Chapter 257 - 187: Scolding During a Meeting (Part 3)

Chapter 257: Chapter 187: Scolding During a Meeting (Part 3)

Chen Xiao briefly skimmed through Hou Fei’s business proposal in his office. He chuckled after just a few pages.

’Who knew this guy had such an adorable side to him on top of being an idiot!’

’He’s such a fool, yet he’s still out here trying to swindle people. Does he think all these investors are morons? Even more foolish than he is?’

He had no interest in reading further. A project like this would never even reach Xu Wu’s desk.

He figured his time would be better spent browsing information on new energy vehicles, a sector he’d been following closely lately.

He casually scrolled through a few short-form videos, but then his brow furrowed.

A social media vlogger was doing a data comparison between Feichi Auto and Junxing Auto!

They listed a comparison of weekly sales for the past two weeks. That was no big deal; Junxing Auto’s zero sales for two consecutive weeks was already in the past, and that couldn’t be changed.

But another piece of information listed by this vlogger made Chen Xiao a little unhappy.

Feichi Auto had 500 sales outlets nationwide, while Junxing Auto had fewer than 10!

And this social media vlogger revealed that the 10 he listed included upcoming locations, which meant the number of existing sales outlets wasn’t even 10!

Without sales outlets, how could they make sales? Therefore, the vlogger claimed that the new owner, Junxiao Group, had no idea how to sell cars. Could such a company save this auto manufacturer? The answer was obviously no!

Chen Xiao fell into thought. He decided to talk to Xu Wu about this soon. This situation was definitely not acceptable; the progress on the retail end was severely lagging.

By the time the Junxing M7 was developed, if there were no sales outlets, it would be a joke. If their opening salvo wasn’t a resounding success, it would be very difficult to recover sales later.

Although he understood the reason for so few outlets was the collapse of the previous "Tianqi Auto," which had led to massive store closures.

He called Xiao Liu to ask how much longer President Xu’s meeting would last.

Since he came to the office so infrequently, he didn’t have his own secretary.

He rarely got involved in specific matters, so a secretary would have nothing to do.

Since President Chen was pressing, Xiao Liu naturally didn’t dare to delay and quickly ran to ask Xu Wu.

Xiao Liu returned a moment later and reported to Chen Xiao, "President Xu’s meeting will go on for a little longer. She asked me to see if you have time to join."

Chen Xiao nodded and followed Xiao Liu to Xu Wu’s office.

Xiao Liu swiped the access card for her office door, and as Chen Xiao pushed the door open, he happened to hear Xu Wu losing her temper.

"Mr. Xu Gang, I’m warning you. If you act on your own authority again and ignore the Group’s directives at critical junctures, you can submit your resignation letter to me immediately!"

Chen Xiao gestured to Xu Wu, signaling her not to mind him and to continue.

Xu Gang, silent as a cicada in winter, said, "President Xu, Chinese New Year is approaching. It’s really difficult to open new stores; many leases haven’t expired yet."

Xu Wu said, "Are you telling me we should wait until after the New Year, when many mall leases expire in March, to open our stores?"

"Tell me, after the Junxing M7 launch event, with no retail stores, how are we supposed to sell cars? Are you going to set up a roadside stall?"

Chen Xiao listened for a moment and knew he didn’t need to discuss this matter with Xu Wu anymore. She was already handling it.

Xu Gang said, "If we insist on opening stores now, on one hand, we’ll be wasting money on rent since we won’t have any products to sell. On the other, the only way is to poach locations by offering significantly higher rent!"

Xu Wu sneered, "Did I say you weren’t allowed to ’waste’ money on rent? Did I say I wouldn’t approve a significant rent increase?"

"I have stressed time and again that in the face of the Group’s grand strategy, no small problem should be allowed to become an obstacle!"

"Wasting money, increasing rent—whatever the budget, submit it. I’ll approve it, sign off on it, and give you the special funds! I have only one demand right now: open 300 stores for me before the end of January. If you can’t, you can go talk to HR about your severance package!"

On the other side of the screen, Xu Gang turned pale as ash. He hadn’t expected President Xu to be so terrifying when she was angry. He quickly said, "Understood, President Xu! I guarantee it’ll be done! If I can’t do it, I’ll resign and take the blame!"

Xu Wu said coolly, "Meeting adjourned. Get to it."

She closed the meeting link and shut her laptop.

Standing up, she said to Chen Xiao, "So, President Chen finally has the leisure and grace to visit the company today!"

Chen Xiao knew she was still fuming, so he chuckled, "I just came to see how imposing my dear President Xu can be!"

Xu Wu huffed and sat down on the sofa next to him. "These people act on their own, stuck in their old ways of thinking. They believe that saving the company money is a sign of good performance!"

"Give him some time. After all, we’re still in a break-in period. He hasn’t figured out our playbook yet!"

Xu Wu shot him a look and rolled her eyes. "You’re good at playing the good cop. You leave all the bad cop work to me!"

Chen Xiao grinned slyly. "Well, who’s to blame? Your face is fairer than mine!"

Xu Wu let out a delicate huff. "What kind of boss are you? All you do is trade barbs with your subordinates and never do any real work!"

Chen Xiao said, "How can you say that? For the great cause of our company, I even posed as a Key Opinion Consumer (KOC) for a certain brand and joined a livestream on a social media platform!"

Xu Wu snorted with laughter, amused by his antics. She remembered him posing as a Shanyun Auto KOC. Of course, she knew that the user "Xiao Huo Xiang Qian Chong" was the Young Master of Shanyun Auto, and she had watched the entire livestream.

The thought of Jin Wuxian taking the fall for the whole thing made her struggle to keep a straight face.

"Alright, out with it. What new directives does President Chen have for me today? I’ll personally oversee the acquisition of five shopping plazas within a month. If anything goes wrong, you can replace me!"

"Replace you? I couldn’t bear to."

Xu Wu’s face flushed red. She huffed and said, "I suppose you’ve realized it’s hard to find someone else as willing to work themselves to death for you as I am, right?"

"Indeed. That’s why I came today to announce something else!"

Thinking it was about work, she immediately put on a serious expression and asked, "Go on."

"In recognition of your contributions to Junxiao Group, I’m preparing to grant you 1% of the company’s equity. This 1% will never be diluted, no matter how much capital is injected into the company in the future."