At the end of June, the merchants who had transported 20,000 comic strips to other places to sell came to Ninghua County. Their purpose was very simple, they wanted to order more comic strips to sell, and they also urged the printing workshop to print the next few comic strips as soon as possible.

On the evening of June 29, the group of merchants gathered at Huiniang's pharmacy. Huiniang invited the master he called last time to come and make a scene. Chen Xi, as the person in charge of the negotiation, sat at the counter and negotiated the details of the order with these foreign merchants like a shopkeeper.

This time, there were more than a dozen people who had traveled before. They had a wide range of friendship and even brought some northern merchants. These people were wearing silk and satin and thick gold necklaces, and they could tell that they were rich and powerful. These big merchants would not go to small counties like Ninghua on weekdays to do business. This time, they had to travel to this small county in western Fujian for comic strips.

The middle-aged businessman who spoke last time was from Nanjing, named Su Zhaiqi. It is said that he opened shops in various prefectures in Nanzhili and Hangzhou. His business involves food, clothing, housing and transportation, medicinal materials, cultural supplies, etc., and is strong, so he is still a negotiator for businessman.

Su Zhaiqi walked to the counter with a smile and greeted, "Little shopkeeper, we've met again. This time we are talking about business and want to buy more albums. I wonder if there is any reduction in price?"

Chen Xi smiled and replied: "If the amount is too large and you can pay a sufficient deposit, the price can be discussed."

Chen Xi didn't say enough to say anything. Although it seemed that the discount was given, it had strict prerequisites.

"This time we purchased the album, for the previous two volumes and each volume, there was a huge increase. We bought 20,000 copies per volume. I wonder if the shopkeeper has purchased 20,000 copies per volume. Which album has the album been released?"

Chen Xiyi heard that this business is really not small.

Previously, it was already a very big business to buy 20,000 copies. Even after the expansion of the workshop, it still brought 600 taels of silver to Zhou and Huiniang. According to the 20,000 copies per volume mentioned by Su Zhaiqi, the third and fourth volumes are 40,000 copies.

"We have a comic strip to the sixth volume."

Chen Xi was cruel and deliberately said two more volumes. Anyway, he was drawing original paintings during this period. He could draw the fifth and sixth volumes in a few days. In addition, the master who carved and printed the plate now has experience, and he could complete the preparations before printing in at most half a month.

In this way, the order alone will have 80,000 copies. According to the half of the book fee left by the book, which is 25 cents to order silver, the amount alone will reach 2,000 taels of silver.

Su Zhaiqi and others decided to do it. The quarrel was very fierce. It took a long time to reach the government. It seemed that they valued this business very much.

“What is the price and when will the delivery be made?”

Su Zhaiqi asked cautiously, if the delivery period is too long, the comic strips are popular and popular, or if there are pirated copies later, the middlemen like them will have no money to make money.

Chen Xi calculated that after continuously expanding production capacity, the current printing capacity of the workshop can print about 1,500 copies in a day. It will take more than 50 days to print these 80,000 copies. Obviously, the delivery time is too long.

"We can deliver in batches, with tens of thousands of copies per batch. You can choose which volumes to print in each batch first, but in the first four batches, we will not supply the fifth and sixth volumes. In total, you can complete your order within a month."

Chen Xi’s idea was to expand the scale of the workshop again. Anyway, the technical workers are now saturated, and what is needed is to ask carpenters to make more carvings and add some people to do their best to carry and lift and bind booklets.

Su Zhaiqiyi heard that although the delivery time was not satisfactory, it was not too late. He hurriedly asked, "Don't you supply others during this period, right?"

"Of course, we believe it. Could it be that when you submitted a copy of comic strips for sale, someone would have fought with you for business?" Chen Xi asked in a targeted manner.

Su Zhaiqi smiled and said, "Of course not, but now the order has increased twice, in terms of price."

Chen Xi knew very well that these merchants paid the most attention to profits. Now that comic strips are shipped elsewhere, they naturally struck while the iron is hot. They hope that the wholesale price of printing workshops will be lowered.

"If you still pay 50% of the silver orders as before, the price will remain unchanged for fifty cents, but if you pay all the payment first, the price can be reduced to 45 cents. How to choose, it is up to you to decide." Chen Xi proposed the plan.

