Ouyang Lei picked up his wine glass, clinked it with Gu Yun's, and then turned to Zhuang Rui and gave him a brief instruction.
"Brother Lei, don't worry. I trust the people you brought, and their treatment won't be bad. How about this, five thousand yuan a month to start, and we'll increase it later, is that okay?"
The security personnel must first and foremost be trustworthy, because you are entrusting your entire family to them. If you encounter someone with malicious intentions who leads a group of people to rob the house, even in this deep and secluded mansion, the outside world might not know for three to five days.
"Okay, you can talk to him about this later..."
Ouyang Lei nodded. Hao Long had a rural household registration. If he returned home after being discharged from the army, he might not even be able to get a job. The salary Zhuang Rui offered was not low. Although it wouldn't be enough for Hao Long to buy a house in Beijing, he would still have some money after working for a few years and returning to his hometown.
After the three of them finished both bottles of Moutai, Ouyang Lei went back, while Gu Yun had drunk a bit too much. Zhuang Rui was left to sleep in the guest room. Zhang Ma and Li Sao quickly tidied up the dining room and then went back to the front yard. Their rooms had cable TV and air conditioning, making it easy to pass the time.
"Brother Hao, Aunt Zhang has prepared a room for you in the front yard. You just arrived today, so don't bother with anything. Go take a shower and get some sleep first..."
Zhuang Rui walked to the gatehouse and saw Hao Long sitting next to the monitor, looking intently at several blind spots in the wall. Actually, these monitors weren't very useful and didn't need to be watched all the time. The important thing was the infrared alarm device. Once an object climbed over the wall, it would automatically trigger an alarm.
"Boss Zhuang, it's alright, there's a bed here, I'll sleep here tonight..."
When Hao Long saw Zhuang Rui enter, he quickly stood up. He still felt somewhat out of place transitioning from the military to civilian life.
Zhuang Rui waved his hand and said, "Don't call me boss, just call me by my name. There's usually nothing going on here, Brother Hao, you can go back to sleep..."
"Then I'll still call you Mr. Zhuang. It's really alright. There's air conditioning here, so it's not cold. I'm perfectly fine here. Boss, you should go and rest..."
Hao Long has a relatively low level of education, having only graduated from junior high school, although he possesses excellent military skills and has participated in several border anti-drug operations. However, due to the country's requirement to build a modern army, he was unable to renew his contract after reaching the rank of second-class sergeant.
Hao Long originally thought he would have to go back to his rural hometown to farm, but unexpectedly, his former boss summoned him to Beijing and arranged this job for him. Hao Long cherishes this job very much and takes it very seriously.
"You should take a shower first before coming over. I'll have someone install a TV here tomorrow, so you can watch TV whenever you want. If you know how to use a computer, I'll have one delivered too..."
Zhuang Rui paused for a moment, then continued, "Brother Lei might not have told you about the benefits here. For the first three months, your salary is five thousand yuan a month, with room and board included. We'll talk about the rest later. As long as you're willing to work here, finding a Beijing wife and buying a house won't be a big deal. How does that sound? If you think the pay is too low, just say so, it's no problem..."
If you want others to work sincerely for you, you have to invest some money. Although Hao Long was introduced by Ouyang Lei, if you don't offer him high compensation, he may not be willing to stay.
"Okay, okay, that's plenty, really plenty. Thank you, thank you Mr. Zhuang..."
Hao Long was slightly excited when he heard about the salary. He was the eldest son in his family, with a younger brother who was already married. Because he was serving in the military and his brother had to support their parents, he hadn't gone out to work. They lived on his military allowance and income from farming, and were quite poor. Their family's annual income was only about ten thousand yuan. Hearing that he would receive five thousand yuan a month, he was truly surprised.
You know, the young people in their village only earn a thousand or so yuan a month working outside, and they're exhausted. But here, with room and board provided, they can save five thousand yuan a month, which is sixty thousand yuan a year. Their parents never had that much money in their entire lives.
At this moment, Hao Long had made up his mind that as long as Zhuang Rui didn't let him kill or set fires, he would give his life to Zhuang Rui. Although he wasn't highly educated, he still knew the saying, "A scholar will die for one who understands him."
That's why they say money can move people's hearts. Throughout history, there have been countless examples of heroes being brought down by a single penny.
After talking with Hao Long, Zhuang Rui felt relieved. He had a nanny and security personnel, and from the few hours he had spent with them, they all seemed to be of good character. This made him feel much more at ease even if he went out in the future. This made him very happy.
"Uncle, move aside. I don't want to sleep with you. I want to sleep with Xiangxiang."
But after returning to the backyard, Zhuang Rui's mood soured. The little girl, who wasn't with her grandmother, insisted on hugging her aunt before she would sleep, and her chubby little hands were pushing Zhuang Rui off the bed.
"Xiangxiang? Who is Xiangxiang?"
Zhuang Rui expressed his inability to understand children's language.
"Xiangxiang is my aunt, and my uncle is Chou Chou. He smells terrible when he drinks alcohol."
