The place where he learned to drive was right next to Zengwuwei. Ye Zhao rode his bike there for two hours every day to learn how to drive a manual transmission car.
That day, Ye Zhao came back from driving lessons and met Ni Meng on the road. Ni Meng was buying cigarettes in a convenience store and he stopped Ye Zhao.
"Did you know that the pig farm is going to move away?"
Ye Zhao heard from Aunt Qin yesterday that after the pig farm moves away, they will have to find someone else to collect the pig manure, and the price will not be as high as before. Ye Zhao did not want to worry about such a small matter, so he let Aunt Qin make the decision herself.
She pretended not to know and asked, "Really? I don't know when you're going to move out."
Ni Meng took out a cigarette, tapped the cigarette box, and said, "It is said that they will move out before the end of the year, and their piece of land will be vacant. Do you want to buy it? If you buy it, it will really become a large piece. As long as the garbage dump can be moved away in the future, you will become rich."
Ye Zhao had indeed thought about the pig farm, but she had never had the chance before. She asked, "Who owns the pig farm?"
"That piece of land is quite complicated. There are at least five or six households. If you want to buy it, you have to negotiate with them one by one."
Five or six households? When more people are involved, things become difficult to handle. We know this from the purchase of Liang Po's land. As long as there is a Liang Po, it is difficult to buy the land. Ye Zhao was a little confused. She asked, "How big is the pig farm?"
"There are two to three thousand square meters, but I don't know the exact amount. Do you want me to ask for you?"
"Okay, you help me negotiate. If we can reach an agreement, then we will negotiate. If not, then forget it. It's quite difficult to reach a consensus if five or six households agree to sell." Ye Zhao is now in a calmer state of mind. If the deal can be done, then do it. If not, then forget it.
Ni Meng: "You don't need five or six households to agree. You can buy from the family that is willing to sell. If they don't want to sell, you can fence off their land separately so that they have no way to get out. Then you can see if they will sell it or not!"
How cunning! No wonder he is such a local boss.
Ye Zhao smiled and said, "Then I'll leave this to you. Thank you for your hard work, Uncle Wang."
Ni Meng lit a cigarette and said with a smile, "We'll talk about it after we can come to an agreement."
"Don't worry, take your time."
Ye Zhao rode her bicycle towards home. From a distance, she saw a luxury car parked at the gate of the courtyard. It was a car with Guangdong and Hong Kong license plates.
Hmm, this scene is a bit familiar.
The people in the car also saw her. Liang Xin quickly got out of the car and opened the door for Mrs. Song, while Ahua came out from the other door.
Ye Zhao didn't stop his bike and went straight into the yard.
After locking the car in the yard, I turned around and found that Song Tai had followed me in.
"Ye Zhao!" Song Tai greeted with a smile on his face. From a distance, he still looked so glamorous.
Ye Zhao laughed teasingly, "Mrs. Song, what brings you here?"
Song Tai said self-deprecatingly: "I never come to the temple for no reason. Today I want to discuss something with you in detail."
"I remember that you were waiting for me in person at the gate of the courtyard last October. You never came to see me for no reason. You also had something to ask me. Time flies..."
These sarcastic words were particularly harsh to Song Tai, but she was begging for help, so she had to endure the harshness. She smiled and said, "I have asked someone to contact the lawyer appointed by your company. Let's not fight the lawsuit, right?"
Ye Zhao pretended to be dumb and said, "Oh? What do you mean? Are you willing to pay the money?"
"No, we will continue to fulfill our contract. You will remain our exclusive supplier and we will have long-term cooperation in the future."
Ye Zhao used the gentlest tone and said the most sarcastic words, "Song Rongji's speed of changing his attitude is almost as fast as a car tire running at 100 yards per hour. I can't keep up with it on a bicycle."
Mrs. Song was willing to sacrifice her reputation. She was mentally prepared to be ridiculed by Ye Zhao. It would be strange if Ye Zhao didn't ridicule her.
