Cold air moved southward these days. The temperature was over 30 degrees yesterday, but it suddenly dropped to over 10 degrees today. Ye Zhao hurried to a nearby department store to buy some autumn and winter clothes. When he came back from the mall, he happened to see Gao Yueyue, who was moving.
Gao Yueyue was wearing a fashionable big V-neck dress and had trendy curly hair, but after not seeing her for a few days, she looked completely different.
Ye Zhao asked her where she was moving to, and she said she was sharing a house with some friends.
Seeing that she was unwilling to say more, Ye Zhao recalled that Li Ruixiang had secretly chatted with her about gossip a few days ago. Gao Yueyue had resigned from the Irene Toy Factory and might have hooked up with a rich man.
After Gao Yueyue became famous in the music competition, she participated in several large-scale evening parties, where she might have the opportunity to meet some bosses or senior employees...
Who knows? However, everyone has their own choices, and Ye Zhao didn't want to ask more. He just said, "Let's get together again when we have time."
Gao Yueyue smiled and replied: "When I miss you, I will come back to play with you."
Ye Zhao walked towards the stairs, and after taking a few steps, he was stopped by Gao Yueyue again.
Gao Yueyue came over and held Ye Zhao's hand, "Xiao Zhao, I... I... "
Ye Zhao was frightened by Gao Yueyue's sudden enthusiasm. She pulled her hand back and asked what happened
Gao Yueyue smiled awkwardly, "Me, you and Li Ruixiang, we will always be good classmates, and we will always be in the future. I am very grateful to you for letting me participate in the canteen's shareholding. You are very smart, just think of me as utilitarian, I am on your side."
Ye Zhao thought he had a good comprehension ability, but he didn't understand what Gao Yueyue meant at all.
Without waiting for her to ask, Gao Yueyue left with the moving master.
Ye Zhao went home and rinsed the new clothes. After hanging them up to dry, she put on Aunt Qiao's floral jacket and went out to look at houses in Zengwuwei Square.
Ni Meng introduced an office to her, and she would go there today to see if the venue was suitable.
Ni Meng arrived at the small square half an hour in advance. Lao Kai had built a four-story office building here for rent. He first went to Lao Kai's office to have tea.
The temperature dropped, but Lao Kai was still wearing slippers and a large white shirt over his old shirt. He made a pot of hot tea and poured a cup for Ni Meng.
"Who did you introduce to rent an office?"
Ni Meng was also wearing a pair of flip-flops. He shook his feet and said with a smile, "A god."
Since the reform and opening up, Shenzhen has had all kinds of amazing people. Lao Kai was not surprised at all, and his tone did not fluctuate: "What amazing person?"
"A girl who is still in her third year of high school. But she is repeating a grade. If she hadn't, she would have gone to college. She is so young, but she has started a big business. I heard she wants to supply vegetables to Hong Kong. Isn't that impressive?"
Lao Kai naturally didn't believe it: "Not everyone can supply vegetables to Hong Kong. How can a little girl do it? Could she be the son of an official or a rich man with connections in the upper echelons?"
Ni Meng drank his tea and said, "You guessed it right. She is a rich second-generation, the daughter of the owner of the Irene Toy Factory, and the only child!"
"I told you! She definitely can't do it on her own. An 18-year-old girl is learning to do business. She has her parents' support. She is bold and not afraid of losses."
"Hey, I sold her your Zizhulin land before, and she is a little interested. See if you want to ask her."
"Why would I ask her? Even though the land in Zizhulin is cheap, she can't possibly afford it."
"Her father is rich."
"Ye Dingguo! The village offered him such a favorable price for the factory building of Ailin Toy Factory, but he was unwilling to buy it. How could he be interested in my piece of junk land? Don't waste your breath." Lao Kai handed Ni Meng a cigarette, but Ni Meng didn't want it, so he lit it himself. "Gui Pi introduced a big client to us, and he will come over in the next two days. I hope we can sell it this time."
