"I want to send the finished dishes to your back kitchen for sale without being present.
Just follow the previous procurement model. See how many kilograms you need per day. I'll cook them and deliver them, and we'll settle the payment upon delivery." Finally discussing cooperation, Zhang Liunian directly stated his ideas.
Zhao Zhijie nodded without thinking, "You can cooperate however you want, but our factory currently only has a day shift and is only responsible for lunch. So, we need to finalize the price now.
Is this price the same as your selling price outside?"
Although Zhang Liunian had revealed so many truths to his good brother, he drew a line. If Zhang Liunian asked for an exorbitant price, he wouldn't necessarily accept it.
Zhang Liunian didn't intend to rip them off. He just wanted to find a long-term partner, not someone he'd only deal with once.
"Outside, I sell them for one mao per bowl. About five bowls are one jin.
For you, I can offer it at four mao per jin. How about that?"
Zhang Liunian not only didn't take this opportunity to hike the price but even lowered it by one mao per jin. This was a gesture of great respect.
Zhao Zhijie listened, paused for two seconds, then laughed heartily, "Hahaha, good, good, this price is excellent. Tomorrow, you can send three hundred jin to test the waters, and then we'll gradually increase it.
When you deliver the goods to the factory gate, I'll instruct the gatekeeper to bring you to the back kitchen to weigh them and collect the payment.
However, hygiene must be maintained, and anything not fresh is unacceptable. Let's not have any unpleasantness."
"Food prioritizes hygiene and freshness. We can put this in the contract."
"It should be in the contract. Do you only have one type of dish now?"
Zhang Liunian nodded. He hadn't brought out the braised dishes yet, so he could only sell the crayfish.
"The food has arrived." Just then, someone knocked on the private room door.
Zhang Liunian got up to have the food served and then saw them off.
Once the door was closed, Zhao Zhijie continued, "Then let's start with this one dish..."
They ate and chatted until the details of this cooperation were clearly established.
After the meal, Zhao Zhijie immediately took out paper and pen and personally wrote the cooperation agreement. Then, they each took a copy, officially marking the start of their partnership.
Zhang Liunian, having eaten his fill and feeling content, collected the cooperation details and happily went to the market to buy supplies.
The volume of goods for tomorrow would double, requiring him to buy several more large barrels and a flatbed cart to transport the goods.
Meanwhile, at Zhang Liunian's dilapidated courtyard, a crowd had gathered. These people had been persuaded by Tu Meili to come and demand their money back from Jiang Qingqing.
"Liunian's wife, your family can afford meat now, so it's time to repay everyone's money."
"Yes, what's the reason for a family to hide and eat meat without repaying debts?"
"I lent you money three years ago, and you still haven't paid it back. Do you want to wait ten years?"
"If you have money, pay everyone back quickly. Don't just think about your own family. People shouldn't be like this."
"..."
Facing these creditors, Jiang Qingqing dared not say a harsh word because all the family's debts were borrowed by her personally.
Now that she had over two hundred yuan in savings, she couldn't refuse them when they were so eager.
"Everyone, please listen. Liunian and I are already working to repay the debts.
I haven't forgotten your kindness, and I remember it. We can't repay all the debts at once now, but we can pay back a portion."
As soon as Jiang Qingqing said this, everyone had an "as expected" look.
They had money but didn't repay their debts first, instead hiding to eat meat. This family was too bad.
"Since you have money, why didn't you repay it earlier? You made us come here to demand it?"
"Exactly, not self-aware at all."
"We will never lend you money again."
"..."
Facing everyone's accusations, Jiang Qingqing felt extremely ashamed. "It's not that I don't want to repay, it's just that I don't have much money."
But at this moment, everyone didn't believe her at all and just wanted her to repay the money quickly.
"If you have money, repay ours first."
"First come, first served. Repay as many families as you can."
"That's right, hurry up and give us the money to repay the debts!"
"..."
Facing everyone's aggressive demands, Jiang Qingqing, despite her discomfort, took out the money. She didn't take out her entire savings but only 100 yuan and an account book.
This money was more than enough for the people in the courtyard.
Tu Meili, standing in the crowd, saw Jiang Qingqing take out a wad of money to repay debts and became extremely jealous. With a roll of her eyes, she went back to the village to call more people.
Zhang Liunian's couple owed money to half the village, and only a few dozen people had come so far. It was too few; she wanted to call everyone.
Since it was lunchtime, everyone was at home.
Tu Meili just needed to shout a couple of times, "Jiang Qingqing is repaying debts!"
And people in the village would rush out excitedly.
The first person to arrive at the destination was a man. He stood at the back of the line, waiting for people to step forward and collect their debts one by one.
After catching his breath, he thought of a question: how did the laziest person, Zhang Liunian, suddenly become capable of repaying debts?
"Do you know where this money came from?" the man nudged the man in front of him with his elbow.
The latter turned and shook his head, "How would I know? As long as they repay the debts, I don't care where it comes from."
"..."
That made sense. As long as their debts were repaid, why bother finding out where the money came from?
But still, he was very curious. Zhang Liunian was the laziest person in the entire village; it was too unbelievable that his family suddenly had money.
"I heard Zhang Liunian earned it." A woman wearing a straw hat in the crowd further ahead suddenly spoke up.
The two men wanted to ask how he earned it but didn't voice their questions.
They didn't ask, but the gossipy women did, "How did he earn it?"
"Believe it or not, with that lazy bum Zhang Liunian, how could he have earned it?" The woman in the straw hat didn't believe the money was earned by Zhang Liunian.
"If he didn't earn it, then where did this money come from?"
"How would I know?" The woman in the straw hat shamelessly admitted she didn't know.
The topic ended, and not long after, it was the straw-hatted woman's turn.
Jiang Qingqing glanced at her and smiled, "Auntie Xiao'e, yours is five yuan, right?"
Wang Xiao'e's eyes scanned the wad of bills in Jiang Qingqing's hand, and she said seriously, "You remembered incorrectly. It's fifty yuan."
"..."
Jiang Qingqing hadn't expected her to lie. She pointed to her account book and said, "I've recorded it all. It says here that I borrowed five yuan from you on the evening of January 1st, the year before last."
"Of course, you'd record it as a smaller amount. If it were me, I'd write it like that too, as no one can see it," Wang Xiao'e said as if she understood.
This time, she not only wanted to collect her debt but also see if she could extort some money to take home.
If she succeeded, that would be best. If she failed, she could just say she remembered incorrectly, and it wouldn't matter.
"Auntie Xiao'e, my accounts are never wrong. Because besides the eldest brother, no one in the village dared to lend me more than ten yuan. And you're no exception." Jiang Qingqing's smile faded.