Chapter 109

"Sister-in-law, you shouldn't say that. You don't know the wealth Professor Gu currently possesses. Actually, he could invest far more than you can imagine, but unfortunately, he's already signed a will that most of his money will be donated to Singapore's opposition party," Yan Dongxue said with a smile while making tea.

She winked, signaling Chen Meilan to be more accommodating.

Since the old man had no children, he had signed a donation agreement with Singapore's opposition party.

Once he dies, all his assets would be taken over by the opposition party.

While he still had money in hand, they should try to get as much as possible.

Yan Dongxue thought Chen Meilan was being obtuse.

Gu Xiao then said, "If you won't accept the investment funds, that's fine. I'll give you another 300,000. 'Return to the City' is a good TV series, but it's too sentimental and doesn't truly and objectively express that era. However, the director told me he has a more realistic version that can't be broadcast on Hua Country's television stations, but he can edit it for me to broadcast in Southeast Asia. What do you think?"

When one approach failed, there was always another. Since the old man couldn't get controlling shares of 271, he wanted to edit a darker, more realistic version of "Return to the City" to broadcast in Singapore.

But because of Chen Meilan's investment, the director needed her permission to sell the drama overseas.

Seeing Chen Meilan still hesitating, Gu Xiao added, "In fact, after the new editing, your daughter's screen time will be longer. She will be the absolute protagonist."

"No," Chen Meilan firmly refused. "This TV series can only be broadcast domestically. I don't agree to sell it to anyone else."

Gu Xiao continued persuading, "Singapore is currently one of Asia's Four Tigers, with 70% Chinese residents. They particularly enjoy watching TV dramas from Hua Country. You want your daughter to become a star from a young age, right? This would be good for her."

But Chen Meilan replied, "During that era, I was still a child. I don't know exactly what happened, and regarding everything that occurred during that time, I only wish to understand it through the history given to us by our country. Although I'm just an insignificant ordinary person, I'm still a citizen of Hua Country. Our family matters don't need others' commentary, and why should foreigners meddle in our country's history?"

She directly categorized Gu Xiao as a foreigner.

Sure enough, Gu Xiao became angry, started coughing, and pointed at the screen saying, "I'm also from Hua Country. I lived through that era. I'm the most qualified person to evaluate and speak about that time."

"No, you're not. You're Singaporean. Didn't Dongxue just say that all your assets will go to Singapore's opposition party after you pass away?" Chen Meilan countered.

Family shame shouldn't be aired abroad. On a broader scale, as a citizen of Hua Country, she couldn't sell things that displayed national wounds to foreign countries. This was a moral bottom line that Chen Meilan had to maintain.

After a long silence, Gu Xiao suppressed his anger and held up three fingers: "Three months. By then, please send Dongpai Fashion's financial report to Singapore by telegram. I retain the right to withdraw investment, and if you fail to achieve product launch and payment collection, I will withdraw and initiate legal proceedings to recover my investment."

Now, he was half-owner of 271.

He still didn't believe Chen Meilan could launch the products within three months.

If Chen Meilan failed, with money spent and products stockpiled, 271 would not only go bankrupt, but Chen Meilan would also be buried in debt.

True to his nature as someone who could watch his loved one walk into a fire pit without intervening, he didn't believe Chen Meilan could succeed. Based on his years of product experience, he knew that product launch typically required 12 months, and payment collection needed another year.

Having been outmaneuvered by Chen Meilan, this was his most ruthless counterattack and blow against her.

But Chen Meilan smiled and said, "I can absolutely do it. Please wait for the good news."

Neither servile nor arrogant, she left Gu Xiao speechless.

Gu Xiao returned to Singapore the next day, and the promised 3.2 million investment quickly arrived.

As soon as 271's 800,000 was in place, Chen Meilan immediately sent Xue Mingfang to Hong Kong on business to hire designers, create clothing and bag patterns, and purchase raw materials, while she herself focused on promotional materials and invited Xiong Dapao to help contact regional distributors.

Simultaneously, 271's walls were plastered with slogans about a hundred-day assault and the battle against capital.