Ni Meng knew that he couldn't sell it, but he still smiled and said, "If it's sold, I'll buy you all a drink."
"Please help me! I have kept it for three years and have not made any money. I have lost a lot of interest."
"You have bad luck with money."
As they were talking, Ye Zhao arrived. Lao Kai was quite surprised. He didn't expect that the rich second generation was such a pretty girl. Everyone instantly became much more enthusiastic.
He took Ye Zhao to walk through four floors of this office building, which was called Shunfeng Building. Although it was called an office building, it looked more like an old-style factory, except that it was divided into offices of different sizes for rent.
Because it is a newly built building, the occupancy rate is not high yet.
Ye Zhao took a fancy to a large south-facing apartment on the third floor, which had two manager's rooms and a large office, with a monthly rent of 180 yuan.
"I won't bargain with you on the rent, but there's not even a desk here, Uncle Kai, you should at least provide a few desks and chairs."
Uncle Kai smiled and said, "How can you rent an office with a desk? Of course you have to buy your own."
"If you can provide me with desks, I can book it today. Your vacancy rate is so high. If you rent it out early, I can bring you some popularity."
Seeing that the girl was quite sincere, Uncle Kai said, "Can I get you a few second-hand desks? Brand new ones are really not good. They are too expensive. I can't afford them, girl."
It doesn't matter whether it's new or old, as long as it exists, Ye Zhao nodded and said, "Okay. As long as it works, it's fine."
Just like that, Ye Zhao signed a lease contract with Uncle Kai, paid two deposits and one payment, and started renting after equipping the tables and chairs.
In order to rent the house as early as possible, Uncle Kai was very efficient and had the office desks and chairs ready the next day.
Ye Zhao went to buy a typewriter. She even asked about the price of a computer, but was scared off by the high price of more than ten thousand yuan.
In the era when she originally lived, high-end computers for office use only cost a few thousand yuan. Nowadays, when rice only costs 0.2 cents, she would rather spend more than 10,000 yuan to buy a slow, low-powered, big-brained computer. Even if a knife was pointed at her neck, she would not buy it unless the computer could bring her a high return.
Gan Xiaofeng went to the post and telecommunications office to apply for the installation of a telephone and fax machine, and within a few days, he had set up the office.
The company had an office, but now it still lacked a name. Ye Zhao had difficulty coming up with names. She looked up dictionaries and classics but couldn't think of a suitable one. Aunt Qiao suggested that she call it Aihua Company.
Aihua Aihua means loving our China.
The name of this company seemed to have a weak connection with Ye Zhao, but inspired by this, Ye Zhao thought of the word "Zhaohua".
Zhaohua has a beautiful meaning and includes both Ye Zhao’s name and the dual meaning of “love my China”.
Ye Zhao immediately made the decision and named it: Shenzhen Zhaohua Industrial Co., Ltd.
When everyone heard it, they all thought that the name was grand and sounded like that.
It took only two or three days to complete the company sign and hang it on the office door. That day, Aunt Qiao and Ni Meng even specially ordered a flower basket to be delivered. In such a large office, only Xiaofeng and the two girls who came out of the cafeteria were busy.
The two girls are called Aqin and Muxin, both of them are around 20 years old. Together with Gan Xiaofeng and Ye Zhao, there are four girls in total, making it an all-female team.
The three girls learned typing in different time periods and familiarized themselves with the information about Food Floor 9 and the vegetable varieties that would be supplied soon. Old Qian would come over occasionally to sit with them. He was also forming a team to coordinate with Ye Zhao. In December, they would start to purchase goods in batches.
Ye Zhao hired a greenhouse technician from the north, and Xiao Feng was responsible for follow-up reception. After the technician arrived in Shenzhen, he took a bus to Xishan Town to guide ginger farmers to grow small yellow ginger in greenhouses.
All work is progressing in an orderly manner, and so far, everything is going well.
The senior year students now only have Saturday afternoons off each week and have classes at other times.
That Saturday, Bai Lu woke up from her nap and was doing her homework in her room when her mother brought in a peeled pear.
