Rich in the 70s: I Made a Rugged Veteran a Millionaire-Chapter 101: The Second Order

Jiang Cheng had thoroughly piqued Mr. John’s interest.

"Jiang, I still want to take a look at this gift box."

Jiang Cheng looked a bit hesitant, but after thinking for a moment, he agreed.

"Of course, even if you hadn’t asked, I was going to show it to you, because this is the farewell gift I prepared for you all."

Saying this, Jiang Cheng brought over several boxes and basket-shaped gift sets from the waiter.

There were bamboo-made, wood-carved, and handwoven ones.

Each was rich with features of Hua Xia, making them not only eye-catching but also likable.

"John, this is a tableware gift set with cups, plates, spoons, and coasters. You use bowls sparingly, so I included more plates."

Jiang Cheng explained several things about each item.

Their origins, the meaning of the patterns, the days of manual labor involved, the craftsmen’s ingenuity, and so on.

After explaining at length, Jiang Cheng looked at the increasingly fascinated John and said, "I hope you like it."

Suddenly coming back to his senses, John looked at Jiang Cheng and said, "Jiang, you must help me!"

Jiang Cheng pretended to be puzzled.

"How can I help you?"

John pointed at the gift box and said, "This! I hope to purchase a batch to take back home."

Hearing this, Jiang Cheng shook his head repeatedly, showing a face as if saying, "Why don’t you listen?"

"John, it’s not that we don’t want to sell to you, but our fully handcrafted factory workforce is insufficient. They wouldn’t hire outsiders just for a dozen or twenty sets, so there’s really no way to sell them to you."

John immediately caught onto the key information.

"Jiang, are you saying that if my order is large enough, your factory could hire extra workers for overtime, right?"

Jiang Cheng seemed slightly surprised, as if he hadn’t thought of this.

He looked at John with a bit of difficulty.

"John, do you really want to buy? The price of each set isn’t cheap, at least fifty US Dollars per set."

John was unmoved upon hearing the price.

If he bought these handcrafted items and labeled them as purely handmade, he could sell them for at least a hundred US Dollars each, at the very least!

John had even figured it out—he would select a few more special sets and sell them at a high price of a thousand US Dollars. There were plenty of fools who liked the stories behind handmade items.

With his mind working, John looked at Jiang Cheng and said, "This price is indeed a bit high, but I’m genuinely interested. Please do me a favor and ask about it. I want to negotiate the price with them."

"Of course, I’ll need at least a thousand sets, and for some, I want something different; we’ll need to discuss the details."

John roughly listed his terms.

Jiang Cheng listened carefully and nodded solemnly, giving an expression as if John was putting him in a difficult position, and headed towards Director Leng and several factory managers.

John watched from a distance.

He could only see Jiang Cheng saying something earnestly, and the faces of the people from Hua Xia looked troubled and unwilling.

John thought, maybe he could add a bit to the price, but it shouldn’t go over sixty US Dollars.

Meanwhile, Jiang Cheng was enthusiastically managing the expressions of the factory managers.

"Think of something you’re unwilling about, show a rejecting expression, refuse, struggle."

"The more difficult you look now, the higher the price we can ask for."

"I think John’s psychological price point still has room for adjustment, but we can’t push it too far or we’ll scare him off."

"Ah... We might earn a little less then. So be it."

Jiang Cheng spoke regretfully, and the factory managers made an effort to perform well.

With his back to John, Director Leng asked, "Did you negotiate down to twenty US Dollars?"

Jiang Cheng regrettably shook his head.

The factory managers were a bit sincerely upset seeing Jiang Cheng shake his head.

If it were less than twenty US Dollars, they wouldn’t make much of a profit.

This gift set was spearheaded by S City’s furniture factory, which collaborated with a ceramics factory and a bamboo weaving factory in the provincial city, producing them overnight.

They were all personal connections of the furniture factory’s manager.

Seeing Jiang Cheng shake his head again, Director Leng, thinking a bit differently from the other three factory managers, tentatively asked, "Not twenty, but twenty-five?"

The three factory managers: why are you raising the price?

The three managers all looked at Jiang Cheng again, and saw that Jiang Cheng shook his head once more.

Director Leng asked again, "Thirty?"

The three managers: how could it be possible?

All three managers, thinking this was impossible, unexpectedly held a bit of hope and looked at Jiang Cheng, but Jiang Cheng continued to shake his head.

This time, Director Leng didn’t ask anymore.

It seemed the negotiation had indeed fallen through.

He consoled, "Jiang Cheng, it’s okay, even a price in the teens is acceptable."

Jiang Cheng looked at Director Leng, flashed a bright smile, and said in a crisp voice, "Fifty US Dollars per set, at least!"

Director Leng and the three factory managers were dumbfounded, stunned.

Just as they were about to have a big reaction, Jiang Cheng poured cold water on it and said, "Watch your expressions, mess it up and the fifty-dollar deal is off."

In a word, the four of them acted superbly!

At this moment, the four people performing at the pinnacle of their lives were inwardly overwhelmed with excitement, almost going mad, yet they had to hold it in.

The muscles in their cheeks were almost biting through!

Ten minutes later, Jiang Cheng returned to John’s side.

This time, Director Leng and the three factory managers started observing Jiang Cheng’s and John’s body language.

How did it go?

Pay attention to expressions, expressions!

Jiang Cheng approached, and the foreigner came over too.

Did they make the deal?

Fifty US Dollars???

Jiang Cheng brought John to the side of the three factory managers and Director Leng for introductions, and everyone shook hands.

Seeing this, John realized Jiang Cheng was telling the truth.

Just as Jiang Cheng said, the gift box needed cooperation among three factories to produce, truly a grand production.

After greetings were exchanged, Jiang Cheng looked at Director Leng and said, "Mr. John’s final offer is fifty-seven US Dollars per set; can we agree to this on our side?"

Fifty-seven US Dollars?

Inside, the three factory managers were taken aback, but their faces remained wooden, not daring to show any expression.

At this crucial moment, Director Leng took the lead.

He showed a bit of reluctance, looked at the three factory managers, and played the role of a peacemaker, saying, "Why not? Let’s take a step back too."

The three factory managers understood that Director Leng was acting and, while full of admiration, silently counted.

Jiang Cheng had instructed them: agree, but not too quickly—count to five and that would be just right.

"Okay!"

"We agree."

"Fifty-seven US Dollars."

Each of the three factory managers said a line, while Director Leng smiled and nodded, looking once again at Jiang Cheng.

Jiang Cheng translated everything truthfully, and John showed a satisfied smile.

Next, the contract was signed.

It’s only real when the deal is settled.

During the contract signing, Jiang Cheng took out a booklet again for John to choose the styles and designs.

John was even more satisfied.

What hadn’t been showcased turned out to be even more exquisite!

For a moment, he was dazzled.

Just at this moment, Jiang Cheng casually brought up a past bet between the two of them.

Because of the exquisite designs and the doubled bet, John instantly added another thousand sets, a total of two thousand sets, each priced at fifty-seven US Dollars.

Totaling one hundred fourteen thousand US Dollars.

Jiang Cheng successfully completed her second transaction and was ready to work towards her third.