All veterans had a phrase on their discharge certificates: "If war comes, we'll return when called, and return victorious."

And now, driven by that motto, they came from all directions, orderly taking up their work positions, without disputes, emotional outbursts, or scheming. The veterans barely spoke unnecessary words, only executing, producing, and working under the guidance of designers from Hong Kong.

These grown men accepted their assignments - those in sales learned sales, those in production learned production. If they didn't know something, they learned patiently, and if they still couldn't grasp it, they stayed up late into the night studying.

The designers from Hong Kong initially doubted that these men could make clothing and bags, but after working with them for a few days, they were thoroughly impressed. When they met Chen Meilan, they could only give thumbs up, speechless with admiration.

Indeed, by January, all products were manufactured and, after inspection, ready for market.

They immediately held the long-prepared distributors' conference.

At the conference, Xiong Dapao, his facial paralysis finally cured, moved throughout the venue, drinking three jin of baijiu, shouting enthusiastically. The first batch of orders from clothing distributors and department store managers from 25 provinces across the country totaled 400,000 worth of goods.

With this, Dongpai Fashion made its explosive debut.

Overnight, they entered major private and state-owned department stores nationwide.

This was unprecedented in Hua Country's history, and in the future, various marketing and branding books would repeatedly cite it as a case study.

Chen Meilan immediately faxed the financial report to Gu Xiao.

In Singapore, there was indeed a bamboo chair identical to the one in Yanguan Village, though certainly of better quality. Unlike Shaanxi Province with its flying sand and frozen earth covered in crows, this place was lush and spring-like.

The TV still played the "Return to the City" videotape, while Gu Xiao now held 271's faxed financial report.

He hadn't obtained the rights to "Return to the City" but had brought back a set of videotapes.

They say people become especially nostalgic as they age.

Gu Xiao rarely watched local TV dramas before, but since returning, he had been watching "Return to the City" constantly.

Yan Dongxue noticed his hands trembling and asked softly, "Professor Gu, what's wrong?"

"Nothing," Gu Xiao shook his head and sighed deeply.

Originally, Gu Xiao had only wanted to fulfill a dying wish and never return to Hua Country.

However, firstly, Chen Meilan's business approach defied commercial conventions by collecting 400,000 in payments within three months, which aroused Gu Xiao's curiosity. He particularly wanted to know how she achieved this.

For businesspeople, it was like martial arts - hearing about others' effective methods made one eager to understand them. Even though he owned 49% of all her current profits, he still wanted to know her methods.

Secondly, Gu Xiao's memories of Shaanxi Province and Xiping City had previously been only bitter and dark.

But now, with this TV series, he remembered more happy times. He recalled when Yan Third Uncle released him, still chasing after Su Wen saying, "Su Wen, don't be foolish, following this bookworm. We're proper people, we can't shame our children, okay?"

Though angry, he had turned away, pretending not to see, and let him go.

He also remembered Yan Xishan, who like him was often struggled against, but that child was always particularly optimistic. Once, when an outside Red Guard tied him up and beat him with a belt, they forgot to take the belt when leaving.

Yan Xishan waved the belt around, shouting throughout the village that he had struck it rich.

After boiling that belt, Yan Xishan even shared a piece with him to taste. It was cowhide, tasteless as wax, with a lingering metallic taste of human blood, but Yan Xishan ate it with great relish because it was the first time in his life he had eaten meat.

This time when he met Yan Xishan, who was dressed in a smart Western suit, looking handsome and refined, he had reportedly become one of the most successful private entrepreneurs in Xiping City. Due to poor health and lack of energy, Gu Xiao didn't get to chat with him much.

Once, he thought escaping from Hua Country meant leaving behind a sea of suffering for sunshine, but now, for some reason, though the sunshine was good, he couldn't feel its warmth. Though the food was delicious, it never matched the taste of his youth in his memories.

He actually felt as if he had been banished and exiled.

Chen Meilan's masterful handling of the IPO showed him, with crystal clarity, the enormous and vibrant business opportunities latent in Hua Country. It also made him realize that in Hua Country, as long as someone was capable enough, they could even defy the basic rules of the capital market when it came to making money.

