Chapter 150: Qi Yunna's Ambition

Although Li Dong was curious about what happened to Wang Jia, he decided not to ask further. Everyone has their own secrets, and even with the best intentions, Wang Jia might not appreciate the inquiry.

Afterward, Li Dong went with the real estate agent to look at houses. Conveniently, there were two apartments on the same floor available for rent in Phase I of Wanyuan Community. The renovation was decent, so he decided to rent both.

Even though Cao Yu and Cao Feng were cousins, it was still inconvenient for a male and female to live together. Since Li Dong wasn't short on money, he opted to rent two apartments, one for each.

---

On July 1st, the Fucheng branch opened.

Li Dong attended the opening ceremony of the Fucheng branch. Opening a new branch was now routine for Yuanfang.

Li Dong's role was almost ceremonial. In summary, the day went smoothly: everything was successful, the opening was a success, and business was booming!

With seven stores opening simultaneously, Yuanfang's reputation in Fucheng was quickly established.

In the evening, Li Dong booked a banquet at a hotel for the celebration.

The stores had been open for just over 12 hours, and the total sales had already surpassed ten million. Yuanfang had set a new record.

At the banquet, Li Dong raised his glass and said, "You are the contributors to Yuanfang's success! Achieving sales over ten million is a milestone in Yuanfang's history, and neither Yuanfang nor I, Li Dong, will forget your efforts!"

Qi Yunna and several store managers quickly raised their glasses in response.

After the toast, Qi Yunna humbly said, "Mr. Li, achieving over ten million in sales in one day isn't that impressive. The six stores in Qingyang also achieved over ten million in a single day."

Li Dong waved his hand and said, "It's different. The six stores in Qingyang are well-established with an existing customer base. The Fucheng stores are new, and the opening promotions weren't very significant. Breaking ten million is due to your hard work, so don't be too modest."

The store managers and Qi Yunna all smiled happily. Receiving praise from the big boss was even more exciting than reaching the ten million sales milestone.

The banquet continued until around ten o'clock.

The store managers had to return to the stores to do inventory, so Li Dong kept Qi Yunna behind.

After praising Qi Yunna, Li Dong said, "Manager Qi, you've made a significant comeback this time."

Previously, Qi Yunna was criticized behind her back for her lack of experience as the first city manager promoted. Many believed that assigning Fucheng to Qi Yunna was a mistake. However, with Fucheng's impressive performance today, she had given those critics a resounding rebuttal.

Qi Yunna nodded earnestly. She had felt more pressure than anyone else.

Being promoted by Li Dong, she was considered one of his direct subordinates. If Fucheng had failed, it would have been a blow to both her and Li Dong's reputation.

Fortunately, the outcome was favorable. Breaking ten million in daily sales meant there was nothing to criticize.

After a few more conversations, Li Dong pondered for a moment and said, "I've set the target for Fucheng this month at 150 million. Is that too much pressure?"

Opening day is one thing, but promotional events cannot happen every day.

Although the first day's sales exceeded ten million, maintaining even half of that in the following days would be considered good. 150 million was no small amount.

Qi Yunna thought for a while. Achieving 150 million meant each of the six county stores needed to reach 20 million in monthly sales, while the city stores would need to reach 30 million.

If they hadn't achieved such a feat today, Qi Yunna might have lacked confidence. But since they had reached over ten million in a single day, 150 million was not too daunting.

Without hesitation, Qi Yunna firmly said, "I guarantee we'll meet the target! And I'll aim for 200 million!"

Li Dong smiled wryly. Confidence is good, but aiming for 200 million was a bit much.

In fact, Li Dong wasn't even sure Qi Yunna could achieve 150 million. This was just a private target he set with her. The official company target was 120 million. As long as Qi Yunna could meet the 120 million target, her position as city manager would be secure.

Without dampening Qi Yunna's enthusiasm, Li Dong added, "If you really achieve the 200 million target, the company will reward you with a house!"

Qi Yunna's eyes lit up immediately. She already had a company car, and a house would make her a true success story.

"Mr. Li, I will work hard!" Qi Yunna said earnestly.

Li Dong smiled and said nothing more. If she could exceed the performance by 50 million, Yuanfang's profit could afford ten more houses, making it a worthwhile reward for Qi Yunna.

---

After attending the celebration in Fucheng, Li Dong rushed to Tongshan.

Tongshan had five more branches than Fucheng, making it the city with the most branches Yuanfang had ever had.

Originally, the Tongshan branches were supposed to be completed by mid-August, but due to funding issues, construction was halted for nearly half a month.

If progress continued at this rate, the Tongshan stores would not open until early September.

Li Dong arrived in Tongshan and spent two days inspecting all the branches.

All the county store managers were in place and overseeing the stores, but the city store managers had not yet arrived, and there was a vacancy for a city manager. Consequently, Tongshan seemed less vibrant compared to Fucheng.

Li Dong, along with the HR and Marketing department heads, decided to transfer Fang Hao from the Dongping branch to be the city manager of Tongshan.

Fang Hao's Dongping branch was also a secondary branch, so it wasn't exactly a promotion.

However, the city manager position was just a step away from the city manager role, and while it seemed like no big difference, Fang Hao was effectively getting a half-level promotion.

As for the city manager role, Li Dong chose not to promote from within but appointed Zhang Qing, the former deputy director of the Marketing department.

Moving from deputy director of Marketing to city manager wasn't exactly a promotion or demotion, but it did come with increased salary and benefits.

In Tongshan, Li Dong also had a meeting with the deputy mayor in charge of economic development.

The deputy mayor was very welcoming of Yuanfang's investment in Tongshan and even encouraged further investment, offering some favorable policies.

Li Dong accepted the government's favorable policies without hesitation.

However, he wasn't ready for additional investments. He wasn't planning on building township-level branches for at least another year or two.

Currently, Yuanfang's strategic goal was to capture the market, focusing mainly on urban and county areas.

Li Dong didn't outright refuse but engaged in some diplomatic maneuvering, indicating that investment would happen eventually, depending on Yuanfang's development plans.

Although Li Dong didn't make any commitments, the discussions were amicable.

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By the time Li Dong finished with the affairs in Fucheng and Tongshan and returned to Pingchuan, it was already July 6th.

And at Jiang University, the long summer vacation was about to begin.