Starting with vegetable greenhouses in 1988

Chapter 103 Visiting
Suzhou Hutongs.

A yellow minivan was parked outside No. 7 Courtyard. A middle-aged man got out of the minivan. He was wearing a suit and Feiyue shoes. He was shivering from the cold and quickly pulled his coat out of the car and put it on.

The surroundings were quiet. He walked to the door and knocked: "Knock knock..."

After a while, a woman's voice came from the courtyard: "Who is it?"

"I am Tang Demin, the purchasing manager of the Great Wall Hotel. Is this President Li's home?"

With a creak, the door opened, revealing a young married woman wearing a red rose-colored sweater, her cheeks rosy, and her hair still dusted with flour.

Tang Demin asked with a smile, "Hello, is President Li home?"

The young wife retorted, "Which Director Li are you looking for?"

"Li Zhe".

"You've come to the wrong place. He lives in the front yard; this is the back yard," the young woman said, then closed the door.

"Thanks." Tang Demin turned to leave, but didn't forget to glance back. It wasn't that he had any bad intentions; it's just that who wouldn't want to look at a beautiful woman a little longer?

He hummed a little tune as he walked forward, "Hey, this yard is really big." He walked to the front yard of No. 7 yard, which was also on a street and much more lively than the back yard. He saw a green truck parked in front of the gate, but he didn't rush over. He just watched it quietly from the side.

Several people unloaded baskets of vegetables from the truck; the quantity looked quite large.

Only state-owned enterprises could use Jiefang trucks, which made him think more highly of this Director Li. He thought to himself, anyone who could grow fresh vegetables this season must be someone special. He had to think about what to say later, so as not to mess things up and give that stinky foreigner another chance to attack him.

"You stinky foreigner! FUCK!"

He observed the street for a while, and when he saw several people riding bicycles carrying vegetable baskets away, he went up and knocked on the door: "Knock knock."

"Who is it?" a man's voice came from inside the house.

"Hello, I am Tang Demin, the purchasing manager of Great Wall Hotel. Is this President Li's home?"

The door opened, and Li Zhe looked at the middle-aged man standing outside and gestured for him to come in: "I am Li Zhe, please come in."

"Oh, I've finally found a place." Tang Demin looked around the house and saw the bright green cucumbers in the vegetable basket. He was puzzled: I didn't think I heard about cucumbers yesterday. This President Li is really good at hiding them.

Li Zhe invited the other party to sit down: "I visited you at your hotel yesterday, but you were in a meeting. I waited for a while and then left because of other matters. I was planning to visit you again today with some vegetables, but I didn't expect you to come first."

"Oh dear, President Li, you have no idea how badly you've gotten me into trouble!"

Li Zhe poured him a cup of tea: "What do you mean by that, Manager Tang?"

"Are you selling vegetables at the entrance of our hotel?" Before Li Zhe could answer, he continued, "The customers bought vegetables and went to the restaurant to eat. They even asked the waiters to take the broccoli and lettuce to the kitchen to cook. This alarmed the foreign head chef, who then went to the general manager to complain about me, saying that I only know how to hold meetings and control costs and do not help the kitchen at all—he was practically shoving his nose at me and cursing me."

Li Zhe said helplessly, "Manager Tang, this is not my fault. I didn't expect it to develop like this either."

"President Li, I don't mean to blame you. I'm here today to talk business with you. What kinds of vegetables do you have here? I'd like to try them all, and I'm sure I can give you a reasonable price."

Li Zhe said, "Manager Tang, my vegetable prices are not high. Broccoli is 5 yuan and lettuce is 4 yuan per jin, but I only accept foreign exchange certificates."

Tang Demin looked troubled: "President Li, if it's settled in RMB, I can make the decision even if it's two yuan more expensive and sign the contract for you immediately, but I still need to apply to my superiors for foreign exchange certificates."

Li Zhe said, "Manager Tang, let me be frank with you. If the price is the same, I will definitely prioritize supplying your hotel. But if other hotels offer higher prices, I have no reason not to sell. Besides, the vegetables in the greenhouse are already ripe and can't wait for you to buy them indefinitely. If we reach an agreement with other restaurants, I won't be able to supply them even if you want them again." Tang Demin asked, "What is your daily vegetable production?"