This dealt him a painful and merciless blow.

A military factory from Hua Country, with his money, had not only survived but was now impacting Hua Country's clothing industry at an unprecedented speed?

Currently, the military's external management in Hua Country wasn't actually that strict, and Gu Xiao could hear news from the military. It was said that the military leaders were full of praise for Chen Meilan because of this successful restructuring.

The leaders' family members were also rushing to go into business, wanting to taste the sweetness of restructuring and make big money.

But the Second Commander, Yan Peiheng, wasn't happy about this.

He was somewhat sensible and knew it wasn't good to have half of the military factory in the hands of capitalists.

So he was still insisting on preventing military leaders' family members from getting involved with military factories.

Meanwhile, he wanted to refine the contracting rules for military factories, including one point that even with outsourcing, foreign capital would absolutely not be allowed to hold controlling shares in military factories.

Yan Peiheng was the person Gu Xiao despised and hated most in his life.

Naturally, Gu Xiao wasn't happy about being outmaneuvered by Chen Meilan.

And he planned to make Yan Peiheng even more unhappy!

This would help him, an exiled and banished person, make more money in Hua Country.

...

In the blink of an eye, it was March 1991.

Another new school year had begun. Little Wang was now a fifth-grader, Yuanyuan was in fourth grade, and Little Lang had successfully passed the interview for Dongfang School and was now a first-grader.

The three brothers went to and from school together, and with Little Wang accompanying them, Chen Meilan didn't have to worry about picking them up and dropping them off.

Today she needed to go to Xiping Music Academy to collect Yuanyuan's piano grade certificate.

After that, she had to go to work at Factory 271.

As the general manager, with Xue Mingfang as her capable assistant and Qi Songlu handling finances, Chen Meilan didn't need to worry too much about these two aspects.

However, there was a major problem with clothing production. She needed someone like Xiong Dapao or Yan Xishan who was both socially adept at entertaining and detail-oriented, with high emotional intelligence, to travel around the country maintaining relationships and distribution channels.

Otherwise, over time, the complex market would inevitably shrink.

But Chen Meilan wasn't good at this, and she had always hated business trips, drinking parties, and social obligations.

So she needed to find such a person recently.

Overall though, Factory 271 was much easier to manage than the Xingda Construction Team. In another three to five years, they would be able to get profit sharing, and if managed well, in ten years, when the company goes public, Chen Meilan would have a stable annual income of at least several hundred thousand from Factory 271.

Today was payday, and they still had the equal pay system, with Chen Meilan as general manager getting 500 yuan, while everyone else got 300 yuan per month.

But 300 yuan was enough to make the demobilized soldiers happy, because if it weren't for Factory 271, they would have to be migrant workers earning at most 180 yuan a month.

As soon as Chen Meilan entered the factory, she felt the workers were particularly enthusiastic.

"Good morning, Commander," several young men called out as she got out of her car.

Chen Meilan wasn't used to salutes, so she just raised her hand slightly to gesture them to go about their business. Just as she was about to enter the office building, she suddenly noticed a brand new champagne-colored Crown parked in front of it.

Just as Chen Meilan approached, suddenly there was a burst of firecrackers, startling her so much that she turned to run.

Someone immediately reached out to cover her ears.

"Commander, isn't the car beautiful? Do you like it?" It was Wang Meng, his large hands covering Chen Meilan's ears, grinning like a happy husky.

Chen Meilan was stunned and instantly became angry. She was the general manager, and she hadn't approved any money for this. Could it be that Xue Mingfang had taken the initiative to use company funds to buy a Crown?

The factory only had 600,000 yuan in working capital, with monthly salaries to pay, plus later promotion, inventory, new products each season, and various investments needed - how dare he buy a car?

This bold fellow had just made a little money and seemed to be getting ahead of himself.

"Xue Mingfang, come out here!" Chen Meilan shouted.

Xue Mingfang hurriedly came out from the hallway, still in his old-style green military uniform, grinning from ear to ear: "Commander, are you excited? Happy? Surprised?"

"Only surprised, not happy, and definitely not excited. Return it immediately," Chen Meilan said.