Song Tai said: "To be honest with you, I did plan to cooperate with you for a long time. Later, one of the reasons for my change of mind was that when the supply of small yellow ginger was off-season this year, our two companies had a conflict. You took the opportunity to manipulate the market price and raised the price of small yellow ginger to more than 2 yuan. At that time, we did not have any ability to resist. From this incident, I deeply realized that we must control the raw materials ourselves, so that it is safest for our production."
Ye Zhao nodded as if he had understood something: "Then why did you come to me? Is your company's production safe now?"
Song Tai was speechless: "..."
Ye Zhao said, "We have spent a lot of energy and money to research and cultivate off-season small yellow ginger. We have never thought of selling it to Song Rongji at a high price. We buy ginger from farmers for 1.2 yuan, but you are planning to lower the price to 1.2 yuan. You don't want to make a penny for me. As Party A, do you think this is reasonable? You ate all the meat, not to mention the soup residue. You don't even want to give us water to drink."
Mrs. Song knew she was in the wrong. She explained: "In fact, the price we gave to the branch was less than 1.5 yuan. It might be because of communication problems. Cai Mingzhi was eager to make a contribution, so he wanted to lower the price to 1.2 yuan. This is indeed something we did not do well enough."
Ye Zhao smiled and shook his head: "Something went wrong, and after you reflected on yourself, you chose to be treacherous and break the contract, and used the so-called gift of 10,000 yuan to slap me in the face. Mrs. Song, can you do business like this for a long time? Who is willing to cooperate with you again?"
Song Tai had to apologize again: "Yes, so God came to punish us. I didn't expect that last year's ginger plague would break out again this year because of the flood! This can be regarded as a warning from God to me."
Ye Zhao: "So, you came to me to confess your sins?"
"I heard you still have some small yellow ginger in stock. Can you sell some to us? The price is negotiable."
Mrs. Song deliberately downplayed the matter, not wanting Ye Zhao to see her desire for turmeric, although she knew that the other party would surely guess that Song Rongji's current demand for turmeric would not be satisfied by a little bit.
But she still hoped to give Ye Zhao some illusion that even if she didn't get Zhao Hua's turmeric, Song Rongji would be able to survive.
Ye Zhao saw through Mrs. Song's thoughts. She smiled and said, "I don't have much young yellow ginger left in my inventory. Are you sure that if I sell you some young yellow ginger, it will solve Song Rongji's problem?"
"Of course, I also want to buy your new batch of off-season turmeric. We can buy it all."
Ye Zhao smiled and said, "From what you said, I should be grateful to you for buying all the small yellow gingers behind me, right? Mrs. Song, it's a seller's market now, so if you want to ask for help, just ask it in a good way. Don't apologize one moment and then put on a high attitude the next. It's so divisive. I'm afraid I don't understand what you mean."
Song Tai forced a smile and said, "You grow turmeric to make money, right? You name a price."
Ye Zhao: "I do this business to make money, but I don't want to make money from everyone. Forget about yours."
Song Tai was anxious: "Can't we negotiate? Price is not a problem."
"When you choose to break your promise and tear up the contract, you should be mentally prepared that there will be a day when you kneel down at my doorstep," Ye Zhao smiled and shook his head in disdain, "and cry while hugging my legs..."
Listening to Ye Zhao's exaggerated description, Song Tai wanted to roll his eyes but didn't dare to. He could only close his eyes helplessly and smile to maintain his composure.
"Even if you were crying while hugging my legs, Mrs. Song, we would not choose a partner like you. It's too... cheap."
Song Tai was unwilling to give up. She wanted to persuade Ye Zhao: "As a businessman, interests are the most important partner. Just like I have always admired you, but for the sake of interests, I may reluctantly give up cooperating with you temporarily. For the sake of interests, I will choose to come back to you even if you ridicule me. I hope that even if you don't regard me as a friend, for the sake of interests, in order to sell the small yellow ginger in your hands at a better price, you can carefully consider cooperating with us again."
