Chapter 96: Technical Consultant

“Guoyang, you guys are incredible. This hair clip must sell for at least three to five yuan each, right? If you can make several hundred a day, the profit has to be in the thousands... That’s practically my whole year’s salary,” Ning Xiaohong said in amazement.

“Oh, it’s not that exaggerated,” Zhao Guoyang replied with a wave of his hand.

“First of all, this little workshop isn’t mine alone. Two friends and I are running it together. And you’ve forgotten to count the production costs. Besides, none of this has even been sold yet. What price it can fetch, and how many we can move, still have to be confirmed.”

Ning Xiaohong blinked and said, “Hmm, when you put it that way, that’s true enough. Still, from the design and how comfortable they are to wear, there shouldn’t be any problem selling these hair clips.”

“Then let’s borrow your good words and hope so,” Zhao Guoyang said with a grin.

When they reached the technical office, Zhao Guoyang took the slip of paper with Bai Rou’s phone number from his pocket and dialed the digits one by one on the old rotary telephone.

It wasn’t long before the call connected, and Bai Rou’s soft, delicate voice came through the line.

“Hello, who is this?”

“Sister Bai, it’s me, Zhao Guoyang!” Zhao Guoyang answered quickly.

“Oh, it’s Guoyang! How come you have time to call your sister today?” After hearing his name, Bai Rou let out a bright, melodious laugh.

Zhao Guoyang did not bother with pleasantries. He quickly told her that his little workshop had already successfully produced the first batch of hair clips.

After hearing him out, Bai Rou immediately grew excited. “Guoyang, you’re not fooling me, are you? In just one week, you really managed to turn out a thousand hair clips?”

Zhao Guoyang said firmly, “Don’t worry, Sister Bai. How could I joke with you about this? This morning alone we already made almost two hundred. Producing a thousand within a week is absolutely no problem...”

“That’s wonderful!”

Bai Rou exclaimed, delighted. “Oh, right, Guoyang, when will you ship the goods over from your side?”

Zhao Guoyang thought it over and said, “Probably after next week. The post office may still need a reservation on their end. First, give me the contact address.”

“Mm, the address is...”

After noting it down, Zhao Guoyang also brought up the matter of buying a polishing machine.

Bai Rou was very straightforward. Without saying a second word, she told Zhao Guoyang to go ahead and buy the machine immediately. In her words, the more they invested at the beginning, the sooner the returns would come.

After hanging up, Zhao Guoyang noticed Ning Xiaohong beside him staring at him thoughtfully, almost lost in a daze.

Seeing this, Zhao Guoyang waved a hand in front of her eyes. “Hey, what are you thinking about? You’ve gone all absent-minded on me.”

Ning Xiaohong snapped back to herself and said a little embarrassedly, “Nothing. I was just thinking that, Guoyang, you really have a head for business. To think you came up with making hair clips yourself to earn money. You college students really are different from us ordinary people.”

Seeing the rather envious look in Ning Xiaohong’s eyes, Zhao Guoyang had a thought.

Although Monkey had already learned the hair clip production process, he was not from a mechanical background after all. In daily work, he would inevitably run into one or two small mechanical issues that needed someone to keep an eye on things.

And Zhao Guoyang himself was working in Ninghai City. He might not always have time to come back every day. In that case, if the equipment developed a minor problem, they would have to wait until the weekend to deal with it, and that would certainly affect production.

If he could find someone familiar with machinery, someone who understood how to use a die-casting machine, to serve as a technical consultant, that problem could be solved with ease.

Wasn’t Ning Xiaohong right in front of him the perfect candidate?

Thinking of this, Zhao Guoyang told her about his plan and then asked, “Xiaohong, I wonder if you’d be interested in being the technical consultant for our little workshop?”

“Technical consultant?”

Ning Xiaohong froze for a moment and said hesitantly with her hands crossed, “I’m afraid that won’t work. I’m an employee of Xiangyang Machinery Factory...”

“Oh, I’m not asking you to quit. If that were the case, Director Liao would never let me off the hook!” Zhao Guoyang hurried to explain.

“It’s like this: you just keep doing your own work as usual. If there’s a small malfunction with the equipment at the workshop, you can come over after work when you have time and help take a look and fix it. And I’ll pay you... two hundred yuan a month as a consulting fee. What do you think?”

“Two hundred yuan? That much!” Ning Xiaohong nearly jumped up in excitement when she heard that.

One had to know that after working at Xiangyang Machinery Factory for so long, her salary had only risen to one hundred sixty yuan. Two hundred yuan was really not a small sum.

In truth, the consulting fee Zhao Guoyang offered Ning Xiaohong was already rather modest.

After all, even Er Gazi had been given a salary of five hundred yuan, and as a technical consultant, her income should have been even higher in principle.

Of course, Ning Xiaohong would only be working part-time, and that was why Zhao Guoyang did not offer her even better terms.

“How about it, Xiaohong? Are you willing?” Zhao Guoyang asked with a smile.

“Of course I’m willing!” Ning Xiaohong blurted out.

After saying that, she felt a little embarrassed and quickly added, “Guoyang, I’m not doing it for the money you’re offering. Really, even if you didn’t pay me, I’d still be willing to help out at your workshop...”

“I know, I know,” Zhao Guoyang said with a smile and a nod.

“But I don’t have the habit of taking advantage of my friends. Friendship is friendship, business is business.”

The conversation with Ning Xiaohong went very smoothly, and she agreed that when she had time, she would go over to Zhao Guoyang’s workshop and keep an eye on things.

Ning Xiaohong also knew Monkey. The last time Monkey came to haul away the die-casting machine, she had been the one to receive him.

That made things much easier for Zhao Guoyang. Afterwards, he called Monkey and briefed him on the matter as well.

Seeing that it was already getting late, and that if he delayed any longer he would miss the last bus back to Ninghai City, Zhao Guoyang stopped wasting time and waved goodbye to Ning Xiaohong.

...

Just after the holiday, in the dormitory of the Machinery Industry Committee in Guangling City, Director Liu Yaohong of the committee was on the phone first thing in the morning.

“Yes, yes, Director Wang, I understand. Don’t worry, I’ll go to Ninghai City tomorrow to bring the person back!”

“Mm. This matter is very important. It was personally requested by Deputy Director Fang of the National Machinery Industry Committee. Your Guangling Municipal Machinery Industry Committee must attach the highest importance to it, find this person as soon as possible, and report back to the province!” came a deep voice from the other end.

“Deputy Director Fang? Do you mean... Deputy Director Fang Xuesen?” Liu Yaohong asked with a trembling voice.

“Yes, him!” The deep voice fell silent for a moment before speaking again.

“Xiao Liu, what exactly kind of person is this Zhao Guoyang? Do you have any impression of him? I heard you just went to Ninghai City for an inspection not long ago. You should have met him, right? What is so special about this young man that even Director Fang was alerted?”

“Zhao Guoyang... Zhao Guoyang...” Liu Yaohong muttered the name a few times, and suddenly a young man’s figure flashed through his mind.

“Ah! Director Wang, I remember now!”