Chapter 330: Time Reveals a Person's Heart (Part 3)

Chapter 330: Chapter 222: Time Reveals a Person’s Heart (Part 3)

Zhao Rui was a little annoyed at being called Xiaozhao. He felt Li Yang was being arrogant and should have addressed him as President Zhao.

Little did Zhao Rui know that Li Yang didn’t take him seriously in the slightest. If his aunt weren’t about to become the regional head, Li Yang would have seen him as no better than a dog.

Suppressing his displeasure, Zhao Rui said politely, “Yes, Xiaohan and I have always gotten along well. Plus, I’ve admired President Li for a long time, so I thought I’d stop by and see if there’s anything I can help with.”

Han Chao remained silent. ‘Son of a bitch,’ he cursed inwardly, ‘so I’ve finally become “Xiaohan.”‘

Li Yang hadn’t intended to chat much with Zhao Rui anyway, so when Zhao Rui offered to help, he immediately stated what he needed.

“Xiaohan has probably talked to you about this. We took on the NLB brand this year. I don’t need to tell you how strong the brand is—everyone recognizes it. But when it came to channel expansion, the previous regional leadership was biased toward Yanghe Commerce, which has hindered our growth.

Frankly, I think the previous regional leadership was a bit shortsighted. Yanghe Commerce is a new company that just had a stroke of dumb luck. Their first store did well, and the region immediately decided they had strong operational capabilities and partnered with them across the board. That decision was too rash. Besides, I heard from Xiaohan—and he said the info came from you, Xiaozhao—that their commercial terms are also extremely low. That offers absolutely no benefit to Xinyue Group.

They sacrificed so much in rental income and even had to throw in consumer subsidy vouchers. Isn’t that just a money-losing proposition?”

Zhao Rui smiled and drained the water in his cup. Han Chao quickly refilled it for him.

“President Li is right. I don’t know what those people in the regional office were thinking, pulling a stunt that so seriously harms the company’s interests. No wonder he got the sack.”

Li Yang then leaned forward slightly, forcing a smile and a look of feigned concern. “President Zhao’s appointment should be announced soon, right? She’s supposed to arrive in Qingzhou this weekend.”

Zhao Rui was even more anxious than him, but he put on an inscrutable air and said, “It’ll be in the next day or two. Because Old Tian’s removal was so sudden, a lot of the procedures are a bit unconventional.”

Then he added, “Don’t worry, President Li. In the future, the region will definitely only partner with Futong Commerce for NLB. As for Yanghe Commerce, forget about opening new stores—they won’t even be able to hold on to their current location in Xinyue Square. We can’t possibly give such a prime location to them on such favorable terms.”

At this, Li Yang smiled tentatively. “Is that so? If you could transfer the Xinyue Square store to me under their current terms, I’d be willing to pay a hefty price.”

Zhao Rui, of course, understood the implication. He nodded. “President Li, I’ll get on it. I’ll let you know when I have news.”

Li Yang was overjoyed. “Great! Here, Xiaozhao, let’s add each other on WeChat. You can contact me directly if you need anything from now on.”

Ordinarily, Li Yang would have disdained exchanging contact information with someone of Zhao Rui’s status. But hearing that he could get the Xinyue Square store made him ecstatic. That was a store with over two million in monthly sales! The performance of that single store was equal to the combined total of all his smaller brands’ stores in the entire province. And that didn’t even include livestreaming and online sales. Every time Li Yang thought about that store, his mouth watered.

“Xiaozhao, there’s one more thing I need your help with. You’ve probably seen how popular the recent livestream co-hosted by Yanghe Commerce and the Xinyue Group regional headquarters has been. We looked into it, and its success was mainly driven by the regional company’s promotional efforts to attract customers and their unlimited consumer subsidy vouchers. I’m hoping you can help us arrange something similar next month. And, uh, don’t worry, you’ll be well compensated.”

Zhao Rui all but beat his chest in assurance. “President Li, that’s a piece of cake. Just wait for my good news.”

He was in a great mood. Ever since he found out Yang Hui was the boss of Yanghe Commerce, and especially since Yang Hui had stopped using his personal connections to gain advantages for his company, Li Yang hadn’t felt this good in a very long time.

“Great. Xiaozhao, you’re a true brother. Xiaohan, get everything arranged for tonight. Prepare a few bottles of good liquor; we’ll have ourselves a few drinks.”

He still had company matters to attend to. Now that he had achieved his goal, he had no more time to waste chatting with Zhao Rui. He briefly mentioned getting together again once President Zhao arrived in Qingzhou. Zhao Rui readily took on all the arrangements, boasting about how much his aunt doted on him and treated him like her own son.

Li Yang actually believed that part. ‘Who else would put that much effort into mentoring such a stupid nephew?’ he thought. ‘I certainly wouldn’t be able to.’

Han Chao left with Zhao Rui. They would go to the restaurant ahead of time to chat and wait for Li Yang to get off work before eating together. On the way, Han Chao said, “I’ll go grab two bottles of Maotai in a bit. We can drink our fill tonight.”

Zhao Rui waited at Han Chao’s desk, while Han Chao filled out a liquor requisition form and went to find Li Yang for a signature.

Just then, Li Yang got a call from a friend in his network of partners, inviting him for a couple of drinks that evening. From the doorway, Han Chao heard Li Yang say, “Ah, sorry, brother. I’ve got guests tonight, and there are a few things I want to discuss with them over dinner. Really sorry about this.”

“Oh, Old Song and the others are all there? Ah, well, please explain to them for me. I’ll send them a message in a bit too. I’ll treat everyone another day.”

Han Chao could hear that Li Yang hadn’t hung up; the person on the other end was probably still trying to persuade him. Finally, he heard Li Yang say, “Alright, fine. I’ll try to wrap things up early here. I’ll head over for the second round.”

Han Chao felt a sense of relief. He had been worried that if Li Yang joined them for the after-party, it would be hard for him to really let loose. ‘Looks like he has somewhere else to be,’ he thought. ‘Everything is perfect.’

“Boss, the liquor requisition form.”

Li Yang took it and glanced at it. “What the fuck? Are you a fucking idiot?”