Lend me some money to spend a day with me (Revised)
Shi Mingzhu asked Luo Chaoyang and Deng Jinhao to talk about the situation of their factory.
Luo Chaoyang's factory makes umbrellas, but the orders are saturated and the business is going from bad to worse, so many workers have to go home and wait for their jobs. Now there are about 80 workers left. Deng Jinhao's factory makes buttons, with more than 60 workers. He can still receive orders, but the production volume is not as good as before. He can't even pay the workers' wages, and they have more demands, so he is determined to change.
"Originally, there were 125 workers in my factory, but half of them were laid off, leaving only 63 people." Deng Jinhao said, "In fact, my button factory is quite suitable for making bags and clothes." As he spoke, he looked at Shi Mingzhu's stall. If the existing buttons in his factory could be reused, it would save a lot of money.
Before meeting Shi Mingzhu, he had no hope. Now he felt that they could succeed. In his opinion, Shi Mingzhu was very bold and smart. She would be the first to try something new, so she would definitely make the right decision.
"I can guarantee that after the bags are produced, there will be three shopping mall counters in Pengcheng displaying our bags," said Deng Jinhao.
"I can also guarantee three, at least three. There is a counter in the capital, this one will definitely be there." Luo Chaoyang said, "I have an old friend in the capital, he is the manager of a department store."
Shi Mingzhu was stunned and couldn't help but look at Shao Ruiqiong.
Shao Ruiqiong was not afraid: "I used to maintain the customers of my old customers. If the products can be guaranteed to be new and stylish, I should be able to negotiate with most of them."
Shi Mingzhu understood that the three people in front of her were not ordinary people, and she would gain by cooperating with them. The four of them have different divisions of labor.
Luo and Deng provided money and resources, Shao was in charge of sales, and she was responsible for using her brain and coming up with ideas.
The reason they came to her was because they were impressed by her creativity.
People interact for profit, they have a purpose. Shi Mingzhu thought about it and felt that this was her chance, so she could take a gamble. "Then how much should each of us contribute?"
"We need to raise at least 40,000 yuan. In the first month, we have to pay for it ourselves, including material costs, labor costs, etc. We should be able to make a profit later, relying on profits without having to pay for it. I will pay 30%, 12,000 yuan." Deng Jinhao said.
"Then I will also contribute 30%." Luo Chaoyang said.
Shi Mingzhu and Shao Ruiqiong looked at each other, and there was 40% left. "Then I'll pay 20%." 20% is 8,000 yuan. She can still borrow some. She would probably need to borrow more than 2,000 yuan. Shi Mingzhu was not afraid to borrow. She had also decided who to borrow from. With her stall, she could pay the money back in two months.
"Then let's go and take a look at your factory." Shi Mingzhu said again.
Luo Chaoyang and Deng Jinhao had no objection.
The umbrella factory and the button factory both have ready-made machines, and the processes are similar, so the machines can be used.
The few of them first went to Deng Jinhao's button factory. The button styles were relatively old, mostly in black, gray, and silver, but there were many types of buttons, including horn buttons, four-hole buttons, mushroom buttons, and snap buttons. In the past, people didn’t pursue any aesthetics, so four-hole buttons were the most common.
Shi Mingzhu looked at these buttons and had already thought about how to use these old buttons.
While she was looking at the buttons and thinking, Deng Jinhao kept looking at her, anxiously, "How about these buttons, can they be used on bags?"
"It's not that they can't be used. Snap buttons and magnetic buttons are more suitable for use on bags. The rest depends on the situation. These button styles are too old and they need to be packaged. Then it depends on the target audience." Shi Mingzhu said. These buttons would look old-fashioned if used on clothes.
"As long as they can be used, it's just recycling waste." Deng Jinhao breathed a sigh of relief. "There are more than a thousand kilograms of buttons left in the factory."
Shi Mingzhu borrowed a piece of paper from him, drew a bag, and handed it to Deng Jinhao, "What do you think of this crossbody bag?"
Deng Jinhao took it, and Shao Ruiqiong and Luo Chaoyang also looked at it. It was a cross-body bucket bag, about 30 cm long and wide, with a strap designed between the two sides of the bag, 5 cm wide, and a magnetic buckle designed between the strap and the bag body.
"It looks good!" Deng Jinhao didn't even raise his head, his eyes were fixed on the paper, unable to move away.
