Chapter 7: The scenery on Caiyi bridge

Translated by me, edited by Kai.

7 industrial stone cutters, 35,000 yuan each.

Still missing the remaining 25,000 yuan for the first cutter.

Before everything that happened, this order was the lifeline of the factory.

8 workers, 3 months of wages.

One sentence from Sang Qing and it’s gone. The factory tried everything, just for this single order. Now what happens to the rest of the steel and spare components they ordered?

Yes~

Ye Qing family’s factory only makes average machines. However, Ye Qing can guarantee that no one within the surrounding cities will offer a better deal than 35 000 yuan per machine. If someone actually offers a better price, then Ye Qing might as well gift these 7 machines for free.

If a problem occurs, Ye Qing will be there as fast as possible. He’ll even pull an all nighter just to get the machine up and running.

Now, the materials for the other 6 were all there, just waiting to be assembled.

And they cancelled everything just like that. They didn’t even pay the remaining fees for the first one.

Qian Xiaomeng and his buddies, laughed and stared from the side. The whole order’s gone, it’s just simply amazing.

Their factory can’t even pay the medical fees to begin with, now, without the order, how will they pass this crisis?

As for his uncle’s medical fees, they could care less. When the factory files for bankruptcy, they will first sell off the machines to pay off the debt. They might even have to sell the van.

Ye Qing closed his eyes and calmed himself.

After a long pause, he tried his hardest to remain calm: “Mr. Sang, although we did sign a formal contract, but business is all about trust. Are you sure you want to do this?”

Sang Qing looked at him full of distaste and heartlessness: “If you don’t like it, sue me.”

Ye Qing who looked full of heaviness, turned around without replying and left.

While having no backing, any threats or intimidations will only make the matter worse.

Ye Qing understood and accepted this.

He started the car to leave. But just when he was about to start moving, Ye Qing’s van is blocked by someone.

Ye Qing mentally prepared himself, ready for another brawl, but the person appearing like a white collar worker possessed a red badge on his chest.

This is the badge for all Zhongyun city workers. It has name, positions and phone number.

These kinds of people definitely isn’t in cohort with Sang Qing. So, Ye Qing stopped the car and asked what’s up?

“You heading to Zhongyun?” The young looking Han Youpeng handed over a cigarette: “Mind giving me a ride? It’s just too hard to find a uncrowded bus at this time.”

When Sang Qing was chatting with him, they were quite far from Ye Qing, but still close enough to see the whole fight. However, he definitely didn’t hear of the argument between Ye Qing and Sang Qing, otherwise there is no way that he would ask for a ride from Ye Qing.

The position on Han Youpeng’s official badge states city construction department branch. Ye Qing, instead of rejecting, frankly opened up the door to the front passenger seat and welcomed him aboard.

Han Youpeng thanked while getting seated. When Ye Qing drove on to the town’s main road, Han Youpeng asked Ye Qing why he was fighting with the workers back there.

Ye Qing waved his hand and said it’s only minor stuff. Just some minor scuffles with a few of the workers.

“That boss is seriously a douchebag. He‘s freaking obsessed with his profits.” Han Youpeng probably got the cold shoulder back there and is letting it all out now: “ Fk, I sat in a fully packed bus for more than an hour just to talk business with him. When it’s all over he doesn’t even have the courtesy to have someone give me a ride back. I freaking saw a bunch of cars in their parking lot.”

“What business were you guys talking about?” Ye Qing asked nonchalantly; just to get a conversation going.

“Curb stones. You know, stones that mark the border between roads and footpaths. In 3 months, the inspection team will be here to rate all of the country’s cities on their culture and sanitation.

Han Youpeng put down a pile of documents on the dashboard and stretched: “Every city’s rating 3 year inspection. Last time, there were only 30 or so cities throughout the whole country that passed. Our Zhongyun missed out multiple times in a row, now the city leaders finally made up their mind and are wanting to completely change the face of the city.”

