Chapter 124: Borrowing the East Wind
Shi Xiaoai suddenly realized that this might be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for her, and that others were rushing to give her money and pushing her forward.
Her heart was pounding.
But it's not visible on the face.
She did not answer District Chief Ou immediately, but showed an embarrassed expression.
After hesitating for a moment, he said, "Director Ou, thank you very much for your trust in me. I also want to help our district. But to be honest, I'm in trouble right now."
District Chief Ou was delighted after hearing this.
Don't be afraid of difficulties. Being willing to raise difficulties means there is room for negotiation.
He was not afraid that Shi Xiaoai would make any requests, but he was afraid that she had no intention of taking over at all.
District Director Ou knew very well how popular the snack shop was, but it had only been open for less than two months, so it was normal for it to be unwilling to expand at this time.
It is normal for a female comrade who has two children at home and whose husband is not around to eat or drink to not want to work hard anymore.
He immediately said, "If you have any difficulties, just tell us directly. We will definitely help if we can. If we can't help, we can discuss it together and find a solution."
Shi Xiaoai smiled a little embarrassedly, and then said: "Director Ou, I speak frankly, please don't mind."
District Chief Ou also smiled and gestured to her, indicating that she should continue.
Shi Xiaoai said, "Director Ou, I'm going to be honest with you. We really don't have any intention of continuing to open a shop. Our snack bar has just opened for a short time, and business seems to be doing well now, but in fact, the initial investment was very large. We have also recruited a lot of employees, and you probably understand that we also provide very good benefits to our employees.
To put it bluntly, even though the store appears to be very profitable, its actual revenue is not as much as people outside rumor.
District Chief Ou nodded.
He did some research before asking Shi Xiaoai to come over, and he also knew that the snack shop later hired a group of so-called hourly workers.
Calculated this way, this snack bar alone provided 70 jobs for the returning educated youth! This was also the reason why he was more inclined to let Shi Xiaoai take on the responsibility of reducing the burden on the various street offices.
When it comes to business, this young lesbian is truly a rare talent!
He felt that since she was a talent, she should be used well and allowed to unleash her greater abilities.
But District Director Ou also understood that the salary of seventy people was definitely not a small number, and he had also inquired about the salary and benefits of the snack bar, which was much higher than many large factories outside.
I also heard that they sometimes even give out bonuses!
Of course, he didn't ask how much the bonus was, and it was not easy for him to ask for more details.
But no matter how much it is, at least it shows that Comrade Shi Xiaoai is not the kind of person who is only interested in money. She is willing to take out part of the profit to benefit everyone.
It is likely to be a considerable profit.
This made District Mayor Ou's evaluation of her character reach a new level.
Seeing that the district chief was listening attentively, Shi Xiaoai continued, "I won't hide it from you. When we first opened the shop, including buying the yard, we had already spent all our family's money. We really have no savings left.
That money was Cheng Yang's salary and bonus. Without the money he risked his life to earn, our snack bar would never have been built.
The snack shop business looks good now, but in fact it is just maintaining a balance between income and expenditure, and it is still a long way from making back the money.
In this situation, even if I wanted to help our district and was willing to work harder to open branches and create more jobs, I still couldn't do it."
Director Ou's expression was a little gloomy, although this was expected, but when he heard Xiao Ai reject him, he also felt a little disappointed after his hope was dashed.
But he also understood that not only Shi Xiaoai was short of money, but the district was also short of money!
If they were not short of money, they could even launch some projects themselves and provide some work stations for the educated youth.
Seeing that the atmosphere was almost brewing, Shi Xiaoai stopped complaining and said, "Director Ou, I have a suggestion. Maybe you should listen to it first. If it's possible, I think it might be able to solve some problems for the district."
District Chief Ou immediately became interested. He sat up straight and said, "Okay, tell me about it."
Shi Xiaoai said, "Actually, if any office is willing to cooperate with our snack bar, we can cooperate with them to open a shop. The office will provide the venue and storefront, and then they can recruit employees independently. We will provide the snack bar name and our products.
We can provide items like stone steamed buns, braised pork rice, and meat skewers to our partner stores at a preferential price.
The products in our store have become famous now, and many people are willing to take a long drive to come to the store to eat.
If we cooperate, at least we won’t have to worry about customer sources.”
This is of course a huge benefit for the snack shop. With the current number of employees Xiao Ai and his team have, they will have enough manpower even if they set up another centralized kitchen.
That’s how you can make money without leaving your home.
District Chief Ou nodded after hearing this.
He knew that with the current business of the snack bar, he had no worries about not being able to sell the food. There were long queues in their shop every day, and he was too busy to handle his own business.
Shi Xiaoai was able to make such a suggestion, which showed her sincerity. She was really concerned about the situation and really wanted to do something for the district.
