2003: Starting with Foreign Trade

Chapter 183 Spending money
"Old Tan, come quick! Your son's up to something again. Hey, this girl's pretty good, way better looking than that blond guy from last time."

Sitting at her computer desk, Zhang Suzhi shouted at Tan Lihua in the kitchen.

Since their online store business has been booming, Tan Lihua and his wife listened to their son's advice and bought a computer for their home. They also learn about computers in their spare time. Zhang Suzhi, who usually stays at home taking care of the children, has had even more opportunities to use computers.

After a while, I've learned how to surf the internet. Besides online shopping, I also watch movies, listen to Huangmei opera, and read the news online in my spare time.

Zhang Suzhi was deeply moved after seeing the news online about Liu Yifei's exorbitant endorsement fee for electric vehicles.

Tan Lihua finished tidying up the kitchen and slowly walked out, saying, "I already knew that. What's so interesting about it?"

"Huh? You knew all along? Why didn't you tell me? How did you find out?"

"About a week ago, this kid sent me a multimedia message. It was of a middle-aged man riding their company's electric scooter. I was a little puzzled at the time, wondering why he would send me this. I asked Lao Lin and found out that it was the second-in-command of their district who went to inspect the area."

Zhang Suzhi was taken aback: "Huh? Is that so?"

Local news is less timely, and even if it's on TV, viewers from other provinces are unlikely to notice it. Moreover, this collaboration hasn't been officially published yet, but it's almost there.

The publicity campaign by Liu Yifei's team was carried out at the request of Tan Jincheng. They had been creating momentum online a few days earlier, and then the regional newspaper in Beicang officially published the project in cooperation with the city investment company.

The aim is to deepen the impression of consumers in Beicang and even the Ningbo area. Industrial cities will have more and more factories in the future, and Ningbo is also a major consumer market for electric scooters. Previously, it was just limited by production capacity. Next year, when production capacity increases, the local area will naturally not miss it.

"No, that's not what I'm talking about. I'm talking about something else. Look, your son spent 3500 million yuan to hire a celebrity as a spokesperson."

"How much?" Tan Lihua's hand trembled slightly.

We didn't publicize how much that blond guy's endorsement fee was last time because the price was average and we were too embarrassed to announce it.

However, the total amount this time is indeed astronomical among mainland celebrities, so there's no need to hide anything. Liu Yifei's team can promote it extensively and even exaggerate some figures.

"The news said 3500 million yuan. I only clicked to take a look because I saw it was an electric vehicle company. You can take a look."

"Isn't this Fengchi? It's not from another company, Jincheng's factory is called Shanchi."

"It's a company, a new brand. You can tell from the news that they're making a 'light luxury' brand for electric vehicles. What does 'light luxury' mean?"

"I don't really understand either. 'Luxury' probably means luxury, and 'affordable luxury' probably means selling at a higher price. Let me see the news."

Tan Lihua pulled up a stool, sat down next to his wife, and started scrolling through the mouse. As he looked, he couldn't help but complain, "Why does this guy always date female celebrities? But this one looks much more normal. It's just that the price is way too high, isn't it?"

"Yes, how many electric cars would we have to sell to make back 35 million? I've calculated their electric car prices. Even if each one costs 2300, we'd still need to sell over 15,000 to give them all."

"It should be more than one year. You see in the news it's a long-term contract, but the number of years wasn't mentioned. The total price is high, but it doesn't seem too expensive. Corporate publicity is necessary; this is money that can't be saved."

"By the way, you just said that a high-ranking executive from their company went to inspect the place? Generally speaking, that's a good thing, why didn't you tell me?"

"It's definitely a good thing. Leaders always have a purpose when they inspect the company. I guess this kid has some big plans up his sleeve," Tan Lihua said casually while flipping through the news.

"I didn't tell you because I was angry. The day he sent me the MMS must have been the day of his inspection. I think this kid was deliberately showing off to me. He even added 'Dad' on purpose. He's two years younger than you."

Zhang Suzhi was taken aback by his words, then burst into laughter: "When did our son become so mischievous? Has his mood improved since he started dating?"

After saying that, he burst into laughter again, a genuine expression of joy.

Since her son came ashore, Zhang Suzhi has noticed that he has changed a lot. He has matured to a frightening degree, and he is more thoughtful about human relationships than they are. He even knows how to raise Jin Yue very well.

He also took care of everything, from baby formula and diapers, all of which were imported from abroad through his connections. Zhang Suzhi even asked around to find out that these brands were of very good quality and reputation both domestically and internationally, with no problems other than being expensive.

If someone who didn't know the situation saw this, they might think this guy was married and had children, otherwise how would he know so much?