"40 jin of lettuce and 40 jin of broccoli."

"Can all these dishes be supplied to our hotel?"

“I already have a supply channel for 20 jin of lettuce and 20 jin of broccoli. I can only give you the remaining 20 jin at most, but since you haven’t placed an order yet, I can only sell it to other customers.” Li Zhe wasn’t bluffing him. If it was difficult to negotiate with the Great Wall Hotel, he would go to the Jianguo Hotel and the Jinglun Hotel.

Tang Demin was also decisive: "How about this, you give me 20 jin of lettuce, 20 jin of broccoli, and 20 jin of cucumbers, at the price you said. You come with me to the hotel, and we'll try to sign the contract today. That stupid foreigner always says I only know how to hold meetings and cut costs, so I'll just sign it cleanly and see what he can use to squeeze me out of now!"

He muttered in English, "Good chef, pshaw, fuck chef."

Li Zhe was surprised that things went so smoothly and was somewhat embarrassed: "Lettuce and broccoli are fine, but I've already signed a contract with someone else for cucumbers, so it's difficult to give you another 20 jin."

"President Li, please help me out. I'm offering foreign exchange certificates; will they really give that?"

Li Zhe smiled and said, "Okay, I'll try to get you 20 jin."

Now that trucks reduce losses when transporting goods, my cousin can temporarily stop selling his cucumbers and buy some more from other people; he should be able to gather 20 jin (10 catties) of cucumbers.

In the afternoon, at the Wan'an Town Credit Union.

In the hall, Sun Liguo looked at the drowsy crowd and clapped his hands: "Hey, wake up, everyone. We're having a meeting. You guys have been getting increasingly out of control lately, with serious tardiness and early departures. Do you really think nobody can manage you?"
"How many times have I told you not to slack off just because it's cold? You need to treat every customer with passion! And you, Accountant Wang, have you even checked your ledgers? The district credit union leaders are coming to inspect tomorrow. If there are any mistakes, don't come to the credit union the day after tomorrow; go straight to the villages!"

Before he could finish speaking, the cotton curtain was lifted from the outside, and a tall figure walked in—the man was wearing a woolen overcoat, a suit jacket underneath, and leather shoes. Sun Liguo dared not be negligent: "Comrade, what kind of business do you want to start?" He stopped mid-sentence when he saw the man's face clearly: "Brother Li, why are you dressed like this? It's too intimidating."

Li Zhe replied with a smile, "I've been negotiating a collaboration with a hotel that caters to foreign guests recently, so I've changed into a new outfit. I also harvested two new vegetables in the greenhouse, and I'm bringing them over for you to try."

"Okay, let's go into the office and talk. I need to talk to you about something."

The two entered the office, and Sun Liguo looked him up and down: "Brother Li, your clothes are really impressive! If you were outside, I wouldn't recognize you."

"Please don't laugh at me. Foreign-related organizations have high entry requirements. You can't even get in the door if you're not dressed like this."

"That's exactly right." Sun Liguo took the bag. "What groceries did you bring me?"

"Broccoli and lettuce."

"I remember now, it's the agar I saw in the greenhouse last time?"

"Yes, it's not eaten domestically; it's mainly supplied to restaurants catering to foreigners."

"That's great! I'll try some foreign food tonight." Sun Liguo accepted the food and continued, "Brother Li, you've come at the right time. The district leaders are going to inspect the vegetable greenhouses tomorrow afternoon. I was planning to send you a message tomorrow morning, but now you'll save yourself the trip."

"Okay, I'll definitely prepare well when I get back."

The two chatted for a few more minutes before Li Zhe took his leave. Sun Liguo watched the departing Jiefang truck, his heart filled with complex emotions. He still remembered the scene from more than three months ago when two poor country boys, dressed in shabby clothes, entered the credit union...

Perhaps, this is what development is all about.

(End of this chapter)