In September, after the autumnal equinox, the White Dew arrives, the wild geese come, and a slight coolness has filled the air without people noticing.
Su Zelin sat in Yang Fen's CEO office, leisurely drinking Kung Fu tea with Yang's younger brother Kang Baohong.
The afternoon sun shines on my body through the floor-to-ceiling windows, giving me a feeling of peace and tranquility.
Looking at a report on the table, the three giants were in a good mood.
This is a season of harvest, and the same is true for the new century.
The number of New Century stores has exceeded 10,000!
This is a milestone achievement!
The provinces or municipalities with the most impressive number of stores are developed ones, such as the Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Luzhou regions, Yanjing, and eastern Guangdong. After all, these regions have strong consumption capacity.
Among them, those cities and counties with many universities have made important contributions. After all, at the beginning of the new century, they made their names from universities and then gradually expanded to urban areas.
Although the performance in the urban area has already surpassed the former, the company will definitely not give up on the university market.
After all, this group of young people who are about to enter society will also be a very important consumer force in the future. If they win their loyalty through service and word of mouth when they are in college, they will reap rich rewards in the future.
Therefore, the company has not underestimated the decline of the university market, but has paid more attention to it, and the stores in various schools always have the most activities.
The speed at which stores increased really surprised Su Zelin. You know, when the Spring Festival Gala was performed, New Century had only more than 2,000 stores. But in just over half a year, the number has quadrupled. This is a bit scary.
Originally, Hunzi estimated that he would have to wait until next year to achieve the goal of having more than 10,000 stores.
Although the company attaches great importance to work efficiency and opens directly-operated stores continuously, it is absolutely impossible to accomplish this task relying solely on directly-operated stores. Franchise stores have become the biggest contributors to this milestone.
Su Zelin underestimated the power of the Spring Festival Gala, and the exclusive sponsorship plan of giving out red envelopes that he designed himself was unprecedentedly successful, which boosted the company's reputation far more than any other brand in history. It also won the favor and trust of many investors, and the company received a large number of franchise applications every day.
Then the “Thousand Counties Plan” was implemented, which gave a boost to the number of stores, which exceeded five digits.
The surge in stores and the improvement in the company’s performance and profits compared to the previous year’s financial statements are beyond doubt.
After all, before October last year, New Century’s territory was limited to the Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Lu regions, but now its stores have sprung up in every province, city, and even county towns across the country.
"At this rate of opening new stores, if nothing unexpected happens, we will be able to enter the rural market next year!"
Little Brother Yang said with great joy.
The first year is the Lin'an college market, the second year is the Lin'an market, the third year is the provincial market, the fourth year is the Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Luzhou regional market, and the fifth year is the national market...
When he first started working with Su Zelin, Brother Yang was surprised by Su Zelin's extremely fast pace. He felt it was too fast and unstable, and he was even a little worried. However, he gradually got used to this rhythm. If he slowed down, he would feel at a loss.
Kang Baohong was also very excited.
When he opened the first Caiyuan store, he never dared to dream that five years later New Century would have more than 10,000 stores!
This is simply a miracle!
"There are 18,765 towns in our country now. If there is a New Century store in every town, it should be no problem for us to have more than 30,000 stores!"
Kang Baohong looks forward to the future with excitement.
When talking about this topic, the three of them also talked about their initial ideas for the town-level market.
Although it's still early, it's always good to prepare for a rainy day.
After finishing the business, Kang Baohong said, "Mr. Yang, Su Zong, if you are free tomorrow night, come to my place for dinner."
"Oh, the decoration is done, ready to move into the new house?"
Yang Fen asked casually.
The "dormitory" that Kang Baohong mentioned naturally refers to the staff apartment, not the house he bought outside.
The staff apartments have been delivered long ago, and many of the employees who have obtained a quota and completed the loan procedures have already started decorating their apartments. During this period, we have heard about some people moving into their new homes one after another.
"Well, we won't have a banquet this time. We can just have a meal with our family and best friends."
This is his second house. Kang Baohong is not as excited as he was when he first realized his dream of buying a house. Besides, buying a house is not a difficult thing for him now.
"Okay, we have to go!"
Su Zelin nodded: "My set will be later, but it will be almost ready next month, hehe."
Hunzi is not in a hurry to renovate the house. Although he is still renting a house now, he has his good friend and Xiaoyanzi there. It is quite nice for the two couples who have known each other since high school to have a meal together occasionally.
