When Zhang Degen heard what Li Miaomiao said, he suddenly understood something.
"Guoan's wife, you are the wisest one. I've lived my whole life in vain, but I'm not as clear-headed as you. That's the truth, isn't it? Other things don't matter. The benefits our village has gained are real. If we want the leaders to solve our problems, we have to be willing to lose face!"
Li Miaomiao's words opened a gate that restricted Zhang Degen. From then on, Zhang Degen went down another path and never returned. In the end, he became a person that gave leaders a headache. They wanted to avoid him, but Fanglin Village became more and more prosperous.
Very good. Li Miaomiao felt a great sense of accomplishment that she had successfully led the village chief astray.
What’s the important thing about appearance? What’s real is getting benefits.
"Uncle Degen is a wise man. If you think about what he said carefully, you'll understand its benefits. They say crying children get candy, and parents love crying children. This is the same principle when dealing with leaders. Of course, it's not always true. It depends on your own consideration and understanding, Uncle Degen."
Zhang Degen nodded thoughtfully: "Guoan wife, I will remember what you said. I will think about it slowly later. Now there is still a tricky matter."
"Uncle, if you have any questions, please tell me directly. I will see if I can help you solve it."
Whether to help or not is one thing, but saying nice words doesn't require money. Li Miaomiao is never stingy in this regard, which makes Zhang Degen very happy and feels that Li Miaomiao is a reliable person.
"It's about selling soap. If we really build a soap workshop, where are we going to sell the soap? If this problem is not solved, I'm afraid there will be problems."
"Uncle Degen, I thought you were going to say something serious. We have such a good product. It's better looking and cheaper than what the supply and marketing cooperatives sell. Why should we worry about sales? I'm afraid we'll have to worry about how to make more soap when there are too many orders."
"Guoan's wife, you can't be so confident. Today at the county government, County Magistrate Liang asked me about the sale. I gave a vague answer, but this is indeed a big problem that can't be vaguely addressed. So I wanted to discuss it with you and ask for your advice."
"Uncle Degen, do you think I'm joking? I'm telling the truth. As long as the soap is good enough, we'll have no problem selling it. Since I proposed building a soap workshop in our village, I've done some research. Uncle Degen, do you know where the soap in the supply and marketing cooperative comes from?"
"Of course we buy it from the soap factory!" Zhang Degen answered without even thinking.
"But there's no soap factory in our city, and there's only one in the entire provincial capital. Uncle Degen, do you know this?"
Li Miaomiao’s previous visit to the supply and marketing cooperative was not in vain. She used some tricks and easily found out all these things.
This was not originally a secret, but people did not pay attention to it on a daily basis and had no channels to learn about it.
Zhang Degen was a little surprised when he heard this: "So, the soaps in our supply and marketing cooperative are all sent in from other places."
"Of course. Since there are no soap factories in our city, we have to rely on external suppliers. However, with external suppliers, there will inevitably be an extra layer of shipping costs, which increases the cost. The purchase price of the supply and marketing cooperative is probably not cheap."
Although Zhang Degen didn't know much about business, since Li Miaomiao had explained it to this extent, it was clear to him that he didn't understand.
"If our village wants to make soap, we can save a lot of shipping costs and offer a lower price to the supply and marketing cooperative, so the supply and marketing cooperative will buy from us."
"That's about it, but we still need to figure out how to do it specifically. It's not just because we're cheap that the supply and marketing cooperative will buy from us. I'm sure you, Uncle Degen, know the reasons for this."
Zhang Degen understood: "I understand, I understand. What others can give, we can also give."
"That being said, the person who does this job still needs to be sensible and know how to handle things, otherwise he won't get the job done and will offend people. But we can talk about this later. Let's build the soap workshop first. Making soap is the real thing. Without products, how can we sell them and how can we negotiate?"
"That's right. I was also confused. Now that we have the rules, I'm not afraid anymore."
Zhang Degen felt that it was right to ask Li Miaomiao to come and discuss the matter. After a conversation, the problems he was worried about were almost solved.
It seems that as long as the soap is made, there is no need to worry about not being able to sell it.
"Actually, it's not just the supply and marketing cooperatives. Since the county leaders have approved this, we have a lot of room for maneuver."
Individual transactions were not allowed at that time, but transactions in the form of village collectives were possible. Li Miaomiao felt that as long as the soap was produced, there would be no worries about selling it. After all, the soap workshop was so small and the output was actually limited. Not to mention supplying the city, even the supply to the county and several nearby counties was probably not enough, so there was no need to go outside to grab the market.
Regarding this point, Li Miaomiao even wondered how such a smart person like Zhang Degen could have such worries. He probably really didn't understand the market.
"Hearing you say that, I feel relieved. From now on, I will focus on arranging the construction of the soap workshop. If the leader asks about this topic again, I will have something to say. I won't be so stupid and have to make excuses to fool people."
Li Miaomiao nodded: "Prepare the materials first, I'll see if they are suitable, otherwise it will definitely be too late."
Li Miaomiao didn't have to go back. She borrowed a pen from the village chief and directly wrote down the raw materials needed. These were actually already in the recipe she had given to Zhang Degen before. She only added a few more to enhance and change the aroma.
"If there's enough time, we can ask the village carpenter to make a few molds. Before, we just wanted to test the effects of the soap, so we didn't care whether it looked good or not. But this time, since we're going to show it to the county leaders, we might as well make it look better. This way, it will be more convincing."
Li Miaomiao believed that as long as the county leaders did not make mistakes, this matter would not change. If the county could have such a soap workshop, it would be a good thing for the county. At least it could be self-sufficient instead of relying on indicators from above.
"I'll do whatever you say. I'll arrange it right away. If you have any other ideas, just tell me."
Zhang Degen couldn't sit still anymore. There was still time for dinner, so he simply said hello to Li Miaomiao and took advantage of this break to finalize the mold matter. He asked the village carpenter to make a few good-looking soap molds.
This really troubled the village carpenter.
They can do carpentry, but what makes a soap box good-looking?
The next day, Li Miaomiao received a request for help from the village carpenter.
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