Bold and Enterprising Wang Lili Uses Her Sharp Eye for Sheep to Find Her Way to Wealth

She is a bit shy in front of the camera; but when it comes to haggling for clients, she is anything but hesitant. There was a time when she was so poor she could not even afford a bag of tangyuan. But when she seized one opportunity, she earned over 100,000 yuan in just half a month. Now she goes her own way, raising only the sheep others look down on, yet when they are raised, people scramble to buy them. What clever tricks does Wang Lili of Dorbod in Daqing have, winning wealth and changing her fate through sheep?

Image source: CCTV.com

She is today's protagonist, Wang Lili. As soon as the reporter arrived, word was that she and her husband are not only sheep farmers in the area, but also a famous sheep broker duo.

Client: Once you cross the border between Hebei Province and Shandong Province, even there, (if you ask the sheep farmers) about Little Shandong, everyone knows.

Reporter: Do you all know him?

Villager: Yes.

Reporter: Little Shandong?

Villager: Yesterday as soon as he called I knew. I forgot the phone number, I just know Little Shandong, everyone knows.

Wang Lili: As soon as people mention it, (everyone knows) Little Shandong from Daqing. Because my family used to run a restaurant called Old Shandong, so he got the nickname Little Shandong.

The husband-and-wife team works together to help out-of-town traders buy sheep. Her husband Wang Laijun is out handling client contacts, while Wang Lili stays home handling contacts with local sheep dealers.

His name is Cheng Fugui. Today he made a special trip from Suihua City in Heilongjiang Province, 300 km away, to ask Wang Lili to help him buy 300 sheep.

This is Dorbod Mongol Autonomous County in Heilongjiang Province. To quickly recoup their funds, local people usually sell their sheep to dealers once they reach about 50 jin. The dealers then sell them through sheep sales points to traders from various places. The traders take the sheep back and fatten them for 3 to 4 months until they reach about 110 jin, and only then can the sheep go on the market.

When traders come here to buy sheep, they all have a habit: they first find a local sheep broker, both to vet the sheep and to make communication easier. And Wang Lili is a famous local broker.

As soon as the dealer herded the sheep into the pen, Wang Lili immediately went up to inspect them. She said that when helping clients buy sheep she never uses a scale to weigh them, because her family has a living scale.

Wang Lili: My husband is pretty impressive. Usually with a few hundred sheep, he drives over, does not even get down into the pen to feel them, just circles the pen two times, and then we go straight to haggling with the farm owner, that is, the sheep seller.

Reporter: So just by walking one loop around the pen, you know how heavy that group of sheep is?

Husband: For a group of sheep like this, I can basically tell the average weight.

Reporter: In a bit, weigh one for us, do a test for us, let me see how accurate you are.

Wang Lili: Do not mess it up.

Reporter: Have that brother bring the scale over so we can test it.

Wang Lili said that when it comes to judging sheep, her husband is the best, and he has never misjudged one.

Husband: This one, 63 and a half jin.

Reporter: 63 and a half jin. Still so accurate.

Wang Lili: Why even bring out the half jin?

Everyone: Weigh it, see if it is accurate. 63 and a half jin. 64 jin.

Reporter: 64 jin, you are amazing.

Image source: CCTV.com

These dozen or so are all lambs around 50 jin, within 12 months of age, exactly what Wang Lili wants to buy.

Wang Laijun had checked the size of the sheep, and next came the price negotiation. But after only a couple of words, the two sides were already locking horns over ten yuan.

Trader: How much is it now?

Sheep dealer: Not a cent less, just 360 yuan each.

Trader: Is that what you said?

Sheep dealer: Yes.

Trader: 350 yuan each, if that does not work, load them up (and take them back).

Sheep dealer: No, really no. You see, you are stubborn, but I am even more stubborn than you.

Wang Lili: Well, when you two stubborn (tempered people) meet, even I am out of ideas.

Sheep dealer: Then there is no way.

Wang Lili: They sincerely want to buy sheep, right? They gave a price. They already raised it for you too, you cannot begrudge ten yuan.

Sheep dealer: It is not about begrudging ten yuan. The price I am asking has already dropped to my bottom line.

It turned out that trader Cheng Fugui offered 320 yuan per sheep, while the dealer wanted 360 yuan each. To balance both sides' interests and close the deal, Wang Lili discussed it with the trader and raised the offer to 350 yuan each, but the dealer held firm at 360 yuan each, not a cent less. His line about not a cent less instantly brought out the trader's stubborn temper.

It looked like it was about to rain. Once it rains, the sheep in other dealers' hands get wet and are hard to estimate by weight. Wang Lili did not want the client who had come all this way to lose out. She knew that at 350 yuan each, the dealer was definitely still making money.

Image source: CCTV.com

Wang Lili: How are you not making money? Do not be too greedy, just about right is enough, what more do you want? If you keep holding out like this, this deal really will not go through. You say your (asking price of) 360 yuan has not dropped at all, while they (the trader) raised it from 330 yuan (each) to 340 yuan, then to 350 yuan. It is impossible to go higher.

After much persuasion, the dealer still refused to give up 10 yuan. In order to save time and look at the next truckload of sheep, Wang Lili had no choice but to give up. The haggling had gone on for nearly an hour, all for nothing.

But just as we were about to leave, who knows what Wang Lili said to that dealer, and he suddenly changed his mind.

Wang Lili: If I had not said I have a sheep farm in (Taikang County), you still would not sell to me, right?

Sheep dealer: Right.

Reporter: Why, you know her family's sheep farm?

Sheep dealer: I know her family's sheep farm, I just have never been inside.

Reporter: So now you are willing to sell to her again?

Sheep dealer: No, it is what she said, that at (her sheep farm) she would let me have a cup of water. Chat a bit, have a cup of water, that is fine, over 100 yuan, right, go to her place for a cup of water, maybe I will go to her place.

Wang Lili: And even a hot pot meal, right?

Sheep dealer: And a meal or something.

As soon as Wang Lili mentioned her family's sheep farm, the dealer changed his mind. After nearly an hour, they finally bought just over 10 sheep. To gather the 300 the trader wanted, Wang Lili said she would still have to busy herself here for two days.

Eight years ago, by helping southern traders buy sheep, Wang Lili once earned more than 100,000 yuan in half a month. Now, besides working as a broker, she also does what out-of-town traders do, buying sheep from dealers to fatten them up. But the reporter noticed that the sheep she bought back to raise herself were all sheep others did not want, yet once raised they were very popular.

Wang Lili: The sheep I want to buy and the sheep southern traders want differ by several yuan (in price). We just do not compete with them. The sheep they do not want, we take. (After they are raised,) the mutton price is the same.

Reporter: So after you buy them, can you sell them?

Wang Lili: Of course.

Mutton lady: Since I started buying sheep from her family, I can earn over 100 yuan more per sheep. With (other people's) sheep, more than 2 jin (live weight) yields about 1 jin of mutton. With (the ones Wang Lili raises), about 1 to 2 jin of live weight yields 1 jin of mutton. More meat. Her sheep have a high lean meat yield, it is not fatty meat.

The sheep others do not want are cheaper to begin with, and Wang Lili can save at least 100 yuan in cost per sheep. Yet she has the skill to raise such sheep into mutton that even butcher shop owners scramble to buy. What exactly is Wang Lili's secret?