Chapter 303 - 213: Dismissal

Han Chao edged a couple of steps closer and said mysteriously, "Boss, Zhao Rui just called. He brought up two points himself. First, even though Yanghe Commerce got their store approved, he’s going to make their lives miserable. Second, Yanghe Commerce will never open another store in Xinyue Group again. He also said he can help us open our stores in the future."

Hmm? Li Yang’s eyes shifted, and he exchanged a look with Han Chao. ’Could it be...’

Han Chao nodded emphatically. "That must be it. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have sounded so certain."

Li Yang stood up, walked over to the floor-to-ceiling window, and burst out laughing. "Excellent! Fantastic! This is what they call the tables turning. From now on, the momentum is on our side. That Yang Hui should have known better. How could he possibly go far with such ridiculous business terms? If he’d used terms like ours, he wouldn’t have ended up torpedoing Old Tian’s career. What insatiable greed! A new company trying to take shortcuts... Sure, their initial performance was dazzling, but it was just a flash in the pan. In the world of business, the competition is about who can last the longest."

"Keep up a good relationship with Zhao Rui. Take him out to eat, take him out for drinks, go to karaoke if that’s what he wants. In July, we’re going to start making our big moves."

Han Chao was in high spirits as well. Sorting things out with Xinyue Group was the breakthrough they needed. "Boss, about Zhao Rui... when he goes to karaoke, he likes to have a couple of girls keep him company..."

Li Yang had reamed him out for this last time, even telling him to have his own sisters keep the man company. So, this time, Li Yang stated it plainly, "Spend what you need to spend. Do you think your boss is a cheapskate?"

Han Chao walked out, overjoyed. This was as good as being given the Imperial Sword. Once he handled Zhao Rui, future expansion would be a whole lot simpler.

Yang Hui pulled his car over to the side of the road and called Zhang Chun. The call connected a moment later. "A Hui, calling to invite me to dinner?"

’Brother Chun sounds like he’s in a good mood.’ Yang Hui felt a little relieved. President Tian was one of Brother Chun’s most trusted men. If he had truly been dismissed as the rumors claimed, Zhang Chun wouldn’t be in the mood for jokes right now.

There was no need to beat around the bush with Zhang Chun, so he asked directly, "Brother Chun, I heard that President Tian was dismissed. The word is that it’s because Yanghe Commerce’s business terms were too low, which led to a complaint against him, and that’s why this happened."

"Haha—"

Yang Hui was instantly relieved. Zhang Chun’s booming laugh told him the rumors were nothing but a joke.

"A Hui, just keep this to yourself. Don’t tell anyone outside. President Tian has been doing excellent work. He’s being given an exceptional promotion this time—he’s going to be the regional director for the Second War Zone. In the future, your two big brothers here will be looking out for you, helping your new brand expand rapidly across the country."

"Brother Chun, how did you know I was working on a new brand?"

"Er... I guessed. You’re not going to stop at just NLB and Zen. Once those two brands are successful, you’re bound to want to get the distribution rights for other brands, right?"

’That explanation didn’t make sense. Even if I got distribution rights for other brands, I’d still just be the distributor for the Qingjiang Region. How would that help me expand nationwide? Whatever. It was probably just Brother Chun making an offhand joke that happened to be a lucky guess. Still, if what he said was true—that President Tian was going to be the regional director of the Second War Zone—that would be a massive help for my future growth.’

"Brother Chun, we can adjust the business terms upward. My current sales performance means I have a very strong ability to handle the rent."

After what happened with President Tian getting a complaint, he was worried that these overly favorable business terms might cause trouble for Zhang Chun down the line. The trial runs with the NLB and Zen stores had boosted his confidence immensely. Even at the current rental price of the first Xinyue Square store—around 700 yuan per square meter per month—he would still have a huge profit margin.

A seasoned veteran like Zhang Chun knew what he was thinking the moment he spoke. He chuckled and said, "Don’t overthink it. These terms aren’t just good for the First War Zone. In the future, in President Tian’s Second War Zone, and even if you want to expand into other regions, we’ll use these same terms."

Yang Hui understood immediately. Brother Chun must have cleared these business terms with the higher-ups. Otherwise, there’s no way he could promise that all Xinyue Square locations nationwide would cooperate on the same terms. It was only then that he truly realized the sheer scale of Zhang Chun’s support.

’President Tian is fine—not just fine, he got a major promotion.’ He was finally relieved. As for the anonymous complaint, it seemed to be nothing but a joke. Zhang Chun had told him to play dumb and let the dust settle. He understood at once: Zhang Chun was conducting a covert investigation. All the information being put out there was likely a smokescreen, including President Tian’s supposed dismissal. ’Was this all to lure the snake from its hole?’

After he ended the call, a message popped up on his WeChat. It was from Hu Mei:

[Sheep in a Tiger’s Den: Yang Hui, my mom wanted me to ask you something. You’re currently leasing one section of that office building, right? The other tenants’ leases are expiring soon, and she wanted to know if you’d like her to hold the entire building for you. She said not to worry, she won’t charge you rent for any space you aren’t using.]

’Aunt Zheng is so thoughtful.’ Yang Na had mentioned just once that the company might need to expand its office space, and she’d kept it in mind. She was even proactively clearing out the other tenants from the entire building. The buildings in this industrial park didn’t have a large footprint; each floor was just under 1,000 square meters. If he took over the whole building, he could set aside some of it for a clothing warehouse.

’She’s barely contacted me herself lately. And now she’s having Hu Mei send the message about the rental property.’ It seemed what she’d said the other day was true: "Young people these days like to handle things themselves; they don’t like us old folks meddling." She’d changed her strategy to create an opportunity for him and Hu Mei.