Chapter 381: Unbelievable (3)

A moment later, the investment manager came in and nodded at him. “President Li.” He gestured for Li Chao, who had already stood up, to sit down.

Li Chao could feel the man didn’t take him seriously at all. “President Li, it’s good you came today. You can take that contract renewal from last time back with you when you leave.”

Understanding he was referring to the contract from his previous company, Li Chao quickly explained, “President Meng, I’m here today to first report some news. I’ve already resigned from my former company.”

“Oh?” President Meng’s expression didn’t change much. People coming and going was perfectly normal in the business world. “There’s no need to make a special trip just for that, is there?”

A trip just for this would be a waste of everyone’s time. It was something that could have been handled with a simple message.

“No, no, that’s not it. I’m mainly here today to discuss the contract renewal.”

President Meng was a bit confused. It took him a moment to process this. “President Li, so you’ve moved to a new company, and you still have business with us?”

Li Chao was so nervous that he’d forgotten to introduce his new company. He nodded. “Yes, I’m with Ruijing Commerce now.”

“Ruijing Commerce? To talk about a renewal?”

President Meng suddenly recalled the task his regional VP of business had given him a few days ago: “Rush the contract process for all of Ruijing Commerce’s stores. Renew everything on the same terms. For any locations already promised to others, cancel those contracts immediately. If they don’t agree, then just breach the contract and pay the penalty.”

At the time, President Meng had been dumbfounded. ‘What kind of god-tier move is this?’ He knew of Ruijing Commerce; not only had their rent been low for years, but they always got a flat renewal. A while ago, Fang Zheng had visited the regional VP of business. The talks had started well, and they were all set for another flat renewal. But then, Meng had received a notification that all their rents were to be raised above the current market rate, and for several prime locations, Ruijing Commerce was to be kicked out entirely.

Because of this, Fang Zheng had been blowing up his phone, but Meng had been avoiding him because he couldn’t resolve the issue. But then, a few days ago, the script completely flipped. The regional VP of business issued new instructions: flat renewals for all. And the crucial part was what came next—even if it meant breaching existing contracts with other tenants, the stores had to be signed over to Ruijing Commerce.

This plan was definitely not something the regional VP of business could decide on his own. The order must have come from the new regional general manager, President Zong. And what did that imply? President Zong was throwing his full support behind Ruijing Commerce! Therefore, people like him, who were adept at seeing which way the wind was blowing, didn’t dare to delay. For the past two days, they had been rushing the renewal process. Just this morning, he had reported to the regional VP that the renewal approvals were complete and ready for signing. And now, this afternoon, Li Chao shows up.

Li Chao noticed President Meng’s expression become rather complex when he heard he was from Ruijing Commerce. ‘Has President Meng been waiting for me for a long time too?’ he wondered. ‘Ruijing Commerce must be his top priority for this renewal cycle.’ Li Chao had done a rough calculation: even if all 21 stores were renewed at Xinyue Group’s lowest acceptable rent, it would mean an extra 600,000 in rent per month, which added up to 7.2 million a year.

‘That’s all performance metrics! If he lands the Ruijing Commerce deal, President Meng will probably hit his KPI for annual rental income growth.’

“Yes, President Meng. I came today hoping to hear your opinion, and then we can have a proper discussion.”

“My opinion?” President Meng was speechless. ‘Does my opinion even matter? The bosses have already given their orders.’

“President Li, wait here for a moment. I’ll be right back.”

Watching President Meng get up, Li Chao thought, ‘He’s probably going to get a calculator to figure out how many accolades this rent hike will earn him.’

He waited and waited, his anxiety growing. He felt like a prisoner on death row. ‘Just get it over with,’ he thought. ‘Why leave me hanging here? The suspense is killing me.’

He picked up his cup for a drink, only to find it was already empty. Now he couldn’t even take a tactical sip of water during the negotiation. He stood up and paced back and forth in the cramped meeting room, thinking about how to counter President Meng’s impending rent-hike offensive.

Footsteps sounded from outside. Li Chao quickly sat down, forcing himself to calm down. The moment President Meng pushed the door open, Li Chao froze. President Meng walked in, carrying a thick stack of contracts. Li Chao had no idea what was happening.

Just as he was about to ask, President Meng spoke first. “President Li, here are the contracts for your 21 stores. You can take them back with you to be signed.”

Li Chao had never seen anything like this. They hadn’t even negotiated the renewal, what was there to sign? ‘Has Xinyue Group become so powerful that they just throw a contract at you, take it or leave it?’

He casually picked up one of the contracts. What a coincidence—it was for the same location his old company had just renewed. Their renewal terms were 520 yuan/sqm/month, while the market rate for the mall was 500 yuan/sqm/month. It couldn’t be helped; his old company was spineless and had no bargaining power on rent if they wanted to renew.

He quickly flipped to the page with the commercial terms. He had just checked the current terms for this Ruijing Commerce store before leaving this morning; he remembered it was 280 yuan/sqm/month.

‘Okay, found it.’ He wondered if this one would also be increased to over 500. That would be normal for Xinyue Group, but for Ruijing Commerce, it would be a catastrophe. ‘How much extra rent would that be per year?’

Then, his eyes went wide. He stared at the line with the commercial terms, rereading it several times before looking up at President Meng in confusion. ‘What is going on? The commercial terms are still 280 yuan/sqm/month?’ It hadn’t changed at all. ‘A flat renewal on these terms? This is criminally generous! What happened to Xinyue Group’s usual aggressive stance? Don’t they have a minimum rent threshold that can’t be crossed? Where are their principles?’

He randomly flipped through a few more stores’ contracts. They were all flat renewals. He remembered something his boss at his previous company used to say: “Why do some of the big-shot brands in the mall get such low rent? It’s because the rest of us small companies have to make up for the shortfall.”