Chapter 158
Xia Juhua nodded seriously: "Okay. But in that case, I think you don't need to compete with Roberts anymore, because his price will definitely be lower than yours. You don't have to think about those two years anymore."
Tel's mind was working rapidly. He was thinking of a possibility. That is, after Roberts lost the Chinese market within two years, his fund recovery might be a problem. In the third year, he would not be able to purchase rubber. In that case, Roberts took the initiative to not participate in the bidding, and it would have nothing to do with him.
Once the greedy idea takes shape, people are always willing to plan in the direction that is closest to their own wishes. Tel gritted his teeth and asked, "So will the 30,000 tons of rubber contract signed between L Province and Roberts be fulfilled?" If it is not fulfilled, it will definitely be a heavy blow to Roberts' capital chain. Tel believes that after returning to China, he can use this to hype it up and give Roberts' company a heavier blow.
Xia Juhua felt that Ter must have been greatly stimulated: "Of course we have to fulfill our promise. Haven't I always told you that China is a country that values integrity and that we will abide by any contract we sign with anyone? As for the possible price reduction of the 50,000 tons of rubber, it is because you have made new demands on China. In order to meet your demands, we took the initiative to reduce the price."
Ter could not refute Xia Juhua's words. He wanted to refuse the bid, but he was afraid that Roberts would use this opportunity to expand his company and put his company in a difficult situation. He was not sure whether Xia Juhua would tell Roberts her bid price because of their long cooperation.
So he simply expressed his concerns to the person, and the answer he got was that Xia Juhua had always been fair and would not leak the bid price to him in the future just because she had cooperated a lot with Roberts.
In order to reassure Terr, Xia Juhua even suggested that she could call Roberts in front of Terr and tell him that she would compete with Terr starting from the third year, that is, 1980.
Director Yang and Xia Juhua gathered together to discuss in a low voice. Tel listened carefully and heard that Director Yang thought that the call should not be made in front of Tel. If Roberts disagreed, then China would have no bargaining chips to restrain Tel, which would be obviously disadvantageous to China.
Tel thought that Director Yang reminded Xia Juhua in retaliation for his coldness over the past two days. He wanted to make amends but didn't know where to start, so he could only sit in his seat and worry.
Fortunately, Xia Juhua seemed to have more say than Director Yang. She ignored Director Yang's reminder and after finishing her conversation with Director Yang, she looked at Tel, and it was obvious that she wanted to ask for his opinion.
Tel was naturally willing to let Xia Juhua make the call in front of him, but Xia Juhua's requirement was that both parties should first draft an agreement to avoid the situation where she called Roberts and Roberts agreed with her opinion to participate in the bidding, but Tel went back on his word. In that case, her call would be in vain and she would also expose her weakness to Tel.
Tel was somewhat reluctant to accept Xia Juhua's caution, but Director Yang's expression made Tel sign the agreement. From Director Yang's reminder to Xia Juhua, it seemed that he really disliked Tel. So Tel had to hold on to the other person who had a say in China's rubber procurement, Xia Juhua. If he didn't sign the agreement, even Xia Juhua would dislike him, which was really a loss.
Before the call was connected, Terr still held out a glimmer of hope, that is, Roberts would not agree to bid because China would not purchase rubber from him within two years, so whether he signed the agreement or not would not affect future trade.
But Roberts' performance made Ter want to fly back to Africa immediately and ask him in person what was going on in his mind and why he agreed to Xia Juhua's bidding request so readily? Was it because Xia Juhua told him that the 30,000 tons of rubber trade would continue?
Now Tel had no choice but to accept the agreement he had signed with Xia Juhuacao. The two of them formally modified the contract. The price of the rubber that had all been shipped to China was reduced from 280 yuan per ton to 245 yuan, and they guaranteed that the price of rubber would not exceed 245 yuan per ton within two years.
China is not allowed to purchase rubber from Robles for two years. After two years, based on the country's rubber demand, Tel and Robles will determine the supplier through bidding. If there is a breach of contract, the breaching party will pay the other party 30% of the price of 50,000 tons of rubber as compensation.
After the two signed, Ter asked Xia Juhua unconvincedly: "Xia, how do you know that Roberts will agree to your request?"
Xia Juhua shook her head: "No, I'm not sure at all."
Tel didn't believe it: "Then you dare to call him directly?"
Xia Juhua smiled: "Although I am not sure at all, before Roberts left L Province, I reminded him that 90,000 tons of rubber is enough to support the production of China's rubber manufacturing industry for one and a half years or even longer, so he does not need to rush to purchase new rubber after returning home. I think Roberts agreed because he has not yet tied up the funds for the purchase of rubber, right?"