Bai Yunlian has always been very confident about her daughter's grades. In the last monthly exam, Bai Lu ranked first in the class. However, Bai Lu knew that she got the first place only because Ye Zhao missed the physics exam, so she did not dare to slack off at all. She thought about studying all the time, whether she was eating or sleeping.
Bai Yunlian advised: "Just read a book when you get together. You should go out and exercise more."
Bai Lu: "I just want to study."
Bai Yunlian smiled: "Be careful not to become a nerd from studying too much. Hey, is Ye Zhao still absent from work recently?"
Bai Lu said, "Hmm," "She can get high scores even if she doesn't come."
"It's really weird. I got sick and my brain suddenly became smarter. When is your next monthly exam?"
"Every other month. December."
"There's still time. If you prepare well, you will definitely do well in the exam. Don't put too much pressure on yourself. Even if you don't get first place, Mom won't blame you."
Bai Lu pursed her lips and smiled, "I'm afraid of disappointing my uncle."
Ye Dingguo? Will he be disappointed? Who knows what Ye Dingguo's mentality is now? Maybe he still favors his daughter.
But Bai Yunlian couldn't tell her daughter this. She touched her daughter's hair with heartache and smiled, "No, just keep calm and do your best. Come on, eat a piece of pear to moisten your lungs. They've been very dry lately."
Bai Lu was eating a snow pear and said, "Why haven't I seen uncle for several days?"
"He's been busy lately and comes home late, and you go to school early in the morning."
"I didn't see it today, Saturday..."
"He went on a business trip today." Bai Yunlian tried her best to hide the fact that this family was slowly becoming abnormal.
The doorbell rang outside. Bai Yunlian got up to open the door. Bai Yunping came in.
Since being fired from the factory, Bai Yunping has been resting at home for a few days and recently planned to find another job. However, she has no advantage in looking for a job at her age. She doesn't like low-paying jobs, and high-paying jobs don't want her, which makes her very angry.
Bai Yunping brought a few fish to her sister. "Old Yuan went to the reservoir to fish. He caught half a bucket of fish. I brought you a few big ones."
Bai Yunlian glanced at the fish in the plastic bag and said, "Your old Yuan is really idle. Isn't he busy at the factory?"
"Busy. No one is protecting him now, so he's busy as shit. The busier he is, the more he wants to go fishing, even in the middle of the night."
Bai Yunping sat on the sofa and complained about how hard it is to find a job now. "Why don't we open a store ourselves? It's better than going out to look for a job. I can't stand being bullied by other people if I go to those small companies and factories."
Bai Yunlian put the fish in the kitchen bucket, washed her hands, and came out with a plate and a fruit knife. "Doing business is not that easy. We are not short of living expenses now. You should rest at home for a few more days."
"What did my brother-in-law say? Will he let us go back in the future?" Bai Yunping addressed Ye Dingguo differently depending on her mood. Sometimes she called him boss, sometimes she called him Ye Dingguo directly, and when she wanted to make her sister happy, she called him brother-in-law.
Bai Yunlian sat next to her sister, picked up the pear on the table and began to peel it: "He doesn't tell me anything now. I think he has changed recently."
"What's wrong?"
Bai Yunping sat up straight: "What's that smell? The smell of a vixen?"
"perfume scent."
Bai Yunping propped her head up on the sofa and said, "My brother-in-law is not that kind of person. I have never seen him hanging out outside for so many years. If you said that Lao Yuan was fooling around outside, I would believe it. I even suspect that the fish he caught were bought from the street to cheat me..."
Bai Yunlian knew Ye Dingguo well. She said, "He is not interested in those mediocre fans. Who knows who he will meet this time."
"Sister, although I sometimes call him brother-in-law in front of you, you haven't registered your marriage yet. You can't just sit there and wait for death. When you are old and ugly, he will kick you out. You go to the Women's Federation to complain, but they won't pay any attention to you."
