Cooperation Reached, One Step Forward

Fang Bai shook hands with Hua Feng, probing his information, and quickly learned the recent situation of the Boli Valve Company. He said, "Mr. Hua, I hear Boli Company is swamped with business—3-inch Gate Valves and 2-inch Globe Valves are piling up like mountains.

Here's the thing: I happen to run a machine processing plant with guaranteed quality.

The processing fee for a 2-inch Globe Valve is only 17 yuan!

And for a 3-inch Gate Valve, it's just 25 yuan!

The scope of processing includes turning end faces, drilling, chamfering, and other machining steps.

The subcontracting prices for these two types of valves are pretty much transparent in the industry, and my quote is the lowest across the board."

Hua Feng was a bit surprised: "True, your quote is lower than the industry standard. If the quality's fine, in principle I should give you the work.

But we already have a partner."

For him, a higher quote wouldn't matter—he wasn't spending a cent of his own money—as long as it saved him trouble.

If there were constant quality issues or delivery delays, it would hurt his standing with the boss.

He wouldn't touch anything that harmed him or carried risk.

Fang Bai, as if expecting this, said, "Here's the deal: 8% of the subcontracting contract amount will go to Mr. Hua as a commission, provided payments are settled on time. I'll deliver that commission upfront, and I can wait until the old agreement is done before signing a new one."

When offering kickbacks, there's no need to beat around the bush—people don't have the patience—but the wording should be tactful, not arrogant.

Otherwise, someone with a bit of pride like Hua Feng would turn him down before he finished.

On the flip side, giving Hua Feng a commission had its perks—Boli Company would pay promptly.

Completing an order wasn't just about finishing the processing; getting paid was what counted as success.

Hua Feng's salary was an annual system, with a total yearly income of six thousand yuan.

The commission Fang Bai offered was no small amount—a full 8%!

Boli Company's monthly outsourced machining contracts totaled 30,000 yuan, so 8% came to 2,400 yuan!

Of course, he couldn't give all the outsourced work to Fang Bai, nor did Fang Bai have the capacity to take it all.

But even with just 10,000 yuan in contracts, Hua Feng would pocket 800 yuan in commissions—more than his salary.

Fang Bai had carefully considered this commission rate to secure more orders and simplify things—one talk and the cooperation could continue.

So Hua Feng couldn't stay calm.

He took a deep breath, couldn't help but smile, and didn't agree outright. Instead, he asked, "If you do this, your quote's way below industry rates—how do you make money?

If you can't profit, how can we cooperate long-term? How can you guarantee product quality?"

"Mr. Hua is sharp—you hit the nail on the head. A partnership that isn't win-win can't last," Fang Bai praised.

"I won't hide it from you, Mr. Hua. We use new processes and equipment, which boosts efficiency and lowers costs.

Of course, that's our core trade secret—I won't go into details."

"Oh, is that so? Where's your plant?"

"Not far—100 meters north of the intersection of Xiangyang South Street and Puyi Middle Road, just a few hundred meters from your company. It's called Jiayu Processing Plant."

"Oh, I think I know the spot. How about this: come to my office tomorrow morning, and I'll decide on cooperation after seeing the situation."

Fang Bai knew he'd piqued the man's interest and said, "Alright, thank you, Mr. Hua. See you tomorrow. I've got some things to take care of, so I'll head back now."

The other party was clearly hinting he had other business, so staying would just be awkward.

"Sure, see you tomorrow." Hua Feng shook hands with Fang Bai again.

After Fang Bai left, the young woman brought the child back to the living room, looked at her husband, and said with a smile, "Honey, that young man's pretty interesting."

Hua Feng glanced at the gifts on the tea table, checked them—it really was his favorite tea—and said gravely, "Very sharp. Knows when to advance and retreat, knows to avoid suspicion, and has me completely figured out."

He looked at his child, who was so taken with the backpack and asking where the uncle went, wanting him to teach a song—he'd even won over his family.

"Honey, he came to talk business, right? Why else bring so many gifts? Did you agree?" The young woman knew some of her husband's affairs, but she was discreet, knowing it could harm him.

Otherwise, given her husband's personality, he wouldn't have told her.

"I'm leaning toward it. I need to inspect his factory first." Hua Feng smiled, not mentioning the commission to his wife.

If the quality was guaranteed, there was no risk. His quote was very low, so he could justify it to the company.

As for taking commissions, after years in the workplace, as long as he was useful to the company, and knowing the boss's personality, even if the boss found out, it wouldn't matter.

Even if he didn't say it, the boss might suspect he took kickbacks from subcontractors but would turn a blind eye, as long as it wasn't excessive.

Besides, the boss would never guess how much commission he was getting.

Not just his company—most mid- to high-level managers in many firms had some gray income.