When Su Zhaiqi and others heard this, they first asked Hui Niang, the shopkeeper of the bookstore. Hui Niang did a good job in the medicinal materials business in Ninghua County, and she was the head of the Ninghua Pharmacy Chamber of Commerce. These businesses have a wide range of knowledge and most of them have experience in selling medicinal materials and have some business dealings with Hui Niang.

Hui Niang smiled and said, "The business of comic book is the owner of the shopkeeper."

Su Zhaiqi went back to discuss with the people who were traveling with him.

Although Chen Xi couldn't hear what these people were saying, it was roughly obvious that these people still had opinions. They handed over the money first, and the most feared thing was that they would not get the goods at that time. When doing business, they were yi and handed over the goods. However, because the comic strips were completely sold in the seller's market, it was difficult for them to overturn Chen Xi's decision.

"Little shopkeeper, can we discuss it again? We are willing to pay 30 cents of silver orders every time, while the price of the album is maintained at 45 cents. Business is about mutual benefit, and we will definitely have more opportunities for cooperation in the future. Why not give in to each other?"

Chen Xi shook his head: "Shopkeeper Su, that's not what you said. You order the goods here. We are responsible for organizing the printing of manpower and material resources. If you don't want it, or you regret not giving money in the middle of the process, you are not from Ninghua, so we have no place to reason."

"So, it's better to just give it a little. You pay first, and we can also put our hearts in our stomachs. There are discounts on the price. As long as the album can be paid on schedule, the price will be completely decided by you. You should know that the profits of this business are all yours."

Su Zheqi calculated that 80,000 comic strips could save 400 taels of silver, which was a considerable amount of money, so she had to sigh: "Okay, let's pay the money first. Oh, you little shopkeeper is really a rich fan of money. Since we have finalized it, we will sign a contract and send someone back to send money. Mrs. Lu, do you have any objection?"

Hui Niang shook her head and smiled, "No problem."

Su Zhaiqi immediately discussed with the people behind and asked someone to withdraw the money. The last time he gave the money, he just asked a few people to carry it. This time, the money was all in the box and transported it directly by a carriage.

A total of 3,600 taels of silver were shipped into twelve large boxes, nearly half of which were copper coins, and points were required, and the silver also needed to compare the quality.

After that, the two parties signed a contract, and the delivery time was clearly indicated that Su Zhaiqi and others were extremely smart, afraid that the printing workshop would not be completed on schedule. If there was delayed delivery, there would be fines of varying amounts every day, and the amount of fines for every delayed day would increase significantly.

After sending the person away, Zhou was a little anxious: "Sister, these people are not kind. What if we can't finish it on time?"

"At worst, you can pay some money. Now the important thing is to work overtime to complete the order. Master Lu, what do you think?"

Several printing masters who were invited were in a difficult situation. The business just came to an end. If the owner immediately replied that it would be impossible to complete it.

Chen Xidao: "It might as well be like this. Let's start working tonight. We divide the staff into three shifts, each shift for four hours. In this way, the workers will not be too tired. At most, we will pay double the salary for two shifts at night. Now the money is in front of us, and we have no reason not to make any profit. We should be able to hire staff and tools tomorrow."

Hui Niang nodded: "Okay, let's go back to start work now. Master Lu told the guys that the twelve hours of the day will be divided into three shifts. As for the wages, we will double the night shift when it's the turn of the night shift. Just keep busy this month and give you plenty of rest time when you complete the order. In addition, you will also give you another bonus."

When these printing masters heard that they had money to make money, they were inspired by it.

The printing workshop used to work for five hours a day, but now it only takes four hours for one shift, and it seems that the working time has been reduced. As for the two shifts handed over at night, they cannot go home after get off work due to curfews. Fortunately, the workshop has a large venue after several expansions, so you only need to add some beds to other rooms to deal with sleeping.

Master Lu and others responded quickly and went back to start work. Hui Niang also sent the printing plate overnight.

Although Chen Xi doesn't have to go to the workshop, he has to hurry up and draw the original paintings of the fifth volume and the sixth volume. The business is very tight, but it involves whether the printing workshop can be bigger. The sense of urgency is also the driving force for progress.

Hui Niang came back very late. At this time, Chen Xi was still working hard at night. With the experience of painting the previous few original paintings, Shen Xi is now able to draw with great speed.
Chapter completed!