"But this is a reward from Professor Gu in his capacity as a board member, and Manager Cui agreed to it. How can I return it?" Xue Mingfang hadn't expected Chen Meilan to get angry and looked puzzled.

This was actually a car rewarded to Chen Meilan by Gu Xiao as a board member?

Just because she had handled the IPO so well, the old man had rewarded her with a car?

But Chen Meilan felt that Gu Xiao was like a weasel paying a New Year's call to a chicken - he must have ulterior motives. Sёarch* The NôᴠeFire.ηet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

Cui Min was also there today, wanting to give Chen Meilan a surprise, and had just come out from the hallway. Seeing Chen Meilan angry, she also explained: "Professor Gu contacted me and said not to tell you in advance, wanting to give you a surprise. Don't be angry, we were wrong to startle you. Please accept it, and look inside the car, there's an even bigger surprise!"

There was something else in the car?

Chen Meilan opened the car door and saw a white second-generation "Big Brother" mobile phone on the passenger seat.

It came with a charging dock, with the packaging arranged around it, and roses surrounding the packaging.

It was quite sentimental indeed.

It was definitely a good thing, and also the ultimate dream of nouveau riche during this era.

"Professor Gu said he invested in seven companies, and you did the best, this is your reward. If our sales can exceed 3 million this year, he has other rewards," Cui Min said, picking up the mobile phone and trying to put it near Chen Meilan's face.

Chen Meilan hurriedly dodged, afraid it would cause facial paralysis if it touched her.

However, suddenly having a brand new car and a mobile phone meant that Chen Meilan's more than a year of hard work hadn't been in vain.

After collecting her salary, amid the salutes and seeing off from the workers, Chen Meilan drove her champagne-colored Crown home.

Yanguan Village was still the same as before, with the same old neighbors, acquaintances, and familiar appearance.

Only Qin Yu had moved away after Ningning's sudden rise to fame with "Return to the City" last year, buying an apartment in the city.

She had also opened a music school in the city, which was now flourishing, while her yard here stood empty.

It was March, and the large peony tree in front of Chen Meilan's house had bloomed sixty flowers all at once this year.

Just seeing such a large peony tree from afar could lift one's spirits.

As soon as Chen Meilan parked, Little Wang suddenly popped out from behind the peony tree: "Wow, Mom, did you steal this car from somewhere?"

"Must have robbed it, right?" Little Lang also popped out.

Yuanyuan followed closely behind, angry at these two unreliable brothers: "Why couldn't Mom have bought it?"

"This car is very expensive, it costs 300,000 yuan, Mom can't afford it," Little Wang, being a boy who naturally loved and knew about cars, explained.

Chen Meilan smiled and explained to them where the car came from, then took out the mobile phone from the car to show the children this novelty.

It was said that Xiong Dapao's son had gotten facial paralysis for a while from using such a mobile phone.

Xiong Dapao himself had been paralyzed for three whole months from using this thing.

She wouldn't let the children make calls, just let them touch it and see this novel item.

However, when the three children saw the mobile phone, they immediately became alert, with Little Lang waving his hand in refusal.

Little Wang also asked: "Mom, is it Grandpa calling on this, wanting us to answer?"

Yuanyuan immediately stamped her foot and ran away: "Won't answer Grandpa's calls, Grandpa is too fierce."

Chen Meilan understood that the children were avoiding Yan Peiheng's phone calls.

Yan Peiheng had been in the capital, too busy with work to return home, but he always liked to call the children.

However, the children didn't enjoy receiving his calls.

As Factory 271 was a military factory, its first transformation attempt had shocked the entire Hua Country. All the military leaders were overjoyed, but Yan Peiheng remained worried, fearing the military factory would fall into capitalists' hands. When he occasionally called Yan Zhao, his tone would turn harsh since the factory had been taken from Chen Meilan's control, and the old man was unhappy about it.

Of course, 49% of Factory 271's shares eventually ended up in capitalist hands.

That capitalist had brought trouble to his entire family, leaving them without peace for half their lives. Yan Peiheng couldn't possibly be happy about it.

