Reborn in the red age

On the day the bidding information was sent out, the phone numbers reserved in the newspaper were almost blown up with calls. The twenty female Huaxin employees who were seconded to the company kept answering the phone all day long.

Chen Defa, who came to inspect, saw that many people had hoarse voices from speaking in the past two days, so he quickly asked people to purchase Sterculia lychnophora and gave each person 50 yuan as a reward.

Chen Defa, who had returned from Huaxin, came to Li Qingfeng's house, took out the corporate statistics made by the operator, and said excitedly:

"Brother, our bidding is very popular. I looked at the records made by the operator. Factories from all over the world have called in. In addition to state-owned enterprises, many private enterprises have also called to express their intention to participate."

"That's normal. One billion yuan for a purchase of 80 categories of materials. On average, each category costs 12.5 million yuan."

Li Qingfeng, who was sitting at the tea table in the study, took out tea leaves and made tea leisurely. He said casually, "With such a large share, if those factories can get a bite, they can not only sell all their inventory and recover a large amount of funds, but also they don't have to worry about orders in the next five months."

"Yes, the domestic market has been bad in the past two years. With your 1 billion yuan order, hundreds of factories across the country can breathe a sigh of relief, and hundreds of thousands of workers can have a good New Year this year. You are like Guanyin Bodhisattva who saves people from suffering this time." Chen Defa nodded in agreement and looked at Li Qingfeng with admiration.

"Don't flatter me, I hate people who flatter me the most."

"Brother, you misunderstood. You have provided food for hundreds of thousands of workers, which means hundreds of thousands of families. I have no intention of flattering you in what I said. I speak from the bottom of my heart."

"Haha, drink tea, drink tea"

Li Qingfeng smiled and reached out to tap Chen Defa, but did not continue the topic. He was thinking about taking Chen Defa back from Wang Weimin and training him well.

After all, who doesn’t like a capable and eloquent subordinate?
After some small talk, Chen Defa seemed to remember something and said, "Brother, I have an idea about accommodation and would like to ask for your advice."

"What's your idea? Tell me about it," Qingfeng Li said with great interest.

"This is what I think about accommodation. There are many factories participating in the bidding, and it is difficult for us to tell whether these factories are truly powerful, or are shell companies, or just idle people who come to join in the fun and see the world."

"Why not just designate a few star-rated hotels and let them stay there? We can use the star-rated hotel room cards to filter out the unqualified ones first, and then slowly filter out the rest."

After listening to Chen Defa's idea, Li Qingfeng thought for a while and shook his head slowly: "Your method won't work. Most of our partners this time are state-owned enterprises, and state-owned enterprises have accommodation standards for business trips. Star-rated hotels are not within their reimbursement range."

"Then people from state-owned enterprises can stay wherever they want, but people from private enterprises need to stay in hotels we designate."

"That's fine, but you have to make sure that after the bidding is over, you don't let negative information get out that we look down on private enterprises."

"Don't worry, I'll make arrangements."

The bidding information had been posted in the newspaper for a week. Basically, all the domestic companies that were interested in this bidding had already signed up. Chen Defa had the bidding information removed from the newspaper and began preparing for the reception for the bidding meeting.

For this bidding, Li Qingfeng arranged for the Lemon Company to have a Beijing office, and some idle personnel from Huaxin International to fully cooperate with this bidding. Chen Defa has the right to mobilize some of the resources of these two companies in Beijing.

Under the coordination of Chen Defa, the fleets of the two companies were fully mobilized, and banners were hung at the four railway stations in the city of Sijiu, and reception points were arranged to be responsible for the dispatch of personnel.

At the Sijiucheng Railway Station, a train from the Northeast arrived and a large group of men in neat shirts got off the train.

"Xiao Liu, your factory is also participating in this bidding meeting."

"Oh my god, Brother Sun, I guessed that your factory would come, but I didn't expect you to lead the team yourself."

After getting off the bus, the group of people looked around and found that they knew each other. They came forward and greeted each other in a northeastern accent.

The two men left their respective teams and went up to shake hands warmly.

Brother Sun held Xiao Liu's hand and said, "That's not right. This is a purchase worth 1 billion yuan. The canned food our factory has produced this year has almost filled up our warehouse. We should try our luck here. Maybe someone will just wave their hands and buy all the canned food from our factory."

