Chapter 166: Su He Brings Good News to the Textile Factory
After reviewing the price list, Grant began bargaining with Su He. In the end, Su He grudgingly reduced the price of each type of hair accessory by ten cents, and they finally reached an agreement.
Section Chief Yu was speechless.
The cheapest hair accessory cost $1 each, and the most expensive was $2 apiece. He couldn’t understand—why not use that money to buy fabric for clothes instead?
Why would anyone spend on such flashy, impractical accessories?
Wasn’t a simple rubber band enough?
This was a difference in perception.
Country M had long since moved past the struggle for basic survival. People there were more than willing to spend money on dressing up. They not only held regular fashion weeks but also scrambled to buy luxury goods. Spending a dollar or two on a hair accessory was no big deal for them.
Grant said, “Su, since this is our first time working together, I’ll start by ordering 1,000 of each item. If sales go well, we’ll reorder.”
Su He looked displeased. “Mr. Grant, you said earlier you wanted a large volume, so I gave you the best possible price. And now you’re only ordering this much? I’m beginning to question your sincerity!”
Section Chief Yu was speechless again. That was 1,000 pieces of each of the 16 designs—16,000 pieces in total! The order would be worth over $20,000. And she was still unhappy?
Could she be any greedier?
Embarrassed, Grant ended up increasing his order for five of the designs by another 1,000 units each.
Section Chief Yu was stunned. That actually worked?!
Afterward, Su He told Grant the truth about subcontracting the production. Since they planned to collaborate long-term, she felt it was better to be honest.
As she expected, Grant didn’t mind. As long as product quality was guaranteed, he didn’t care where the production line was or who officially fulfilled the order.
With everything agreed upon, Su He had Section Chief Yu arrange for someone at the factory to draft a formal contract. She wasn’t familiar with the rules and processes of foreign trade in this era, so she knew to leave it to the professionals.
The final order was for 21,000 pieces, totaling $31,518, with a delivery window of 90 days.
Once the contract was signed, Section Chief Yu wanted to invite Grant to dinner, but Grant politely declined.
Daniel, meanwhile, kept winking and nudging at Su He, clearly expecting praise for being the “key player” in the deal.
Su He shot him a glare, and he immediately quieted down.
After Grant and Daniel left, Section Chief Yu looked at Su He with a complex expression before giving her a big thumbs-up.
He was truly impressed.
As someone in sales, he knew how hard it was to land a foreign trade order—it usually took endless pleading and connections. Yet this young woman had done it effortlessly!
He counted on his fingers. In just a few days, she had already secured three deals!
And they were all large cross-industry orders!
Thinking of how Su He had asked about taking on a part-time job, he quickly made up an excuse and dashed off to find the factory director.
When he returned, he was beaming with delight.
“Little Su, I suddenly remembered that our sales department is short-staffed. We’d like to officially hire you as a part-time sales rep. Your pay will be based on the standard for Level 4 staff—same as for a college graduate after passing probation. That’s 56 yuan per month. How does that sound?”
Principal Chen, who had stayed silent the whole time, was stunned.
She only graduated high school, and you’re paying her the same as a college grad? Now she will be even more disheartened about going to college. What’s the point if grads only make this much anyway?
As he quietly stewed, Section Chief Yu added, “As long as you perform well, salary aside, the factory will also give you bonuses…”
Principal Chen was practically turning green with envy.
They were both from An County, yet he felt like a useless old man compared to her.
Su He, always cheerful, accepted the offer without hesitation.
After chatting a bit more, Su He brought up a new idea: “Section Chief Yu, our county’s textile factory has no experience with export business, so I’d like to send a few people over to learn from you. Is that okay?”
Section Chief Yu readily agreed.
He was a big-picture thinker. He didn’t resent the fact that An County was landing these hair accessory orders, nor did he try to poach the business.
Rather than focusing on petty short-term profits, he saw more value in cultivating Su He’s potential and hopefully securing more overseas orders through her in the future.
Once all the discussions wrapped up, Su He and Principal Chen finally left the factory.
Su He got off the car again at the phone booth.
Without needing to be told, Principal Chen distracted the old man watching the booth by chatting with him in confusing half-understood phrases.
Since Su He didn’t have the textile factory director’s office phone number, she called Director Gao instead.
Director Gao was just getting ready to leave work when he heard the phone ring.
“Hello, who’s this?”
“Director Gao, it’s Little Su, calling from the S City to say hi!”
Director Gao was much more socially savvy than Director Tian. Hearing Su He’s voice, he responded warmly: “Ah, it’s Little Su! How are you doing in the city? Any problems you need help with?”
Su He sighed. “It’s fine. I didn’t manage to close a deal with the S City’s supply and marketing agency—they wanted bribes, so I gave up.”
Director Gao consoled her, “That’s alright. Just enjoy your rare trip to the big city and relax a bit.”
He wasn’t surprised. The S City was filled with top-tier goods—why would they need to import from a small town like An County?
But then Su He said, “Although I didn’t get that deal, I accidentally landed an export order instead. Since foreign exchange has to be centrally managed, it’ll take time for funds to be allocated to us. Our factory will also need to send someone to learn about export trade… Ai, such a hassle! Honestly, I didn’t even want to sign the deal, but the foreign businessman insisted—crying and begging—so I had no choice. For the sake of international friendship, I signed it.”
Clunk!
Director Gao dropped the phone onto his desk.
Good heavens! Did I hear that right?
Did Little Su say she landed a foreign trade order?
Their tiny little county factory was about to bring in foreign currency?
“Hello? Hello?! Director Gao?”
He hurriedly picked up the phone again. “Little Su, are you serious? You really signed a foreign trade order?”
“Yes, really. It’s just that the amount is a bit small—I’m kind of embarrassed to say.”
Director Gao said quickly, “Little Su! Being able to export and earn foreign currency is a huge deal! Even if we lose money, it’s still worth it. So what’s the total amount?”
He guessed each hair accessory might sell for around $0.50, and maybe she’d sold 3,000–5,000 units at most. That’d be a total of two or three thousand dollars, tops.
“It’s not much—just a bit over thirty-one thousand dollars.”
Clunk!
The receiver hit the table again.
Then he scrambled to pick it up and shouted in a hoarse voice, “Thirty… thousand?!”
“Yes. Is that too little? I thought so too! It really should’ve been closer to eighty or a hundred thousand! This amount doesn’t even fill a gap between my teeth…”
