Chapter 141
Hearing Roberts mention the price, Xia Juhua smiled and said, "Roberts, have you forgotten our conversation at the expo so quickly?"
Roberts certainly remembered what Xia Juhua said at the time, that it would be impossible to buy rubber at the price of 265 yuan in the future. But he was a businessman, and he was pursuing profits. Besides, it was only a few days before the end of the Expo, and he didn't think there was room for price reduction: "Xia, you know, it costs 10 yuan to transport each ton of rubber from Country G to China."
Xia Juhua really didn't know the price of the freight, so she looked at the accompanying personnel from the ministry. The man nodded to Xia Juhua, and Xia Juhua looked at Roberts calmly: "It turns out that it only costs ten yuan per ton. When I was at the Expo, I thought that Country G was so far away from China that it would cost twenty or thirty yuan."
Roberts then showed his hand to Xia Juhua with some pride: "My partner is very good at bargaining. Only he can get such a low transportation price. Because he promised to pay for your transportation, my business partner came forward to negotiate this price."
Xia Juhua agreed with Roberts's statement: "Your partner is really amazing." Roberts laughed proudly, and then he heard Xia Juhua soft askedly: "In other words, all your rubber has indeed been paid for and loaded on the ship, right?"
Silence. An unprecedented silence fell on the meeting scene.
After a long while, Roberts shook his head to Xia Juhua: "Xia, I thought we were friends."
"I also thought we were friends. When I heard that you were coming to L Province, I dropped all my work and ran to the provincial capital to meet you. But who knew that you had forgotten everything I said at the expo." Xia Juhua also shook her head at Roberts, looking very disappointed in him.
Roberts, who had dealt with Xia Juhua once and helped her cheat several people with the same skin color as him, understood what Xia Juhua wanted. This time he didn't want to speak for himself, but asked Xia Juhua: "So, how much are you willing to pay per ton for my rubber?"
It would have been great if this attitude had been in place earlier. We wouldn't have to waste so much time recalling what happened at the expo. Xia Juhua smiled again and said to Roberts, "Don't worry, since we are friends, I will definitely make you money. Although our country has really started planting rubber, we can start tapping soon."
Roberts did not answer, his eyes, which were the same color as his skin, were fixed on Xia Juhua's face, as if he wanted to read her true meaning from her face. However, the leaders who attended the meeting, including the accompanying personnel from the ministries, looked at Xia Juhua with changing eyes again and again.
In their eyes, this rural woman was just as Director Yang said when it came to pricing, it always surprised people.
In the end, they were not disappointed. The price agreed upon by Xia Juhua and Roberts was 245 yuan per ton.
As for the price being reduced by another 20 yuan compared to the expo, Xia Juhua gave the reason that the shipping cost from Country G to China had already saved Roberts and his team 10 yuan, so of course that 10 yuan should be deducted from the price.
This time, Roberts loaded the rubber onto the ship without even asking Xia Juhua whether she wanted it or not. If it weren't for their friendship, Xia Juhua would have thought that apart from unloading the 10,000 tons that were under the contract, Roberts would have to ship the remaining 30,000 tons back the same way and there was no other way.
So he should pay the price of another ten yuan per ton instead of letting Xia Juhua pay for his carelessness.
After signing the contract and paying the deposit, Roberts once again asked Xia Juhua to deliver the woven products in advance: "Xia, I don't make any money from rubber, so the woven products must be delivered in advance so that I can make some money."
Although she knew that Roberts could not fail to make money and pointed this out to him, Xia Juhua, who had already received a hint from Deputy Director Gu, agreed very readily this time: "Okay, I can deliver the goods to you in advance. But only this time, we still have to follow the contract next time. By the way, do we need to re-sign the contract?"
Roberts probably had a psychological trauma after hearing the word "contract", and he insisted that he believed in Xia Juhua and there was no need to sign a new contract.
