After seeing Jiang Longcheng off, Li Yi returned to Ye Lingyun’s hospital room, intending to discuss the matter with Tang Xue.
After all, he’d left her—who was pregnant—and his seriously ill mother behind; he had to explain himself clearly, or else it could easily create a rift between them.
Just as he reached the door of the hospital room, Li Yi heard his third sister’s voice!
“Auntie, you really gave me a heart attack! Thank goodness you’re awake—otherwise, I’d be in a real bind, caught between a rock and a hard place!”
Although Li Na’s voice was a bit loud and boisterous, one could still tell she was still shaken by the scare.
“You’re not calling me ‘Big Sister’ anymore?” Ye Lingyun asked with a smile.
“No… no, we’re from different generations!” Li Na said, a touch of embarrassment in her voice.
“What happened yesterday was my fault. I scared you!”
Then Ye Lingyun added, “But I really do want to thank you. If it weren’t for you, I don’t know when I would have been able to reunite with Xue’er!”
“You don’t need to apologize…”
Just then, Li Yi pushed open the door and walked in!
Upon seeing him, everyone fell silent, their eyes fixed on Li Yi.
“Xiao Yi, come here!”
Hearing his mother-in-law’s call, Li Yi immediately walked over!
“How are you feeling now? Do you need to rest for a bit?”
“I’m fine. With Xue’er here, I feel at ease—my body feels much lighter!” Ye Lingyun said.
“That may be so, but you still need to follow the doctor’s orders and take your IV fluids and medication on time!” Li Yi said.
“Hmm, Xiao Yi, thank you!”
“Please don’t say that—I can’t accept such praise!” Li Yi said with a smile.
Meanwhile, Tang Xue, standing nearby, quickly interjected, “Mom, we’re family—you’re being too polite to him!”
“That’s right, we’re family—we’re all family!” Ye Lingyun said.
Li Yi understood his mother-in-law’s current state of mind, so he quickly changed the subject: “By the way, Xiao Xue, Third Brother stopped by earlier. Grandpa asked him to bring you some bedding and daily necessities!”
“Where’s Third Brother now?”
“He went to pick up Zhang the educated youth and Sister-in-law An Hong!”
“Huh? Why is he picking them up?” Tang Xue asked in surprise.
Li Yi then explained the situation regarding Jiang Longcheng asking for his help.
Upon hearing this, Tang Xue immediately said, “Since Third Brother asked for your help, you should definitely go!”
“Besides, we don’t need Xinyao or Sister-in-law An Hong. With Third Sister here, the two of us can take good care of Mom!”
Li Yi smiled and said, “I don’t feel comfortable leaving Third Sister to handle it all by herself!”
“All right, then!”
At that moment, Ye Lingyun looked at Li Yi and said, “Xiao Yi, I know you’re a smart, level-headed kid. Longcheng has always been close to me and Shiying—please do your best to help him if you can!”
“Rest assured, I won’t stand idly by when it comes to Third Brother’s affairs!” Li Yi replied.
“Alright!”
I have to say, Jiang Longcheng sure is quick!
No sooner had Li Yi finished explaining the situation to Tang Xue and his mother-in-law than he brought Zhang Xinyao and An Hong over.
When the two learned that Tang Xue had actually found her biological parents—and that they were both scions of prominent Beijing families—they were utterly shocked.
When they learned that Li Yi had asked them to come to the hospital to help him look after Tang Xue and her biological mother, they immediately agreed.
After settling matters at the hospital, Li Yi followed Jiang Longcheng to the cotton mill!
…….
Cotton Mill. Main Warehouse!
When the mill’s warehouse manager opened the doors in front of Li Yi and Jiang Longcheng, the two were stunned by the mountains of cotton fabric and yarn piled inside.
The vast warehouse was filled with neatly stacked bales.
These massive fiber-woven bales were filled entirely with cotton cloth and yarn, with cotton cloth making up the vast majority.
After recovering from the initial shock, Li Yi immediately walked into the warehouse and took a look around!
