2003: Starting with Foreign Trade

Chapter 149 Golden Autumn September
Summer has passed and autumn has arrived. The lively month of August has come to an end, but the sun is still scorching.

On September 1st, the start of the school year, Qin Siyu waited downstairs at the apartment building early in the morning with her and Gu Qingqing's luggage. Boss Tan had promised to take her and Zhao Xianbo to school today.

Looking at the yellow suitcase at her feet, Qin Siyu smiled slightly: "This is all thanks to you!"

Without Gu Qingqing's luggage, Qin Siyu didn't believe that Boss Tan would send her and Zhao Xianbo to school. Although Boss Tan was easy to talk to, he really had a serious double standard.

After working on the factory line for two months, Qin Siyu had already noticed this pattern: Boss Tan was generous to his friends or those he cared about, but he could also be truly stingy and truly ruthless.

An employee felt the production workload was too heavy and asked his superiors for a raise. He directly issued a dismissal notice to the human resources department. If the production targets were not met, the employee would be reassigned; if they still failed to meet the targets, the employee would be replaced.

But would you call him a shrewd businessman? Not really. I've heard from factory workers that the benefits at Flash are much better than those at other factories in Ningbo. The canteen is free at noon, and although the dishes are the same few every day, they are very juicy and oily.

There are employee dormitories available, but if you don't want to live in them, you can get a housing subsidy of 200 yuan. There's also a meal allowance for night shifts, and other benefits are quite good. If you work honestly for a month, you can earn around 4,000 yuan in total.

The assembly line work doesn't require much skill, and the salary is actually quite high, exceeding the local average wage. Plus, since this is a factory area, and the workers are usually busy with little to spend money on, a worker can save a considerable amount of money over the course of a year.

According to what Boss Tan said while watching the live stream that night, although the salary wasn't high, if he worked honestly for a few years, he could save up for a down payment. The house would definitely appreciate in value in the future, and then he could get rid of the fate of a worker.

Currently, the price of apartments in good locations in Beicang is around 3500 to 4000 yuan per square meter, while prices in more remote areas are even lower. Working hard for a few years can indeed save up for a down payment on a small apartment.

Qin Siyu once asked why, since housing prices are going to rise, she shouldn't take advantage of the current situation to hoard a few houses and wait for them to appreciate in value. The answer she received was that there was no need for that, and upon reflection, she realized that was indeed the case.

By September, Flash Auto had already achieved a monthly production of over 7000 units. Based on the lowest market price of 1999 yuan, that's 1400 million yuan, which translates to 1.6 million yuan in sales per year. Boss Tan really doesn't need to hoard those houses.

The employees in the workshop often discuss how much money the boss makes in a month. They didn't know the selling price before, but now that they do, they talk about it even more enthusiastically. Although they don't know the profit margin of a small electric scooter, they can get a general idea from the selling price.

According to the casual gossip among the workshop employees, each electric scooter can definitely earn two or three hundred yuan. If 7000 scooters are produced in a month, the profit will be 200 million yuan, and more than 2000 million yuan can be earned in a year.

Wow, if you calculate it this way, Mr. Tan will be a billionaire in just a few years? It seems like it took a few years? Mr. Tan also has two other companies.

Wow, does that mean Mr. Tan will be a billionaire by the age of 25 at the latest?

Zhao Xianbo stared at Qin Siyu, who was in a daze, and asked in confusion, "Hey, what are you thinking about? Standing in the sun in this hot weather, just spacing out."

"Haha, I wasn't thinking about anything. The car's here?"

"Okay, wait over there. Let me come and help you with your luggage. Hurry up, it's so hot."

Zhao Xianbo, who had just stepped out of an air-conditioned car in September, felt very uncomfortable with the weather.

After getting into the car, Qin Siyu was still thinking about this question. Always straightforward, she couldn't help but ask Tan Jincheng, who was driving, with curiosity, "Mr. Tan, how much money do you have right now?"

Why ask that question?

"When I was at work, I overheard the workshop staff talking about how Flash can earn more than 2000 million a year, so I was curious about how much money you have now, hehe."

"Haha, so that's what it is. You must have heard of it, Xiao Zhao, right?"

"Yes, I've heard that. The workers like to gossip about how much the company makes in a year when they have nothing to do, and then calculate their own income."

"Then you'd curse the boss for being heartless, making so much money but only paying so little, right?"

"Um, Mr. Tan, you know about this?"

What's there to not know? What employee doesn't complain about their boss? No matter how good the pay is, you'll get tired of a job after a while, and you'll feel that life is unfair. Why do others earn so much while I only get so little?

Human nature is like this. Perhaps they don't actually have any complaints about their boss, but as their direct supervisor, the boss is the best outlet for their frustration.

Tan Jin slowed down the car: "Profits aren't calculated like that. Flash is still losing money right now. You'll understand once you learn more."

