Pregnant and Pampered: The Heiress in a Military Compound
Chapter 153: Let Her Run Them Over
All eyes were on Xie Changning as she introduced her factory’s new products to the foreign buyers.
Those who came over were undoubtedly drawn by the facial soaps and scented candles, or perhaps the children’s high chairs and indoor play sets.
On their way to Xie Changning’s booth, it wasn’t that the foreigners didn’t look at other stalls. Rather, the products at the other booths were all too conventional, so they didn’t even bother to stop, heading straight for the booth at the very back.
The booth with China’s most unique products—
"My dear lady, your prices are too high. I can’t offer you that much." As always, the foreigners were arrogant, refusing to offer a high price and even attempting to slash the asking price in half. 𝚏𝕣𝐞𝗲𝐰𝕖𝐛𝐧𝕠𝕧𝚎𝚕.𝐜𝚘𝗺
For example, the facial soap at Xie Changning’s booth was priced at 2.50 US dollars, but the buyer would only offer 1.10. Xie Changning could not accept such a price.
Xie Changning shook her head. "That’s a real shame."
Xie Changning didn’t even try to make them stay, simply saying they could cooperate some other time.
When had these arrogant foreigners ever met a factory director like Xie Changning? Since she refused to yield, the buyer naturally stormed off. Seeing her attitude, the other foreigners also shook their heads and walked away.
Only Jerry came up to Xie Changning’s booth.
"I’ll take 5,000 sets to start." He had just finished a lap around the other booths before coming over, placing his order before anyone could say a word.
He knew that Xie Changning’s facial soap was positioned for the mid-to-high-end market, and besides, it was a buy-one-get-one-free deal.
Buy a full bar of soap, and you’d get a travel pack containing ten smaller packets for free.
Of course, the individually packaged soap could also be sold separately, but its price was higher than the full bar. The wholesale price from Xie Changning was 3.50 US dollars.
However, this version contained 110 grams, whereas the full bar was only 100 grams.
In Xie Changning’s words, "The smaller and more delicate something is, the harder it is to make. The individual packaging, in particular, adds to the cost."
Some people disagreed, and some agreed.
Jerry not only placed an order with Xie Changning for the facial soaps and scented candles, but also for the children’s high chairs and play sets.
Five thousand sets of each.
Less than two hours after the trade fair began, Xie Changning had already secured a foreign currency deal.
The breakdown was: 5,000 sets of full-bar facial soap at 2.50 US dollars each, 5,000 high-end scented candles at 4.50 US dollars each, and 5,000 portable facial soaps at 3.50 US dollars each. In total, the daily chemical factory earned 52,500 US dollars in foreign currency.
Compared to the soaps, the wooden children’s high chairs and play sets were priced higher.
The unit price for a children’s high chair was 25 US dollars, while a full play set went for 100 US dollars. Jerry ordered 5,000 of each, bringing in a total of 625,000 US dollars for the wood products factory.
It was a roaring start, to say the least!
With both of Xie Changning’s factories making sales right off the bat, someone immediately ran to report the good news to the leadership.
Xie Changning’s success made the other factory directors anxious, and they became even more enthusiastic toward the foreign buyers.
However, just like before, the foreigners stated they wouldn’t buy anything since no one was lowering their prices.
The result of their refusal to buy was that by the end of the day, only Xie Changning had successfully earned any foreign currency.
The other foreigners wanted to wait and see.
As the entire day went by with no one else making a sale, the directors started sighing and constantly glancing over at Xie Changning, hoping she would come and reassure them.
But this time, it wasn’t Xie Changning who came to comfort them. It was her older sister, Xie Changyi, along with the official in charge of the Shencheng City Spring Trade Fair.
The two of them walked into the exhibition hall and addressed the crowd.
"We’ve seen how everyone has performed today, and we know you’re all very anxious. But! Our country is a great manufacturing nation, and our low prices give us an undeniable advantage!"
"Even if we refuse to lower our prices, our average price is still below that of foreign countries! They won’t leave, so don’t you worry!"
"You’ve done well!"
While reassuring everyone, the official told them, "You have shown me the true spirit of the sons and daughters of China!"
You had to admit, a leader was a leader.
A few words from him were a hundred times more effective than ten from Xie Changning.
With the leader’s reassurance, everyone’s anxious hearts grew much calmer.
As they were leaving the convention hall, Xie Changyi couldn’t help but chuckle. "You can relax now, sir. No one is watching."
"Ah, Changyi, you’ve really put me through the wringer..." The Spring Trade Fair official said, rubbing his chest with a complicated expression. His presence here was entirely at the direction of his superiors.
But! Just because the leadership gave the order, did that mean he was calm?
No, none of them were calm. They were all just putting on a brave front!
Xie Changyi smiled. "I think we need to have faith in our country’s manufacturing competitiveness. Perhaps our foreign currency earnings won’t be high this year, but that doesn’t mean it will be like this in the future."
That was what the higher-ups were thinking as well.
If they were willing to sacrifice the profits from one spring trade fair, the future earnings would easily make up for this temporary slump!
The head of the Spring Trade Fair nodded. "That’s true, but I’m still on edge." Then, he cursed at Xie Changyi in jest, "It’s easy for you to say! Your little sister can single-handedly meet the entire foreign currency quota for your Lin Province!"
Xie Changyi shook her head.
"She has set the bar too high. If we don’t earn that much this year, the higher-ups won’t be satisfied with our performance."
"I’m sure the higher-ups will just be happy to see a profit."
Every year, the money spent just to cover the deficits for these factories’ foreign currency earnings is a considerable sum. If they can save that money now, it’s as good as making a profit.
The government doesn’t want to keep plugging those holes every year, either.
The country wasn’t exactly rich...
The heart-stopping day finally came to an end. The factory directors left, rubbing their chests with anxious expressions.
In the entire convention hall, only Xie Changning had made a deal!
This was truly—
So embarrassing for them!
But embarrassment or not, everyone wanted to make money. They were especially envious after hearing that Xie Changning had used the profits from last year’s foreign currency earnings to acquire two small factories and even build a branch factory!
They would endure!
And so, the second day passed without incident.
The factory directors had gotten used to it and started to slack off, sitting in their chairs and twiddling their thumbs.
By the third day, however, expectations began to rise.
While the factory directors were waiting expectantly, the foreigners had already sent a representative to negotiate with the head of the Spring Trade Fair.
But the official felt that his own translator wasn’t sharp-tongued enough for the task. He told the representative to wait and sent someone to fetch Xie Changning.
’When that girl takes on the foreigners, she shows no mercy,’ he thought. ’I love to see it!’
’He already knew why they were here. They were just going to complain that China was stirring up trouble at the trade fair this year, with prices much higher than before. But! What did that have to do with the organizers?’
’Wasn’t this just because they couldn’t get their way with the factory directors? Their attempts to sow discord had failed, so now they were coming to the organizers to get them to apply pressure?’
’Heh heh! They weren’t falling for it!’
Xie Changning had been curious why the official had summoned her, but the moment she saw the foreigner in his office, she understood everything.
He had brought her here to tear the guy apart!