"This is a certificate, look at this official red stamp. I tell you, I've never had any luck with these things since I was young. My grades weren't good back in school, and I dropped out early. I originally thought my son would bring me honor, but Xiaopeng isn't cut out for it either."
After seeing the person off, Wang Aixiang took the certificate and admired it with great fondness before starting to look for a place to put it in the shop.
Chen Lishu asked, "Aixing sister, what are you doing?"
Wang Aixiang replied, "This is such great honor, a certificate and a banner awarded by the district. I'm going to find a prominent place to hang the banner first. After I get the certificate framed, I'll hang it on the wall, making sure every customer who enters the shop can see it."
Chen Lishu heard her words and couldn't help but feel a mix of amusement and exasperation, "Isn't that a bit much?"
"It's worth it," Wang Aixiang said with a serious expression. "Look at any individual business owner now, can they get this honor? There's none on this entire street. We're the only ones, like a scorpion's poop being one of a kind, so we must show it off properly."
With that, she went to get a stool and tools.
Meanwhile, Zhao Xingwang had been closely monitoring Fu Hongxin and the municipal garment factory for several days. Feeling that the time was right, he decided it was time to make a move.
Since Fu Hongxin was fired from the State Cotton Mill, the municipal garment factory had been putting on more pressure. It was clear that the other party knew that even if they sued and had him arrested, he wouldn't be able to produce that much money. It was better to have him raise a portion of it, thus reducing the factory's losses.
To liquidate his assets, Fu Hongxin privately approached several units that had supplied him before, but unfortunately, all were rejected.
Chen Lishu's donation of supplies had been heavily publicized by the city. While not everyone knew about it, it was close to it. Who would want to get into trouble for such a small amount of profit?
There were individual business owners who wanted to make this money, but as soon as Fu Hongxin reached an agreement, Zhao Xingwang would find the party involved and inform them of the potential consequences. In the end, all negotiations had to be abandoned.
The price dropped from the cost price of three yuan per piece to two yuan, and eventually even to one yuan, yet still, no one dared to cooperate with him.
Fu Hongxin was not a fool; how could he not realize that Chen Lishu was targeting him from behind the scenes?
"Tell me, how much will it take for you to stop?" Fu Hongxin, like a trapped beast, finally couldn't hold on any longer. His bloodshot eyes showed that he hadn't had an easy time recently.
Zhao Xingwang said with a smile, "What are you talking about, 'stop or not stop'? It's just that we feel we know each other, and we don't want to see you go to jail like this. We just want to help you."
Fu Hongxin didn't believe that this thin, small man in front of him would be so kind.
The muscles on his jaw twitched, and after a moment, his shoulders sagged in defeat. "How do you want to help?"
Zhao Xingwang replied, "We'll take your twenty thousand pieces of clothing."
Fu Hongxin said with half-belief, "Are you really willing to take them? But when I went to Chen Lishu before, she clearly..."
Zhao Xingwang didn't respond. Fu Hongxin also realized that Chen Lishu wasn't unwilling to take the goods, but rather wanted to acquire them at the lowest possible price.
After a pause, Fu Hongxin asked, "How much can you offer?"
Zhao Xingwang said, "Three yuan, per jin."
Three yuan? Per jin?!
Fu Hongxin thought he misheard and said with a very displeased expression, "Are you kidding me?!"
Zhao Xingwang said with a serious expression, "I'm not kidding. As far as I know, the municipal garment factory's final deadline for you is tomorrow. If you can't raise the compensation, they will directly sue. Sixty thousand yuan is not a small sum, and the prison sentence should be quite long, shouldn't it?"
"Honestly, we are truly doing this because we know each other. If these cultural shirts can't be sold, you'll have no choice but to treat them as rags. I don't need to tell you what price rags fetch, right?"
Zhao Xingwang was right. If he was truly at his wit's end, to raise as much money as possible, he would have to sell them even as scrap.
Fu Hongxin's expression changed several times. Finally, as if all his strength had been drained, he said in a low voice, "Let's do as you say."
Zhao Xingwang was slightly relieved when he agreed. If the price had been pushed too low, Fu Hongxin might have sold them at scrap price out of anger. This was just right.
A total of twenty thousand pieces of cultural shirts were bought for less than eight thousand yuan. Chen Lishu was very happy when she heard the news.
Zhao Xingwang, however, was a little worried, "We said in front of so many reporters that this batch of cultural shirts is not for profit. Will there be any problems if we sell them now?"
Chen Lishu replied, "That's fine. We can reprocess them."
She had already thought of it early on. The part with words on the chest could be covered with another piece of fabric. The cost wouldn't increase much, but the quantity was a bit large, and it might be a bit of a challenge to sell them.
...
One day, it was time to pick up fabrics again. As usual, Wang Aixiang and Wang Dazhu went to the textile factory together.
Li Zhengxing, the head of the sales department, had just finished a meeting and was sitting at his desk with a furrowed brow. Seeing them enter, he smiled and stood up to greet them, "You're here? Please sit."
Chen Lishu had cooperated with Li Yuanchao and the State Cotton Mill for the past two years, so her demand for fabrics had significantly decreased. However, the two shops in town still needed fabrics, so her contact with Li Zhengxing had not been broken.
It was just that with the accelerating pace of reform and opening up, the relationship between supply and demand had quietly changed.
Wang Aixiang asked, "Are the two types of fabrics we discussed last time available?"
Li Zhengxing replied, "Yes, twenty bolts of each. I've already told them to store them in the warehouse, and they're waiting for you to pick them up."
Wang Aixiang smiled and said, "Thank you for your trouble, Section Chief Li. Please write out the order so I can go to finance to pay."
There was only Tian Lin in the shop. If anyone else came to the shop to pick up goods, she would definitely be too busy to handle it alone.
After Li Zhengxing finished writing the order and handed it to Wang Aixiang, he asked casually, "How has Xiao Chen been lately? Does she go to the shop often?"
"She's doing alright. You know she has young children at home and can't be away for too long."
Li Zhengxing nodded, "I haven't seen her in a while either. I should really go and visit her sometime."
After a few pleasantries, Wang Aixiang got up to leave.
Although Li Zhengxing said "sometime," he couldn't wait and went to Chen Lishu's house the next day.
Chen Lishu was just sending Ruirui off to school.
If there was nothing else, she would personally take Ruirui to school. After sending the child to school in the morning, she had just arrived home by car when she saw Li Zhengxing arrive.
"Why do you have time to visit today, Section Chief Li? Please, have a seat." Chen Lishu was holding a child and was a little surprised to see Li Zhengxing arrive. She quickly reacted and handed Xiaobai to Zhao Qiuyue.
Looking at the two children, Li Zhengxing said with some emotion, "Time flies so fast. I only saw them when you gave birth to them, and I can't believe they've grown up so much."
Chen Lishu smiled, "Indeed, they are already over seven months old."
Zhao Qiuyue and Li Xiulan knew that the two of them likely had something to discuss, so they took the children upstairs.
Seeing them leave, Li Zhengxing directly stated, "I've come here this time to ask for your help."