Chapter 410: A Second Partnership!

The cotton mill’s resumption meeting was still in progress!

Everyone in the conference room fixed their gaze on Li Yi, waiting for his response.

They were all adults, so naturally, they didn’t believe in free lunches.

Moreover, Feixue Apparel’s profitability was undeniable—in just over a month, profits had already exceeded a million.

In this day and age, that was something most companies could scarcely imagine, let alone achieve.

Although this was aided by low-cost raw materials and the surge in purchasing power during the Lunar New Year, one cannot deny the value of Feixue Apparel—it would not be an exaggeration to call it a goose that lays golden eggs.

Under these circumstances, Li Yi certainly wasn’t going to play the role of a do-gooder, handing over the Feixue Apparel brand and its retail stores to the Cotton Spinning Mill without demanding anything in return.

The Cotton Spinning Mill, for its part, was equally unwilling to simply snatch this cash cow into its arms without a word.

Seeing everyone waiting for him to speak, Li Yi didn’t beat around the bush. He pulled the freshly signed proposal from his shoulder bag and declared loudly, “Of course there are conditions. After all, everyone has seen Feixue Apparel’s potential—no one would willingly hand over such a cash cow to someone else!”

“But that’s not my goal. As you all know, I have a close relationship with your Plant Manager Jiang. I didn’t get into this ready-to-wear business to make money in the first place—my main aim was to help him and help your cotton mill get through this crisis!”

“I’ve almost finished dealing with that batch of defective fabric you sent over. Now we need to seriously consider the future of Feixue Apparel and how to move forward!”

Hearing Li Yi’s words, everyone in the conference room couldn’t help but nod in agreement.

Everyone present knew how Li Yi had acquired that batch of fabric and why he had started the ready-to-wear business.

Hearing him speak this way, they naturally no longer doubted his sincerity or motives.

Deputy Plant Manager Chen Rui immediately replied, “Comrade Li Yi, we understand what you’re saying. Just tell us your terms, and we’ll all discuss it!”

Li Yi nodded and said, “Here’s the situation: I have the brand, the clothing patents, and the retail stores, while you have the raw materials, the production facilities, and an experienced workforce. We can definitely work together to grow Feixue Apparel into a strong and successful business!”

“I’ve drafted two partnership proposals for your consideration. The first proposal is for me to contribute the brand and patents as equity, but I won’t be responsible for day-to-day operations—I’ll take a 20% stake!”

He Tianming immediately asked, “What about the second proposal?”

“The second proposal is that I personally participate in management and guarantee the cotton mill’s annual profit reaches a certain standard. If we meet the target, I’ll take 40% of the profit; if we don’t, I won’t take a single penny!” Li Yi said.

As soon as he finished speaking, the conference room erupted into a buzz of chatter once again. Everyone began whispering to one another, discussing the two proposals Li Yi had put forward.

After a long while, Jiang Longcheng tapped the table and shouted, “Stop whispering and gossiping among yourselves! On one side are the factory’s leading officials, and on the other is my brother-in-law. We’re all family here—let’s not beat around the bush. Just say what’s on your minds!”

That said, every person in the room was a shrewd judge of character. Everyone knew that you, Jiang Longcheng, were notorious for being a reckless troublemaker—favoring family over justice was par for the course.

If anyone were to really pick a fight with your brother-in-law, they might just end up on your bad side one of these days.

For a moment, the conference room fell silent.

Li Yi, of course, knew exactly why. He immediately turned to Jiang Longcheng and said, “Third Brother, we’re in the middle of negotiations right now. Given our relationship, you should recuse yourself to avoid any appearance of impropriety!”

“Me… recuse myself?”

Jiang Longcheng was completely baffled by Li Yi’s words. He was the plant manager, after all—how was he supposed to recuse himself?

“Third Brother, why don’t you go sit in the office for a while? I’ll talk things over with everyone here and let you know when we’ve reached a decision!”

“I…”

“Everyone feels constrained with you here. Go on!”