"What can I do? I can only pretend that I don't know. I don't even dare to ask. I'm afraid that if I ask, we will fall out and eventually our family will break up." Bai Yunlian sighed heavily.
Bai Yunping was indignant: "It's all Ye Zhao's fault. If she hadn't been the one getting in the way, you would have gotten married a long time ago, and we wouldn't have ended up like this. How did we end up with such a badass?"
"Forget it, let's not talk about her. Don't provoke her again. Haven't you noticed? The more we provoke her, the more unlucky we will be. I have thought it through. I will keep a low profile and train Bai Lu well. I will just pretend that I don't know that Ye Dingguo is having affairs outside. As long as he comes home, I won't force anything."
Bai Yunping advised her sister earnestly: "Sister, you have to be prepared. You have to grab what you need. You need more living expenses. It would be best if the house can be transferred to you. Otherwise, if something unexpected happens in the future, you won't even have a place to live."
Bai Yunlian naturally knew all this. She had saved some money. "I know. You don't need to teach me. I will definitely save money. It's just that Ye Dingguo doesn't like to buy houses. In addition to the factory, he only has one house under his name..."
"You have to go and see the house yourself. If you like it, give him a deposit and let him pay for the rest. Force him to spend money on you."
Bai Yunlian was very hesitant: "If I do this, what will he think of me?"
"Sister, stop pretending. Aren't you tired? No matter how much you pretend, it's useless. He must have had a grudge against you in his heart, otherwise he would go out to find a woman? After finding a woman, he doesn't even avoid the smell of perfume on his clothes. Isn't it just to disgust you? He is sure that you dare not resist, so why bother? It's better to be open and ask for money."
Bai Yunlian was angered by her sister's words, "Do you miss your sister so much? What are you talking about?"
She cut the pear into pieces and put them on a plate. Bai Yunping picked up a piece and started eating: "You've been pretending so much that you've even believed it. We're born from the same mother, so don't bother yourself in front of me."
Bai Yunlian said angrily: "I really want to stab you with a knife!"
"You'd better save some strength to poke the vixen!" Bai Yunping said with a smile.
Ye Zhao and the person in charge of Food Floor 9 went to visit several large vegetable bases nearby that supplied Hong Kong. Ye Zhao, who had never had the opportunity to set foot in a vegetable garden, felt a little excited when he saw the lush green leafy vegetables in the base.
She may have a connection with these vegetables. She feels that what she is looking at are not green leafy vegetables, but glittering gold. The more she looks at them, the better her mood will become.
They were received by a pretty girl with super short hair at the Huicheng Vegetable Base. She spoke and acted very efficiently, and most importantly, she was very professional.
Ye Zhao wanted to recruit the other party. While the people from Shijiulou were away, she asked the other party with a smile: "Sister, what's your name?"
The pretty girl was wearing work clothes for working in the fields, and she couldn't help but smile when she heard Ye Zhao calling her sister.
"Sun Qinfang, you should call me Sister Sun. I should be much older than you. How old are you, sister? You look so young." Sun Qinfang took the initiative and asked, "You are still in middle school, right?"
Ye Zhao smiled awkwardly: "I am an adult."
Sun Qinfang laughed at her softly, "Why did you come here with the people from Food Floor 9? Aren't you a child laborer?"
"I'm here to buy vegetables." Ye Zhao didn't want to say too much, so she asked with a smile, "One of my relatives also grows vegetables. Can you please leave me your contact information? He often encounters technical difficulties in growing vegetables. If he encounters something he doesn't understand in the future, I can ask him to consult you."
Sun Qinfang was also smart. She understood immediately. The girl wanted to contact her privately. "That's no problem. Welcome to exchange techniques with colleagues. Please write down my office phone number."
Ye Zhao took out a notebook from his backpack and quickly wrote down Sun Qinfang's contact number.
It was already midnight when Ye Zhao came back from outside. She felt like she hadn't slept for long before the day broke. She still insisted on getting up and going to class.