After his tour, Li Yi was inwardly stunned.
He had always known that the cotton mill was suffering from severe inventory backlog, but he never imagined the quantities would be this vast.
To put it simply, the backlog in this warehouse alone was worth no less than several hundred thousand yuan!
And who knows how many large warehouses like this there were throughout the entire cotton mill.
Disposing of all this fabric was no easy task.
With that in mind, Li Yi pointed to a random woven bag and said to the warehouse managers standing nearby, “Open it up!”
The warehouse managers at the cotton mill didn’t recognize Li Yi. Upon hearing this, they didn’t move but all turned to look at Jiang Longcheng.
“Didn’t you hear me? What are you all standing there for? Hurry up and open it!” Jiang Longcheng shouted.
Hearing Jiang Longcheng’s order, the warehouse managers finally snapped out of it and immediately set to work on the large bundle!
Soon, the large bundle wrapped in cotton cloth was unwrapped.
Then, Li Yi personally began inspecting the fabric inside.
He inspected it meticulously, unfolding and examining each of the six bolts of fabric in the bundle one by one with the utmost care.
It took Li Yi over an hour to finish inspecting all six bolts of cloth.
To be honest, the cloth in the warehouse did indeed have some flaws; two of the six bolts had uneven threads or small holes.
The problems were real, but not as serious as one might imagine. At the very least, the fabric was still usable; it was just that, with a bit of bad luck, a small hole might be discovered after it was made into clothing.
Yet even such a minor flaw was enough to ruin the reputation of the Second State-Owned Cotton Spinning Factory.
Of course, the severe backlog of goods at the factory is directly related to product quality issues, but it is also due to the poor economic climate.
Currently, there are thousands of textile mills of all sizes across the country, resulting in a severe overcapacity.
If the products aren’t competitive, being weeded out is inevitable.
“Bro-in-law, what do you think? Is there still a chance to salvage this?” Jiang Longcheng asked nervously.
Li Yi didn’t answer him, but instead turned to the warehouse manager standing nearby and asked, “How much stock like this do you have in total?”
The warehouse manager didn’t dare to delay and hurriedly replied, “Currently, we have four full containers and one and a half!”
“What’s the total value?”
“The cotton fabric alone is worth about 1.25 million, the cotton yarn is worth about 150,000, and the cotton thread is worth 80,000!”
After hearing the warehouse manager’s reply, Li Yi felt more confident.
Then he turned to Jiang Longcheng and said, “Let’s take this outside.”
“Alright!”
The two then left the warehouse area and returned to Jiang Longcheng’s office.
As soon as they entered, Li Yi said, “We have two options. Think it over!”
“What are the options?” Jiang Longcheng asked eagerly.
“Option one: I’ll personally devise the shipping plan, tell you exactly what to do, and you organize the factory workers to carry it out. Once it’s done, I’ll take 20% of the net profit!”
Seeing Jiang Longcheng’s brow furrow, Li Yi quickly explained, “If this factory belonged to the Jiang family, I’d definitely help for free—not a penny!”
“But since the factory is collectively owned and you’re just an agent, I can’t work for free. I hope you understand, Third Brother!”
“I understand. What’s the second option?” Jiang Longcheng asked.
“For the second option, I’ll take this batch of cotton fabric. But given the quality issues, I’ll pay no more than 300,000 yuan for the 1.25 million yuan worth of fabric!” Li Yi said.
“What are you going to do with so much fabric?” Jiang Longcheng frowned.
“To make a profit, of course!”
“Can you really make a profit? Don’t lose your entire investment. You should know that just a couple of days ago, we already slashed the price to half of what it was, but still no one was willing to buy!” Jiang Longcheng said.
“That’s none of your concern. I have my own way of handling it!”
Li Yi then added, “Since this concerns the collective, I suggest you hold a meeting with the factory’s leadership to discuss it!”
“Alright, I’ll call a meeting right away!”
With that, Jiang Longcheng hurried over to the secretary’s office next door and summoned the factory’s mid- and senior-level managers to the conference room immediately!