Another reason was that because Roberts' company transported rubber, he found that the profit of the transportation industry was no less than that of buying and selling rubber. He once mentioned to Xia Juhua that he was interested in investing in domestic shipping. His partner who was able to get low freight rates had shares in a shipping company, and if he wanted to invest, the man was very willing to accept it.
The cargo ship that Tel used to transport the rubber this time was the company that Roberts mentioned last time. Xia Juhua was kind enough not to mention it to Tel because she was afraid that he would have a heart attack.
Even so, Tel still wanted to smash the cup in his hand: he had only been supplying the Chinese market for two years, and half a year was gone in an instant. In the remaining year and a half, he would earn even less!
Although Tel's skin was too dark and Xia Juhua couldn't tell whether he was blushing with anger, Tel's neck was noticeably thicker and his hands kept clenching and unclenching the cup, and then clenching it again.
"Te'er, this is the meeting gift you gave me. I must return it to you in person." Xia Juhua handed the box that Director Yang quietly handed to her to Te'er. "There is a saying in China that you should not accept anything without merit. Your gift is too expensive. I cannot accept it. It was only before the contract was signed that I kept it for you for a few days because I was afraid that you would feel psychologically burdened."
Looking at the box in front of him, Tel did not open it in front of Xia Juhua: No one opened the box when they received the gift, and it would seem too petty for him to open it and check it now.
As a mature businessman, Ter quickly adjusted his mindset - even if the profit was reduced by 5%, being able to put it into his own pocket and in his safe was much better than having a high profit but not being able to get it - and he extended his hand to Director Yang: "Yang, we are going to have a long-term cooperation from now on."
He seemed to have forgotten his indifference towards Director Yang in the past two days.
Director Yang shook the hand that Terr extended to him, and a long-lost smile appeared on his gloomy face at the negotiation table: "Yes, we want to have long-term cooperation. After all, Comrade Xia Juhua's main business is still in Ping'anzhuang Brigade."
Although Director Yang had a smile on his face, poor Tel was still stunned for a moment, then shook hands with Director Yang vigorously, indicating that he understood what he didn't say.
Xia Juhua didn't care how those two people were stirring up trouble. Her main mission in Guangzhou had been completed, and she had to deal with her own affairs. However, she still had to attend the farewell banquet for Tel and his group. After negotiating with Tel for a while, she finally sent them on the plane.
"What are your plans next?" After seeing off Tel, Director Yang visibly relaxed and his smile became sincere.
It was impossible not to be sincere. It was the right decision to invite Xia Juhua to Guangzhou. When they were in the ministry, they expected that Tel would ask for long-term cooperation, and they were prepared to squeeze some benefits out of Tel. However, in their expectation, the benefits that could be squeezed out were all in future cooperation, not in reducing the price of the contract that had already been signed.
The price of 50,000 tons of rubber was reduced by 35 yuan per ton, which saved the country a lot of foreign exchange!
Moreover, the rubber price will be subject to bidding in the future, which is equivalent to letting suppliers compete with each other. The biggest benefit is that they don’t have to waste their breath on negotiations. Director Yang has even thought about whether other bulk materials needed by the country can be purchased in the same way as rubber.
However, that would be a matter for further study after reporting to the leaders in the ministry. Now Director Yang wished that Xia Juhua could make some requests herself, so that the reward he had painstakingly thought out would not be what Xia Juhua wanted.
Unexpectedly, Xia Juhua did not make any request, only saying that she did not see Yangcheng well last time, and wanted to stay for two more days this time. Director Yang said, "Well, I will give you the phone number of the leader of the Yangcheng Supply and Marketing Cooperative. Whenever you want to go back to Ping'an Village, just call him and he will buy you a sleeper ticket. You can stay as many days as you want, and you don't have to worry about the guesthouse expenses. The ministry will settle the expenses according to the number of business trip personnel."
He made such an arrangement for a reason, because he had heard from his secretary about the difficulties Xia Juhua encountered on the train when she came. Although the train conductor was no longer a train conductor after returning to the unit, and the railway department was undergoing rectification, Director Yang was still unwilling to let Xia Juhua be embarrassed by blind people on her way back after making such a great contribution.
Then we have to arrange someone to send Xia Juhua and others on the train, and we also have to communicate with the train conductor in advance to take good care of Xia Juhua and others along the way.
