Chapter 191: The opportunity that person gave

The 2010 Zheshang Annual Meeting was held at the InterContinental Hangzhou. Since all the famous Zhejiang businessmen would attend the annual meeting, the reporters arrived early, guarded the entrances, and waited to be the first to capture the images of those businessmen standing at the top of their wealth. n∈,

There was still some time before the annual meeting officially began, so the reporters were bored waiting at the entrance and started chatting: 'I've attended a few Zhejiang Businessmen's Annual Meetings. As Zhejiang businessmen develop better and better across the country, the scale of the meeting really gets bigger and bigger each time. However, someone was absent from the last Zhejiang Businessmen's Annual Meeting, so I'm not sure if anyone will be absent this time.'

'It's hard to say. You know that anyone who is qualified to be invited to this annual meeting must have at least a net worth of over 100 million yuan. None of these people doesn't have their own huge business. In case their company suddenly has something important that requires their immediate attention, I'm afraid they will have to miss the meeting.'

'You make a good point. But I think those who will miss the meeting due to sudden emergencies are just small fry. The owners of those major conglomerates will definitely not miss the meeting, especially that one owner. It would be a great pity if he were to miss the meeting.'

'You can't be referring to Li Qingyuan, who was recently named the richest man in the country?'

'Who else could it be? He is the pride of our Zhejiang businessmen. Not only is he the richest man in the country this year, he is even ranked in the top ten of the world's rich list, which is a remarkable achievement.'

While the reporters were chatting, time passed quietly. Soon it was time for the annual meeting to begin, and the invited Zhejiang businessmen entered in groups. The reporters at the door got up one after the other, taking their cameras to record the images of the wealthy men from the province.

'Look, there's Mr Li Qingyuan, the new richest man in the country. He's here at the annual meeting with his daughter!'

Suddenly there was a shout from the crowd of reporters, which instantly attracted all the reporters' attention. The cameras, which had been scattered around recording other people, suddenly focused on Li Qingyuan at the door. This made the other Zhejiang businessmen feel very uncomfortable, but there was nothing they could do. Who let others be the richest man in the country? When you meet him, you have to greet him with a smile, get close to him, try to establish a relationship, and cooperate in business. What's the big deal about stealing a little of the limelight?

Then, in the gaze of everyone, the old Zhejiang businessman in his sixties was escorted into the hall by his daughter, and there was an instant flash of the paparazzi's flashlights.

If he were an ordinary Zhejiang businessman, he would have lingered a little longer, so that the media could capture his figure a little more, but for Li Qingyuan, all of this was just a passing cloud. Without lingering, he walked into the hall and took his seat under the guidance of the on-site staff.

After Li Qingyuan, a wave of small tycoons entered the venue. Many famous entrepreneurs entered at this time, including the chairman of Hyundai Group, the chairman of Yongli Group, and even the head of an e-commerce company that is expected to become the richest person in the country in the future. However, as fellow Zhejiang businessmen, all of them are at the top of their wealth, and they are a little inferior to Li Qingyuan. After all, Li Qingyuan is now the newly crowned richest person in the country.

The entire Zhejiang Businessmen Annual Meeting proceeded in an orderly manner. First, the provincial government leaders and the organisers delivered speeches. After looking ahead to the future development of Zhejiang businessmen, it was finally time for Li Qingyuan to take the stage and give his speech.

As the host introduced him, Li Qingyuan walked up to the podium with his head held high: 'Hello, ladies and gentlemen, and distinguished guests. First of all, I am honoured to be able to attend this Zhejiang Businessmen Annual Conference. Thanks to a ranking list, I think many of you here should know me, but I would still like to introduce myself again. Hello everyone, my name is Li Qingyuan, I am the chairman of the Woawo Group, and I am very happy to meet you all here.'

Although it was just an opening that was not at all original, it received a warm round of applause because it came from Li Qingyuan's mouth, and the journalists did not hold back from furiously snapping away at the camera.

After the applause, Li Qingyuan continued, 'As for the future prospects of Zhejiang businessmen, I don't think I need to say anything more, because the rapid development of our country has not stopped. Zhejiang businessmen, as an important driving force behind the country's development, naturally have the opportunity to exert their own initiative. In particular, the post-80s and post-90s generations, as long as they can seize this opportunity of rapid development, they will definitely be able to create their own businesses.'

Li Qingyuan paused for a moment before continuing, 'Before I came here, I was interviewed by several media outlets, and they were all very interested in how I started my business. They were curious about how I managed to turn a small food factory into such a large group of companies.'

'I have avoided talking about this in the past, but here today, in front of all my friends from Zhejiang Province and the media friends from all walks of life, I want to talk about it.'

