Chapter 241 (Catching Bugs)
After struggling for a few days, Zhou Jiani still wanted to confirm it.
She had not been to the school where Liu Ailing was studying, so she didn't know what major she was studying. It was a bit difficult to find out. She thought of a way. When it was Saturday to deliver the goods, Zhou Jiani would go with Bai Haoyang.
Bai Haoyang and the cashier were already familiar with each other, chatting and laughing naturally. Zhou Jiani took advantage of the good mood and asked with a smile: "Big sister, is Qiu Ailing also delivering goods on the weekend?"
Bai Haoyang looked at Zhou Jiani in surprise, wondering why Comrade Zhou also speaks with an accent?
The teller paused as she examined the scrunchies. The name seemed familiar, but not so familiar that she could pronounce it offhandedly. After a few seconds of thought, she pointed to a pile of unsold scrunchies nearby and said, "Oh, you mean the guy who delivers these? I think so."
After a moment's thought, he added, "But we don't plan to buy their goods anymore. They're not selling well now." Then he added with a smile, "Your production has increased recently, but you still need to supply us with more goods. These hair bands are selling well."
It's a stark contrast, one is not selling enough and the other is not selling well.
Of course, no matter the style or the color, the goods delivered by Comrade Bai and his team are in sharp contrast with the pile next to them. Such good goods will certainly not have trouble selling.
Bai Haoyang had a very happy expression on his face and almost laughed out loud. He didn't even think about the suspicious point that Zhou Jiani had an accent and the teller could still communicate with her.
Zhou Jiani felt comfortable after hearing this, because this was her purpose, very direct and without any concealment.
Liu Ailing also felt comfortable.
Why? Because her classmates’ scrunchies weren’t selling well, and she had already found new partners and given away all her stock.
And those classmates who had 'betrayed' her seemed to have some conflicts because of poor sales.
They chose to work together to share the costs for easier accounting, and each person also set a fixed processing quantity. Now that the products posted on social media are not selling well, some people want to quit and also want to return their part of the investment.
The hair bands were not sold and the mall did not settle the bill. How can I get the money to refund the cost?
There was a dispute over this.
Some people also turned around and wanted to hang out with her again, but Xin Yougang said he didn't want any of them. This was also a reminder to those students who were currently working with them not to stab them in the back.
Some classmates also came to talk to her and wanted her to buy their goods. Liu Ailing did not refuse outright, but she lowered the price to an extremely low level, so low that they only had a penny profit for each hairband. The people who came to her turned green in the face and turned away angrily.
Liu Ailing turned to Xin Yougang and said, "If they come again, the profit will only be 5 cents."
Xin Yougang agreed with a gloating look, and felt only happy in his heart.
Liu Ailing is indeed good at scheming. If one partner fails, she will immediately try to explore new markets. Anyway, all the goods she has are sold, so she has no worries about selling them.
On this side, Bai Haoyang was going to the post office. He bought four hair bands of different colors and styles with his own money and planned to send them to Xiao Min, letting Xiao Min and her future mother-in-law divide them between themselves.
After all, he had never used a needle and thread himself. He tried, but failed after practicing for a long time, so he decided to spend money to buy the finished product.
Zhou Jiani also had to go to the post office. Bai Haoyang was sending something, so she made a phone call.
When Liu Tong called the Qianjin Brigade, he was delighted to hear it was her. He said, "Jiani, we received the publication you sent us. We've read it several times. The team leader even read your article over the loudspeaker. The commune also held a discussion and study session on the economic ideas you expressed. Will you continue to publish this publication?"
Zhou Jiani didn't expect everyone to take it so seriously. She also felt a sense of satisfaction from sharing something good and being recognized. She smiled and said, "Should I send you something new when it's out..."
Last time she sent five copies, in addition to the Qianjin Brigade, she also sent them to Secretary Zhai, Li Jingdang, County Magistrate Wang, and her own parents.
Zhou Jiani asked about the design drawings that she had sent back last time. There was only one model: a three-layer pull-out bedside table.
