By the time Wang An had prepared the entire table of food, He Liang and Ma Guoqiang entered the house, chatting about the porcelain.
To discuss business, Wang An, Ma Guoqiang, and He Liang ate in the western house—which was the residence of Wang An and his wife.
Meanwhile, Wang Dazhu, Liu Guilan, and the others ate in the eastern house.
During the meal, Wang An brought out two bottles of Moutai and said with a beaming smile
"I'm benefiting from you two brothers today, so I'll drink a bit more of this Moutai. Usually, my father and I can't bring ourselves to drink it, hehehe."
Unexpectedly, He Liang frowned and said
"What's so great about this stuff? I'll get you a few cases some other day. Now, how about you get us some of that Three-Whip liquor? We're still craving that stuff."
Wang An grinned and said cheekily
"Didn't I get you two two bottles each before the New Year? Gone already? That stuff is so potent; you can't drink it all the time, or you'll ruin your health."
Ma Guoqiang chimed in
"I gave those two bottles to my old man as a sign of respect; I didn't get a single sip."
He Liang added
"Same here. I didn't get a drop of my two bottles. One for my father-in-law, one for my father, and they were gone. Where would I fit in?"
To be honest, although Wang An made a lot of infused liquor, he simply couldn't keep up with the number of people who wanted a share.
Twelve catties for six second-generation heirs at two bottles each, while a normal batch of infused liquor was only about fifty catties.
One must understand that infusing liquor is like brewing tea; when drinking tea, you normally refill the cup after drinking a small portion, otherwise, if you drink it all at once, the new water won't have the taste of tea.
Similarly, with infused liquor, you add new liquor as you drink. In a normal fifty-catty batch, you can take out a maximum of fifteen catties at once. If you exceed that limit before refilling, the medicinal potency of the liquor diminishes.
Therefore, giving two bottles of Three-Whip liquor to each of the six heirs was already Wang An's limit.
Consequently, after the two finished speaking, Wang An didn't even engage with the topic and simply said
"Alright then, I'll pour you two a glass of Three-Whip liquor each, and then we'll have some tiger bone wine and deer bone wine. It's better to drink bone wine in winter; it keeps the old cold-leg syndrome away."
And so, not a drop of Moutai was touched; the three of them drank only medicinal wines.
During the meal, He Liang took the initiative to ask
"Xiao An, aren't you curious about how many high-quality porcelain pieces we picked out for you?"
Ma Guoqiang also looked at Wang An with burning eyes, waiting for him to ask.
Clearly, the two wanted to show off, but Wang An hadn't asked them since the moment they entered the house.
To their surprise, Wang An said nonchalantly
"It's a loss-making sale anyway, so what does it matter how many there are?"
After a pause, Wang An added
"By the way, let's get this straight: the foreign exchange gained from selling my porcelain must be calculated into those 80,000 yuan using the black market exchange rate. If it's calculated at the official rate, I'll lose even more."
At that time, the official exchange rate made the Chinese Yuan very strong; ten Hong Kong dollars could only be exchanged for about one point six or seven Chinese Yuan.
But in the black market, it was completely different; it took roughly three-plus Chinese Yuan to exchange for ten Hong Kong dollars.
Following the principle of "clear accounts between brothers," Wang An insisted on clarifying this issue in advance.
Ma Guoqiang said without hesitation
"Of course. If you kept these porcelain pieces for a few more years, they would definitely sell for much more. We all owe you this favor."
Wang An waved his hand
"That's not necessary. This has nothing to do with favors; that's just how partnerships work. You can do things I can't, so I have to use whatever means I have."
Throughout the meal, Wang An discussed business matters with them.
Of course, it was mainly Wang An talking while the other two listened.
First, and most importantly, the scar-removal cream needed to be exported for foreign exchange as quickly as possible; regardless of how much was earned, no opportunity should be missed.
Simultaneously, news should be released via radio and newspapers stating that pharmaceutical merchants from all countries were welcome to negotiate the purchase of the scar-removal cream, effectively cutting off the channels and supply for enterprises hoping to use the cream to obtain foreign exchange.
Second, using the sharp rise in raw material prices as a pretext, the price of the scar-removal cream should be significantly increased.
However, at the same time, a dual-packaging policy for domestic and foreign markets should be implemented. The cream sold domestically would have simpler packaging, while the cream sold abroad should have luxurious packaging to make it look high-end.
Third, a series of measures should be taken to expand the scale and increase the production capacity of the pharmaceutical factory to ensure that both domestic sales and exports were handled well. The key was that the foreign exchange generated by the cream had to be sufficient for the motorcycle factory's needs.
Fourth, high-salary recruitment of talent over the long term.
Both the pharmaceutical factory and the motorcycle factory should recruit from society and universities with high salaries—such as management talent, sales talent, operations talent, engine R&D talent, mechanics, lathe operators, and so on.
In short, anyone with talent in these areas could be given a high salary or even profit-sharing rights.
When Wang An mentioned taking a small portion of the shareholders' equity to reward high-end talent, both He Liang and Ma Guoqiang were stunned.
However, Wang An made it clear: the rewarded shares only carried profit-sharing rights, not ownership rights. If the employee resigned, the shares would automatically revert to the factory.
A few days ago, when the seven of them discussed building the motorcycle factory, Wang An had originally thought that the factory could develop slowly, bit by bit, just like the pharmaceutical factory.
But the arrival of He Liang and Ma Guoqiang today completely shattered Wang An's initial idea.
The main point was that while foreign exchange is money, it is different from regular money.
With foreign exchange, you can exchange it for money at any time, but with money, you cannot necessarily obtain foreign exchange.
Yet, for the motorcycle factory to make money and develop, it could not do without foreign exchange; it was practically an unsolvable problem.
Furthermore, a creative manufacturing industry like motorcycles is different from other enterprises. If they didn't start recruiting talent and laying the groundwork now, it was uncertain who would hold half the Chinese motorcycle market in the future.
The six heirs were well aware of Wang An's capabilities, so He Liang and Ma Guoqiang noted down everything Wang An said in their notebooks.
As a result, the three of them didn't finish their meal until after 3 PM.
By the time He Liang and Ma Guoqiang left, the alcohol had worn off.
As for Wang An, he just wanted to find a woman to mess around with.
Mainly, the after-effects of the liquor were too strong; if he didn't release it in time, he would feel restless until he went to bed at night.
However, in broad daylight, messing around with Mu Xueqing was certainly inappropriate.
So, Wang An gave Shen Wei a look, and Shen Wei went home under the pretext of adding grass for the donkey and heating the kang.
After Shen Wei went home, Wang An strolled out the door.
In reality, Wang Dazhu and his wife, as well as Mu Xueqing, all knew what the two were up to; it was just that no one exposed them.
By the time Wang An reached Shen Wei's house, she had already heated the kang, and the room had become much warmer.
Since the two saw each other every day, there wasn't much to chat about. Once the door was bolted and the curtains drawn, they began their business.
From start to finish, neither of them uttered a single word.
It was mainly because their coordination was too seamless; as soon as Wang An's hand brushed against Shen Wei, she immediately knew what she had to do.