Chapter 63: Unreasonable (Part 1)

December 7th, Li Dong took a leave of absence and hurried back to Dongping. 

Because the opening date for the Qingyang Four Stores was on the 8th, Li Dong called a meeting in Dongping with the managers of all the branches.

At 7 p.m., when Li Dong arrived at the small conference room of the Dongping store, all the branch managers were already present.

As soon as Li Dong walked in, everyone stood up to greet him.

"Hello, Mr. Li!"

"Mr. Li, and Mr. Sun!"

...

Sun Tao followed Li Dong and introduced him to the managers one by one. "This is Xie Hong, the manager of the Qingyang branch."

"This is Guo Mingzhi, the manager of the Hechuan branch."

"This is Wu Liangnong, the manager of the Yanghe branch."

...

These three managers were all recruited by Sun Tao. Li Dong had already gone to Pingchuan by then and had only communicated with them over the phone; he hadn't met them in person.

Upon hearing Sun Tao's introduction, Li Dong nodded and smiled at them.

"And this is someone Mr. Li should have met before, Qi Yunna, the manager of the Nanping branch."

Li Dong nodded towards Qi Yunna and joked, "Manager Qi is someone I personally hired and is the only female manager among the branch managers from afar. It's hard to forget her."

Qi Yunna, who was only in her early thirties, was thrilled when she heard Li Dong mention her first thing. She hurriedly bowed and expressed her gratitude.

Li Dong smiled back and greeted the old staff members of the Dongping store, such as Yang Yun and Fang Hao.

After finishing the greetings, Li Dong said, "Please, take a seat. There's no need to be so formal."

Once everyone was seated, Li Dong continued, "Everyone here is a cornerstone of our distant branches. Even though some of you are meeting for the first time, the fact that you were chosen by Mr. Sun means you have the ability to handle this position."

Sun Tao quickly stood up and said, "Thank you for your trust in me, Mr. Li!"

Li Dong smiled and gestured for him to sit down. "Please, sit down. Distant branches have achieved what they are today because of Mr. Sun's hard work. Without Mr. Sun's efforts, we wouldn't have today's success."

Praised by Li Dong in front of everyone, Sun Tao quickly humbly responded a couple of times and then sat back down.

Li Dong then made small talk with everyone before getting down to business.

The main purpose of the meeting was to discuss the preparations for the opening the next day. Li Dong asked each branch manager to report on the preparations and whether they had encountered any problems.

When it was Qi Yunna's turn, she said, "Mr. Li, most of the staff at the Nanping branch are inexperienced. Could we borrow a few experienced staff from Dongping to help with training?"

This was reasonable. After Qi Yunna finished speaking, Li Dong replied, "That's exactly what I was going to mention. Tomorrow, Mr. Sun will go to Yanghe to oversee things. Manager Yang will bring two people to Nanping to assist, and Supervisor Fang will go to Hechuan..."

These were all veterans who had experienced the grand opening of Dongping. Li Dong felt reassured with them overseeing the branches.

The individuals mentioned by Li Dong quickly nodded in agreement.

Especially Fang Hao, whose face showed joy.

Being assigned to oversee a branch indicated that Mr. Li still trusted him. The cheating incident during the lottery had finally been forgotten.

Originally, as the head of the marketing department, Fang Hao should have naturally taken over Dongping's affairs after Sun Tao left. However, he was surprised when Sun Tao transferred the supermarket's managerial authority to Financial Manager Yang Yun, which made Fang Hao anxious.

He knew that Sun Tao didn't like him very much, which was why he had gotten into trouble by breaking the rules when trying to curry favor with Mr. Li's mother. Fang Hao had regretted it deeply afterwards.

Unexpectedly, today Mr. Li mentioned his name and positioned him alongside Sun Tao and Yang Yun, which made Fang Hao very pleased. It seemed he still had competitiveness as a Dongping branch manager.

Li Dong didn't care about Fang Hao's thoughts and continued arranging things. "I will go to Qingyang tomorrow. The other branches will be under your care. Be sure to ensure everything goes smoothly!"

"Yes!"

"We guarantee there will be no issues!"

...

After everyone expressed their commitments, Li Dong glanced at the time and said, "It's getting late, and you all will be busy tomorrow. Let's call it a day."

The main purpose of gathering everyone was to get to know them so that when the opening happened, he wouldn't be unfamiliar with the managers. It was also to observe their capabilities. Although a few simple words couldn't reveal too much, Li Dong needed to get a general idea.

He trusted Sun Tao, but he couldn't leave everything to him. Sometimes, being too lenient could backfire.

As everyone got up to leave, Li Dong suddenly said, "Manager Yang, please stay."

Yang Yun was taken aback but stayed seated without asking further.

Fang Hao glanced at Yang Yun as he left, wondering if Mr. Li was planning to appoint a new Dongping branch manager, and what would happen to him? But it wasn't the right time to ask, so Fang Hao reluctantly followed the others out of the conference room.

...

