Since they are reborn, they must be supported by the school beauties.

Chapter 250 White Wolf with Empty Gloves

When meeting with the speculators in Wencheng, Qi Duo, who had spoken with Chen Cheng on the phone, was the negotiating representative. Also present were the three most powerful and prestigious members of their small group.

Qi Duo is around twenty-seven or twenty-eight years old. She is not particularly outstanding in appearance, but she is pleasing to the eye. She has shoulder-length medium-short hair, which makes her look very neat and tidy.

Before meeting Chen Cheng, she had no idea that the person she had been in contact with on the phone was actually a young man.

She looked at Chen Cheng with surprise: "I didn't expect Mr. Chen to be so young!"

Chen Cheng smiled and nodded: "He is a bit young, but don't worry, President Qi, young people are very reliable."

Qi Duo smiled and nodded, feeling both surprised and worried that this was all for naught.

Wencheng speculators are always cautious. This is their first time cooperating with short sellers. Without sufficient goodwill in the form of real money, they would never lend out quotas and then spend a lot of money to buy them back. If Chen Cheng cannot come up with enough goodwill, this matter will definitely not be able to move forward.

The seasoned speculators who came with Qi Duo also looked at Chen Cheng with doubtful eyes, feeling that this matter was not very reliable.

However, Chen Cheng immediately mentioned his two uncles, saying, "Let me first introduce my two partners to everyone. One is Uncle Shen Zhou, the boss of Jiangcheng Lingzhou Pharmaceutical, and the other is Uncle Yan Chengbin, the boss of Sunan Hairun Group."

Shen Zhou of Lingzhou Pharmaceuticals didn't attract much attention, but when Yan Chengbin's identity was revealed, several Wencheng speculators' eyes lit up immediately.

The most senior speculator at the head of the group came directly to Yan Chengbin, extended his hands, and said with a face full of respect, "Hello, Chairman Yan! I have long heard of Hairun Group. I never expected to meet you here, let alone talk about cooperation with you face to face. It is truly an honor."

Yan Chengbin said modestly, "Sir, there's no need to be so polite. I'm just a supporting actor here today. As for the cooperation, it's up to Xiao Chen to make the final decision."

The group immediately looked at Chen Cheng with new respect.

These people followed closely behind, taking turns shaking hands with Yan Chengbin and introducing themselves. Their attitude was very humble and modest, indicating that they were familiar with Yan Chengbin and his Hairun Group.

After listening to the conversation between the group and Yan Chengbin, Chen Cheng finally understood that Hairun Group had made many investments in Wenchenggang and had a large business scale in the area, so it was also very well-known.

With Yan Chengbin around, all speculators felt reassured about the issue of business reputation.

They just couldn't understand why a billionaire like Yan Chengbin would cooperate with a young man to short-sell taxi quotas in Jiangcheng.

Yan Chengbin spoke simply and casually: Chen Cheng was his nephew, and he had asked him to come and help, so he would help out. As for whether the project was reliable or not, he was too lazy to think about it.

With Yan Chengbin around, communication becomes incredibly smooth.

Chen Cheng suggested that they also take over the quotas they had borrowed from Qin Jianshe. The Wencheng speculators did not refuse. Although most of them did not have extra funds, a few with strong financial backing discussed it and decided to pool together 12 million yuan to take over the 100 quotas as well.

Chen Cheng also called Qin Jianshe over. When Qin Jianshe heard about Yan Chengbin's identity, his eyes almost popped out of his head. He was even more confused about Chen Cheng's background. First there was Zhang Qishuo, and now there was Yan Chengbin. Everyone this kid knew was a big shot.

All the conditions and details were agreed upon, and several lawyers from Yan Chengbin's legal department came to sort out all the contract terms. All parties rushed to sign the agreement before the weekend.

Subsequently, dozens of speculators in Wenzhou paid the money in installments.

As for the quota, it's much simpler. Since Chen Cheng borrowed it and sold it to them, strictly speaking, there's no need to go through any quota transfer or change process. The quota still belongs to them. They just need to give the money to Chen Cheng, and the contract will be effective.

The remaining task is for Chen Cheng to repay them 130% of the quota before the contract expires. Once that's done, the cooperation will be considered complete.

The more than 100 million yuan was transferred to Lingzhou Pharmaceutical's official account as agreed. In Chen Cheng's view, this more than 100 million yuan was no different from getting something for nothing.

When only the Shen family father and daughter, and Yan Chengbin and his wife were left around, Chen Cheng instructed Shen Zhou: "Uncle Shen, you have a few urgent things to do right now."

Shen Zhou said, "Xiao Chen, you speak, I'm listening."

Chen Cheng said, "The first thing is to use all the cash you can mobilize to repurchase the shares of those minority shareholders and try to resolve it all before New Year's Day, so that the equity structure of Lingzhou Pharmaceutical only includes you and Tianyun Pharmaceutical."

"Row!"

Without hesitation, Shen Zhou said, "They also want to make a move as soon as possible. I will get this matter settled as quickly as possible."

Chen Cheng then said, "The second thing is the procurement and production of Banlangen raw materials. By the way, could you tell me the proportion of raw material costs in the production and packaging of Banlangen granules?"

