2003: Starting with Foreign Trade

Chapter 237 Zhang Xupeng's Attack
"Hello, Auntie. I am an employee of General Manager Tan's company. My name is Sun Yuming. I apologize for the intrusion."

"Is this Xiao Sun? Come in." Tan Lihua's voice came from inside the house.

"Have you been drinking?" Zhang Suzhi greeted Sun Yuming while staring at Tan Jincheng, whose face was flushed.

"Yeah, I had a little."

"Then you should go take a shower and brush your teeth, and don't go near Jin Yue," Zhang Suzhi said, pinching her nose.

"Our son is back, and you're already complaining after just a few drinks? It seems you've forgotten about the older one now that you have a younger one," Tan Jincheng said, somewhat speechless.

After saying that, he deliberately walked to Tan Jinyue's side, picked her up, and breathed on her.

This immediately made Tan Jinyue burst into tears, leaving Tan Lihua and Zhang Suzhi both amused and exasperated.

I was naturally happy that my son was back, but who would deliberately make his sister cry as soon as he walked in the door?

"Hahaha." Tan Jincheng finally put him down with satisfaction and said to Sun Yuming, "Brother Sun, please make yourself at home. I'm going to take a shower first."

Sun Yuming rarely saw Tan Jincheng be so childlike. Sure enough, people like the eldest brother only show their truest selves in front of their family.

"It's alright, boss, you don't need to worry about me. Auntie, this is a small gift I brought, I hope you won't mind."

The gift was a small gold safety lock for a child to wear, along with some fruit I just bought downstairs.

Zhang Suzhi wasn't familiar with Sun Yuming, and upon seeing that it was gold, she quickly said, "I'll accept the fruit, but this gold lock is too valuable. You can't accept it. Keep it for your own child, Sun."

"I don't have a girlfriend yet, so keep it, Auntie. It's not worth much," Sun Yuming said with a smile.

In 2006, the price of gold was around 120 yuan per gram. A gold lock weighing less than four grams would only cost around 500 yuan including processing fees. This might have been a bit painful for Sun Yuming a year and a half ago, but it's nothing now.

“You earn your salary with great difficulty, how can I accept such an expensive gift from you? I can’t accept it,” Zhang Suzhi continued to refuse.

Tan Lihua had just gone to cut fruit and came out now. He smiled and explained, "It's just a small token of my appreciation from Xiao Sun. He's the top employee at Jincheng Company, so he shouldn't be short of a few hundred yuan."

"Haha, Uncle is right, my income is not bad, my boss is very good to me, Auntie, please don't refuse anymore."

At the same time, he secretly admired his eldest son, whose excellence must have a lot to do with his upbringing. His mother had repeatedly refused gifts worth several hundred yuan. If Uncle Tan hadn't been familiar with him, he really wouldn't have been able to give the gift today.

"Are you Xiaotan's first employee?" Zhang Suzhi knew how to get to the point.

While thanking Tan Lihua for the fruit, Sun Yuming nodded and said, "Well, to be precise, I am the first employee of Flash Technology. I used to be a salesman at Jinpeng Trading, which my boss and General Manager Zhang jointly owned. Later, my boss brought me here when he started a new company."

"So you've been with Jincheng the longest. Tell me, what's his work like?"

As a mother, Zhang Suzhi is more concerned about her son's daily life than how much money he earns.

Sun Yuming pondered for a moment, recalling the bits and pieces of the past year, and said after a while: "It's hard to describe. The boss is very outstanding. He can think of many things in advance. Just like when he signed the Super Girl champion as a spokesperson, I was the one who handled it. At that time, Chun Ge was only in the top 15. Including me, all the employees in the company thought the boss had gone crazy."

"Think about it, this is the company's first product, something so important. Signing a player who's still a student, not even a star, would not only waste millions but also damage the company's product image."

"The result was unexpected. The single-player contestant won the championship with an overwhelming advantage. Although his image wasn't great, he was incredibly popular. Flash became an instant hit because of this. After the results came out, everyone in the company thought the boss was a god."

"There are many similar operations, including the timing of the establishment of FlashDrive Technology, which was very precise, just in time for the explosive growth of the electric scooter market. Therefore, the entire management team of the company has great faith in the boss's decision."

Tan Lihua and Zhang Suzhi listened quietly. From Sun Yuming's expression, they could tell that although his tone was full of boasting, he was sincere and not just flattering.

“Since the Canton Fair last spring, I have often traveled on business with my boss. He works really hard. He often communicates with clients during the day and then summarizes the work at night, and doesn’t go to sleep until late at night. When FlashTech was busiest, my boss lived in the office for half a month.”

"My overall impression of the boss is that he is both smart and hardworking. In addition, he is also very good to his employees. Before I worked for the boss, my job was unstable, and the most I ever earned in a month was only about 2000 yuan."