Xia Juhua kept her promise and called the Ping'anzhuang Brigade in front of Roberts and the accompanying personnel, asking Zhao Xianzhi to come to the brigade headquarters to answer the phone. Zhao Xianzhi rode her bicycle to the brigade headquarters by herself. When she answered the phone, her hands were shaking, but her voice was loud: "Captain, it's really you, Captain, how come you can hear it so clearly."
Xia Juhua turned her body to the side, keeping the receiver as far away from the person who was staring at her while she was on the phone, and said to the person on the other end of the phone, "Xianzhi, please put the orders from Country G in the front row. Roberts really needs this batch of goods."
"That won't do, Captain," Zhao Xianzhi's voice rose twice on the other end of the phone. "There are two other countries ahead of him in the order. I've seen the contract. They offered a higher price than Country G. When you signed it, you put the date ahead of Country G. If we can't deliver the goods to those two countries on time, we'll have to pay them money."
Xia Juhua was the one who was embarrassed. She turned around and smiled at the stunned Roberts, but her words into the microphone were very stern: "No matter how high the prices offered by those two countries are, put Roberts' orders first for me. This is for the friendship between me and Roberts. It is also for better cooperation with Roberts in the future. You must do everything you can to ship to Roberts first."
Zhao Xianzhi, who had never heard Xia Juhua speak to her so seriously, was silent for only a second and then responded readily: "Yes, captain, don't worry, I will adjust it when I get back." Zhao Xianzhi also learned the word "adjust" from Xia Juhua, and she felt that saying it into the microphone now sounded particularly formal.
Everyone who heard the conversation between the two breathed a sigh of relief. After Xia Juhua put down the phone, Roberts even went forward to hug her. After being fixed by Xia Juhua's cold eyes, he smiled awkwardly: "Xia, I'm so happy."
Even if you are happy, you can't act like a hooligan, understand? Xia Juhua made an awkward expression to Deputy Director Gu: "Deputy Director Gu, we may have to ask the provincial supply and marketing system for help to coordinate some more reeds for Ping An Village." If you don't take advantage of it now, what will happen when Roberts leaves?
"No problem. We have as many Weigan Ping'an Village as you want." Deputy Director Gu agreed readily.
After Deputy Director Gu agreed, the accompanying comrade from the ministry also spoke up: "If there are difficulties in coordination within L Province, the ministry can also help." Thirty thousand tons of rubber, the price per ton is only 240 yuan. As long as this news is reported to the ministry, he believes that the ministry will be willing to give it to Ping'anzhuang for coordination even if it is given for free.
The comrades in L Province were not stupid. They immediately asked the department not to worry about a small production team in Ping'an Village. L Province only supplied reed poles to a weaving group in Ping'an Village, but they could still coordinate.
Naturally, L Province hosted a banquet that night to entertain Roberts and his party. Xia Juhua didn't want to attend, but Director Cheng of the Supply and Marketing System, accompanied by the Vice Governor in charge of industry, personally went to Xia Juhua's room to invite her.
Since the banquet was still early, the two started talking to Xia Juhua. In addition to verbally praising Xia Juhua for her contributions to the industrial construction of L Province, Director Cheng asked her directly if there were any problems that needed to be solved.
Xia Juhua remembered that Uncle Qi would get the news soon, so she tried to ask the two leaders if they could guarantee the tires for all the vehicles in Pingde County—not just for one year, but for all the tires in Pingde County from now on.
The vice governor laughed and said to Director Cheng, "It seems that what you said is right. Comrade Xia Juhua is really a good comrade who is dedicated to the public. As for Pingde County, I guarantee that there will be no problem with the tires. As for other industrial and agricultural production data, I think your supply and marketing system can also consider leaning towards Pingde County."
Director Cheng also laughed: "Yes, Comrade Xia Juhua's selfless spirit is indeed worthy of our learning. As for industrial and agricultural production data, as long as Pingde County has requirements, our supply and marketing cooperative can coordinate, but the vice governor..."