"Hey, our factory has the same idea. There are a lot of dog-skin coats piled up in the warehouse, but they can't be sold. Now we can't even pay the wages. The factory manager is worried to death. He saw this news in the newspaper and gave me a death order, requiring me to get this order," Xiao Liu said helplessly with a bitter face.

"It's the same for everyone. Our factories are fine, but I heard that many heavy industries can no longer pay their employees and are relying entirely on government subsidies to survive."

"Oh, I'm so worried"

The two sighed for a while on the platform before leaving the platform together and following the crowd outside.

As soon as I stood in the square of the train station, I saw a huge red banner on the square, which read "Huaxing Trading Company - Reception Office of Material Tendering Fair".

There were already quite a few people gathered in front of the three tables below the banner.

They looked at each other and quickened their pace to rush over there.

"Hello, we are from Fengtian Haowei Canning Factory. May I ask..."

Before Zhang, who had finally squeezed in, could finish his words, the staff sitting on the stool interrupted and handed him a form: "Are you here to participate in the bidding? Here, this is the registration form. Fill it out and get ready to take the bus to the city."

"Um, thank you."

Looking at the expressionless face of the receptionist, Brother Zhang did not dare to ask more questions. He simply said thank you, took the paper, looked at the crowded table, and simply squatted on the ground and filled it out truthfully using the "Zhiyin" magazine he bought at the train station as a pad.

Soon, Xiao Liu also squatted on the ground next to him with the registration form and started filling it out.

Compared to Brother Zhang's calmness, Xiao Liu was somewhat dissatisfied with the attitude of the registration staff. He muttered in a low voice: "What are you so arrogant about? I haven't even said anything yet, and a piece of paper was handed to me. I was sent to the side to register, and I was not even allowed to ask questions."

"Okay, stop grumbling. As the saying goes, it's easier to deal with the King of Hell than with the little devils. If someone hears you and hides your registration form, then you've come here for nothing."

“I just think he has a bad attitude.”

"Now it's not the time when others beg us to sell things, it's us who beg others to buy our things. In the past, when those self-employed people begged you to sell things to them, how was your attitude?"

“Uh” Seeing Xiao Liu stammering and unable to speak, Brother Zhang sighed and said earnestly: “Times have changed. It is no longer the era where whoever has the goods in hand is the boss. There will be more such things in the future. Just be more open-minded.”

About half an hour later, two buses slowly drove in.

Under the direction of the reception staff, Brother Zhang and other registered manufacturers' representatives all boarded the bus and went to the venue to sign in and collect their respective passes to the bidding venue.

Sitting on the bus, looking at the building in front of him, Brother Zhang exclaimed in amazement: "Wow, it really is the Great Hall of the People. I never thought in my life that I could attend a meeting here."

"That's no big deal. The Great Hall of the People started renting out the past few years. As long as you have money, you can rent a hall inside to hold events," Xiao Liu said sourly after hearing Brother Zhang's sigh.

"Shut up, no one will think you are dumb if you don't speak"

After getting off the bus and looking at the building in front of them, Brother Zhang and others straightened their shirts and followed the guide into the building with solemn expressions.

A total of 3,100 companies registered for this bidding. When Chen Defa first started looking for a venue, he planned to let each company select one person to participate in the bidding.

In this case, we can rent a banquet hall with a capacity of 3,000 people in the Kunlun Hotel and seat them all with a little bit of crowding.

However, when the plan was reported to Qingfeng Li, it was rejected by Qingfeng Li.

Li Qingfeng felt that Chen Defa's proposal was too petty, so he asked Chen Defa to contact the Great Hall of the People and rent a large auditorium that could accommodate 10,000 people to hold the bidding meeting.

The rental fee for a large auditorium that can accommodate 10,000 people is 80,000 yuan a day, plus miscellaneous expenses, it only costs 85,000 yuan a day.

For the wealthy Qingfeng Li, this is just small change.

"Comrade, are you mistaken? State-owned enterprises can stay in guesthouses, but why do private enterprises like us have to stay in such expensive star-rated hotels?"

Today is the first day of registration. Li Qingfeng, who had nothing to do and came with Chen Defa to inspect the registration situation, heard a dissatisfied voice as soon as he entered the sign-in location.

