I See through Everything

"Mm."

"Haijing, could you help a brother out and make an introduction? I’d like to meet Jiang Miao."

"Of course! I’ll make a call; it shouldn’t be a problem. But Brother Lin, you two are competitors now. He might not agree to reduce the scale of his Egyptian Fish acquisitions. And even if he did, the local authorities wouldn’t allow it. After all, it involves thousands of fish farmers, many of them from impoverished households."

Gu Haijing was clearly reminding him to be mindful of the massive chain of interests behind Hailufeng Company and not to act rashly.

Just as Gu Haijing had said, Hailufeng Company now had contracts with nearly 2,000 Egyptian Catfish farmers. The direct output value exceeded one billion yuan, and when factoring in the indirect value, it had already become a sizable industry.

And this wasn’t even Hailufeng Company’s main line of business. Including its other ventures, Hailufeng Company had unwittingly become a local juggernaut.

Guotai Food Factory’s total assets, in contrast, were only a little over one billion yuan, with annual revenue of just four to five hundred million and a net profit of less than one hundred million.

How could they possibly go head-to-head with Hailufeng Company?

When the time came, the local authorities would most likely side with Hailufeng Company.

It would be like trying to sue Tencent in Peng City.

Sacrificing the smaller party to protect the larger one was the inevitable choice.

"Don’t worry, I know my limits." Lin Jili was a seasoned veteran; he wouldn’t be as impulsive as a young man.

"That’s good. I’ll call you back in a bit and let you know if it’s a go."

"Thanks for the trouble. I’ll treat you to dinner next time."

"You’re too kind, Brother Lin."

After hanging up, Lin Jili fell into deep thought. A moment later, he instructed his secretary to investigate the details of Hailufeng Company.

Half an hour later, Gu Haijing called back. He said he had already scheduled a meeting with Jiang Miao for him. The time was noon, the day after tomorrow. All he had to do was go to Hailufeng Company’s headquarters to meet Jiang Miao.

Before he knew it, the sun was setting outside.

Just then, the secretary knocked on the door and entered.

"Boss, here’s the information on Hailufeng Company you asked for. This is everything we could gather today; there might be some omissions."

"That’s fine." Lin Jili knew that with so little time, they could only gather a general overview.

He opened the folder, which listed Hailufeng Company’s various business ventures.

This included the eel fry business with monthly sales of around 200 million yuan, the over 82-acre Nanhu Farm, the recently booming White Truffle business, and a feed mill, fish ball factory, and new fish farm that were already operational.

Recent investments included a second feed mill, an 82-acre strawberry plantation in Red Grass Town, and a strawberry processing plant.

An investment in a Durian Plantation spanning over 6,500 acres.

An investment in a pumped-storage reservoir, which was currently pending approval.

A new office building and an employee residential complex, both already under construction.

As well as a gold and silver processing plant, a gold shop, and the Jianghai Restaurant, among other businesses.

Additionally, there was the matter of Hailufeng Company borrowing five billion yuan from Shanmei Agricultural and Commercial Bank.

Reading through this information, Lin Jili was utterly stunned. On one hand, he marveled at Hailufeng Company’s high revenue; on the other, he was shocked by the speed of its industrial expansion.

The company had only been established for a little over a year, yet its scale had inflated like a balloon. It was truly terrifying.

’Still, their profit from eel fry must be incredibly high. Even with just a fifty-percent margin, they’d make over a billion a year. No wonder they dared to borrow five billion yuan straight up.’

"Dad, what five billion?"

"I was talking about Hailufeng Company borrowing five billion. Here, Ruifeng, take a look," Lin Jili said.

Lin Ruifeng took the file from his father. He had also spent the last few months in Hong Kong handling some of the family’s business ventures, though he hadn’t gone to Southeast Asia.

After reading for a moment, he too was completely stunned. "Just from eel fry, White Truffles, and feed alone, Hailufeng Company’s annual output value is over six billion yuan."

"Indeed! If this company can maintain its current momentum, it could go toe-to-toe with Xinli Group in the future." But amazement was just amazement; Lin Jili hadn’t forgotten the matter at hand. "Ruifeng, do you think there’s a way for us to ride Hailufeng Company’s coattails?"

"Let me think." Lin Ruifeng thought about how they could collaborate as he flipped through the documents in his hands again.

After all, Guotai Food Factory’s growth momentum had weakened in recent years. Although they had promised the local government they would invest 500 million yuan to build the Ocean Commercial Center, the project had been stalled for a long time. This was because the company was worried that laying out such a large sum of money would affect their cash flow.

The real reason for this situation was that Guotai had little confidence in its future earnings prospects, so it chose to hold onto its capital, hesitant to expand its investments blindly.

In contrast, Hailufeng Company’s investment style, which seemed like a series of high-stakes gambles, was actually because Jiang Miao had immense confidence in the company’s expected returns. Plus, he wasn’t afraid of failure at all.

If Hailufeng Company went bankrupt, he could still make a comeback.

But Guotai Company couldn’t afford to take such a gamble, nor did it dare to. Five hundred million yuan was six or seven years of their profit. If the project failed, they might even go bankrupt directly.

As he flipped through the pages, Lin Ruifeng’s eyes suddenly lit up. "Dad, I have an idea."

"Oh? Tell me about it."

"I was just looking at Hailufeng Company’s business profile and noticed they sell a product called ’Premium Egyptian Catfish.’ According to the product description, it can be supplied to restaurants."

Lin Jili had also read that part, but he was a bit puzzled. "Ruifeng, I can understand using Egyptian Fish for fishmeal, fish oil, and feed. But supplying it to restaurants? I doubt any restaurant would dare to use it."