"What? You, the supply and marketing cooperative, want to back out?" The vice governor looked at Director Cheng with dissatisfaction and said, "If you have difficulties, then the province can consider transferring Comrade Xia Juhua to another job." The supply and marketing cooperative had such considerations when transferring a team leader, but the provincial government did not.
Xia Juhua didn't even have a chance to refuse, and she heard Director Cheng explaining the misunderstanding to the vice governor: "That's not what I meant, vice governor. I heard that Pingde County seems to have some opinions about Ping'an Village Brigade getting two combined harvesters. I think the province could consider allocating two more harvesters to Pingde County when distributing the 18 harvesters."
Although the vice governor felt that Pingde County, a county-level unit, had already taken the lead by getting two of the 20 combined harvesters (even though the two harvesters had been designated for Pingan Village, they still belong to Pingde County), he still nodded and said, "Okay, I'll tell the Industry Bureau. As for the oil, there's no need to let Pingde County apply for it. Let's be generous so that Comrade Xia Juhua can focus more on completing Roberts' order as soon as possible."
Xia Juhua no longer had any interest in distinguishing. Was she now telling the vice governor that the number of combine harvesters obtained by Pingde County was not four as he thought but six?
Xia Juhua believed that if she dared to tell the vice governor the truth now, Uncle Qi would dare to ask her to find a way to get four more machines back after returning to Pingde. She didn't think that she and Director Yang were so familiar with each other that she could call him at any time to ask for a harvester.
Xia Juhua, who felt that she did not have the ability, silently calculated the benefits of buying rubber this time and said nothing. However, the vice governor and Director Cheng both felt that Xia Juhua was good at serving the public, but she suffered too much personally.
However, Liu Zhiquan and his brothers had already been recruited into the supply and marketing system and had been allocated houses in the provincial capital. Any additional care would be too conspicuous and would be detrimental to Liu Zhiquan's work in the unit. Therefore, the leaders decided to hold a meeting to study the issue and at least give Xia Juhua some personal reward.
It was not until after the banquet that Deputy Director Gu appeared in Xia Juhua's room again and revealed to her that the Deputy Governor and Director Cheng still wanted to give Xia Juhua a cash reward, but Xia Juhua must not mention this reward to anyone.
Xia Juhua was naturally happy about this and did not pretend to refuse. She just asked Deputy Director Gu tactfully that the comrades from the ministry who had been participating in the negotiations (although he did not say a word, Xia Juhua still glared at him, which did not prevent him from knowing the final result of the negotiations) might report the news of the successful purchase of 30,000 tons of rubber to the ministry.
If the ministry gets the news that the province may not be able to keep the rubber, will that affect her reward?
Deputy Director Gu smiled at Xia Juhua and said, "When we signed the contract, we knew that we couldn't keep the 30,000 tons of rubber. Think about it, the annual output value of L Province is only a few dollars, and the funds that can be controlled by ourselves are even less. The first 10,000 tons of rubber were not planned. In addition to the deposit, the remaining money for the 30,000 tons will have to be figured out by the ministry."
How dare they let me sign a contract with Roberts when I have no money? It seems that the benefits I asked the vice governor and Director Cheng for Pingde County will not be fulfilled. Xia Juhua was a little anxious, waiting for Deputy Director Gu to give her an answer.
Deputy Director Gu felt that Xia Juhua, as the main negotiator, had the right to know the final ownership of the rubber, so he told her that Province L could only keep 5,000 tons of the 30,000 tons of rubber to make up for the lack of production capacity. The remaining 25,000 tons would be directly redistributed by the ministry.
Roberts has also promised that he will continue to organize the supply of goods after returning to China and supply them to China at this price. What made China most satisfied was Roberts's promise, and Roberts himself was also satisfied:
Although the price this time seems to be lower than he expected, it is based on the same principle as the sales of Ping An Zhuang hot and sour noodles. As long as he can continue to supply China, Roberts will only make less money without worrying about losing money or losing all his money.
