Chapter 22: You're Not Worth Dealing With

  Perhaps for the convenience of farmers buying farm tools, the provincial agricultural materials company's retail department is located in the suburbs of Hongze, next to two large state-owned farms, which are major customers of the agricultural materials company.

  That morning, the store had just opened its doors when Xiao Dongping rushed in, dusty and disheveled. He slapped the canvas bag on the counter and said loudly to the sales clerk:

  "Tell Lin Anbao that Lao Xiao from Qingfeng Agricultural Machinery Factory is here and ask him to come out and meet me."

  Lin Anbao is the manager of this store, and his relationship with Xiao Dongping has been very good in the past. In the past year or two, due to the frequent changes in Qingfeng Agricultural Machinery Factory's products, and the unstable quality of each new product after transformation, the people from Nongzi Company have gradually cooled down towards Xiao Dongping, fearing that he would take advantage of their friendship to force them to accept the inferior products from Qingfeng factory.

  Upon hearing those words and seeing that the visitor was Xiao Dongping from Qingfeng Factory, several sales clerks behind the counter furrowed their brows. A middle-aged female clerk, who was busy calculating with an abacus, asked: "Is it Director Xiao? What business do you have with our Manager Lin?"

  "Of course, there's something." said Xiao Dongping, patting his canvas bag with his hand, "I've brought product samples for him this time. If he dares to reject our Qingfeng Factory products again, I'll go to his house for dinner."

  The female salesperson stopped what she was doing, looked up at the canvas bag that Xiao Dongping had placed on the counter and said: "Director Xiao, it's not that our agricultural materials company wants to make things difficult for your Qingfeng Factory, but the quality of your factory's products is really too unstable. We've accepted goods from you before and then sold them to customers, only to have them come back and complain to us."

  "What's the quality instability? Our factory has a history of over 20 years, if the product quality is unstable, how did we get through these 20 years? Forget it, you can't make decisions on this matter, just call Lin Anbao out for me." Xiao Dongping deliberately didn't mention the induction welding issue, wanting to leave some suspense for the other party.

  The sales department was not very large, and Xiao Dongping was making a scene at the counter. Lin Anbao, who was working in the back room, naturally heard everything. As he listened to Xiao Dongping's increasingly arrogant tone, his own subordinates seemed to be getting a bit overwhelmed, so he pushed up his glasses and walked out of the room.

  "Who was it? It turned out to be Director Xiao, what wind blew you here?" Lin Anbao asked Xiang Dongping with an innocent look.

  Xiao Dongping looked at Lin Anbao and said with a half-joking, half-serious tone: "Old Lin, I'm telling you, you're not being very kind. We've been friends for many years, in the past when goods were scarce, you begged me to let our company supply you, now that you have township enterprises backing you up, your backbone has stiffened and you don't acknowledge me, a poor relative, anymore? Our state-owned enterprise's financial system is strict, I'm not allowed to give you gifts like those township enterprise salesmen do, so you're refusing to accept our products, right?"

  "Lao Xiao, what are you talking about! I... when did I ever accept anyone's gift? You're speaking like this, I'm going to sue you for... for... ah yes, slander!" Lin Anbao also retorted with a mix of annoyance and teasing, but his tone was not entirely convincing because he, just like the sales clerks in the marketing department, would occasionally accept some local specialties from rural enterprises.

  "You say I'm slandering you, okay, then tell me, why don't you accept products from our state-owned factory, but only accept those from township enterprises?" Xiao Dongping pressed on.

  Lin Anbao said, "Old Xiao, you're not making sense. If your products are good, when have I ever said I wouldn't accept them? But the quality of your products is far inferior to others, and customers don't want them. What can we do? For example, last time we returned your rotary tiller blades, their blades can be used for 700 mu, but yours can only be used for less than 500 mu, and the price is the same. How can we sell them?"

  Xiao Dongping's previous words were just to elicit Lin Anbao's sentence. After listening to Lin Anbao, he pretended to be annoyed and said: "Who says our blades can only be used for 500 mu? You must have heard it wrong. Last time you refused to accept our goods, I went back and told our technicians, they said that the lifespan of our blades is absolutely not limited to 500 mu, it's definitely your intention to make things difficult for us and see our difficulties."

  Lin Anbao's face turned somewhat unsightly, he was certain that Xiao Dongping had come to make trouble. He said: "Old Xiao, this kind of trick is meaningless. You say it's not just 500 mu, 501 mu is also not just 500 mu, but does this make sense? We're not kids anymore."

  "What's 501 mu? Our technicians said that if their blades can be used for a certain number of mu, we can also use them for the same number of mu. Didn't you say they were 700 mu? If these blades are less than 700 mu, I won't charge you a single cent, and I'll give them all to you for free."

  "Can your blade be used for 700 mu? Have you had too much to drink this morning?" Lin Anbao was successfully fooled by Xiao Dongping, and a mocking smile appeared on his face as he said sarcastically.