But this is not what he wants.
The food at the snack shop is good, and it’s easy to sell no matter where you take it. You don’t even have to worry about technical issues when purchasing from them.
But the key is that opening a shop requires money!
This is the biggest difficulty now.
The office definitely has no money, and the district also has no money.
It is definitely impossible to expect the educated youth to take out all the money from their families to start a business like Shi Xiaoai did without hesitation.
They can't even suggest it.
Otherwise, what if something goes wrong in the future? What if you lose money?
Wouldn't that create instability and bring greater hidden dangers to society?
District Chief Ou thought for a moment and asked, "Xiao Shi, can you think of a way to overcome this difficulty?
It's not that the district is making things difficult for you, it's just that we can't find anyone like you who is good at business and has ideas here.
Can you think of opening a few small shops on other streets, like the tea stalls you started with?
I remember your business was pretty good before, and that doesn’t cost much.”
Xiao Ai had already expected that District Director Ou would say this. After all, no superior would approve a budget for subordinate units to lead educated youth to do business.
She felt that what she wanted was possible!
Shi Xiaoai pretended to be embarrassed and said: "I also want to do something to help our district. If you really ask us to run a tea stall, we can grit our teeth and overcome it and do it.
But how many people can be employed at the tea stall? In the past, my family's tea stall was run by just me and Comrade Wang Xiaofeng.
Although Cheng Lin was added later, to be honest, that was because he was Cheng Lin's younger brother.
He's young and has nothing to do. If I don't let him come over to help, I'm worried that a boy of his age will go astray in society. After all, he's Cheng Lin's younger brother, and since he's with me, I have to be responsible for him.
But in fact, two people are enough for a tea stall.
Moreover, if we open a tea stall, we will definitely have to send an experienced person to help run it. Otherwise, the educated youth have never been exposed to this before and they will definitely have no experience at the beginning.
That takes up another position, so we can only assign one more educated youth. After all the hustle and bustle on the street, only one educated youth can be assigned to the post?"
After hearing her say this, District Director Ou also realized that such an arrangement would not solve any problems.
At this time, Shi Xiaoai suggested: "District Chief Ou, if the district supports me, I think we can actually open a snack shop on each street. We don't need to open it as big as we have now. An ordinary house will be enough.
Don't underestimate such a small shop. From purchasing to cooking to service, if you add the night market in the evening, it can accommodate at least five to six educated youths.
Of course, you are also aware of the influence of our snack bar. If you use our signboard and promote it further, indicating that it is our chain store, then the business will probably not be bad.
By then, we can even open a bigger one in one go and accommodate more people.”
This was exactly what District Mayor Ou wanted. He immediately asked, "How do you need support from the district? Just tell us what you want, and we'll do whatever we can. But Comrade Xiao, I must say first: there might be financial difficulties. The district doesn't have the budget for this."
Shi Xiaoai waved her hand and said, "The district doesn't need to pay, as long as they guarantee me."
"Guarantee? What guarantee?" asked District Director Ou.
Shi Xiaoai’s idea was very simple, which was to go to the bank for a loan.
Her business is so booming now, and she has an unlimited labor force. She is fully capable of expanding her business rapidly and seizing the market.
Although people’s consumption level was not high at that time, their consumption desire was very high! Because of the scarcity of materials, any good thing would attract everyone’s attention, and they would follow the trend and even rush to buy it.
When he opened a tea stall before, Shi Xiaoai mainly used Uncle Liu's relationship to get food from the restaurant.
But after the snack shop opened and became famous, the purchasing channels of those restaurants also recognized them. Now Cheng Lin has bypassed the restaurants and dealt directly with suppliers.
They're all government-run institutions anyway, so who cares if they provide for us? There's no need to go through the restaurant again.
In this way, although the price remains the same as before, it is more convenient to get the goods.
If you need to replenish stock or something, you can just go there and get it immediately. There will no longer be a problem of insufficient supply.
Shi Xiaoai felt that she had laid a very good foundation in all aspects.
She had not thought about opening a branch so soon before, because her snack shop was originally operated through a backdoor listing, and she could only operate within the jurisdiction of the office.
And this one is enough for this jurisdiction.
Now that we have the support of the district, we can do it across districts, which is simply a blessing in disguise!
She must not miss this opportunity.
If you don’t have money, just borrow it!
Anyone who has experience of living in the future will have this concept: within the scope of one's ability, it is entirely possible to use tomorrow's money to do today's things.
It’s just that people nowadays don’t have this awareness yet.
When Shi Xiaoai expressed her thoughts, District Chief Ou immediately looked embarrassed.
This is different from what he expected!
And there has never been a precedent for this before.
Borrowing money is easy, but what if you can’t pay it back in the future?