Ye Zhao stared at Song Tai. "This is the first time I've heard someone talk about betrayal so eloquently. Otherwise, if you let me vent my anger, I'll seriously consider cooperating with you."
Listening to Ye Zhao's words, Song Tai knew that there was no turning back, but he still said: "You tell me, as long as we can do it, I will definitely help you achieve it."
Ye Zhao nodded slightly, pretending that she was not prepared at all. She said, "You came to me too suddenly. I am not mentally prepared. Let me think about it, okay?"
Mrs. Song: "How about I ask Manager Fu to contact the people in your company and let the people below communicate first? What do you think?"
"Okay. Mrs. Song, take care. I won't see you off." Ye Zhao said and went upstairs.
At this time, Aunt Feng was picking vegetables by the window upstairs. When she saw Ye Zhao coming upstairs, she hurriedly took a few steps back.
Mrs. Song walked out of the courtyard of the small west building, and Ahua came over and asked what happened.
Mrs. Song, who was very angry, whispered, "Since they didn't agree to sell it to us, there's no hope."
Ah Hua said: "Let's use the alternative plan and let other companies help Song Rongji to purchase their small yellow ginger."
"Keep your voice down. We can talk in the car."
Guo Xuyan's home in Gangcheng is a two-story villa. Guo Xuyan has a nominal job and may go to work a few days a month, and stays at home most of the rest of the time.
Her assistant Xiao Jin brought the overseas travel itinerary. Guo Xuyan looked at it carefully. This was the fourth draft and there was nothing wrong with it at the moment. She wanted to give it to Mrs. Luo for review later.
Since it was inconvenient for Guo Xuyan's parents to travel abroad, she asked them to come back during the Chinese New Year.
The phone rang, and it was Feng's mother calling.
Guo Xuyan: "You should come back with Shen'er in a few days. You haven't had anything to do recently... Today at noon? Are you sure it was Mrs. Song... How do you know they were not happy talking if you didn't hear it... Ye Zhao and Shen'er?"
Aunt Feng, who was on the other end of the phone, took advantage of everyone's nap to hide on the balcony and talk on the phone. She said, "Yes, Miss Ye and the eldest master are talking about overthrowing Song Rongji. I don't understand what they are saying."
Guo Xuyan asked doubtfully: "Did Qi Lian'an go to find Shen'er?"
Aunt Feng: "He came twice and brought a lot of documents. The eldest master and Miss Ye signed the documents for him. They were very secretive and I don't know what they were studying. Anyway, I heard them excitedly say that they wanted to take down Song Rongji."
Guo Xuyan recalled that Old Lady Luo had talked to her two days ago and asked her to keep her distance from the Song family.
She couldn't believe what Luo Shen and Ye Zhao, two half-grown kids, could do. Could they really take down Song Rongji
Impossible. Unless Old Lady Luo was secretly supporting it, the result would be completely different.
After finishing the call, Guo Xuyan stood in front of the window and just saw Song Xinyi's car enter the yard. Guo Xuyan put down the cordless phone and picked up the itinerary on the table.
Not long after, Song Xinyi came in with a painting box in her hand. This was the flower and bird painting that she and Guo Xuyan had completed together last time. After her teacher helped to frame it, Song Xinyi delivered it personally.
The small-leaf red sandalwood painting box was exquisitely carved. Guo Xuyan had no interest in opening it. She asked Song Xinyi, "Sarah, what are your daddy and mommy busy with recently?"
Song Xinyi shrugged: "I don't know what they are busy with. My dad goes out for social events every day, and my mom works like crazy. She even went to the mainland today."
It seems that Feng Ma was right, Song Taizhen went to Shenzhen.
Guo Xuyan said: "The old lady of the Luo family and I plan to go to Europe next week..."
