I'm back in 1990

Chapter 286: Steady and Solid Progress

Delving into the best urban novels,

The grand opening of Times Supermarket's No. 1 store was attended by Cao Charlie, Chairman of Times Supermarket (Huaxia) Co., Ltd.

The supermarket was bustling with the sounds of gongs, drums, and firecrackers as a group of residents waited for it to open. These were all neighbors living nearby.

After the ribbon-cutting ceremony, Charlie Cao rushed to an old Western-style house facing the street in Xujiahui.

This old house was also bought by Huang Xiaochuan. Whenever Lao Kan found a suitable old house, he would take Huang Xiaochuan to see it. If Huang Xiaochuan liked it after seeing it, he would buy it. However, such opportunities are rare because there are only so many old houses for sale. They are not like cabbages at the market that you can just buy any old house.

Since he didn't have a fixed office location, Huang Xiaochuan bought this place, made some simple renovations, and recently used this old villa as his office.

The main advantage of this house is its convenient location, as it faces the street and cars can drive directly into the yard. It might be a bit noisy if people lived there, but it's perfect as an office space.

Huang Xiaochuan did not attend the opening ceremony of Yihaodian. Instead, he was in his office with several lawyers from Hong Kong drafting an equity agreement. Because Huang Xiaochuan proposed that his shares should not be diluted, the necessary confirmations needed to be made in the terms of the agreement. The wording was very important, so some of the terms of the agreement were very obscure and difficult to understand. Each word was recognizable on its own, but when put together, the average person would not know what it meant.

Moreover, Huang Xiaochuan did not invest as an individual, but rather through et (Huaxia) Investment Co., Ltd., which was recently registered by Cao Charlie as its legal representative. The parent company of et (Huaxia) Investment Co., Ltd. is Hong Kong et Investment, which holds 100% of the shares in et (Huaxia) Investment Co., Ltd.

Hong Kong ET Investment Company is wholly owned by Echopsis Tubiflora, an offshore company registered overseas. The actual controller of Echopsis Tubiflora is Huang Xiaochuan, who did this to hide himself as much as possible.

After finishing the opening ceremony, Cao Charlie rushed back here because Huang Xiaochuan told him to come back quickly.

As Charlie Cho took on more and more concurrent positions, Huang Xiaochuan asked him to recruit an assistant for him from Hong Kong. Huang Xiaochuan interviewed the assistant, who was Charlie Cho's classmate and a graduate of the Chinese University of Hong Kong, but with a major in Chinese language.

This man's name is Mai Guangde. He is thirty years old this year and is not yet married. Huang Xiaochuan knows that this is a normal phenomenon in Hong Kong. Young people in Hong Kong face a lot of pressure, and many do not consider marriage because the monthly cost of buying and paying for a house is too high.

Mai Guangde is still unmarried for this reason. Of course, he has a girlfriend, but now they will be living apart.

In the end, feelings couldn't beat money. The salary offered by Charlie Cho made Mai Guangde follow him to the mainland without hesitation. However, he didn't expect that his boss's boss was even younger than him, which almost made his jaw drop.

Huang Xiaochuan had spoken with Mai Guangde. Mai's Mandarin was passable, his English was fluent, and he was eager to get the job. So Huang Xiaochuan decided to keep him on trial for a while to see how he fared.

Upon seeing that Charlie Cao had returned, Huang Xiaochuan greeted him, "Charlie, come to my office."

Huang Xiaochuan had the lawyers continue discussing the contents of the agreement, while he took Cao Charlie into his office.

Charlie Cao asked respectfully, "Mr. Huang, what are your instructions?"

"Let Mai Guangde in for a moment and have him make a note."

"OK!"

After Mai Guangde came in, Huang Xiaochuan said, "Mai Guangde, please make some notes."

Mai Guangde immediately opened the notebook.

"Charlie, I plan to combine Dadao Trading, Times Supermarket, and the soon-to-be-established Guangda Real Estate into a group company. You will serve as the general manager of the group and also as the chairman of Dadao Trading, Times Supermarket, and Guangda Real Estate. Lin Junfeng will take over your original position as general manager of Dadao Trading."

