Chapter 11

The contract was successfully negotiated!

But Ye Qing didn’t receive a single cent as a deposit, which was entirely within his expectations.

The contract stipulated that payment would be made in full for each batch of qualified products, along with the deposit for the next batch of 50,000 stone-carved curbstones.

Moreover, the 250,000 stone-carved curbstones must be delivered within two months, starting from the following Monday.

It was their first collaboration, and given the extraordinary nature of Ye Qing’s product, the Urban Construction Bureau naturally had to be cautious.

However, at just sixty yuan for a curbstone that looked like a piece of art, even if they could only buy one, it would still be a good deal.

Judging from the look on the director of the Urban Construction Bureau, even if Ye Qing only delivered 100 curbstones, he would still try his best to have them installed around the bureau.

It wasn’t that Ye Qing didn’t want to set a higher price. If sold to high-end residential areas, they might even fetch 200 yuan each.

The Urban Construction Bureau needed to purchase 250,000 curbstones. If the price was set too high, they wouldn’t have the extra budget.

As long as the Urban Construction Bureau laid these stone-carved curbstones, the product’s effect would be demonstrated, and there would be no worry about selling them at a good price.

The total price for 250,000 curbstones was 15 million yuan.

After deducting the necessary costs, Ye Qing could make at least 4 million yuan, a huge sum of money. If Ye Qing didn’t have the monster factory, he might never earn that much in his lifetime.

Ye Qing was confident he could complete the 250,000 curbstones, but time was limited. He needed to immediately contact a powerful stone factory that could supply a large number of granite curbstones.

Near Zhongyun, only the Jiangshan Stone Factory had this capability. Usually, any other boss would choose the Jiangshan Stone Factory first.

Because purchasing locally could save hundreds of thousands in transportation costs.

If Sang Qing had knelt down and begged Ye Qing...

Ye Qing wasn’t a cold-hearted person. Seeing his sincere repentance, he might have softened and ordered a couple of curbstones just to show some goodwill.

On the way back to the factory, Ye Qing received a call from Director Zhang Jiangyu of the Construction Planning Office.

He was an old classmate of Ye Qing’s father and had a good relationship with him. However, his position as deputy director didn’t carry much weight, and even Sang Qing didn’t give him much face.

In the meeting room earlier, all the directors were present, and there were only a few deputy directors.

Now, the news must have spread throughout the Urban Construction Bureau, and the few stone slabs Ye Qing brought had been divided among them.

Only then did Zhang Jiangyu learn that these were the masterpieces of the Qingyun Cutting Machinery Manufacturing Factory.

On the phone, Zhang Jiangyu was very upset and asked Ye Qing why he didn’t contact him.

"Uncle Zhang, there’s something I didn’t have the heart to tell you. The Jiangshan Stone Factory canceled the orders for those few machines."

Ye Qing felt a bit embarrassed and explained, "The procurement contract for the Jiangshan Stone Factory is handled by the municipal engineering department. Han Youpeng is a staff member there. He said his boss is close to Sang Qing, and the curbstones order has always been handled by Han Youpeng. I approached him just to make things difficult for Sang Qing."

"Is that so? That Sang Qing really doesn’t take me seriously."

Zhang Jiangyu was furious when he heard that the order he had worked hard to secure was canceled.

Am I, a deputy director, to be treated like this?

"That’s good, Liu Fengjin is close to Sang Qing." Zhang Jiangyu laughed happily. "Now that the order has been messed up by Liu Fengjin’s subordinate, Sang Qing must be furious. Yes, he deserves to be made to feel bad for not taking my words seriously."

"However, Ye Qing, where did you get this technology? I know your factory, it can’t produce such equipment, right?"

"I sold some of the machines in the factory and imported a few high-tech engraving machines from abroad."

Zhang Jiangyu didn’t understand machinery manufacturing, but he thought Ye Qing’s factory was too small to handle such a large order and must have found a large manufacturer to collaborate with.

"Then I’m in luck?" Zhang Jiangyu laughed even more, feeling very pleased. "In the past three months, our office has been focusing on high-rise residential areas, and there are many places that deal with stones. If you lower the price, I can also show off a bit."

Ye Qing was very pleased. "No problem, Uncle Zhang, I’ll give you the cost price."

"Have your father treat me to a drink. With this big order, you’ve really turned things around."

"I’ll treat you to Maotai." As the minivan approached a traffic light, Ye Qing quickly apologized. "Uncle Zhang, I have to hang up. I’ll be photographed at the traffic light."

