Chapter 92: Must Do

"Hey, when did you arrive?"

"Ah… haha, just yesterday!"

"So, you… didn't I tell you to contact me when you got to the provincial capital?"

"Ahem… it was really busy. By the time I arrived yesterday, it was already late at night. I came here first thing this morning to handle business…"

"By the way, what's your name again?"

"Uh, you're called…"

Amid the bustling crowd on Tulong Street, Li Xian and the other person chatted enthusiastically for a while. In the end, both of them almost simultaneously asked each other's names, causing passersby to throw looks of pity and confusion.

It was so awkward!

The person in front of Li Xian was the one who had paid cash for the aluminum ingots back at the retirement home. At that time, this person had left a business card, but Li Xian thought he wouldn't deal with the middlemen again. After the aluminum ingot deal, he had tossed the card away.

So now, although he recognized the neatly dressed man in a leather coat, he had completely forgotten his name.

The awkward part was that the other person was just as clueless.

In the incessant flow of people, both were puzzled by each other's questions. After a while, they both burst into laughter simultaneously.

"Xu Maohé!" After calming down, the man removed his leather gloves and extended his hand.

Li Xian tapped his head and shook hands with him, smiling, "Li Xian."

After a bit of awkward conversation and the joy of meeting an old acquaintance in a foreign place, the previous tension had dissipated. Xu Maohé put his gloves back on and pointed to Chen Shulin beside Li Xian, "Why is your old buddy so irritable?"

Li Xian made a sound of acknowledgment and briefly explained his efforts to find a market for his paper factory. He also mentioned the recent difficulties he faced.

Hearing about his struggles, Xu Maohé clicked his tongue, "Business is tough nowadays; everything is difficult." After being jostled by the crowd again, Xu Maohé waved, "Li Xian, this isn't a place to chat. Let's move to another spot!"

With that, he pulled Li Xian and Chen Shulin out of Tulong Street.

In a nearby dog meat restaurant.

Xu Maohé ordered four dishes and some beer, then asked Li Xian, "By the way, little brother, although I forgot your name, I've been thinking about you a lot lately."

Li Xian didn't know this person well and wasn't sure if he was being polite or sincere, so he acted surprised and flattered, "So, you're saying I'm quite a catch?"

"Haha," Xu Maohé laughed heartily, "Nonsense! What I was thinking about was how you tricked me! Damn it, after I bought your batch of aluminum ingots, the price per ton rose by more than 100 yuan. I shipped it all the way south and it's been sitting there for almost a month! This business was a real loss!"

Li Xian chuckled, "Brother, that's not fair. You didn't only get my twenty-odd tons of aluminum ingots; there were other supplies too, right?"

Caught off guard, Xu Maohé didn't feel embarrassed, "You understand, little brother. But at least your batch didn't make any profit. Aluminum prices soared for about a month, but it looks like the rise is coming to an end. I estimate that even if prices increase again, they won't go beyond 8,000 yuan."

Li Xian couldn't help but admire his judgment. He knew that the highest price for aluminum ingots was around 8,000 yuan per ton. This person had made the prediction based on his own analysis.

Just this skill made him secretly marvel at the exceptional people of every era.

While Li Xian was lost in thought, the food and drinks arrived. Xu Maohé skillfully opened the beer, filled Li Xian and Chen Shulin's glasses, and asked, "By the way, little brother, how did you end up starting a paper factory? That's not doing too well right now."

"It's a long story." Li Xian waved his hand, not wanting to divulge too much information, "But Xu Ge, why are you, someone who deals in big business, hanging around Tulong Street?"

Xu Maohé's face turned sour, and he waved his hand. It turned out that after the 14th National Congress in mid-October, he had started working with a few partners on buying and selling production materials.

At first, it was fine; the four partners made more than 300,000 yuan in just half a month. But as competition increased, profits declined. While collecting Li Xian's batch of aluminum ingots, he had also hoarded over seventy tons of iron ingots and forty-odd tons of aluminum ingots. Now, this hundred or so tons of high-priced materials were stuck in the south.

The other three partners, seeing slow appreciation, withdrew early, leaving the previous profits and the materials to him.

All the funds were tightly tied up. As Xu Maohé put it, "Life is becoming unbearable."

He had come to Tulong Street to borrow money from his sister, who dealt in agricultural and sideline products.

To prove his point, he pointed to the small restaurant, "If I had money, would I come to a place like this?"

Seeing the waitress's disapproving glance, Li Xian smiled and shook his head.

It was clear that Xu Maohé might indeed be going through tough times recently.

The impressive soft stone forest he had seen on their first meeting had now been replaced with a shabby appearance. Indeed, he had lost quite a bit of his luster.

"By the way, little brother, what are you going to do about your paper?" After a moment of silence, Xu Maohé broke the ice.

Li Xian shrugged, "What else can I do? Just push it out. I came all this way, and if I go back empty-handed, it would be quite embarrassing, right, Lao Chen?"

He patted Chen Shulin, who grunted in response.

Seeing Li Xian's calm and unyielding demeanor, Xu Maohé gave a thumbs-up, "Little brother, impressive. Let's drink to your fighting spirit!"

After a beer, Xu Maohé exhaled and slapped his thigh, "In Harbin, if you're dealing with raw materials, I can help you. But with paper, I really don't understand the market."

Li Xian wasn't expecting much help.

From his experiences in the morning, it seemed that the market for paper was dominated by a few well-established brands. The key was to get the wholesalers on Tulong Street to accept him.

He planned to tackle it from this angle.

The reason Xinlang Special Paper could gain a foothold around the forestry bureau was its free paper distribution, a marketing strategy that let people experience and become reliant on it. But given that Bangye is a small place, Li Xian could afford this. In Harbin, implementing this strategy would be costly.

So he had to figure out how to make the wholesalers on Tulong Street accept him, despite Xinlang Special Paper's lack of recognition.

This was going to be challenging.

Meanwhile, Chen Shulin, who hadn't had breakfast, had finished his meal. Seeing Li Xian deep in thought, he burped and said, "Hic… Factory Director, I think we should head back. Listen to me, cancel that subcontracting contract with Beike Lin and focus on our own market. We've been running around all morning, our legs are sore, and we haven't even secured a single order. What's the point? We can't just twist people's arms to buy, can we?"

Hearing this, an idea struck Li Xian!

"Hey! That's a good idea!"

He immediately got up from his seat, paced around the dog meat restaurant, and then sat back down at the table. "That's what we'll do!"

Amid Chen and Xu's puzzled looks, he grinned and said to Xu Maohé, "Xu Ge, I really need your help."

"Hmm… What is it?"

"Can you help me find some people? Not many, just a dozen or so."

Xu Maohé responded cheerfully, "I thought it was something serious! This is Harbin! My territory—there are plenty of people here!"

With that, he took his leather coat and pulled out a brick-sized old-style mobile phone from his inner pocket.

Amid the envious glances of the restaurant patrons, he made a few phone calls with great enthusiasm.

Soon, more than a dozen men arrived at the dog meat restaurant.

Li Xian quickly added two more tables, invited everyone to eat and drink, and arranged his "brilliant plan."

After listening to his plan with confusion, Xu Maohé gasped, "Little brother, can this work?"

"Forget about 'can'! It must work!"

Li Xian waved his hand decisively, "It has to work!"