Nannan's words made Zhuang Rui break out in a cold sweat; the uncle also wanted to sleep with Aunt Xiangxiang.
"Darling, you're a big girl now, you should sleep by yourself. How about your uncle buys you a Barbie doll tomorrow? The kind with different clothes."
Zhuang Rui started using bribes to lure the child. Qin Xuanbing, who was listening nearby, rolled her eyes. The little girl was only three years old, but in Zhuang Rui's mouth, she was a big girl. How come she never noticed how shameless he was before?
The little girl bit her finger, thought for a while, a sly look flashing in her eyes, and said, "Okay, Nannan wants a Barbie doll."
Zhuang Rui was overjoyed and was about to carry the little one to another bedroom in the room when he suddenly heard the little girl say, "Uncle is older than Nannan. Uncle is an adult and should sleep alone, so Nannan should sleep here."
"Alright, why are you arguing with a child? Look at you, so spineless."
Qin Xuanbing couldn't stand it any longer and pushed Zhuang Rui, who was stubbornly refusing to leave the bedside, off the bed.
After a struggle with the little guy, Zhuang Rui reluctantly gave in, took a shower, and then went to another room to sleep alone. ...
The next morning, after getting up, Zhuang Rui handed the little girl over to Zhang Ma to take care of, and he and Qin Xuanbing drove to pick up Qin Haoran and his wife. After spending a day dealing with things in Hong Kong, the couple rushed to Beijing to meet their in-laws.
Zhuang Rui and Qin Xuanbing were the only ones who came to pick them up at the airport. Wu Zhuozhi also drove there. He had received a call yesterday asking him to assist the lawyers and financial staff from headquarters in handling the transfer of ownership of Qin Ruilin's Beijing branch.
"Uncle Qin, Aunt Fang..."
Around noon, Zhuang Rui saw Qin Haoran and his wife come out of the exit. He quickly went to greet them and took the boxes from their hands. Behind them stood two other people, whom Zhuang Rui nodded to.
"Hehe, Xiao Zhuang is here. It's really a bit cold in Beijing..."
Qin Haoran and his wife put on extra clothes when they got off the plane, but they still felt a chill.
"Chairman Qin, shall we go to the store first, or find a hotel to stay in first?"
Wu Zhuozhi also came to greet him.
"No need, you take the two of them to handle the paperwork for the Beijing store, we'll just go with Xiao Zhuang..."
Qin Haoran and his wife also wanted to see Zhuang Rui's courtyard house, so they made arrangements immediately.
After leaving the airport, Zhuang Rui did not take Qin Haoran and his wife to the courtyard house first, but drove directly to Yuquan Mountain. His mother lived there, and it would be impolite not to receive her immediately.
Qin Haoran and his wife naturally had no objection to this arrangement. You see, Old Master Ouyang now lives a very secluded life, and even some of his old friends from Hong Kong rarely get to see him when they come to Beijing.
Upon arriving at Yuquan Mountain, Madam Zhuang had already prepared a feast to entertain Qin Haoran and his wife. Although the old man only appeared briefly, asking a few questions about the situation of some old friends in Hong Kong before leaving, Qin Haoran was already very satisfied. After having lunch at Yuquan Mountain, the group, including Ouyang Wan, accompanied Zhuang Rui back to the courtyard house.
Qin Haoran and Fang Yi were full of praise for the building, which was constructed entirely according to blueprints from the Kangxi period of the Qing Dynasty. They especially appreciated its prime location in the heart of Beijing. Seeing the lotus pond in the courtyard, the couple would have liked to stay there for a while if they weren't so busy.
"Uncle Qin, I didn't mean anything by it. I just feel that the raw material market for jadeite and nephrite is quite tight right now. If I supply the goods myself, it can alleviate some of the pressure on headquarters. Besides, for gold and diamond jewelry, we still need to rely on headquarters for supplies. Please don't overthink it..."
After touring the courtyard house, Ouyang Wan, Fang Yi, Qin Xuanbing, and the other women went to their rooms to chat, while Zhuang Rui brought out a tea set brewed over charcoal and sat in the pavilion by the garden pond, talking to Qin Haoran about the jewelry store.
"Yes, I understand what you mean. We're all family now, so there's no need for formalities. We really need to thank you for solving the problem of Qin's Jewelry's jade raw materials. However, jade raw materials are always in short supply. If you can supply Qin Ruilin in Beijing yourself, that would be a good thing for us. But the jade raw materials you have probably not enough to support Qin Ruilin for several months, right? What do you plan to do when the raw materials run out?"
Although doing business nowadays emphasizes the importance of distribution channels, and the domestic jewelry market is controlled by a few large jewelry companies, if there is a shortage of raw materials, even if you have the best distribution channels, you will still lose market share to other companies if you have no goods to sell.
Qin Haoran was also worried that Zhuang Rui was young and impetuous and didn't want to rely on Qin's Jewelry. But if they faced such a situation, the foundation that Qin Ruilin Store in Beijing had built over five or six years might be lost overnight, which was something he absolutely did not want to see.