Song Xinyi was a little surprised. Didn't they say they were going to sign the contract? She couldn't ask directly, "Auntie Aileen, aren't your parents coming?"
"They have something to do and can't come for the time being." Guo Xuyan handed her a nougat, "Want to eat it? Sister Xiang made it herself."
Song Xinyi was a little disappointed. She didn't say much and held a nougat in her hand but didn't want to eat it at all.
Guo Xuyan saw Song Xinyi's disappointment. She really liked this little girl. If Song Rongji was really dealt with by the Luo family, Song Xinyi's life would probably be difficult in the future.
Guo Xuyan said: "Are your dad and mom free this weekend? Let's have a meal together."
When Song Xinyi heard this, she hurriedly said, "It should be no problem. I'll help you make an appointment with them."
Song Xinyi was very happy because she knew that Auntie Aileen seldom socialized with others and her mother had asked her out several times recently but failed to get the appointment. Unexpectedly, this time Auntie Aileen would take the initiative to invite her parents to dinner.
On Saturday noon, Guo Xuyan met with Song Xiaoping and his wife at the agreed place. There was a simple long table for four people. Mrs. Song ordered grilled lamb chops, pan-fried sole and baked snails for the family of three. Guo Xuyan only ordered a piece of foie gras baked toast and a Nicoise salad for everyone to share.
Everyone is a person who likes to be in the limelight, especially Song Xiaoping. There will be no dull moment with him around. Although their relationship is not good, they are consistent in their external stance.
Time passed quickly as we chatted about today's dishes, the plays that were recently released in theaters, and horse racing.
When lunch was almost over, Guo Xuyan told them the purpose of inviting them out this time.
"Sarah is going to college next year. Do you plan to let her study in Hong Kong or abroad?"
Mrs. Song said, "If you want her to go to the United States, it depends on Sarah's own wishes."
After talking about the schools and majors they like, Guo Xuyan said, "It's popular now to set up a personal fund for your child. The Xu family, the Li family, and our Luo family all do this. No matter what changes happen inside or outside the family in the future, the existence of this fund will not affect the child's normal studies and life, and can ensure that the child has a worry-free life throughout his or her life."
Song Xiaoping smiled and said, "We bought insurance for Sarah."
"I heard Sarah say that, but that insurance is not enough. You all know that I like Sarah, and I am not a person who likes to give advice to others. As Sarah's elder, I suggest that you should take out some funds to set up a fund for her."
Mrs. Song was very supportive. She had thought about this before and knew that all the major wealthy families operated in this way, so their new wealthy family could also learn from it.
But Song Xiaoping disagreed. It was great that Guo Xuyan brought it up this time. She could also take some money from the old man.
Mrs. Song said, "Aileen's suggestion coincides with mine. Sarah had a classmate whose family did the same thing. Later, her classmate's family went bankrupt, but because she had a personal fund, it had no impact on her at all, and she continued her studies as usual. Her quality of life did not decrease either."
If Song Xiaoping doesn't say anything, his money will not be taken out. It's useless for him to support or oppose. The only useful thing may be that the couple can maintain a consistent opinion in front of the old man, which will help his daughter gain more benefits.
Later, Song Xiaoping left early because of something. Guo Xuyan chatted with Mrs. Song for a while. She asked indirectly, "How is your business recently?"
Mrs. Song didn't know what to say, so she just said, "Doing business is too difficult. There is a hurdle ahead. If you can't get over it, all the money you earned this year will be lost."
According to Mrs. Song, Song Rongji will definitely be able to survive, the only question is how much profit it will make. Guo Xuyan finally felt relieved.
Finally, Guo Xuyan did not forget to remind Mrs. Song that establishing a personal fund was very important to Song Xinyi and asked her to pay attention to it.
School is about to start. Xiangzi is catching up on his homework. Ye Zhao sits beside him to tutor him and reads a magazine. Xiaotian comes over to play and make trouble.
