Local specialty products company.
Zhang He was on the phone, speaking gently to the person on the other end, "Don't worry, I've arranged everything. I'll buy bird's nest for Mom and Dad. Expensive? A little bit expensive? As long as Mom and Dad are happy, it's worth it no matter how much it costs..."
A staff member walked into the office. "Director Zhang?"
Zhang He covered the microphone, frowned, and wasn't happy to be interrupted. "What is it?"
“Someone outside is looking for you. She says she made an appointment with you before, and her surname is Yu.”
After a brief exchange on the phone, Zhang He chuckled twice and waved to the staff member, saying, "Tell her to wait a bit. It's lunch break now. I'll be there after I finish this call."
"yes."
When Zhang He's boyfriend asked her if something was wrong, he was about to hang up. Zhang He said, "No, it's not working hours. He said someone surnamed Yu was looking for me. He must be looking to buy things from us. Individual buyers like this don't meet our company's requirements. We've rejected many of them, but there are always some people who take a chance and want to try."
At this point, Zhang He suddenly stopped, "Surname Yu? You wouldn't happen to sell bird's nest, would you?"
His girlfriend panicked when she heard this, "Then why don't you hurry up and go? What if someone leaves?"
Zhang He quickly hung up the phone and rushed out to stop the staff member, "Is this comrade surnamed Yu a woman, or a military dependent?"
"She was indeed a woman, and a People's Liberation Army soldier accompanied her."
Zhang He slapped his thigh. "Then that's it! Where are they?"
"In the reception room."
Zhang He turned and ran towards the reception room. As soon as he entered, he saw Yu Yao and breathed a sigh of relief. "Comrade Yu, I've been waiting for you for so long, and you've finally come."
Comrade Yu was a little uncomfortable with his enthusiasm, and said with a polite smile, "Comrade Zhang, I'm sorry to have kept you waiting. A few days ago we went out to sea and collected a batch of squid. We've been busy drying squid these days and haven't had time to come over. As soon as we had some free time, I had my husband bring me over."
Upon hearing the name "man," Zhang He noticed Lu Ze standing next to Yu Yao and was startled.
He had met quite a few impressive people, and he knew at first glance that Lu Ze was no ordinary man.
When he stands there, he stands out from the crowd, making him hard to ignore.
The aura he exudes is definitely not something an ordinary soldier can possess; he's at least a battalion commander or higher. If he weren't so young, he might even be a regimental commander.
Zhang He had originally planned to negotiate a lower price for the bird's nest, but upon seeing Lu Ze, he abandoned that idea.
Yu Yao's men are just too intimidating.
Zhang He had a feeling that, let alone bullying Yu Yao, if he dared to do anything underhanded in business, this person would probably not let him off the hook.
This is certainly not an illusion.
Yu Yao had this in mind when she asked Lu Ze to bring her along.
When a woman like her goes out to negotiate, she is bound to be looked down upon and disregarded. With Lu Ze accompanying her, the other party knows that she is not an ordinary person without a background, and she will have leverage during negotiations and will not be maliciously pressured to lower her price.
There's nothing we can do about it; it's a buyer's market now.
Private individuals cannot engage in buying and selling; they can only sell to purchasing stations or state-owned enterprises. Whether or not these entities will buy, how much they will buy, and at what price—the seller has little say in these matters.
If you don't agree, and they don't want it, you can only sell it cheaply to a purchasing station. If the purchasing station doesn't take it, it will just rot in your hands.
Lu Ze extended his hand. "Hello, I'm Lu Ze."
Upon hearing this, Zhang He's eyes widened in surprise. "You're Lu Ze? Lu Ze, the youngest regimental commander in the island troops?"
Lu Ze nodded, which was taken as an admission.
Zhang He was shocked, not expecting it to really be the regimental commander. He smiled and beckoned to his men, "What are you all standing there for? Go make some tea for Comrade Yu and Regimental Commander Lu. Make sure it's good tea."
Yu Yao quickly said, "Director Zhang, you don't need to be so polite. The military has regulations, so we can skip the tea and just have plain water."
"Alright." Zhang He dismissed his subordinate and sat down opposite Yu Yuyao, his gaze falling on the basket beside Yu Yao's feet. "Are all the bird's nests in there?"
Yu Yao nodded, took out the dried squid and dried mango from the top, and then took out a wooden box from the bottom. She opened the box and said, "There are fifty light-feathered bird's nests in total, and they have all been cleaned of feathers."
Zhang He's gaze fell on the wooden box, his eyes lit up, and he carefully picked up a piece of bird's nest to examine it, very satisfied. "These bird's nests are all of good quality. Comrade Yu, how much do you plan to sell each piece for?"
Yu Yao didn't answer directly, but smiled and pushed the question back, "Comrade Zhang, this is also my first time buying bird's nest, and I don't know how much it should cost. Comrade Zhang, please give me a price."
“If the price is good, I have about 150 lamps at home that are of even better quality than these. I won’t take them to the purchasing station; I’ll sell them all to Comrade Zhang.”
Purchasing agents like Zhang He, who travel all over the country and buy good goods from ordinary people, are different from purchasing agents like his brother, who rose through the ranks in state-owned factories. They are more cunning than a sieve.
Dealing with people like this requires a bit of shrewdness; otherwise, you'll easily suffer losses.
Upon hearing that Yu Yao had so many bird's nests of even better quality, Zhang He smiled and said, "Let me take a look at the other bird's nests. If the quality is the same, the price is negotiable."
If it were before, he would have only planned to give four yuan and fifty cents per lamp, but now, not to mention Lu Ze, this Yu Yao doesn't seem to be a simple person either.
Bird's nest varies drastically in quality and price, with a huge amount of markup.
If Yu Yao didn't understand anything, he could easily find some faults, fool her, and get away with it.
Given the current situation, it's not a good idea to do that.
More than 150 lamps—even if they were of the same quality as the ones in front of us, let alone of higher quality—that would still be a considerable number.
Each year, their local specialty products company can only collect a few thousand lamps, and less than a thousand of them can reach this quality.
Zhang He carefully placed the last bowl of bird's nest soup down and said to Yu Yao, "Comrade Yu, I won't beat around the bush with you. We're old acquaintances, and we'll be dealing with each other a lot in the future, so I'll give you a fair price. Five yuan and one jiao per bowl, how about that?"
He could easily quote 5.5 yuan per lamp when he takes it back to the company.
Yu Yao shook her head, "This price is not appropriate."
Zhang He thought Yu Yao was complaining about the low price, so he gritted his teeth and planned to add another cent at most, but Yu Yao still shook her head.
Zhang He's smile froze. "Comrade Yu, is this too little? This price is quite high. If you take it to the purchasing station, you'll only get five yuan at most. I only gave you this price because I saw that the quality is good and it meets our requirements."
This Yu Yao is so ungrateful. Her bird's nest could only be sold for five yuan at most at the purchasing station. He's already being generous by giving her five yuan and one jiao.
She was still not satisfied and kept asking for exorbitant prices.
Do you really think she's the only one selling bird's nest?
"Comrade Zhang, you misunderstand. What I meant was that five yuan a lamp is too much."
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