Chapter 15 Competitors

  After a full week of continuous overtime, Xiaogu and a few friends finally finished making 2,000 pairs of gloves. The remaining gloves were sold out one after another through wholesale. After calculating all the details of this collaboration, excluding labor and costs, Fang Qing and Xiaogu actually made a net profit of more than 40 yuan!
  Looking at the blue ten-yuan note in her hand, Fang Qing felt particularly reassured. She handed the money to her aunt, but she stubbornly gave her half. "Here! If it weren't for your advice, I wouldn't even dare to think about this money. You deserve it, take it!"

  Fang Qing refused for a long time before carefully accepting it. The more she looked at the money in her hand, the more she appreciated it. Suddenly, she remembered something and quickly grabbed her aunt. "What about the leftover scraps of cloth from making gloves last time? Do you have any left?"

  The aunt nodded. "A lot of the scraps can be pieced together to make stool pads. How could I possibly throw them away? What new ideas have you got, little girl?"

  Fang Qing laid out her plan. The aunt praised her for her hard work, pocketed the money, and went out to contact Zhao Qiang about this matter.

  Amidst the gossip and rumors, the Fang family was striving to grow independently.

  Zhao Qiang contacted several lumberyards, ordered a batch of sticks, and bought a lot of wire from a hardware store. They tossed them into the yard and began working on the pieces.

  Zhao Qiang polished the wooden stick until it was smooth, while Fang Cuiying and the others sorted the scraps of cloth, tied them with wire, and finally fixed them to the front of the stick. After the short nails were fixed, they trimmed the overall shape, and a cotton mop was made .

  As soon as the mop was on the market, it attracted attention in Jingtan County. There were people selling mops in the market before, but they were shipped in wholesale from other places, so the price was definitely slightly higher.

  Fang Qing and his team's mops were all made locally, and the cost was reduced to a minimum. They were soon noticed by local retailers. Several waves of people came, and all the mops in Fang Qing's hand were sold before the end of the year!

  The three of them sat in the shabby processing station, counting the orange one-yuan bills in their hands, and they became more and more happy as they counted. Zhao Qiang scratched his head and took the money from Fang Qing embarrassedly. There was actually a bit of embarrassment on his seemingly fierce face.

  "This...this is so awful, Qing! I only helped out, and I feel guilty taking this money..."

  Fang Qing looked at her uncle-in-law, beaming. She stuffed the money into his arms and then looked at her aunt. "If it weren't for you and my uncle, I wouldn't have been able to do this on my own. I'll take a small portion this time, and give you the bulk, as a gift for my future brothers and sisters."

  Her aunt's face flushed red. She pinched Fang Qing before gleefully looking at the money in her hands. Last week, she fainted while mopping and discovered she was pregnant.

  Fang Qing and Zhao Qiang refused to let her continue working, but she insisted on staying. Zhao Qiang had no choice but to find another helper, assigning Fang Cuiying to supervise. Although this increased costs, nothing was more important than her child.

  The three of them divided the money and happily returned home. But a few days later, Zhao Qiang arrived, anxious and distraught, with bad news.

  "Qing girl, something happened! The garment factory just sent me a message saying that the batch of scraps of cloth that were reserved for us are no longer available and have been sold to someone else!"

  What?
  Although Fang Qing knew that there would be competition, she didn't expect it to happen so soon! She stood up suddenly, and the ink on the table spilled all over. She didn't even bother to wipe it off. She grabbed her coat and scarf and rushed to the garment factory with her uncle.

  At the back door of the garment factory, a short man was shaking hands and saying goodbye to the deputy director. Behind him was a broken carriage full of scraps of cloth.

  Fang Qing knew it at first sight. It must be this man who stole their order.

  "Wait a minute! Director Wang, wait a minute!" Uncle and Fang Qing were sweating profusely while running. They stopped the carriage that was about to leave, and then they noticed that the short man was actually the temporary worker who had helped before! But Fang Qing couldn't care less. She grabbed the closing iron gate and squeezed her head through the crack, trying to squeeze inside. "Director, didn't we agree that these scraps would be ours? Why did you sell them all to him?"

  Director Wang's face lit up as he blocked the door, refusing to let the two men in. "You can't blame me. They offered a higher price and wanted more than you did. That's what the higher-ups decided. I'm just a small director, so I can only follow orders. Just wait a little longer. I'll make sure to keep the next batch for you!"

  He glanced at the workers nearby, and the two of them slammed the iron gate shut.

  Fang Qing pounded on the gate for a long time, but no one opened it.

  She was bewildered. This business had just started, and it was over so soon? She had been planning to buy a TV for her family this year, but now, there wasn't even enough spare parts.

  Seeing the man about to leave with his carriage, Fang Qing suddenly became furious. She quickly ran after him, tugging at the cloth package behind him, trying to pull it off.

  Seeing this, the little man lashed out with the whip in his hand. The old horse roared in pain and sped up. Fang Qing was suddenly pulled away and staggered. After being dragged for a long distance, his fingers finally gave out and he fell into the mud pit.

  Zhao Qiang was terrified as he chased after her. After catching up with Fang Qing, he hurriedly helped her up and checked her up and down for a long time. Seeing that Fang Qing only had a scrape on her palm, he finally breathed a sigh of relief.

  "You girl, are you trying to kill yourself? It's just some rags, it's gone! At worst, your uncle can go look for you. You are our future college student. If anything happens to you, how can I explain to your aunt and the others? You can't do this again..."

  Fang Qing was still a little dazed from the fall. She watched the carriage disappear at the end of the road, as if taking hope with it.

  It was not until her uncle called her anxiously that she came back to her senses. She felt helpless and aggrieved, "Uncle, our mop is gone... Two days ago, I promised that Boss Xu that I would leave him some more. I have already received the deposit. Now the cloth is gone. What should I do..."

  Seeing his usually quiet and steady niece crying so aggrieved for the first time, Zhao Qiang felt bad too. He gathered up his sleeves to wipe the child's tears, and patted the mud off his pants. He smiled and comforted her, "It's okay! It's not a big deal. There is a small garment factory in Hexi. Uncle will go ask. Don't worry, it's okay..."

  Fang Qing wiped away her tears and limped along with her uncle to the next garment factory. But upon arrival, she discovered that scraps of fabric had been in high demand recently, with many already having shipped them out early. And even if one wanted to reserve them, the prices had increased significantly.

  Fang Qing sat on the curb, the cold wind making her nose red. She looked at the strips of fabric in her hand with dismay, "Uncle, what other materials do we have in the process? Let's return them all..."

  (End of Chapter)