But after joining the boss, my income has steadily increased. Last year alone, I saved over 60,000 yuan, more than I've saved in all the years I've worked. The boss even entrusted me with managing such an important department as purchasing, so I'm very grateful to him.

Although he only worked in procurement for a few months, he only saved a little over 60,000 yuan a year. Sun Yuming was very clean and didn't even take much of the benefits that Tan Jincheng tacitly approved.

Seeing that his eldest son's parents didn't react immediately, Sun Yuming laughed again, "Uncle and Aunt, don't think I'm just flattering our eldest son. If I save up for another year, I can buy a house in Beicang. This is something I never even dared to dream of before." "Isn't this flattery? You've said all the nice things." Tan Jincheng, who was walking out of the restroom, happened to hear this.

"Boss, you're wronging me! I'm telling the truth!" Sun Yuming argued repeatedly.

"Alright, stop talking nonsense. I invited you to my home not to flatter me. Relax, we'll go grocery shopping together in a bit."

“Your mom bought a lot of groceries. I called her when I got back this morning. Why don’t you rest for a while, chat with Xiao Sun, and watch some TV?” Tan Lihua said.

Zhang Suzhi was still immersed in the atmosphere just now. After saying so much, what she was most concerned about was that her son was working very hard, going to bed very late every day, and even sleeping in the office for half a month straight.

"Is that enough? Pengya's family is coming over for dinner tonight. We agreed on that when we left."

Zhang Suzhi then realized, "That's not enough, but you don't need to go buy it. Your dad and I will go. You stay home and look after Jinyue."

"Let's go together, we don't have anything to do right now anyway."

“Yes, Auntie, let’s go together. I often go grocery shopping with my parents at home. By the way, I’m from Luzhou,” Sun Yuming said.
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Mr. and Mrs. Zhang were somewhat surprised by their son's sudden return.

Now that the Tan family has moved out of the residential area, the two families are not in contact as frequently as before. However, he knows that Tan Lihua went to Beicang, but he is not sure why he went to Beicang.

The couple, carrying groceries, returned home and were startled to find their son asleep on the sofa. They thought a thief had broken in.

"Hey, wake up, don't catch a cold. Why did you suddenly come back?" Zhang Guolong asked, shaking Zhang Xupeng.

Zhang Xupeng, who was shaken awake, mumbled "Mom and Dad" and tried to lie back down, but Liu Huiru, who had just put down the groceries, came over again.

"I came back with Xiao Tan. I had some drinks at noon and then fell asleep," Zhang Xupeng said, rubbing his eyes.

"Why didn't you tell me you were coming back?" Liu Huiru complained.

"I was in a bit of a rush and didn't have time to say it; by the way, Mom and Dad, you don't need to cook dinner tonight, we can eat at Xiao Tan's house."

"Huh? Why? Why are you going to Xiao Tan's house for dinner after you've come back? It's not a holiday."

“I have something to discuss with Xiao Tan tonight. I’ve already told him that my family will come over for dinner. You don’t need to cook. I’m going to take a shower and I’ll be there in a bit.”

Mr. and Mrs. Zhang Guolong exchanged glances, and Mr. Zhang couldn't help but ask, "What is it?"

"We're planning to set up a factory here, but we still need to discuss some details with Xiaotan." With that, he got up and went to his room.

Zhang Xupeng already has some ideas about opening a factory. Currently, Jinpeng Trading is engaged in the export of women's and children's clothing. Once the factory is established, it will inevitably create its own brand.

The women's clothing business is handled by Zhang Haiping and some affiliated factories, while the children's clothing business has partners in Zhili Town. To avoid causing instability in the current business and supply chain, it would be best to establish a men's clothing brand.

Besides exports, it's inevitable that a brand will sell well domestically. In addition to physical stores, online stores are also a great medium. As Xiao Tan has said, online stores are the future trend.

At the same time, Xiao Tan also said that the women's clothing online store business will definitely be very competitive in the future, and the return rate will be very high. In fact, Zhang Xupeng has already seen some of this from the data of the two Taobao stores he currently has.

He currently owns a women's clothing store and a men's clothing store. From the current perspective, although the sales of men's clothing are not as good as those of women's clothing, the return rate is indeed much lower.

Therefore, it is feasible to start a menswear brand. Labor costs are low, factories are located in the mainland, and you have your own clothing supply chain, so you can control costs very well. Once you establish brand awareness, the profit margin can be quite considerable.

The garment industry today is a highly competitive market due to its low labor costs.

Seeing his childhood friends becoming more and more successful, Zhang Xupeng was not content to just be the boss of a shell company; he also wanted to have his own brand and his own business.

However, Zhang Xupeng hasn't decided yet whether to focus on low-end or high-end menswear. As for high-end clothing, he hasn't even considered it.

"What do you mean? Didn't he run an export company? How come he's started a factory?" Liu Huiru asked Zhang Guolong with some confusion.

(End of this chapter)