Chapter 15: Chapter Fifteen: Adding Flowers to Brocade

“Give me another fifty satellite dishes!”

Fan Xugang hurried to the Shangguan Town Yuanqi Factory, ran to Zhang Xiao’s office door, and shouted, wanting to enter, only to find it locked from inside.

“We’re out of stock now—earliest we can deliver is tomorrow!”

The speaker was Zhang Ao; Fan Xugang saw that Zhang Ao and several others were all waiting outside the door.

“What? Out of stock?!” Fan Xugang stared blankly—he knew satellite dishes had only been on sale for three days, and he’d just secured an order for another fifty, only to be told there was none left?!

“But the warehouse still had hundreds of satellite dishes, didn’t it?” Fan Xugang snapped, this involved real money—he couldn’t help but panic; what was worse than seeing cash right in front of you but being unable to grab it? Better not to see it at all.

“All sold out—this guy alone sold three hundred satellite dishes!”

Another man squatting on the ground smoking nodded toward Zhang Ao, his tone dripping with envy—he’d feared no one would buy, so he’d only taken fewer than thirty dishes, selling them to the coal bureau; turns out the demand was far higher than he imagined, and when he tried to restock, the warehouse was already empty.

Hearing Zhang Ao had sold three hundred, Fan Xugang stared at him in shock—he’d exhausted himself, chasing down forestry bureau staff and other units’ employees, wearing out his lips, and barely sold a hundred; Zhang Ao had sold three hundred.

“How did you do it?” Fan Xugang couldn’t help asking.

Zhang Ao smiled, extended his hand, and Fan Xugang immediately handed him a cigarette and lit it; Zhang Ao took a drag, then said slowly, “I handed the satellite dishes over to the Supply and Marketing Cooperative to sell—I don’t care how much they sell them for, as long as they sell, I take a commission, and I split it fifty-fifty with the Supply and Marketing Cooperative.”

Zhang Ao acted as the overall agent, then found distributors; it looked like he earned less—only half the commission—but the volume made up for it: he simply delivered the dishes to the Supply and Marketing Cooperatives across Pingyang’s two districts and ten counties and waited for the money; in just a few days, he’d already made over three thousand yuan!

When there was money to be made, Supply and Marketing Cooperative clerks—especially those in town branches—were incredibly enthusiastic, working tirelessly to promote satellite dishes to every customer who entered; if not for the stockout, they’d have gone door-to-door pushing them.

The town’s Supply and Marketing Cooperative bought the dishes from Zhang Ao and marked them up thirty to fifty yuan each; add Zhang Ao’s commission, and each dish earned the Supply and Marketing Cooperative at least forty yuan profit; how they split that between the Supply and Marketing Cooperative and the clerk, Zhang Ao didn’t care—just by watching how eagerly the clerks promoted the dishes, you could tell how much they were making.

Right now, the most enthusiastic sellers of satellite dishes are the TV station’s sales halls and Supply and Marketing Cooperative staff; of course, some in these places still look down on this money and cling to their old haughty attitudes, but most clerks are now extremely motivated, completely shattering old stereotypes about them.

“Damn it, why didn’t I think of that!”

Fan Xugang grabbed a handful of his hair in frustration—selling alone, running himself ragged and wearing out his tongue, he could barely move a few units; if he’d just found agents, even taking a smaller commission, he’d be making far more than he is now.

“No good—I need to go to the forestry bureau in the neighboring city!” With that, Fan Xugang rushed off again.

Inside Zhang Xiaocheng’s factory manager’s office, a pile of 210,000 yuan in cash sat on the desk—the total revenue from selling seven hundred satellite dishes.

Li Dongling watched as Zhang Xiaocheng just stared at the money on the desk for half the day without moving.

“All seven hundred satellite dishes sold!”

This man, who had fought on the battlefield and held himself together for so long, finally exhaled deeply; the mountain of pressure that had weighed on him for so long lifted at last—within three days, or more accurately, just two days after launch, all dishes were sold out, far exceeding Zhang Xiaocheng’s expectations.

Li Dongling said to Zhang Xiaocheng, “Right now, the most important thing is ramping up production—contact Zheng Zutai; this money can’t be distributed as dividends yet, but sales commissions must be paid out immediately—no delays!”

On the platform TV side, anyone who isn’t an idiot knows now isn’t the time to kill the goose that lays the golden egg—if they don’t grow the pie, they won’t get a big slice.

Right now, those selling the Guanxing satellite dishes don’t need whips—the commission incentive drives them to sell like mad; but if the promised commissions aren’t paid out promptly, they’ll quit instantly.

For now, TV sales halls and Supply and Marketing Cooperatives must remain the main sales channels; later, as satellite dishes become widespread, the main sellers will shift to appliance repair shops and electronics stores; by then, the profit margin on satellite dishes won’t be nearly as high.

