The two sides went back and forth over the terms before finally agreeing that Liu Jianhua would pay Fifty Thousand and Five Thousand Yuan, with the remaining forty-five thousand yuan made up in three hundred tons of cement.
In return, Li Long would buy no fewer than two hundred tons of cement from Liu Jianhua each year. Next year's price would be one hundred seventy yuan per ton. From the year after that onward, the price would follow the market, but Liu Jianhua guaranteed it would be lower than the retail price.
That ongoing arrangement would last five years.
They did not sign a contract, though. It was a verbal agreement, with Li Xiangqian acting as guarantor.
"No problem. If he doesn't have time to buy it, our Supply and Marketing Cooperative can take the cement," Li Xiangqian readily guaranteed.
The cement the cooperative obtained would be sold at retail anyway, at market prices, so there would always be a profit. The cooperative had no objection.
Cement was not exactly a hot commodity yet, but both Li Xiangqian and Li Long knew perfectly well that government and private infrastructure and housing projects were growing larger every year. Whatever the profit margin, the cement would sell.
With everything settled, Liu Jianhua paid Li Long Fifty Thousand and Five Thousand Yuan, then called to have the cement shipped over.
The First Batch of three hundred tons of cement would be delivered directly by Liu Jianhua, with no freight charge.
For any cement Li Long ordered afterward, he would have to pay the freight.
Li Long naturally agreed to that.
After all, a truck's rated load was around five tons. Overloading was a recognized issue at the time, but few people enforced the rules. A truck coming from Wu City might carry ten