“The few main roads all use concrete curbs, which have a weathered away. Right now it’s more ugly than if it were bitten everywhere by dogs. The city construction department have decided to change all of it into granite.”

“The nearest granite source for Zhongyun is near Mt. Meihua, but the only place that can produce large quantities of granite is Jiangshan masonry. I was sent there just to get the contract signed, but in the end he didn’t sign it because he didn’t like the price on the deal. And just because of this, he goes as far as not even offering me a ride back!”

Ye Qing offered some comforting words, and commented that Sang Qing definitely has some connections. Otherwise, there is no way he is allowed to get this deal as a whole.

“Zhongyun has a lot of landscaping stones that are made by his company. He is definitely familiar with a couple of the directors, so of course they’ll put in a word for him.”

Han Youpeng wagged his mouth and looked as if he had been wronged: “I’m also being extorted. The directors freaking use me as a messenger all the time. When a contract is signed, I get nothing and the credit all goes to them. When it fails, it’s always my fault.”

The two are similar in age, so of course they have a lot to talk about. When the van entered Zhongyun, Ye Qing has already gotten enough information out of him about Sang Qing.

Right now it is rush hour, so traffic jams everywhere. Han Youpeng says he’s in a rush for a date, so without getting to the destination, he is already off and running.

When he got on Caiyi bridge, the intersection there is completely stuck for over couple hundred meters.

Caiyi bridge can be considered one of Zhongyun’s famous landmarks. The small but old beautiful buildings underneath, with the 12 dancing court lady statues above, it is a major tourist attraction for the city.

Assessing the road condition ahead, Ye Qing predicted that he’ll have to wait for at least another 3 lights. While being bored on the bridge, Ye Qing listened to Xu Ninggong’s songs.

While listening to the music, Ye Qing noticed the documents left on the front passenger seat dashboard.

God damn it ~ Isn’t this what Han Youpeng put down when he got on?

historical

Ye Qing didn’t record the number on his badge, so he has to make a trip to the city construction department later to return them.

Being bored, Ye Qing flipped through the whole document page by page.

The document is actually very simple, it’s all about the purchasing of curb stones. Such as the material for the stone, dimensions, and deadlines. In total there will be a purchase of 250,000 curb stones.

These documents are just the initial draft contract, without signature from either sides.

From what Han Youpeng said while on road, the government wants to purchase each curb stone at 40 yuan a piece. Sang Qing on the other hand think this is too little and he can’t make a profit, and insisted on 42 yuan a piece.

This price isn’t really that expensive, and there is only Jiangshan masonry near Zhongyun that has the ability to supply granite curb stone. Sang Qing naturally is looking to raise the price a little.

The expensive part of masonry business is the man power and physical resources. Not the rocks, since that is freely available.

A piece of granite curb stone weighs nearly 50 kg. From digging it out of the mountain, to cutting it into size and polishing it, all require large amounts of human labour.

A piece of stone weighing dozens of kilograms, is more than enough to leave a normal person breathless after a couple of steps. Let alone 250,000 pieces of the same rock.

This is also where Sang Qing has the winning hand. In all of Zhongyun’s masonry, who possess industrial scale diggers and is able to extract granite?

Outsourceing?

Him offering 42 yuan a piece is already a deal. If they import from other parts of the country, then they need to think about the shipping and handling of thousands of tons of materials. Without 45 yuan a piece, don’t even think about it.

“Business nowadays, is seriously all about the prices!” Having weaved through the whole document, Ye Qing sighed regretfully.

Even with knowing these details, what is there to do with them?

Is it possible to sent Hulk One and Hulk two to his yard and act out the fights in the 300?

Looking over Caiyi bridge, the rolls upon rolls of dancing court lady statues, Ye Qing helplessly extinguished that idea.

“Wait, hold on a second there ~ “ Ye Qing had a sudden flash of enlightenment as he jolted from his seat.

Statues of dancing court ladies!!

Pictures of dancing court ladies!!