Factory Director Du had prepared thoroughly for the partnership. Li Long thought that was good. At least he was showing sincerity.
He took a notebook from the satchel he carried and asked as he did so:
"Then could you tell me, Factory Director Du, if the snow-clearing machine I designed works properly and has no design flaws, how much would you pay for a buyout, and what percentage would my cut be?"
"For a buyout," Factory Director Du said, "ten thousand yuan. That's a fair amount, isn't it?"
For an ordinary person, designing a snow-clearing machine like this meant drawing just a few plans, then receiving ten thousand yuan to buy out the design patent. That was already a very high price.
It was still 1986, and ten thousand yuan had considerable purchasing power. It could buy a courtyard house even in Yanjing-as long as it wasn't in a particularly central location.
Of course, Factory Director Du would never have offered an ordinary person such a high patent buyout fee. His willingness to put up that much money was mainly because the two agricultural machines Li Long had previously developed with him had both proved extremely effective.
"As for a cut, how about fifteen percent of the profit on every machine sold, or five percent of the selling price?"
Li Long thought for a moment and said:
"Then let's go with the latter. Just give me fifteen percent of the profit. We'll handle this as a business arrangement. Let's look at my designs."
He trusted Factory Director Du's integrity. They had worked together twice, and what the man had done convinced him that he was trustworthy.
Li Long first took out the first design drawing, which was for a walk-behind, gasoline-powered snow-clearing machine.
"Factory Director Du, this is the first