Li Qingyuan's words caused an uproar in the audience. Everyone was surprised, but all the reporters quickly picked up their pens and notebooks to record this important news.

Li Qingyuan raised his hand to indicate silence, and only after the audience had quietened down did he say, 'My resume can be found online by everyone. You know that I started out making health supplement oral liquids for others, and later transitioned to making beverages and food.'

'This process is easy to describe, but actually doing it was very difficult, because at that time making oral liquids was profitable, and everyone was doing it. There were endless varieties of oral liquids on the market, and no one wanted to make beverages and food. When I proposed this idea at that time, no one believed in me at all.'

Li Qingyuan shook his head helplessly, as if remembering the suffering of those days: 'At that time, when I said I wanted to make drinks and food, none of the partners agreed. They even used various means to force me to give in, so that I would continue to make oral liquids.'

At the end of his story, Li Qingyuan smiled helplessly. He asked, 'I went through a very painful time, and even thought about just going with the flow. But then something happened that made me change my mind.'

'I know that many people think that I made my first fortune when I invested in my own beverage and food factories and when I was making health products, but that's actually not the case,' said Li Qingyuan. 'At the beginning of the reform and opening up, my family was very poor. All the money I borrowed to do business was borrowed, and I even borrowed usury. At that time, I did make money from making oral liquids, but that money was all tied up in goods, and I couldn't even pay back the usury, so how could I have any money to invest?'

'You don't know, at that time I took out a high-interest loan secured by my house, and people even came to my doorstep to demand repayment.'

Li Qingyuan suddenly changed the subject: 'But I'm very grateful for my own luck. I was able to meet that person at that time, and it was he who gave me a chance, changing my life forever. Or rather, not just me, that person also changed the lives of many people.'

Li Qingyuan looked up: 'You always say that I'm the richest person in the country, that I'm someone who stands at the top of wealth. But I want to say here that I'm nothing compared to him!'

If Li Qingyuan's previous words only caused an uproar at the scene, then his current words caused the scene to explode. Although everyone understood that the so-called rankings were just a gimmick, in reality, there were still quite a few people in the country who were unwilling to disclose their hidden wealth. However, since these people were so low-key, even the most perceptive journalists had a hard time uncovering their secrets. Now that Li Qingyuan had mentioned it on his own initiative, how could they not be excited?

Unfortunately, Li Qingyuan's words stopped there, and he never mentioned the person at the end. However, Li Qingyuan's daughter, who was sitting in the audience, suddenly remembered a name she had heard when she was very young: Zhou Ming.

...

Time went back to 1989. Li Qingyuan was walking aimlessly on the streets of Hangcheng City's Southern District. In the past, every night after dinner, he would go for a walk with his wife, but today, he was alone, because today's events had hit him too hard.

Half a month ago, he had already proposed to give up the current oral liquid project and switch to beverages and food, but no one supported him. Everyone was against it, and in the end they had a fight. He had also gone absent for half a month in protest. He had thought that he could make Ye Jianlin and Wu Zheng compromise a little, but who knew that these two simply would not take his advice.

While his own performance was declining, they still refused to relent, and things even developed to the point where they were fighting against each other.

If it were just him, he would have fought them to the end and tried to get his beverage and food products off the ground. But these scumbags had even gone so far as to put their hands in his family's business.

Recalling the words his wife had just said to him at home, Li Qingyuan felt a wave of annoyance. He hadn't expected that after just a little difficulty, his wife would buckle under the pressure and betray him. Not only did she not support his beverage and food products, she was actively opposing them.

Damn it! Why doesn't anyone believe in me? Why do they believe that oral liquid has no future, and that only drinks and food have a future?

Li Qingyuan shouted in his heart, when suddenly a loudspeaker interrupted his thoughts. He looked in the direction of the sound and saw that someone was doing publicity there, for Linyang Baobao porridge.

Li Qingyuan subconsciously walked over. He looked at the advertisement that Lin Yang Baobao Congee sold 100 million cans a year and said unconvincingly, 'It's just 100 million cans. What's so great about it? If I take over this food factory, I can sell 1 billion cans and I can also come up with more other products! As long as someone gives me this opportunity...'

Li Qingyuan muttered to himself here, but suddenly a voice sounded beside him: 'Really? If you are given the opportunity, you can sell a billion cans?'

This voice startled Li Qingyuan. He looked back and saw a very young man, next to him was a very beautiful woman, and behind him was a taciturn man.

Li Qingyuan was very puzzled at first, but then he thought of something, and his eyes widened suddenly. He pointed his finger at the young man and asked, 'You...you are Zhou Ming?'