Chapter 889: The Mighty An Hong!

The Li Family Courtyard!

The house had been unoccupied for a month and a half, so naturally it was filthy, with dust everywhere inside and out.

So the first thing Li Yi and the others did upon returning home was to clean up.

Many hands make light work. Although the courtyard was quite large and had many rooms, thanks to everyone’s joint efforts, they finished cleaning in less than two hours.

After tidying up the house, the little ones were all exhausted, so Jiang Xue and the eldest sister took the children back to their respective rooms to rest.

Li Yi, on the other hand, called Zhang Ziqiang and Zhou Wen to join him, and they drove straight from home to the Dong’an Market branch where his third older sister worked.

That’s right—Li Yi planned to visit his third older sister.

When he left in March, his third sister had been pregnant for over a month; now that it was late August, she was well into her pregnancy.

He wondered what his pregnant third sister looked like now and whether her fiery temper had mellowed at all.

The Li family’s courtyard house wasn’t far from Dong’an Market; with a car, it took no more than ten minutes to get there.

When he arrived at the Dong’an Market branch, the doors were tightly shut—clearly, it was closed for the day.

Anyone who’s worked in the restaurant industry knows that lunch service usually runs from 11:30 a.m. to 2:00 p.m., though some places might extend it to 2:30 p.m.

The period from 2:30 PM to 5:00 PM is the staff’s break time, and after 5:00 PM, they begin preparing for the evening service.

Realizing that Third Sister was likely already resting, Li Yi decided not to disturb her. Instead, he had Zhang Ziqiang drive to the mainland branch of Star Investment Company in the city center.

Before long, the car arrived at the branch office.

Since Jiang Xue had often used this car to come to work before, the security guard at the entrance recognized the boss’s wife and let Li Yi and the others in without much scrutiny.

However, once inside, Li Yi and the others were a bit taken aback.

When they had traveled to Hong Kong, the branch’s headquarters was still at its original location, meaning this was their first time at this particular site.

Just as Li Yi was thinking about finding someone to ask where Lan Xinyi’s office was, he spotted a familiar face walking toward him from a short distance away.

“Yang Qian…”

Just as Li Yi recognized her, Yang Qian spotted him too and immediately quickened her pace toward him.

“Boss, you’re back?” Yang Qian asked, sounding a bit surprised.

“I’m back. Where is General Manager Lan’s office? It’s my first time here, and I don’t know my way around!” Li Yi said.

“It’s in the courtyard on the east side. I’ll take you there!”

“Great!”

Then, led by Yang Qian, the group walked along the colonnade toward the east side of the small lake.

Since there was no one else around, and the only others present—Zhang Ziqiang and Zhou Wen—were both aware of Yang Qian’s true identity, Li Yi didn’t pay them any mind.

After a moment’s hesitation, he asked the question on his mind: “Yang Qian, I’ve been meaning to ask—why did you stay in the country? Was that Old Xu’s idea?”

Yang Qian shook her head and said, “Not really. It was General Manager Lan’s idea!”

“Huh? Why would she want to keep you here on the mainland?” Li Yi asked, puzzled.

“It’s partly my fault. Earlier, the company was selecting staff for an important mission. I volunteered to gain recognition from senior management, and I was actually chosen.”

Then Yang Qian added with a sigh, “What I didn’t expect was that this ‘important mission’ turned out to be setting up a branch office on the mainland. By the time I found out, it was too late to back out!”

“So you basically dug your own grave?” Li Yi asked with a smile.

“I suppose so. But staying in Beijing isn’t so bad. Since I’m familiar with how things work here and the social dynamics, plus I have some connections, I’ve helped the company handle quite a few matters over the past few months. That makes me feel a lot better when I get paid!” Yang Qian laughed.

“Doesn’t that mean your cover has been blown?” Li Yi frowned.

Yang Qian shrugged it off. “So what if it’s out in the open? I wasn’t a spy to begin with. At first, I was just there to ensure the safety of that fund. Now that you’ve recovered so much money for the country, my mission is complete.”

“Besides, the whole world knows you’re part of that faction now. It makes perfect sense to have a few more Chinese nationals in your company!”

Hearing Yang Qian’s explanation, Li Yi immediately laughed and said, “Right, that makes perfect sense!”

“By the way, what’s your current position at the branch office?”

“I used to be a team leader and deputy director in the Investment Department. Now I’m the General Manager’s Assistant, and I occasionally fill in for the PR Department!” Yang Qian said.

“I didn’t realize you were such a jack-of-all-trades!” Li Yi said with a laugh.

“Not really. It’s mainly because the team General Manager Lan brought over from Hong Kong isn’t very familiar with how things are done here. Some of them are too rigid and inflexible, while others look down on the local staff. As an ‘outsider,’ I happen to understand both sides, so General Manager Lan has no choice but to rely on me!” Yang Qian said with a touch of resignation.

“Regarding your return to work here, has Old Xu given any other instructions? Has he asked you to find a way to go back?” Li Yi asked again.

“Yes, after all, if I’m here, I can’t keep up with the headquarters’ investment situation in real time. But that’s something I can’t control—there’s nothing I can do about it!” Yang Qian said.

“So, do you want to go back to Hong Kong Island? If you do, I can transfer you back!” Li Yi said.

“It doesn’t matter to me. As long as the country needs me, I’m fine staying here or returning to Hong Kong!”

