On Wednesday Arjun received two calls, one was from Tharun saying the school had accepted the settlement and would give an apology. He wanted to apologize to Arjun for treating this matter so lightly but was shot down by Arjun as he was trying to bring this up.
Arjun instead asked him to focus more on sales and informed him the next shipment of ten thousand books five thousand of previously yet to be delivered ones and an extra of five thousand copies just in case. He asked Tharun to inform him immediately if stocks got below five thousand pieces so that he could supply them.
The other call was from Ravi Kumar who wanted another fifteen thousand copies of past year question banks to be delivered as soon as possible and Arjun promised to deliver them by the weekend.
It seemed this weekend was going to be a busy one too, not that Arjun minded it one bit. The busier he was the more progress that was being made.
When the awaited weekend finally came Arjun along with his new personal assistant and Bhargav left to Vijayawada once again. He wanted Lalitha to meet most of the people he works with this time so that he could avoid coming here so frequently.
He went to visit Ravi at Mannath distributors first and introduced him to Lalitha and vice versa. He informed him that their future deals would be handed to her.
Ravi was a bit disappointed upon hearing this but could get where Arjun was coming from. Travelling three hours every week would be a hassle to anyone especially when he was making so much money.
He handed Lalitha the cheque for the last shipment and asked her to come back in two weeks to receive the cheque for the current shipment.
Frankly speaking he could just deposit them directly from bank to bank but Ravi wanted to keep in close touch with this guy. Someone who could casually start such a highly sellable book lines was not someone to overlook in his opinion.
Then together they went to meet up with Tharun to hand him the ten thousand copies of All in Ones. When Arjun introduced Lalitha to Tharun and informed him their future dealings would be handed her.
From the time they visited Arjun could see Tharun staring at Lalitha from time to time but it could be understandable considering the youth's hot bloodedness and his secretary being too beautiful especially after her new make over.
Well this was her to handle and he did not think it would be so easy for these guys to make her fall with how dumb she was regarding certain stuff.
Arjun then enquired further details about their negotiations with the school and learned more details.
Apparently the school board accepted the deal as soon as it was proposed. They did not want to drag the union to court and the compensation amount was enough for the principal to let go of the grudge.
Tharun then handed Arjun cheque of another six lakh rupees for this week and last week's sales. Finally his bank balance was nearly fifteen lakh rupees causing a weird sense of satisfaction in him, but still this was just the beginning.
Then the three of them together left to collect the suits that were finished. When Arjun changed into the new clothing which fit him perfectly and gave an additional hundred rupee tip to the maker.
Lalitha liked the clothing as well and complimented it but when Bhargav mentioned it's price she just stared at Arjun jaws wide open, this was her five month salary for goodness sake!! all of the four suits together would take two years of salary. If it was just from saving it might take over ten years to make that amount of money for her.
As she was busy with her thoughts they had already reached the registration office to collect their export permit. Even though it was Sunday and holiday one of Madan's men had already collected it beforehand and they just had to receive it from them.
When the guy noticed a kid in suit coming alongside Bhargav and Lalitha he immediately asked for a tip for the delivery. Arjun had to cough up another hundred rupees for the tip.
He had thought suit would make him more like businessmen but never considered the implications among ordinary people.
Once they were done it was already past two O'clock, Arjun wanted to visit Shan Masood's sweet dealership as well as Vinod at the studio but since it was getting late he decided to go to the dealership and postponed his visit to the studio for later.
When they visited the sweets & pickles distribution center Shan was not at the office. When Arjun asked them to get him back if possible the assistant asked them to wait and gave a call to Shan.
Shan Masood hearing someone was at his office with a big order he hurried there from his home. When he came inside his office and saw the same guy who was here few weeks ago with a foreign guy but this time in a suit that fit perfectly to the kid Shan was elated, it seemed he had a big deal coming his way.
He took his seat and offered some tea to the three of them before getting into the conversation.
Hello kid, it seems you're here again.
Yes sir, hope i didn't disturb your holiday.
It's nothing, business takes the precedent. Tell me are you here for another order for the foreign guy?
Yes sir, but this time it's advance order
Advance order? how much quantity are we looking at?
I'm looking to buy over five lakh rupee worth sweets sir but it depends on the rates you offer.
Five lakhs? Shan was taken aback. This really was a big deal!!
Are we looking at the same products you had purchased earlier?
Yes sir.
Soan Papdi, Chikki, Laddu and Mysore pak right?
Yes sir.
I can do the Soan Papdi for twenty rupees a kilo, Chikkis at fifteen rupees. Laddu and mysore Pak would cost significantly more with Laddu coming at twenty five rupees and Mysore Pak at thirty two rupees.
Arjun did not like these quotes one bit. These were almost the same rates Shan had given them in their previous deal.
Sir these are too much especially with the quantity we're looking to purchase, there would not be much left for us to make money over.
Okay Arjun that's your name right?
Yes sir.
Okay, Arjun tell me the prices that are acceptable to you and we can discuss further but please keep my interests in your mind too.
I want Soan Papdi for fifteen rupees, Chikkis for ten rupees, Laddus at eighteen rupees and Mysore Paks at twenty five rupees a kilo.
Shan was dumb stuck at the offer as were the other two who accompanied Arjun for this negotiation. Lalitha wanted to cover her face and laugh looking at the dumbstruck Shan but held back.
Bhargav meanwhile understood what Arjun was doing, to get a better deal you need to quote some unbelievable rates to get the sellers down a notch and create some unpredictability.
Those are some harsh quotes Mr. Arjun, but they are very far from reality. Most i can do is decrease two rupees on Mysore paks and one rupee on the other three.
Sir, you have to consider the amount we want to buy, i don't think you would get such a large orders every day no? Also this is the beginning of something big for us. If we could successfully make profits selling these it would be you receiving the next order too i promise.
That's quite the promise Arjun but it's all imaginary at the moment. Okay this is my last offer i can do Soan Papdi for seventeen and half rupees, Chikkis for thirteen rupees, Laddus at twenty two and half rupees and Mysore Pak at twenty eight rupees. Any further and i will make losses Arjun.
Arjun took a sheet of paper to do some calculations and came to a conclusion.
If you can do twelve and half tons of Soan Papdi and Palli chikki, five tons of Laddu and Mysore Pak for six lakh rupees then we can have a deal sir. Please take your time to consider this.
Shan took quite a while for his calculations this time, he did not understand how a ten year old kid was better at math than him but let it go and focused back on calculations.
Almost five minutes later Shan looked up at Arjun and remarked, you drive quite a hard bargain kiddo. When do you want these to be ready by?
I want them to be ready within next thirty five days sir, And packaging needs to be handled perfectly as it is for exports.