Chapter 10 An unexpected gain
"Haha, this is nothing. Xiao Xu, you can go to Jilin University, which is also a great thing. In recent years, there are not many students in our county who can be admitted to university. They are all outstanding..."

Around 1975, those who could go to university were all admitted to the Workers, Peasants and Soldiers University. There was no need to take the college entrance examination and everyone was recommended.

In this group, there are old educated youth who have been sent to the countryside to work for many years, grassroots cadres, children of high-ranking officials, technical backbones of factories, propaganda officers of the army... Some of them have truly implemented the spirit of recommendation and passed relatively strict entrance examinations, some were assigned by the organization, and some even have connections.

But no matter what, people who can go to college at this time are definitely not ordinary people.

"I can't say I'm an outstanding person, I'm just lucky." Xu Qiang smiled and continued, "When I was in college, I always studied very hard. This time I came back to build my hometown..."

"Haha, building up your hometown, that's a good idea." Wang Zhong nodded and said, "I also returned to my hometown with this ideal, but the unit I was assigned to didn't match my major..."

"We are all serving the people, no matter which position we are in. Besides, I have heard that Director Wang is doing an excellent job in the county. Our county supply and marketing cooperative is the most trusted place by local people, and it never sells inferior goods." Xu Qiang said with a smile.

"That's right! Our supply and marketing cooperative sells the best things, many of which are imported from Shanghai manufacturers. The things may be a little expensive, but they are definitely durable!" When saying this, Wang Zhong showed a bit of pride on his face.

"Director Wang, you are a good leader..." Xu Qiang echoed at this time.

At this moment, the waiter came over with the food.

Looking at the Maotai on the table and the food that was served one after another, Wang Zhong began to show a look of surprise on his face.

"What exactly do you do?" Wang Zhong couldn't help but ask again.

"I am a recent college graduate and have been assigned to the Shengli Machinery Factory."

"So what exactly did you find this time?" Seeing that the food on the table was becoming more and more sumptuous, Wang Zhong seemed to feel that things were not simple.

"It's like this..." Seeing that the time was almost right, Xu Qiang took out a list from his underwear pocket, handed it to Wang Zhong, and said, "I want to buy some things for chemical experiments. I just went to your supply and marketing cooperative and saw that they didn't sell any. I wonder if Director Wang can help me buy some..."

"Uh..." Wang Zhong took the list, took a look at it, and asked in confusion, "Alcohol lamp, beaker, test tube... Aren't these for school chemistry experiments? Did you buy them for the school?"

"I use it myself."

"For your own use?"

"That's right." Xu Qiang nodded and continued, "After graduating from university, I have always wanted to do something for my hometown. I graduated from chemical engineering, so I want to refine fertilizers myself and help our farmers get rich."

"Can you refine fertilizer?" Wang Zhong opened his mouth so wide that he could swallow an egg.

"Actually, it's just using a traditional method to extract humic acid. Our local peat reserves are abundant, and I think we can't waste such resources, so I found some helpers in the village and prepared to set up a stall to produce fertilizers." Facing Wang Zhong, Xu Qiang came clean.

Xu Qiang understood that since Wang Zhong had been working in the supply and marketing cooperative for such a long time, he must be an experienced veteran. If he tried to make excuses, he would surely be found out, so he simply said it out loud.

"Humic acid is a good thing!" Hearing this, Wang Zhong's eyes suddenly lit up, and then asked: "Can you really extract humic acid!? Ah! I forgot, you are a college student majoring in chemical engineering, you should be able to do it."

Speaking of humic acid fertilizer, it can be said to be a hot-selling product at present.

In the early years, the fertilizer used in rural areas was basically manure, including human feces, chicken manure, pig manure and cow manure, which were piled up on the fields and fermented before use. However, their fertility was not enough and the effect of increasing production was limited.

Now that reform and opening up has entered its second year, more and more places have begun to implement the contract responsibility system, with land contracted to each household. Farmers' enthusiasm for growing grain has greatly increased, and chemical fertilizers have become more and more popular.

Among these fertilizers, humic acid is still very popular all over the country. Anyone who sells fertilizers knows about humic acid. It is definitely a hot and popular commodity.

"I have just started this, but I think the conditions are in place and given more time, this thing will definitely succeed." Xu Qiang pondered for a moment, then said: "The key is that I can't buy many tools at the moment..."

"Leave it to me!" Wang Zhong said straightforwardly, and then continued: "The things you want to buy are not available in our supply and marketing cooperative at the moment. I need to go to the Materials Bureau to purchase them. I think I can buy them for you in two days."

"Thank you so much, Director Wang!"

"Don't be polite, we both went to college in Northeast China, it's fate!"

"Yes, yes, yes! It's fate!"

"But I have an idea, I wonder if you would like it."

"Just tell me what you think!" "Well, if you can really produce humic acid, you can sell it to us..." Wang Zhong said seriously.

"Of course it's no problem!"

Hearing Wang Zhong say this, Xu Qiang's face immediately lit up with joy.

He never expected that he went to the town today just to buy some things, but he unexpectedly found a big buyer.

According to Xu Qiang's plan, he was going to spend one to two months to build up the peat field first, and then look for sellers after he could successfully extract humic acid on a large scale. But now, the director of the town supply and marketing cooperative actually offered to buy their products.

