Chapter 122 Business Competition
The night was as dark as ink, with a few dim street lights lit sporadically in the family compound. Gu Qiuyue had just walked to the gate of the compound with the young soldier when she saw a familiar figure pacing back and forth in front of the guard room with an anxious look on his face.
"Comrade Gu! I finally found you!" Xiaoqi, a field worker from a factory run by a middle school, saw her and immediately trotted towards her, with beads of sweat on his forehead.
Gu Qiuyue's heart skipped a beat, but she remained calm. "Comrade Xiao Zhao, why are you here so late? Is there something urgent at the factory?"
Xiao Zhao glanced at the young soldier beside him and lowered his voice, "Director Wang asked me to come here overnight to deliver a letter. It's urgent." He pulled a letter with a red seal from his army green satchel. "The Yuanda Labor Protection Factory went directly to our Deputy Director Li this afternoon."
Gu Qiuyue took the letter and quickly glanced at it under the light of the guard room. The more she read, the tighter her brows furrowed.
"Not only did they question your production capacity, they also offered a price 15 percent lower than yours," Xiao Zhao added, his voice thick with worry. "They were very rude, saying the military workshop was a 'makeshift operation,' with inconsistent quality. They even hinted... hinted that there was something wrong with the last batch of gloves."
Gu Qiuyue looked up sharply: "How did they know about the gloves?" The quality incident caused by Wang Erzhu was never made public and was only handled internally.
"Director Wang also found it strange. They seemed to be very familiar with our factory and your workshop." Xiao Zhao lowered his voice. "Deputy Director Li was a little hesitant, but Director Wang argued with him. In the end, they decided to hold a special meeting tomorrow morning to discuss this batch of tooling orders. Director Wang asked me to quietly inform you that you must bring your best samples and all your qualifications tomorrow morning to be prepared to handle any questions."
"What time tomorrow morning?"
"Nine o'clock sharp, in the second-floor conference room of the factory office." Xiao Zhao glanced at his watch. "I have to go back quickly. Comrade Gu, you must be fully prepared. I think they have bad intentions."
After seeing Xiao Zhao off, Gu Qiuyue walked alone on the way home. The summer night breeze brushed across her cheeks, but it couldn't blow away the heaviness in her heart.
The offensive of "Yuanda" came quickly and fiercely, and it was obvious that they were well prepared. Not only did they compete with low prices, but they also directly attacked the most vulnerable links of the military workshops - production stability and quality consistency. What made her even more alert was that the other party seemed to have some knowledge of the internal affairs of the workshop. Where did this information leak from?
When I opened the door, the lights in the living room were still on.
Xie Shiyu was sitting at the table reading a book. Seeing her come back, he put down the book and said, "You're back? I made some mung bean soup. It should be ready now."
Gu Qiuyue handed him the letter from the school-run factory and briefly explained the situation.
Xie Shiyu read it carefully and said calmly, "This is normal business competition. Although the means are not very glorious, the key is to prove the strength and reputation of the workshop. Your status as a military dependent is actually an advantage for you."
He paused and pointed out, "The other party is well-informed. This may not be an internal problem of the workshop. There are many people in the family compound and they have many different opinions. Perhaps they heard a little bit from other channels and exaggerated it."
His words were like a reassurance, calming Gu Qiuyue's troubled mind. She sat down at the table, and Xie Shiyu had already prepared a bowl of mung bean soup and placed it in front of her.
"Their quote is so much lower than ours, it's not normal." Gu Qiuyue analyzed, "Unless they're cutting corners or there's something else going on."
"So tomorrow you need to bring not only samples, but also detailed costing and quality control instructions." Xie Shiyu stood up and took out a folder from the bookcase. "This is the qualification document I helped you organize earlier. I've added some content."
Gu Qiuyue opened the folder with surprise. Inside were not only military family certificates, past order records, and letters of commendation arranged in an orderly manner, but also a handwritten quality control process description by Xie Shiyu.
"How did you come up with this?"
"Plan ahead for a rainy day." Xie Shiyu smiled slightly and gently placed his hand on her shoulder. "As your workshop grows bigger, you'll encounter competitors sooner or later. It's always a good idea to prepare in advance."
The couple discussed quietly under the lamp. Xie Shiyu helped Gu Qiuyue sort out her response and offered pertinent suggestions from time to time. Gu Qiuyue suddenly remembered Li Caifeng and sighed, "Thank goodness I dealt with Li Caifeng's issue decisively last time. If they had caught me with the real quality issue now, I'm afraid I wouldn't even have a chance to explain myself."
It was late at night, and Xie Shiyu advised her to rest, but Gu Qiuyue insisted on preparing for a while longer. She rechecked the work clothes samples she would bring tomorrow to ensure that the stitches were fine and even, and the fabric was crisp; she calculated the costs again to confirm that her own quotation was reasonable and transparent; finally, she sorted the qualification documents into categories and marked them with labels.
As a former Peking University student and now a middle school teacher, she fully utilized her advantage of clear logic and prepared concise and powerful responses. By the time she finished all this, the sky outside the window was already turning pale.
At seven o'clock in the morning, Gu Qiuyue called Zhang Xiumei and briefly explained the situation.
"That's so despicable!" Zhang Xiumei's eyes widened in anger. "Someone must be gossiping behind my back!"
"Now is not the time to pursue this matter." Gu Qiuyue said calmly, "You will go with me today as the quality inspection representative. Let's hold a short meeting with the other sisters to stabilize their morale."
In the workshop, the eight military wives were both indignant and worried after listening to Gu Qiuyue's brief report.
"Everyone, continue working as usual. Especially at this time, we must ensure the quality of our work." Gu Qiuyue glanced at everyone's face. "Our products can stand the test. There is no need to be afraid of fair competition."
Everyone's morale was boosted, and they all promised to perform at their best.
At 8:50 a.m., Gu Qiuyue and Zhang Xiumei, armed with carefully prepared materials and samples, stood at the doorway of the No. 1 Middle School's factory conference room. Faint voices could be heard from inside, suggesting everyone had already arrived.
Gu Qiuyue took a deep breath, exchanged a glance with Zhang Xiumei, and pushed open the door of the conference room.
In the conference room, Director Wang and several factory leaders sat on one side, facing three unfamiliar faces - presumably people from Yuanda.
One of the men was sitting with his legs crossed. When he saw them come in, an undisguised smug smile appeared on his face and his eyes were full of provocation. It must be Wang Erzhu.
Sure enough, Director Wang stood up with a complicated expression. "Comrade Gu, you're here. This is Director Sun from the Yuanda Labor Protection Factory. Next to him is their...business consultant, Comrade Wang Erzhu."
Wang Erzhu stood up slowly, smiling hypocritically: "Teacher Gu, Mrs. Zhang, hello, I didn't expect that our first meeting would be in this kind of occasion."
The air in the conference room seemed to freeze, and everyone's eyes were focused on Gu Qiuyue, waiting for her reaction.
Gu Qiuyue didn't even glance at him. She calmed herself down and walked towards the conference table with a calm expression. This tough battle had just begun.
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