Chapter 502: Talent Development

After inspecting the Tokyo store among the third batch of ten new stores, Ma Tengdong returned to the company and found Chairman Xia Yu reviewing documents in the office.

He quickly approached Xia Yu and greeted him, "Chairman, you're here!"

Xia Yu turned around, noticing Ma Tengdong looking somewhat weary, and smiled as he asked, "How is the store opening plan going?"

Ma Tengdong immediately broke into a smile and reported the good news to Xia Yu: "Chairman, we've completed three-quarters of the plan. We've opened thirty stores so far, and the final ten stores will be finished within a week. They will be ready for opening next week."

"Now there are forty 'Man Ke Zhi Jia' stores operating in the country. Based on the average scale, the total daily revenue should reach eighty million yen!"

Xia Yu nodded slightly, calculating in his mind, and smiled with satisfaction. He praised Ma Tengdong, "Well done!"

Receiving praise, Ma Tengdong was in high spirits. He thought for a moment and continued, "Chairman, regarding the manga ideas you gave me, I've selected a few for production at our Japanese subsidiary. The rest have been sent back to the headquarters in Hong Kong. We've already arranged for teams to be set up and are in the process of creation."

"Good!"

Ma Tengdong continued to report on the company's progress, making Xia Yu very pleased.

"Tengdong, later, I'll inject thirty million dollars into the company. Use these funds to repay the US dollar loan from Sanhe Bank."

Xia Yu suddenly changed the topic and mentioned the thirty million dollars, which made Ma Tengdong momentarily stunned.

He then nodded with both joy and confusion, "Got it. I'll repay the loan as soon as the funds arrive."

"Mm, that's all for now. You can go ahead and take care of it."

After that, Xia Yu did not clarify further but left the company. Realizing that his time in Japan was limited and there were no more important matters, he planned to take Li Qian out for some sightseeing.

After Xia Yu left, Ma Tengdong sat in his chair, frowning in contemplation, with a look of bewilderment.

After taking out a twenty-million-dollar loan from Sanhe Bank, Ma Tengdong had exchanged the money for yen to open the stores. With his focus on company operations, he hadn't thought much about the loan afterward.

Now, with Chairman Xia Yu specifically coming over and injecting thirty million dollars into the company for repaying the loan, Ma Tengdong was puzzled as to why it needed to be done immediately.

Having worked with Chairman Xia Yu for so long, Ma Tengdong knew that every move Xia Yu made was intentional, especially the recent action, which seemed out of the ordinary.

He recalled Xia Yu's unusual order to take out the dollar loan.

Ma Tengdong wasn't a fool; after thinking about it and considering general knowledge, a thought occurred to him: "Could it be an exchange rate issue?"

With this thought, Ma Tengdong couldn't sit still and started to investigate the truth.

It wasn't long before he found out, looking at the figures in disbelief, muttering to himself: "The USD/JPY exchange rate is 1:195.9845. How did the yen appreciate so much?"

He remembered that when he took out the twenty-million-dollar loan, the exchange rate was around 234, which had resulted in nearly 4.7 billion yen.

However, now, if he wanted to exchange 4.7 billion yen, he would need 24 million dollars.

But currently, he only needed to repay the principal of twenty million dollars plus some interest.

In other words, by just borrowing dollars, he had made a profit of over three million dollars without doing anything. Was this really earning money effortlessly?

This revelation had a huge impact on Ma Tengdong. He suddenly felt like he had opened a door to a new world and his understanding of company management and operations had subtly elevated.

His thoughts expanded, and he connected it to the operations of Jiuding Securities on the Ichibashi Group and Otowa Group, and the leveraged buyout mentioned by Gavin Peters during their chat.

After a while, Ma Tengdong shook his head to refocus and said with bright eyes, "My perspective was too narrow. Managing a company requires a broad vision. Only with a global perspective can we create better plans to develop the company faster and more effectively, especially with capital—it's the lifeblood of the business and shouldn't be underestimated…"

"So this is what Chairman wanted me to understand. I finally get it! It's a profound lesson!"

"The loan should be repaid this afternoon. The exchange rate must be at its peak, so Chairman wants me to repay it. Also, I need to convert all idle funds back to dollars!"

With the store opening plan nearing completion and the terrifying revenue of Man Ke Zhi Jia, the company had recently been focusing on hiring and publishing manga magazines, with no acquisition plans. Therefore, the company's cash flow was very abundant, and the idle rate was high. The next step was to transfer the funds back to the Hong Kong headquarters.

Knowing about the exchange rate issue now, it was natural not to let the funds sit idle; converting them back to dollars would be more valuable.

Soon, thirty million dollars arrived in the company's account. After receiving it, Ma Tengdong immediately scheduled a repayment appointment with Fuyuan Kazuya, agreeing to meet at Sanhe Bank's Tokyo branch at three in the afternoon.

In no time, it was three in the afternoon, and Ma Tengdong arrived at Sanhe Bank, where he was led to Fuyuan Kazuya's office.

Fuyuan Kazuya had been waiting for a while.

Seeing Ma Tengdong arrive, he immediately smiled, walked over to shake hands and greet him warmly. After some pleasantries, they took their seats on either side of the coffee table.

"Mr. Fuyuan, I'm here today to repay the loan to your bank."

Ma Tengdong took a sip of tea and got straight to the point.

Hearing this, Fuyuan Kazuya, who was pouring tea, froze momentarily, frowning slightly at Ma Tengdong. "Mr. Ma, the loan term is three years. It's only been a little over a month. Why are you thinking of repaying it now?"

Ma Tengdong smiled faintly and said calmly, "The Chairman has injected more funds into the company. We're not expanding in the near future, so having so much money idle is unnecessary. It's better to repay it early."

Chairman?

Fuyuan Kazuya's mind immediately pictured Xia Yu. His expression changed slightly as he realized the key point. He gave a wry smile and said to Ma Tengdong, "Mr. Ma, impressive!"

Previously, he had been curious about Ma Tengdong's unusual loan request but hadn't expected Ma Tengdong to repay the loan early. The loan term was three years, so he hadn't paid much attention to it.

He hadn't expected Ma Tengdong to catch him off guard.

However, Fuyuan Kazuya wasn't angry. It was a matter of professional competence. He was willing to give the loan, and it was his oversight that led to this situation.

Of course, it wasn't a real loss for him. After all, he had only issued a loan of twenty million dollars, while Sanhe Bank's dollar forex reserves were at least five billion dollars. Due to the depreciation of the dollar, there was a significant loss. Even if he hadn't issued the two million dollars, the idle funds would have lost value.

Therefore, rather than being annoyed, Fuyuan Kazuya was more focused on the significance behind this bold move and admired and valued Xia Yu even more.

Ma Tengdong, feeling slightly embarrassed but knowing that interests were crucial, pressed on, "Mr. Fuyuan, how should we proceed?"

"Follow me!"

Fuyuan Kazuya didn't dwell on the issue further. He took Ma Tengdong through the necessary procedures, and after the loan was repaid, he saw Ma Tengdong out of the bank.

Back in his office, Fuyuan Kazuya fell into deep thought.

After a long time, Fuyuan Kazuya finally made up his mind, "His ability is unquestionable. He has the skills, and I have the connections and resources. There is a foundation for mutual cooperation. No need to observe further."

With that thought, Fuyuan Kazuya began to take action.