In fact, this is also a very normal thing. You know, with the large-scale implementation of the rural contract responsibility system in Jiangxi in the past two years, farmers' demand for fertilizers is quite large. The products produced by domestic fertilizer plants are basically in short supply. The annual fertilizer purchases of Dashi Town Supply and Marketing Cooperative are very limited and cannot meet the needs of local farmers at all. So when Wang Zhong learned that Xu Qiang wanted to do fertilizer business, he naturally wanted to purchase from him.

In fact, not only is there a shortage of fertilizers in Jiangxi now, but fertilizers were also a very scarce commodity in the past. In the early years, when the educated youth went to the countryside, if anyone could get a truckload of ammonia from the city, the village would directly give him a year's work points and he didn't have to do any work. This shows how scarce fertilizers were.

"But I want to make it clear that our supply and marketing cooperative never sells counterfeit products. Your products must pass testing, and we will only buy them if they are qualified. If the purity is not enough or there are too many impurities, then we can't do this business." Wang Zhong said.

"That's no problem. As long as Director Wang can help me buy these chemical products, I guarantee that the quality of the products will meet national standards." Xu Qiang said confidently, "You supply and marketing cooperatives value integrity in doing business, and so do we. Things that are crooked and unorthodox will not last long, and we will not do such things."

"That's good!" Wang Zhong nodded in satisfaction, and then said, "The other issue is the price. I'll give you the same price as the market price, but..."

"I can give you a 10% kickback!" Xu Qiang said directly without waiting for Wang Zhong to finish.

Xu Qiang had some understanding of business in this era. He knew that it was difficult for many private and state-owned enterprises to do business without kickbacks.

Before the 1980s, prices were unified across the country. Similar products had the same price whether in cities or in rural areas, and everyone knew it. Therefore, it was impossible for the supply and marketing cooperatives to do anything with the profits of goods.

But nowadays, with the reform and opening up, the vast majority of store operations at the grassroots cooperatives are still operated by large collectives, and the grassroots supply and marketing cooperatives uniformly organize the "joint purchase and distribution" of industrial products and the "separate purchase and joint sales" of agricultural and sideline products and waste materials.

In terms of business management, we have gradually introduced excess reward systems, floating wages, bonus systems, etc. to stimulate the enthusiasm of store operations.

However, this large-scale collective management mode was gradually destroyed artificially.

In terms of "purchasing", because the main channels within the supply and marketing cooperative system had been destroyed, the channels for grassroots cooperatives to purchase goods had also changed greatly. It was common to purchase goods from other economic organizations, manufacturers, wholesale markets, etc. At that time, the purchasers sent out by grassroots cooperatives were quite powerful and controlled the benefits of grassroots cooperatives to a certain extent.

Due to the "bad nature" of people themselves, the so-called "taking kickbacks" phenomenon has emerged at the social level, and various strange phenomena have occurred frequently, making it difficult for grassroots social security to prevent them. As a result, inferior products, even counterfeit and shoddy products, have appeared.

Wang Zhong holds the purchasing power of the town supply and marketing cooperative. He can choose the purchasing channels himself. It is for this reason that he can negotiate this business with Xu Qiang and let the supply and marketing cooperative purchase their products.

In fact, the quality of fertilizers produced by state-owned enterprises is more guaranteed and more formal. However, on the one hand, due to the shortage of fertilizers, it is difficult for Wang Zhong to buy enough fertilizers. On the other hand, the delivery time is uncertain. It often takes several months or even half a year to a year to buy the goods. This forces Wang Zhong to find other sources of supply.

Although Xu Qiang has not produced even a bag of fertilizer so far, he is a college student majoring in chemical engineering after all. He has the technology, funds and manpower, and the chances of success are still very high. If Xu Qiang was not a college student majoring in this field, Wang Zhong would definitely not believe what he said.

Besides, the deal between the two can only be completed if Xu Qiang produces qualified fertilizers, so Wang Zhong is just casting a wide net. Even if Xu Qiang cannot make fertilizers, there will be no loss for him.

"As expected of a college student in our county, your mind and knowledge are extraordinary!" Upon hearing what Xu Qiang said, the smile on Wang Zhong's face became even wider.

Having said that, the two of them have basically concluded the deal.

Establishing a relationship with Director Wang this time is of vital importance to Xu Qiang, because in addition to having a legal major buyer for his products, there is another very important point, that is, Xu Qiang will be able to purchase a lot of chemical raw materials through this channel in the future. In this way, Xu Qiang will be able to produce more other daily chemical products to make money in the future.

"By the way, Director Wang, do you think that the business I am doing can be considered speculation..." Xu Qiang said meaningfully at this time.

"What speculation? You use peat resources to produce soil fertilizers to promote agricultural production. It's a great thing to help farmers. Farmers should be grateful to you!" Wang Zhong said with a raised eyebrow.

"Hahaha! Yes, yes, yes! It's to help farmers!" Hearing this, Xu Qiang burst into laughter.

There is no doubt that Xu Qiang and Wang Zhong are both people who think very quickly. After this conversation, the two have begun to secretly appreciate each other.

When the bottle cap of Moutai was opened, the aroma of wine immediately filled the air. Liu Jun and Erhu, who were sitting on both sides, helped pour the wine while picking up food for the two bosses, appearing very attentive.

The next moment, the wine glasses in Xu Qiang and Wang Zhong's hands clinked together...

(End of this chapter)