Chapter 87 Expanding Channels
Facing Cao Liansheng, Xu Qiang was absolutely grateful. If he hadn't had a keen eye and brought his technical reform plan to the provincial capital, Xu Qiang would have no job today.

So Cao Liansheng can be said to be Xu Qiang's mentor. Even without him, Xu Qiang would definitely have a chance to shine in the future, but that would require waiting for a while, one or two years, or even three to five years. It is all possible.

Xu Qiang is never stingy when it comes to a mentor who has helped him. What's more, the other party is a well-known chemical expert in the province. If he can establish a good personal relationship with him, it will be very helpful to Xu Qiang's future.

The two had chatted for a while at the banquet before, but the leader was present at that time and there were some things Xu Qiang was not convenient to say. So this time, during the two days of staying in the provincial capital, Xu Qiang wanted to invite Cao Liansheng to dinner to get closer to him.

"Master Cao, you haven't forgotten me yet, right?" Xu Qiang asked with a smile.

"That's right. We were drinking together last night. By the way, were you waiting for me?" Cao Liansheng asked with some surprise.

Cao Liansheng still has a good impression of Xu Qiang. People often say that colleagues are enemies, but in fact, Xu Qiang and Cao Liansheng have no intersection in their work, and Cao Liansheng has been well-known in the industry for many years. With his ability, his current position in the industry is already the limit, and now he has no desires, so it is a piece of cake for him to support a young man with potential like Xu Qiang.

"Yes, I came here specially to see you today." Xu Qiang smiled and said, "Are you free tonight? I would like to invite you to dinner..."

Cao Liansheng may not have any desires or demands, but Xu Qiang is grateful and will repay the favor. Besides, Cao Liansheng is a well-known chemical expert in the province, and Xu Qiang also needs some connections in the industry.

"This... forget it." Cao Liansheng was stunned when he heard this, then refused with a smile.

"Master Cao, let me put it this way, you are my benefactor. If you hadn't taken a fancy to my technical proposal, I would not have had the opportunity to be valued by my superiors. Our factory is located in a remote mountain valley in Fuzhou, and it is not easy to come to the provincial capital, and everyone knows it, so I hope you won't reject my kindness." Xu Qiang said sincerely.

"Xiao Xu, I know it's not easy for you to come to the provincial capital, but the prices in NC City are much more expensive than yours. Going to a restaurant costs at least seven or eight yuan. The money you earn is not easy..."

"Don't worry about the money." Hearing this, Xu Qiang smiled and continued, "Although our factory is located in a remote mountain valley, it is a military enterprise after all, and the salary is not less than that of the workers in Nanchang. In addition, with your help this time, I won a bonus of 800 yuan from the factory. With this money, it should be enough to treat you to a meal, right?"

"Ah, I forgot about this." Cao Liansheng also laughed at this time.

During dinner last night, the factory director Liu Biao announced in front of everyone that Xu Qiang had won the first prize in the factory's "military-to-civilian" technology solicitation activity, with a prize of 800 yuan. Not only were several experts present stunned, but even Deputy Director Gao Zhiguo was shocked by the generosity of the Shengli Machinery Factory.

Since Xu Qiang had made a small fortune, Cao Liansheng had no reason to refuse his invitation.

"Then you can choose a place?"

"I think it's the small restaurant opposite." Cao Liansheng said, pointing to a small restaurant opposite the industrial park.

"This restaurant is a bit small. Why don't we go directly to the Nanchang Hotel near the train station? I heard it's the best restaurant here..."

"This place is close to my home, and I have to go back and tell my wife." A hint of helplessness flashed across Cao Liansheng's face, and then he said, "Otherwise, she will get angry with me again when she gets back..."

"Understood!" Hearing this, Xu Qiang immediately understood and said, "Then I'll go order the dishes first, and you can come over later."

"Okay." Cao Liansheng said, and rode away on his bicycle. More than 20 minutes later, Cao Liansheng and Xu Qiang met again and were stunned by the table full of food.

"With so many dishes, this Maotai is quite expensive. You're spending too much." Cao Liansheng said a little embarrassedly.

"A poor family may be rich on the road. I have finally come to the provincial capital, so having a good meal is nothing. What's more, I am inviting you to dinner. Master Cao, you don't have to be polite to me." Xu Qiang said with a smile.

"Okay." Cao Liansheng didn't say anything more and simply sat down.

"Master Cao, let me offer you a toast first to thank you for your kindness in recognizing my talents." Xu Qiang filled the two people's wine glasses and said to Cao Liansheng.

"Come!"

The two clinked glasses and drank it all in one gulp.

After drinking the wine, the two of them started talking more.

"...Xiao Xu, what's the matter with you inviting me to dinner this time?"

After some pleasantries, the two quickly got down to business.

"It's actually like this..." Xu Qiang took out the equipment and a list of various chemical raw materials that he had prepared long ago from his underwear pocket and handed them to Cao Liansheng, saying, "This time I came to the provincial capital, in addition to the meeting, I also want to buy these things, but I walked around Nanchang this morning and couldn't find a place to sell these things. Master Cao, you work at the Chemical Industry Design Institute, you should know some ways to buy chemical raw materials, right?"

Xu Qiang has always wanted to expand his raw material procurement channels, which is crucial for his production of other daily chemical products.

Any daily chemical product requires a lot of chemical raw materials. Although Xu Qiang masters the production process and procedures of these raw materials, it is absolutely impossible for him to produce all of them by himself.

Some of these chemical raw materials either have certain risks in production or the equipment required is very expensive. These are not something that small businesses or workshops without relevant qualifications can produce, and they can only be purchased from large state-owned factories. There is no other way around this.

Nowadays, Xu Qiang can only buy some chemical raw materials from the Materials Bureau through Wang Zhong of the town supply and marketing cooperative. However, the chemical raw materials sold by their local Materials Bureau are also limited, which obviously greatly restricts Xu Qiang's development of new products.

Therefore, one of Xu Qiang's biggest tasks this time in the provincial capital is to expand his own procurement channels for raw materials and equipment, so as to develop more fine chemical products.

"You..." After seeing the list that Xu Qiang gave him, Cao Liansheng frowned and said, "The things you want to buy should be important raw materials for making fragrances and dyes. There are also various reagents here. Do you want to produce daily chemical products yourself?"

Cao Liansheng is worthy of being a well-known chemical expert in the province. He found the key after just one glance at the list.

(End of this chapter)