Back to 1958: Creating a Century-Long Family Empire

Chapter 47 – The Factory Plan

The best hunters often appear in the form of prey.

That morning, after clearing his head from the hangover, Yang Wendong was almost certain that the feast An Yongqiang treated him to the night before was designed to plant a seed—deliberately using drunkenness to leak a message.

At the office, An smiled and said, "Mr. Yang, you sure get your news quickly. I only heard a little about this a few days ago."

Yang smiled back. "Pure coincidence. I happened to hear about it, but I don't have the right connections to pursue it myself. That's why I'd like to ask you to serve as a middleman."

The two men understood each other perfectly. One pretended he had never said anything; the other acted like he'd never heard it. Just two "drunken men" conveniently forgetting the details of last night's conversation.

"Alright," An said with a grin. "So what about the price?"

Yang replied, "I can't give a specific quote yet. I'll be starting mass production soon. Once I have more data on cost and market response, I'll decide."

Even if he did have a figure in mind, he wouldn't offer it right away. After all, he still wasn't operating a real factory—he lacked production experience.

An thought for a moment. "I heard from Mr. Wang that you were selling the glue boards to him for thirty cents each. Why not use the same price?"

"No can do." Yang shook his head immediately. "At that price, I'm taking a loss.

"I only sold them that cheaply to get the product into the market and support the Kowloon Wharf project. I wasn't trying to profit off the boards yet."

An countered, "But glue boards are simple. Surely the cost isn't that high?"

Yang chuckled. "An, you can't judge a product just by raw materials. Would you evaluate plastic flowers by the cost of the plastic?"

An nodded. "Fair point. But plastic flowers don't have much competition. Your boards do—there are cages, traps, poison…"

"And yet," Yang replied, "there are plenty of factories that can make plastic flowers. But my glue board? The patent is in my name.

"Even if some small-time workshops copy it, legally, I'm the only one with the right to produce it.

"As for it being disposable—that's actually a selling point. Think about it. Would you rather use poison, not knowing where the rat dies and risking the stench in summer? Or use a trap and have to deal with the bloody cleanup?

"Or would you prefer to simply throw the whole thing away?"

An paused, momentarily silenced by the logic.

He was used to playing the part of a distributor—pointing out weaknesses in products to negotiate better margins. But Yang had anticipated every move.

After a moment, An said, "I suppose… if it were me, I'd choose the disposable board. But the average poor person wouldn't."

Yang replied, "That's true. Poorer customers may still opt for cages.

But we're not selling to the poor first, are we?

"You want to supply cargo ships, right? Those clients aren't short on money—especially since they can reimburse the cost."

An laughed. "I give up. You clearly know more about pest control than I do. I won't argue anymore.

"But the sooner we lock in a price, the better—for both of us."

Yang nodded. "I understand. We're all just trying to make money. I'd like to move quickly too.

"But until now, I've been producing in small batches—just enough for the wharf project. If we're going to sell across Hong Kong, and meet demand from cargo ships, I'll need to build a real factory.

"Otherwise, we'll run into serious supply problems—and that would hurt us both."

An agreed. "Alright. For now, let's treat this as a verbal agreement. Once your factory is up and running, we'll sort out the rest."

"Deal," Yang said.

Starting a factory was inevitable. And now, with another potential distribution partner, it felt like the timing couldn't be better.

…

That night, back home, Yang shared everything with Su Yiyi.

As the one handling all finances, procurement, and dispatch, she needed to know the latest.

"So you're saying… he used the dinner to intentionally drop that hint?" Su Yiyi asked.

Yang nodded. "Exactly. It was a form of suggestion."

"Why not just say it directly?"

Yang smiled. "Some people, even when they want something, prefer not to be the first to say it.

"Maybe it's his personality. Maybe it's the fact that he's a high-ranking corporate manager and not a businessman.

There are things they just can't say openly."

"Oh… well, either way, if he can help us sell the glue boards, that's amazing."

Yang asked, "What's our current production cost per board?"

"Just over twenty cents," Su Yiyi replied. "Most of it is the glue and wood."

Yang nodded. "We can't control glue prices for now. It's all imported.

But once we scale, maybe we can buy directly from foreign suppliers or a wholesaler.

"As for the boards, we should try to switch to plastic."

"Should we buy our own machinery?" she asked.

Yang shook his head. "No. We don't have the space, the workers, or the funds.

"Better to outsource for now. There are plenty of plastic factories in Hong Kong that can do the job."

Su Yiyi nodded. "That makes sense. And Haoyu is already having trouble sourcing more wood."

Yang added, "Tomorrow I'll scout around and see if there's a small factory space we can rent.

We'll need to set up a proper production line soon."

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