The three of them paused for a moment upon hearing Song Tianyao's name, then exchanged glances before asking Xia Harry uncertainly, "Really?"
"Can we go to my warehouse now and talk?" Xia Harry led the three away from the pier.
Once inside his warehouse, Xia Harry offered cigarettes to the three men and asked them to sit down. Only then did he take a closer look at the three men in front of him. They were all around twenty years old. Perhaps because they were used to doing business at sea, their skin was much rougher than that of ordinary people, and their hands holding the cigarettes had a thick layer of calluses.
"What are your names? How many are there?" Xia Harry lit a cigarette and asked the three men.
The leader of the three did not answer Xia Harry's question truthfully, but instead asked in return, "We're not very familiar with each other, so there's no need to ask for names, right? We just want to know, is it true that you said at the dock that someone surnamed Song had your goods seized by the Marine Police?"
"The boat is moored outside the pier. You all saw the Marine Police and Customs detain it. My name is Xia Harry, and my brother's name is Xia Zuoji. We two brothers supply all the hair in Hong Kong. Do you think I'm lying? Of course it's true." Xia Harry frowned slightly because the other party wouldn't even give his name, but then relaxed. It was normal for these three to be nervous and cautious.
"Damn it! Brother, that Song guy was definitely up to no good. Luckily you brought us here to scout things out first. If we had been stupid enough to sail into the dock, our goods would have been confiscated! Ten dollars a Braid! We shouldn't have believed his nonsense in the first place!" The man who had initially complained on the pier that Song Tianyao would use the Marine Police to steal their raw materials immediately shouted at the leader.
The leader gestured to his companion to be quiet. "Shut up, how can you talk about something like this in front of outsiders?"
Then he looked at Xia Harry across from him. "So you're Boss Xia? We went to Thailand to get our hair removed because we saw you making money, that's why we decided to go. It's an honor to meet you. Thanks for the tip and the cigarettes, bye."
As they spoke, the three men stood up to leave. Xia Harry stood up behind them and said to the three who were turning around, "Ten yuan a Braid? Impossible. Song Tianyao's factory doesn't even use 30,000 Braids a year, and he already has 70,000 to 80,000 in stock. Do you think he would buy your hair at such a high price? My goods are currently being held by Customs. Why don't you consider transferring them to me? I urgently need to supply ten factories, and you can get paid immediately. It's a win-win situation for everyone. As for the price, we can discuss it."
"Thanks, but I'm not interested." The leader paused noticeably for a moment, but quickly continued walking out.
Seeing the man's hesitation, Xia Harry smiled confidently behind the three of them and continued, "You've seen what happened to my shipment. If you're still thinking about selling your Braids for ten dollars a piece, you should be thinking about how much money you can spend to redeem the hair that was confiscated from Customs."
"You... how much are you willing to pay?" The leader turned around and sized up Xia Harry: "If you offer eight dollars per braid, I'll sell you all 200,000 Braids. The ship is currently anchored near Po Toi Island, and my goods have the necessary documents for shipping from the Thailand port. They're legitimate goods. As long as that guy surnamed Song doesn't cause any trouble, we're not afraid of Customs anti-smuggling efforts."
Two hundred thousand Braids? Xia Harry's heart skipped a beat, then he immediately asked, "How could you possibly have collected so many Braids in such a short time?"
"My uncle collects taxes for the military in Thailand, in a province in southern Thailand. This batch of hair was collected by bribing the local army to force the Thailand people to cut off their Braid." The man hesitated for a moment before giving his answer, "But it can only be done once. If you want to go there to collect hair again, you'll probably have to wait several years. I've already collected all the long enough hair."
Shocked, Xia Harry believed the other party's words because Thailand was currently under military dictatorship. As long as the military was dealt with, it wouldn't be surprising if not everyone in a region cut off their Braid, or even if all the civilians in the region shaved their heads. There was no democracy or freedom to speak of.
"Eight yuan is impossible, not just eight yuan, even five yuan is impossible." Xia Harry said frankly to the other party, "When Song Tianyao first said five or ten yuan for Braid, it was just a boastful remark when he was arguing with the other ten factories. But to actually spend two million or one million to buy two hundred thousand Braids? That's a joke. How could someone like him buy raw materials at such a high price? If he really offered such a high price, I would only cooperate with his factory. Why would I need to do business with the other ten factories now?"
"I don't understand these things. If you want to buy hair, how much are you willing to pay?" The other party was not interested in Song Tianyao's grudges with other factories, but only asked Xia Harry how much he was prepared to offer.
Xia Harry held up one finger. "One dollar each."
"Fuck you!" the other man cursed, his eyebrows bulging with rage. "The cost of these Braids from the Nationalist Army alone was more than one tael each!"
"How much do you want? In business, prices are negotiable," Xia Harry said calmly.
The other party held up five fingers. "Five yuan per Braid. You nod and pay, and the boat will immediately sail from Po Toi Island to your designated dock to unload the cargo."
"Impossible. Five dollars a Braid? You couldn't sell it anywhere in Hong Kong." Xia Harry shook his head again. "Two dollars a braid at most."
"Two dollars isn't even enough to break even!" The other party was so angry that his lips trembled, and he cursed repeatedly, "Damn you, you businessmen are so heartless! One of you, surnamed Song, is planning to use Customs to extort money, and the other, you, are planning to haggle me down to the point of losing everything! I borrowed money at exorbitant interest rates for this hair collection, no way! I can't let everything else go, I have to pay back the interest. I can't let the business fail and then have my boat seized by debt collectors! Three dollars a strand! If I can make it, I will; if not, I'd rather sail into Hong Kong and gamble! Let's see if that Song guy will eat me alive!"
He finished speaking, somewhat irritated, and finally looked at Xia Harry with a determined expression. "Three dollars a stick! Any lower, and even if I sell them, I won't be able to pay back the exorbitant interest, so I might as well not sell them!"