Chapter 1022: Real Industry—The Cornerstone of the Nation

By the time he left Third Sister’s place, it was already past 2:00 PM.

He had originally planned to head home after visiting Third Sister—he was already craving the buckwheat pancakes his mother had made!

But his sister-in-law dragged him aside, asking him all sorts of questions. By the time he’d cleared up most of his doubts, it was dinnertime, and customers were starting to pour into the shop.

Seeing his third sister and the others bustling about like busy bees, Li Yi naturally couldn’t just leave; he had no choice but to stay and help out.

It wasn’t until most of the customers had left that they finally found a moment to grab a quick bite.

After all that hustle and bustle, it was already late by the time they stepped out of the shop.

Back in the car, Li Yi rubbed his chilled hands and said, “Let’s go to the office!”

“Yes!”

As the car’s engine roared to life, it plowed through the snow and black ice on the road, heading straight for the mainland branch of Starry Sky Investment.

When Li Yi and his group arrived at the branch office, Lan Xinyi happened to be in her office.

Seeing Li Yi push open the door and walk in, Lan Xinyi immediately said cheerfully, “Boss, you’re here! Please, have a seat.”

Li Yi didn’t hesitate, immediately sitting down in a chair across from Lan Xinyi’s desk, then asked, “Have you been busy lately? Is everything running smoothly at the company?”

Lan Xinyi replied hurriedly, “We’ve been incredibly busy. Everyone has to work late every day before they can go home!”

“Is it because business is booming or because we’re short-staffed? Why do you have to work so late?” Li Yi asked.

“It’s both. As we acquire more and more brands, we need a lot of manpower for asset valuation, restructuring and acquisitions, as well as subsequent procedures like improving production processes, adding production lines, and resuming production. Even though we’ve been recruiting new employees repeatedly, we’re still short-handed. We have no choice but to sacrifice our employees’ rest time to get the work done,” Lan Xinyi explained.

“Since you know the reasons behind this, I won’t interfere. I trust you’ll handle it well.”

Li Yi then changed the subject and added, “However, since you’ve taken up the employees’ rest time, you must provide compensation. Not a single cent of the overtime pay owed should be withheld!”

“Understood. We’ve always paid overtime at the highest rate!”

“Good to hear. Has the company acquired all those local brands yet?” Li Yi asked again.

“Apart from the Yanjing Television Factory, which you had been jointly operating even before the branch was established, we’ve now acquired the Beibingyang Food Company and the Qingcheng Dairy Farm. We’ve also acquired two laundry detergent factories and a toothpaste factory. Our team has already moved into these facilities to carry out upgrades and renovations.”

Lan Xinyi continued, “In addition to these factories we’ve already acquired, the company is currently in acquisition negotiations with a refrigerator factory, a fan factory, and a brewery. We expect to reach agreements by the end of the year!”

“Excellent, very well done. You must continue to accelerate the acquisition of the domestic brands on the list, then upgrade their manufacturing processes and reintroduce these factories’ products to the market!” Li Yi ordered.

“Yes… but…”

“Just what? Speak up—no need to hold back!” Li Yi said.

Lan Xinyi paused briefly before saying, “Boss, there’s something I just can’t wrap my head around. Why are you investing in these industries? It’s completely out of character for you!”

“What do you mean? What’s wrong with these industries?”

“Boss, I know what you’re capable of. You decimated the Hong Kong stock market, swept through the New York futures market, and went on a rampage in the London stock market, leaving those financial titans in disarray and in disarray. Every single time, you made a profit of dozens of times your investment.”

Lan Xinyi continued, “But look at the industries you’re investing in now—each one requires massive capital, offers meager returns, and has a long payback period. With that time and energy, you could easily generate far greater profits in the financial markets!”

Li Yi smiled and said, “You’re right. Investing in real industries certainly doesn’t generate money as quickly as investing in finance. The profits generated by a well-run financial firm could equal the combined profits of dozens of real-industry companies of the same scale. There is indeed a massive gap between the two in terms of profitability.”

“Then why do you…”

Before Lan Xinyi could finish, Li Yi raised his hand to stop her, then continued, “Although investing in real industries comes with its own set of challenges, it cannot be denied that industry is the cornerstone of a nation. At the same time, the risks involved in real industry are far lower than those in the financial sector.”

“Our Star Company has already established a presence in sectors like finance and real estate. Our biggest weakness right now is our lack of industrial operations, so investing in manufacturing here is precisely how we’re addressing the gaps in our full industrial chain.”

“Furthermore, while investing in real industries may have lower profit margins and longer investment cycles, that doesn’t mean we can’t make money. With the vast mainland market behind us, as long as our products gain public acceptance, making a profit will be incredibly easy!”