Ye Zhao now tries not to miss classes if possible. She would rather sleep in school than miss classes, so that the teacher won't call Ye Dingguo again. It's not that she is afraid of Ye Dingguo, but she doesn't want Ye Dingguo to know her whereabouts at any time.
During class, Ye Zhao was sleeping on the table, but Zeng Xiang was not sleeping. Instead, he was working diligently on his test paper.
The guy who was working hard on the test looked like he had lost all hope on the surface, but he actually had only one thought in his mind: if he finished the test well, he would get a red flower. But he and his deskmate exchanged styles, which seemed a bit awkward to others.
The English teacher stood on the podium, looking at the two people in the last row, his heart filled with question marks. What was wrong with this world
After school at noon, Ye Zhao did not go home but went directly to the office. She wanted to meet with Lao Qian and others during the lunch break.
Lao Qian brought two people to the meeting today, one is his cousin Afeng who is in charge of logistics and transportation, and the other is Sister Lan who is in charge of purchasing.
Old Qian said, "From now on, the two of them will be responsible for the procurement of Food Floor 9. They are both veterans with ten years of experience, so you can rest assured. Of course, you can come to me if you have any questions. I am the general manager."
"Xiaofeng is the person in charge here, and Aqin is the one who handles the order. You can ask Muxin to pay you." Ye Zhao laughed and said, "Don't look for me if there is nothing to do, and it's best not to look for me if there is something to do..."
Aqin is more lively. She smiled and said, "Our boss has to go to school and is very busy."
Xiao Feng handed a document to Lao Qian, "We have already communicated with Shijiulou, this is the preliminary order form..."
Lao Qian took a look and sighed, "You really won't give me any leafy vegetables?"
Ye Zhao explained: "We can't help it. We get leafy vegetables from the vegetable base in Huicheng that supplies Hong Kong."
"That will cost a lot more than getting it from me."
Lao Qian's cousin Afeng seemed to be more cunning. He suggested, "You can mix and match them. Purchase a batch from the Hong Kong supply base and a batch from us. Mix them together. In fact, the goods are all the same. They can't tell the difference if they are labeled with the base labels."
Sister Lan and Afeng have never gotten along. She does not agree with Afeng's approach, but it is not easy for her to refute him in front of the clients, so she can only remain silent with a look of disgust on her face.
Xiao Feng said angrily, "How can that be possible? We have a long-term cooperative relationship with Shijiulou, and our boss said that we cannot cheat. We want to build up the Zhaohua brand. We are the ones who bear the risk, not you."
Their boss, Xiao Zhao, nodded repeatedly and gave Xiao Feng a thumbs up in his heart.
Aqin is a girl from Sichuan. She is even more aggressive than Xiaofeng: "You have to ensure the quality. If the quarantine and quality do not meet our requirements, we will not just deduct money, we will change suppliers."
A Feng was not angry when he was rejected. He raised his eyebrows at A Qin and said with a smile: "Oh, you girls are very hot, all of you are hot girls, right?!"
Ah Qin was disgusted by others being so slick to her, so she rolled her eyes and said to him, "How many locals are there here? They are all from other places. Aren't you from other places too?"
Ah Feng smiled and apologized: "Yes, yes, that's right, we are all from other places."
Old Qian finally gave everyone some reassurance: "This is not the first time you have cooperated with us. When have you ever failed to be satisfied with our Qiantang River vegetables? We promise to give you the best products. Alan is an expert in selecting products and you can trust him."
Alan then smiled and said, "Don't worry, girls. We will definitely give you the best products at the most affordable prices. As the old saying goes, 'You get what you pay for.' We strive to achieve 'You get what you pay for, twice as much.' I look forward to our long-term cooperation."
Alan's words were sincere and down-to-earth, which made Xiaofeng and the others quite satisfied. After they checked the orders, they started to discuss the payment period.
Lao Qian complained for a while before saying, "We can't pay you monthly this time. We can't afford it if we have to pay you monthly, Boss Ye."