Although Jiang Longcheng was far from convinced by Li Yi’s words, he knew full well how capable Li Yi was. After a moment’s hesitation, he turned and left the conference room.

Once Jiang Longcheng had left, the atmosphere in the conference room instantly relaxed considerably.

“My third brother has left. Now you can speak your minds!”

Li Yi then turned to He Tianming, who was standing nearby, and said again, “Deputy Plant Manager He, I can tell you’re someone who wants to make a name for yourself. You go first!”

Although He Tianming was somewhat annoyed that Li Yi, an outsider, was calling the shots, he still said, “Comrade Li Yi, your so-called Feixue Apparel is nothing more than a new brand that’s only been around for a little over a month. Those so-called specialty stores don’t hold much practical value, yet our cotton mill is expected to invest all our manpower and resources. Isn’t it a bit unreasonable for you to demand a 20% cut of the profits right off the bat?”

“Heh, Deputy Director He, I’m afraid you haven’t quite grasped the concept of brand value and patent value! Don’t let the fact that these are intangible things fool you—their value is far greater than you could ever imagine!”

Li Yi continued, “Let me put it this way: even if I didn’t partner with your cotton mill right now, I could simply turn around and find any small factory, and my Feixue Apparel would still sell like hotcakes, raking in a fortune every day!”

“On the other hand, even if you use the exact same raw materials and production processes to make the exact same clothes, simply because they lack the ‘Feixue’ brand and aren’t sold in Feixue specialty stores, your sales will still be lackluster!”

Li Yi’s words left everyone in the room silent. As factory executives, their perspective was naturally far broader than that of ordinary workers, and they all understood that what Li Yi was saying was true.

“But a 20% stake is still too high!” He Tianming said in a low voice.

“Then shall we discuss the second proposal?”

No sooner had the words left his mouth than He Tianming shook his head and said, “The second option is completely pointless. Neither Factory Director Jiang nor the district leaders would ever—or dare to—give you 40% of the profits!”

“What if I can increase the cotton mill’s profits to 100 million?” Li Yi said calmly.

“One hundred million a year?”

“Exactly!”

The moment those words were spoken, the entire conference room erupted in an uproar!

After a long pause, He Tianming spoke again: “Not even 100 million would work. This is a matter of system and principle!”

At that moment, Chen Rui, who had been sitting nearby, suddenly spoke up: “Comrade Li Yi, do you really have a way to boost our cotton mill’s annual profit to 100 million?”

“I can!”

Li Yi then added, “But the prerequisite is that I personally oversee operations, and the entire factory must follow my orders!”

“And if you don’t get involved in the management, how much profit would the factory make?” He Tianming asked.

“A conservative estimate of around 20 million!”

“Whoa!”

Hearing this, everyone present couldn’t help but gasp in astonishment.

That’s twenty million yuan! With fewer than two thousand employees in the entire factory, that meant each employee generated ten thousand yuan in profit per year—an astonishing figure.

“How about we meet each other halfway? If you can guarantee our factory’s annual profit reaches 20 million, we’ll agree to give you 10% of the profits. But you can’t own any shares in the company—the higher-ups won’t allow it!” He Tianming said.

“10% is too little. Fifteen percent at the very least!”

“Eleven percent—that’s the absolute limit!”

“14%. Not a penny less!”

“12%…”

After some negotiation, the two sides reached an agreement: Li Yi would pool all his existing resources to partner with the State-Owned Second Cotton Spinning Factory in Beijing to jointly operate and promote Feixue Apparel.

If the mill’s annual profit reached 20 million yuan, he would receive 12% of that amount as royalties for the brand and patents.

However, if the annual profit fell below 20 million yuan, the mill would only need to pay him a basic annual fee of 10,000 yuan.

Subsequently, both parties redrafted the cooperation plan, which the Cotton Mill submitted to the district government for approval!

While awaiting the district government’s approval, the mill formulated a new production plan in accordance with Li Yi’s strategy. The State-Owned Second Cotton Spinning Mill was about to embark on its legendary journey!