"As for how much money I have? I haven't actually calculated it, but I'm sure I'm not short of money." Flash is indeed in debt, but it is precisely because of the debt that it can accelerate its development. Even if it achieves profitability in the future, its final financial performance will not be too exaggerated, because the factory requires continuous investment.

Production capacity needs to be increased, technological research and development needs to be improved, and batteries need to be manufactured in the future. Therefore, if one wants to accumulate personal wealth through the factory, it is unlikely to be achieved within five years. Currently, Tan Jincheng has moved his salary system from Jinpeng Trading to Shanchi.

Besides his salary, most of his daily expenses come from his three Taobao stores. After a series of operations, the three Taobao stores can bring Tan Jincheng a profit of about 100,000 yuan per month.

Old Tan doesn't need this money right now, so we won't give it to him for now. Tan Jincheng has kept it for his daily expenses and occasionally for buying Moutai stock, which is enough for him.

As for some official expenses, they are all accounted for through Flash Pay. This is the advantage of being a boss. You may seem to be heavily in debt, but as long as the company is operating normally, you can live a life of luxury every day.

Jin Yi Industrial's current business volume is relatively average, and it doesn't have much money in its accounts. However, after the Canton Fair in October, its order volume should increase to a certain extent. Compared to Jin Peng Trade's first Canton Fair last year, Jin Yi Industrial's starting point is much higher.

Didn't meet the booth requirements? No problem. We have a medium-sized export company and a large-scale industrial enterprise included in the local CPI. We have plenty of people to help us sort things out.

Compared to the setbacks he encountered while trying to find help everywhere six months ago, Tan Jincheng's social status has improved significantly since Flash Motor went into production, making many things much easier for him.

Zhang Haiping and Zhang Mingcan have a clearer understanding of this than Tan Jincheng, the person involved. Due to the change in business focus, Tan Jincheng now rarely goes to Zhang Haiping's factory anymore.

However, the two companies were located not far from each other, and Zhang Haiping would visit them whenever he had time. Watching Shanchi grow day by day, Zhang Haiping was most impressed. Just a year ago, this young man was trying to fool him into placing an order with a few blueprints, but a year later he had already built such a fortune.

If someone had told Zhang Haiping a year ago that a young man from out of town, carrying a backpack, speaking fluent Beicang dialect, and with a youthful face, would build three companies and amass a fortune of tens of millions within a year, Zhang Haiping would never have believed it. He thought doing business was that simple.
However, all of this happened right beside him, and he even witnessed the whole process himself. How outrageous!

Zhang Mingcan was in a similar situation. A few months ago, when Zhang Haiping introduced the two of them, he could still look at Tan Jincheng with a critical eye, but the situation was completely different a few months later.

Flash Automotive now brings Zhang Mingcan's plastic workshop more than 25 yuan worth of plastic product orders every month. The mold making is also handled by him. The annual orders of three to four million yuan can bring him a lot of profit. And this is only the first year of Flash Auto.

If we continue to deal with the other party with that condescending or scrutinizing attitude, then it would be somewhat disrespectful. During the process of setting up the factory, we did indeed accumulate a lot of favors, but favors are favors, and business is business.

"Mr. Tan, would you like to take a tour of our campus later? You haven't been inside yet, have you?"

"Hmm? I've never been inside before, is that alright?"

"Sure, I'll send Qingqing a message and have her show you around in a bit, how about that?"

"Okay then, ask her if she's free."

Currently, Flash has entered a period equivalent to a skill cooldown. All that's needed is to focus on production. In reality, Tan Jincheng no longer needs to monitor it every day, as it wouldn't make much difference and wouldn't produce many more cars.

Since that's the case, there's no need to keep an eye on it anymore. Staying at the factory every day won't be very effective. All we need to know is the final result, how much stock was shipped each day, how many retailers were developed, and how the Yicheng market is progressing.

It's not a bad thing to relax occasionally and experience college life. If nothing unexpected had happened in my past or present life, I would be a college student right now.

So, with Qin Siyu's help, Tan Jincheng drove his car directly to Gu Qingqing's dormitory.

At the start of the new semester, some parents drive their children to school, and the security at the school gate is not so strict. Gu Qingqing is currently waiting for Tan Jincheng and his group in the shade of a tree opposite the dormitory entrance.

With her hair tied up in a small ponytail and wearing a white dress with a thin belt wrapped around her waist, Gu Qingqing's figure was perfectly showcased, attracting countless clear gazes from male college students passing by.

As the BMW slowly approached, with its familiar license plate, Gu Qingqing could vaguely see a familiar figure in the driver's seat. Her heart stirred, and a smile unconsciously appeared on her delicate face.

From the time they parted on the 27th to their reunion today, it was only six days at most, but for some reason, Gu Qingqing felt that it was longer than even when they met once every few months. In fact, Gu Qingqing had already arrived at the school yesterday, but she was too embarrassed to mention it to Boss Tan.

Once the car had come to a complete stop, Tan Jincheng rolled down the window, and Gu Qingqing walked over slowly.

"haven't seen you for a long time."

(End of this chapter)