Liu Tong: "It's very good. As soon as the sample came out, several people in our village placed orders. They are planning to buy a piece of furniture for their children's weddings. We have also decided to exhibit this new product at this year's Canton Fair..."
The Canton Fair has already begun. The pull-out bedside table was a last-minute decision to participate, and the samples have just been sent out. Zhang Laosi and his colleagues are leading everyone to study how to improve the efficiency of weaving this new product. The old man said that this bedside table will definitely sell well.
After saying this, Zhou Jiani finally turned the topic to the real purpose of her call: "Accountant Liu, do you still remember an educated youth named Liu Ailing in our village?"
"Yes, isn't he the one who stole the basket?" Liu Tong blurted out.
"Could you help me find out which university Liu Ailing was admitted to last year?"
Liu Tong was surprised: "She got into university?"
"I passed the exam."
Liu Tong clicked his tongue twice. Although he didn't say it explicitly on the phone, his meaning seemed to be: How can such a person get into university?
He agreed immediately, and at the end he said, "Your salary for last month has been mailed out, please check it carefully."
"Got it. Thank you, Accountant Liu."
Bai Haoyang next to him took the opportunity to say hello loudly and hung up the phone.
After leaving the post office, Bai Haoyang asked, "Don't you know Liu Ailing's school?"
Although Zhou Jiani disliked Liu Ailing, she would not speak without formal confirmation and said, "I'll check other situations."
Bai Haoyang didn't ask any more questions and just talked about their hair band business with great interest.
Ever since Aunt Zhang upgraded her equipment, her efficiency has greatly improved, resulting in them almost running out of raw materials several times.
He only bought scraps of cloth or defective products, and did not need coupons. After all, there were no cloth coupons to buy good cloth. All the cloth coupons he had had been sent to Li Jingdang, so Bai Haoyang had been running frequently to places like garment factories and textile factories recently.
Some were sent by Meng Yan from Zhejiang Province for her.
Meng Yan asked her relatives for it, and the price was so low that it was almost negligible. Zhou Jiani only needed to calculate the shipping cost, and found it very cost-effective, so she asked Meng Yan to send it directly.
However, Meng Yan, an old Canton Fair dealer, is attending the Canton Fair again, so she won't be able to get any goods from Zhejiang Province in the short term.
When Zhou Jiani called Li Jingdang, she asked him to pass on two new women's bags to Meng Yan, and she would settle the bill with Li Jingdang later.
It also saved the cost of mailing the bag to Meng Yan.
She really took the relationship to the extreme.
There's no way around it. In a small business, you really have to count every penny.
Zhou Jiani was not in a hurry to go home. She went to local garment factories and textile factories in the capital with Bai Haoyang to continue exchanging scraps of cloth.
She was so busy that she returned home with two large woven bags of rags only when the sun was about to set. Yu Wanxia was stringing beads at home diligently, with a pile of raw hairbands waiting to be processed next to her.
Feng Ya was still helping Yu Wanxia, helping her pick out beads that had not had holes punched properly.
This is considered a defective product. At first, Bai Haoyang and the others planned to throw it away, but Zhou Jiani disagreed and told them to save it and exchange it with the manufacturer the next time they received stock.
After a few days of adapting to the sewing method of the sewing machine, Zhang Huaihua's efficiency increased exponentially. Jiang Xinfeng helped with cutting, stringing rubber bands and making some small stuffing accessories, while Zhang Huaihua only focused on operating the machine.
As long as the style is not particularly complicated, we can make more than 100 pieces a day. For styles that are slightly more complicated, we can make more than 70 pieces.
This week, Zhou Jiani was thinking about finding out about Liu Ailing, so she didn't wait until all the decorations were completed before delivering the goods. In addition, Zhang Huaihua was still working, so Yu Wanxia hadn't stopped working.
The processed products on the second day were not sent to the usual place. Zhou Jiani knew Liu Ailing too well. She was not stupid, on the contrary, she was very smart. She would definitely develop other markets when the hair circle did not sell well.
In other words, she probably started thinking about her escape plan when she was stabbed in the back by her classmates.