"You and Roberts said that all Chinese people are one entity and there is no malicious competition. This shocked us all. We reflected a lot after listening to it. You are right. If all the rubber is kept in L Province, it can indeed make up for the production gap in L Province and take L Province's rubber manufacturing industry to a higher level."
Deputy Director Gu's words became serious: "But compared with the needs of the whole country, the needs of L Province must be more subject to the overall situation. Comrade Xia Juhua, thank you for reminding us in time and preventing us from making the mistake of localism."
Such a high evaluation made Xia Juhua, who had been relatively calm, feel a little panicked: "Deputy Director Gu, I just didn't want Roberts to think that the Chinese would mess up their feet for his little rubber. It's really not as good as you said."
"No, Comrade Xia Juhua," Deputy Director Gu interrupted Xia Juhua, "You may not have thought so far, but what you actually did was more shocking than you thought. The leader already knows every word you said during the negotiation with Roberts, and he also praised you."
Xia Juhua knew that the leader mentioned by Deputy Director Gu was the leader whom the two had visited during the Expo: "The leader also knows about this?"
"Yes, if the leaders had not personally praised you, do you think the vice governor would have given Pingde County such a big green light?" Deputy Director Gu made a small joke to Xia Juhua.
Xia Juhua felt that this alone was enough as capital for her to return to Pingde County and ask for credit from Uncle Qi, so she accepted it with a smile.
Next, Xia Juhua received a bonus of 3,000 yuan secretly given to her by her accompanying comrades from the ministries and commissions, as well as a bonus of 2,000 yuan given to her by Director Cheng on behalf of the provincial supply and marketing system.
Although Xia Juhua showed no emotion when she received the two bonuses, after the people who gave her the bonuses left, she immediately counted each stack of money, making sure that there were 100 bills in each stack and not a single bill was missing, before she carefully put them into her bag.
With such a big harvest in just one trip to the provincial capital, Xia Juhua really hopes to come more often. Unfortunately, Roberts has learned a bad lesson and has reached an agreement directly with the ministry, and will not negotiate with Xia Juhua anymore in the future. Xia Juhua regrets that she has bargained too low this time.
Fortunately, these were only Xia Juhua's inner thoughts. To outsiders, Xia Juhua was still a good comrade who was dedicated to the collective interests. So when Xia Juhua returned to Ping'an Village, the provincial supply and marketing system specially sent a small car to take her back. Along the way, Liu Zhiquan was even sent to take care of his mother. After Xia Juhua was safely sent back to Ping'an Village, she would follow the car back to the provincial capital.
Of course, the two of them left quietly before dawn, otherwise the two children would have to make a fuss to go back to Pingan Village together. However, Xia Juhua had been giving the two children vaccinations for the past few days, and told them that they could call her if they missed her in the future. Although she couldn't take care of Liu Zhiquan too obviously, as a purchasing person, it was still acceptable for her to install a phone in the tube-shaped building where Liu Zhiquan lived.
With this phone, when Xia Juhua misses her children or when the children miss their grandmother, they can call Ping'anzhuang Brigade or the vermicelli factory directly.
"Captain, you're finally back." The first person to come forward and hold on to him was, as expected, Zhao Xianzhi: "How are you, you're not carsick this time, are you?"
Xia Juhua herself found it strange. She had fainted so badly the first time that she was hospitalized, but this time when she went to the provincial capital, she did not faint, whether she took a truck going there or a car coming back.
"No, maybe it's because I sit too much, so I don't feel dizzy anymore." Xia Juhua felt that this was the only explanation that made sense.
Zhao Xianzhi was satisfied as long as she could listen to her without feeling dizzy. She let Liu Zhiquan help Xia Juhua carry her bag while she took Xia Juhua by the hand and talked. She did not directly adjust the orders from the two countries as Xia Juhua requested, but discussed with Chen Qiu Sheng and several key members of the editing team, and recruited workers from the entire brigade again.
The number of people recruited this time was more than the 30 people Xia Juhua had recruited when she first received the order. She recruited 50 people at once. In other words, the Ping An Village editorial team now has more than 190 people.
