Chapter 73 A group of foreign businessmen came to the rescue team,...
A group of foreign businessmen came to the brigade, and the county leaders and the commune secretary personally led them. As luck would have it, Geng Yunye took the young people of the brigade to transport cloth today.
The brigade cadres were at a loss as to what to do and sat in the office with their hands folded, worrying.
I couldn't understand what the foreigners were saying, and I couldn't understand the contract the translator read out. The contract lay on the table like a hot potato, and no one dared to reach out to take it.
The comrades in the commune urged earnestly: "Foreign businessmen want to cooperate with our underwear factory. This is a pie in the sky!"
But Geng Mancang shook his head stubbornly: "We have to wait for Yunye to come back. We are just rough guys who don't know anything. Who will be responsible if we get cheated?"
The county leader looked at his watch and said, "It must be signed before 3pm. The foreign businessman's car is waiting at the gate."
Geng Mancang called the cadres to the inner room for a meeting. The foreign words on the contract were like ants crawling around, but he insisted that even if the mayor came, they had to wait for Geng Yunye to come back before signing.
Just when everyone was at a loss, the director of women's affairs suddenly slammed the table and stood up: "Don't we have Teacher Huang and Teacher Cheng in the brigade school? Hurry up and call the two teachers to come and take a look!"
Someone scratched his head and muttered: "Teacher Huang is okay, but I heard that Teacher Cheng couldn't even write in the literacy class."
Geng Suqin frowned and said in a deeper voice: "Geng Fang told me that there was no problem with the class. Where did you hear this news?"
The person who was speaking rubbed his nose and said, "Luo Xiaomei told me that Teacher Cheng didn't know any words on the first day of class. He wrote silkworm as cocoon to fool everyone. He doesn't look like a teacher."
Geng Suqin looked at him seriously: "If there is a problem in the teacher's class, either point it out on the spot or talk to the teacher after class. How come Luo Xiaomei didn't get into junior high school when she is better than the teacher? If I hear someone talking behind the teacher's back again, don't go to the literacy class. It only raises ungrateful people!"
Cheng Xin and Huang Cai, who were attending class at a primary school, were hurriedly called away. The classroom suddenly became like a hornet's nest, with noise rising and falling one after another.
Geng Mancang pushed the contract over and said, "I called you two here to ask for your help. A foreign businessman came to the team and said he wanted to cooperate with the factory. If it goes through, it will be a big order. But we are so unsophisticated that we can't understand the contract and we are afraid of being cheated."
Huang Cai quickly read through it and said, "There's nothing wrong with the contract."
Cheng Xin looked serious after reading the contract: "I have some questions," she pointed to the last paragraph: "It says here that if production is delayed due to raw material supply problems, Party B must bear all equipment loss costs, but Party A is clearly responsible for raw material procurement."
She put the contract on the table and spread it out: "It only says to cooperate with the dispatch, but does not mention compensation."
Huang Cai picked up the contract and read it twice, then took a deep breath. "Oh my God! The equipment depreciation fee must be compensated at 30% of the total price of the production line. If the raw material production is reduced, I'm afraid the whole team will go bankrupt!"
"Why do foreigners hide such clauses? I knew that foreigners are still determined to destroy us." Geng Guohua's face turned pale.
Cheng Xin flipped the contract forward two pages and pressed her finger on the price clause: "Also here, the US dollar cannot be calculated based on the exchange rate at the time of signing the contract."
She looked up at Geng Mancang and said, "We'll use the exchange rate when we deliver the goods three months from now. If the dollar appreciates by then, we'll make more money. If it depreciates, the foreign investors will bear the consequences themselves."
She concluded: "The contract has loopholes, forcing foreign companies to change the settlement exchange rate to the middle price announced by the bank on the day of delivery, and also adding compensation clauses for delayed raw materials."
Geng Guohua probably understood: "After the change, even if the US dollar falls, we won't suffer any loss?"
