"Was this made by the cannery of your Lijiapo brigade?" Deputy Manager Xie asked, putting down his chopsticks.
"Yes, yes, we did it," Li Jin replied respectfully.
"Great! The fish is fried to perfection, and the broth is incredibly flavorful. It's so delicious that you'll want to eat it again and again!" praised Deputy Manager Xie.
Li Jin and the others were overjoyed; it seemed this business opportunity was promising!
"How much does a can of your food cost per bottle?"
"Manager Xie, we sell it to our own supply and marketing cooperative for 1.5 yuan a bottle. However, the distance from Huichuan County to Dongfang City is long, so we may have to add some freight costs. How about 1.8 yuan a bottle?"
This was the price that Li Jin and his team had agreed upon beforehand.
Earlier, a few of them had wandered around the canned food counter in the department store and saw that a bottle of ribbonfish was three yuan and a bottle of dace with black bean sauce was three and a half yuan.
If they sell it to the department store for 1.8 yuan a bottle, and the department store resells it for 3 yuan, they can easily make 1.2 yuan a bottle!
Deputy Manager Xie tapped the table lightly with his fingers, pondered for a moment, and said, "Our department goes to Huichuan County to pick up fish every week, so you don't need to worry about transportation. Just deliver the canned goods to the designated location, and we can transport them back ourselves."
That's a good thing!
They deliver the goods in the county town, saving them from losses during transportation!
The roads are all dirt roads now, and the glass bottles are constantly being jostled around, so they're bound to break.
"So, it'll be 1.5 yuan a bottle for me too, but you have to promise that all the canned goods you deliver will taste exactly like today's!"
"Okay! Okay! No problem! It will definitely taste the same as today!"
Li Jin readily agreed, surprised that it had actually happened so quickly!
"Okay! We'll send a thousand bottles this month to test the waters!"
Deputy Manager Xie made the final decision, and Liu Changhai was so excited he almost jumped for joy. Making money was just too easy!
"By the way, bring me your collective enterprise qualification certificate and food hygiene certificate so I can see them. We'll sign the contract this afternoon."
What?
Qualifications of a collective enterprise?
Food hygiene certificate?
We don't have any!
Although we decided to set up a team to run a business, we didn't go through the proper procedures!
Li Jin, Wang Zhenbo, and Liu Changhai were all dumbfounded.
Li Jin felt extremely regretful. He had been the director of the winery for several years, so how could he have forgotten about this?
They've really been blinded by the desire to make money; they just acted impulsively. How could a company like the Dongfang City Department Store possibly want products without proper documentation?
Seeing the stunned looks on their faces, Deputy Manager Xie immediately understood and said coldly, "You don't have any qualification certificates, do you? Are you kidding me?"
"No, no, we just haven't had time to do it yet," Li Jin quickly explained.
"Manager Xie, please don't worry!"
Li Xiangdong spoke calmly, admitting that he had been too busy to tell Li Jin about this beforehand.
"Manager Xie, our Lijiapo Cannery is indeed a legitimate collective enterprise run by the team, and it was personally approved by Liu Donglai, the secretary of the Huichuan County Party Committee and director of the Revolutionary Committee. We were so anxious to come to you to open up sales channels that we forgot to bring it."
After listening to Li Xiangdong's explanation, and seeing his confident expression, she asked with some skepticism, "Did your county party secretary personally approve this? As far as I know, doesn't your county only have one deputy director of the Revolutionary Committee?"
Li Xiangdong smiled enigmatically and didn't reply.
Deputy Manager Xie couldn't help but wonder, could these people not be ordinary citizens?
But no one greeted me!
That's something to think about carefully. Although he's in the city, befriending the top official in the county can only bring benefits, not harm.
We can give them face, but whether this county party secretary and revolutionary committee director actually exists is uncertain for the time being.
Seeing that Deputy Manager Xie was hesitant to speak, Yu Deshui wanted to help Li Xiangdong. "Manager Xie, I know Xiangdong. They are indeed from the Lijiapo brigade. We sold those two combine harvesters from our machinery factory to him."
"Oh? Is that so?"
Manager Xie thought to himself, "If they can afford a combine harvester, they must have some financial strength."
"Yes, I can vouch for Xiang Dong's character!"
“Manager Xie, we don’t want to put you in a difficult position. How about this? We’ll personally bring a thousand cans of fish, along with our collective enterprise qualifications and food hygiene certificates, to you next time to sign the contract. Is that alright?” Li Xiangdong said after thinking for a moment.
"Okay! We'll sign the contract whenever you come!"
In this way, it would not violate any rules, and it would also give Yu Deshui and the Huichuan County Party Secretary (whose identity is unknown) a little face.
Regardless, the deal was already halfway to success. Li Xiangdong said he would treat Deputy Manager Xie and Yu Deshui to dinner at the same luxurious Meilan State-owned Restaurant as last time.
Deputy Manager Xie readily agreed, saying that the carp served at that restaurant was delicious!
Deputy Manager Xie arranged for a car to take a few people there; it would take more than half an hour to walk!
Li Jin took a few steps back, grabbed Li Xiangdong, and asked, "It's my fault for not thinking things through regarding the business license, but we'd rather not do this business than lie! You've already made such a big claim, saying it was personally approved by the county party secretary! What county party secretary do we have in Huichuan County..."
At this point, Li Jin paused, glancing suspiciously at Li Xiangdong. "That day, the one who got out of the jeep, was that the new county party secretary?"
It was after that day that Xiang Dong started to set up the cannery!
But that's not right!
How could Xiang Dong have any connection with the county party secretary!
Li Jin's mind was in turmoil. He couldn't believe that his son knew so many people, and they were all important figures!
First there was the director of Guangming Pharmaceutical Factory, then the director and his wife of the county supply and marketing cooperative, and now there's the new county party secretary, and that technician who just spoke up for them...
"Dad, don't worry, the person who came that day was Uncle Donglai, the newly appointed county party secretary of Huichuan County! The qualifications for the team-run enterprises and the food hygiene certificates are indeed being processed, I just forgot to tell you!"
Li Xiangdong reassured his father.
"Oh, right, Dad, you go ahead with Uncle Yu and Manager Xie! I'll buy some cigarettes and alcohol, and I'll go by myself in a bit!"
"Okay, hey, you go by yourself. Do you know the way?"
"I know it, I've eaten there!"
As soon as Li Xiangdong finished speaking, he rushed to the counter without stopping. "They sell Moutai here!"
Moutai!
In later generations, even a bottle costing several thousand dollars wouldn't be easy to buy!
It's only eight yuan now!
Li Xiangdong was so moved by the beautiful price that he almost cried.
It's important to know that from the time the factory was built until the 1980s, the price of Moutai liquor was set by the state, and the price remained almost unchanged for decades. The initial ex-factory price was 1.8 yuan, and the selling price was only 2.5 yuan!
The price has gone up now, but it's only eight yuan.
Later generations of Maotai collectors especially love the old Maotai from the 1960s and 70s, particularly the short-mouthed sauce bottle from 1966 to 1973, which has been driven up to very high prices!
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