"Oh, I see. So he'll give you a cut, right?"

Hua Feng warned, "Don't pry into these things, and don't talk about it outside."

"Oh, I know, don't worry. My lips are sealed."

The next morning, Fang Bai arrived at Boli Valve Company empty-handed.

He registered at the guardhouse and made his way to Hua Feng's private office.

The office was about twenty or thirty square meters, with whitewashed walls and a concrete floor. The furnishings were simple: a desk, a magazine rack, a tea table, and a wooden coat rack holding a blue work uniform and a blue hard hat, with a pair of safety boots beside it.

It was a very standard setup for a mid-to-senior production management office. Even twenty or thirty years later, the only differences would be a computer and printer replacing the magazine rack—otherwise, little had changed.

When Hua Feng saw Fang Bai arrive, he invited him to sit down and have some tea.

Fang Bai shook his hand and took a seat, already aware that the deal between them had been struck.

"Mr. Fang, this is the Outsourcing Processing Agreement. Take a look, and if it's fine, sign it." That morning, Hua Feng had visited his Jiayu Processing Plant and seen how busy it was.

Every piece of equipment had shielding panels attached, as if hiding some secret.

He'd asked Qin Donghai a few questions, confirmed that Fang Bai was a partner, didn't dig any further, and then left.

Fang Bai nodded, took the two sheets of paper, and skimmed through them.

One hundred 3-inch Gate Valves and one hundred 2-inch Globe Valves, all in WCB cast steel, at the prices he'd quoted yesterday. The delivery deadline was left blank for Fang Bai to fill in himself—a rare courtesy.

Fang Bai thought it over briefly. The batch from Hengli Company would take about seven days to finish. This was Hua Feng's first collaboration with him, so the order was small, but it would still take five or six days to complete. He gave himself a comfortable ten days to avoid failing to deliver on time and losing credibility.

So he asked, "Mr. Hua, how about setting the delivery date for November 1st?"

Hua Feng considered it briefly. "That works. Just make sure the quality is up to standard."

Fang Bai smiled. "Don't worry. If I mess it up, I'd only be embarrassing myself."

Both parties signed, and Hua Feng assigned the Machining Workshop supervisor to handle Fang Bai's account. "Li Kai, you'll be in charge of Mr. Fang's business."

"Got it."

Li Kai took the order and gave the young-looking Fang Bai a careful once-over.

The company was busy, and outsourced processing orders were usually handled by Hua Feng himself—they never fell to Li Kai. He just followed Hua Feng's arrangements. After all, Hua Feng had promoted him from an ordinary worker.

Fang Bai smiled and extended his hand. "General Manager Li, I hope you'll take good care of me from now on."

He didn't recognize the man in his thirties. In his past life, Fang Bai hadn't met Hua Feng until a year later, and he guessed this workshop supervisor had already left by then.

Regardless, since Li Kai was in charge of machining production, Fang Bai knew he had to stay on good terms—cigarettes as gifts on ordinary days, presents for holidays, the usual.

Hua Feng had personally assigned the contact, so Li Kai had to take it seriously. He shook Fang Bai's hand politely. "Haha, I don't deserve the title of General Manager. Just call me Engineer Li."

With the order in hand, Fang Bai exchanged a few pleasantries with Li Kai, then said he'd take the goods back for processing. Li Kai arranged for a vehicle to deliver them.

Loading took a while. Fang Bai led the way on his bike, and within two or three minutes, they arrived at the Jiayu Processing Plant.

Qin Donghai saw Fang Bai cycling back with a pickup truck behind him and hurried over. "Mr. Fang, a new order?"

"Yeah, an order from Boli Company. Have Master Zhang come help unload."

Qin Donghai's face lit up with surprise. He called for Zhang Dafu to come out and joined in the unloading himself.

He hadn't expected Fang Bai to land an order from Boli Valve Company, and a decent-sized one at that. There'd be plenty of work now.

Glancing at the workpieces on the truck, he said to Fang Bai beside him, "Mr. Fang, there are 3-inch Gate Valves here. We don't have the specialized workholding fixtures for those."

"We'll discuss the price later. I'll design the fixtures myself."

"Alright, let's unload first. You go rest."

Fang Bai nodded and didn't argue. His right hand lacked strength, so it was better to avoid heavy work.

Besides, unloading and machining weren't his job anyway. He was a salesman—bringing in orders was enough.

After closing the deal with Hua Feng, Fang Bai realized he'd gained another connection, bringing his total to three.

As for his father-in-law, he wasn't counted yet. Fang Bai guessed the man's current standing wasn't high enough.

The nameless Golden Finger was one step closer to leveling up to 2.

Leveling up was tough, but seeing his network of connections grow gave Fang Bai a real sense of achievement.

One day, when his connections were vast enough, getting things done would be much easier.