Ye Zhao knew, of course, that it was impossible to settle monthly with such a large supply volume. She said, "Shijiulou and we have a three-day payment period, and we do the same with you. As long as Shijiulou pays, we will pay your fees immediately. Don't worry about that."
Three days of payment is very generous. Old Qian said with a smile: "Then we in Qiantang River will get rich together with Boss Ye."
After the meeting, Afeng arranged for everyone to go out for dinner and asked Boss Qian to treat them all. However, the girls didn't want to go. Finally, Ye Zhao had to say that they would let Boss Qian treat them all when the first batch of money arrived.
After Lao Qian's people left, Aqin started to complain crazily: "That Afeng is so annoying! He's just a transporter, how can he pretend to be a big boss! He even raised his eyebrows at me!"
Xiaofeng and Muxin couldn't help but burst into laughter. Muxin was more gentle and said, "Why would you get angry when someone just raised his eyebrows?"
"How could it be? I didn't even have an appetite for lunch."
Ye Zhao smiled and said, "Let's go, I'll treat you, sisters, don't be angry."
Ah Qin then smiled and said, "It's different if the boss treats us, why don't we go to the small square and eat clay pot rice?"
Everyone had no objection, and the clay pot rice was just downstairs, so they prepared to lock the door and go out.
The door was not locked yet, and Aunt Kai, the boss's wife, came to clean the house. Ah Qin asked her, "Why is the boss's wife cleaning the house herself?"
"The cleaning lady asked for leave."
Ah Qin laughed and joked: "The cleaning lady asks for leave every other day. Is it because you pay her too little?"
Aunt Kai came in with a mop bucket to mop the floor, and said in her unauthentic Mandarin: "Oh, we can hardly afford to hire anyone. We have no money, girl."
"You still dare to cry poor, don't be ridiculous." Aunt Kai is a big mouth, loves to talk, loves to complain, she said: "Hey, you don't understand, my dead man bought a piece of land, originally bought it thinking to keep it for a few months and then sell it, but it dragged on for three years and still hasn't sold it, the interest rate is so high every day that it's scary, what do you think?"
"Then you are doing big business, we don't understand."
Ye Zhao happened to be looking at the new information delivered to the ninth floor. She asked her sisters to go downstairs to order food first, and she waited for Aunt Kai to finish cleaning and lock the door.
Xiaofeng asked her: "Can I give you some pork ribs pot?"
Ye Zhao said: "Okay."
Aunt Kai continued to complain while mopping the floor: "The rent we collect is not enough to pay the interest."
Ye Zhao knew that this piece of land should be the one that Ni Meng was trying to sell her. She asked curiously, "Where is your piece of land? Why haven't you sold it yet?"
Aunt Kai stood by the window and pointed to the east: "Do you see that elevated road? It's not far below the elevated road. I was cheated into buying it three years ago."
"How did you get cheated?"
"One of our relatives worked at the Land Bureau. He showed us the plan of the Guoyin Building and told us that the Guoyin Building would be built over there. Wow, Lao Kai thought he had inside information and could make a fortune, so he borrowed money to buy the land next to it. At that time, the land was cheap. Other places didn't cost 100 yuan, but he bought that crappy place for 120 yuan per square meter. Now he can't even get his money back unless he gets 150 yuan. Do you know that?"
Ye Zhao understood, "The National Bank Building was later built to the west of the village."
"Yes! The construction of the National Bank Building has started. Our land has become a poor man's land. There are now scrap collectors and pig farmers next to it. The most terrible thing is that there is also a garbage dump next to it. Who wants your land? There are so many suckers! I can't eat every day when I think about the interest. Oh, you don't understand, little girl."
Is it the scrap collector next to it? Next to Liang Po's blue shed? Ye Zhao looked at the elevated road again. Isn't that the place she had her eyes on before, where four subway lines will intersect in the future and was later rated as the most commercially valuable business district in Shenzhen
"Aunt Kai! How much is the lowest price you can sell the land for? I have a friend who wants to buy it."
(End of this chapter)