楊司長本來還想替夏菊花協調一輛車，方便她在羊城出行，卻被夏菊花拒絕了。知道了夏菊花的脾氣，楊司長也沒有堅持，只囑咐她有解決不了的事情，都可以找他留下電話的那位領導，自己便急忙踏上回京的火車——盡管電話裏已經彙報過了，他還要當面向老領導詳細彙報這一次的成果。
取得的成果太豐碩，不是向一位領導彙報就能結束的，楊司長一路上都要組織自己的報告如何措詞，還要想好如何對夏菊花進行獎勵，以備領導詢問的時候，給出恰當的意見。
并不知道楊司長一路都要辛苦的夏菊花，終于跟齊衛東兩人彙合。一見面，她就發現六喜的精神面貌變化很大，眼神不再和在平安莊時那樣随遇而安，而是時時觀察着周圍的情況，後背不知不覺的挺着，說話簡練了不少。
齊衛東看上去與在平德縣時變化不大，仔細觀察才能看出，他咧嘴笑的頻率大了，看人的目光隐含了些犀利，少了些滿不在乎。
對于他們的變化，夏菊花是滿意的，卻沒特意指出來，而是問：“說說，你們兩人這兩天過得咋樣？”
齊衛東就是一樂：“挺好。我覺得羊城人思想比平德縣務實，膽子也比平德縣人大得多。嬸子，等一會兒你跟我去就看着了，他們的攤子都敢擺在街面上了，好些東西說是從港城運過來的，有些我都沒見過。”
羊城人的膽子大是必然的，他們的地理優勢決定了這一切。夏菊花更關心的是：“那你找到貨源了嗎？”
六喜一直沒插上話，這次搶答了：“齊哥說不急，等你看過之後再确定。”
原來不是沒找到，而是能找到的太多，齊衛東自己難以決定，就等着夏菊花拍板呢。問過價格，夏菊花知道齊衛東為何難以取舍了：
他們來前商量好要運些幹海貨回去，可是來了羊城才發現，這裏不只海産品豐富，一些工業品更是種類繁多價格便宜。這要是運回平德縣去，加上一倍的價也有人搶。相對于可以翻倍賺的工業品來說，海産品的價格雖然也有賺頭，卻要小上許多。
聽他們這麽一說，夏菊花也在招待所坐不住了，随兩人來到他們早看好的地方。這是一處長街，跟齊衛東說的一樣，街兩邊都有人用布鋪在地上，上頭擺着自己要賣的東西。
街上的人不少，好些都操着外地口音，又讓夏菊花吃驚了一下：看來上輩子她的确孤陋寡聞了，原來七七年的羊城，就已經有外地人過來淘金。
上輩子的七七年，她在做什麽？還在下地掙工分，一步都沒離開平德縣！
顧不上感慨自己上輩子的閉塞，夏菊花放眼打量着各攤位上的東西：用上輩子後來的目光看，現在擺在羊城街頭的東西，還十分落後，有很多不出幾年就會被淘汰。可現在這些看上去那麽先進，好些東西在平德縣，拿着工業票都得排半年的隊才有可能買到。
夏菊花低聲問齊衛東：“他們就這麽擺着東西，沒人管嗎？”
齊衛東搖了搖頭，告訴夏菊花，兩天來他走了不少地方，并不是所有羊城的街道都能這麽擺攤，只有這一條街上，人們敢明目張膽的擺攤，所以這裏才如趕集一樣，人挨人、人擠人。
“嬸子，你把錢放好了。”齊衛東小聲提醒夏菊花。人一多就魚龍混雜，昨天他就見過一夥人把一個外地人的錢給扒走，那人蹲在地上嚎啕大哭。
夏菊花出門前已經想到這一點，加之時間充足，今天只想看一看，所以身上只帶了不到一百塊錢。聽了齊衛東的提醒，她只點了點頭，又看了跟在兩人身後的六喜一眼。
六喜也笑着向她點了點頭，意思是自己聽到了她與齊衛東的聖誕在，錢都放好了，讓夏菊花更滿意——六喜的這個表現，證明他雖然也對這些商品感興趣，卻知道自己注意的重點應該放在哪裏。
“嬸子，你有看好的東西嗎？”齊衛東有些躍躍欲試，覺得眼前的哪樣東西帶回平德縣，都能讓他大賺一筆。
夏菊花心裏還是屬意海貨，主要是從增加方便面口味上考慮：如果能找到可以信任的穩定貨源，方便面就可以增加一種甚至幾種海鮮口味。
他們邊看邊小聲說着話，都沒注意到有一個精瘦的人影，在他們走進街道之後不信，就一直跟着他們。直到夏菊花蹲到一處賣海米的攤子前，剛想拿起攤上的海米仔細看一下，那個精瘦的人突然上前攔住她。
在人影阻攔夏菊花動作之前，齊衛東和六喜才發現他的存在，卻沒來得及阻止他靠近夏菊花。夏菊花看着突然伸到自己面前的大手，也吃了一驚，擡頭一看，只覺得那人有些面熟。
見夏菊花看自己，那人沖着她笑了一下，指着自己說：“阿木。”
“阿木？”夏菊花随着他叫了一聲，一下子想起來阿木是誰。
博覽會時，夏菊花在供銷社買了一百五十斤海米，可不就是阿木幫她拉到招待所的？夏菊花記得當時羊城好象是規定三輪車只能收五毛錢一趟，她覺得自己東西太多，最後給了阿木一塊錢，人家還把麻袋給她扛到房間裏去了。
可惜兩個人口音相差得太多，沒法順暢的交流，她只聽懂了阿木的名字。
一聽夏菊花還叫得出自己的名字，阿木笑了，完全忘記是自己先叫出名字的。夏菊花見到認識的人自然高興，也不看攤子上的貨了，站起來笑着說：“阿木，是你呀，沒想到在這碰着你，你還在拉三輪車嗎？”
見夏菊花竟然和阿木聊起了天，擺攤人有些不樂意，用生硬的普通話說：“買不買啦，不買別擋別人啦。”
阿木竟然瞪了攤主一眼：“不買。”說完沖夏菊花直擺手：“我也有，去我那。”