Li Qingfeng stopped and looked at the registration desk with interest, waiting to see how the receptionist there would handle the situation.

The person in charge of the reception this time was Liu Guangmin, who was dragged over from the Computer Research Institute. Liu Guangmin showed no impatience at all and stood up to explain patiently, "Sir, this is the rule of our company. Except for state-owned factories, private enterprises must stay in designated hotels before they can get the pass to the venue."

"Sir, your rule is too unreasonable. The guesthouse costs only a few dollars a day, but the hotel you designated for private enterprises to stay in costs dozens or even hundreds of dollars a day. Who would be willing to stay in such an expensive hotel?"

"Why can state-owned enterprises stay in guesthouses that cost only a few yuan, but we have to stay in the hotels you designate? You are discriminating and looking down on us private enterprises."

"Yes, why do you look down on us private enterprises? Why do you treat us differently? Please give us an explanation."

Facing the excited representatives of private enterprises in front of him, Liu Guangmin's expression remained unchanged as he quietly watched the chaos at the scene.

After everyone calmed down, Liu Guangmin spoke up, "Everyone, let me say this first. First of all, we are also a private enterprise. Naturally, we will not look down on private enterprises like us. If we look down on you, wouldn't that also be looking down on ourselves?"

Liu Guangmin's words immediately caused an uproar.

No one would have thought that Huaxing Trading Company, which could spend 1 billion to purchase supplies, was actually a private enterprise.

That's 1 billion. Mou Qizhong, who became famous some time ago, has a total net worth of less than 200 million, yet he is already recognized as the richest man in China.

A trading company that can spend 1 billion in cash to purchase supplies, everyone thinks that this company is either a state-owned enterprise or a subsidiary of a large unit.

Now that we tell them in public that this company is a private enterprise, it would be strange if they are not shocked.

After the exclamation, Liu Guangmin continued: "The reason for formulating such a regulation is mainly because state-owned enterprises are endorsed by the state. They are not private and have basic credibility guarantees."

"You are all from private enterprises, so you naturally know the situation of private enterprises. It's not an exaggeration to say that there are good and bad companies. We have a large demand for materials procurement this time, and the time is tight. It's not too much to set some prerequisites to avoid some unnecessary troubles, right?"

"Of course, I know that most of the people who come to the conference are from powerful large companies, but there will always be some people who want to fish in troubled waters. If there are no necessary measures, they will make random quotes at the venue, take orders but not complete them. In the end, it is not only us who will be affected, but also your interests."

Liu Guangmin's remarks not only explained the reason, but also praised the powerful private enterprises present.

It also pointed out that if no restrictions are imposed, it may cause losses to the whole group.

What he said was well-reasoned and well-founded, causing the private enterprise representatives, who had just been filled with indignation, to nod their heads and say that what he said made sense and that certain precautions must indeed be taken.

Just when the accusations from private enterprises had been suppressed, the state-owned enterprises that had been watching the fun started to make trouble again.

Xiao Liu, a representative of the coat factory, was the first to question: "Sir, as far as I know, many large state-owned enterprises in China cannot come up with 1 billion RMB. As a private enterprise, do you have the ability to come up with that much money?"

Although the other state-owned enterprise representatives did not speak, they also had this question in their minds. They stared at Liu Guangmin, waiting for his explanation.

Facing Xiao Liu's questioning, Liu Guangmin smiled faintly, took out the documents he had prepared long ago from the drawer, raised his hands high and showed them to everyone.

"Everyone, this is the asset certificate issued by Huaguo Bank. We have deposited 300 million US dollars in our company account as a deposit for this bidding meeting. It is stamped with the bank's official seal. The document is authentic and reliable. If anyone does not believe it, you can go to the bank with me to check the authenticity of the asset certificate."

Li Qingfeng knew that someone would ask this question. Although he did not have 10 billion RMB now, he had US dollars.

So he contacted the Bank of China in advance, intending to transfer 300 million out of the 1 billion US dollars to the account of Huaxing Trading Company, and then transfer it back after completing the asset proof.

However, after talking to the president of the Bank of China, the president said that there was no need to go through so much trouble.

It's a waste of time to transfer money back and forth. I'll just give you a certificate of assets of 300 million and you can just use it. (End of this chapter)