But since it concerned the re-employment of veterans, he had to compromise on this matter.

So he could only vent his anger at his son.

The children, not understanding adult concerns, naturally didn't want to answer their grandfather's angry phone calls.

Chen Meilan guessed Yan Zhao was on the phone with Yan Peiheng, so she gave the mobile phone to Little Wang to play with the younger children. She took the car keys and locked the car before entering the courtyard.

Inside, she met Yan Zhao.

Chen Meilan was eager to show her husband the new car and mobile phone, but Yan Zhao showed no interest: "From Gu Xiao?"

"How did you know?" Chen Meilan asked.

Yan Zhao pointed his thumb toward the bedroom and said, "Father called to tell me."

Currently, the Army General District still had more than a dozen factories waiting to be contracted, financed, and reopened.

With Chen Meilan setting the precedent, many leaders' family members were eager to grab factories and opportunities.

Yan Peiheng worried that someone might take a military factory and sell it directly to foreign capitalists.

Just then, Gu Xiao wanted to gift Chen Meilan a mobile phone and a Crown sedan, deliberately letting Yan Peiheng know about it indirectly.

Wasn't this a blatant celebration of his success and the military's failure?

This was both a heartless and painful blow to the old man.

And Chen Meilan had become like the fisherman benefiting from the quarrel between the snipe and the clam, gaining advantages from the two men's anger.

Though the gifts were for Chen Meilan, she needed to ask Yan Zhao's opinion about whether she should accept them.

Yan Zhao went outside and examined the champagne-colored Toyota Crown. It was currently the best and most high-end car on the market, with leather seats and full interior trim. Unlike the formal, rigid black version, the champagne color carried a gentle quality perfect for women drivers.

The mobile phone was white, handy, and elegant, also suitable for a woman to carry.

He pressed his lips together and said, "Keep them, it's not a big deal."

If Chen Meilan hadn't managed to launch Dongpai Clothing into the market within three months and secure returns, fulfilling her bet with Gu Xiao.

Factory 271 would now be carrying an 800,000 debt, not bankruptcy but heavily in debt, an amount Chen Meilan might never be able to repay in her lifetime.

Yan Peiheng's feelings toward Chen Meilan, once his most proud daughter-in-law, had become particularly complex. Today when he called to berate Yan Zhao, his tone implied that his daughter-in-law was now treating the enemy like family, no longer considering him as her father but treating Gu Xiao as her real father.

He even mockingly asked his son in Shaanxi dialect: "Third son, can you still keep your wife in check?"

Yan Zhao hung up the phone with a bang.

Having spent his entire life in the military without experiencing the market environment, Yan Peiheng didn't understand how hard things were for Chen Meilan, how risky her moves were, nor did he realize that Gu Xiao was deliberately provoking him.

At this rate, he would eventually have a heart attack from Gu Xiao's provocations.

Yan Peiheng's refusal to learn, think, his prejudice, blindness, and arrogance made Yan Zhao particularly angry, so angry that he didn't want to communicate with him anymore.

He was currently the only military leader willing to persist in preventing capitalist control of military factories.

Aliali: 67413bd3c4f3f33ac4135f05

After his death, capitalists like Gu Xiao would swarm in like vultures, feeding on the large military factories built with the sweat of their ancestors since the founding of Hua Country.

...

"Another Crown car?" Little Wang exclaimed at the door.

Little Lang shouted, "Mom, another Crown car has arrived."

It was a black Crown, polished to a shine, and from it emerged a man in a suit carrying a brick-sized mobile phone - this was none other than Shaanxi Province's current richest man, Xiong Dapao.

However, Xiong Dapao himself was stunned.

For the past year and more, he had been the most prominent figure in Shaanxi Province with his mobile phone and Crown car.

Now, not only did Chen Meilan have a Crown, but upon closer inspection, Xiong Dapao realized it was this year's latest model, with a 2.3L engine, one grade more advanced than his.

Looking at the mobile phone Little Wang was playing with, it was also this year's latest model, with much lower radiation than his, and almost half the size of his, with an elegant white body.

Suddenly, Xiong Dapao's mobile phone didn't seem so special anymore!