他說的話夏菊花竟然都聽懂了，看來這半年多阿木普通話進步不小。聽說他自己有海米，夏菊花當然想去看一看：打過一次交道的阿木，當然比态度不大友好的攤主更讓夏菊花信任。
攤主的臉更陰沉了，沖着阿木用當地話吼了兩句，被阿木更大聲的吼了回去，最後指着夏菊花三人，惡狠狠的看着周圍的攤主們，大聲說：“我朋友。”讓人很難相信，他那精瘦的身體，咋發出這麽大的聲音。在發出如此大的聲音之後，竟沒有一個人上前跟他理論。
反而是周圍的攤主，看向夏菊花三人的目光變了，連剛才的攤主也憤憤坐到自己攤子邊沒說別的。
阿木沖夏菊花笑了一下，帶着他們三人往街尾走，快到盡頭的時候，阿木指着一個攤子，有些自豪的告訴夏菊花：“我的。”
說是攤子，也不過是一塊布鋪在地上，上頭擺着海米、紫菜、鹹魚幾樣幹貨。夏菊花有些奇怪的問：“你的攤子在這兒，咋發現我們的？”剛才他們可是從街頭進來的，阿木的攤子都已經到街尾了。
阿木就拍了拍自己胸脯：“我，頭一個在這兒擺攤的。”
阿木竟然是頭一個在這條街上擺攤的人，夏菊花有些不敢相信。想一想又想通了：博覽會的時候，別人還在地裏刨食吃，阿木就敢出來拉三輪車，還當着售貨員的面對自己多付出的勞動，争取過更大的權益，敢出來擺攤好象也挺正常。
夏菊花蹲下，想看看阿木攤子上東西的質量，阿木已經飛快的把攤子裏頭的小凳子搬了過來，非得讓夏菊花坐下，他自己一樣一樣把東西遞給夏菊花。
每遞一樣，他都告訴夏菊花是什麽，要賣多少錢。等他報完價，齊衛東悄悄拉了拉夏菊花，湊到耳邊告訴她，阿木說的價格，比他這兩天打聽的便宜不少。
夏菊花更好奇的是阿木擺攤的本錢是咋來的，咋就敢報這麽低的價格。阿木就告訴她，博覽會時他在供銷社門前騎了幾天三輪車，雖然沒有人再跟夏菊花一樣主動加錢，可是收入還是比種地強多了，讓他萌生了離開土地的念頭。
看到參展人員大多買一些海産品回家，阿木就在最後兩天的時候，悄悄問過他拉的人，想不想要比供銷社更便宜的海産品。
那幾個人沒讓阿木失望，把阿木家自己吃不了的幹貨給買了個精光，讓阿木掙到了第一桶金，更堅定了他離開土地，賣海産品能掙錢的決心。
海邊的地裏長不出啥莊稼，靠土地的出産根本吃不飽肚子，阿木村裏的人大多會在近海打點魚補貼一下生活。前些年管得嚴，大家出海都是偷偷摸摸的，從今年開始管的人明顯少了，阿木家才會的那麽多存貨。
After selling out the stock at home, Amu thought of buying all the dry goods from his neighbors with his first pot of gold. Unfortunately, after buying all the dry goods, he found that the expo had already ended.
In order to not let his first pot of gold turn into a pile of seafood that he could not finish eating, Amu had to squat at the door of the supply and marketing cooperative and sell his products to people entering and leaving the cooperative at a price lower than that of the supply and marketing cooperative. What he bought were the seafood that his neighbors could not finish eating, and because the price was cheaper than the supply and marketing cooperative's purchase price, he dared to sell at a lower price than that of the supply and marketing cooperative.
As a result, after the supply and marketing cooperative found out, they almost confiscated his goods. Thanks to his great strength and fast running speed, he managed to keep his goods. However, he could no longer sell goods at the supply and marketing cooperative, and saw that his first pot of gold was about to be lost.