Xia Juhua was a little shocked by such a large amount of money: "It turns out that the experienced weavers have to complete their own workload, so how can they have time to train the newcomers?" The daily workload of the weaving team is not low now.
Zhao Xianzhi was a little proud: "Since we first recruited workers from the production teams, the women from the four production teams have been looking for people with good connections to learn weaving at home, waiting for us to recruit again. So after the second recruitment, they learned much faster than the first time. The people we recruited this time also have some basic skills at home, at least now they have no problem breaking reed skins or wheat stalks."
It takes a lot of time to break the skin when weaving things. If there are people to deal with the reed skin or wheat straw, the efficiency will be much higher. However, Xia Juhua is still a little worried: "If they are only asked to break the reed skin and wheat straw, how will their wages be determined? I hope that in the end, the money they receive in a month will be less than when the orders have not increased."
Zhao Xianzhi smiled like a fox that stole a chicken, and whispered to Xia Juhua, "Of course, the people from the production team outside can't compare with the people in Ping'an Village, and the people recruited later can't compare with the first batch of people. Who in Ping'an Village doesn't have two apprentices now? They have to weave things themselves and teach others at the same time, so the money for taking apprentices is increased every month."
"Aren't the first batch of recruits assigned the same quota as ours? They can also train the later recruits, but they have fewer people to train, and the money they get for training apprentices is not as much as ours. We have stipulated that the apprentices' completion of quotas is also linked to the master's salary."
The regulations sounded very detailed, but Xia Juhua didn't have time to listen to Zhao Xianzhi's words in detail. She also had to go to the vermicelli factory to take a look. It would be best if she could find out what the factory was short of so that Liu Zhiquan could report this to the leaders of the supply and marketing cooperative after he returned.
Before arriving at the vermicelli factory, we had to arrange accommodation and meals for Liu Zhiquan and the driver. Accommodation was easy, as we could just light a fire on the kang in the east room to cool down the humidity, but we had to ask Sun Zhaodi to arrange meals.
Sun Zhaodi had no opinion on this: two days ago, she heard that the Ping'an Village Brigade had a call, and Deputy Director Xue of the Regional Supply and Marketing Cooperative called Liu Zhishuang in person and told him that he could report to the Regional Supply and Marketing Cooperative at any time and bring his wife and children's household registration with him. Moreover, the Regional Supply and Marketing Cooperative had already allocated a two-bedroom apartment to Liu Zhishuang.
If it weren't for Xia Juhua, Sun Zhaodi didn't think that her daughter could become a city dweller and live in the apartment that everyone in the city envied - Liu Zhiquan's family of four only had a tube-shaped building in the provincial capital.
So now, apart from helping Xia Juhua take good care of Xiaoman during her confinement, what else can she give back? She can just cook one meal for Liu Zhiquan and the driver, and Sun Zhaodi will be happy to cook ten more meals for him.
Xia Juhua left home under Sun Zhaodi's earnest assurance. The driver asked if he wanted to give her a ride, but she refused: the road conditions were bad, even the provincial roads were not easy to drive. It took a short day for the special car to get from the provincial capital to Ping'an Village. The driver was the most tired, so he should take a good rest - the driver had to go back to the provincial capital with Liu Zhiquan tomorrow.
However, the first place Xia Juhua went to was not the vermicelli factory at the brigade headquarters, but the vermicelli leakage room of the Ping'anzhuang production team. The vermicelli factory had not been built yet, and hot and sour vermicelli could only be produced in the vermicelli leakage room. What she was most worried about was the production here.
Also, because the powder leakage room is always in use, the weaving group is still in the yard. Taking advantage of the warm weather, some people can be diverted outside the wall. Otherwise, people will be crowded together in the room, and it will be difficult to weave things properly, and there may even be friction.
So when Xia Juhua went to the vermicelli room, in addition to checking out their production situation, she also wanted to see if some of it could be moved to the vermicelli factory to make some space for the weaving group.
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