People from Guangzhou had contact with foreign merchants earlier than people from Jiangzhou, and they knew that foreign goods were of excellent quality. The raw materials and machinery were all imported from abroad, so the quality of the materials produced was absolutely guaranteed!
With this in mind, the merchant immediately stopped being picky about Shen Qing being a woman.
As long as the material is of good quality, it doesn't matter whether the boss is a man or a woman.
"Boss Shen, just as I told your manager—100,000 bolts of rayon, evenly distributed, I want all colors! Delivery on this day next year!"
Shen Qing smiled, poured him another cup of hot tea, and said nothing.
Seeing that she remained silent, neither agreeing nor disagreeing, the merchant was a little confused. Observing her expression, he asked, "What's wrong? Is Mr. Shen not happy?"
Shen Qing slowly poured tea: "100,000 bolts of rayon, to be delivered in the twelfth lunar month next year, that's no problem, but I require full payment."
"Full payment?" The customer was surprised. "There's no such rule in this business. I can pay you a deposit to show my sincerity, but full payment......"
He shook his head, looking quite helpless.
These days, businesses are all facing tight cash flow. Who can pay for a whole year's worth of goods all at once?
Even if it's not held for several months, it should at least be cash on delivery.
But he really liked the material from the Gao family, and it would be a real shame if they couldn't agree on the payment terms.
He was willing to fight for rayon one more time, looking at Shen Qing with great sincerity: "Mr. Shen, how about this, I'll pay 10% of the payment first, and I guarantee that I'll pay the remaining 90% as soon as the goods are delivered."
The 10% prepayment is far from the 50% that Shen Qing planned.
She didn't want to waste any more time discussing pointless matters, so she revealed her hand: "I can only accept a prepayment of at least 50%."
The merchant shook his head, stood up, and prepared to take his leave.
He said helplessly, "I really like your rayon, but it's really difficult for me to pay half of the cost upfront. These days, everyone is short of funds, and I'm sure you understand, Mr. Shen."
Shen Qing understood, of course.
As someone who couldn't get loans from money shops or banks and had to "beg" from relatives to get start-up capital, she certainly understood the difficulties of tight funds.
She understands the difficulties faced by her customers, but who understands her difficulties?
However, she wouldn't say these things to a stranger; it would be useless and she'd only be laughed at.
She looked at the merchants who were about to leave and said decisively, "Pay 50% of the cost in advance, and pay the remaining 40% upon delivery."
Upon hearing this, the merchant stopped in his tracks, turned around, and looked at her in surprise.
Shen Qing raised his hand and made a gesture of the number nine, saying, "50% plus 40% means I've given you a 10% discount on this batch of goods. Even if you take out a loan from a bank to pay me the 50% upfront, the interest won't be higher than the 10% discount I'm giving you. In the end, you'll still make a profit."
Upon hearing this, the shopkeeper's face darkened, and he immediately whispered in her ear, "Boss Shen, this won't do! The profit margin we're giving him is only about 10%..."
Shen Qing waved his hand, and the shopkeeper immediately fell silent.
She was well aware that giving up this 10% discount meant giving up all her profit margin.
But she still made a profit.
She couldn't borrow any money from local banks in Jiangzhou or banks in Shanghai, and had nowhere else to raise funds. She believed that the Gao family father and son had been in the same situation, which was why they borrowed 100,000 taels of silver from Master Zhao.
By sacrificing 10% of her profits to induce customers to borrow money from banks to prepay for goods, she has obtained valuable funds to expand her factory.
Once the factory reaches a certain scale, the Guangzhou order will be unprofitable, but the other orders will be profitable.
It's just a matter of whether the profits arrive first or later.
However, without this advance payment, it would be difficult for the factory to expand. With its current production capacity, rayon would forever remain in shops for retail sale...
On the other side, the merchant thought for a while and calculated that there was indeed a profit to be made. He made up his mind and said, "Okay! It's settled then! I'll go back to Guangzhou right now and borrow money from the bank!"
Shen Qingsong breathed a sigh of relief, but he still didn't dare to relax completely. After all, 50% of the payment was a considerable sum of money, and it was still unknown whether any money lender would be willing to lend him such a large amount.
After seeing the merchants off, the shopkeeper immediately said to Shen Qing with a worried look, "We've already given him a very low price, and now we're offering him another 10% discount..."
They had finally managed to make some money from rayon, but the year's profits were squandered by this willful young mistress. Women really can't run a business.
He dared not say the last two sentences aloud; he could only mutter them to himself.
Shen Qing was preoccupied with the 50% payment and what arrangements to make, so she didn't have time to explain to him. She took out her ledger and started drafting.
After deducting the costs of purchasing new machinery, workers' wages, rent for the new factory, and raw materials from the 50% prepayment, there was actually not much left. It was possible that they would not be able to come up with the money to repay the 100,000 taels owed to Master Zhao.
I have eight months left to repay the principal. If I can't repay it by then, I'll be in big trouble, and I might even die.
The machines had to be bought, the factory had to be rented, and the raw materials had to be purchased. The only thing that could be delayed was the workers' wages. But those female workers worked from dawn till dusk every day, and all they earned was a few taels of silver. Shen Qing really couldn't bear to deduct their wages.
But what about the 100,000 taels?
Shen Qing regretted only asking for a 50% prepayment, but then she thought that if even 50% was so difficult to obtain, asking for more would probably be even less hopeful, so she let it go.
Well, getting half the advance payment to buy equipment and raw materials is better than nothing. We'll figure out a way later. Maybe we can get other big orders in these eight months and get some more advance payments then. We should be able to scrape together 100,000 taels.
With this in mind, Shen Qing became optimistic again. After lunch, she asked Lao Xu to take her to see the new factory.
The carriage sped towards the outskirts of the city. Shen Qing pulled back the curtain and chatted with Old Xu: "Is Boss Cheng in Shanghai lately? What's he busy with?"
Old Xu held the reins with both hands and said with a smile, "That day I was escorting Boss Cheng and the German. We were originally going to Shanghai together, but Boss Cheng got off the carriage in Yongzhou."
Shen Qing was surprised: "Yongzhou? Isn't that Boss Cheng's hometown? What is he going back to his hometown for?"
"That day when I sent him to Yongzhou, I saw a big red 'double happiness' character pasted on the Cheng family mansion. The servant said it was because 'the young master is getting married'!" Old Xu was very pleased to hear that the young master he had followed for many years was finally getting married, and his wrinkles deepened with his smile.
Shen Qing's expression changed.
A strange emotion welled up from the bottom of her heart and stuck in her throat. She couldn't swallow it or spit it out. It made her chest feel swollen and painful, and she was overwhelmed by a huge sense of loss.
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