“I know—the emperor doesn’t starve his soldiers—I’ll pay out all commissions today!” Zhang Xiaocheng didn’t claim to be brilliant, but he wasn’t short-sighted.

When the office door opened and Zhang Xiaocheng appeared holding the list, Zhang Ao and the others immediately stood up, eyes blazing.

“Once finance verifies everything, I’ll pay out all your commissions today!”

Hearing Zhang Xiaocheng’s words, Zhang Ao and the others couldn’t help shouting with excitement—this money wasn’t salary; for Zhang Ao and the others, these commissions were thrilling; going back to earning a few hundred yuan a month would feel unbearable—or even beneath them.

In just a few days, they’d earned what used to take a year—or even several—to make; having experienced this thrill, they’d crave even more, work even harder—this was the path of a top sales elite’s growth: only money could make a salesperson grow fast.

Right now, so many people heading south to make their fortune have done so because they’ve heard too many such stories—flocking there hoping for overnight wealth, because real examples are happening right before their eyes, stirring the nerves of far too many.

In the afternoon, Zheng Zutai arrived; upon hearing Zhang Xiaocheng mention delaying dividends to prioritize production expansion, Zheng Zutai agreed without hesitation.

The popularity of satellite dishes had also exceeded Pingyang TV’s leadership’s expectations—in less than three days, all seven hundred dishes sold out; even TV station sales clerks called the station themselves, requesting more satellite dishes to be shipped for sale—something unprecedented in TV station history; when had they ever seen these clerks so eager?

“Our TV station fully supports the ‘Guanxing Satellite Receiver’ project—if this product weren’t unsuitable for advertising on Pingyang TV, we’d even run ads for Guanxing ourselves!”

“However,” Zheng Zutai pulled out a check from his pocket, “though we can’t air promotional ads for Guanxing, our TV station is willing to assist the project—Pingyang TV is prepared to lend Guanxing a thirty-thousand-yuan loan, interest-free, repayment of principal only—this money will be used to increase satellite dish production capacity!”

Li Dongling glanced at Zheng Zutai—he sensed Pingyang TV had a shrewd strategist behind the scenes; with the satellite dish project on the verge of exploding, this loan carried zero risk of loss.

This loan would also maintain good relations between both sides; once Yuanqi Factory took this money, it couldn’t easily cut ties with the TV station; most crucially, Yuanqi Factory truly needed this money and couldn’t refuse.

Zhang Xiaocheng glanced at Li Dongling, who gave a slight nod; Zhang Xiaocheng took the check, handed it to finance, and began processing the paperwork.

Just after seeing Zheng Zutai off, another man arrived; seeing him, Zhang Xiaocheng’s face showed a hint of embarrassment, but he still said, “What are you doing here? I’ll repay your bank’s loan in due time!”

“Manager Zhang, you’ve misunderstood!”

The man was Guo Lizhe, who had come to demand repayment that day; he looked around the bustling Yuanqi Factory, especially the busy production floor, confirming the rumors were true.

Guo Lizhe stepped forward and shook Zhang Xiaocheng’s hand, “That day was just anger talking—don’t take it to heart. Our bank is eager to support our clients’ growth; that debt can wait.”

“I’m here today for a serious matter—shall we go inside to talk?”

Zhang Xiaocheng was puzzled but stepped aside, leading Guo Lizhe into the office; after all, Guo Lizhe’s bank had once lent money to Yuanqi Factory.

“Manager Zhang, there was a misunderstanding before, but you knew the state of Shangguan Town Yuanqi Factory back then—it wasn’t that I wanted to kick you when you were down…”

At this, Zhang Xiaocheng blushed; at the time, Yuanqi Factory had been on the brink of bankruptcy—of course the bank had come to demand repayment.

Guo Lizhe cleared his throat, “The past was a misunderstanding, but we’ve heard Yuanqi Factory has restarted with a new project—our bank is willing to support it, offering a one-million-yuan loan, interest-free for six months!”

Banks were the most well-informed; they quickly learned of Yuanqi Factory’s turnaround; seeing it revive—and possibly become a major client—they naturally changed their stance; they wouldn’t deliver coal in snow, but they’d add flowers to brocade.

“This…”

Hearing his old debt of hundreds of thousands could wait, and that he could now borrow another million, Zhang Xiaocheng was tempted—but hesitant, since it was this same bank that had nearly driven him to ruin by pulling the plug.

“Manager Zhang, Yuanqi Factory should accept Mr. Guo’s kindness!”

Li Dongling accepted the loan on Zhang Xiaocheng’s behalf; Yuanqi Factory needed to expand production as fast as possible—produce as many satellite dishes as it could, as quickly as it could; this was a quick-money opportunity; within six months at most, knockoffs of Guanxing satellite dishes would sprout everywhere—not just in Hanyi Province, but likely in other provinces too.

Before mass counterfeits flooded the market and price wars erupted, they had to produce as much as possible and make a killing.