Time came to 4:30 PM, and Hao Jianguo appeared alone in the pre-arranged Chinese restaurant. Since it was too early, there weren't many people in the restaurant, apart from a few tables seated towards the back.
However, it was evident that apart from a man and woman seated together, the other tables were not occupied by dining guests. Their gazes were vigilant, scrutinizing everyone who passed by them.
Those seated by the window were intently staring outside, their eyes fixed on every position that could potentially provide a shooting angle to hit their protectees.
"Mr. Huang, you're already here!" Hao Jianguo looked at Huang He with disbelief. The agreed-upon time was 5:30 PM. Hao Jianguo had arrived an hour early and had even prepared for the other party to be at least an hour late. To his surprise, Mr. Huang had arrived even earlier, which Hao Jianguo found incredible.
"Sit!" Huang He enthusiastically extended his hand. Hao Jianguo quickly went forward and shook it firmly, then, led by Hu Jing, entered a private dining room.
"Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Huang He, a Chinese national! Chairman of Jiangnan Group, on a business trip to the US," Huang He said with a smile.
"My name is Hao Jianguo!" Hao Jianguo said excitedly, "I'm Chinese, a third-year student in the Finance Department at Princeton University in the US. You've always been my idol, Mr. Huang!"
"Hahaha, you don't need to call me an idol, but you can consider me your goal!" Huang He laughed. "We have two hours. As I said a few days ago at that not-so-delicious steakhouse, you can ask me any questions you have."
"Okay!" Hao Jianguo's hands trembled slightly. He took out a notebook filled with densely written questions, indicating the extensive preparation Hao Jianguo had done for this interview.
However, in the end, Hao Jianguo closed the notebook and put it back in his pocket, finally asking, "Mr. Huang, do you know Meijiacare?"
"Meijiacare?" Huang He paused for a moment, then chuckled. "How could I not know? I remember my mother loved to put Meijiacare on my face when I was a child, saying it protected my skin."
"My father also used to say that applying oil to leather shoes was like applying Meijiacare to one's face, both were for skin maintenance!"
"Indeed, Meijiacare. It was once a brand known to all Chinese people. Before the 1980s, Meijiacare facial cream and hand cream held over 80% of the national market," Hao Jianguo's tone suddenly became impassioned. "Mr. Huang, the reason I mention the Meijiacare brand is that I grew up with it. My parents were both factory employees, and my biggest dream was to join that factory and become a part of it!"
"Later, with the reform and opening up, our factory faced competition from other global brands like S.C. Johnson, Procter & Gamble, and Unilever – all renowned international household brands attempting to enter the Chinese market."
"This competition continued throughout the 1980s. It was very intense. Although our market share retreated from 81% to less than 30%, Meijiacare was still the leader in the entire Chinese market, holding the dominant position in skincare and hand cream. No brand could defeat us in the market!"
"Of course, we also believed that future competition would be even fiercer, and Meijiacare might lose its dominant position. But this would only happen after we had fought to the very end!"
"What we never expected was that those foreign brands would deliver a fatal blow through unethical means. In 1990, S.C. Johnson approached my father, expressing a desire to acquire the Meijiacare brand."
"He said that by doing so, Meijiacare and S.C. Johnson could avoid fierce market competition, their markets could be merged, and at the same time, Shanghai Jahwa, which was facing financial difficulties, could receive a substantial amount of capital to pay the salaries of many workers who hadn't been paid for a long time."
"Furthermore, he guaranteed us that after acquiring the Meijiacare brand, they would not only hand over all their international advanced technologies for the development of new products for Meijiacare but also help Meijiacare enter the European and American markets, turning this Chinese brand into an international one!"
"There was a long meeting, and in the end, it was decided that this was an opportunity for a Chinese brand to go global, so we agreed to let S.C. Johnson acquire Meijiacare."
"But who could have imagined that S.C. Johnson were a bunch of liars? The first thing they did after obtaining the Meijiacare brand was not to help the brand develop, but to immediately shelve the brand, seal it up, and stop selling any products under the Meijiacare brand. With a single order, they destroyed this Chinese national brand that had been established since 1954."
