Car-hailing Driver: Rewards from Complaints

Chapter 496 - 223: Showdown Between Two Major Capital Camps (Part 4)

Liang Tao: "Exactly! His Star Investment Company is just getting started; it’s not a climate yet. As long as our company successfully goes public, I can easily crush him. Besides, Brother Cheng, you have a grudge against him. If you let his Star Investment Company develop, it’ll be difficult for you to handle him in the future, and Jiacheng Investment will have a formidable competitor. The best way to deal with a rival is to strangle them in the cradle. Am I right, Brother Cheng?"

Zhang Jiacheng: "Haha... You’re right. Here’s what you do: bring me your company’s financial statements from the past five years and your current business report. If there are no issues, I’ll immediately convince my father to invest in your company."

Liang Tao: "Sure, no problem, Brother Cheng. I toast to you. Let’s hope for a pleasant cooperation and bring Yang Chen down together!"

Now it’s a showdown between two major financial camps, let’s see which side is stronger.

...

Very soon, companies like He Li Lao and Star Investment signed funding agreements.

Star Investment invested 2 billion, obtaining 12% of the shares.

Fengming Investment invested 1 billion, obtaining 6% of the shares.

Sky Curtain Investment invested 800 million, obtaining 4.8% of the shares.

Peninsula Hotel Asset Management Company invested 700 million, obtaining 4.2% of the shares.

Shengjin Investment invested 500 million, obtaining 3% of the shares.

He Xuyong holds 26%, Zhang Yuna holds 25%; the couple acts in concert, holding a total of 51% and being the controlling shareholders of the company.

The remaining 19% of shares are held by eight other institutions.

So, Yang Chen’s Star Investment holds a significant 20% stake.

As the cooperation agreement took effect, the companies immediately transferred funds into He Li Lao’s company account.

Subsequently, He Li Lao announced a store expansion.

To sum it up simply: "We will open a Hai Li Lao next to every He Li Lao, allowing consumers to decide the fate of the two stores through their evaluation and choice. The market only needs one, hopefully, in the end, only one between He Li Lao and Hai Li Lao will remain."

As soon as the announcement was made, Hai Li Lao launched a nationwide expansion wave, ensuring that wherever there’s a He Li Lao, there would be a Hai Li Lao next to it or across from it, just like how McDonald’s always has a KFC nearby.

Two days later, He Li Lao and Jiacheng Investment also reached a funding agreement.

Jiacheng Investment invested 3 billion, obtaining 30% of He Li Lao’s shares.

Subsequently, He Li Lao also issued an announcement.

In short: "He Li Lao will not provoke, but it is never afraid of a challenge. Since our competitor explicitly wants to fight to the death, we will certainly respond actively. Only one can survive, let the market decide who will live on!"

Yang Chen highly valued this investment, pulling out 2 billion from the 3 billion transferred by Chairman Chen for investment in Hai Li Lao, and supplemented it by mortgaging Haisang Financial Mansion to generate further investment.

To tackle the challenge from He Li Lao, Hai Li Lao held a shareholders’ meeting.

Yang Chen attended the meeting as the representative of Star Investment.

Apart from routine policy voting, the most crucial matter at this meeting was discussing how to deal with He Li Lao.

Yang Chen put forward his ideas very seriously.

Since the styles of the two stores were too similar, and dishes and tastes wouldn’t make a difference, it was only possible to start with service.

Yang Chen gave several examples.

Each store must hire a manager or assistant manager who is good at singing and dancing, so if a customer has a birthday or a couple breaks up, this employee can offer a song for free as a blessing or consolation.

No matter what trouble the customer encounters, every effort must be made to help solve it, even if the customer lacks money, Hai Li Lao should help find loan avenues.

For customers in need, the store can even offer free pickup and drop-off services.

Additionally, Yang Chen planned to invite internet celebrities from his company to check in at the store for promotion.

When time allows, Yang Chen would invite Ju Yiyi’s SNH team to come for a hotpot, seizing the opportunity for promotion.

Next year, when "Zhu Xian Array" is released, Yang Chen could invite Zhang Yan Ni to dine, leveraging star power for promotion and such.

The shareholders all nodded after listening, agreeing that Yang Chen made valid points.

However, there was still a concern about what to do if He Li Lao copied their approach again.

Yang Chen said with a smile, "Our focus now is on enhancing service quality; every employee must undergo rigorous training before starting work. They can only learn the surface, not the essence. If service were easy to learn, many companies would have succeeded by now."

Everyone nodded again.

Indeed, service is the hardest to learn; even if a product can be made identical, the quality of service can’t be replicated exactly.

Because products are static, but people are dynamic.

Each person’s appearance, personality, experience, etc., are different, and even a slight smile can convey different feelings to customers.

Seizing the opportunity while He Li Lao is unaware, Hai Li Lao first focuses on comprehensive and systematic employee training.

By the time He Li Lao realizes that Hai Li Lao wins with service, it will be too late for them to catch up.

After making their decisions, Hai Li Lao immediately took action.

Yang Chen believed strongly in his ideas, knowing that hotpot dishes and flavors couldn’t determine the winner, but service would.

In the evening, Qiu Yuhong called Yang Chen to a secure room at Shield Security to report on the work situation.

This room was free of all electronic devices, ensuring absolute security for their conversation.

Qiu Yuhong: "Mr. Yang, we’ve received news from Southern Myanmar that Jia Ye Mining refuses to transfer Li Dengfeng and DiDi’s shares to Zhang Lijun and has invited Chasan to intimidate Zhang Lijun. What should we do now?"

Yang Chen: "So, Li Jianan’s reliance is General Chasan, yes?"

Qiu Yuhong: "Yes! You could say that!"

Yang Chen: "Then there’s not much to say. Gather mercenaries, eliminate Chasan and his backbone forces, and support a faction that follows our orders locally."

Qiu Yuhong: "Got it! For safety, should we bring Zhang Lijun and the others back first?"

Yang Chen: "No! Leave them there. After eliminating Chasan and his backbone, Zhang Lijun needs to step up to support a faction that always follows our orders. In the future, this faction won’t have any association with Shield Security Group but will be completely connected and managed by Zhang Lijun personally. Remember, Shield Security Group must remain visible domestically. Do you understand what I mean?"

Qiu Yuhong: "Understood! I will handle the overseas mercenary business carefully in the future and ensure it doesn’t affect domestically."

After a week, news came from Southern Myanmar.

The mercenaries of Shield Security Group had eliminated Chasan and his over 60 subordinates at the cost of 10 deaths and 25 injuries.

Now, they are left with less than a hundred men, mostly minions, and are leaderless.

With the help of the mercenaries, Zhang Lijun has chosen a person named Bangcai as the leader, as per Yang Chen’s requirements, creating a force that follows Zhang Lijun’s orders.

It might take a few more days to complete this, and once it’s done, they will report back to Yang Chen immediately.

These matters do not require Yang Chen’s attention; he only needs to wait for the results.

A pleasant day begins again with the car...