Chapter 90: Losing Temper

At the end of March, Sun Tao returned to Pingchuan after completing his investigation of Fucheng.

That afternoon, Li Dong saw that Sun Tao had lost even more weight.

This time, Li Dong didn't say much. He patted Sun Tao on the shoulder and personally poured him a cup of tea.

Sun Tao was somewhat flattered and quickly said, "Mr. Li, you're too kind."

Li Dong smiled but didn't respond. The two sat down, smoked a cigarette, and after a while, Sun Tao said, "Fucheng has 6 counties and 2 district cities. My suggestion is to start with seven stores for now, one store in the city is enough."

"Is the competition fierce there?" Li Dong didn't follow up on that but asked instead.

Sun Tao replied, "Fucheng is larger than Qingyang and is developing faster economically, so naturally, the competition is fiercer than in Qingyang. However, the county towns are still okay. Apart from a few small supermarkets, there are almost no major supermarkets there."

Li Dong fell silent. It seemed the competition was still quite intense.

Back in 2004, there were almost no supermarkets in the county towns under Qingyang. Now, even the county towns in Fucheng already had supermarkets.

After pondering for a moment, Li Dong said, "Since Brother Sun has completed the investigation, let's start construction as soon as possible. Speed up the renovation and aim to open before July."

Sun Tao calculated for a moment. Since April was just around the corner, there were only three months left to prepare for a July opening.

Three months might be enough if things went quickly.

Sun Tao then asked, "What about the staff?"

"Send Qi Yunna to Fucheng."

"The city store's manager?" Sun Tao inquired tentatively.

Li Dong shook his head and said, "Regional Manager."

Sun Tao immediately frowned. The jump from a county-level store manager to a regional manager was quite significant.

Moreover, with seven new stores opening in Fucheng, could Qi Yunna handle such a major responsibility?

Sun Tao had a vague feeling that Li Dong might not only value Qi Yunna's ability but also saw her as his loyal subordinate.

To be honest, Sun Tao sometimes worried about this.

Among Yuandfang's six stores, apart from Dongping and Nanhe, almost all others were managed by his people. Longhua was even directly overseen by him. If Li Dong didn't mind that, it would be surprising.

Realizing this, Sun Tao didn't raise any objections and nodded, "Alright, I'll notify them later."

Li Dong nodded and added, "Send Guo Mingzhi to manage the city store in Fucheng."

Sun Tao was puzzled by Li Dong's intention. Guo Mingzhi was an old connection of his.

Was appointing Guo Mingzhi as the city store manager meant to constrain Qi Yunna or to placate himself?

Li Dong didn't care about his thoughts. After mentioning Guo Mingzhi, he shifted the topic, "Has the budget been finalized?"

"It's estimated to be between 12 to 13 million yuan," Sun Tao quickly replied, putting aside his worries.

Li Dong rubbed his temples, feeling annoyed, "It's higher than the previous estimate. The average investment for each store has exceeded 1.7 million."

Sun Tao didn't speak. Rising costs were inevitable; just the rent had increased significantly compared to last year.

Moreover, labor costs were also higher this year. Money was becoming increasingly worthless.

In 2004, opening a store of the same scale cost around 1.5 million yuan. Now it had increased by more than 10%.

Li Dong sighed. It was still manageable for now.

In a few years, rent would become a major expense, and supermarkets might end up making profits for landlords.

The reason so many small supermarkets couldn't survive in later years was primarily due to high costs—both rent and labor.

Labor costs were relatively uniform, but rent was different. Many large supermarkets actually owned their stores.

For example, Su Guo, apart from some franchise stores, owned many of its direct-operated stores.

Li Dong also wanted to do that, but he didn't have the capital.

For instance, with the 12 million yuan budget for Fucheng, buying the stores to operate them would probably only allow for three stores, which was not what Li Dong wanted.

Never mind, the path needs to be taken step by step. It's useless to think about these things now.

Putting those thoughts aside, Li Dong and Sun Tao continued discussing the preparations for the new stores.

When they were almost done with their discussion, Hu Yong knocked and entered.

Seeing Li Dong and Sun Tao, Hu Yong said, "Mr. Li, Mr. Sun, Miss Li Qian has arrived in Pingchuan today. Do you have any plans for the evening?"

"I'll leave that to you. Just take care of the arrangements," Li Dong said.

Hu Yong's face showed difficulty, and he asked, "Then Mr. Sun, will you have time in the evening?"

Before Sun Tao could speak, Li Dong angrily retorted, "Isn't it enough that you, as the market manager, are handling it?"

"An artist from a talent show, not an international superstar. Why should I personally welcome her?"

"Mr. Li, I…" Hu Yong was startled and quickly began to explain.

Li Dong waved his hand to cut him off and snorted, "I'm not doing this for free. I paid for it, so I won't lower my standards! She demands 100,000 for a commercial performance. If it weren't for your own decisions, I wouldn't even bother with her!"

Li Dong was furious.

Hu Yong had signed a contract with Li Qian without informing him, securing a 100,000 yuan performance fee!

Hearing this amount, Li Dong was almost enraged. In 2005, 100,000 yuan could hire a second-tier celebrity. Did he really need to hire Li Qian?

If Hu Yong hadn't explained later that Li Qian's reputation in Pingchuan was higher than those second-tier celebrities, Li Dong would have been even more upset.

Even so, Hu Yong's bonus for the month was deducted, and now he was back again!

Although Yuandfang wasn't a large enterprise, it didn't need to grovel to a minor star.

Seeing Li Dong's anger, Hu Yong's face turned pale, and he cast a pleading glance at Sun Tao.

Sun Tao sighed, stood up, and advised, "Mr. Li, perhaps I should go over. After all, she's our guest."

Li Dong was still seething, already troubled by the money issues.

With Hu Yong's behavior, Li Dong really considered firing him on the spot.

However, thinking it through, it didn't make sense. Hu Yong did have some capability. Under his leadership, the market department had performed well, and this month's performance had not only held steady but showed signs of improvement.

That was why Li Dong only deducted his bonus last time. Otherwise, if it were someone else, Li Dong would have kicked him out without hearing any explanations.

After drinking some water to calm his anger, Li Dong finally waved his hand and said, "You go and take care of Li Qian. Mr. Sun will visit when he has time."

Hu Yong looked immensely relieved and hurried out of the office.

Once he left, Sun Tao said with a smile, "Manager Hu is actually quite good."

Li Dong snorted, "If he weren't doing well, I'd have fired him long ago! Making decisions on his own. If the performance doesn't go well, and we can't recoup the 100,000 yuan, you'll see how I deal with him!"

Besides that 100,000 yuan, there was also the 80,000 yuan from the school.

With an investment of 180,000 yuan, Li Dong was very doubtful whether Li Qian had the ability to make it worthwhile.

Despite Hu Yong's repeated assurances that it was worth it, Li Dong remained full of skepticism.