Just then, two workers pushed a cart of fabric over.
Li Xiangdong had good eyesight and could tell from afar that the truck was made of rose-red fabric, but he didn't know if it hadn't been dyed properly, as there were white streaks on it.
He quickened his pace, smiled, and greeted the worker pushing the cart, "Hello, comrade! Busy, huh?"
The two workers unloaded the fabric and casually placed it on the shelf before turning to look at Li Xiangdong and asking nonchalantly, "Here to buy scrap fabric?"
"Oh, no, I brought some fish and shrimp to our factory. The canteen kitchen is cooking them right now. I just came out for a stroll when I had nothing else to do."
Upon hearing Li Xiangdong's answer, one of the tall, thin workers showed interest, "What kind of fish and shrimp?"
"Macrobrachium rosenbergii, lobster, sea bass, crucian carp, common carp, grass carp, and so on."
The tall, thin worker swallowed hard. "Haha, will we get to eat lunch today?"
"What? You like to eat these?"
Li Xiangdong continued the conversation.
The tall, thin worker wasn't in a hurry to leave; he told another person to push the cart back first.
"I'm from Linhai, I grew up by the sea, and I never thought it tasted good before. But now I've been in Chang'an for over ten years, and I haven't been able to eat fresh fish and shrimp. I dream about it all the time!"
I see.
"Well then, we brought some canned fish, I'll get you a few bottles!"
Li Xiangdong asked Li Xiangchao to go to the car and get a few cans of fish.
The tall, thin worker kept saying how could he possibly accept this, but his eyes were fixed earnestly on the can of fish in Li Xiangchao's hand.
"It's fate that we met, please accept this!"
Li Xiangdong stuffed several cans of food into the arms of the tall, thin worker. The worker looked at them curiously for a while, and finally grinned and said, "Then I'll really accept them!"
"Please accept it! Don't be so polite!"
Li Xiangdong said with a smile.
The tall, thin worker felt embarrassed to take Li Xiangdong's things for free, so he went to the warehouse, took out a roll of dark blue polyester fabric, and handed it to Li Xiangdong.
"Take this. The fabric produced in our factory is of excellent quality. This piece of fabric only has a few white spots on it, which is the least flawed piece of fabric we have."
Li Xiangdong took it and touched it; it was indeed very thick. Upon closer inspection, he noticed scattered white dots in the middle of the fabric.
"This fabric is really thick! Thank you, Uncle. By the way, Uncle, how do you deal with all these defective fabrics in your factory?"
Li Xiangdong sincerely thanked him, and then continued chatting.
Li Guoqing silently thought to himself that he had learned another trick from his second brother: call someone "comrade" first and then "uncle," and give them the gifts before speaking.
The tall, thin worker was named Lin Yuheng, and he was a warehouse keeper at the textile factory.
"The better quality scraps of fabric, like the ones I gave you, are usually sold at a discount, typically around 60% to 70% of the original price! The fabrics with more defects are just disposed of as garbage!"
Li Xiangdong was dumbfounded. "Dispose of it as trash? Throw it away?"
"What can I do if I don't throw it away? My warehouse is only so big, how can it hold everything if I don't deal with it?"
"Is nobody buying it?"
"Nobody buys fabric with many flaws, so it's hard to sell!"
"Oh, I see! Uncle, may I go into the warehouse and see what kinds of fabrics they have?"
Lin Yuheng hesitated for a moment, "This is a restricted area; ordinary people aren't allowed in..."
Li Xiangdong pulled a box of "Terracotta Warriors" from his pocket and handed it to Lin Yuheng. "Uncle, I'm just taking a look. I'll be right back!"
The Terracotta Warriors cigarettes, with their high tar content, are very popular among local heavy smokers. Li Xiangdong bought two cartons as soon as he entered Chang'an, keeping them for when he needed them.
Upon first glance, Li Xiangdong noticed Lin Yuheng's yellowed teeth and fingers, confirming that he was undoubtedly a heavy smoker.
However, the most important thing in managing a place like a warehouse is fire prevention, so I don't know why they put a heavy smoker in this position.
Upon seeing the "Terracotta Warriors," Lin Yuheng immediately took it and put it in his pocket. He laughed heartily, "Come on! I'll take you inside to have a look!"
This is a huge warehouse filled with iron shelves piled with all kinds of fabrics, including cotton, polyester, cotton-polyester blends, corduroy, and even silk.
However, they all have some flaws.
Lin Yuheng showed him around for a while, then said, "There's nothing much to see. If you want to buy fabric, I can pull some strings to get you some, no fabric coupons required!"
It's important to know that coupons for grain, meat, and cloth were gradually phased out of the market in the late 1980s and were officially abolished in 1992.
Even now, you still need cloth coupons to buy cloth to make clothes.
Being able to obtain cloth without ration coupons was quite an achievement back then.
Li Xiangdong simply couldn't hear what he said.
At this moment, Li Xiangdong seemed to see a huge treasure trove, but the final destination of these treasures was to be disposed of as garbage!
He grabbed Lin Yuheng's hand. "Uncle, I want to buy all these scrap fabrics. Who can take care of them?"
Lin Yuheng: ...
In the office of the deputy factory director in charge of sales, Li Xiangdong received a warm welcome.
There's no other reason than that anyone would be happy if their scrap could suddenly be sold for money!
But first, the factory manager needs to confirm one thing: "Are you a legitimate company?"
Although the government now encourages individual businesses, large state-owned enterprises like theirs are unwilling to deal with these small-scale individual operators.
Individual business owners have little capital and poor risk resistance. Dealing with them results in thin profits and many disputes.
"We are a legitimate team-run enterprise, and our annual profit is currently over one million yuan."
He was initially dismissive when he heard it was a team-run enterprise, but his eyes widened when he heard the profit was over a million!
After learning more about the details, they immediately decided to sell a warehouse full of defective fabric to Li Xiangdong.
For minor defects, the price is 50% of the factory price; for moderate defects, it is 30% of the factory price; and for severe defects, it is 10% of the factory price.
Based on the current inventory, I've tallied it up, and it totals five tons!
By the time the textile factory workers had categorized and calculated the prices and moved the goods onto the Dongfeng 140 truck in Lijiapo, it was already noon on the fourth day.
At this time, the money from Lijiapo had already been transferred to the textile factory's account.
The deputy factory director was all smiles; he had accomplished a great feat!
Therefore, Li Xiangdong fully expressed his sincerity in wanting to establish a long-term cooperative relationship with his factory!
He decided to add another 5,000 jin of grass carp as part of the welfare benefits to be distributed to the workers next quarter.
Everyone was very satisfied with this deal.
The Dongfeng-140 arrived fully loaded and returned fully loaded.
...
Lijiapo, at dusk.
Li Xiangchao stepped on the brakes, and finally arrived home.
The people in the car felt like their bones were about to fall apart, and as soon as the car stopped, they couldn't wait to get off and stretch their bodies.
Liu Changhai was already waiting at the entrance of the brigade office. As soon as the car stopped, he immediately had people unload the fabric.
Looking at the colorful fabrics, Liu Changhai asked curiously, "What are you planning to do with so much fabric?"
Li Xiangdong stretched and said, "I need to discuss this with your aunt before I can know."
"What?"
Liu Changhai was completely dumbfounded.
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