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墨書 Inktalez
Mao Na was an official employee of the Postal System. Throughout her three years in school, she continued to receive her basic salary from the unit, while also having to complete various work tasks assigned to her.
During this period, Mao Na was nearly driven to distraction. Every year, their system had to issue prize-winning New Year Postcards. Although these postcards were beautifully printed and didn’t require envelopes or stamps, making them easy to redeem for prizes, the price of eighty cents each still deterred many people. A typical set of New Year cards cost over a dollar for ten cards, allowing them to be sent to ten different people, and with the addition of postage and envelopes, the total would not exceed forty cents per card.
Every year, Mao Na had a sales target of two thousand postcards. The leadership didn’t outright say it was an assignment; instead, they called it a benefit: “The public sale price is eighty cents each, but our internal price is only sixty cents. The difference for two thousand cards amounts to four hundred yuan, which is equivalent to more than a month’s salary for you!”
In previous years, Mao Na had desperately begged Ouyang Xiaxue and Li Shengnan to help her sell some at the factory while also pushing sales during work hours… yet she still ended up having to subsidize the costs herself. Once the postcards were in her hands, her salary would be deducted proportionally to cover expenses; if they weren’t sold before New Year’s Day, they would essentially become a loss.
This year, not only had the leadership's empty promises remained unchanged, but her sales target had also increased to four thousand postcards!
While on a date, Mao Na vented about this situation to Hu Ruoyun. To her surprise, Hu Ruoyun confidently declared, “What’s the big deal? Leave it to me!”
Mao Na was taken aback. “Do you have a plan?”
She quickly suppressed her excitement. “Forget it; I can’t let you throw all your hard-earned money into my pit!”
However, Hu Ruoyun maintained a serious expression. “I’m not joking. Not only will I help you meet your target, but I’ll also make a little profit!”
Seeing that Mao Na still seemed skeptical, he said earnestly, “You need to talk to your leaders. First, tell them you can sell ten thousand—no, twenty thousand cards—and request that the price be lowered to fifty cents each. Second, since your postcards can be customized, I’ll design my own images instead of using yours. As long as your leaders agree to these two points, I guarantee I’ll meet the first sales target!”
Mao Na looked at Hu Ruoyun in disbelief. “Are you serious?”
Hu Ruoyun nodded. “I’ve been looking for a way to make some money; this seems quite suitable. Although it won’t be much profit, at least it won’t require much effort.”
Mao Na felt a surge of joy. “Custom designs are no problem! In the past, our bureau leaders collaborated with some local businesses for promotional materials; we could print their branding on them. The price reduction is also feasible; normally we can lower it to fifty cents each for three thousand cards.”
“Then you should tell your leaders that… aim for a reduction to forty cents each!” Hu Ruoyun advised.
Without wasting time, they found a public phone. Mao Na dialed the bureau’s duty room directly: “Hello, Deputy Director Li … Yes, this is Mao Na. I’d like to report on some work… regarding the postcard issue.
…
No difficulties at all; four thousand is no problem!
…
A friend wants to help our bureau fulfill some tasks; I just wanted to ask how much flexibility there is in adjusting the price?”
"Yes, he wants to customize it!
...
He’s with me right now. Do you want to speak directly to him? Alright, I’ll let him take the call."
Hu Ruoyun took the phone. "Hello, Director Li, I’m a friend of Mao Na. My surname is Hu!"
On the other end, Director Li sounded urgent. "Xiao Hu, right? Mao Na said you could help sell some of our prize-winning New Year postcards. How many can you handle?"
Hu Ruoyun replied casually, "Starting from 10,000 pieces!"
Deputy Director Li responded, "We can drop the price to 0.45 yuan each. You don’t know; there are limits on this price..."
Hu Ruoyun pretended to think for a few seconds before saying, "Director Li, is that how it is? If it’s inconvenient for you, don’t worry about it. I can just help Mao Na with her 4,000 pieces..."
Deputy Director Li sounded a bit flustered. "Can you guarantee 10,000 pieces? If so, I can discuss it with the other leaders and we should be able to offer you 0.40 yuan each, but any lower is really not possible!"
Hu Ruoyun looked confident. "That’s not a problem. I’ll send you the design draft within the next couple of days. Please print it based on a quantity of 20,000 pieces. I can pay a 50% deposit upfront, and I’ll settle the remaining amount upon delivery!"
Director Li became excited. "Alright, no problem! We’ll print at the provincial postal bureau’s special printing factory. Just give me a delivery address and I’ll have them send the goods directly to you! Xiao Hu, thank you! I’ll place an order for 20,200 pieces; you just need to pay for 20,000!"
On Monday, under the guidance of Counselor Teacher Zhou, Hu Ruoyun went to meet with the leadership of the Student Affairs Office. Since they had an appointment, they successfully met with Director Ding Jiaqi of the Student Affairs Office.
Hu Ruoyun spoke earnestly: "Teacher Ding, I’m a new student specially recruited by Jiangbei University this year from a rural area in Annan. I’m grateful to Jiangbei University for giving me this opportunity to further my studies... My girlfriend works at our county's Postal System and has helped me arrange for some promotional efforts on the New Year postcard they are issuing in 1994 for our school!"
Director Ding asked a crucial question: "What does our school need to do for this? For example, will there be any costs involved?"
Hu Ruoyun replied sincerely: "We need our school to issue an authorization allowing them to use our image in their promotional materials. Ideally, if our school could provide a design draft for authorization directly, that would be best. There won’t be any costs involved; they have some commercial activities as well..."
Director Ding immediately understood what was going on. This kind of initiative was beneficial both personally and for the school; he was very supportive: "In that case, I will report this matter to the school right away and have the art department create the design draft... Thank your girlfriend for me; once the postcard is out, our Student Affairs Office can help resolve part of it..."
He also praised Teacher Zhou: "Old Zhou, your student is impressive!"
Soon after, Teacher Zhou brought Hu Ruoyun the approval from Jiangbei University’s office regarding the report submitted to the Student Affairs Office and mentioned that Director Ding said they would need 5,000 pieces at standard pricing.
After the design draft was completed and reviewed by relevant personnel at the school for confirmation and signatures, Hu Ruoyun sent it to the printing factory designated by Deputy Director Li and paid a 50% deposit of 5,000 yuan for 25,000 postcards to the Annan Postal Bureau.
A week later, the printing factory contacted Teacher Zhou regarding delivery arrangements (since Hu Ruoyun didn’t have a phone number; Teacher Zhou became his liaison). Hu Ruoyun instructed them to deliver 5,000 pieces directly to the Student Affairs Office at school and send another 20,200 pieces to the warehouse rented by him and Cui Shuigen.
Jiangbei University made a direct payment of 4,000 yuan into the public account of Annan County Post and Telecommunications Bureau for the goods; after communicating with Director Li, this amount was used to offset Hu Ruoyun's remaining payment due. Adding in his deposit portion, Hu Ruoyun paid an additional 1,000 yuan to settle everything completely.
Next up would be Cui Shuigen and his group of brothers stepping in.
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