Chapter 41: A Great Confucian Defends the Classics for Me

Inside the garment factory, the light in the manager's office was dim, with two candle flames flickering.

Because the news about the factory's plight had already spread throughout the village, the village electrician had cut off the power that afternoon.

Ding Maocai and Gu Jianjun remained inside the manager's office. The latter had consulted with two other creditors, and the three of them had set up a schedule to take turns guarding Ding Maocai.

Outside, although the female workers were not owed a significant amount in back wages, they had also assigned three people to keep watch here during the night—first, to keep an eye on Ding Maocai, and second, to safeguard the goods in the warehouse.

During the day, personnel from the district labor bureau and the industrial and commercial administration had both visited.

However, seeing the situation, they had no practical solutions. Even if they penalized the garment factory now, Ding Maocai had no money to pay the fines, which would do nothing to help their key performance indicators.

In the office, Ding Maocai let out bursts of angry roars. "That little punk surnamed Lu simply has his eyes on my factory! Old Gu, can't you see it? He is not here to help us at all; he's here to kick a man while he's down."

Gu Jianjun quietly took a puff of his cigarette. "But he is able to pull out four hundred thousand to help you pay off your debts. Holding onto this broken-down factory with zero business, when will you ever be able to pay us back?"

"That batch of goods in my warehouse is worth seventy or eighty thousand! I dumped all my savings into it, and this plot of land is easily worth another thirty or forty thousand. Put it all together, it's over a million! He wants to take over my factory for just four hundred thousand—that's like a toad trying to eat swan meat, his appetite is way too big."

"Goods piled up in the warehouse that can't be sold are just junk taking up space. It's useless to talk about that. The bottom line right now is that you don't have money, but he does."

"Old Gu, we've been friends for all these years. How about I split that batch of goods with you, and we count it toward settling the debt?"

"Oh, give it a rest. I went with you to the commodity city to run those orders; I know crystal clear how many pieces you actually sold. You still want to drag me into this pit? Old Gu, you need to face reality. You can't sell that batch of goods, but he can. That is genuine capability, and the money he makes is within his own ability to earn.

Since he has made an offer to take over your factory, don't be so resentful. You quote a sky-high price and they bargain it down—we're all business people, surely you understand even this much?

Now that he has put forty thousand on the table, you can counter with a price, and both sides can sit down to talk it out properly. Who knows, maybe he'll offer a price you're satisfied with.

Besides, the garment market is getting harder and harder to navigate these days, and you know very well what the potential of this little clothing factory is. Haven't you secretly been thinking about transferring the ownership anyway, just lacking a suitable person to take over? Those with too much capital find this place too small with limited development, while those with too little can't easily handle this industry. Tell me, am I making sense?"

What Gu Jianjun was actually pondering right now was how to get Ding Maocai to reach an agreement with the other party. If the debts were transferred to Lu Fan, his money would naturally be recovered, which was far better than letting it rot in Ding Maocai's hands.

When he spoke to Ding Maocai, he kept a card up his sleeve and didn't mention Lu Fan's debt-transfer arrangement. Instead, he simply framed it as someone wanting to take over the factory for four hundred thousand.

Had he mentioned the full arrangement, Ding Maocai might have started harboring other thoughts and lost trust in him altogether.

Gu Jianjun's plan was to first persuade Ding Maocai to calm down, and then communicate with Lu Fan, acting as a bridge in the middle to facilitate the deal as much as possible.

The two of them were longtime friends and insiders in the industry, so every word they spoke struck a chord in Ding Maocai's heart.

Ding Maocai sat on the sofa in dejection, gritting his teeth. "But he only offered four hundred thousand! Isn't that just insulting people? Even this plot of land alone is worth that much."

"Heh, Old Gu, aside from the land, what else here is worth money? Your factory building was converted from a school classroom, and those machines are from the 1980s, using technology that's practically obsolete in the industry. Aside from the land, nothing else holds any value. The price he's offering is probably just for the land itself."

