Watching Li Yuanchao turn away, Chen Lishu smiled and said, "How much money I can provide depends on how much goods you can introduce to me. If the price is reasonable, ten or twenty thousand is not impossible."
Upon hearing Chen Lishu's words, Li Yuanchao stumbled, and if he hadn't reacted quickly to steady himself, he would have made a fool of himself.
"Are you serious?"
Chen Lishu nodded, looking at him earnestly, "Naturally."
She certainly didn't have that much money in her hand; her savings account only held a little over twenty thousand at most. She said so much to make Li Yuanchao's interest, but she also kept a safeguard by adding a condition. If the deal didn't go through in the end, she wouldn't be accused of boasting.
Li Yuanchao's mind raced. Even at the lowest estimate of eighty thousand, three percent commission would be over two thousand yuan! He had only earned a few hundred yuan after selling goods for two or three months.
"What if I introduce them to you, and you don't honor it? Your word isn't proof, you need to give me a written note." Li Yuanchao wasn't foolish; that was thousands of yuan, not a small sum. If he introduced both parties, and Chen Lishu refused to pay, he'd have no recourse.
"Alright," Chen Lishu agreed. She took out paper and a pen from her shoulder bag and quickly wrote a simple agreement. The general content was that Li Yuanchao would be responsible for making the connection, and upon successful completion, she would pay Li Yuanchao a one-time service fee of three percent of the transaction amount.
After both parties signed the agreement, Li Yuanchao folded it twice and put it away. Only then did he confidently begin to explain in detail to Chen Lishu.
It turned out Li Yuanchao was a sent-down youth returning to the city. The factory didn't have enough positions to accommodate everyone, so he was unemployed. Later, through his brother-in-law's connections, he was able to source goods from a joint-venture garment factory.
At the end of last year, the garment factory received a large order for wide-leg pants. However, the market reception for the first batch was poor, and the other party directly refused the second batch. The factory produced according to sales. When the other party backed out, and there was no other buyer, this batch of goods had to be stored in the warehouse. To clear this inventory quickly and recover as much capital as possible, the factory allowed employees to purchase and sell the goods privately if they were willing.
Chen Lishu hadn't expected the situation to be like this and couldn't help but ask curiously, "Do you know how much is in backlog?"
"The other party ordered ten thousand pairs. Five thousand were shipped, and with what we've sold recently, there are still over four thousand pairs."
Over four thousand pairs, if priced at ten yuan each, would amount to over forty thousand yuan, and she only had twenty thousand in total.
"Since we have an agreement now, don't worry, I'll definitely side with you. I'll give you a heads-up, I'm getting these wide-leg pants at the employee internal price of eleven yuan each. It can't get any lower than this."
Li Yuanchao deliberately inflated the price by one yuan. When negotiations began, he would help to bargain down the price. When Chen Lishu finally saw that she could get them for ten yuan, the deal would likely be made.
Chen Lishu didn't fully believe Li Yuanchao's quoted price, but she didn't press the issue. Instead, she smiled and said, "Then please take me to meet the leader you're in contact with first."
Li Yuanchao nodded and led Chen Lishu toward the garment factory. The garment factory wasn't too far away. On the way, Chen Lishu noticed two construction sites on both sides of the road. She had worked on construction sites in her previous life, so she couldn't help but look more closely.
"Many people come to the trade fair every year, and there's nowhere to stay. So the higher-ups decided to build a hotel. You know about the trade fair, right?"
Li Yuanchao, hearing Chen Lishu's accent, assumed she was unfamiliar with it and was about to enlighten her. To his surprise, she nodded.
"I've heard of it. There are many foreign merchants, and they earn a lot of foreign exchange for the country every year."
Li Yuanchao was surprised she knew this too. He smiled and changed the subject. Not long after, the two finally arrived at the joint-venture garment factory that Li Yuanchao had mentioned. His brother-in-law was a minor leader in the factory, and since he frequented the place, he was familiar with the gatekeepers. Seeing him, they asked the usual questions before greeting them with a smile and letting them in.
The factory took it seriously when they heard someone wanted to purchase the backlog of wide-leg pants in large quantities. The factory director personally came out to receive Chen Lishu. After they shook hands, Chen Lishu was invited to the conference room. Before leaving, Director Zhou glanced at Li Yuanchao and said, "Xiao Li, you should come along too."
"If I take a large quantity, do you know what the lowest price would be?" Chen Lishu asked directly after sitting down.
Director Zhou glanced at Li Yuanchao and replied, "Eleven."
Chen Lishu observed everything and said calmly, "Can I see the goods first before we discuss the price?"
Director Zhou nodded, "No problem."
Soon, they all went to the warehouse, a large two-story building. Due to the rainy southern weather, all the goods were placed on shelves to prevent moisture. The over four thousand pairs of wide-leg pants filled an entire shelf. As Chen Lishu entered, she noticed a row of neatly arranged goods next to the wide-leg pants. Although she hadn't opened them, Chen Lishu knew they must be shirts. Looking at the vibrant colors, Chen Lishu couldn't help but gasp. Bell-bottom pants, floral shirts, bug-eye sunglasses—these were all icons of the 1980s. She remembered that in her previous life, these items didn't become popular in the north until much later than this. She was surprised they had already appeared in the south so early.
"This is processing with supplied materials from Hong Kong. The colors are too flashy; not many people here can truly accept them yet," Director Zhou explained with a smile, following her gaze to the floral shirts. Since the government introduced the "three imports and one compensation" policy last year, allowing processing with supplied materials and processing according to sample, their factory had received many foreign trade orders. However, everything has its pros and cons. Wide-leg pants were an example. The factory had so many in backlog, and the styles were not accepted domestically, making them unsellable and a problem.
Chen Lishu nodded, randomly picked out a few samples of the wide-leg pants, and turned to the director. "I'll take all these goods. What's the lowest price you can offer?"
Director Zhou was taken aback for a moment, then quickly responded, "Then it's ten yuan."
Chen Lishu shook her head. "With so many wide-leg pants, to be frank, it will be difficult for me to sell them after I take them. I'll need to spend on promotion and other things beforehand. Can you lower the price further?"
Director Zhou didn't quite understand what "promotion fee" meant, but he understood "difficult to sell." However, ten yuan was the lowest price he had signed with foreign merchants, and it was the same price he offered to Li Yuanchao and others. Chen Lishu certainly didn't care about his contract price. This batch of goods was now backlog, so she had to seize this opportunity to drive the price down. "Tens of thousands of yuan is not a small sum. If I buy them and can't sell them, you must give me some profit margin, so I can make a small profit on large sales."