Once everyone had left, only Yang Yun and Li Dong remained in the conference room.

Facing Yang Yun alone, Li Dong felt a strange mix of emotions.

To be honest, he initially planned to find an excuse to dismiss Yang Yun, but she had only improved her performance over time and had even been recognized by Sun Tao to manage Dongping's affairs, gaining more importance in Distant Branch.

Now, firing Yang Yun would not only be problematic for her but would also likely displease Sun Tao.

Moreover, Li Dong had no intention of firing Yang Yun. If he did, it would seriously offend her, and he would have trouble in the future.

Considering these factors, Li Dong felt a headache coming on. It was a difficult problem to arrange Yang Yun's position.

He didn't want Yang Yun to hold too high a position in Distant Branch, as it was a matter of personal preference. He hoped his company would remain free of any personal emotions.

A company entangled with emotions could never be absolutely fair. If Yang Yun learned about his relationship with Qin Yuhan and then did something detrimental to the company's interests, how would Li Dong handle it?

It wasn't that Li Dong wanted to be petty with Yang Yun; he just wanted to nip any potential problems in the bud.

So, what should be done about Yang Yun?

Firing her was out of the question, and promoting her wasn't ideal either.

Continuing to let Yang Yun handle the finances was also unsuitable—after all, how could a son-in-law let his mother-in-law handle the money?

What should be done?

Li Dong was deep in thought, feeling quite troubled.

...

Yang Yun, left alone, had been observing Li Dong's expression. Seeing him frowning and hesitating several times, she started to feel anxious.

After waiting for a while and seeing that Li Dong still didn't speak, Yang Yun cautiously asked, "Mr. Li, is there something you need to discuss with me?"

Li Dong was jolted back to reality. Seeing Yang Yun's nervousness, he quickly smiled and said, "Yes, I heard from Mr. Sun that Manager Yang has been managing Dongping very well, and the performance has been consistently improving. I'm very pleased."

As Li Dong spoke, an idea suddenly popped into his mind. Perhaps this could work.

If it worked out, it would not only resolve Yang Yun's issue but also solve the problem with his father-in-law.

Thinking of this, Li Dong suddenly said, "Manager Yang, you are about the same age as my mother. It feels awkward to call you Manager Yang, so from now on, I'll call you Aunt Yang."

Yang Yun was momentarily stunned, then quickly responded, "That's not appropriate. I…"

"Mm, it's settled then," Li Dong said firmly, not giving her a chance to refute. He then asked, "Aunt Yang, what does your husband do?"

Yang Yun was puzzled. What exactly did Li Dong want?

Changing the address and asking about her husband's job seemed overly strange.

But she answered, "He works at a cotton-spinning factory."

"A cotton-spinning factory?"

Li Dong pretended to think deeply, although he already knew what Qin Hai did from Qin Yuhan.

Li Dong acted as if he didn't know and said, "I heard that the cotton-spinning factory is struggling and might go bankrupt. Won't your husband be out of a job?"

Yang Yun felt uneasy and wasn't sure what Li Dong's intentions were. She nodded and said, "There's been such a rumor, but my husband said that the older employees are being taken care of."

"What can the government arrangements do?" Li Dong waved his hand and asked, "What does your husband do at the cotton-spinning factory?"

"He works in logistics, mainly managing the factory's fleet…"

"Great!"

Before Yang Yun could finish, Li Dong cheerfully said, "What a coincidence! Aunt Yang, the company just acquired a logistics company. You know about it, right?"

Yang Yun was confused but nodded reflexively.

Li Dong excitedly said, "Since the cotton-spinning factory is closing down and your husband has experience managing fleets, how about letting him join Distant Branch? The logistics company needs a manager right now."

"This…"

Yang Yun felt something was off but couldn't pinpoint the problem. She reluctantly said,

 "That doesn't seem appropriate. He hasn't worked in logistics before and might not do well."

"How do you know he won't do well if he hasn't tried?" Li Dong shook his head. "Besides, even if he hasn't done it before, Aunt Yang, you often deal with people from the logistics company and can help."

"The Dongping side is busy, and I don't have time…"

"That's easy. The logistics company's finance manager just left, so Aunt Yang, you can take the position of finance manager, and your husband can be the branch manager. It's perfect."

Li Dong, with a serious expression, said, "Aunt Yang, please ask your husband's opinion. Qinghua Logistics is a company with assets worth millions and is crucial to Distant Branch. I'm entrusting it to you. I don't trust anyone else. Don't worry about the salary; it will definitely be higher than Dongping."

Yang Yun was completely bewildered, not understanding what was happening.

Li Dong hadn't even met Qin Hai, yet he wanted him to manage the logistics company?

Yang Yun knew how much Distant Branch paid for Qinghua—2.6 million, real money!

And Li Dong said the logistics company was crucial to Distant Branch. Handing it over to them seemed too casual!

At that moment, Yang Yun felt her entire world was in disarray. If Li Dong were truly this naive, how could he possibly expand and strengthen Distant Branch? It was unreasonable!