go through them one by one."

Holy shit! There are actually five points to inspecting tiles?!

Everyone widened their eyes, and even the shop owner had a sudden shock inside, but quickly recovered, smiling, "Didn’t expect it, you’re quite the expert. Sure, look all you want, and if you spot any defects, then I’ll concede!"

Those words were quite confident, hehe, let’s see if you can still laugh later!

"First of all, when inspecting tiles, you have to look at the brand," Wang Hao held the packaging, pointing to the manufacturer’s logo and said, "Normally, qualified tiles should have factory name, factory location, product name, customer service telephone, specifications, quantity, trademark, production date, and the standards it complies with labeled. For porcelain tiles, check for the CCC certification mark, and for indoor design decorative tiles, choose products that meet the requirements of Class A for radioactive nuclides." After the introduction, Wang Hao said, "Everyone look, here is the brand of the tile, Ximala, and behind it is the factory location... Eh, boss, isn’t this supposed to be imported from Italy? Why is the factory located in Guangdong Province?"

Hearing Wang Hao’s words, the shop owner immediately broke into a cold sweat!

"This...this...this is transited through Guangdong and then shipped over!" The shop owner, also quick-witted in the crisis, could give this answer eighty-two points, "Nowadays, imported tiles definitely need to be transited, you can’t say that tiles are directly delivered to my shop from abroad, right?"

That answer was not problematic, then Wang Hao said something that completely drained him, "But boss, it’s written here that this tile is produced by this factory..."

Shop owner: "This...this..."

That’s when Zhou Liyan and the others immediately protested, "Boss, how can you be so dishonest? If it’s domestic tiles, say it’s domestic tiles, you just fooled us saying they are purely imported, are you kidding?!"

Several people around nodded in agreement, "Exactly, exactly, you’re really not honest!"

Seeing the boss was about to explain, Wang Hao wasn’t going to give him that chance and immediately moved on to the next point: "Let’s not rush, domestically produced is fine, let’s look at the second item next."

While saying that, he picked up a piece of tile and held it in his hand.

Talking about these tiles, they are not light; each piece could weigh several pounds, but Wang Hao held it as if it were a piece of paper.

"The second point is to look at the tile surface to see if there are any black spots, bubbles, pinholes, cracks, scratches, discolorations, missing edges, or corners. For glazed tiles, also check for any casting defects or grinding gaps. Check the trademark marking on the bottom embryo, products produced by regular manufacturers will have a clear product trademark marking on the bottom embryo. If it’s missing or particularly vague, I recommend being cautious!"

After explaining the second point, Wang Hao, just as he had mentioned, carefully examined the tile from front to back, left, right, top, bottom, on both sides thoroughly, and finally nodded, "Well, looking at the quality of this tile, it’s quite good, no big issues on这个点的基础上."

The shop owner practically let out a huge sigh of relief—thankfully, thankfully, nothing bizarre came up!

Then he quickly became restless...

"After checking those, next up is the flatness of the surface," Wang Hao picked up a tile and pressed two tiles face to face, saying, "If you can see light in the middle, it means the surface of the tile is uneven. Only those that fit tightly are considered to have acceptable flatness. Then turn it around to see if the corners still match... Hmm, this aspect is also quite satisfactory."

With these two points being satisfactory, the store owner became proud again, "I told you, our tiles are definitely top-notch. Once you lay them down in your renovation, you’ll definitely be satisfied. You won’t have to replace them for a lifetime!"

This time, everyone hesitated a bit again.

Overall, aside from the tiles’ origin seemingly being a bit problematic, there wouldn’t seem to be any major issues...

Of course, it was clear that Wang Hao wasn’t so easily fooled...

