“Honey, you absolutely wouldn't guess how many blind boxes we sold today!” Shen Yuequn heard his wife exclaim excitedly that evening as he was reading.
“How many did we sell?” Shen Yuequn asked curiously. He had been at the site that morning, but had to leave in the afternoon for urgent matters, so he wasn't clear on the details.
“A whopping 1800 boxes!” his wife practically roared.
“That many!” Shen Yuequn was also stunned. On days with the best business, they sold at most 800 boxes. Now they had sold over 1000 more. Was it really that good?
“Really, and there were still people queuing when we left,” his wife said.
“This must be the influence of Jiangnan Coins!” Shen Yuequn asked.
“Mm, I originally thought those who returned their leather goods and exchanged them for Jiangnan Coins would lose interest in buying more blind boxes. I didn't expect almost everyone, after exchanging for Jiangnan Coins, would immediately turn around and buy our blind boxes. And they weren't buying one box at a time, but ten boxes at a time. After buying, they’d just return them to exchange for Jiangnan Coins,” his wife said excitedly.
“These repeat customers bought at least 1000 boxes today, and they also brought in a lot of new customers. We've truly made a killing. In the end, we brought four trucks of blind boxes, but took back seven trucks of products. I think we don't need to keep ordering from the head office anymore. We can just package these returned products into blind boxes and sell them again. All the profit will be ours!”
“You’re being silly. Do you think those phones from the head office are free?” Shen Yuequn shook his head. “Our procurement price for these phones is 3000 yuan each. The procurement price for the leather goods exchanged for 8888 Jiangnan Coins is also around 3000 yuan. Every time you exchange a phone, the money is still earned back by the head office. Do you really think you can get something for free from the company?”
“Also, the company sent two financial officers yesterday to be responsible for all financial audits of our company. From now on, you can't put all the money into your own pocket. After transactions are completed, all money must be handed over to the finance department. After registration and recording by the finance department, the remaining amount, after deducting the head office's share of profit, can be given to us!”
“Isn’t this because they don’t trust us?” Shen Yuequn's wife immediately became unhappy. “He just doesn’t believe us, thinking we’ll skim some profit from him. How could we have any bad intentions?”
“Weren’t you just considering packaging the exchanged products yourself without going through the head office?” Shen Yuequn retorted. His wife smiled awkwardly and stopped talking.
“Put those thoughts away. I spoke with some friends at the head office yesterday. The chairman said in the latest meeting that the company is planning diversified business expansion and will become fully networked. Networking is the future of enterprise development. From now on, all subordinate individuals and companies will be connected to the network and work through the network to improve efficiency!” Shen Yuequn said.
“Network? What impact does this have on us?” Shen Yuequn’s wife asked, confused. She didn’t understand networks at all, and this was the first time she had even heard the word.
“I’m reading this book to understand what a network is,” Shen Yuequn waved the book titled *What is a Network* in his hand. “Although I don’t fully understand it, according to this book, everything can be connected through the network, and everything can be controlled through the network. No matter how far away the Northeast is, it probably won’t be able to stop the chairman’s hand!”
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“Brother-in-law, this is a summary of the situation after the Jiangnan Coin system was rolled out nationwide. If I hadn’t seen it with my own eyes, I wouldn’t have believed it. On average, blind box sales at all stalls have increased by at least 50%. The highest increase was 200%. We earned over 30 million yuan in the last week of this month, which is equivalent to the total profit earned in the previous two weeks!” Leng Zhiruo exclaimed, holding the report.
“Yes, and while our profits have increased, the consumption rate of our inventory has slowed down. What was originally estimated to last for at most 6 months of inventory now looks like it can support a year!” Huang He had already committed these figures to memory.
“However, brother-in-law, some people have reported some negative situations. Some individuals are packaging and selling recovered products directly without going through the head office. This way, the profit from these sales is no longer related to us on the books. Preliminary estimates suggest that we have lost over 3 million yuan in profits!” Leng Zhiruo said with some concern.
“Don’t worry, this is just an estimation. As long as they get phones from us, we won’t lose much money!” Huang He said dismissively.
“But brother-in-law, this kind of thing will definitely become more widespread in the future. In the later stages, I’m worried these people will completely degenerate, causing great damage to our Jiangnan Group!” Leng Zhiruo said. Her concerns were very realistic, as greed for money was a common human failing, and skimming money from the head office was a normal thing for anyone to do.
“Then what’s your good idea?” Huang He asked, tapping the table.
“Similar to the Northeast, establish companies to directly control and operate all downstream businesses. This will standardize and corporatize everything, reclaiming the vast power from individuals and using a framework of systems to constrain and manage them, thus consolidating power!” Leng Zhiruo had clearly thought about this issue, and her answer was surprisingly fluent, leaving Huang He stunned.
“Is this idea your personal idea? Or did someone tell you?” Huang He looked at Leng Zhiruo. Based on his understanding, his sister-in-law, while meticulous and diligent in her work, shouldn't have this kind of strategic thinking.
“This… this is Zhiwen’s idea. Yesterday, she saw me thinking about these things alone and gave me some advice!” Leng Zhiruo replied truthfully.
“Tsk tsk, Zhiwen shouldn’t be practicing sports!” Huang He lamented.
“Then what should she do?” Leng Zhiruo retorted.
“She should become an official!” Huang He rubbed his nose. “If she were an official, she would definitely be much better than practicing sports!”
“……” Leng Zhiruo was somewhat speechless. She had never seen any talent for officialdom in her cold, quiet sister who rarely spoke to anyone.
“Setting aside those matters, these 'parasites' are not yet a serious problem and it's not time to deal with them. I need a complete plan to deal with this. Let’s put it aside for now. You’ll accompany me to oo later.” Huang He said.
“Is there any problem with oo?” Leng Zhiruo was a bit worried about her sister. She was a high school graduate who had taken on the role of CEO. Although Huang He was in charge of the overall strategy, she hoped nothing had gone wrong.
Although Leng Zhiruo was Huang He's secretary, she had no way of knowing about oo's affairs. The situation there was reported by Leng Zhimeng. Leng Zhimeng often stayed in her brother-in-law's office for half an hour, or even several hours, which made Leng Zhiruo feel very complex. This was a privilege that used to be hers alone.
“It’s not a problem, it’s great news. Our oo has finally completed testing and will be launched online this afternoon!!” Huang He said with a smile.