The Official Ladder: I ascend to the pinnacle of power, wielding the power of life and death.

Besides the Standing Committee members, other department leaders who came, and even some deputy county heads, would bring some tea or cigarettes for Jiang Yiming.

Being on good terms with Jiang Yiming not only reduces the chances of making a wasted trip, but also ensures that you have a place to sit and tea when you arrive.

After all, when it's their turn, no one knows when it will be. At this point, those who are on good terms with Jiang Yiming can go into his office, sit down, have some tea, and wait patiently.

Those who weren't particularly close to the person could only wait at the door.

After getting off work, Jiang Yongchen came to find Jiang Yiming.

"Sixth Brother, haven't eaten yet? Come on, I'll treat you to a meal, we can chat while we eat."

"Row."

The two found a small restaurant, ordered three dishes, a plate of peanuts, and two bottles of beer.

"What's the matter that you came all the way to the county town to find me?"

Jiang Yiming took a swig of beer and asked.

"Let me first report on the recent situation at the distillery, and then I'll talk to you about my business."

Jiang Yongchen said, "Following your suggestion, we placed advertisements in some widely circulated books and magazines. And you know what? The effect is very obvious. Recently, there have been many people ordering Yusha Xiong wine. We are getting about a thousand cases every day. At this rate, we can expect to increase it several times over by the end of the month."

"As for the sales of Yusha 10-year and Yusha 20-year wines, they are also gradually increasing. Of course, they are still a bit behind expectations, but once the bottle cap award is held, sales will definitely rise sharply."

"Samples of the special-supply liquor have been prepared, and Standing Committee Member Huang personally came to the distillery to inspect them, where he gave them high praise. The verbal agreement is that the liquor will be officially supplied on June 1st."

Jiang Yiming nodded and said, "Overall, things are good. Now tell me about the bad things."

"There are two bad things. The first is about the special supply liquor. We set the price at 999 yuan per bottle and planned to sell it to the county at a 40% discount, but the people in the reception office insisted on cutting it down to 20%. This is below our cost price, so we definitely can't cooperate. No matter how we explained or how we pleaded, it didn't work. Moreover, they were very arrogant and ignored us. When we tried to negotiate the price with them, they refused to show up."

Jiang Yongchen sighed, "If it weren't for the fact that the amount of wine consumed for entertaining guests is large, which can enhance the brand awareness of our wine, I would never want to have any contact with them."

"Didn't you prepare anything for Standing Committee Member Huang and the others?"

Jiang Yiming asked in confusion.

"Of course I prepared. I packed a whole trunk full of good cigarettes and liquor."

Jiang Yongchen said, "At the time, Standing Committee Member Huang spoke highly of our special supply liquor and instructed that the agreement be signed as soon as possible. Who knew that his subordinates would be such a swindler?"

"I came to you to ask if I can complain to Standing Committee Member Huang and make those guys regret it!"

"The best way to vent our anger is to complain to Standing Committee Member Huang and get them punished. But from the perspective of the company's long-term development, we still need to find the root of the problem and resolve it peacefully."

"After all, if you complain to Standing Committee Member Huang, the people in the reception office will not openly trip you up because of his face. But that doesn't mean they won't trip you up behind the scenes. When they come with a few well-established rules and regulations to find fault, it won't work for you to complain to Standing Committee Member Huang."

Jiang Yiming said, "Besides, Standing Committee Member Huang can't stay in this position forever. If he's no longer in charge of the reception office after the reshuffle, they'll definitely make things difficult for you."

"Now what?"

Jiang Yongchen's face was full of worry.

"I'm asking you, did you prepare anything for Standing Committee Member Huang, or for the people in the reception office?"

"No, I don't think so. I figured since Standing Committee Member Huang has already spoken, there's no need to prepare anything for these people who need to get things done. They can't possibly disobey Standing Committee Member Huang's instructions, can they?"

"So that's why they were making things difficult for you."

Jiang Yiming shook his head and said, "As the saying goes, it's easier to deal with the King of Hell than with his underlings. Although they won't disobey Huang Yonglin's orders, they can still make things difficult for you."

"Hurry up and prepare your things. We must visit the relevant personnel tonight and negotiate again tomorrow. There will definitely be progress."

"Fifth Brother, you need to broaden your perspective and not underestimate these people who handle things. Although they don't have the power to make decisions, they are the ones who actually do things for you. If they find an excuse to delay, things could be ruined if they're not handled properly."

"It was my oversight. I'll visit them later and try to sign the agreement tomorrow so that the special supply of wine can be provided on schedule."

Jiang Yongchen, who has a strong ability to understand, quickly stated, "I will handle this properly in the future to prevent such a thing from happening again."

Jiang Yiming nodded and asked, "Is there anything else?"

Yes, regarding the prize redemption.

Jiang Yongchen said, "A few days ago, someone won the grand prize and came here to redeem it."

"After we registered his information, we told him to wait at home. When the awards ceremony was held, we gave him the prize in front of everyone. Although he was unhappy, he went home."

"Unexpectedly, just two days later, a man named Wang Hai came to us with the bottle cap of the grand prize to claim it. Our staff thought he was a scammer and argued with him for a few words. He became rude, so our staff beat him up and kicked him out."

"As a result, that kid went to the media and accused us of not being able to redeem the prize, saying that our winery was dishonest."

"The winery's reputation was severely damaged in an instant, and many customers called to cancel their orders."

“Our people immediately went to that media outlet, hoping they would delete the report. But not only did it not work, they accused us of being guilty and published the report again, which further damaged our reputation. Orders dropped even further.”

"Everyone is extremely anxious and doesn't know what to do."

"Has your winery verified who the real winner is?"

Jiang Yiming frowned.

"After careful comparison and verification, we found that the first one was a fraudster; his bottle cap was counterfeit."

Jiang Yongchen said with a bitter face, "So, Wang Hai's winning bottle cap is very likely real. In that case, our unwillingness to pay out the prize becomes a fact."

"Sixth Brother, if we don't salvage the winery's reputation in time, all the work we've done before will be in vain."

"Don't worry, things haven't reached a dead end yet."

Jiang Yiming thought for a moment and said, "Perhaps this is a good opportunity to promote the winery."

"They've been completely vilified, how can we promote ourselves now?"

Jiang Yongchen was somewhat puzzled.

"Based on your description, the person who made the forgery is probably not doing this for the first time. They may be an experienced person. I'll have the police open a case and investigate to get to the bottom of this."

Jiang Yiming said, "Call the media outlet with the largest circulation in our city and ask them to publish the award announcement. The award ceremony will be held the day after tomorrow."

"Oh, the awards ceremony is the day after tomorrow? The person who registered here is a scammer, how can we give out the awards?"