Chapter 229 - 189: Refusal and No Rules
His mind was racing. A 6% business term wasn’t something President Tian could support alone. Zhang Chun had to be backing him. Otherwise, a mere regional president wouldn’t have the power to drive the terms down this low.
No, it wasn’t just the regional president. Even a district president shouldn’t have been able to go that low. This was severely damaging the Xinyue Group’s interests. It was highly likely they were green-lit all the way from the regional to the district level. With the sheer volume of approval requests flooding the Xinyue Group Headquarters, they probably wouldn’t be scrutinized. ’Have they managed to pull the wool over everyone’s eyes?’
They had succeeded once at the first Xinyue Square store, and now they were just replicating the playbook? Good heavens, the profits must be immense.
Assuming Zen’s sales were on par with NLB’s, the first Xinyue Square store alone could bring Yanghe Commerce over 10 million in net profit annually. Across 21 Xinyue Square locations, even if the other stores weren’t as prime as the first, it was still possible to clear 150 million for the year.
Forty-two stores, and they were making 150 million a year? Li Yang’s mouth twitched. He’d worked himself to the bone to open more than 600 Futong Commerce stores, and his annual profit was less than 100 million. Worse, he had to support so many people and cover massive capital expenditures, leaving him constantly on edge about the slightest market downturn.
And Yanghe Commerce? With only 42 stores, they didn’t need a large team. They could get by with fewer employees, and their resilience to risk was extremely high. What a cushy business model.
Li Yang suspected that Zhang Chun and President Tian had a personal stake in Yang Hui’s success; otherwise, it was impossible to explain why they were helping him so much. As for Zhang Chun’s claims of hitting it off right away and forming a friendship that transcended age, Li Yang didn’t believe a single word. Judging others by his own standards, he knew there was no such thing as unrequited kindness in this world. Behind everything that defied common sense, there were always vested interests.
’What a mouth-watering business,’ Li Yang mused. ’Xiaohan, what do you think would happen if someone filed an anonymous complaint with Xinyue Group Headquarters, claiming the regional or district office gave a client such low business terms?’
Han Chao tensed. Complaining about a Xinyue Group regional office? What a bold and... creative idea.
’President Li, regardless of the outcome, the whistleblower would be blacklisted by the entire business community. All the major players are afraid of this sort of thing; they’d present a united front.’
Li Yang nodded. ’Hypothetically. I figured as much. But what if it came from the inside? For instance, what if Zhao Rui’s aunt, President Zhao, were to intercept the matter and then let it fester and grow within Xinyue Group? What would be the outcome then?’
Han Chao thought for a moment before answering seriously, ’Yanghe Commerce would definitely lose its stores. Not even offering more money could save them, because this would be a scandal. Xinyue Group would have to scrub themselves clean. Secondly, a high-ranking leader would certainly be severely punished.’
Neither of them said it outright, but they both knew that leader was President Tian.
’Xiaohan, you can go for now. Keep a close eye on Zhao Rui. As for Yang Hui and the business terms Yanghe Commerce has for NLB... keep it all confidential for the time being. Don’t say a word to anyone.’
Han Chao left, leaving Li Yang alone with his thoughts.
He was overcome with a complex mix of emotions, conflicting voices swirling in his mind.
’Even though he’s the owner of Yanghe Commerce, it doesn’t interfere with his management of Airex, which has brought me enormous profits.
Sigh... if Yanghe Commerce were to fall, the entire NLB market would be mine. I might even be able to get my hands on the Zen brand.
If only I could acquire Yanghe Commerce and strike the same kind of deal with Zhang Chun or President Tian... The potential profits are just too massive.
If Yang Hui can do it, why can’t I? Zhang Chun and President Tian seem so supportive of him now, but that’s only because their interests are aligned. If I were the one aligned with their interests, I wouldn’t just make a killing on NLB and Zen—it would be a massive boost for all my other brands, too. I could tie all of them into the same profitable arrangement!’
「Yanghe Commerce」
Xia Jie spent the morning at the office amidst a chorus of congratulations. Yang Na also congratulated her and the team. But Xia Jie knew it wasn’t her abilities that played the main role; it was that the team as a whole was just so effective. It was a true ’all for one, and one for all’ environment.
She was spending less than a third of the effort on management than she had at Futong Commerce, yet the efficiency was staggeringly high. Whenever she pointed out a problem at a store, it was corrected immediately—and often done even better than she had asked.
She hadn’t gone to the stores this morning because one of her most capable subordinates from Futong Commerce was coming in for an interview. It was Li Na, the store manager who’d had dinner with her just two days ago and declared she wanted to follow her. The ’interview’ was merely a formality; for someone joining the operations team, Xia Jie’s approval was all that was needed.
After that dinner, Li Na and the others had submitted their resignations to Futong Commerce the very next day. Coincidentally, the assistant manager at her store was one of the current supervisor’s people, and that supervisor had already been planning to replace her. Her resignation played right into their hands, and her departure was approved within days.
Thus, she became the first of the group to join Yanghe Commerce. Xia Jie met with Li Na in a conference room.
’Try our freshly brewed coffee and desserts,’ Xia Jie offered. ’It’s the same as what we serve in the VIP lounges at the stores.’
Li Na asked in surprise, ’The stores have VIP lounges?’
Xia Jie then remembered that Li Na had never been to one of their stores, so of course she wouldn’t know. She smiled and said gently, ’You’ll see when you get there. Every one of our stores has a VIP lounge with complimentary drinks and pastries for our customers. Here at the office, it’s a free perk for the staff to enjoy anytime.’