PCJ – Chapter 389 Firm Attitude

“Zhang Youping, these words are from you,” Liu Baoyi said loudly while pointing at Zhang Youping.

“It’s indeed what I said. I can announce something to you: from now on, I won’t accept any bamboo tubes carved by anyone who joins your so-called Meizi’ao Bamboo Tube Carving Association. Also, for those tea plantations that have signed petitions regarding tea purchase prices, I will be confirming each one over the next few days. If you confirm that you won’t supply tea to the tea factory according to the agreement, Meizi’ao Tea Factory will permanently stop purchasing tea from those plantations. Meizi’ao will also cease technical cooperation with those tea plantations,” Zhang Youping replied firmly.

“Alright, alright. We won’t make bamboo tubes anymore. We’ll only lose a small income. But if you don’t have bamboo tubes, let’s see how your tea gets exported!” Liu Baoyi threatened.

“You don’t need to worry about that. If it really comes to it, we can just switch to different packaging. Our orders with foreign merchants don’t specify what type of packaging to use, so you don’t need to fret over Meizi’ao,” Zhang Youping scoffed.

“What about the tea? Our Meizi’ao tea is the best. Although there is only your tea factory in Xintian County, there are more than one in Zijiang City. Some tea factories in Zijiang City are even bigger than yours, and they are state-owned! We can just send the tea to them!” Liu Baoyi said.

“Go ahead!” Zhang Youping had no expression on his face.

“Zhang Youping, do you really want to make this so absolute?” Liu Baoyi was a bit flustered.

“Liu Baoyi, get it straight: who’s being absolute here? All the tea plantations in Meizi’ao are being remodeled for free by the Jiaohua (a local organization). In other places, anyone who has their land remodeled by Jiaohua has to give one-third of their shares. Jiaohua not only didn’t ask you for shares but also bought your tea at the highest purchase price. Since you’re still not satisfied with this, you can do as you please,” Zhang Youping didn’t want to waste more breath on Liu Baoyi.

“Alright, alright, good! Zhang Youping, I’ll tell you this: don’t think that the people of Meizitang are still on your side just because you think everything is fine. I will contact other tea plantations. When the time comes, all the tea in the county won’t be sold to your tea factory. Let’s see where you go to purchase tea,” Liu Baoyi was not so confident. The purchase price from Meizi’ao Tea Factory was indeed not low, and finding other factories wouldn’t necessarily yield a better price.

Zhang Youping was very disappointed with the behavior of the villagers. He had initially thought he had treated them well enough, but they were still not satisfied. Fortunately, the Zhang family from Meizitang did not participate in this action; otherwise, Zhang Youping would have been even angrier.

“Alas, I really didn’t expect my good intentions would end up like this,” Zhang Youping shook his head helplessly.

“Brothers must settle accounts clearly. I told you before, people’s hearts are never satisfied. Wanting to help the villagers is good, but business and personal feelings must be kept separate. If you earn money and use it to build roads and schools for the village, that’s a good thing. But if you keep using your profits to support the villagers, some greedy people will want to get more from you,” Zhao Jinyuan said.

“Right, Director Zhao speaks well. Youping, this incident is a good opportunity for the villagers to understand that it’s not you making money off them; it’s they who are making money off you. Otherwise, they will benefit but still think they’re at a loss,” Zhang Youlian said.

“Then let’s solidify this matter today and find out who is behind the scenes causing trouble. If we don’t identify these people, they will surely be a source of instability in the future. We are about to start the sightseeing tea plantation project; with these people around, I have no confidence that it will succeed,” Zhang Youping was worried that this incident would affect Luo Changjun’s sightseeing tea plantation plan. Originally, the sightseeing farm could bring huge benefits to the tea plantation operators, but now he was desperately trying to increase their income while they were still causing trouble behind the scenes. Zhang Youping felt like canceling the whole plan.

“Therefore, this is timely; we can just clean out these troublemakers this time,” Zhao Jinyuan laughed.

“Zaizai, how did you know about this situation?” Liu Qiaoye asked curiously.

Zhang Jiaohua explained Nie Tong’s situation and then took out the wooden carving of the Ancestor of the Translated Altar from his backpack.

“This craftsmanship is probably even better than Uncle Ji Wang’s,” Zhang Youping said as he took a look.

“Hmm, it’s indeed a bit better,” Zhang Youlian nodded in agreement.

“I think we can definitely find a lot of skilled craftsmen in Xintian County. Our bamboo tube carving craft has a good purchase price, and if we advertise on TV specifically recruiting skilled carvers to make bamboo tubes for us, we won’t have to worry about a lack of supply. Moreover, the quality will improve significantly. In the future, we can let some talented individuals learn carving from these masters,” Zhang Jiaohua suggested.

