Chapter 60

After Ye Huayu had said so much, Chu Zhishui indeed couldn't stay any longer.

Coincidentally, New Perspective Video was about to launch a new campaign. After collecting feedback from the flagship store, they quickly adjusted their new product designs, and Chu Zhishui needed to return to Huaijiang for preparations. She finally booked her flight and headed back with Xin Yunmao.

When Ye Huayu learned of this news, he finally breathed a sigh of relief. His mood considerably improved, and keeping his promise, he helped the Economic Development Department monitor the store. He even paid out of his own pocket to create a peacock standing sign for the storefront.

Du Zigui sent photos of the storefront to Chu Zhishui, assuring her that the flagship store was doing well and that she could focus on her work in Huaijiang.

The flashy peacock sign in the photo dazzled Chu Zhishui's eyes, but since she was already back at the Huaijiang office, she couldn't comment on Director Ye's aesthetic choices.

At Dragon Knowledge Company, the ongoing tension between Observation Bureau's flagship store and the company's collective stores was draining their accounts, putting pressure on the executives.

"CEO Li, if this continues, the internal financial pressure will be too great. Plus, with New Perspective launching another campaign, we'll need significant spending to compete for traffic."

"That's right, and New Perspective doesn't have collective store operations. They just arrange for merchants to open stores and help with promotion, which makes them more flexible in crisis situations," someone said. "Collective stores boost company data, but the subsequent quality control and management are time and labor-intensive. It's not sustainable."

While Observation Bureau's flagship store only sold their own brand products, Dragon Knowledge's collective stores featured multiple brands. It sounded more impressive but was harder to operate.

Li Longke remained silent for a long while. He rubbed his palms together and declared, "Let's hold on until New Perspective's next campaign ends. As long as we make our numbers look good this time, we'll gradually raise prices or close stores on a large scale afterward."

"What?" someone exclaimed in surprise. "But some stores have just opened, and several more are in preparation."

"Then we'll keep operating them. It'll help with the financing evaluation. We can close them after securing the funding."

The crazy cycle of opening stores only to close them soon after would impact many people's jobs. The only benefit would be securing more financing through the collective store plan.

Everyone exchanged glances. Even though they knew this was about raising money to save the company, they were still shocked by CEO Li's decision. Perhaps it's difficult for people to truly empathize with others' suffering. While the executives felt conflicted internally, none spoke up to oppose the plan.

Soon after, New Perspective's National Brand Special Sale kicked off. As one of the key promoted stores, Observation Bureau, after months of extensive marketing, was set to launch their new products across all platforms that day.

These products were previously only available in the flagship store, but now they were being updated and upgraded, with new features based on customer feedback.

Chen Zhuhui had been using various platform accounts to help build anticipation for New Perspective's National Brand Special Sale.

[Observation Bureau: Thank you for your patience. After months of new product research, our flavored ginger strips and ginseng soup packets will have new flavors to choose from. Plus, the highly anticipated "Life's Bitter But Keep Taking Ginseng" drink packets will be launched for the first time. Stay tuned for activity details.]

[Finally! I won't need to use purchasing agents for ginger strips anymore. The shipping fees were almost as much as the snacks.]

[More flavors than the flagship store! The soup packets now come in four seasonal versions!]

[Why isn't there a mock green tea drink packet? I'd rather have that.]

[Observation Bureau: We sincerely apologize. To ensure the drink packets taste identical to our flagship store beverages, our R&D team has been working overtime until their hair fell out. However, due to the scarcity of raw materials for mock green tea, we cannot guarantee the same flavor as the freshly brewed version in our stores, so it's temporarily unavailable.]

[No wonder the mock green tea costs twelve yuan, it's the most expensive drink in the store and hard to replicate.]

[I've always wondered, do you actually make money?]

[True, when I buy ingredients from the market to make soup, it costs more than their soup packets. So now I mix half market ingredients and half soup packets. Perfect!]