Xiaotian said to Brother Xiang, "It would be great if you didn't go to Hong Kong City to study. Maybe you would be like me and go to technical secondary school right now. Look at you, you still have to study in Form 7."
Brother Xiang ignored him, and Ye Zhao smiled and said, "Form 6 and Form 7 are preparatory courses, which is similar to your technical secondary school."
"That's different. I went out to work after finishing technical secondary school, but he had to go to university after finishing preparatory courses."
"After you finish technical secondary school, if you want to continue, you can also take the college entrance examination..."
Xiaotian was speechless. He avoided the topic, stroked his slightly fat double chin, and said with a smile: "Ye Zhao, you are an undergraduate and I am a technical secondary school student, so you are two grades higher than me, right?"
Ye Zhao raised his eyebrows slightly: "What do you think?"
Gap! Zeng Xiaotian asked again: "When does your school start?"
"September 4th!"
"We are the same. I will be going to Guangcheng on the 2nd and will not be able to come back until the holidays. I haven't decided whether to transfer my household registration there. If I do, I will be a Guangcheng resident. But if I move my household registration there, my mother is afraid that I will not get any dividends from the village in the future. What do you think, should I move or not?"
Ye Zhao sincerely suggested: "Don't move."
"You also think it's better not to move?"
As a future person, Ye Zhao said: "Of course. Believe me, your status in this village will be very valuable in the future. You need a household registration to get dividends, demolition and housing."
Zeng Xiaotian didn't understand this at all. He said nonchalantly, "We have plenty of houses."
"Then why are you asking me for my opinion? But you don't listen to me."
Xiaotian was still talking, and Ye Zhao ignored him, but he was still talking. Finally, Zeng Xiang, who was buried in books, raised his head and gave him a glare. Xiaotian quickly shut up.
"I'm leaving. I know. You're tired of me! You stinky lovers, bullying an honest man."
Ye Zhao directly hit Xiaotian on the butt with a book, "Who bullied you! Are you considered an honest man?"
"Look! Brother Xiang, she spanked my butt! Your woman spanked my butt! Don't you care?" Xiaotian turned around and protested seriously.
Zeng Xiang reached out to touch the dart next to him. With just one move, Xiao Tian was so scared that he ran away, holding his butt, shouting, "I'm leaving! I'm going to eat some iced watermelon. I wanted to give you some..."
"Zeng Xiaotian!" Zeng Xiang called him!
"What?"
"Watermelon. Two pieces."
Ye Zhao smiled and added: "Thank you!"
Zeng Xiaotian rolled his eyes in anger, but he could do nothing but "Wait."
After Xiaotian left, Ye Zhao was still thinking about the previous topic. She asked in confusion, "Brother Xiang, you have a Hongcheng resident ID card and a Zengwuwei household registration. Will your Zengwuwei household registration be cancelled in the future?"
Zeng Xiang raised his head and looked at her. He had never cared about this question before. He just shook his head and said, "I don't know."
Gan Xiaofeng came. She had work to report to Ye Zhao. Ye Zhao invited Gan Xiaofeng to her room to chat.
After entering Ye Zhao's room and closing the door, Gan Xiaofeng said, "Song Rongji has made an offer of 1.8 yuan per catty to buy all of our Xishan small yellow ginger, including the inventory and the off-season small yellow ginger in the field."
"And then nothing happened?"
"Yes. After we rejected it, there was no further news. Manager Fu said that the leader was unwilling to increase the price."
Ye Zhao had expected this, "What else?"
"How do you know there are more?"
Ye Zhao pulled a chair for Gan Xiaofeng and sat on the bed. "Tell me about it."
Gan Xiaofeng sat down and said, "There are two other companies that also want to buy all of our small yellow ginger. One of them is a local ginger shop in Shenzhen. They quoted a price of 1.9 yuan per catty, but nothing happened after that. The other is a company in Fujian Province. They quoted 2.5 yuan per catty. This company is relatively positive and easy to communicate with. Aqin strongly recommends trying to cooperate with this company."