It’s not that he doesn’t trust Shi Xiaoai, but after all, he is borrowing money from the country, which involves national property, so he must be cautious.
He really didn't dare to agree easily.
Shi Xiaoai had already thought of this.
No matter how good a leader says he is, he will always put caution first in his behavior and actions.
This kind of thing has no precedent. Without full guarantees, people will not be willing to take responsibility even if they know it may be beneficial to the district.
So she immediately said, "Don't worry, District Head Ou, since I have decided to help our district solve its difficulties, I will not cause any more difficulties for the district.
I won't let the district bear the burden of the loan for our snack shop.
I have confidence in what I want to do, and I think I have the ability to do it well!
So I am willing to use my house as collateral.
The house we live in now and the house in Courtyard No. 1, taken together, are more than enough to cover the loan amount. I am willing to sign an agreement with the bank. If I can't repay the loan, I can let the bank use my house as collateral!"
The debt will not be repaid, but the attitude must be expressed.
At least she had to make the other party feel her strength and have no worries, so that they would assist her with all their strength.
District Chief Ou was indeed shocked by Shi Xiaoai's proposal.
Especially when he heard that she was willing to use her house as collateral, his pressure was relieved.
At the same time, I also felt the special aura of the female comrade in front of me, and felt that she was someone who could do great things!
I also trust her a little more.
He immediately stated, "Comrade Xiao, since you're so supportive of the district's work, we must also provide the necessary assistance. Don't worry about the loan. I'll personally call the president of the Bank of China and have him send someone to contact you."
In addition to the loan, the district will also organize meetings for various offices to allow them to provide as much support as possible for your work!
This is to help them solve their problems, so providing support is a must!"
With District Director Ou's words as a sword of authority, the following events went smoothly.
Shi Xiaoai went to the bank early the next morning, and the bank also received a notice that a branch director would be sent to receive her.
The bank was actually very troubled by the district's explanation because it had never provided loans to individuals before.
They don't even know how to calculate the interest rate.
Shi Xiaoai told the director about their next plan, and of course also provided the current snack shop's cash flow and income and expenditure statement to demonstrate their strength.
After listening to Shi Xiaoai's talk, and knowing that the director had some impression of the snack shop, the most important thing was the support from the district and their good cash flow.
So the loan process went very smoothly.
The bank has never provided loans to individuals, but it has been providing agricultural loans.
Because there was no precedent, they simply signed an agreement with Shi Xiaoai based on the interest rate of agricultural loans, allowing her to borrow 3,000 yuan from the bank at one time.
After receiving the three thousand yuan, Xiao Ai did not immediately carry out the follow-up work.
She first went to see Director Yu.
She went to see Director Yu to revise the original agreement.
When she was running the tea stall, the office signed an agreement with her at her request.
But the agreement was too rough. It only stated that the tea stall was registered under the name of the office, and they had to pay 20 yuan a month, and all management rights and affairs were under the full responsibility of Shi Xiaoai.
I wrote this just for the sake of formality, and also to prevent anyone from taking it too seriously so at least I would have something in writing.
Now that we are expanding our business, the issue of property rights must be clarified again.
At this time, people are not particularly concerned about money, especially those in public institutions.
Director Yu and his colleagues value Shi Xiao Ai not because the snack bar makes a lot of money, but because they can really help the office solve some problems.
For example, the resettlement of educated youth.
Of course, there is another point. The existence of the snack shop has made their Yunhe Lane office well-known in the district and has received good reviews. This also makes the staff of the office feel very proud and grateful to Xiao Ai.
Therefore, when it comes to the operation of the snack bar, all the staff in the office helped in every way they could. No one dragged their feet, and no one thought of scheming anything from it.
Shi Xiaoai wanted to re-sign the contract just in case.
After all, things change, and it’s hard to say what will happen in the future.
Now that Director Yu and this group of aunts are here, perhaps both sides can maintain mutual benefit, but what if someone changes in the future?
So she had to take precautions in advance.
Director Yu didn't know that Shi Xiaoai had thought so much. She heard that Shi Xiaoai went to the district and was personally invited by District Chief Ou for a private talk. She also heard that expanding the business and establishing branches were the district's requirements.
Then she will definitely cooperate.
It can be said that whatever changes Shi Xiaoai asked for can be made.
She simply returned the previous piece of paper to Shi Xiaoai, then took out a blank sheet of paper and said, "Xiaoai, I don't quite understand the agreement you're talking about. Why don't you write it? You're the best at it. Once you're done, I'll just stamp it for you."
Having said that, Shi Xiaoai can't really completely ignore Director Yu's opinion, right?
She immediately said, "Aunt Yu, I definitely can't make the final decision on this matter alone. We still need to discuss it together. For example, I think the monthly fee submitted to the office needs to be changed."
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