Chapter 262 - 200: Screwed Over Again

Serene received a call from Li Yang.

"Serene, when will you have time to come to Qingzhou and give us some guidance?"

"President Li, you’re too kind. Please, just tell me what’s on your mind." Serene didn’t reveal that she was already in Qingzhou.

"I see that Yanghe Commerce’s online livestream sales have been quite good. It proves that the NLB brand can be very successful with online livestreams, so I’d like to apply to open up online sales for us as well."

Serene said coolly, "That’s possible, but there are two conditions. First, your annual sales must reach 20 million. Second, for this separate channel, the purchase price for the goods will be 30% of the list price, non-refundable and non-exchangeable."

Li Yang replied without a second thought, "Twenty million in sales is no problem, and we can accept the 30% purchase price. Serene, go ahead and issue our authorization."

’Heh.’ Serene sneered inwardly. She knew exactly what Li Yang was up to. ’Promise first, regardless of whether you can deliver. Lock in the authorization and the 30% purchase price. When you fail to hit 20 million in sales, are they really going to make you pay the difference? Once money is in his pocket, it’s not so easy to get it back out.’

"President Li, if that’s the case, we’ll need to sign an agreement, and you’ll have to pay a 3 million security deposit. If your sales fail to reach 20 million, the purchase price for these goods will revert to 38% of the list price, and the difference will be deducted from your deposit."

"Uh—Serene, can we waive the security deposit?"

"President Li, in that case, I suggest your company opt out of this arrangement."

"...Serene, did Yanghe Commerce also have to pay a three-million-yuan security deposit?" Li Yang found that hard to believe. ’Where would Yang Hui get that kind of capital? Three million for a deposit?’

Serene didn’t answer directly, instead saying, "President Li, if you can have a single livestream with sales exceeding 4 million, I can apply to the company to have your deposit refunded immediately."

Li Yang was instantly silenced. His heart filled with even more hatred for Yang Hui. ’If he had just agreed to my acquisition of Yanghe Commerce, how much money would I be making now? If he’d been willing to deal with President Tian and arrange a few more similar livestreams for my other brands, how much more would I have earned?’

-----------------

「In the office of the Vice President of Business at the Sanyang City Xinyue Square branch.」

Zhao Rui sat across from President Zhang, a cold look on his face. "Sir," he said, "regarding Yanghe Commerce’s business terms, my aunt has already noted ’Conditions too low. Disapproved.’ This proposal is bound to be rejected by the senior leaders down the line. For the NLB project, shouldn’t we go ahead and submit Futong Commerce’s proposal as well?"

President Zhang gave him a meaningful look. "You’re quite keen on Futong Commerce’s proposal, aren’t you? What’s the hurry? We can submit it after Yanghe Commerce’s is rejected. It won’t be too late. Otherwise, we’d be proposing two tenants for one spot. That would be a joke. Are we trying to marry one daughter to two families?"

"I’m just considering the rental income for the plaza. Futong Commerce is offering better terms. Very well, sir. I’ll wait for Yanghe Commerce’s proposal to be rejected in the next few days, then I’ll submit Futong Commerce’s. I’ll also monitor the OA system. All the senior leaders coming up, starting with President Zhang Chun, every one of them has the authority to reject it."

President Zhang nodded. After watching Zhao Rui leave, a cold smirk appeared on his face. ’I’ll just sit back and watch the tigers fight.’ He wanted to see just how forcefully President Tian would back Yanghe Commerce, whether he’d escalate the matter to headquarters, and whether he could even win if he did.

Either way, the outcome is acceptable to me. If this proposal gets approved even after President Zhao noted her disapproval, it means Yanghe Commerce’s connections really do reach the heavens. In the future, for any new project, we’d have to treat Yang Hui like a king and cooperate with his every demand.

While thinking, he opened the OA system again and discovered that after President Zhao, another regional department head had also marked it as "disapproved," for the same reason as President Zhao—the business terms were too low.

This was the subtle art of the approval process. If everyone before you had approved it, and you did too, then if a problem arose, there was safety in numbers. At worst, everyone would get a share of the blame. As long as the issue wasn’t too severe, people were generally unwilling to block a regional submission; doing so would just mean making enemies for nothing.

But if someone before you disapproved, and you still pushed it through, you would definitely be held accountable if a problem occurred later. They would ask you what you were thinking. Therefore, after President Zhao’s disapproval, every subsequent leader would scrutinize the proposal carefully.

President Zhang watched the OA tracker. After this latest leader’s disapproval, the proposal would be routed to President Tian. ’Will he still dare to approve it?’ It was like waiting for a good show to start. President Zhang lost interest in all other work, constantly refreshing the proposal’s status page.

Outside, Zhao Rui was also constantly checking the OA proposal. He grinned smugly. ’See? It’s working.’ He refused to believe President Tian would still dare to approve it. He even sent a screenshot of the status page to Han Chao, just to show off his influence.

The moment Han Chao received it, he ran to Li Yang’s office to report. This was all his doing, after all. Naturally, he had to take credit for it in front of his boss.

Li Yang had just ended his call with Serene, telling her he would think it over and get back to her.

Seeing the screenshot from Han Chao, this was probably the first piece of good news he had received all day—he had finally gained the upper hand in the fight against Yanghe Commerce. He knew the internal procedures of Xinyue Group all too well. In a situation like this, President Tian would definitely not approve it; it would have to be sent back.

If President Tian wanted to help, he would have to personally call and persuade the two who had disapproved, then resubmit the application from the beginning. Otherwise, the record of disapproval would attract the attention of the highest levels of management.

"Good job, much better than that bunch of good-for-nothings in the operations department. Your next step is to stay on top of this project. As soon as Yang Hui’s proposal is rejected, have Zhao Rui submit ours. Also, you need to hurry up and negotiate with Wanlong Square about moving the NLB location down to the first floor. I want results on that this month."