What does "Cola slaps in the face" mean in Chapter 87?
In the manager's office of Mingzhou Textile Foreign Trade Company, a middle-aged man paced back and forth. Although it was not yet the height of summer, his forehead was covered in sweat.
With the Canton Fair just around the corner, Manager Meng was extremely anxious and worried.
The government has formulated a plan to vigorously introduce production line equipment for chemical fibers, petrochemicals, fertilizers, and other industries in the coming years, with a total investment of up to 4.3 billion yuan. This requires a large amount of foreign exchange, putting pressure on foreign trade companies.
Last year's sales were not good; foreign buyers pressured us to lower prices, and we couldn't sell our products at a good price. This year isn't much better, and we're afraid we won't be able to meet the targets we were given this year.
"Manager Meng, someone is looking for you."
Who is it?
"People from the textile factory."
Upon hearing this, Manager Meng frowned even more. He couldn't help but feel resentful towards the textile factory. The products they produced were not selling well. Nowadays, the textile factory's people only came here because they needed specific foreign exchange approvals, wanted to use connections, or wanted to import overseas machinery through the Canton Fair and try to pull strings.
"Let them in," Manager Meng said, intending to give a perfunctory reply.
Qin Xiangxiang and her husband walked into the manager's office. Manager Meng saw that the two people who came in were a man and a woman, both with good looks and temperament, a handsome man and a beautiful woman, which made people's eyes light up. The man was obviously a soldier.
"Comrades, is there anything I can help you with?"
Qin Xiangxiang: "Manager Meng, I used to be a textile worker's son at the Shanghai 316 Textile Factory, and now I'm the temporary factory manager of Feiyan Textile Factory. Today I came to Mingzhou on business and discovered a problem with the exported textile fabrics."
Manager Meng asked in confusion, "What's the problem?"
“Low-end, mid-end, and high-end textiles of different qualities from different factories are mixed together, and I heard they are all sold at the same price. I think this is a waste. We should differentiate the grades of wool fabrics, with low-end goods at one price, mid-end goods at another price, and high-end goods at another price, and sell them separately to avoid selling high-end textiles cheaply.”
Manager Meng was stunned: "Aren't they all producing the same thing, the same specifications? Why are they divided into high-end, mid-range, and low-end?"
Qin Xiangxiang said, "Although the names are the same, the quality is different. Ordinary people can't easily tell the difference. Only experienced craftsmen can distinguish them, and overseas customers can also notice the big difference in quality."
“They would try to drive down the price, buying some of the high-end textiles at the price of low- to mid-range textiles, and we suffered a huge loss.”
"Manager Meng, I think this is such a waste."
Manager Meng stared into her eyes: "Is what you're saying true?"
Qin Xiangxiang: "I grew up in a textile factory and I am very familiar with all kinds of textiles. I know these things."
Manager Meng's voice softened: "But the Canton Fair is about to start, where are we going to find someone to categorize and differentiate between high and low grades?"
Qin Xiangxiang: "I have the ability."
She spoke with conviction.
Qin Xiangxiang was initially a little unsure of herself, but being the little drama queen she was, she was always self-righteous, hmph.
Manager Meng's attitude changed, and he and several commodity inspectors took Qin Xiangxiang to the textile storage warehouse. The commodity inspectors had various opinions:
"They even have high, medium, and low grades?"
"The numerical labels above are all the same, the data is correct, it's the same thing."
“Well… textiles are all different. If this were a defective product, the factory would have dealt with it long ago.”
Li Jianzhi stood expressionless to the side, thinking to himself that these commodity inspectors were all laymen who were not familiar with textiles, but were familiar with various coding data.
Qin Xiangxiang started to categorize the wool fabrics. At first, she was a bit clueless, but she quickly became familiar with the styles of several textile factories. She could tell which textile factory a product came from just by touching it.
Some textile factories have excellent technology and high quality, while others are just so-so.
She divided a portion of the exported wool fabric into three grades: high, medium, and low, and piled them in different places. At this time, Manager Meng and several other commodity inspectors went to check the condition of the different wool fabrics.
"When they're piled together, you can't tell the difference; they all seem to be similar. But when they're separated like this, the differences become very obvious, and the good ones are also very clear."
Manager Meng picked up the high-end fabric and exclaimed, "This is good stuff!"
When a pile of high-end goods is stacked together, it can make people feel excited. Last year, foreign buyers were very picky about their products. If these materials were displayed, would they still be able to find fault with them?
Manager Meng's expression changed. "This Comrade Qin... Factory Director Qin is a top-notch talent!"
The product inspector standing nearby exclaimed in surprise, "Only a seasoned expert could accurately determine this!"
"To be honest, I'm still a little unsure."
Li Jianzhi: "Let's all help out. We're not sure about the mid-to-high-end quality, but we'll pick out the obviously bad ones and put them in the low-end section."
Several product inspectors nodded, and Li Jianzhi and Manager Meng all joined in the sorting. The group worked until late at night. Manager Meng tried to open his bloodshot eyes wide, "Everyone rest today, we'll continue tomorrow. Other textiles also need to be sorted."