"Don’t rush me. I haven’t finished yet," Wang Hao lifted one side of the tile with one hand, and with the palm of his other hand, he knocked on the middle of the tile, saying, "Knock it like this. If the sound produced is sonorous and the echo lingers like the sound of a bell, it means the tiles are highly vitrified, durable, strong in break-resistance, low in water absorption, and not prone to staining. If the sound is muffled with no echo, it indicates low vitrification, insufficient firing of the tile body, poor wear resistance, weak break-resistance, and higher water absorption, making such vitrified tiles highly prone to contamination." He knocked for a while, then confidently started bragging, "The sound of this tile, well, it’s so-so. Based on my years of experience, it’s just above average, not particularly great."

That was quite a justified explanation!

The store owner was immediately on his knees, "Brother, who exactly are you? The quality of my tiles is definitely not an issue..."

The people around had already been dumbfounded!

Brother Hao was too impressive, he scared the owner! With this, bargaining later would definitely see a significant price drop!

But Wang Hao didn’t bother with that and decisively continued, "Then next is to check the density of the tile." He flipped the tile over and said, "Who has water? Get me some."

"I do, I do!" Xiao Wen immediately handed over her bottled water, "Brother Little Hao, use mine!"

"Okay!" Wang Hao dripped water onto the back of the tile, then observed the speed at which the water absorbed, saying, "Turn the tile over, drop some water on the back. The slower it soaks in, the denser the material, the better the internal quality. Generally, a tile that absorbs water quickly has a loose texture and absorbs more water. It’s normal for the backs of glazed tiles to absorb water. The better the quality, the slower it absorbs water, and the contrast is quite apparent. But if a store sells you full-body tiles or vitrified tiles that absorb water quickly, no matter how cheap, don’t consider them—the tile biscuit is poor, and the quality can be imagined, prone to cracking and other problems while being used long term. Moreover, poor tiles not only absorb quickly but even can show watermarks on the front, that’s why some people, after using bad wall tiles, always have watermarks, looking spotted much like a Dalmatian. By the time you regret it, it’s too late!"

Everyone nodded; it made sense!

Hearing Brother Hao explain it like this, one immediately got a vivid impression of the quality of these tiles!

The water had almost soaked in now, and Wang Hao tapped it pretentiously again, looked at both sides, then said, "Looking at it, the quality of this tile is above average, it’s usable, but definitely not worth this high a price."

The price isn’t worth that much!

This was the music to Zhou Liyan’s ears, she excitedly asked Wang Hao, "So, Brother Hao, how much do you think these tiles are worth?"

"Well," Wang Hao took another careful look, then dropped a bombshell that completely floored the shop owner, "I think they should be priced around eighty a piece at most, Sister Zhou. If you’re buying, a hundred per piece, any more than that wouldn’t be worth it."

Shop owner: "..."

Oh heavens and earth! What exactly does this guy know to be so accurate!

With you playing this game, I might as well go and catch the wind in the northwest!

"Little brother, this little brother, can I have a word!" The shop owner was truly panicked now! Being completely exposed, how could he not be anxious? He grabbed Wang Hao’s shirt and pulled him aside, "Little brother, do have some mercy! Don’t go ruining my business like this. Is it easy for me to make some money? Operating such a big store costs a lot! You must understand, consider my request as your big brother, will you?"

Actually, Wang Hao hadn’t planned to ruin his business; he just didn’t like the guy’s swindling demeanor.

Humph, trying that in front of me, feeling frustrated?

"Who told you to act so cocky earlier?" Wang Hao curled his lips, "You were even offered one hundred sixty and you didn’t sell. How much money is enough for you? Here’s the deal. I won’t make it tough for you, let’s say one hundred twenty. If you agree, we can talk nicely." Wang Hao had carefully considered the price of one hundred twenty.

The quality of the tiles was indeed okay; he had just purposely spoken poorly about them earlier, but any lower would indeed be unfair.

After all, the owner had to make money to eat, right?

"This... this..." The shop owner’s cold sweat was dripping. At that moment, he felt that this young man in front of him was just like a deity, nothing could escape his eyes!

Now that he had said so, what else could he do?

"Fine! One hundred twenty it is!" The shop owner was truly crying without tears, "But little brother, you must help me introduce more customers. Otherwise, big brother here really will have to catch the northwest wind!"