Cheng Xin praised: "Yes! For example, if the purchase price is 1.2 yuan today and it rises to 1.5 yuan in three days, we can't just sell it at the old price, right?"
Geng Suqin paced back and forth anxiously: "What should we do? The county wants the contract to be signed before three o'clock! Without Yunye, none of us can speak foreign languages." Knowing that it was a fire pit, she couldn't jump into it.
Cheng Xin stood up: "I'll go tell them."
Everyone looked at each other in confusion. Could it be that Teacher Cheng could speak foreign languages?
Geng Mancang stared at Cheng Xin for a few seconds, then looked at the wall clock and saw it was already past two o'clock. He sighed heavily, "There is no other way right now. Teacher Cheng, if you know foreign languages, please help us negotiate with them to see if the contract can be changed. If we can't reach an agreement, don't force it."
Geng Suqin added, "Yes, Teacher Cheng, if you are sure, then give it a try. If you think it won't work, we can think of other ways. Time is running out now, and we really can't wait for Yunye to come back."
Cheng Xin glanced at everyone and said firmly, "I know the problems in the contract, and I can handle foreign language negotiations."
Geng Mancang looked at her clear eyes and felt relieved: "Then I'll trouble you, Teacher Cheng."
Cheng Xin nodded: "I will discuss the terms that need to be changed clearly and will not let the team suffer any loss." Her calm tone was full of strength, which eased the originally tense atmosphere a lot.
Everyone looked at Cheng Xin's calm appearance. Although they were still a little worried, they also gained a little more confidence and followed her out.
Huang Cai held Cheng Xin's arm tightly, her palms full of sweat. She said with lingering fear: "I read the contract several times, and I know every word, but I didn't see the problem in it. Thanks to you!"
She looked at Cheng Xin with eyes full of curiosity and admiration, "You can really speak a foreign language to foreigners? I didn't realize you were so good before!"
Cheng Xin smiled, her eyes curved into crescents: "I am indeed not good at writing, and sometimes I get stuck when writing, but my speaking is okay. I have been practicing and watching the two English lectures "900 English Sentences" and "Learn with Me" every week."
Huang Cai complained with a bitter face: "My foundation is too poor. We didn't learn English at that time, otherwise I would have wanted to learn a foreign language."
Cheng Xin stopped, turned around and looked at her seriously: "I have never learned English before, I just need to listen more and practice more. How about this, when the weekly English lectures are broadcast, you can come to my house and watch them together?"
"Is it possible?" Huang Cai hesitated, "I'm afraid I can't learn it and waste your time." Cheng Xin is going to take the college entrance examination. College entrance examination candidates are under great study pressure. She had thought about taking the college entrance examination herself, but her family situation did not allow it.
"It doesn't matter. It's more fun to study together!" Cheng Xin's face was full of gentle smiles: "You don't know that the people who often come to my house to watch TV can greet each other in English!"
Huang Cai's eyes lit up: "I'll come this week!"
Cheng Xin was very happy that she had a study partner: "Remember to bring a pencil and a notebook. It's always a good idea to learn more knowledge."
After working together for a period of time, Huang Cai gradually realized that Cheng Xin had a good cultural foundation and must have been a top student in the school. It was just that she had put down her books for too long, and many words were stuck when she picked up the pen. And she herself often held the dictionary and pondered over it again. Picking up the study again was like wading through a river with thin ice, and you had to try to walk steadily step by step. Fortunately, the two of them often asked and answered each other, and they were both moving forward with stumbling steps.
The brigade cadres followed Cheng Xin, and Geng Zhijun muttered quietly: "Can she really do it?"
Geng Suqin glared at the guy who was disturbing the morale of the army: "You think he can't do it, but do you think you can?"
Foreign businessmen were waiting in the office of the underwear factory, with samples of the factory's latest styles placed on the desk.
Cheng Xin spoke in fluent English: "Mr. Pete, we have found some issues regarding the contract that need to be renegotiated."
