Chapter 177: All businessmen are dishonest
However, these small clothing workshops do not have any laboratories to test dyes, so the only way is to dye the clothes directly. If the color is bright and does not fade for a long time, the dye can be used.

Erhu has left dye samples to the owners of these workshops. It will probably take a week for them to verify whether the indigo powder is durable.

After a simple wash, Erhu sat on the bed and smoked a cigarette before he woke up.

Afterwards, Erhu polished his leather shoes until they were shiny, put on his suit, and left the hotel.

According to the previous agreement, Erhu also has to go to Fufang.

In fact, Erhu didn’t have high expectations for this trip to Fufang.

He now finds that compared to these large state-owned enterprises, many small workshops are much easier to deal with, and they are quite happy to bargain and pay. One reason is that some of the large state-owned enterprises look down on small village-run businesses like theirs, and also, restricted by national policies, they have fixed channels for purchasing raw materials. Unless there are special circumstances, they will not buy products from small factories like theirs.

In addition, it is relatively easy to make money when doing business these days. As national income continues to increase, the variety of domestic commodities is also increasing. However, the products of large state-owned enterprises are difficult to meet the diverse needs of everyone. The rising small and medium-sized enterprises in towns and villages can quickly fill this gap. When market demand is strong and the competitive environment is relatively weak, it is naturally easy to make money.

For example, Xue Guozhong's clothing workshop can produce hundreds of ready-made clothes of various kinds every day. The fabrics are directly purchased from Fufang, and the employees are all experienced tailors, so the quality of the clothes produced is still good.

As for clothing styles, they make whatever is popular on the market. Xue Guozhong even subscribes to several domestic clothing magazines to keep up with the trends of the times. He also makes some improvements based on the local people's aesthetics. Therefore, some of the clothes they produce are even more avant-garde and beautiful than those produced by state-owned clothing factories, and naturally sell better.

Finally, there is the issue of sales. The earliest customers of Fuzhou clothing workshops were all local clothing vendors. Before the market days in various towns and villages, there were many such clothing stalls. But as the quality of ready-made clothes became better and better, and the variety increased, many clothing vendors in the province also came to them to place orders, and the number of orders increased.

It is precisely because of this that the owners of these clothing workshops offer such a high price for the dyes promoted by Erhu. The reason is that their products are easy to sell, especially the most popular styles and clothing at the moment, and they are willing to invest more capital.

After taking the bus for several stops, Erhu finally arrived at the gate of Fufang again.

In fact, Erhu did not have much hope for this trip to Fufang. After all, his sales mission had been basically completed. If there was no news from Fufang, he could go home.

"Erhu! You're here at last!"

This time, before Erhu reached the factory gate, a man came running towards him.

The person who came was none other than Xu Ming, the head of the Supply and Marketing Department of Fufang Textile.

"you……"

Suddenly he saw Xu Ming jogging towards him, with a smile on his face that almost distorted his facial features. Erhu felt a chill in his spine and said in surprise.

"Didn't you agree to come in the morning? It's almost time to get off work in the afternoon. I thought you weren't coming today."

"I drank until midnight yesterday, so I got up late today."

"Okay, don't say anything more, just follow me to the reception room." Xu Ming said, and was about to lead Erhu to the reception room.

"Forget about the reception room. I just came to ask about the test results. Did it pass?" Erhu asked.

In fact, Erhu had already discussed the price of indigo powder with the owners of those garment workshops, and the other party also expressed his willingness to order 200 kilograms first and pay on delivery.

Don't underestimate an order of just 200 kilograms. You should know that the amount of dye consumed when dyeing cloth is actually not that large.

Generally speaking, one hundred grams of dye can usually dye 3 to 5 small batches of clothes. If it is mass production, it can dye more clothes.

On average, about 20 grams of dye can dye one piece of clothing.

Two hundred kilograms is two hundred thousand grams, enough to dye ten thousand pieces of clothing!
But in fact, the fabric of clothing such as jeans is relatively thick, which means more dye is needed, but two hundred kilograms is enough to dye at least thousands of clothes.

In addition, the price of indigo powder is relatively expensive. The price agreed upon before was 150 yuan per kilogram, so kilograms would cost a full yuan! Such a high amount is enough for the fertilizer factory to make a lot of money!

So with this order, Erhu was already satisfied. This time he came to Fufang mainly to learn the test results of the indigo powder. After all, the small workshop did not have the instruments and equipment to test the dye. "Let's talk in the reception room!"

"Okay." Seeing this, Erhu had no choice but to go to the reception room with Xu Ming.