  From start to finish, Xiao Dongping never mentioned that Qingfeng Factory had improved the quality of the blades, which made Lin Anbao think that Xiao Dongping was just being unreasonable and making trouble. As for the quality of Qingfeng Factory's rotary tiller blades, Lin Anbao was very clear about it, saying that 500 mu was barely manageable, and some blades were completely worn out after being used for over 400 mu, rendering them unusable.

  "Hey, what's wrong with you? You smell it, I have a bit of alcohol in my mouth, don't I? I said 700 mu is 700 mu, dare you bet with me?" Xiao Dongping continued to provoke Lin Anbao.

  Lin Anbao was no pushover either and wouldn't stand for this kind of provocation. He immediately glared back and said, "Of course I dare to bet, you say it, how do we bet?"

  "I've brought 40 blades here, you go to Yongfeng Farm and ask Old Hua to arrange a tractor to try them out, see how many acres of land these blades can plow." Xiao Dongping pointed outside with his hand, saying to Lin Anbao.

  Yongfeng Farm is a state-owned farm located next to the municipal department. The old flower mentioned by Xiao Dongping is Hua Guoying, the director of Yongfeng Farm. Due to business relationships, he has a good relationship with Xiao Dongping and Lin Anbao. In the past, the three were also drinking buddies who had crawled under the table together. Xiao Dongping asked Lin Anbao to find Hua Guoying to test these blades because he trusted Hua Guoying's character and knew that this person would not cheat or fake anything.

  "This is not easy." Lin Anbao was brought into the pit by Xiao Dongping, and immediately picked up the phone to tell Hua Guoying about it. As he picked up the phone, a small idea suddenly popped out, so he put down the phone again and said to Xiao Dongping: "The test is just a test, we have to set some stakes, otherwise, won't I be at a loss?"

  Xiao Dongping suppressed his smile and asked: "What's the bet? You say it, I'll agree."

  "Firstly, if your blade usage is less than 500 mu, you can't ask Lao Hua for the money for the blades. They're helping you inspect the goods, and they shouldn't be cheated into buying your useless blades." Lin Anbao said.

  "You fart, is my old Xiao that kind of person?" Xiao Dongping said angrily, "If it's less than 700 mu, I won't take a single cent. But if it exceeds 700 mu, he must pay up. Now is the time to plow the field, even if he doesn't use my blade, he'll have to use someone else's."

  "If it's over 700 mu, he'll have to pay up." Lin Anbao said, "Second, if it's less than...less than 700 mu, you'll have to treat me to a drink."

  Lin Anbao originally believed that the blade of Qingfeng Factory would not be used up to 500 mu, so he wanted to use 500 mu as the standard for the bet. But after hearing Xiao Dongping insist on 700 mu, he simply followed Xiao Dongping and said it together. In his opinion, the standard of 700 mu was something that Qingfeng Factory's products could never reach, and once this condition was put forward, Xiao Dongping would definitely admit defeat.

  Who would have thought that Xiao Dongping had identified Leng Yueming's identification of these blades, believing that this batch of processed blades could be used for more than 700 mu. What he wanted to do was to lure Lin Anbao into a bet with him, and then use a loud slap in the face to vent his pent-up anger.

  "Alright, let's make a deal. If our blade usage is less than 700 mu, I'll treat you to a drink; if it exceeds 700 mu, you treat me to a drink. How about that?" asked Xiao Dongping.

  Lin Anbao slapped the table and said: "It's settled then. I'll call Lao Hua right now, and he can be a witness at that time."

  Hua Guo Ying's office was not far from the Nongzi Company's sales department. After receiving Lin Anbao's phone call, he called a jeep and arrived in just a few minutes. After hearing about Lin Anbao's bet with Xiao Dongping, he smiled slightly and said: "Great, no matter who wins or loses, I'll definitely drink this wine. Coincidentally, our farm has been tilling the land these past few days, so I'll find an excavator and try out Old Xiao's blade."

  "Wait a minute..." Lin Anbao suddenly thought of another question and said: "I have a suggestion, on your rotary tiller, don't use all the old Xiao's blades, but half and half. Half use their blades, and the other half use Hongxing Factory's blades, isn't it clearer to compare?"

  He said that the Red Star Factory is a large agricultural machinery factory in another province, and the quality of its rotary tiller blades is also among the best in the country. Lin Anbao's arrangement can be considered as adding another layer of insurance for himself. Because the service life of the rotary tiller blades has a great relationship with the type of land, if Hua Guoying wants to give Xiao Dongping an advantage, she may specially choose some fields with softer soil for experimentation, then it is also possible to make the blade's service life exceed 700 mu.

  But if two kinds of blades are installed on the same tiller, when the time comes, even if the blade of Qingfeng Factory has a service life of more than 700 mu, he can also prove that the blade of Qingfeng Factory is not as good as that of Hongxing Factory by comparing the wear and tear of the two blades.

  "You're really dark-hearted, Lin!" Xiao Dongping was also a clever person and could see through Lin Anbao's little tricks. He spat in disgust, showing his contempt for Lin Anbao, then said: "Alright, let's go with your plan, old flower. These blades are yours now, hurry up and do the experiment. I'm telling you, we're definitely going to drink this cup of wine."