The foreign businessman was surprised by her standard spoken English. Just as the translator was about to speak, the foreign businessman waved his hand to shut him up and motioned Cheng Xin to continue.
Cheng Xin found the problem with the contract: "We need to change it to the bank's exchange rate on the day of delivery. In addition, if the raw materials are late for more than a week, we have to pay for the equipment every day."
She handed over the exchange rate booklet and said, "If the exchange rate when signing the contract today is 1:2.6, and it drops to 1:2.4 in three months, you will pay 20 cents less."
Geng Mancang stood behind Cheng Xin, with the translator assisting her.
No one knew what Cheng Xin and the foreign businessman said. Only the translator could understand what they said. He whispered each word into the ear of the county leader. Finally, the foreign businessman stretched out his hand to shake hands with Cheng Xin.
"Okay! We agree to modify the contract."
Geng Zhijun approached Geng Suqin and said stealthily, "Why does it sound different from what the translator said? Is he talking nonsense?"
Geng Suqin rolled her eyes at him and said, "The foreigners understood it, if you don't understand it, don't talk nonsense!"
The county leader stared at Cheng Xin talking to the foreign businessman, and opened his mouth for a long time before closing it: "Hey! There are hidden talents in small places! I should have let her come to the county to be an interpreter for foreign businessmen!"
The comrades in the commune flattered him: "That's right! When did the commune produce such a talent? Why didn't we discover it before?"
Geng Mancang was full of pride: "This is our primary school teacher, who is studying at home for this year's college entrance examination."
Everyone looked at each other with surprise in their eyes. They thought he was a college student, but they didn't expect him to be so good before the college entrance examination. It seems that Haiwan Commune will have a college student.
The foreign businessman took out his business card and handed it to Cheng Xin, giving her a thumbs up: "Your foreign language is very good!"
Cheng Xin took it and put the contract in it, then turned to everyone and said, "He agreed to add the compensation for delayed raw materials to the appendix."
Geng Mancang laughed so hard that his mouth couldn't close: "I said Yunye had a sharp eye! How could the wife he married be an ordinary person!"
After the contract was signed, the county leader patted Geng Mancang on the shoulder and said, "Thanks to Teacher Cheng, you will have more confidence when dealing with foreign businessmen in the future!"
The county was eager to attract foreign trade merchants to invest, not to reap benefits from Gengjiawan. Although no one understood what was so unique about the underwear factory that made foreign merchants come here in person, it did attract foreign merchants, which was a rare breakthrough for the county.
Everyone was laughing. A trace of confusion flashed in the eyes of the foreign businessman, and then he laughed together: "Okay, cooperation! Ms. Cheng!"
Cheng Xin listened to everyone's praise and smiled gently: "I am responsible for making things clear, and the work still depends on you all."
Geng Suqin criticized Geng Zhijun beside her in a low voice: "Look, I told you that Teacher Cheng is capable. Don't talk about him behind his back anymore."
Geng Zhijun scratched his head in embarrassment: "I was wrong, I won't say it again."
The revised and signed contract made everyone very satisfied and everyone was very happy.
Geng Mancang carefully preserved the contract and said with emotion: "This is the first order. There will definitely be more foreign companies cooperating with us in the future. Our factory's business will only get better and better!"
The county leader nodded with satisfaction: "This is a good start. You are the first commune-based enterprise in the county to get a foreign trade order. You have set a good example for other communes!"
The ink on the newly signed contract had not yet dried when Cheng Xin and Huang Cai rushed back to school before the bell rang.
When I pushed open the classroom door, the noise and playfulness of children and chalk dust hit me in the face, and abacus beads rolled all over the floor.
Cheng Xin bent down to pick up the abacus beads that had rolled to her feet. She ignored the graffiti on the blackboard and wrote neatly on the blank space: "Today we will learn three-digit addition and subtraction."
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