"The bag should be made of cowhide, or other materials with moderate hardness and softness, and of moderate thickness. This way it won't be too loose, nor too hard." As for what materials the bag should be made of, Shi Mingzhu only knew that cowhide would be fine, and she didn't know anything else.
"Why don't we make a few sample bags now and send them to the capital to show my old classmates, and then ask them to place orders. This way, we won't have to worry about inventory backlogs after we produce them," said Deng Jinhao.
Shi Mingzhu drew another small bag of the same style, about the size of a wallet, and gave it to them. "This is a matching lipstick bag, for girls to carry small items, such as lipstick and tissues."
The other three agreed that it was feasible. After the discussion, the four people signed the contract and the cooperative relationship between them was established.
That afternoon, Shao Ruiqiong brought a bag to Shi Mingzhu's stall, looking very excited.
"It's made of cowhide. I think it will definitely sell well and will definitely be on par with Yayun. I just asked a few people on the street holding the bag and they all said they liked it and wanted to buy it."
Shi Mingzhu looked at the finished product and thought it was good. "How much does this bag cost?"
"It's mainly because cowhide is expensive, but ordering in bulk is cheaper than ordering individually. Deng Jinhao said the cost is about 4 yuan. What do you think is a suitable wholesale price?"
"A pair of cowhide shoes on the market costs 22 yuan. I think the wholesale price of leather shoes and cowhide bags can be 10 yuan or 15 yuan each. I think I can quote 15 yuan first and then give the other party a chance to bargain."
"That's right!" Shao Ruiqiong laughed and said goodbye in a hurry, "I'll go back and tell them."
"You will know the result in 5 days. As soon as the bag is finished, it will be sent out."
Five days later, Shao Ruiqiong, Luo Chaoyang and Deng Jinhao came to Shi Mingzhu's stall again to tell her the good news.
Luo Chaoyang's old friends are willing to put their bags on the shelves in the mall. The other party asked them to deliver 100 bags in 10 days.
Although the goods required are not much, it is a good start.
"Wholesale price is 13.5." Shao Ruiqiong smiled so much that her eyes narrowed.
"What about other shopping malls?" Shi Mingzhu asked again.
The three of them smiled and nodded, "We all agree! Although we don't want much, there are more than 400 bag orders in total."
Deng Jinhao took out a stack of big unity banknotes and asked Shi Mingzhu, "Guess what this money is?"
Shi Mingzhu couldn't guess, so she asked him to speak.
"Deposit! The deposit I got back is 540 yuan!"
“So soon?”
Deng Jinhao nodded and said, "Let's divide the deposit among us according to our shareholdings first. After things get on track next month, we'll distribute dividends monthly." He counted out 108 yuan and gave it to Shi Mingzhu.
"With more than 100 workers, we can make 400 bags in 7 or 8 days and try to get the remaining balance back," said Shao Ruiqiong. "I also have to work harder to expand the sales line in Pengcheng as soon as possible."
Shi Mingzhu thought about it and said, "Actually, I think we can also use denim to make bags. The cost will be cheaper than cowhide."
"I'll let the factory try it out," Deng Jinhao said. "Now we need to come up with a name. How about Baiying? We made over 100 orders with the first order. I hope we can do this every day."
"Okay, let's call it this." Luo Chaoyang was the first to agree.
Shi Mingzhu and Shao Ruiqiong had no objection either.
After the three people left, Shi Mingzhu closed her stall and took her son home.
As a partner of Baiying, she can't just refuse to pay the money. She still had 2,800 yuan left out of her 8,000 yuan investment.
She went home and counted the remaining money in the house. Adding the 108 yuan given by Deng Jinhao, there was less than 500 yuan left.
Shi Mingzhu decided to ask Ji Shaoyuan for a loan. When she first started the partnership, she thought that if she really needed to borrow money, she would ask Ji Shaoyuan for it.
However, Shi Mingzhu hasn't seen Ji Shaoyuan for several months. At the beginning, Ji Shaoyuan said that he wanted to go back to Xitai Town, but he never came back to Pengcheng. Shi Mingzhu went to Ji Shaoyuan's rental house to try her luck.
Ji Shaoyuan also rents a house in Fenghuang Street. Shi Mingzhu held Yangyang and went to take the bus.
