Chapter 46 Reaching an Agreement

Lu Lu whispered, "Lu Fan is right. So much fuss and you look over a dozen years younger, why on earth did you hit him?"

Liu Yue'e retorted unhappily, "You haven't even married into the family yet, and already you're taking his side."

"Not at all, it's just that Mom is being unreasonable."

"Oh, so I'm the unreasonable one, and you two lovebirds are the only ones making sense."

Liu Yue'e and Lu Lu began to playfully tickle each other in the back seat, making a commotion.

Lu Fan adjusted the rearview mirror, glancing at the two of them, feeling a sense of warmth and relief.

The Bai family had finally completely emerged from that atmosphere of hardship; the heavy burden that had made everyone breathless had vanished without a trace.

When Liu Yue'e had first met him, she was like a frightened rabbit, easily startled, but now she could casually joke around with him.

Twenty-or-so minutes later, the car drove straight into the garment factory and parked in front of the office.

Lu Fan said to the back seat, "Lu Lu, stay by my side and come inside to listen in. Auntie, stay in the car, put on all the jewelry I bought you, and play the part of a queen. You don't need to acknowledge anyone. I'll leave the engine running so the AC stays on for you."

"Are you still nervous?"

"Not nervous at all. Off you go, Fanfan." Liu Yue'e lifted her chin, squared her shoulders, and cast a disdainful, lofty glance.

Lu Fan chuckled; she truly possessed a bit of queen-like potential.

When he led Lu Lu out of the car, Ding Maocai, Gu Jianjun, Liu Yulong, Qiu Hua, and another unfamiliar person had already come out of the office to welcome him.

Upon seeing the Crown car, humble smiles immediately appeared on all of their faces.

At this time, a Toyota Crown cost around four to five hundred thousand yuan. Anyone who could afford such a fine car must have assets worth well over a million, making them wealthier than anyone present.

"Boss Lu, we've finally been looking forward to your arrival."

"Sorry to keep you waiting, Boss Ding. Hello, Boss Gu, Boss Liu, Boss Qiu, and this gentleman as well!"

Gu Jianjun introduced, "This is Boss Xie Ming. He's also one of old Ding's creditors. And this is the young and promising Boss Lu."

As Gu Jianjun spoke, he winked discreetly at Lu Fan.

Lu Fan understood instantly—the four of them had already communicated privately.

Seeing someone still sitting in the car, Ding Maocai started to approach it, but Lu Fan reached out and stopped him.

"Boss Ding, my young aunt doesn't like noise. The car has air conditioning, so she's resting inside. Once we reach a final conclusion on the matter, I'll invite her over."

"Oh, oh, very well. My office hasn't been cleaned in days; it's a bit of a mess."

Entering the room, Lu Fan led Lu Lu directly to the main seat on the sofa, while the others seated themselves in a circle around them.

Lu Fan cut straight to the chase: "Boss Ding, we are all business people, and time is money. Let's not beat around the bush or hide anything; let's put our conditions right on the table. If we can reach an agreement, we'll cooperate. If not, we're still friends. How does that sound?"

Ding Maocai rubbed his hands together; the fierce, scolding momentum from his office the night before was completely gone.

"Boss Lu, I know you want to give me a hand, but regarding the acquisition price, can we raise it a bit? Four hundred thousand is really too low. Although this factory isn't large, it's the culmination of half my lifetime's hard work."

Lu Fan smiled and said, "Boss Ding, we are friends, but business is business; we can't play the emotional card. If you feel my offered price is too low, you can make a counter-offer. I'll consider it comprehensively. If it's within my acceptable range, I'll buy it. If it exceeds it, you can look for other clients, and neither side wastes any time."

Ding Maocai looked at Lu Fan, then at the others. Before even naming his price, his heart had already lost its nerve.

"How about six hundred thousand?"

Lu Fan was slightly taken aback and asked directly, "Boss Ding, are you treating me like a fool? I offered four hundred thousand, and you immediately added half to it. This isn't a wholesale clothing market where you slash the price in half; your cut is far too ruthless."