"Yes, Mr. Huang!" Charlie Cao's heart pounded; this meant a promotion.

"I will authorize you to gradually build a management team within a certain scope of authority, based on the group's development progress, but all candidates must be reviewed and approved by me first."

"I will personally set up independent finance and audit departments. When the company grows to a certain size in the future, I will also set up a regulatory and risk control department. I will personally oversee these departments in the future."

"clear!"

"Given that you are about to assume the position of Group General Manager, your annual salary will also be increased to HK$800,000. You will receive a share of the profits based on the performance of your subsidiaries each year. The specific percentage will be determined after I have the finance department calculate it."

While taking notes, Mai Guangde looked at Cao Charlie with envy. An annual salary of 800,000? And there's a year-end bonus. Even many executives of international companies in Hong Kong don't have such good treatment.

Charlie Cao knew his own limitations. The reason he was able to reach this position in just two or three years was not because he was particularly capable, but because he was obedient. He would never have gotten such an opportunity at another company. Even if headhunting companies were trying to poach him on behalf of other companies, it was just a facade.

Once I go to the new company, I'll be fired before long, since that's all I'm capable of.

Therefore, Charlie Cho cherishes this job opportunity. Everything he has is given to him by his boss, Mr. Wong. As long as he remains loyal to his boss, he believes that Mr. Wong will not easily abandon him.

When Charlie Cao heard that Huang Xiaochuan was going to promote him and give him a raise, he was so moved that he almost cried.

"Mr. Huang, I will definitely work hard!"

Huang Xiaochuan then walked over to Cao Charlie and patted him on the shoulder.

"Sit down and talk!"

Then he said to Mai Guangde, "Mai Guangde, you can go out now! Contact Chairman Huang and General Manager Nan and ask them to come over. Also, organize and archive the notes from earlier."

"Yes, Mr. Huang!"

Mai Guangde tactfully left, closing the door behind him.

Huang Xiaochuan plopped down on the sofa opposite Cao Charlie.

"Charlie, from now on, Guangda Real Estate's business direction will focus on commercial real estate. In any city where Guangda Real Estate buys land to build a commercial plaza, it must reserve a space for the Times Super Shopping Center."

"In this way, wherever large-scale commercial real estate development takes place in a city, our Times Super Shopping Center can open in that city as well."

"There's another point you need to remember. Nowadays, triangular debt is rampant in mainland China, but none of the companies under the group are allowed to get involved in triangular debt. Payment terms must be strictly set, and there must be no delays in payment for projects or goods. Violators will be severely punished and will be held civilly or even criminally liable. You must clearly inform the relevant departments and responsible persons that making a mistake is not something that can be resolved by simply resigning."

"I understand, Mr. Huang. Don't worry, I will definitely require all companies to strictly implement your requirements."

"Furthermore, there is the possibility that future construction companies cooperating with the real estate company may default on wages owed to migrant workers. Therefore, regardless of the company, as long as they cooperate with us, we will absolutely not default on project payments. However, the cooperating company must also pay the migrant workers' wages on time. If they fail to do so, Guangda Company will temporarily withhold project payments to prioritize the payment of migrant workers' wages, and will blacklist them and immediately terminate the contract, never cooperating with them again."

Charlie Cao hesitated, seemingly wanting to say something but holding back.

"Charlie, what are you trying to say?"

"Mr. Huang, if that's the case, we ourselves will also suffer a great loss."

Huang Xiaochuan sneered: "We'll accept any losses, but we must make our stance clear so that newcomers will think twice. Moreover, it must be clearly stated in the contract terms. Only the most suitable partners will remain after the fierce competition."

"Besides, if we can't find such a partner, we'll just set one up ourselves, and then we might not even be able to handle our own projects!"

Huang Xiaochuan has the confidence to say this because as long as he doesn't take on debt and rushes into things, and instead takes a steady and pragmatic approach, most people really can't do anything about him.

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