"Mom?" As soon as he got on the bus, Yangyang tilted his head in confusion.
"Be good, Yangyang. Mommy will take you out to play."
"Yeah!" Yangyang hugged his mother's neck tightly.
However, when they got there, Ji Shaoyuan was not there. This was also within Shi Mingzhu's expectations.
"Come in!" Shi Mingzhu stood there for a long time. Yangyang pointed at the door and motioned his mother to go in.
"No one is home. Mom will take you to find your dad, okay?" Shi Mingzhu lowered her head and looked at her son.
"Okay!" Yangyang jumped happily.
Shi Mingzhu smiled and held him in her arms. In fact, she decided to borrow from Ji Shaoyuan at first because she didn't want to trouble Huo Chengfeng.
Now it seems that I still have to trouble him.
Shi Mingzhu sighed.
She sighed, and Yangyang sighed as well.
"Why is Yangyang sighing?" Shi Mingzhu turned her head.
"Mom? Sigh!" the child asked in confusion.
Shi Mingzhu changed her arms and held him. She couldn't hold the almost one-year-old baby anymore. "Mom sighed, but Yangyang can't follow her, understand?"
Yangyang hugged his mother and hit her neck without saying anything. Shi Mingzhu didn't expect him to understand, so she silently carried him to the Fenghuang Police Station.
When I arrived at the police station, I didn't see anyone else except Fu Xu.
Fu Xu was shocked to see her, "Mingzhu? Why are you here?"
"Looking for Huo Chengfeng."
"He's out on a police call. You sit here and wait for a while." Fu Xu explained and poured a cup of tea for the mother and son.
"Is the police station busy?" Shi Mingzhu asked casually.
"It's not too busy if we have enough manpower, but Chengfeng is always hardworking and is the first to rush forward when something happens." Fu Xu said with a smile, "Your brother's cooking skills are quite good. I have gained weight."
Shi Mingzhu looked at him for a few times and found that his face was indeed rounder. She knew that Fu Xu was talking about her eldest cousin, "It's normal for rural children to cook."
Last time she asked Shi Xiangdong and three others to sign up, and in the end all four of them passed the physical fitness test. Currently, all four are in Fenghuang Police Station.
The two chatted for more than ten minutes before Huo Chengfeng came back.
The moment he saw Huo Chengfeng, Shi Mingzhu was stunned and blurted out.
"Why have you lost so much weight again?!" He had lost a lot more weight since the last time I saw him.
Now he looks dark and thin, with dark circles under his eyes. He didn't look so emaciated the last time I saw him. If I didn’t know he was a policeman, I would have thought he had been tortured and had not eaten or drunk anything for a month!
"It's okay," Huo Chengfeng shook his head to indicate that it was okay. She hadn't taken the initiative to look for him since she got the divorce certificate. He was sincerely happy to see her coming. He put a smile on his face, walked towards her, and glanced at his son again, "Do you have something to ask me? Is it Yangyang who wants to see me?"
"A little bit." Shi Mingzhu nodded, "I have something to talk to you about."
"Want a place to talk?"
Huo Chengfeng nodded, and left Yangyang to other people to help take care of her. He took her to an empty office.
"I'm here to borrow some money from you." Shi Mingzhu went straight to the point. She felt that Huo Chengfeng should have some savings, mainly because he could earn a lot of money as a translator, so 2,800 should be enough.
"How many?"
"2800."
"Are you out of money?" Huo Chengfeng couldn't help but ask a few more questions. He remembered that there should be several thousand dollars.
Shi Mingzhu shook her head, "Yes, but I recently started a business with someone and invested 8,000, so I'm short of 2,800."
Huo Chengfeng frowned, "What kind of business is this? How dare you be so bold? Have you investigated? Aren't you afraid of being cheated?"
"You won't be fooled, it's true. I also know one of the partners and I've met him once or twice." Although Shi Mingzhu felt that she was a little bold at this moment, she still believed in her own judgment.
"Just tell me whether you will lend it to me or not?!" She asked Huo Chengfeng for a definite answer.
Huo Chengfeng looked at her in silence, his eyes deep, "I can lend it to you, but you have to accompany me for a day. Yangyang will be one year old on the 4th of next month. Then our family of three will have a meal together. If you agree, I will give you the money. I will give you 10,000."
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