After a moment.
When Wang Ye arrived at the manufacturing plant workshop, a group of beautifully dressed girls were already waiting. The youngest was Xu Leilei's sister, Xu Jiaojiao, who was only sixteen, while the oldest was a young wife from the machinery factory, already twenty-five.
"Sorry for keeping you all waiting!"
Wang Ye walked in with a smile, and there was a chorus of greetings and reassurances, sounding quite pleasant.
"I'm sure you all know why I called you here."
"So, let's start with a little test to select the twenty saleswomen who will start working tomorrow, and then proceed with some simple training."
"Of course, for those who aren't selected, it's okay. You can still observe the training. As our business grows, we'll need more and more salespeople, and you'll be given priority!"
Upon hearing Wang Ye's words, many nervous individuals breathed a sigh of relief. Then, the first round of interviews at the manufacturing plant began.
At seven in the evening.
After dinner, everyone returned to the workshop, and Wang Ye's training continued. The core of the training focused on three aspects: attitude of service, sales techniques, and product features and warranty policies.
However, this time, in addition to Wang Ye and the fifty beautiful girls and young wives, there were also many older folks from the machinery factory, including the parents and husbands of the trainees.
Although they spoke nicely, saying they came to listen and learn from the factory director, Wang Ye guessed that they were probably concerned about the safety of their daughters and wives being alone with him at night.
"Very well, let's run through it one more time."
"I and Li Baojun and the others will pretend to be customers. You must be adaptable, understand?"
Li Baojun and the others, who played the role of customers and were surrounded by onlookers like a monkey show, were very excited. After all, they used to be the ones wandering around the factory without doing any real work. Now, suddenly, they were receiving attention from their elders, which naturally made them happy.
Just then, as the rehearsal was about to begin, a commotion was heard from outside. Then, the crowd automatically made way, and Wang Ye saw Director Li walking in with an unmistakable smile on his face, striding quickly!
"Hey there? Director Li, why are you here so late at night?"
"Are you worried that we won't be able to handle things tomorrow, so you came specially tonight to give us some guidance?"
"Quick, quick, quick! Welcome, leader, to come and guide our work at night!"
Accompanied by Wang Ye's words, the workers present exchanged glances and then proceeded to cheerfully welcome Director Li.
"Clap clap clap clap clap!"
The workshop was filled with thunderous applause, and Director Li laughed and scolded:
"I'm telling you, kid, instead of learning the good stuff, you're learning to talk like a bureaucrat and make a scene, aren't you?"
"And why do I feel like you're being sarcastic?"
"Well, well, since you've said that I've come to guide the work, I must guide it properly. What are you doing? Training saleswomen?"
"Continue! Let me see!"
Director Li's praise made the atmosphere even livelier, and many of the girls felt relieved. Then the rehearsal process continued. Wang Ye and Li Baojun pretended to be customers, walking around the stalls and posing various tricky and complicated questions. They even included some suggestive remarks that might arise, although some of the girls were a bit confused, the young wives held their own, sharp and spirited, dealing with everything thrown at them.
In this era, anything could happen, so Wang Ye had to be fully prepared. Overall, Wang Ye wasn't worried because besides these saleswomen, there were at least thirty strong men from the factory who served as porters.
If anyone dared to cause trouble, these young people would not hesitate to act!
Soon, ten minutes passed, and the routine was completed. Director Li stood up and applauded, saying:
"Well done! Training is going quite well!"
"Even compared to cities at the forefront of openness in the South, I'd say you're not falling behind!"
"You, kid, do have some skills after all!"
"The ladies' performance is also excellent! Indeed, they can hold up half the sky!"
Upon hearing Director Li's praise, the girls cheered and thanked him.
"Let's go! I have something to tell you, and you can continue rehearsing!"
Then Director Li patted Wang Ye on the shoulder, motioning for Wang Ye and the factory leaders to come out. He also addressed the girls in the same manner.
Amid curious glances, Wang Ye and Director Li left the workshop, walking more than a hundred meters away and standing in the darkness near the edge of the light. Director Li glanced around at everyone present and then nonchalantly lit a cigarette, exhaling smoke with a smile.
"I have some good news to share, but don't get too excited!"
In the darkness, the flickering flame of the cigarette could be seen, and in the gaze of everyone from the factory, Director Li, with an excited tone, said:
"A few days ago, you sent a telegram to Tanzania, and they replied!"
"Besides the pleasantries, they also hope to continue purchasing gas cylinders from your Red Star Machinery Factory!"
"And this time, they're asking for five thousand, for two million US dollars!"
As soon as Director Li finished speaking, the dark and quiet air was interrupted by a clear and unmistakable gulp of saliva. Wang Ye subconsciously turned to look, only to see the old factory director's face flushing as he quickly waved his hand!
Under the gaze of everyone, the old factory director repeated the astronomical number several times, and Director Li couldn't help but burst into laughter and said:
"You kid, isn't two million US dollars a lot? According to you, what's considered a lot?"
"I think you're just being sarcastic and showing off to us!"
"Hahaha!"
Then the laughter echoed once again in the darkness, and Wang Ye could only grin and bear it, not wanting to argue.
Because only Wang Ye knew that in the normal course of history.
Next year, Saudi Arabia would buy two squadrons of F-15C/D fighter jets from the United States, each priced at a whopping fifty-four million US dollars!
Shocking the world!
And in today's China, without diplomatic relations with Saudi Arabia, it was also at that time that the Chinese military leadership learned that there was such a rich country in the world! Dollars! They were all green dollars!
After several negotiations.
Five years later, China would take a huge risk and export a batch of authentic weaponry to Saudi Arabia, achieving the highest single military sale in the world in the 1980s and receiving an unimaginable fortune!
Three and a half billion US dollars!
But even for the "big spender" Saudi Arabia, this was just a drop in the bucket, and even afterward, they were grateful that there could be such honest merchants in the world. How could there be such good business?
After all, to purchase this batch of weaponry, the Saudi King had approved a figure of eight billion!
As long as it was lower than this figure, the prince responsible for negotiations could make the decision. If it was more expensive, he could report upwards and negotiate. It was also from that time on that the relationship between China and Saudi Arabia became closer.
So.
Wang Ye couldn't help but feel emotional because Wang Ye was envious!
A mere two million business, compared to the real money-making arms deals, didn't even cover the signing fee and rounding errors, let alone compared to the "big spender" Saudi Arabia, which was basically a drop in the bucket!