These were obviously brokerage companies hired by Song Rongji to buy on his behalf. Ye Zhao asked Gan Xiaofeng calmly, "What do you think?"
Ye Zhao was afraid that too many people would know about her and Xiang Ge's plan, and someone would accidentally reveal it to Song Rongji, so she did not tell Zhao Hua's colleagues that this batch of turmeric would not be sold.
Currently, Gan Xiaofeng and Aqin are very active in selling turmeric.
Gan Xiaofeng said: "Now all the ginger fields in Xishan Town are being disinfected with lime. Even if others come to plant off-season, they will definitely not be able to catch up with us. So next January, our Xishan small yellow ginger will have no competitors. I don't think we need to rush to order it to others. We should maintain the last two customers first and order it later."
Gan Xiaofeng's idea was right. Ye Zhao nodded and said, "You can verbally agree to the company in Fujian Province, but if you can't get the contract, you can lure them..."
"Luring them?" Gan Xiaofeng didn't understand why Ye Zhao did this. "Selling it to them for 2.5 yuan?"
"Yes. I agreed to sell it to them, but I didn't take any deposit. The contract was just delayed. You said I was busy at the beginning of the school year. The boss agreed but he hasn't come back to sign and seal it yet..."
Gan Xiaofeng nodded, not quite understanding: "Okay."
"Remember, if you don't collect the deposit, the contract will be delayed until at least November."
"I understand." Gan Xiaofeng felt that the price was still too low. She said, "Xiao Zhao, are you really selling it for 2.5 yuan? I think our batch of small yellow ginger can be sold for more than 3 yuan. Sheng Heji sells it directly in Gangcheng, and the price can be sold for 4 or 5 yuan. We can keep some for ourselves."
"Just follow my instructions."
Although Gan Xiaofeng didn't understand Ye Zhao's plan, she still agreed. She is a good executor.
A few days later, at the Song Rongji headquarters in Gangcheng, Mr. Liao was reporting to Mrs. Song.
"There's good news from Jinhuang Company. Zhaohua has agreed to sell small yellow ginger, and they are preparing to sign the contract."
Song Tai breathed a sigh of relief: "Finally got it. It wasn't easy. What did the overseas big customer say? Did they agree to postpone the delivery for one month?"
Mr. Liao said: "The contact person said that there should be no problem. When the leader comes back from the business trip, he will confirm with us. At that time, we will give them a batch of other products as compensation."
"Compensation products are trivial matters. As long as we can extend it for a month, then basically all the problems will be solved."
Mr. Liao smiled and said, "I will communicate directly with their contact person, so there shouldn't be any mistakes."
As they were talking, Song Xiaoping came in. He had been coming to the company frequently recently and was more concerned about the company's performance than ever before. When he heard that the several problems Song Rongji was facing had been basically solved, he sat on the sofa, tapping the table with his fingers, and said to his wife: "This wave is good, you are really good. I will be relieved if the performance can be successfully completed."
Mrs. Song stared at Song Xiaoping and asked worriedly, "Are you gambling with others again?"
"Nothing."
"I see you've been very financially relaxed lately. Have you paid off your 10 million debt?"
"It's none of your business. You won't pay it back to me." Song Xiaoping stood up and went out holding up his suit.
Song Rongji spent September and October in peace and prosperity. In early November, General Manager Liao received a fax from a major overseas customer, which clearly stated that it did not agree to postpone the delivery of the goods.
At the same time, the agency they found, Jinhuang, also received a notice from Zhaohua that the boss would not sign, so they returned the contract.
This was not the most shocking news. After all, poor performance would only result in some losses at most. After catching their breath next year, they could make a comeback. The truly fatal news came from Song Xiaoping.
When Mrs. Song heard the news, she almost fainted.
(End of this chapter)