bookrandom Chapter 630: Doubts Grow Deeper
Chapter 630: Doubts Grow Deeper
News of Chen Jianshe's arrest quickly spread throughout the county. Li Xiangyang never expected that this incident would bring him such an unexpected benefit.
The next afternoon, an uninvited guest arrived at the factory.
"Excuse me, is Mr. Li Xiangyang here?" The man who came was a middle-aged man in his forties, dressed well and speaking very politely.
"That's me." Li Xiangyang walked out of the office. "And you are?"
"My name is Tian Guoqiang, and I'm the general manager of Tianrun Trading Co., Ltd. in the provincial capital." Tian Guoqiang handed over his business card. "I heard that Mr. Li cooperated with law enforcement yesterday to arrest a fraudster, so I came here specifically to pay him a visit."
Li Xiangyang took the business card and looked at it. He had heard of Tianrun Trading, a well-established trading company in the provincial capital.
"Mr. Tian, you're too kind. Catching swindlers is what every citizen should do." Li Xiangyang invited Tian Guoqiang into his office. "What brings you here today?"
After sitting down, Tian Guoqiang got straight to the point: "Mr. Li, I've come here to discuss cooperation with you."
"Cooperation?" Li Xiangyang poured a cup of tea and handed it to him. "Tell me about it first."
"It's like this, Tianrun Trading has been looking for high-quality agricultural product processing plants as long-term partners." Tian Guoqiang picked up his teacup. "Yesterday's events made me admire Mr. Li's character and vision, so I wanted to come and talk."
Li Xiangyang's heart skipped a beat, but he remained outwardly calm: "President Tian, there are too many scammers on the market these days who claim to be buying things at high prices. You won't mind if I ask a few more questions, will you?"
“Of course not,” Tian Guoqiang laughed. “Mr. Li is right to be cautious. How about this, let me first introduce our company.”
Tian Guoqiang took out a stack of documents from his briefcase: "This is our company's business license, tax registration certificate, and financial statements for the past three years. Mr. Li can send someone to the provincial capital for an on-site inspection."
Li Xiangyang took the documents and looked through them. Judging from the financial statements, Tianrun Commerce and Trade was indeed a strong company with an annual turnover of over 20 million yuan.
“Mr. Tian, I appreciate your sincerity.” Li Xiangyang put down the documents. “Could you elaborate on the specific cooperation methods?”
"We hope to become the exclusive distributor of your factory's products in the three northeastern provinces," Tian Guoqiang stated directly. "We will purchase your products at market price, and we will be responsible for sales channels and after-sales service."
"A general distributor?" Li Xiangyang frowned. "Mr. Tian, if I may be frank, our current sales network is already quite comprehensive. Why do we need a general distributor?"
Tian Guoqiang smiled and said, "Mr. Li, I know your business is doing well now, but have you ever thought about expanding? For example, entering a wider market?"
"What do you mean?"
"The Southern Market." Tian Guoqiang's eyes gleamed. "Our Tianrun Trading Company has branches in Guangzhou and Shenzhen. If we cooperate, your products can enter the entire South China market."
This proposal is indeed very attractive. Li Xiangyang's current sales are mainly concentrated in Northeast and North China, and he has not yet ventured into the South China market.
“Mr. Tian’s suggestion is very interesting.” Li Xiangyang pondered for a moment, “However, I need time to consider it and also to discuss it with my partners.”
“Of course.” Tian Guoqiang stood up to take his leave. “Here’s my contact information. Mr. Li, please contact me anytime you’ve made up your mind.”
After seeing Tian Guoqiang off, Li Xiangyang immediately called Wang Ergou.
Half an hour later, Wang Ergou rushed to the factory.
"So, does that Tian Guoqiang seem reliable?" Wang Ergou asked as soon as he entered the door.
“On the surface, it looks alright.” Li Xiangyang handed the documents Tian Guoqiang had left behind to Wang Ergou, “but I feel like something’s not quite right.”
Wang Ergou flipped through the documents: "Are you worried it's another scammer?"
“No.” Li Xiangyang shook his head. “Tianrun Trading is real, and I’ve checked Tian Guoqiang’s identity; he is indeed the general manager.”
"Then what are you worried about?"
Li Xiangyang walked to the window, looking at the busy workers outside: "What worries me is, why did they have to come knocking on our door at this particular time?"
"You mean the timing was too perfect?" Wang Ergou also realized something.
“Yes.” Li Xiangyang turned around. “We just caught a swindler yesterday, and today someone comes to our door to discuss cooperation, and they're asking for such a large-scale partnership as a general agency.”
Wang Ergou frowned and thought for a moment: "Could we be overthinking it? Maybe they heard about what happened yesterday and thought we were good people, which is why they came to discuss cooperation."
"Perhaps," Li Xiangyang said, sitting back in his chair. "But better safe than sorry. I think we should investigate further."
"So what do you plan to do?"
"Go to the provincial capital tomorrow and conduct an on-site inspection of Tianrun Trading," Li Xiangyang said. "I need to verify their strength and reputation."
“Okay, I’ll go tomorrow.” Wang Ergou nodded. “By the way, if they’re really reliable, are you planning to agree to cooperate?”
Li Xiangyang pondered for a moment: "If the conditions are right, it's not impossible to consider. After all, the South China market is indeed very attractive."
"What if it's a trap?"
“Then let’s see if we can see through it.” A glint of shrewdness flashed in Li Xiangyang’s eyes. “Doing business is inherently risky; the key is to control the risk.”
The next morning, Wang Ergou took a car to the provincial capital. Li Xiangyang stayed at the factory to handle daily affairs.
Around 3 p.m., Wang Ergou called.
"Xiangyang, I've arrived at Tianrun Trading." Wang Ergou's voice sounded excited. "This company is indeed very powerful; their office building has five floors, and they have over a hundred employees."
Is Tian Guoqiang here?
"Yes, he's here to greet me. He's very polite; he showed me around the company and explained their business."
"So what do you think?"
“On the surface, it does look quite good,” Wang Ergou’s voice became cautious, “but I feel something is strange.”
"What's strange?"
"Their warehouse was piled high with agricultural products, but the packaging was very basic, and the quality varied greatly," Wang Ergou said. "They didn't seem to be produced by legitimate manufacturers."
Li Xiangyang's heart skipped a beat: "Are you sure?"
“I looked very carefully,” Wang Ergou lowered his voice, “and I just chatted with one of their employees, who said their company is currently looking for new suppliers because their previous partners have all run into problems.”
"what is the problem?"
"The person didn't elaborate, only saying that the quality was inconsistent and that it was frequently out of stock."
Li Xiangyang frowned. If Tianrun Trading was really as powerful as Tian Guoqiang claimed, how could it not find a stable source of goods?
"Ergou, try to find out more details."
"Okay, I'll think of another way."
After hanging up the phone, Li Xiangyang's doubts deepened. He felt that this matter was not as simple as it seemed on the surface.