Selling things?
Seeing that Jiang Mingyu was carrying nothing but a bag, the hostess shook her head: “Sorry, comrade, our hotel doesn’t accept outside sales pitches.”
Just as she was about to call security to escort them out,
Jiang Mingyu spoke first:
“I’m selling something your boss will definitely be interested in. Could you please pass on a message, comrade?”
She took out a bottle of Dabao cream from her bag and handed it to the hostess: “Autumn is dry, this Dabao cream is perfect for moisturizing. The reason my three children and I look so fair and tender is because we use it.”
“This…”
The receptionist touched her face, clearly tempted. She glanced at the fair-skinned children and the young and beautiful Jiang Mingyu, hesitated for a moment, then said, “Please have a seat for a moment. The boss is here today; I’ll make a call and inquire.”
She returned to the front desk, secretly turned away, uncapped the bottle of Dabao Cream, and smelled its fragrance. She happily applied some to the back of her hand, feeling its moisturizing effect, before accepting it with peace of mind.
Soon, she spoke a few words to the receptionist, who immediately entered a landline number, connecting them to the upstairs area.
Another waiter greeted Jiang Mingyu and the children, seating them on the sofa in the lobby, bringing several cups of hot water and a plate of snacks.
The three little ones were captivated by such a high-class place for the first time, not wanting to blink.
“Mom, this place is so beautiful!”
The chairs were red-cushioned and lacquered with gold, the round, carved yellow wood table was grand and elegant, and the four pillars in the center made the lobby resemble a fairy palace, resplendent with gold everywhere.
A middle-aged man in a suit descended the stairs. He had a refined appearance, a gentleman’s bow tie, and a delicate pen tucked into his breast pocket.
Noticing the custom-made gold cufflinks on his sleeves, Jiang Mingyu smiled and stood up first. “You must be the manager of Jufulou? I’m Jiang Mingyu, the one you mentioned on the phone earlier, the one who wanted to personally sell you goods.”
She extended her left hand; it was clean, with slender fingers and neatly trimmed nails—a capable and efficient person.
The middle-aged man smiled and shook her hand lightly.
“My surname is Lu, the fourth in my family. Miss Jiang, please have a seat. What would you like to sell me?”
There are salespeople these days.
He’d seen quite a few,
but this Miss Jiang, coming directly to his door and having the receptionist call upstairs, was a first.
Jiang Mingyu pulled a bundle of freshly packed cowpeas from her backpack and handed them to him: “I’d like to become the off-season vegetable supplier for Jufulou Restaurant. I wonder if I have the honor?”
“What? Cowpeas?”
Several onlookers were stunned, whispering among themselves:
“It’s almost October, where can cowpeas still be grown!”
Click~
Lu Si took them, broke off a piece to examine them, and
indeed, they were fresh cowpeas, just picked from the ground.
However…
he wiped his hands and smiled faintly at Jiang Mingyu: “Miss Jiang, these were grown in a small greenhouse, weren’t they?”
In this era, although greenhouse cultivation technology existed, it was concentrated in research institutes and had not spread on a large scale.
Some places used small greenhouses to grow off-season vegetables,
but the yield was small, far from enough for a restaurant as large as Jufulou.
Jiang Mingyu nodded calmly, “It was indeed grown in small greenhouses, but they’re all modified versions by me, so they can be used to grow off-season vegetables on a large scale. It’s not just cowpeas; I can grow any off-season vegetable Jufulou wants.” ”
Of course, in business, everyone avoids risk. To ensure we can sign a supply contract with Jufulou this time, I specifically planted 170 jin of cowpeas, which mature in two months.”
Her business acumen was still evident.
This calm and confident aura alone astonished the Jufulou staff.
“What? She actually grew off-season vegetables in small greenhouses in just two months!”
In the sweltering heat of July, cowpea seeds wouldn’t survive at all.
She not only made the seedlings live, but also grew them from small greenhouses in just two months?
Even Lu Si hesitated for a moment before resting his chin on his hands and slightly raising his eyes: “Miss Jiang, if what you say is true, then you can send over the remaining 170 jin of cowpeas.
If the vegetables you send are of the same quality as the ones we brought out today, I will naturally consider signing a supply contract with you.” ”
Of course, but I always prefer to get straight to the point in business, so I won’t beat around the bush,”
Jiang Mingyu said, her back straight despite her seated posture, her smile neither humble nor arrogant:
“Manager Lu, I will send you 170 jin of cowpeas tomorrow as agreed. Before that, because this vegetable is out of season, my pre-sale price is 15 cents per jin, which is 5 cents more expensive than summer cowpeas. I hope you can pay a one-third deposit, and the remaining balance can be paid after you inspect the goods upon delivery and confirm that there are no problems.”
“Can you accept my terms?”
“If you can, let’s continue our discussion.”
This was a smart woman.
Lu Si raised his eyelids slightly, sizing her up. He thought of a shrewd hunter who, like her, would first lay out bait to lure the prey into the trap, then proceed to extract more from it.
By the time the prey realized something was wrong and tried to escape, it was already deeply entangled in her bait, unable to extricate itself.
A flicker of wariness crossed Lu Si’s eyes, then he suddenly smiled and waved to the receptionist.
“Bring me a calculator.”
Calculators existed in the 1980s, but they weren’t as convenient as they would be in the future; they were bulky and heavy, but looked more precise.
Jufulou even had something like this, so they were certainly not short of money.
She’d come to the right place.
Jiang Mingyu was glad she’d come with such a keen business sense.
Soon, Lu Si calculated a few numbers and pushed the calculator in front of her: “Miss Jiang, is this the price for one-third of the deposit?”
170 jin of cowpeas, with a pre-sale price of 15 cents, a one-third deposit would be 8.5 yuan.
It was exactly as shown on the calculator.
Jiang Mingyu smiled: “Yes, that’s the exact amount. After receiving the deposit, I’ll write a receipt for Jufulou.”
Next was the delivery and the final payment.
Manager Lu was a shrewd man and readily gave her the deposit, but as Jiang Mingyu wrote the receipt and handed it over, he asked, seemingly in a casual manner, “I wonder how many acres your small greenhouse occupies? If you plant all of these cowpeas, how many jin per acre would you yield?”
He was testing her capabilities.
Jiang Mingyu smiled faintly, looked him straight in the eye, and said, “Conservatively speaking, if I plant cowpeas, I can produce between 1,700 and 3,000 kilograms per mu (unit of land area).”
The lobby fell silent instantly.
Even Lu Si, who had been running a restaurant for many years, couldn’t help but twitch his lips, opening his eyes to look at her: “Miss Jiang, are you sure you said kilograms, and not jin (unit of weight)??”
These two units of measurement are worlds apart!