Brother Xiao Yang is even less anxious. He and Kang Baohong have both purchased houses outside. The staff apartments are mainly for the convenience of taking a rest at noon after moving into the new headquarters. However, they are still in Dingsheng Building, which is a bit far from the new headquarters. Even if it is renovated, he will not live there for the time being. It is better to be closer to home.
"Bring your wives along, it'll be more lively!"
Kang Baohong reminded again.
This seemingly unintentional remark made Su Zelin's heart move: "Chu Jie will also come by then, right? Are you guys done?"
"Yes, it's done."
Kang Baohong grinned, a little embarrassed: "Just a few days ago, she agreed to be my girlfriend."
"Oh, congratulations! That's double happiness!"
Brother Yang patted Kang Baohong on the shoulder and felt happy for him.
"Haha, it's okay."
Kang Baohong was in high spirits.
When Kang Yulian asked him to go on a blind date, the guy was actually a little resistant as he was only thinking about his career. Unexpectedly, he fell in love with the girl and thought she was a pretty good person. After they started dating, he became more motivated at work. Kang Baohong secretly thanked himself for listening to Su Zelin at the time, otherwise he would have missed out on a good wife.
In the process of his pursuit of Chu Jie, the "old man" Su Zelin came up with a lot of ideas, which made the other party agree to be his girlfriend so quickly.
After get off work the next day, Su Zelin drove with Qin Shiqing to Building A of the staff apartment building at the new headquarters in Binjiang District.
The owners of this apartment are either managers, directors or their deputies of various departments of the company, or people holding important positions such as engineers. There are three households per floor in each unit. Yang Fen, Su Zelin and Kang Baohong's houses are located in the same unit on the top floor and are neighbors.
"Ding Dong, Ding Dong..."
The doorbell rang a few times, and it was Kang Baohong who came out to open the door.
"Boss Su, Qin Shiqing, you are here!"
"Boss Kang, happy new home, good luck to you, and may everything go well!"
Su Zelin and Qin Shiqing each handed over a big red envelope. When they were familiar with each other, they could not miss the social etiquette.
"Thank you. I'm very happy that you can do me the honor. Why are you being so polite? Please come in!"
Having said that, Kang Baohong still accepted the red envelope. After all, it was a token of his thoughtfulness and blessing.
After changing into slippers, the two followed him into the living room.
The house is over 170 square meters in total, with two living rooms and five bedrooms, decorated in Chinese style, and mostly made of wood furniture, including Huanghuali sofas, rosewood coffee tables, mahogany dining tables and TV cabinets...
Su Zelin is quite knowledgeable about precious solid wood furniture. In his previous life, he had a suite that was decorated in Chinese style, and he got almost all the most expensive solid wood in the world.
The first house Kang Baohong bought was decorated in European style. At that time, this guy had a bit of a nouveau riche mentality and thought that European style was the best in the world and was a symbol of nouveau riche.
But with the rise of the new century and the improvement of my status, I came into contact with more and more big bosses, and then I found that the European style was no longer so popular among this group in the 21st century, but the traditional Chinese style became more popular.
For example, when you are drinking tea in a boss's office, the other party will pretentiously talk about what kind of wood this coffee table is made of and how many Ws it costs, which sounds very impressive.
Then other bosses also echoed the sentiment and talked about it, saying that their own wooden sofas, dining tables, beds or coffee tables also cost many Ws.
Kang Baohong was very depressed at this time because he couldn't get a word in.
His house is decorated in European style and the furniture is indeed not that expensive.
Over time, influenced by this, Kang Baohong's taste gradually changed. He became more obsessed with Chinese style and solid wood furniture. So he took the opportunity of decorating the staff apartment to satisfy his interest.
However, in Su Zelin's opinion, he can only be regarded as a junior player at best.
At a glance, the gangster could tell that the material quality of these wooden furniture was only average.
Only the sofa set is a bit expensive, probably costing ten thousand yuan based on the current domestic market price.
Ordinary people may think that a sofa worth one hundred thousand is already a sky-high price, but in the eyes of senior players in the industry, it is nothing.
Take ebony as an example. High-quality ebony can be sold for more than 10 million yuan per ton in later generations, while ordinary ebony only costs tens of thousands of yuan per ton.
Therefore, even the same type of solid wood furniture can have very different prices.
If you have a little financial resources, you can't afford high-end products.
Kang Baohong's current financial resources do not allow him to be a high-end player, although his net worth based on shares has already made him a billionaire.
But net worth is just net worth after all. His main savings come from his high salary as general manager in recent years and dividends from small shareholders, especially the skyrocketing growth in the last one or two years.