Zhou Jiani just wanted to chase Liu Ailing and beat her, so she said to Bai Haoyang, "Tomorrow, take the goods and go to a few other shopping malls. See if there are any old-fashioned hair bands and discuss cooperation with them."
Bai Haoyang understood Zhou Jiani's meaning in an instant, snapped his fingers, and agreed, "That's awesome! That's the way to go. Leave it to me."
Moreover, once someone has negotiated a cooperation agreement, they can compare their own business with it and take advantage of the ready-made territory.
This is a route that will almost never fail. Apart from some trouble negotiating the price, everything goes smoothly afterwards.
So, when Xin Yougang ran to deliver the goods excitedly again, he saw that there were still more than half of the unsold hair ties left on the counter.
The goods cannot be sold out, so only part of the payment can be settled, and no more money will be collected from him for the time being.
Xin Yougang was dumbfounded: Why isn’t it selling again?
He asked the teller, "Why aren't they sold out?"
The teller rolled his eyes: "How can we sell it if it doesn't look good?"
They sold well when they were first delivered, but later a comrade named Bai sent new stock, and the pile of hairbands next to them in blue, gray, black and green tones stopped selling.
Even though Comrade Bai's goods are a few cents more expensive, they are sold out in a flash. His hair bands are beautiful, hanging on the board and looking like flowers, with trembling beads, sparkling sequins, or embellished with three-dimensional strawberries, small bows, small hearts, etc. Who wouldn't like them?
Xin Yougang's face looked a little bad. He was about to say something when he turned his head and saw the familiar display board. His heart suddenly skipped a beat.
He had seen this board before in the mall, and he also saw several very beautiful hairbands on the head of the cashier over there, so he knew that a competitor had appeared.
At the time, he also asked Liu Ailing if she could make the same design. Liu Ailing said the workmanship was too complicated. Their production was already low, and how many could they make in a week? Furthermore, the cost was too high, and she had no idea where to buy those beads and sequins.
As for the fabric, in order to reduce costs and increase profit margins, she only chose the most common and cheapest cotton cloth. During the Chinese New Year, she used her family connections to buy some defective cloth from the Second Spinning Mill at a rock-bottom price.
Beautiful fabrics are expensive, and she felt that there was almost no profit left after buying the whole set.
Xin Yougang thought about it and agreed.
What he didn't know was that Liu Ailing's imitation route didn't even reach the key point. Even the aunts and grannies in the Qianjin Brigade who had been doing social media posts for a while knew to go to the garment factory to buy scraps of cloth, but everyone tacitly agreed not to say anything about it.
Xin Yougang is now angry that his competitor is too despicable. He came here just a few days after they signed the agreement. He didn't even keep the hairband he brought with him and carried it back with him.
Liu Ailing was also shocked, her heart was pounding and her face changed several times.
In fact, when the hair bands weren't selling well last time, she slipped a dime to a cashier and asked for information. She learned that someone else had started delivering to them. The hair bands they made were gorgeous. Liu Ailing wanted to see the goods, but the cashier pointed to a piece of cardboard with rectangular holes punched all over it behind the counter and said, "Why are you waiting for me to come and see it? They've already sold out."
However, he pointed out several tellers in the mall to her. She saw the hairbands on those tellers' heads. The colors were beautiful and there were embellishments. Not to mention the styles, the workmanship was also very straight. Suddenly, her eyes went dark. How could they be compared?
At that time, Liu Ailing became suspicious and thought of Zhou Jiani first.
But at that time, Xin Yougang was a little impatient because he couldn't sell the goods, and urged her to leave, so he didn't have time to inquire. Later, he had to take care of his studies and career, and he had to find time to do handicrafts in his spare time. He also wanted to develop new partners, so he didn't think about it anymore.
Now, after hearing Xin Yougang say that competitors were trying to snatch territory from them again, Liu Ailing thought of Zhou Jiani again.
But before she could elaborate, a classmate hurried over and asked, "Is that Qiu Ailing?"
Liu Ailing didn't bother to analyze her business, she forced a smile and said, "It's me!"
"The department head wants you to come over right away. Someone has written a letter reporting you..."
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