"My father angrily went to confront them, but the people from S.C. Johnson shamelessly said that Chinese domestic brands like Meijiacare had no competitiveness in the market."
"He said they had conducted market research, and Chinese people now only liked to buy high-end imported brands. Chinese brands like Meijiacare were destined to become obsolete. It would be better to hand over the market to their brands from abroad, as this would open up the market more easily."
"My father argued with them for half a year, ultimately suffering a cerebral hemorrhage and passing away prematurely. My mother worked tirelessly to raise me. Everyone says I came to the US to study abroad. She always believed it was my desire to study finance and come to the US, but she didn't know that my real goal was revenge!"
"I want to acquire the US S.C. Johnson company, then廢弃 all the brands of this enterprise, so that the S.C. Johnson brand no longer exists globally!" Hao Jianguo said, his eyes turning red and his neck appearing to thicken with emotion.
"Calm down!" Huang He patted Hao Jianguo's shoulder and then sighed, "I understand your pain. This is the pain that many of our national enterprises have suffered. These foreigners, though they appear to be gentlemen and act like紳士, are actually faithless devils. Too many of our national enterprises have been destroyed by these scoundrels. I deeply empathize with your experience!"
"Thank you! Thank you, Mr. Huang," Hao Jianguo replied.
"Tell me, how can I help you?" Huang He offered proactively.
"I don't know!" A hint of bewilderment flashed in Hao Jianguo's eyes. "I've just held these words in my heart for a long time, and I haven't found anyone to confide in. Moreover, my ambition seems so faint, with no hope in sight."
"I initially tried to use my abilities to enter Wall Street, then find a way to control a fund, and become someone like Bill Ackman. This way, I could use my own power, and by borrowing American money, acquire S.C. Johnson and then use various means to completely destroy this company!"
"But wouldn't your reputation be ruined that way?" Huang He asked in surprise.
"Yes, but so what? Revenge for a gentleman takes ten years, but once revenge is achieved, it's regretted for a lifetime." Hao Jianguo said excitedly, "Mr. Huang, as long as I can destroy S.C. Johnson, I'll be willing to die the next moment!"
"A true man!" Huang He excitedly patted Hao Jianguo's shoulder. Huang He hadn't seen such a passionate and spirited Chinese man in a long time.
"Unfortunately, I overestimated myself!" Hao Jianguo sighed. "I thought that with my abilities, even if the initial climb was difficult, as long as I had the capability, I would eventually succeed."
"During my university years, I was constantly trying to enter Wall Street and showcase my abilities to all financial institutions. But it was then I realized that in their eyes, all people of color were inherently inferior. People like us were not qualified to engage in finance because we were fools who couldn't grasp the intricacies of finance! That's why over 95% of Wall Street is white. The few Asians there are not intended for their own use; they are trained and then sent back to their respective countries to become agents of these Wall Street institutions in Southeast Asian countries." xxs 1
"The second stage is to utilize the local faces and bloodlines of people like us to lower the guard of the target countries and continuously help them harvest profits from the financial markets!"
"So, although I later joined a fund and became an intern, I heard that if I continued in that position, upon graduation, I would be arranged to return to China and lead the establishment of a private equity fund there to help them acquire various domestic enterprises, even including your Jiangnan Group."
"And according to the usual practice of these financial institutions, after acquiring our Chinese domestic enterprises, they will not help these local enterprises develop. On the contrary, they will completely tear apart these enterprises, then use them as fertilizer to feed their foreign-funded companies and foreign brands, ultimately completely dominating our national market!"
"Mr. Huang, you must never believe the words of these insatiable people. They might indeed help Jiangnan Group list on the US stock market, and they might indeed help you earn a large sum of money, but in the end, their goal is always to control your company and then turn your company into their own!"
...
For the next hour and a half, Hao Jianguo recounted the ugly faces of these European and American financial institutions, exposing all their sordid affairs, causing Huang He's expression to become increasingly grim and angry!
"Thank you for your reminder!" Huang He finally said with a sigh, "Mr. Hao, perhaps I am the one gaining more from this meal with you!"