It wasn’t even ten o’clock when Li Yi and the others stepped out of the Animal Husbandry Station.
Since the leaders at the Agriculture Bureau had given them a heads-up, the station’s management was extremely welcoming toward Li Yi and Little Dog, and the registration process went incredibly smoothly.
It was just a simple matter of registering their basic information, and the station even took care of their lodging and meals—which left Xiaogouwa rather speechless.
After all, his master, Cui Da, had previously come here to register him, only to be turned away outright.
Moreover, according to his master, even if he had somehow managed to get accepted, he would have had to arrange his own lodging and meals during the training period.
Although they openly claimed not to charge fees, if you stayed in the station’s dorms and ate at their cafeteria, you’d have to pay—apparently, the prices were comparable to those at state-run restaurants.
But now that Brother Yi had stepped in, all the excuses had vanished, and even the lodging and meals had been taken care of—the contrast couldn’t have been more stark.
After leaving the livestock station, Li Yi took the little boy to the supply and marketing cooperative to buy the things they needed for the wedding.
As soon as they entered the supply and marketing cooperative, Li Yi was recognized by the saleswoman from the day before, who greeted him cheerfully: “Comrade, you’re back again?”
“Yes, ma’am, I’m back. Has your Director Qin returned yet?” Li Yi asked with a smile.
“She’s back, she’s back! Just wait a moment—I’ll go tell her right away!”
With that, the saleswoman hurried off into the depths of the Banbanhaobang Supply and Marketing Cooperative.
Just a few minutes later, Li Yi saw the saleswoman emerge with a woman in her twenties—presumably the Director Qin she had mentioned.
Sure enough, as soon as the young woman approached Li Yi, she spoke up: “You must be Comrade Li Yi. I’m Qin Xiaorou, the newly appointed director of our county supply and marketing cooperative. I was actually planning to head over to Nianzishan Village in a little while, but I didn’t expect you to show up!”
“Hehe, I just happened to have some business in the county seat, so I dropped by on my way!” Li Yi said with a smile.
“This isn’t a good place to talk. Please come to my office,” Qin Xiaorou said.
“Sure!”
“Please follow me!”
“Alright…”
Led by Qin Xiaorou, Li Yi and the others followed her to the office located in the front courtyard of the Supply and Marketing Cooperative.
Once inside, Qin Xiaorou personally poured hot water for Li Yi and the others before saying, “Comrade Li Yi, Sister Hongxia told me you want to restart your liangpi business. I was wondering if you’d be interested in partnering with our Supply and Marketing Cooperative?”
“Of course I’m interested, but it’s not me partnering with your Supply and Marketing Cooperative—it’s Nianzishan Village partnering with you!” Li Yi replied.
“What do you mean?”
“I plan to set up a liangpi factory in Nianzishan Village to supply liangpi exclusively to the Supply and Marketing Cooperative and major organizations in the county!” Li Yi said.
Director Qin furrowed his brow and asked, “What about the pricing? What’s your wholesale price to us, and what’s our retail price?”
“When I used to run a street stall, a serving with soup and toppings cost 20 cents. I’ve also supplied liangpi to state-run restaurants before—the wholesale price was 15 cents, and their retail price was 30 cents per serving!” Li Yi explained.
“What about production? How many servings can your liangpi factory produce in a day?” Director Qin asked again.
“Under normal circumstances, producing a few thousand servings a day isn’t difficult!”
“Exactly how many?”
“Over five thousand!” Li Yi gave a conservative estimate.
Qin Xiaorou paused briefly, then said, “Comrade Li Yi, how about this: our supply and marketing cooperative will take your entire liangpi production, but you’ll have to lower the price to 10 cents a serving!”
Li Yi was taken aback for a moment, then glanced at her and said, “You want the exclusive rights to the liangpi business?”
“Exactly. From now on, you can only sell your liangpi to our Supply and Marketing Cooperative—you can’t supply any other organizations!” Qin Xiaorou said quickly.
Li Yi didn’t rush to refuse. Instead, he looked at her and said, “Director Qin, I’m sure you’re aware that the technique for making liangpi isn’t complicated. Exclusive rights are simply impossible to enforce. If you partner with us on these terms, you’ll likely end up losing money…”
Before Li Yi could finish, Qin Xiaorou cut him off: “What you say makes sense, but as far as I know, aside from you, no one else in all of Qingshan County has ever sold liangpi. There shouldn’t be any competitors in the short term.”
“Most importantly, from your previous street vending and supplying liangpi to state-run restaurants, you’ve earned the welcome and recognition of the entire county’s residents. With that market foundation in place, the risk of partnering with us isn’t significant!”
Hearing this, Li Yi was slightly taken aback. This woman before him truly had guts.
Even if each serving of liangpi were priced at just 10 cents, 5,000 servings a day would amount to 500 yuan, and 15,000 yuan a month.
Li Yi had only ever seen women willing to gamble such a large sum of money in An Hong and his second older sister—this made him take a second look at her.
After a brief pause, Li Yi replied, “Exclusive rights are fine, but 10 cents is too low. How about 13 cents per serving? If you agree, we can sign the contract right away!”
“Thirteen cents is too expensive. One cent and ten cents is the absolute limit!”
“Let’s meet halfway—12 cents per portion. What do you think?” Li Yi suggested.
“Fine, let’s make it 12 cents per portion. But your factory must purchase all its oil, salt, soy sauce, vinegar, and vegetables from our supply and marketing cooperative!” Qin Xiaorou said in a stern voice.
“Agreed. Here’s to a successful partnership!”
“A successful partnership…”
………..
When he left the supply and marketing cooperative, in addition to the large and small packages of wedding supplies, Li Yi was also holding a copy of the cooperation agreement.
Eager to return and discuss the plans for the liangpi factory with Secretary Feng, Zhang Tongfu, and the others, Li Yi had Xiaogouwa ride the bicycle he’d bought himself, following the cart delivering sewing machines, televisions, and radios as they made their way back slowly.
Meanwhile, he and Zhang Ziqiang drove off in a car, having loaded only a few lightweight items, and hurried ahead.
As soon as they reached the village entrance, they saw hundreds of villagers and cooperative members holding tools, repairing the rural road between the village and the county road.
Li Yi looked around but couldn’t find Feng Kai or Zhang Tongfu.
After asking around, he learned that after the tasks had been assigned that morning, Secretary Feng and Team Leader Zhang had gone to the commune, saying they needed to discuss the construction of a concrete road with the commune leaders.
At the same time, the villagers told him that a car had just driven into the village, presumably looking for him.
Upon hearing the news, Li Yi didn’t linger at the village entrance; he immediately got in his car and drove straight home.
Sure enough, before he even reached home, he spotted a Jeep parked in front of the new house from a distance.
As the vehicle drew closer, Li Yi could clearly make out the license plate—it was, to his surprise, Li Gang’s car.
He got out of the car and quickly walked toward the courtyard.
As soon as he pushed open the courtyard gate, Li Yi saw Li Gang and Director Liang from the sugar factory coming out of the house, apparently preparing to leave.
Upon seeing Li Yi, the two immediately came over to greet him.
As soon as they met, Li Gang smiled and said, “I heard you’d arrived in the county seat, and we were just about to head back to look for you.”
“No need—I’m back now!”
Li Yi continued, “Brother Liang, how come you have time to visit me today?”
Liang Yukuai smiled and said, “Little Li told me you were back, so I came by to check on you. I also have a few things I’d like to ask your advice on!”
“I wouldn’t dare to call it ‘consulting.’ Come on, let’s go inside and talk about it!”
“Alright…”
With that, the group headed inside together…
………..