Chapter 170: Competition
"You’re just a rookie. Did you think you could compare your presence to the worldly Factory Director Xie?" the captain glanced at him, chiding with a laugh.
The young man, called a rookie, rubbed the spot where his boss had patted him and said, disgruntled, "She hasn’t been a factory director for very long, either!"
He wasn’t convinced.
"But she can negotiate with foreigners and make 900 million."
"..."
The rookie was convinced.
He figured that if he were sold, he wouldn’t even be worth tens of thousands of yuan.
Everyone at the police station had a positive impression of Xie Changning. They all thought it was incredibly impressive that she had come from Chuncheng to Anong County all on her own and become the sole person in charge of three factories.
And she was only in her twenties!
The prime of her life!
Xie Changning returned to the daily-use chemical factory. Once inside, she watched the workers continuing their tasks and nodded in satisfaction. "Let me see the rejects."
Some of the rejects could be used as free washing supplies for the factory’s own use.
The composition was the same. They were just misshapen, or had no shape at all.
There was no problem using them for washing up within the factory.
Coincidentally, the washrooms for the Anong County Machinery Factory were already under construction. When the time came, she could have the machinery factory purchase some of these rejects.
Lin Yongsheng nodded and had the workers move all the rejects in front of Xie Changning. "I was thinking these misshapen ones could be sold at a low price to the local residents, or to the supply and marketing co-ops."
"That’s why I’ve been saving them all instead of having them reworked."
Right now, for them, any sale was a profit.
Xie Changning nodded, approving of Lin Yongsheng’s approach. "You did the right thing. However, the machinery factory is preparing to purchase a batch. I’ll have Uncle Wang contact you later to arrange an order."
Factories placed large orders. Lin Yongsheng was naturally thrilled to be able to move so much stock at once instead of letting it pile up.
He nodded. "Sounds good!"
After inspecting the workshop, Xie Changning went to see Sheng Jiaojiao and the others.
They had converted their lab into a sterile laboratory and wouldn’t allow Xie Changning to enter. Anything they had to say had to be said through the door.
Xie Changning: "..." ’They’ve really come into their own...’
"We’ve now developed the lily of the valley fragrance, and also the facial cleanser you mentioned. But it’s still in the experimental phase. We’ll have Vice Factory Director Lin notify you when we succeed."
If they were to export overseas, facial soap was just a temporary solution. All their production lines needed to keep up.
Xie Changning wasn’t worried. As long as they could launch one or two new products before the Autumn Trade Fair, it would be fine.
What she was concerned about now was the outer packaging, and the production line for the facial cleanser.
The existing facial soap production line couldn’t be touched; they needed to add a new one.
’Looks like I need to find time to consolidate the plans for the three factories, then go see Director Zhao and have him support his troops again!’
After leaving the lab, Xie Changning took a car home.
After the Spring Trade Fair, Xie Changning had been constantly exhausted. She went to bed early that night, but unfortunately—
She went to bed early, but she woke up very, very early.
She was woken up around three in the morning, told that a superior was on the phone, and that she had to go to the factory to take the call.
Right then, Xie Changning felt that she absolutely had to get a phone installed in her own courtyard!
Otherwise, having to go to the factory every time to answer the phone was just too inconvenient!
When she arrived at the office, her superior was waiting for her.
"Director Zhao, you were looking for me?" Xie Changning couldn’t help but yawn as she spoke.
Director Zhao knew that everyone should be sleeping at this hour, but it couldn’t be helped. A call had come from overseas, requesting to expand their partnership.
Originally, Xie Changyi should have been the one to contact Xie Changning. But Xie Changyi and her team came directly to him, held a late-night meeting, and then contacted Xie Changning from his office.
"Changning, right now, Korea and Japan want to be distributors for your factory—for your printers and your facial soap."
Xie Changyi was the one who negotiated the deal for the facial soap.
She felt that just offering the printers was letting Japan off too easily, so she negotiated with them and ended up securing the distributorship for the daily-use chemical factory as well.
Of course, Xie Changning would have to personally negotiate the prices herself.
Xie Changning: "...They’re not even in a different time zone. Calling us in the middle of the night—are they insane?!"
’Couldn’t they call during the day?’
’Do they think they’re some European country with a time difference with China?!’
’Lunatics!’
Xie Changning’s furious outburst resonated with the few people present, but since the other party was offering such a huge business deal, they naturally wouldn’t refuse it.
In truth, everyone there knew that the people from these two countries were doing it on purpose to mess with them.
"Let them wait. Right now, they’re the ones who need our products. And they want to pull these petty tricks to annoy us? Our products will sell regardless. Let them wait!"
Xie Changning, having been woken up in the middle of the night, was fuming. Director Zhao: "..."
’That’s true,’ he thought. ’We were just thinking about earning foreign currency. We never considered they might be using this tactic to mess with us.’
’They don’t want us to make money in peace...’
Xie Changyi stifled a laugh. "I can see you’re not happy about being woken up. Obviously, we came to tell you about something else as well."
Only then did Xie Changning’s expression soften a little.
"What is it?"
"Europe is holding a machinery competition soon. The organizers have invited you to participate. The invitation letter is on its way, but the call just came in."
It was a sincere invitation, so of course, China wouldn’t refuse.
Besides, Xie Changyi felt that this was also an opportunity for Xie Changning.
’It’s a chance to see the skill level of people out there, to compete with them, and to learn!’
As she was thinking, Xie Changyi was already drafting a list for the team. She wanted to gather all the genius technicians in the country and send them abroad to learn.
Opportunities like this were rare. Xie Changyi’s thinking was that they had to go out and see the world!
Xie Changning had no intention of refusing. "Do they have any requirements for the team members?"
"Yes. No more than ten people, and they all have to be Level 4 technicians or higher." Any lower, and the hosts would think they were lowering the caliber of their competition.
They wouldn’t agree.
"In that case, the Anong County Machinery Factory needs two spots."
Xie Changning was directly negotiating terms with her own sister.
Xie Changning wasn’t going to let such a good opportunity pass. She knew the leadership wouldn’t simply let her take people from her own factory, but she felt that if she asked for two spots, they would grant them.
As it turned out, Xie Changning was not wrong.
The leaders indeed had no intention of refusing.
"As long as you know what you’re doing, we have no objections." Xie Changyi felt that two spots were within an acceptable range, so she agreed to Xie Changning’s request.
"Come to Chuncheng tomorrow for a meeting."
It was mainly about going to Europe to participate in the competition.
The competition was in three months, but there was an evaluation in two months, so Xie Changning and the others would need to go to Europe in one month.