In addition, he, who used to love joking, doesn't joke around much anymore, which makes Zhang Suzhi feel somewhat uncomfortable. He seems to lack the spirit of a young person, which is quite worrying.

Now he's all right, joking with his dad now, finally showing some of his youthful spirit again. The only thing that could cause this change in him is the girl Qingliang mentioned; young people only experience such emotional shifts when they're in love.

Zhang Suzhi was happy, but Tan Lihua was depressed for several days. The father was teased by his son for being useless, and he had nowhere to complain.

"Hey, speaking of dating, do you think we should ask him if he'll bring that girl home to meet us during the Chinese New Year?"

"Isn't it too early? Didn't Qingliang say that girl is still a college student?"

"What's wrong with college students? It's no big deal to meet them. Hurry up and get that apartment ready, furnish it, and let it air out for a few months so you can move in."

"You're in such a hurry. Your son is so busy right now, we don't even know if he'll have time to come back for the New Year, and you're already worrying about this."

"No matter how busy you are, you still have to take a holiday during the Chinese New Year. Who is busy during the Chinese New Year?"

"Okay, okay, I'll listen to you. I'll get to work quickly. Actually, there's nothing else to buy. I've already bought most of the major items."

The house in Yicheng was the first one to be renovated and has already been completed. In fact, we could move in now. The reason we haven't moved in yet is partly because it's more convenient for commuting to and from work, and partly because we want to wait for Tan Jincheng to come back so we can move into the new house together.

Although Tan Jincheng didn't care much about the house, for his parents' generation, moving to a new house was a very big deal, and the whole family had to move in together.
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Ningbo.

"I'm moving out. From now on, you'll be living in this house alone. You can stay home naked, and it's okay if you bring women home. Also, I've bought this house, so we won't have to pay rent next month."

"What are you bragging about? I'll be living in a new house next year too. And why did you buy this lousy house?"

"After all, this is where we've been staying in Beicang for over a year now, so it has some sentimental value. Let's buy it and keep it here so that we can have something to remember it by when we get old."

"That makes sense. Then sell half to me and add my name to it."

"There's no need for that. You can just buy a bigger, more luxurious house, a villa would be fine too. I'm planning to buy another one as well. When you go to see it, you can help me decide on it."

"What do you mean? Why buy a villa? Can you even live in it all?"

Tan Jincheng said with a smile, "We make money here, and quite a lot of money. We should contribute to the local economy, so as not to give people the impression that we're running away with the money. If you don't want to buy a villa, you can buy a few apartments in the company's name and rent them to the employees at a low price as employee dormitories."

This was something Zhao Jinsheng had hinted at privately a few days ago. Now that his business has grown so much, it's really not right that he doesn't have any local assets. Now that the contract has been signed, it's time to make a statement.

Spending money is something everyone knows how to do.

The 7000 million yuan in cash raised was obtained through equity transfer. This money is not subject to the regulations on earmarked funds and belongs to Tan Jincheng personally. However, it is certainly not allowed to take it away or leave it in a bank account to earn interest.

It's easy. Besides personal consumption, we can buy a few more buildings, and hundreds of small apartments of 70 or 80 square meters each. We can rent them out at low prices to the company as employee dormitories. The remaining money can be injected into the new FlashTech through interest-free loans.

I was originally planning to rent employee dormitories in the bonded zone's living service area, but that's solved now.

The 2 million yuan interest-free loan certainly won't be received all at once, but the 7000 million yuan has already been received, and Tan Jincheng is preparing to start arranging how to handle this fund in the next few days.

In addition, the location of the industrial base has been finalized. It is the very piece of land that Tan Jincheng had wanted the most. That piece of land is not actually within the district's planning scope and is a relatively remote location.

The government was quite pleased with this choice, feeling that the young man was very sensible and didn't ask for an exorbitant amount; the remote location was good, as the demolition work would be much easier, and it would also contribute to the regional economic development without taking up existing resources.

It's a bit unfair to these rural residents who were relocated, as the relocation conditions are different now than they were more than ten years ago. However, Tan Jincheng did provide compensation, and the factories in the industrial base hired local relocated farmers.

In addition, some infrastructure will be built for the local area, and the village committee will be given a certain amount of compensation every year for five consecutive years. These will not cost much money, but they will bring great convenience to the work of the whole government, and the preliminary preparations will naturally go much more smoothly.

The city investment company is now a legitimate shareholder of Flash Technology. Although its shareholding is relatively small, it is responsible for coordinating matters such as demolition, land acquisition, and even the construction of new factories, which has brought great convenience to Tan Jincheng.

Putting aside everything else, in terms of factory construction, the city investment company is much more effective than Tan Jincheng.

(End of this chapter)