After hearing Li Yi’s explanation, Lan Xinyi’s eyes lit up.

Indeed, while investing in manufacturing may not generate profits as quickly as the financial sector, it carries lower risks and is a more stable option.

Moreover, Star Investment had already become a leader in the investment sector; its position in Hong Kong’s investment circles was unshakable—it had essentially reached the industry’s ceiling.

Now, if they wanted to find a bigger source of profit, investing in real industries was the only option.

“Boss, I understand. I’ll continue following your instructions and speed up the acquisition of those factories on the list!” Lan Xinyi said.

Li Yi nodded but said nothing.

His heavy investment in domestic industries was indeed driven by the reasons mentioned earlier, but more importantly, he wanted to preserve the roots of domestic brands while simultaneously cutting off the easy channels for certain foreign brands to enter the country.

Don’t be fooled by the current spring breeze of reform and opening-up sweeping across the Chinese mainland, with industries developing at breakneck speed and domestic brands flourishing in an instant—this rapid growth is fraught with danger.

Soon, China’s abundant cheap labor and massive market potential would attract a wave of multinational corporations—led by large monopolistic capital from Europe and the United States—to invest in the country.

By this time, many domestic brands would have already built significant brand recognition within the country, boasting high sales volumes and large market shares—a situation that would pose a major obstacle to foreign capital entering the Chinese market.

To swallow up China’s vast market, these multinational giants have launched a scheme to “trade capital for market access.”

That’s right—a conspiracy!

Under the guise of “joint ventures and mergers,” they were actually carrying out a “substitution” scheme.

These multinational giants specifically targeted well-known domestic brands, offering contracts under the guise of “market access in exchange for technology” to outright buy out the rights to use those brands.

But once the contracts were signed, these giants turned their backs on their promises. All past agreements vanished into thin air as they focused solely on researching and promoting their own products, making a sweeping advance into the Chinese market. Not only did they ignore the products of the acquired brands, but they also maliciously inflated prices to reduce sales, and once they had exploited them, they simply shelved them.

A classic example is the deal between Beihai Soda and Pepsi-Cola. Back then, as Beihai Soda’s business continued to expand, the company decided to partner with foreign capital to build a factory and adapt to market changes.

After careful screening, they chose PepsiCo—with its mature technology and global sales network—as their partner.

In the early stages of the partnership, Beibingyang did indeed learn a great deal, achieving significant improvements in both corporate operations and product manufacturing.

Pepsi, however, also leveraged Beibingyang’s brand and market presence to successfully enter the Chinese market, and on the surface, both parties appeared to have achieved a win-win situation.

Yet, as time went on, through a series of strategic moves by PepsiCo, Beihai Ocean unexpectedly lost control of the joint venture and gradually withdrew from the mainstream market.

PepsiCo seized the opportunity, completely squeezing Beihaiyang out of the Chinese market and securing a dominant position on its own.

This once-proud domestic soft drink brand became a stepping stone for a foreign brand, with the fruits of years of hard work appropriated by PepsiCo.

Not only did they utilize Beibingyang’s existing production lines to boost their own output, but they also squeezed out the survival space for other beverage brands.

Unwilling to lose everything so easily, Beihai Ocean sent representatives to negotiate with PepsiCo on multiple occasions.

But PepsiCo remained unyielding, insisting that Beihai Ocean refrain from selling carbonated beverages in both domestic and international markets for the next four years before agreeing to transfer operational rights.

For the sake of long-term development, Beihaiyang reluctantly accepted this condition and did not re-enter the public eye until 2011.

However, due to its prolonged absence from the market, the iconic snow-white polar bear had been forgotten by many consumers, and Beihai Ocean could only rely on nostalgia to stay afloat…

It was only then that local entrepreneurs realized the truth: these multinational giants’ “partnerships” were a sham—their real goal was to use these domestic brands as a springboard to enter the Chinese market!

But by then it was too late. Domestic brands faced an unprecedented crisis; the “mainstays of domestic production” vanished one after another, and the Chinese market was almost entirely taken over by multinational corporations.

Though this struggle lacked the flash of swords and spears, it was fraught with bloodshed and turmoil from the very beginning.

Li Yi’s investment in real industry at this juncture was precisely to seize the initiative—to build several industrial behemoths before those multinational giants arrived.

Incidentally, he also intended to deliver a few resounding blows to these domestic brands early on, to show them that foreign monks aren’t necessarily better at chanting—and that they might even be hiding knives under their robes.

However, compared to industries like food, daily chemicals, and apparel, Li Yi was more concerned with the development of the high-tech sector.

After all, these industries are not only the cornerstone of the nation but also the backbone of the nation.

At that moment, his gaze sharpened as he looked at Lan Xinyi once more…

………..