The accumulation of wealth in the new century is like a snowball, which is relatively small at the beginning and then grows bigger and bigger. The company's profits and shareholders' dividends have also reached new peaks again and again with the development of the market and the increase in the number of stores.
This rapid growth trend will continue until the layout of the town-level market is completed and the channel network of 30,000 stores across the country is completely built, and then it will gradually stabilize.
There may be some growth in the future, but it will definitely not be as terrifying as before.
By that time, Kang Baohong's income will be enough to make him a player in the high-end solid wood furniture industry.
"Boss Su!"
When Su Zelin appeared, an old man sitting on the sofa came over to greet him.
He was short and thin, slightly hunchbacked, with dark skin, wrinkles on his forehead, gray hair on his temples, and silver hairs mixed in his sparse stubble. His calloused hands were like rough pine bark, and his whole body was covered with traces of time. He looked weathered and must have suffered a lot when he was young.
Kang Lixiang, Kang Baohong's father.
The two have met before.
It was when Kang Baohong bought his first house and moved into it.
Rural people attach great importance to the sense of ceremony of moving into a new house, so family members naturally have to participate, so Kang Baohong ran back to bring his parents over.
In fact, the two elders had long wanted to come to Lin'an to see their son, but he had no chance to go to school since he was young, lacked education, was illiterate, and didn't even know how to take a train, so he had never been able to come.
Not long after their son moved into his new home, they moved back, even though Kang Baohong tried to keep them and asked the two elders to consider moving in.
However, they all said that they were not used to living in the city, they didn't know anyone, and they were bored all day long. Their hometown was better, so they didn't stay in the end.
Kang Baohong had never dared to date a boss or a daughter of a wealthy family because he took his family situation into consideration and was afraid that the girl would dislike him.
He laid his cards on the table during his first blind date with Chu Jie.
If even your family can't accept it, it's a waste of time.
Fortunately, although Chu Jie was the daughter of a leader, she did not show any disdain for her. She even said that the father of her boss, the head of the Drug Administration, was also from the countryside. Because of this, Kang Baohong quickly developed a liking for the girl, and later dated her frequently and developed into her girlfriend.
"Boss Su, we are so grateful to you for taking care of Baohong!"
The woman next to Kang Lixiang also spoke respectfully.
This is Kang Baohong’s old mother Miao Guilan.
Both elders knew that Su Zelin was actually the benefactor of their sons' success, so they respected him very much.
Su Zelin hurriedly said, "Uncle Kang, Auntie, you are embarrassing me. Baohong and I are of the same generation. Just call me Xiao Su!"
After a few pleasantries, everyone took their seats.
There were three people sitting on the sofa, a man and a woman, two middle-aged people in their forties or fifties, and a young woman.
Needless to say, the woman was Kang Baohong's girlfriend Chu Jie.
She is not very tall, but petite, with a round face and blessed features. She keeps her brows down and speaks softly, and she doesn't look like a tigress.
As for the middle-aged couple, the man is Chu Jie's father, Chu Junyi, the head of Lin'an Drug Administration, and also Dai Chuangxing's classmate. It is because of this relationship that Kang Baohong has the opportunity to go on a blind date with Chu Jie.
The woman is naturally his lover, Chu Jie's mother.
Because they met through a blind date and the girl's father was also a classmate of his uncle, although they had just established a relationship not long ago, Kang Baohong still invited the two elders of the Chu family to his new home. It was also an opportunity to meet his parents and at the same time express that he was very serious about this relationship.
Su Zelin has a wide network of contacts in Lin'an, and knows many leaders in the government and other departments. However, he has never met this top leader. After all, there is no intersection between this department and New Century's business.
No matter what, he still exchanged greetings with the other party. After all, he was Vice President Dai's classmate and might very well become Kang Baohong's father-in-law and mother-in-law in the future.
Not long after, Brother Xiao Yang and Sister Xiao Yang also arrived. Brother Xiao Yang went to pick up his wife after get off work, so Su Zelin and his wife were a little late.
The last guests to arrive were Dai Chuangxing and Kang Yulian.
This time, when moving to a new house, in addition to his own family, Kang Baohong invited his girlfriend's family, Su Zelin and Xiao Yangge, and Vice President Dai and his wife. They are all the people with whom he is closest now and will be the closest in the future. He did not invite ordinary friends and colleagues from the company, so it was no different from a family dinner.
As soon as Kang Yulian arrived, her eyes fell on Qin Shiqing who was beside Su Zelin.
If nothing unexpected happens, this girl should be Xiao Su's childhood sweetheart.