[Observation Bureau: We're a small business operating on thin margins and high volume. Your support keeps us going~]

In the Economic Development Department, Chu Zhishui casually scrolled through Observation Bureau's Weibo and was surprised by the official account's replies, especially the line about "the R&D team working overtime until their hair fell out" - had Old White's roots fallen out?

She put away her phone and asked Jin Yu, "Is everything arranged with the factory?"

"No problem, we've given advance notice. Production and shipping can keep up."

"Good, the discounts are substantial this time, and with the intense pre-promotion, we might get swamped with orders."

Since Observation Bureau's flagship store opened, New Perspective Video had been pushing traffic their way, and the National Brand Special Sale was the perfect opportunity to monetize. If New Perspective broke records again during this campaign, Qi Chang would completely take over Li Longke's authority, at least in the eyes of the main investor, Green Profit Group.

But these worldly matters didn't concern Chu Zhishui. She'd follow whoever offered the best discounts, just like when she agreed to Li Longke's cooperation offer that day, though unfortunately, he wasn't willing to offer favorable terms for her to take advantage of.

On the day of New Perspective's National Brand Special Sale, Wang Yiwen and others arranged numerous activities, including online opening screen promotions and celebrity livestream sales, as well as offline cooperation with evening events, placing QR codes in the lower right corner of TV programs for viewers to scan.

In the National Brand Special Sale livestream room, celebrity hosts would introduce products in sequence, with Observation Bureau's new products prominently featured.

The celebrity host picked up the ginseng soup packet and smiled, "Alright, everyone's been asking about this brand. Now we finally have Observation Bureau's new soup packets. The flagship store only had the spring version before, but I actually tried the new summer version last night and liked it better..."

[Summer version is heresy! Spring version is the best!]

[Does this store have any discounts in the livestream? I just remember they're cheap and generous with portions. I buy from them without even checking for discounts.]

[It's not store discounts, it's New Perspective's joint discount. Their online and offline prices are the same.]

[Oh no, I wasn't fast enough! Missed the small gifts for the first 50,000 orders. Crying!]

[It froze as soon as I clicked. Did it last even a second?]

During the National Brand Special Sale livestream, the "Life's Bitter But Keep Taking Ginseng" drink packets reached 100,000 sales, the ginseng soup packets (four seasons version) hit 80,000 sales, and the flavored ginger strips achieved 50,000 sales, standing out among all products in the livestream!

And this was just in the livestream room. More buyers weren't watching the stream but quietly waiting to snap up products as soon as they launched on Observation Bureau's online store.

By the end of the day's activities, the ginseng drink packets broke 500,000 sales, ginseng soup packets reached 300,000 sales, and flavored ginger strips hit 200,000 sales. The new product launch also boosted sales of older products, with the scalp nourishing cream maintaining its popularity at 200,000 sales, while the remaining ginger candy and ginseng foot soak powder also sold well.

Despite the extremely low pricing, the surge in sales couldn't be stopped. When calculated together, the net profit actually exceeded 20 million yuan!

Compared to Observation Bureau's company size, this amount was astronomical, especially considering it was just from one day of activities, with new products continuing to generate steady income afterward!

Other companies with larger staff and scale, selling products priced at two to three hundred yuan, might barely achieve such figures. Observation Bureau's small but beautiful model sparked industry discussion. Though the small company kept a low profile, they were actually making incredible profits, and all from reasonably priced products that had never seen a price increase.

With quality control in check and affordable prices, once the Observation Bureau brand gained recognition, they could survive even without New Perspective.

New Perspective Video, riding on the success of the National Brand Special Sale, easily secured their first round of financing and earned high expectations from the industry.

Compared to Dragon Knowledge Video, their profit model was clearer, and they had convincing success stories. They managed to make the unknown Observation Bureau popular and secured local poverty alleviation policy support from Huaijiang City, making their future look much brighter.

In Yinhai City, Li Longke had been restless at the company lately. He tore up the report in his hands and angrily threw it into the trash.

Dragon Knowledge launched a similar campaign to compete with New Perspective, but after extensive store expansion and promotion, their activity data barely matched New Perspective's. In this battle, if Dragon Knowledge didn't win with significantly higher numbers, it was a complete loss, given the different investment costs.

