Reborn in 1991, I opened supermarkets all over the world.

Business leaders in this era have far higher political acumen than business acumen.

"Director Sun, besides being able to purchase products from the renowned citrus-growing region and save on labor costs, I'll give you two more benefits with this deal," Lu Zifeng said confidently, putting down his wine glass.

Sun Ming's expression changed slightly, and he said seriously, "In front of everyone, I want to make one thing clear: don't try to corrupt me by corrupting other cadres, otherwise we won't talk about anything else. This meal is on me."

Lu Zifeng smiled and said, "Director Sun, you misunderstand. The benefits I mentioned are definitely for your factory. As for you personally, as long as it brings profit to your factory, that's the greatest benefit."

Sun Ming nodded and asked, "So what are the two benefits you mentioned?"

Lu Zifeng held up one finger: "First, I will only supply the goods from Juxiang to Factory Director Sun's company. If Factory Director Sun has other connections and quotes a price, that's his business, I won't interfere."

Sun Ming quickly calculated in his mind that if he could earn 3 cents per pound, 100,000 pounds would be 3,000 yuan.

My own orange juice retails for 1 yuan, but I only get 70 cents when I wholesale it from the factory.

Three thousand yuan is equivalent to the sales revenue of more than four thousand bottles of orange juice.

This is profiting from the price difference; it's pure profit.

Then, Lu Zifeng held up a second finger: "Secondly, when you're making your purchases on-site, I'll do some promotion for you. I'll promote Jiangping Beverage Factory's orange juice as a pure, natural, and pollution-free healthy drink, so that more people will know about it."

Sun Ming, puzzled, asked, "How do you plan to do this advertising? Whether it's TV or newspaper advertising, it's not cheap. Will you even make a profit?"

Lu Zifeng smiled and said, "Whether I can make money or not is my business. But whether I can seize this opportunity is up to Director Sun to decide."

Sun Ming thought for a moment and said, "This matter needs to be decided by a meeting of the factory's cadres."

Lu Zifeng nodded and said, "Okay. When you discuss this in your meeting, please mention that when signing the contract, I will require a 50% deposit. If the goods cannot be delivered or the quality of the fruit does not meet the contract requirements, I am willing to return double the amount."

"50%?" Sun Ming was a little surprised.

According to industry practice, the deposit is usually 20%.

When Lu Zifeng suddenly quoted a 50% deposit, he had to wonder if the guy was a scammer.

"If I don't take some money back with me, how can the villagers believe me? If they don't believe me, they'll just sell it to the cannery, and then what will be the point of us?"

Seeing that Sun Ming was still hesitant, Lu Zifeng did not force him to make a decision.

Forcing them won't help.

Because a deposit is required, the decision still needs to be made at the meeting.

"Alright, Director Sun, go back and think it over carefully. It's a seven or eight-hour drive from the city to Jiangping County, and I have to leave before noon tomorrow no matter what."

"Okay. We'll discuss it in a meeting tomorrow."

After leaving Jiangping Hotel, Lu Zifeng let out a long sigh of relief.

Whether this will work out or not, I don't know, but the air outside is really fresh.

He glanced at his pager and saw a call message; the phone number was the public phone booth in front of Qiao Ling's shop.

I wasn't paying attention while we were talking, but now I see that these messages are from an hour ago.

I don't know if Qiao Ling is asleep yet, but I'll call back. If no one answers after the call stops ringing, I'll call back tomorrow morning.

He found a public phone booth and dialed back.

The phone rang only half a ring before it was picked up.

"Hello, is this Zifeng?"

"Sister Ling, you're not going to tell me you spent an hour in that phone booth, are you?"

"What else could it be? You haven't come back this late; who knows if you're alive or dead out there?"

It turns out that Lu Zifeng only said he was going to the city, without specifying what the purpose of his trip was.

Qiao Ling mistakenly thought it was about wholesaling clothing, but according to the process of wholesaling clothing, he should have been back by noon today.

Considering that they had gotten into a fight with robbers on their first trip to buy goods, she couldn't help but feel a little worried.

What if they lose this battle?

"I'm sorry, Sister Ling, I'm in Jiangping County. I'll probably go back to the city tomorrow, and the earliest I can get back to Dong County is the day after tomorrow."

"Jiangping County? You went all that way by yourself?"

"What do you mean, 'alone'? Doesn't Gu Quan still come with you?"

"Alright, as long as you're alive."

Qiao Ling hung up the phone in annoyance, but felt much more at ease.

As a result, Lu Zifeng was unable to return to the city the next day.

Because Sun Ming made a decision and signed a contract for 100 tons.

100 tons is 200,000 jin. At 45 cents per jin, that's 90,000 yuan. The deposit alone is 45,000 yuan.

So the two sides argued over the contract details for several hours and even managed to cut the price down to 43 cents per kilogram, with only 40% of the deposit paid.

However, Lu Zifeng did not compromise on one point: the delivery time had to be after January 1, 1992.

His reasoning was that if the oranges weren't fully ripe, he might not be able to deliver enough, and he was worried that Jiangping Beverage Factory would sue him for breach of contract.

The contract was not finalized until 5 p.m.

Watching Lu Zifeng put more than 34,000 yuan in cash into his briefcase, Gu Quan's mind went blank.

He followed the entire business deal, but he didn't understand a single step of it.

First of all, Lu Zifeng's second uncle was not the village chief of Baiguo Village at all. Even if he were, a village chief could not make the decision to sell all the oranges to Lu Zifeng instead of the cannery.

Lu Zifeng has now accepted the deposit, but in the end he can't deliver the goods. He will either have to pay double the amount or be sued for fraud and go to jail.

Secondly, Lu Zifeng promised Jiangping Beverage Factory many benefits, including exclusive rights and labor costs, though specific advertising methods weren't included in the contract. Will these promises actually be fulfilled?

He shared these concerns with Lu Zifeng, who gave him a thumbs up.

"Brother Quan has improved. Although you didn't come up with the answer, you listed all the questions, which is commendable."

"So, what are you planning to do?"

"Don't always think about what I would do. You should put yourself in my shoes and think about what you would do if you were in my shoes. If you can't figure it out, then read more books and newspapers, eat less junk food and sleep less."

Thinking that he probably wouldn't be able to get back to Dong County by tomorrow, Lu Zifeng felt he should call Qiao Ling to let her know he was safe. Otherwise, if she paged him tomorrow while he was still on the road, he wouldn't even have a chance to call back, which would worry her to death.

The phone rang for a long time before Qiao Ling finally answered it.

This is the normal time it would take her to walk from the store to the public phone booth.

"Sister Ling? This is Zifeng. I just wanted to let you know that I won't be coming back tomorrow. Don't worry. Yes, I'm still alive."

Qiao Ling was silent for a while, then said, "I just checked the weather forecast, and it says it will get colder tomorrow. You didn't wear enough clothes when you went out this time, so if you get cold, buy yourself a new outfit."

This time, Lu Zifeng fell silent, then said quietly, "I think calling you Sister Ling is disrespectful."

"So what are you going to call me?"

"Ling's Mom."

"roll!"

After hanging up the phone, Lu Zifeng turned around and saw Gu Quan gnawing on something, his mouth full of oil.

"What are you eating?"

"Rabbit head, a specialty of Jiangping."

Lu Zifeng thought for a moment: "Buy a few more packs. Let me count, there are four of us: my parents, Xiaoye, Zhenzhen, Sister Ling, and your grandma. Let's buy six more packs."

Gu Quan nodded and then asked, "Should we bring a bag for each of Reporter Du and the others?"

Lu Zifeng: "..."