What a pretty and lovely girl! No wonder she turned me down when I introduced her to a blind date.
She and Xiao Su are indeed a perfect match made in heaven!
"Shiqing, this is Dean Dai from the School of Finance and her wife, Aunt Kang. They are also Kang Baohong's uncle and aunt. They took care of me when I was studying, and I often went to their house for meals after graduation."
"This is my girlfriend, Qin Shiqing, who also works at New Century!"
Su Zelin briefly introduced both parties.
"Dean Dai, Aunt Kang, hello!"
Qin Shiqing greeted politely.
She has a gentle and quiet personality, and speaks a soft and pleasant Wu dialect, which easily wins the favor of others.
Vice Dean Dai nodded slightly at her, and Kang Yulian smiled and said, "Haha, girl, I heard that you and Xiao Su are neighbors. You have known each other since childhood, right?"
"Yes, Auntie, Zelin and I are not only neighbors, but also classmates from elementary school to high school."
Qin Shiqing said with a smile.
"This is fate, you two are such a perfect match!"
“Thank you, Auntie!”
Although she felt a little regretful that she couldn't be Su Zelin's matchmaker, after meeting Qin Shiqing, Kang Yulian realized that the girls she had planned to introduce to her before were really not as good as her.
Even the daughters of some well-off leaders are miles ahead in appearance, temperament and conversation.
After asking a few questions casually and finding out that the man was a top student who graduated from Zhejiang University, Kang Yulian was completely relieved that her matchmaking plan had failed.
The vice president's wife has treated Su Zelin almost like her godson over the years, and naturally hopes that he can find a good wife.
Qin Shiqing not only has outstanding looks and temperament, but also seems to have a good personality. She is the type of person who is virtuous and kind. The more he looks at Qin Shiqing, the more he likes her. He talked to her for a long time and asked her to come to his house for dinner with Su Zelin when she is free in the future.
After the meal, Su Zelin could see that Chu Jie was indeed a good person, with a good temper and patience, hardworking, willing to help with housework, and very kind to the Kang family elders who came from the countryside and were a bit old-fashioned. It didn't seem like she was pretending.
It seems that Baohong has found a good wife!
Chu Junyi was also very satisfied with Kang Baohong.
He also came from a grassroots background, so his family background wasn't something he attached great importance to.
Chu Jie's mother was a bit picky, but Kang Baohong was, after all, the general manager and shareholder of New Century, a status more than worthy of her daughter, so she had no objection to her future son-in-law.
As for the Kang family's two elders' feelings towards Chu Jie, it goes without saying that even though Kang Baohong has become successful and things are different now, they still think that it is absolutely too high for their son to marry the daughter of a provincial leader.
After having dinner and drinking tea at Kang Baohong's house, Su Zelin and Xiao Yangge said goodbye.
After all, I am just a partner and friend, not his family member, and it would be difficult for the two parties to discuss family matters.
On the way back to the rental house, Qin Shiqing said happily, "Xiao Linzi, Aunt Kang said tonight that we are a perfect match made in heaven, a fate destined by heaven!"
"What kind of fate is this? It's just that someone gave up Tsinghua University and Peking University and chose Zhejiang University. He follows me around like a ghost... Ouch."
Before he could finish his words, Qin Shiqing pinched the soft flesh on his waist.
The girl's eyes widened and she said angrily, "What do you mean by haunting me? That was a book that a beautiful girl found out that someone had a crush on me. After graduating from high school, she sold all her books except for the Chinese textbook that I made a handmade cover for. At that time, I felt that this guy was really pitiful. I liked him but didn't dare to say it out loud, so I applied to Zhejiang University out of weakness!"
"Ah, did you find out?"
Su Zelin was a little embarrassed.
Qin Shiqing has never mentioned this matter herself.
She must have discovered it when she was tidying up her drawer, because the empress dowager often asked Qin Shiqing to help her clean up things.
"Tsk, can your little thoughts be hidden from this beautiful lady's sharp eyes?"
Qin Shiqing looked disdainful, and then pretended to be fierce and said: "Now that you have it, you start to dislike this beautiful woman, right?"
As he spoke, he increased the strength of his hands.
The gangster quickly begged for mercy.
"Wife, stop pinching me, or I'll break it!"
"I'm going to pinch you, so you dare to dislike me and say that I'm a lingering ghost, hehe!"
"How could I not? I was just kidding. How could I possibly dislike such a good wife? I will never let her go even if I die!"
“That’s more like it!”
"… "
The sounds of flirting came from the car, which was the sour smell of love.