Chapter 232 - 190: Playing Dirty
RING RING RING~
Yang Hui picked up the phone.
"Manager Yang, President Li wants to see you."
’He’s calling for me again? Li Yang has been so demanding lately.’ "What does he want?"
Cai Miao’s heart skipped a beat. ’It’s happening.’ "I... I don’t know."
"Are you proud of being a mouthpiece? At this rate, you’ll become a household name for it."
He slammed the phone down, got up, and headed for Li Yang’s office.
"A Hui, have a seat!"
Li Yang was grinning from ear to ear today, a smile completely out of sync with his age and personality. It was so fake that Yang Hui knew the old fox had to be up to something.
As he sat down across from him, Li Yang said, "A Hui, you’ve been holding out on me."
Not understanding what he meant, Yang Hui replied, "President Li, I’m not sure what you’re referring to."
Li Yang chuckled and said meaningfully, "Yanghe Commerce—" He watched Yang Hui’s expression closely as he spoke, but was disappointed. Yang Hui showed no sign of panic. Instead, he smiled naturally. "It’s just a small business. Nothing to hide."
’Hm? He’s not even trying to explain? Isn’t he afraid I’ll crush him?’
’Right, right. His business is doing so well now, what the hell does he have to be afraid of?’
"A small business? It’s not so small anymore. I’ve seen the performance reports from the past few days. It’s doing far better than those two good-for-nothings, Xiaodan and Zhang Li."
Yang Hui just smiled and said nothing. ’With people like Li Yang, any problem was always the fault of his subordinates. Yang Hui found this impossible to agree with. In his view, the biggest problem at Futong Commerce was Li Yang himself.’
’When people like him entered the retail world, the market was booming. He was bold and aggressive, and back then, you could make money just by opening a store. So all he had to do was continuously acquire brands and open stores. He rode the tailwinds of that era—in that kind of market, even a pig could fly. That’s how he built a business with over a billion in annual revenue.’
’But the climate is different now. We’re in a period of consumption downgrading, and online sales have siphoned off a lot of the market. Opening stores isn’t like before, where every one you opened was a success. Now, if two out of ten new stores succeed, you’re doing very well.’
’In this environment, you have to compete on operational fundamentals, and that’s something Li Yang lacks. It’s not that he doesn’t understand frontline operations, but that his management style is dehumanizing. His method is to pressure people, setting what he considers "reasonable" targets for his subordinates. But these targets are often thought up on a whim, without any investigation or research.’
’If his subordinates fail to meet these targets, they get cursed out and have their pay docked. As a result, many capable, excellent store employees have gradually left Futong Commerce. His frontline foundation has begun to waver, which is why Futong Commerce’s current sales and profits are on the decline.’
’If Li Yang could just realize the problem in time and stabilize his frontline operations, a company of this size could turn things around quickly. Unfortunately, he’s arrogant and obstinate, completely unwilling to listen to any advice. He even created a high-stakes performance contract for NLB with extremely unreasonable targets. Who knows how many people this kind of vicious policy will drive away. If this continues, Yang Hui felt, a crisis for Futong Commerce is imminent.’
"I didn’t expect that you’d still come to work when you have your own business on the side."
Yang Hui gave a wry smile. "A business is a career, and a job is a career. Both are just different paths to the same goal: financial freedom."
Li Yang said with a smile that didn’t reach his eyes, "You definitely can’t achieve financial freedom just by working a job."
Yang Hui didn’t take the bait. ’He certainly wasn’t going to explain that for him, working this job actually made it *easier* to achieve financial freedom.’
"A Hui, I asked you here today for something unrelated to work. I have a proposal I’d like to discuss. I want to acquire your Yanghe Commerce."
’He was laying his cards on the table. He wanted to take over the NLB and Zen markets, which meant he’d also absorb the support Xinyue Group was providing for those brands.’
"I’m sorry, President Li. Yanghe Commerce is not for sale."
’Sell to him? What is he thinking? Never mind that I wouldn’t even care about the paltry sum he’d offer; selling would also be irresponsible to my current employees. Wouldn’t that just be throwing them into a pit of fire?’
"I haven’t even made an offer yet. Isn’t it a bit rash to refuse?"
He gave a faint smile. "If it’s not for sale, then naturally, no amount of money can buy it."
Li Yang leaned back into the wide backrest of his executive chair and lit a cigarette. "A Hui, I know your store is doing very well, but business has its ups and downs. Luck is a mysterious thing; it won’t favor you forever. Your performance today is the result of various factors coming together. What happens when those external factors disappear one day?"
The "external factors" he was referring to were things like the rent support and operational promotional subsidies from Xinyue Group. ’Zhang Chun and President Tian are supporting you now, which is why you have these results, but they won’t be in their positions forever, right? What if they’re transferred? Or what if something happens and they’re dismissed? After all, the regional and district heads at Xinyue Group are occasionally rotated.’
Clearly, even now, he didn’t believe that Yanghe Commerce’s operational capabilities were much stronger than Futong Commerce’s. ’He thinks it’s all thanks to external support, and that if those resources were given to Futong Commerce, they could do just as well.’
Yang Hui had no interest in explaining. Li Yang continued, "Or, how about we cooperate? I could let you keep a portion of the shares."
He shook his head. "President Li, let’s not discuss this topic anymore. I have no intention of selling Yanghe Commerce."
Li Yang’s expression turned cold. He nodded heavily. "You can go."