Hearing this, an idea suddenly popped into Li Yi’s mind, and he immediately said, “Here’s what we’ll do: get your things together over the next few days, and I’ll have someone send you back to Hong Kong in a few days!”

“Once you’re back, select a group of people from the company to form an independent team. You’ll be given control of a fund, and you’ll be solely responsible for managing it!”

Yang Qian was very sharp; she understood immediately upon hearing Li Yi’s words. She then asked cautiously, “Is this money from the mainland?”

“Hmm…”

Li Yi was just about to explain his plan in detail when Yang Qian suddenly said, “General Manager Lan’s office is right up ahead!”

“Alright, we’ll discuss this in more detail later!”

“Alright…”

After saying that, Yang Qian led Li Yi into a courtyard directly ahead.

In the office, Lan Xinyi was sorting through a pile of documents on her desk when she saw Yang Qian push open the door and walk in.

Before she could ask what was going on, Yang Qian spoke up: “Sister Lan, the boss is here!”

Lan Xinyi then noticed Li Yi standing behind Yang Qian. She immediately stood up and said with a smile, “Boss, you’re back?”

“I just got back and came straight over to check on things here at the company!”

“Please, have a seat!”

Seeing this, Yang Qian promptly poured a cup of hot water for each of them, then tactfully excused herself.

Zhang Ziqiang and Zhou Wen hadn’t stayed in the office either; after confirming that Li Yi was safe, they followed Yang Qian out.

Soon, only Li Yi and Lan Xinyi remained in the office.

Li Yi glanced at the office’s entirely Chinese-style design, smiled, and asked, “Are you getting used to working here?”

“I wasn’t used to it at first, but it’s much better now. It actually feels better than Hong Kong—after all, the place there is so small, and everything feels cramped!” Lan Xinyi said with a smile.

“That’s true. Having a small courtyard all to yourself like this—I couldn’t even imagine that over there!”

Li Yi then asked, “How is the company doing now? Are our funds still sufficient?”

Lan Xinyi immediately pulled out a document. As she handed it to Li Yi, she said, “This is a summary of the company’s investment activities over the past four months. As of mid-August, the investment department has fully acquired 16 underperforming factories and taken equity stakes in 25 other underperforming or low-profit enterprises. These 41 companies alone have consumed 580 million yuan of the company’s funds.”

“On top of that, the company has established branches in Lin’an, Rongcheng, Chang’an, and Fengtian, and has built a new headquarters office building along with supporting facilities such as housing for employees and their families in the capital. Combined with the purchase of our current office space, these projects have consumed over 200 million yuan…”

At this point, Li Yi interjected, “So, does that mean the company still has over 200 million yuan left?”

“More than that—it should be 820 million!”

Li Yi was taken aback for a moment, then asked with interest, “Where did the extra 600 million come from?”

“It was all earned by Vice President An and Ms. Li Lan’s team!”

Lan Xinyi continued, “Ever since you, Boss, left for Hong Kong, Vice President An has led the team to organize trade fairs in 11 major cities, including Lin’an, Rongcheng, Shancheng, Chang’an, Hucheng, and Jiangcheng.”

“Because the products they showcased were of superior quality and offered at competitive prices, backed by the company’s after-sales guarantee, they received overwhelming support from local residents in every city—every event was a sell-out.”

“In just four short months, they generated 8 billion yuan in sales. After deducting various taxes and costs, the company’s share came to 640 million yuan!”

“How did they manage to make that much money?” Li Yi asked in astonishment.

An Xinyi immediately said to Banbanhaobang with admiration, “At first, I found this hard to believe too, but once I learned about how they operate, I was truly amazed!”

“Vice President An’s sales fairs don’t sell just anything; instead, they’re organized by category, one at a time. This week they hold a light industrial goods fair, and next week a children’s toys fair. A single product category can run for a week, and they can basically go two months without repeating a single theme.”

“Sometimes they rotate the events, and other times they hold them simultaneously in several locations across the country. While the revenue for each fair isn’t fixed, it’s guaranteed to be at least 5 million yuan. The most successful one—the home appliance fair—actually sold 200 million yuan worth of goods in just seven days…”

Whoa!

Hearing this, Li Yi couldn’t help but gasp in astonishment.

Wow. He’d always known that An Hong was exceptionally capable—give her a chance, and she’d bloom into something extraordinary.

But he still felt he’d underestimated her a bit. Just a small sales fair, and she could rake in that much money—Li Yi almost wanted to shout, “Sis-in-law, you’re the best!”

PS: It’s the last day of November, and I’ve finally made it through.

For Old Cang, this month has definitely been the toughest since he started writing. First, he got sick, and he still hasn’t fully recovered—it’s been over a month, and he’s still coughing nonstop.

Then my little girl and my wife both came down with the same cold, the same cough, and the same lingering illness.

In the middle of the month, my mother-in-law fell ill and had surgery; she was only discharged from the hospital two days ago.

On top of that, my workplace hosted several events, including high-level gatherings like the China-Mongolia-Russia Writers’ Symposium, and I attended them all while still feeling under the weather.

With everything piling up at once, this month’s update progress has been less than ideal—I’ve barely managed to hit 100,000 words. I hope to recover fully next month and be able to post more frequently!

I also wish all my readers good health, happiness, and success in everything you do during this final month of 2023!