Reborn 92's Business Tycoon

Chapter 269: Challenge

On the morning of the eighth day of the first lunar month, Feng Yiping, dressed in his school uniform, walked into the gate of the school a little bit melancholy. This was already the last semester of my secondary education, and I can't help feeling a little reluctant to let it go!

However, the homeroom teacher's actions immediately dispelled his little melancholy.

After the fourth period in the morning, he followed Teacher Chen to his office. As he watched, Teacher Chen pointed to a stack of papers on the desk and said casually, 'This is your extra weekly assignment. It's not much, just three per subject. Hand them in to me every Sunday when you come back to school.'

'There's no need for that, Teacher Chen. I might as well just write more essays and memorise more politics and history!'

Just kidding, there are so many, even if you spend all of Saturday and Sunday on them, there won't be enough time. There won't be time to review and consolidate. He already has his own plans and arrangements for the exam.

'The school's idea, the recommendation you specified, seems, well, difficult at the moment. Since you have the heart to challenge for first place in the province, we will definitely support you. Don't complain. These papers were given to you by the teachers as extra work, which is equivalent to overtime. Every time you correct them, it's also equivalent to overtime.'

'Teacher Chen, there are so many special teachers at the school, but they still use the 'question sea' tactic?'

What's so difficult about it? Isn't it the same principle as the saying in ancient texts, 'If you read a book a hundred times, its meaning will reveal itself'?

To be honest, Feng Yiping really doesn't think it's necessary. If he has the time, he might as well spend it memorising more and writing more essays. It's not a science subject, so why do the arts subjects need to use these 'question sea' tactics?

Without boasting or being arrogant, let him take the provincial science exam, that's impossible. Mathematics will definitely hold him back, but the liberal arts are challenging, but with a little more effort, there's still hope.

Liberal arts are mainly about memorisation and comprehension, and most of it is still based on memorisation. Come on, when it comes to this, what's there to be afraid of?

Teacher Chen's face flushed slightly. 'Studying with questions is the most efficient. In short, there's no room for negotiation.'

'If after a month the results are not obvious, can we make adjustments?' Feng Yiping packed the papers into his bag and asked Teacher Chen.

'Adjustments can be made depending on the situation.'

Well, that's good. I'll see if I can recite the history book in front of you all and knock everyone's glasses off the ground.

Before he even left the house, his phone vibrated in his pocket. He walked quickly to the playground, took it out and looked at it. It was from Zhou Xinyu. What's so urgent?

'Yiping, we have a competitor. Several stores have reported it. The Provincial Commercial Corporation has already had three convenience stores renovated. I just came back from the site. They have a similar style and similar store names. They are called Jiamei.' Zhou Xinyu's tone was urgent, as if he had been jogging while calling Feng Yiping. 'I am going to hold a meeting this afternoon. What do you want to say?'

'Are you sure it's the Provincial General Trading Company?'

'I've already asked an acquaintance at the Industry and Commerce Bureau to check the registration information, and it's affiliated with the Provincial General Trading Company,' Zhou Xinyu said with certainty.

That's good, Feng Yiping is now really worried that a private company will challenge him, but the Provincial General Trading Company is fine.

'Don't be too nervous. You can speed up the opening of new stores, sinking them into every city in the province as soon as possible. At the same time, start expanding into the three neighbouring provinces. As for the Provincial Commerce Corporation, you can regard them as a challenge, but don't worry too much about them.'

'I understand. It's about strategically belittling the opponent and tactically valuing them, right?'

Unexpectedly, he is also a military fan. 'This is what I'm telling you. You can do things your way in the meeting, and it's good to get everyone nervous.'

'Understood,' but Zhou Xinyu was puzzled. How could Feng Yiping not worry at all about the Provincial General Merchandise Company?

The Provincial General Merchandise Company's position in the province was similar to his old employer's position in Shanghai: both were leaders in the local department store retail market, both had listed companies under their umbrella, both were powerful, both employed tens of thousands of people, and both had more than ten large shopping malls in the province. Any one of the large shopping malls under its umbrella would have more wealth than Jiajia's entire current assets.

With this in mind, he called an emergency meeting as soon as he arrived at work in the afternoon, assigning tasks to everyone. The operations department stepped up its efforts to survey stores in various locations, the personnel department focused on training store staff, and the purchasing department contacted more suppliers... In short, everyone was working faster to get ahead of the competition.

Although he had said with confidence at the meeting that the company had various advantages, in fact, he really didn't know what to expect when facing a competitor of this calibre from his old company.

After thinking for a while, he called Gao Zhiyi: 'Zhiyi, I'm going to the city for a bit. Call me on my mobile if you need me.'

It was very cold, and the doormen were hiding in the guard room, not even opening the windows. Feng Yiping waved his hand at them, and the electric door opened with a whir. As soon as he stepped out of the school gate, he received a call from Zhou Xinyu, who was waving at him from the convenience store across the street.

'Mr Zhou, you go to Riverside People's Restaurant first, I'll be there soon.'