“Yeah, Jiaohua has considered this well. Meizi’ao is just a small village, and naturally, there are fewer people who can carve. We can advertise throughout the county, the city, and even the whole province to recruit talents in this area, which would easily solve the problem,” Zhao Jinyuan praised.

“We still need to resolve this matter as soon as possible. Otherwise, the development of Biyu Xianyin will be severely affected,” Zhang Youping also nodded.

After Zhang Youping dismissed Liu Baoyi, he immediately went to collude with those people.

“Everyone must unite; otherwise, don’t expect Zhang Youping to yield. Don’t think about raising prices either. We just need to contact all the tea plantations in the county, and no matter how capable Zhang Youping is, without tea supply, he will have no way out. The bamboo tube matter is the same. Do you know how much a tube of tea sells for abroad? Over ten thousand! More than a hundred per gram; it’s nearing two hundred now. How much is the purchase price of a pound of tea? How much for a bamboo tube? The bulk of the profits are being pocketed by Zhang Youping. Why should we not unite and negotiate with him? Our demands are reasonable and lawful.” Liu Baoyi’s words were able to sway some people because, in their eyes, they indeed felt they had been wronged. Now, the Zhang family was becoming wealthier and had left all the farmers in Meizi’ao far behind.

“Baoyi, that’s all well and good. But Zhang Youping also said that if he colludes with you, he will stop accepting our tea and won’t take our bamboo tubes. What then?” someone asked worriedly.

“Doing anything comes with some cost. We must band together tightly now. If you fear the wolf in front and the tiger behind, then don’t do anything. Just let fate take its course. Accept whatever purchase price Zhang Youping offers. It’s as if this is solely my issue. You want benefits but aren’t willing to bear risks; where in the world do you find such cheap deals?” Liu Baoyi was somewhat angered.

Before Zhang Youping went to confirm with each household, Liu Baoyi had been running around stirring up quite a few people, but some were still hesitant. When Zhang Youping went to confirm, some withdrew from those lists, expressing their willingness to continue providing carved bamboo tubes to Meizi’ao Tea Factory and to sell their tea at the previously agreed purchase price.

This situation puzzled Zhang Jiaohua; human nature was indeed strange. However, after Old Master Nie recovered from his leg injury, he went straight to Meizi’ao and engaged in bamboo tube carving at Meizi’ao Tea Factory. After the TV advertisements aired, many such carvers came from various parts of Xintian County.

This made those carvers who had been swayed by Liu Baoyi regretful, but it was too late. This time, Zhang Youping was very resolute, firmly refusing to give these people a chance to go back on their word.

After Liu Baoyi ran around the tea plantations in Xintian County, he discovered that all the tea plantations supplying tea to Meizi’ao had shares in Zhang Youping’s company and had signed very strict contracts with Meizi’ao Tea Factory. If they violated the contract, they would face high compensation fees, all supervised by the county government. No matter how capable Liu Baoyi was, he could not sway these tea plantations. What was most important was that those who had previously chosen to sell their tea secretly to the city tea factory had already been punished. Their tea plantations experienced severe quality declines within a year. The high purchase prices from the city tea factory were based on the high quality of the tea. With the quality dropping and production declining, the purchase prices naturally fell, well below those of Meizi’ao Tea Factory. In the end, they were losing more than just a little. The people of Meizi’ao had never learned about these matters.

“If you think selling to the city tea factory is more profitable, then go ahead and sell to them. Our tea can only be delivered to Meizi’ao Tea Factory,” said the owner of a tea plantation in Gezhuping, hurriedly pushing Liu Baoyi out of the farm, fearing that others would find out someone was discussing tea at his plantation.

Liu Baoyi found it very strange, “I’ve never seen such foolish people. They have high prices but refuse to sell. Truly stupid as pigs.”

After Liu Baoyi made a round in Xintian County, he realized he couldn’t dig out any tea plantations from those designated by Meizi’ao Tea Factory. That’s when he realized something was off. He then went to the city tea factory.

The situation at the city tea factory was vastly different from before. Under Zhao Jinyuan’s management, the city tea factory had thrived and was a star enterprise in the city. However, now, due to a serious drop in tea quality, sales had been severely impacted. They couldn’t even pay their employees’ wages. So, when they heard that someone from Xintian County wanted to send tea to the city tea factory, they weren’t even interested, offering a price considerably lower than the average purchase price, not even half of what Meizi’ao Tea Factory was offering.

“How could this be? How am I supposed to report back?” Liu Baoyi was completely dumbfounded.