After entering the reception room, Xu Qiang saw a middle-aged man with a bald head sitting inside. When the man saw the two of them coming, he just greeted Xu Ming and walked to the window to continue smoking.

"Drinking tea, this is the West Lake Longjing tea I bought when I went to Hangzhou on a business trip this summer. I usually don't even want to drink it..."

After Erhu sat down, Xu Ming immediately made him a cup of tea.

"Chief Xu, you are so polite." Seeing this, Erhu immediately understood that the dye he brought before must have passed the test, so he asked with a smile: "Let's see, can our product be used?"

"Yes, but the quality is a little worse. It can only be used to dye some low-end clothing." Xu Ming smiled slightly, and then said: "According to our factory director's intention, he didn't want to use dyes of this quality. I had to persuade him to try it. To put it bluntly, I also think it's not easy for you to bring these things all the way here. I can't let you make a wasted trip, right?"

"Thank you very much, Chief Xu." Erhu thanked him when he heard it.

"It's nothing. We are friends after all." Xu Ming chuckled and continued, "I want to ask, how much indigo dye can your factory produce in a month?"

"Chief Xu, I'm telling you the truth. This dye was just developed by our factory director. The bottle I sent you before was a sample from the first batch. As for how much dye can be produced each month, I don't know..."

"Uh..." Xu Ming heard this, a hint of disappointment flashed across his face, and then he asked: "Then is the quality of your products guaranteed?"

"There's definitely no problem with this!" Erhu raised his eyebrows and said, "Although our factory is just a small one run by the village, we still attach great importance to product quality. Our factory director has his own laboratory. When we produced fertilizers in the past, each batch would be sampled and then sent to the supply and marketing cooperatives for sale. There have never been any problems..."

"It turns out that your factory doesn't even have a dedicated laboratory technician?" At this time, Zhao Zhiqin, who was smoking nearby, couldn't help but interjected in surprise.

"There are only a few people in our factory, and it is basically supported by the factory director alone. Speaking of our factory director, he is a capable man. Not only does he know how to do business, he also understands technology. In addition to fertilizers, our factory has also produced soaps and shampoos, which are also very popular. This time, we spent a lot of money to buy special equipment from Shanghai just for the production of this kind of dye." Erhu said after taking a sip of tea.

"You also produce soap and shampoo? How does that have anything to do with that?" The more Zhao Zhiqin listened, the more he felt something was wrong. He asked, "Also, what did your factory director do before? How come you can produce so many things?"

Zhao Zhiqin stayed in the reception room because he wanted to learn about the situation of this village-run enterprise.

You know, there are very few companies in China that can produce indigo powder, and all of them are large factories with strong financial and technical strength. The fact that a village-run enterprise can also produce this high-end dye naturally aroused Zhao Zhiqin's great curiosity.

"Our factory director went to college in Northeast China, majoring in chemical engineering. After returning this time, he joined a local state-owned enterprise and used his spare time to run this small factory..."

There are few honest salesmen.

Xu Ming is good at deceiving people, and Erhu is also good at inflating his own status.

He knew that if he told the truth and told the other party that his factory director was just a junior high school student, the deal might be ruined. So he remembered that Xu Qiang had pretended to be a college student in front of Wang Zhong, the director of the town supply and marketing cooperative, so he said that Xu Qiang was also a college student.

"Are today's college students so amazing?" Sure enough, after hearing Erhu say this, Zhao Zhiqin couldn't help but sigh.

"Erhu, let me be frank with you. This time our factory wants to purchase a small batch of indigo powder from your factory. I wonder what the price of this product is?" Xu Ming had already gotten to the point and started talking about the price directly.

"Then how much do you think the dye produced by our factory should sell for?" Erhu asked back.

When it came to negotiating the price, Erhu couldn't take the initiative to quote a price, because when he came, Xu Qiang didn't give him an accurate price, but just asked him to come and test the market conditions.

When Erhu and Xu Ming were drinking before, they found out that the market price of this indigo powder should be around 120 yuan per kilogram, but now the clothing workshop in the suburbs has offered him a high price of 150 yuan per kilogram, so Erhu has to first ask the other party what the lowest price they are willing to pay.

"As I said just now, the dyes produced by your factory cannot be compared with those produced by large domestic factories. There are gaps in all indicators. They can only be used for dyeing mid- and low-end clothing. Our factory director originally did not want to use it, and I had a hard time convincing him..." Xu Ming sighed, and then continued, "The best indigo powder on the market costs about 120 yuan per kilogram. Your poor quality is only worth 50 to 60 yuan per kilogram at most. However, we have a good relationship, so I have also raised the price for you with the factory director. Let's charge 70 yuan per kilogram..."

(End of this chapter)