Li Longke had been contacting investors recently, but they were either evasive or directly rejected him, mainly because industry insiders believed New Perspective's system was healthier, while Dragon Knowledge seemed like a spent force.

Some wanted to acquire Dragon Knowledge at a low price, advising Li Longke to exit early, as they couldn't win this fight.

How could he sell at a low price?

He had invested his own money in the last round of financing, and he absolutely couldn't sell his shares at a low price now!

There was a gentle knock on the office door.

Li Longke irritably said, "Come in."

"Mr. Li, the promotion just ended, and we're having some after-sales issues. While our sales data during the event was good, we've been getting customer complaints about shipping and quality control. Some brands might have..."

"Am I a customer service representative? Do I need to solve these kinds of problems!?" Li Longke shouted angrily. "How can you not handle even these minor issues!?"

"But we were the ones who led the collective store initiative..."

Li Longke slammed his fist on the desk: "Then just shut down the store! That's not what's urgent right now - what matters is that the company has no money!"

"...Alright, we'll go handle it."

According to Li Longke's plan, once Dragon Knowledge defeated New Perspective in the promotion, they would secure new funding, which would ease the company's cash flow problems.

However, New Perspective successfully raised funds through their National Brands Special Event, and Dragon Knowledge's promised investors backed out, likely sensing something was amiss.

After all, with better options available, why choose Dragon Knowledge?

Li Longke had been like an ant on a hot pan these past few days. If he couldn't secure funding quickly, the company might not survive. Searᴄh the ηovelFire.ηet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

When it rains, it pours - no one expected the final straw that would break Dragon Knowledge would come from within, from their own employees.

In the Economic Development Department, Jin Yu was shocked by what she saw on her phone. She turned around and asked, "Was that company you used to work for called Dragon Knowledge?"

"Yes, what's wrong?"

"Some employees have gone public demanding unpaid wages, and they're criticizing the current boss for embezzling company funds!"

Chu Zhishui was stunned. She quickly pulled out her phone and found the article online. The account claimed to represent a group of Dragon Knowledge employees seeking payment, and they were willing to reveal their identities at a crucial moment to expose Li Longke's long-term improper practices.

The article described Dragon Knowledge's normalized overtime culture, months of unpaid wages after busy promotional periods, and colleagues falling ill from overwork while still being forced to handle tasks. It detailed severe internal conflicts, rapid expansion followed by sudden store closures leading to debt in many locations, and mass deletion of customer complaints in an attempt to quell after-sales issues.

Most importantly, someone angrily accused Li Longke of misappropriating company funds, not only paying himself an excessive salary with investors' money but also pushing out other founders and allegedly enriching himself through various illegal channels.

They demanded the investment team investigate thoroughly, believing Li Longke had not used the funding for its promised legitimate purposes, potentially breaking the law.

Aliali: 674843b7c4f3f33ac47659ac

In such cases, if investigations proved these claims true, the investment team would have every right to demand compensation and could withdraw their original investment!

The article was written with heart-wrenching detail, moving readers to tears, clearly demonstrating the copywriting skills of the employees behind it.

Chu Zhishui hadn't expected Li Longke would dare to misappropriate money. Such things hadn't happened when she was at the company - she'd thought he was just pushing the boundaries with fundraising, not crossing into illegal territory.

After reading the emotional article, Jin Yu had tears in her eyes and empathetically said, "I thought my situation was bad enough making less than 2,000, but you had it even worse - they actually withheld your wages."

Chu Zhishui was surprised to find Jin Yu feeling sorry for her and quickly said, "No, no, no, when I was at the company, they weren't withholding wages! It wasn't that bad!"

After all, she had been a founder, so her pay wasn't withheld.

"Then why did you leave?"

"Because I got sick at the time..." Chu Zhishui looked at Jin Yu's peculiar expression, her voice getting smaller as she continued, feeling guilty as she added, "and had to go to the emergency room?"

Jin Yu exclaimed, "And you still say it wasn't that bad! This is exactly what the article described!"

"..."