Li Yi had no idea just how much of a misunderstanding his words had caused for his in-laws.
The couple hadn’t even considered the possibility that their child was still alive; they were already making plans to adopt a child.
As for Li Yi, after a few drinks, he slept soundly until dawn!
When he finally woke up, it was already past 8:00 a.m. the next morning.
The shop was completely empty; clearly, Long Zhanjun and the others hadn’t returned from Dong’an Market yet.
Li Yi quickly washed up and immediately thought of the matter involving Tang Xue.
He walked over to the phone and prepared to call Li Gang.
He planned to ask him to help bring Tang Xue to the county seat so they could talk on the phone and discuss the matter.
But just as he was about to dial the number, Li Yi stopped himself abruptly.
He’d been so focused on his mother-in-law’s fragile health—she couldn’t handle any stress—that he’d forgotten Tang Xue was also pregnant.
And she was carrying twins—a pregnancy that was already prone to premature birth.
If this news were to upset her and cause her to go into premature labor, that would be a real problem.
With that in mind, Li Yi decided it would be better for him to go back. With him by her side, Tang Xue’s emotions shouldn’t get too worked up.
After all, his trip to Beijing was partly to meet with the Jiang family, partly to bring his third sister and Zhang Xinyao here, and partly to handle the dried goods business.
Now that everything except the dried goods matter had been taken care of, going back wouldn’t hold him up.
With that in mind, he decided to head back today—after all, his wife comes first!
He knew just how much Tang Xue wanted to find her biological parents.
No matter how busy he was, he had to resolve this matter first!
Just as Li Yi had made up his mind, the sound of a car engine suddenly roared outside.
Immediately afterward, Jiang Longcheng stepped out of the car, clutching a small briefcase and looking every bit the dandy.
Just as he was about to push open the door and step inside, he discovered that the shop door was locked tight.
Long Zhanjun and the others had locked the door while they were out restocking, worried that someone might break in.
Just as Jiang Longcheng was about to leave, looking a bit disappointed, he heard someone calling his name from inside.
He turned around and saw Li Yi standing by the window, watching him.
“Hey, what’s going on here?”
“Dalong and the others went to restock. I was sound asleep, so they locked the door!”
Saying this, Li Yi pulled out his key and handed it to Jiang Longcheng.
Jiang Longcheng didn’t hesitate; he took the key, unlocked the shop door, and walked inside.
“Why did you come over so early?” Li Yi asked immediately.
“I couldn’t stop thinking about what you mentioned yesterday—it kept me up all night!”
Li Yi glanced at Jiang Longcheng’s eyes and noticed faint dark circles.
He smiled and said, “Alright, I didn’t expect you to be so curious!”
“Stop beating around the bush, man. Just tell me what’s going on with my third uncle and aunt—do me a favor and spill the beans!” Jiang Longcheng said, feigning helplessness.
“It’s not that I don’t want to tell you, but it involves other people. I’ll let you know after I’ve asked her first!”
“Who?”
“Alright, that’s enough about this. Now do me a favor!” Li Yi said.
“What kind of favor?”
“Check if there are any tickets back to Ning City today!” Li Yi said.
“What? Are you going back?”
“Yeah, I’ve got some urgent business I need to take care of. If everything goes as planned, I’ll be back in a few days!” Li Yi said.
“Sure!”
With that, Jiang Longcheng immediately picked up the shop phone and dialed a number.
He briefly explained the situation, then hung up!
“Never mind what happened with Uncle San, but you’ve got to help me out with the factory—I’m really at my wits’ end right now!” Jiang Longcheng said.
“Are you talking about turning your factory around?” Li Yi asked, frowning.
“Yeah. As of this month, our factory’s total cash on hand is less than 100,000 yuan, and we owe our suppliers over 200,000 yuan. I’m completely overwhelmed right now!”
Li Yi frowned; to be honest, this was a really tough problem to solve.
It wasn’t that Li Yi didn’t want to help Jiang Longcheng; rather, the decline of the cotton spinning mill was an inevitable trend.
According to data, the domestic textile industry is currently developing rapidly; in just over a decade, the number of cotton spinning spindles has grown from 17.8 million to 42.45 million.
At the same time, as the market gradually opened up, a series of problems—such as excessive competition, unsold inventory, corporate losses, underutilized capacity, and a surplus of workers—have been constantly emerging.
Consequently, enterprises with poor management would begin to suffer losses immediately, and within a few years, even state-owned textile enterprises would face industry-wide losses.
At its peak, the losses of state-owned textile enterprises nationwide reached as high as 10 billion yuan.
Although the situation isn’t quite that dire at the moment, it won’t be easy to turn things around.
After a moment’s thought, Li Yi immediately said, “If you trust me, start with these three areas right now, and perhaps we can bring the factory back from the brink.”
“What are those three areas?” Jiang Longcheng asked eagerly.
“Your most pressing problem right now is a lack of funds. As long as you have money, the problem is solved, right?”
“Right!”
“Alright, first, we need to clear out that backlog of inventory to free up some cash!”
Li Yi continued, “Second, investigate those raw material suppliers to see if they’re connected to the Gao Shubin case and whether the materials they supplied previously met standards. If any are linked to the Gao Shubin case, waive all payments.”
“Finally, we need to restructure our product lineup. We can’t just follow the crowd—we have to produce what the market needs!”
Jiang Longcheng listened, half-understanding, and then said, “I think I get the gist of those three points you mentioned. The first is to clear out the backlog in the warehouse, and the second is about defaulting on payments—I get that too. But what does the third one mean?”
Li Yi replied immediately, “The third point means you shouldn’t just produce whatever you’re capable of making. Instead, you should produce what the people need and what they like!”
“How are we supposed to know that?”
“Conduct market research. Make a decision after you’ve finished the research!” Li Yi said.
“Alright, but what about that batch of inventory? You know as well as I do that our factory’s products just won’t sell—even if we slash the prices, nobody wants them!” Jiang Longcheng sighed.
Li Yi suddenly thought of An Hong. Back when she first started out, she had also taken over a textile factory on the verge of bankruptcy.
Back then, the county cotton mill she took over had warehouses full of unsold cotton fabric. She gritted her teeth and turned all the fabric into clothes.
No one wanted the fabric, but everyone was scrambling for the clothes.
In less than two months, she had sold off all the raw materials in the cotton mill’s inventory, not only recouping a large sum of capital but also making a hefty profit.
Thinking of this, Li Yi immediately said, “Here’s what we’ll do: I’ll go back and draw up a plan for you. Just follow it, and I guarantee you’ll sell all your inventory!”
“Really?”
“Yep!”
“I knew you could pull this off, Brother Li Yi…”
Just as they were speaking, the phone at the front desk suddenly rang.
Jiang Longcheng knew it was news regarding the matter he’d had someone look into, so he picked it up right away.
After a brief exchange, he hung up.
“Brother Li Yi, there’s a train to Lucheng this afternoon that passes through Ning City, but it won’t arrive there until around midnight. What do you think?” Jiang Longcheng asked.
“Book me a ticket… Wait a bit before booking—I’ll check if Sister An Hong is coming back!”
“Alright, I’m heading back to the factory now. Give me a call once you’ve decided how many tickets you need!” Jiang Longcheng said.
“Alright!”
With that, Jiang Longcheng got up and left the shop, and soon the sound of a car engine could be heard outside!