"Boss Lu, let me break down the math for you. First of all, the inventory in my warehouse..."

Lu Fan waved his hand directly, signaling that his patience had run out.

"Boss Ding, let me be blunt: that price is impossible. Don't keep assuming that batch of goods holds immense value and arbitrarily jack up the price. Sure, we run retail spaces, but God knows how long it will take to clear out that inventory. Forget about Jiangcheng, even the entire Jiangnan Province couldn't digest it all at once. There is no way I am spending cash to stockpile a massive batch of dead stock."

"If you insist on factoring that inventory into the cash price, then there's no point in us talking any further today."

The veins on Ding Maocai's forehead bulged, and his expression turned very ugly.

Gu Jianjun, standing nearby, hurriedly mediated, "Boss Ding, your markup is indeed a bit high. You should come down a bit."

"Boss Lu, old Ding hasn't had it easy either. Why don't you add a little bit more? Let both sides meet somewhere in the middle, and pretty soon this deal will be done."

The others quickly chimed in with persuasion.

Lu Fan frowned in thought for a moment, then stubbed his cigarette butt firmly into the ash tray. "Alright then. Out of respect for everyone here, I'll add another fifty thousand. This is my absolute bottom line. What do you say, Boss Ding?"

"Fifty thousand? Boss Lu, as long as you're willing to go up to that price, we can sign the contract right now."

"Boss Ding, you're pushing your luck. That extra fifty thousand was already my absolute limit."

"Boss Lu, I've already conceded one hundred thousand; my concession is much larger."

"Then there's nothing left to discuss!"

Lu Fan stood up to leave, but Liu Yulong hurriedly grabbed his arm, accompanying a smile. "We're only fifty thousand away, and it's not an astronomical sum. Don't be in such a rush, Boss Lu. Let's all discuss it further."

Gu Jianjun wore a thoughtful expression. "How about this? Let me put in a word as a middleman. Old Ding, don't you still have a Santana? Why don't you factor that car into the deal as well? You aren't going to be doing business anymore anyway, and you won't have any use for it, so you might as well bundle it in. Boss Lu, just round it up to five hundred thousand."

"Old Ding, give us your stance first. Yes or no?"

Ding Maocai said powerlessly, "Fine! You all figure it out!"

As soon as these words were spoken, the others looked rather excited.

They hurriedly grabbed several sheets of paper from the desk and handed them to Lu Fan.

"Boss Lu, these are the draft agreements we drew up last night. Have a look and see if there's anything you'd like to add! The few of us thought it through: old Ding owes us money, so you can simply pay us directly."

Lu Fan said indifferently, "That works."

He quickly scanned through them. The agreement was simple, containing an asset inventory of the garment factory along with a list of debts.

From then on, Ding Maocai no longer participated in discussing the specific details, sitting back in his boss's chair and staring up at the ceiling.

Lu Fan discussed the specific payment schedule with the others.

Originally, Lu Fan had intended to use a three-month period to make staged payments, but standing right there on the spot, he found it hard to voice that plan.

No one present was a fool; the moment he brought that up, others would easily guess he was engaging in empty-glove wolf tactics—meaning he had no capital right now.

He had no choice but to exploit the time gap required for transferring company ownership and land title deeds to carry out staged payments.

Transferring company ownership meant changing the legal representative, which would take at least half a month.

Why would it take so long? Because old Ding's accountant had fled, various official seals were lost, and they needed to report the loss in a newspaper before reissuing them.

Bank accounts also needed to be re-registered.

The business license, organization code certificate, and tax registration certificate all needed to be replaced with new ones. Half a month was considered a short estimate!

Once these documents were processed, proceeding with the transfer of the land title deed would likely take even more time.

In this way, he could buy himself at least a month.

In other words, he had to earn all five hundred thousand yuan back within a single month.

Bringing in sixteen thousand yuan every day made Lu Fan feel that the burden on his shoulders was quite heavy!