After the traffic light, Ye Qing rested his arm on the car door, trembling with excitement.

With this big order, he was elated.

While some were happy, others were worried. Han Youpeng received praise from the director but was severely scolded by his boss.

His immediate superior, Liu Fengjin, had a good relationship with Sang Qing.

Liu Fengjin harshly scolded Han Youpeng for acting on his own without consulting him first, which led to the director making the final decision.

He scolded Han Youpeng for twenty minutes before calming down. However, despite the scolding, Liu Fengjin wasn’t worried that this would affect his relationship with Sang Qing.

Ye Qing ran a machinery manufacturing factory, not a granite mining factory.

Therefore, Ye Qing had to purchase 250,000 curbstones, transport them to the factory, and then process them.

In the entire Zhongyun area, only the granite from Meihua Mountain was suitable for mining.

And only the Jiangshan Stone Factory, under Sang Qing’s control, had the capability to supply 250,000 curbstones within two months.

So, the matter would eventually come full circle.

At that time, he could invite Ye Qing to a banquet and pretend to help him find a cheaper source for the curbstones, making Ye Qing grateful to him.

He could also hint to Sang Qing that the order was canceled.

With a multi-million yuan order canceled, Sang Qing would naturally be anxious.

Even if he inquired around, it wouldn’t be a problem, as the director had made the decision personally, and everyone knew about it.

In the end, Sang Qing would still have to come to him for help.

Then, he could introduce Ye Qing to Sang Qing...

Ha ha, he would benefit from both sides!

Whether it was Ye Qing or Sang Qing, they would both be grateful to him.

Thinking of this, Liu Fengjin couldn’t help but hum a little tune.

Hum hum, Sang Qing, you should have signed the contract earlier instead of raising the price by two yuan.

Now, let’s see how you beg me.

After laughing enough, Liu Fengjin decided to call Sang Qing first to spread the news. If he waited too long, someone else might beat him to it.

When the call connected, Liu Fengjin laughed slyly. "Mr. Sang, what are you up to?"

"Hey, Director Liu, I’m at the 4S store. Thanks to your help, I’ve landed a big order and am planning to buy a Mercedes to improve my life."

"Director, if you need a car, just give me a call, and I’ll have it filled up and delivered to your home."

...

Back at the Qingyun Cutting Machinery Manufacturing Factory, Ye Qing drove the minivan into the yard and rushed to Ye Jiangning’s office on the second floor without even locking the car.

He needed to contact other marble manufacturers to order a large number of curbstones.

The Qingyun Manufacturing Factory specialized in producing cutting machines, and the sales of stone cutting machines had been steady. Those who could afford such equipment were naturally stone processing plants.

Ye Qing had visited about half of the stone factories within a few hundred miles.

He remembered running a trip to Anhui Province, Xuancheng City, last year to debug a machine at a very large mining group.

The mining group was so large that its mines stretched endlessly. Ye Qing remembered it was called Tian Sheng Mining.

Selling equipment to such a large group in another province was purely a matter of luck.

At the time, Tian Sheng Mining had just purchased the mining rights for several marble mines and needed a large number of new machines. The local machine tool dealer ordered a batch of cutting machines from here to meet the demand.

The quality of those machines was decent, and Ye Qing had debugged them once. Of course, the machines had no significant advantages, which is why the business only happened once.

In Ye Jiangning’s office, there were detailed contact details for Tian Sheng Mining. Ordering a large number of curbstones from them would be the right choice.

The factory had both handwritten and computerized records of business transactions. Ye Qing directly checked the computer records.

He found two contact numbers for Tian Sheng Mining in the records. The first number was for someone who had already resigned. The second number’s owner asked who Ye Qing was and how he got the number. Ye Qing casually said a business partner gave it to him.

"Oh, I’m no longer in charge of the granite mine. I’m working at headquarters now."

"Could you trouble yourself to give me the current responsible person’s number?" Ye Qing thought Tian Sheng Mining was indeed a large company, making even simple purchases so complicated.

"How big is the order? If it’s not too big, you can just search for the customer service number on their official website."

"It’s a multi-million yuan order. Is that big enough?"

"Big, very big, boss. Please wait a moment, I’ll contact the responsible person." The voice on the other end was almost trembling with excitement.

A multi-million yuan order, if Ye Qing found him, the performance would naturally be credited to him. If the deal went through, he would earn at least 200,000 yuan in bonuses.