After chugging some cool water, Zhao Jinming caught his breath and came over, eager to take credit. "Director Chi, I've got the refrigerators and freezers sorted out!"
"There was a food processing plant on the north side of the city that was upgrading its equipment. They were getting rid of a whole batch of refrigerators and freezers, all in pretty good condition, maybe 70 or 80 percent new. A buddy of mine is related to the warehouse director over there. All it took was one word from him, and they agreed to sell them to us for cheap."
They called it "selling," but it was really just to make the books look good. The price you got depended entirely on how strong your connections were. If they said a fridge's cooling coil was broken, then it was officially scrap.
"I didn't want to push my luck, so I just requested two freezers and two refrigerators. Later, when we get a new shipment in, we can just send them a case of whatever's good as a thank you."
