From Wage Slave to Tycoon

After spending two days at the Xishan Hot Springs in the Imperial Capital with Xiao Chen and his friends, Su Chen was ready to head to Shanghai.

He had previously promised Pei Rang he would return to Shanghai to hear his work report. If he delayed any longer, he was afraid Pei Rang might just fly to the Imperial Capital to personally escort him back.

Su Chen was currently packing with Chen Fei. After this trip to Shanghai, he didn’t plan on returning to the Imperial Capital for a while.

Once he finished his business in Shanghai, it would be almost time for the New Year. He had promised his father he would come home for the holidays and planned to fly directly from Shanghai.

"Sir, Ms. Zong Xinyao is here!" Jiang Hui said, jogging up the stairs.

’Hm? She really has a knack for timing...’ Su Chen had already guessed the purpose of her visit. She was undoubtedly here to report on her recent achievements.

’Of course, I have to see her. I can’t just crush her enthusiasm.’

He checked the time and saw it was still a while before he had to leave. He then turned to Jiang Hui and said, "Show her to the reception room. I’ll be there after I change."

After changing into some casual clothes, Su Chen gave Chen Fei a few instructions, telling him to load the luggage into the car as soon as he was done packing. Only then did he head toward the reception room downstairs.

As soon as he entered the reception room, he saw Zong Xinyao casually playing on her phone. A stack of folders sat on the table. ’Looks like she came well-prepared.’

"Boss!" Catching sight of Su Chen, Zong Xinyao quickly put her phone down, stood up, and greeted him respectfully.

Su Chen waved his hand, signaling for her to not be so formal.

"You really know how to pick your moments. If you’d come an hour or so later, you would’ve had to find me in Shanghai," Su Chen said teasingly.

"Hehe~ I actually called President Pei a couple of days ago. I knew you were heading back to Shanghai today, so I picked this time on purpose!" Zong Xinyao said with a crafty smile.

"Oh? Why did you call him?" Su Chen asked, a little curious. Ever since Zong Xinyao had been sent here to establish Vast Sea Group, she had basically never returned to Yunmengze.

She had even shamelessly kept the batch of employees who came with her, making them the mid-to-high-level executives of Vast Sea Group.

Pei Rang had even called to complain to him at length about this very matter.

"Well, the company is holding its annual party, so I wanted to ask if I and the management of Vast Sea Group needed to attend. But Pei Rang just rejected me outright! He said, ’Yunmengze is having a party, what’s someone from Vast Sea doing trying to join in on the fun?’... It made me so mad!"

Su Chen couldn’t help but laugh at Zong Xinyao’s story.

In truth, Su Chen understood how she felt. After all, she had worked at Yunmengze for a long time and contributed a great deal to the company. Even though she was no longer an employee of Yunmengze Capital, it was, in a manner of speaking, her old home.

And now she wasn’t even allowed to go back to her "old home" for the annual party. It was truly a tough situation.

"Alright, alright, let’s get down to business. You didn’t tell me all this just for fun; it was all a lead-up to what’s coming next." Su Chen decided to stop beating around the bush and called out Zong Xinyao’s little ploy.

Hearing this, Zong Xinyao’s expression grew much more serious. She handed the stack of folders from the table to Su Chen. "Boss, these are the results of our food and beverage company for the last month."

As Su Chen took the folders, she continued, "After much discussion, we named the restaurant brand ’Goat Village.’ As of today, there are a total of forty-six locations spread across first-tier cities like the Imperial Capital, Shanghai, and Peng City. Twenty of those are franchises."

"The brand ambassadors for Goat Village are Deng Chao and Chen He. We basically didn’t have to spend anything; they’re doing it for free."

"In less than a month since opening, Goat Village’s net profit has reached 82 million. The market reception has been excellent, and the repeat customer rate is as high as ninety-five percent!"

"A repeat customer rate like that is practically a miracle in the restaurant industry."

"I’m confident that this month’s net profit will reach at least 150 million!" Zong Xinyao declared confidently.

Su Chen looked at the profit breakdown in the file and asked, "Xinyao, does this net profit you mentioned include the twenty franchised stores from Sicong and his group?"

Zong Xinyao shook her head slightly. "No, it doesn’t. I’m not entirely sure about their specific profits."

Su Chen nodded. If that was the case, then he was quite satisfied with the results Zong Xinyao had presented.

Twenty-six directly-owned stores had generated 82 million in profit in a single month. That worked out to a little over three million in net profit per store, or about 100,000 per day.

And this was just the beginning. He believed the profits would only grow from here.

"Okay. Find some time to talk with Sicong and the others about this. Share experiences and see if you can uncover any details that the other side might have missed."

"Also, the matter of paying taxes. Make sure you mention it to all of them. I don’t want to hear any negative news on that front."

After all, it was a franchise model now. A problem at any single location could affect everyone’s interests. It was necessary to issue these stern reminders every now and then to keep everyone in line.

"Um... Boss, shouldn’t we look into some legal tax avoidance strategies? A preliminary calculation shows we could save at least a hundred million in taxes each year," Zong Xinyao couldn’t help but point out.

Su Chen’s calm, emotionless gaze fell upon Zong Xinyao, sending a shiver down her spine.

"I know you’re thinking of the company’s interests, and your intentions are good. But we will pay every cent of tax that we owe. If I was concerned about saving that kind of money, I wouldn’t have registered the company domestically in the first place."