At the entrance to the Finance College, Huang Jingping, wearing a blue tweed jacket, a silk scarf around her neck, fingerless gloves on her hands, was puffing out air in front of her mouth, watching the cars coming, and running quickly across the road. 'It's so warm, I'm going home!'

'We're eating out tonight, and so is the boss you met, Mr Zhou.'

Jiangpan Renjia is not located by the river, but in the city centre. It is a restaurant specialising in river delicacies. The décor is a little interesting, and the private rooms are also very interesting, named after various flowers. For example, the one Zhou Xinyu has booked is called 'Lily Room'!

The name will definitely have to be changed in the future, but for now, it is still a good word with a good meaning.

Huang Jingping and Zhou Xinyu had met before at a job fair, and later worked in the personnel department for a few months, so they were familiar with each other. Therefore, without being introduced by Feng Yiping, 'It seems that I chose the Lily Hall today and I made the right choice!' Zhou Xinyu said with a smile when he saw them enter.

'It seems that President Zhou is going to have good luck this year, everything that you don't plan for is so successful,' Huang Jingping let go of Feng Yiping's hand and also smiled.

'Haha, I'll take your good wishes. I'm sorry, I know Yiping has to rush back to class, so I took the liberty of ordering first. What do you think? Anything you'd like to add?'

The several kinds of river fish were all delicious: sliced fish, stir-fried eel, sour soup river fish, fried river shrimp, stewed loach with pickled chili, tofu with scallops, all with great flavours.

'Yiping, I've been thinking about it, and there's something I want to say to you. As the decision-maker of the convenience store, I feel that you are looking down on the provincial merchants.'

'How dare I look down on the provincial merchants? They can crush us with the slightest action. I do look down on the Jiamei convenience store they opened, but I admire their vision.' In saying this, he was actually bragging, saying that he had good taste. However, the two people sitting there did not praise him by picking up on his humour, which made him feel a little let down.

'Why are you so sure that Jiamei can't compete with us?'

'First, they are a state-owned enterprise, second, they are a very large state-owned enterprise, and third, their main business is a large comprehensive shopping mall.'

'We all know this, but what does it have to do with your opinion?'

'State-owned enterprises, not to mention anything else, cost control, they can't compare with us!' Zhou Xinyu nodded, he had personal experience of this.

If not, Feng Yiping could just give an example. With oil prices so high, but those few Chinese-character-starting oil companies actually lose money regularly. They can make up all sorts of excuses, but just look at what has been disclosed: a chandelier costing over a million yuan, a meal costing hundreds of thousands of yuan. One can see the whole picture from one small piece.

'Secondly, the annual sales of one of their large general merchandise stores are in the hundreds of millions, and the same goes for convenience stores. It's not easy for a single store to achieve annual sales of one million, and there would have to be hundreds like that to match one of their large general merchandise stores. Don't they mind the trouble?

Finally, their main business is operating shopping malls, and their strengths lie in management and attracting investment. They have always been involved in municipal-level trade-oriented business circles, while convenience stores mainly target community-oriented business circles.'

'To sum up, even if we don't consider the comprehensive quality and work attitude of the employees, or their enthusiasm for work, our advantage is cost control. If they can't control it well, the profit of ten stores in a month may not even cover the cost of one of their meals.

We do Jiayuan with all our strength, both in terms of manpower and resources. They are just a side project or an attempt, and the resources invested are definitely not the same.

Convenience stores mainly target community-based business districts, and we also have more experience than they do. In that case, what's there to worry about! If we also followed them and opened a comprehensive shopping mall, then we would have something to worry about.'

Zhou Xinyu was still a little skeptical, 'Don't worry, Mr. Zhou, maybe, in the end, they might feel that running a convenience store is too tiring and too childish, and they'll scrap it.

In fact, Feng Yiping's biggest reason is that he believes that at this time, including the current 7-Eleven owner, it is impossible to predict the development of the industry 20 years from now. In an era when the Internet is not yet widespread, no one except Feng Yiping will know the important position of convenience stores in retail in the future Internet era.

'I believe in your judgment now, but Yiping, I think it's better if we're more cautious, don't you? You're right, the provincial merchants are unlikely to take a small business like a convenience store seriously, but at the same time, it doesn't matter if they lose or fail, they have a big family and a big business. Besides, the money they lose isn't their own, so they might as well consider it a tuition fee. We're different, so I think it's better to be more cautious when setting the tone, even if it's an amateur, we should treat it like a champion, don't you think so?'

'You're right, we can't be careless. Let's find out more about this Jiamei!' Feng Yiping really appreciated Zhou Xinyu for this. He looks at things from all sides and is highly capable of execution.

In the provincial capital, on the top floor of the office building of the provincial commercial corporation, a young lady with a determined face, delicate makeup and fashionable attire is standing in front of the floor-to-ceiling windows, arms folded, looking down at the city below with a sense of accomplishment. She would never have imagined that the project she is vigorously promoting has been described as worthless by a young man with no sense of propriety.