"Good comrades, you're staying at our foreign trade company's guesthouse tonight. We've arranged the best rooms for you."
As it got late, Qin Xiangxiang and her husband naturally couldn't return to the guesthouse, so they checked into the guesthouse inside the foreign trade company. The guesthouse of the foreign trade company was indeed well-equipped, with sofas and a black and white TV. Because they occasionally had to entertain foreign guests, there were also some foreign magazines and books.
Qin Xiangxiang drank the cola, which made her, who was drowsy, much more awake.
Qin Xiangxiang nudged Li Jianzhi: "My grandma and mom drank this stuff, you've never seen it before!"
"This is the first time I've ever drunk this."
"I've seen it, and I've drunk it." Li Jianzhi smiled indulgently, pinching his wife's smug cheek.
Coke... is it... the ultimate comfort drink for couch potatoes?
The guy trying to lose weight doesn't like it, but his son, Little Fatty, probably likes cola with fried chicken.
Qin Xiangxiang's pretty face stiffened, and her smug expression turned into a freeze. Coca-Cola existed during the Republic of China era, and her mother and grandmother had both drunk it. However, after the founding of the People's Republic of China, the factory moved away, and she had never drunk it, only heard of it.
"You really drank it?"
"Um."
Qin Xiangxiang's face fell: "I'm not happy."
In those days, apart from foreign trade companies, only naval personnel or ocean-going sailors like Li Jianzhi had the opportunity to come into contact with imported goods when carrying out long-range missions. Zhuang Xiaoman said that every soldier who had carried out long-range missions would be issued foreign exchange certificates, and many people would save them up. The foreign exchange certificates that the protagonist, Chen Ruifeng, used to buy an imported watch were obtained by exchanging them with his comrades.
Qin Xiangxiang guessed that Li Jianzhi might not have been lying; he had access to imported goods.
The more I think about it, the angrier I get!
Qin Xiangxiang hugged Li Jianzhi's neck and bit his collarbone, angrily saying, "I'm struggling to make ends meet with my son in Shanghai, while you're living the high life, even drinking Coca-Cola."
"No wonder you can come up with so many fancy things, like chocolate-coated ice cream."
"So I was the country bumpkin all along!" Qin Xiangxiang hugged her cheeks, looking like a little squirrel.
Li Jianzhi, who was being accused, nodded: "Yes, my wife and our chubby son eat fifty rations of bran and wild vegetables every month."
Having traveled back in time for a year and gotten used to the prices of the 1970s, Li Jianzhi had long understood that the little devil and her chubby son could really eat a lot.
Even a family of four wouldn't eat this much.
Qin Xiangxiang: "..."
Comrade Xiao Qin changed the subject: "Next time I go back to Shanghai to see my aunt, I'll send you out to annoy her. You can also tell her, 'We're city folks, and you're just a country bumpkin with no sense of propriety.'"
Li Jianzhi burst into laughter; he was truly amused by his wife.
"I know, you're going to be proven wrong, aren't you?" Li Jianzhi thought to himself that he really did have the script for the male lead in the X-rated movie, and he had to be proven wrong.
Qin Xiangxiang: "What do you mean by 'slap in the face'?"
"Slapping him in the face in public is just being impolite and making him lose face, which is the same as slapping him in the face."
Qin Xiangxiang suddenly realized: "You really are a cultured person, you really know how to describe things."
Yes, yes, yes, we're the perfect couple from the original book, of course we have to slap others in the face!
The next day, after getting up, the couple threw themselves into sorting again. After working for half a day, Li Jianzhi went to the guesthouse to get some things, and then went to Mr. Ma's house to get the swallow patterns he had drawn so that Qin Xiangxiang could choose from them.
Qin Xiangxiang didn't have time to choose a trademark, so she put it aside for the time being.
"Thinking about it, I need to take the boat back first." Li Jianzhi has to attend a roll call meeting at seven or eight o'clock at night, and he needs to get back before Sunday night.
Qin Xiangxiang said, "I want to go back with you."
"My dear wife, you can't give up halfway through a task." Of course, Li Jianzhi also wanted to bring his wife home, but the matter wasn't finished yet. Since things had come to this point, he could only do his best before going back.
"Chief Engineer Chen has already arranged for a ship to transport the materials. He told me not to worry and to contribute to the country by working at the foreign trade company."
"Mr. Ma knows about your deeds and said there's no rush, take your time."
"You can stay here and finish everything."
The little drama queen wanted to cry. In her heart, she screamed: "Master Li, you've hurt me so much, and I still want to build you a house."
The factory manager position is yours; you take it.
Qin Xiangxiang stayed at the foreign trade company and, before the Canton Fair, sorted out the quality of many textiles. Manager Meng was extremely grateful to her for her contributions.
"Comrade Qin, it's all thanks to you!" Manager Meng exclaimed with deep emotion. Fortunately, Comrade Qin was here. Otherwise, even if they knew the problem, they wouldn't have been able to find a master craftsman with a clean background in a short time. Director Qin was a textile worker's son and a military dependent, so he was truly a model citizen.
This batch of exported textiles was shipped to the Canton Fair, and Qin Xiangxiang took a boat back to the island.
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