Shen Zhou said, "Currently, our extraction yield of Banlangen granules is about 20%, while the effective ingredients account for about 30% of the finished Banlangen granules. The rest are mostly sucrose, dextrin, and other ingredients used to neutralize the bitterness. So the cost of raw materials isn't high, but the labor, production, and packaging costs are quite high, accounting for about 30%." Chen Cheng nodded, "Then we'll purchase raw materials at a 30% ratio, and use the rest for processing, production, and packaging."

Shen Zhou asked him, "Are you only considering production costs? What about sales channel costs and promotion and advertising costs? Under normal circumstances, raw materials account for a small percentage of the production cost of traditional Chinese medicine. Many costs are incurred in the sales process. Sometimes, in order to get a better position for their medicine in pharmacies, they need to pay extra for pharmacy counters and various offline promotional materials. Not only do they need to pay for posting, but they also need to pay some fees to the stores. Not to mention traditional print media advertising, which is all the responsibility of the pharmaceutical company."

Shen Zhou felt that Chen Cheng only asked for the proportion of raw materials in the production cost. If raw materials were purchased according to this proportion, the funds could only be used to complete the production, and there would be no extra money for the subsequent sales and promotion.

Chen Cheng smiled and said, "We don't need to calculate sales and promotion. We won't even need to deal with retailers. The best option is to sell directly to the government at the normal market price. If the market rises, we will not participate in price gouging."

Although Shen Zhou didn't quite understand why the government was willing to purchase his company's Banlangen granules, since he had chosen to trust Chen Cheng, he decided to trust him completely. So he immediately nodded and said, "No problem, I'll go to Bozhou tomorrow. The largest suppliers in the country are there. I'll personally go and discuss the raw materials."

Chen Cheng asked him, "Uncle Shen, in the medicinal herb industry, are there payment terms?"

“Yes,” Shen Zhou said. “The payment period is usually around 60 days, but Lingzhou Pharmaceuticals is not doing well recently and can no longer get such a long payment period. Moreover, even if they do offer a payment period, they won’t offer a very high amount.”

Chen Cheng said, "Can we leverage it? For example, pay 50% or 60% upfront, and then have a payment period for the rest."

Shen Zhou said, "We can try to talk about this; it shouldn't be a big problem."

Chen Cheng nodded: "Let's try our best. We'll bring back as many raw materials as we can."

Shen Zhou then said, "Okay, I will do my best to negotiate."

Chen Cheng smiled and said, "Then you will take care of everything from now on, Uncle Shen. We will keep in touch and keep each other informed in a timely manner if there are any developments."

Shen Zhou promised, "Don't worry, Xiao Chen, I will definitely follow your plan without any problems. Once the raw materials arrive, we will start production at full capacity. Within two months, we will definitely be able to turn all this money into the powder you need!"

In order not to delay the schedule, Shen Zhou drove to Bozhou City early the next morning.

After arriving in Bozhou, he met with several suppliers he had worked with and then reported back to Chen Cheng that the current market price of Banlangen was only about four yuan per kilogram, and one ton only cost about four thousand yuan. If the quantity was large, the price per kilogram could be reduced to three yuan and eighty cents.

If Chen Cheng's request is followed, the money obtained from this short selling, combined with the funds on Lingzhou Pharmaceutical's books, will amount to more than 40 million yuan to buy raw materials, which is about 12,000 tons.

Seeing his large scale, the supplier made some concessions on the payment ratio, which allowed Shen Zhou to get an extra 40% of the goods.

Although there was no matching production capital for this 40% of the goods, Chen Cheng still asked him to take on this batch of raw materials as well. The funds would be recovered later, but it wouldn't be so easy to buy raw materials after that. This extra 40% was just considered a strategic reserve.

Shen Zhou negotiated a total of nearly 17,000 tons of raw materials, but it was impossible to buy all of them at once, as Lingzhou Pharmaceutical simply did not have such a large storage capacity.

Therefore, Shen Zhou could only sign bulk supply agreements with the suppliers, allowing them to supply goods in batches over the next forty days.

To prevent these suppliers from backing out, Chen Cheng had Shen Zhou negotiate a penalty of ten times the amount of the goods. If they couldn't deliver the goods, they would be compensated at 38 yuan per kilogram for any shortfall.

The supplier did not refuse, because this year's yield had already come down, and they had a sufficient supply.

Moreover, the price of this product has remained stable, or even slightly decreased. They couldn't think of any reason why they wouldn't deliver the goods or wouldn't be able to deliver all the goods. Although the penalty for breach of contract was high, they signed an agreement with Shen Zhou out of consideration for him being a super big customer.

According to Shen Zhou, 17,000 tons of raw materials, after being purified and processed, can produce approximately 12,000 tons of finished products.

If each box contains ten packets, and each packet contains 20 grams, then 60 million boxes can be produced.

Based on current market prices, the ex-factory price of a box of Banlangen granules from a second- or third-tier brand like Lingzhou is around five yuan, or five mao per small packet, which translates to a production value of three hundred million yuan.

Because we took on an extra 40% of the work from the supplier, to complete the 300 million yuan output value, the total cost, in addition to the funds we have raised, will increase by another 40%, bringing the total cost to approximately 200 million yuan.

No additional investment is required for sales, and the after-tax net profit is around 60 to 70 million.

Making money is secondary; the main thing is that once the sales performance of 300 million yuan is achieved, Lingzhou will have exceeded its performance target.

Sixty million boxes of affordable Banlangen (Isatis root) are a godsend for public hospitals and can solve many problems.

(End of this chapter)