Sail across the sea

Chapter 382 The Two Brothers Partner Up
Gao Fan was confident that if Gao Yiping negotiated with Tan Rongjiang, Luo Jiazhen, and others to sell the obsolete equipment discarded during the ammonium phosphate conversion to Yin Xiaobiao for 20 yuan, they would accept it.

Just as Yin Xiaobiao had calculated, these factories would have to hire people to dismantle the old equipment and hire trucks to transport it away, ultimately earning less than 20 yuan from selling the scrap. Now, without them having to put in any effort, someone directly buys the equipment for 20 yuan. What could they possibly complain about?

However, doing this only benefits Yin Xiaobiao, but not Tan Rongjiang and the others. On the contrary, it will leave them with a handle to use against them for selling supplies to individual vendors. If they are used against them in the future, it will be a troublesome matter.

Business is all about win-win situations; a business where only one party wins is unlikely to last.

This matter wouldn't benefit Gao Yiping either, but it would require him to do someone a favor. Gao Fan and Yin Xiaobiao weren't that close yet, so why would he risk his father's life for Yin Xiaobiao's sake?
Upon hearing Gao Fan's analysis, Yin Xiaobiao understood. He asked, "Gao Fan, which factory are you talking about? Could you introduce me to their factory manager so I can go and take a look at the equipment they're phasing out? If some of it is indeed usable, I'll share a portion of my profits with the factory. It's possible that I could end up contributing 30 or even 40 yuan."

Gao Fan nodded. If Yin Xiaobiao could offer such a price, then there would be room for maneuver in this matter.

The fertilizer company negotiated a total investment of 20 million yuan with several fertilizer plants for the ammonium-to-urea conversion project. This amount is a control target; the fertilizer company promised that the final expenditure would not exceed this figure, and any savings would be split 50/50 among the plants according to their respective investment ratios.

The residual value of the scrap equipment only accounted for a small percentage of the budget, and no one thought that these hundreds of tons of scrap steel would be worth much. If, at this time, someone were to offer 30 or even 40 yuan to buy this scrap steel, it would be an unexpected bonus for the fertilizer company and the fertilizer plant.

It's not impossible that the Chemical Industry Department would award Tan Rongjiang a "Model of Thrift" for this.

“My father is in charge of this matter now,” Gao Fan said to Yin Xiaobiao. “There are four factories that need to be renovated. The situation of each factory is similar, with about seven or eight hundred tons of obsolete equipment.”

"I just thought about the whole production process, and I think that, according to the recycling principle you mentioned, it shouldn't be a problem to raise four or five hundred thousand yuan from the things that can be disassembled and reused."

"You should know that when these factories were built, the procurement of materials was based on the national planned allocation price, which was basically the price of steel, plus the labor cost during factory production, plus a little bit of profit."

“For the same valve, those township enterprises in Renqiao would probably have to pay more than twice the price. If you sell the old stock at the price of new stock, you should be able to sell it.”

"Absolutely no problem," Yin Xiaobiao said confidently.

"Here's what we'll do. I'll call my dad and explain this to him. After you're done with things in Zeshan, go directly to Ruizhang to see my dad and ask him to help you contact these fertilizer plants. As for how you negotiate with the fertilizer plants, I won't interfere."

"I only have one request, which is that it must be a win-win situation, and the fertilizer plant must actually benefit. Otherwise, my father will have a hard time explaining to his superiors."

"Don't worry about that, I have experience," Yin Xiaobiao said, then lowered his voice a little and asked, "So, Gao Fan, how much profit should I leave for your father?" Gao Fan smiled and waved his hand: "He doesn't need to leave a single penny of profit. If you feel bad, just bring him some fruit as a gift for a younger person visiting an elder, that's enough. And don't make the fruit too expensive, he won't accept it if it's too expensive."

“That’s not appropriate,” Yin Xiaobiao said. “You know I make a lot of money from this business. Even if we brothers do it together, I’ll share some of the profits with you, is that alright?”

Gao Fan said seriously, "Old Yin, let me tell you the truth, I'm not short of money. My money is my dad's money, so my dad isn't short of money either. My dad is a selfless person who just wants to do something beneficial for the country. If there's any selfishness involved, it's that he's a bit obsessed with officialdom; he wants to be promoted before he retires to bring honor to his ancestors."

"At this time, if you give my dad money, or try to share the profits under the guise of partnering with me, you're harming him. If my dad takes even a single penny of benefit from this, it will cause endless trouble in the future."

When Gao Fan said this, Yin Xiaobiao kept staring at his expression and couldn't detect any hypocrisy in it, so he immediately understood what Gao Fan meant.

Yin Xiaobiao was unaware that Gao Fan and Chen Xingquan had partnered to start a business. It was only after he ran into Gao Min in Renqiao last month that he learned that Gao Fan had his own side business in addition to Canghua Science and Trade.

Yin Xiaobiao had heard Ke Shuilong mention the scale of Xinglong Coatings Company's business; it wouldn't be an exaggeration to describe it as making a fortune every day. Although he didn't know how much of the company the Gao family owned, based on some clues, he could guess that it was at least 30%, and it wouldn't be surprising if it were 50%.

With this calculation, Yin Xiaobiao understood what Gao Fan meant by "not short of money." It didn't just mean he didn't lack the kickback; it meant that Gao Fan was much richer than him, Yin Xiaobiao. Yin Xiaobiao's meager profits were not worth the risk Gao Fan would take—even if it was just a risk to his reputation.

It seems I'm not qualified to talk to Gao Fan about "two brothers going together" yet; I still have a lot to work on.

“Okay, Gao Fan, I understand,” Yin Xiaobiao said. “So, in this deal, Uncle Gao gets the fame, I get the profit, and those factory managers in between get both fame and profit. As for you, Gao Fan, you get neither fame nor profit…”

“I’m neither short of fame nor fortune, so it doesn’t matter to me.” Gao Fan smiled and picked up where Yin Xiaobiao left off. “If you can do this well, it will be a great help to my father, which will be beneficial to his future promotion. So I should thank you.”

Yin Xiaobiao took Gao Fan's words as a joke. He picked up his wine bowl and said, "Come on, let's have another one. I've thought it through. This matter is even more promising. I plan to go to Ruizhang tomorrow to find Uncle Gao and settle this matter as soon as possible."

"By the way, I'll leave some money at the guesthouse, so don't argue with me anymore. Just stay there peacefully."

"Ha, then I won't stand on ceremony with you." Gao Fan readily accepted Yin Xiaobiao's kindness, raised his wine bowl and gestured, "There's plenty of time in the future, it's all in the wine."

(End of this chapter)