"What about my inventory?"

"Your inventory is useful to him, but useless to you. That is not your bargaining chip."

"I want one million. Do you think he'd agree to that?"

Gu Jianjun sneered. "Do you think that's possible? It's rare enough to finally have someone interested; don't just go and block off this path entirely."

Both sides fell silent. In the dim environment, the cherry red of the cigarette butts glowed and faded.

After a moment, Gu Jianjun spoke again. "I think we should just add twenty thousand. Sixty thousand for the factory and the inventory—I think that's reasonable.

Old Gu, you have to realize that you're the one in trouble right now, and the other guy is clearly out to take advantage of you. If you add twenty thousand, the other side will definitely still try to bargain. We can test the waters and see how he reacts first."

Ding Maocai shook his head. "No way. Sixty thousand is too little; it doesn't even cover the production cost of my clothing."

"You can't keep fixating on that batch of clothing now. That's not your bargaining chip; it's his. To be blunt, if you didn't have this batch of clothes, he might not even offer forty thousand. With forty thousand, where couldn't he buy a factory? Am I right?"

"But damn it, I just can't resign myself to this! I worked hard my entire life, only to make wedding garments for someone else in the end."

"Old Gu, you've been doing business for so many years—are you still a child? If you hadn't been greedy and taken on that foreign trade order while resorting to fraud, would this kind of problem have ever happened? Doing business involves risks; either you make a fortune overnight or you lose your shirt and end up drowning in foreign debts.

You're actually lucky to have someone step in to take over. If nobody takes over, it goes to bankruptcy liquidation and court auctions, and your assets probably won't even fetch forty thousand.

Stop being so ungrateful. Your business is gone, but at least you can protect your family. You still have a place to live, a car to drive, and a life to enjoy. Once you slowly rebuild your savings later on, you can always start over."

"Look at Old Liu, who used to do business with the two of us back then. He was sharper than both of us and went off to the city with soaring ambitions, but in the end, didn't he still scurry back in disgrace? He didn't even dare stay at home because creditors came knocking on his door every single day.

Now that someone is willing to shoulder your debts for you, this is your blessing. Don't be ungrateful; if you ask for too much and scare him away, you'll end up in that miserable state like Old Liu."

Ding Maocai fell silent as well. Thinking about Gu Jianjun's words, they did make a lot of sense.

If this garment factory went the route of bankruptcy liquidation, it probably wouldn't even sell for forty thousand, and there was no telling how long the legal process would take.

He had only endured two days of this, and already felt like he couldn't take it anymore.

If he were tortured by these people continuously, he felt he would go insane.

"Then, Old Gu, should we just throw out sixty thousand as a test?"

"That's the spirit! When the time comes, forty thousand goes to pay off debts, and the remaining twenty thousand can serve as your capital to make a comeback. A man needs to be broad-minded; a small setback like this can't defeat you.

However, if he tries to bargain further, you're not allowed to get angry either. This young man surnamed Lu is your last straw. Grab hold of it and you're saved; miss it, and you'll be the second Old Liu."

Ding Maocai muttered, "A person is the fish and the cutting board, while I am the fish and the meat!"

Gu Jianjun sneered. "Being the fish means we're already better off than most people. Look at those workers outside—they don't even dare rush into your office to demand their money. Have you made up your mind? If it's inconvenient for you to speak up, I can pass the word along for you."

"Wait. Let's wait until tomorrow. If we call that fellow surnamed Lu right now, he'll just think we are desperate to sell and will squeeze us even harder on the price."

"Alright, keep your chin up. Didn't Li Bai write a poem: 'All the gathered wealth will eventually return'?"

"Return my ass! Once I get this factory settled, I'll go find a place to work as a gatekeeper. I am never doing business again."

"If you really want to be a gatekeeper, I'll send my third uncle back home, and you can come guard the gate at my factory! The two of us old brothers can still get together for a drink often."

...
The second chapter is presented, one more to go.
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