Zhuang Rui pondered for a moment, then, seeing the water had boiled, quickly brewed Qin Haoran a cup of tea and said, "I looked at Qin Ruilin's information. High-end, top-quality jadeite jewelry only accounts for about 8% of the total sales of jadeite jewelry. Although this 8% of sales is much higher than the other 92%, the amount of raw jadeite wasted is not much. I still have a piece of high-quality glass-type green jadeite, and another batch of finished icy red jadeite jewelry, all of which can be considered top-quality jadeite. This batch of high-end jewelry should last until June or July next year. As for now, there is a shortage of jadeite jewelry suitable for mass consumers..."
In fact, while the most valuable and profitable items are the top-quality pieces, the smaller items costing tens or hundreds of yuan are also essential and form the foundation of a jewelry store.
"Oh, so how do you plan to solve this problem?"
Qin Haoran hadn't expected that his future son-in-law had such valuable items. He knew that Zhuang Rui had won a prize in gambling on a piece of jade in Pingzhou, and he had sold them all without keeping a single piece.
"Yangon Jade Auction in Myanmar next January!"
Zhuang Rui gave his answer.
Chapter 412 Processing Workshop
"Master Luo, what do you think of this place? Are there any other areas that need modification? Let me know, and I'll have them fixed as soon as possible..."
At the car detailing center next to the Audi dealership on National Highway 312 in Pengcheng City, Zhuang Rui, along with Luo Jiang, a sculptor from Yangzhou, was working in a workshop that had been partitioned into a space of more than 40 square meters. The machines that were originally kept in Zhuang Rui's garage had now been moved here.
Nearly two months have passed since Qin Haoran and his wife left Beijing. Qin Xuanbing has already returned to England to continue working on unfinished orders. She usually uses instant messaging tools on her computer to express her longing for Zhuang Rui.
Zhuang Rui hasn't been idle during this time either. Besides reviewing his studies to prepare for the postgraduate entrance exam in January, he has devoted all his energy to Qin Ruilin's Beijing store. He has taken all the red jade ornaments from his home to Qin Ruilin to sell.
Zhuang Rui didn't expect that the response to this batch of jade jewelry would be so good after it hit the market. He originally thought it would last until the end of the year, but it was almost sold out in just two months. The red jade bracelets, in particular, were highly sought after, even though each one was priced at over a million yuan. Now there are only three left in the store. If Wu Zhuozhi hadn't decisively taken them off the shelves, there probably wouldn't have been a single piece left.
The booming sales of red jadeite also boosted the sales of other high-end jadeite in the store. The turnover in two months actually exceeded 50 million. However, the downside of this was that high-end jewelry worth more than 300,000 was almost out of stock. This forced Zhuang Rui to return to Pengcheng and cut out that piece of glass-type high-green material.
However, to Zhuang Rui's embarrassment, although he had the raw materials, he did not have a carving master. He contacted Luo Jiang many times. At first, Luo Jiang was unwilling to give up his job at the jewelry company he was currently working for. It was not until Zhuang Rui offered him an annual salary of two million that Luo Jiang finally agreed.
However, this back and forth, plus the time it took for Luo Jiang to resign, took almost half a month. Before that, Zhuang Rui had already arranged Luo Jiang's work location. Their jade carving factory was not in Beijing, but in Pengcheng.
Zhuang Rui had his own considerations. In Beijing, it was impossible to rent a factory in the city center. If he were to carve objects in a residential building, it would definitely disturb other people's rest.
Of course, a courtyard house would be fine, but Zhuang Rui was unwilling to bring work matters home, and his grandfather would also stay there for a few days from time to time. After thinking it over, Zhuang Rui decided to let Luo Jiang stay in Pengcheng to work on jade carving.
The 4S Audi dealership that Zhao Guodong talked about has already opened for business. The store is built entirely with steel structure, with a row of floor-to-ceiling glass windows on the outside. The dealership, which is more than ten meters high, stands prominently at the intersection of the national highway and the expressway.
Thanks to Ouyang Jun's connections, Audi offered Zhao Guodong significant discounts, providing him with over a hundred vehicles in stock initially, totaling nearly 30 million yuan in value.
Although Zhuang Rui is now rich, it's naturally good to have access to inventory, and there's no reason not to accept it. Nowadays, few people in business are willing to spend their own money. The bigger the business, the more money they owe to the bank. It's like having too many lice and not feeling any itch. Zhuang Rui naturally understands this principle.
The dealership has been open for just over ten days, and business is booming. It has already sold more than fifty cars and its turnover has exceeded ten million yuan. Several models are already out of stock. Audi China did not expect Pengcheng to have such strong purchasing power. The second batch of cars is being shipped to Pengcheng. Of course, this batch is not within the scope of the initial stock and the payment will be settled according to the normal procedures.
Next to the 4S dealership, there was a factory building. Zhao Guodong simply converted it into an auto detailing center. Zhuang Rui took a space of more than 40 square meters from it and used it as Luo Jiang's jade carving workshop.
"The location is nice, and it lets in a lot of light. This is fine, let's keep it here..."
Luo Jiang walked around the studio, checking the machines he had moved from Zhuang Rui's place. He was quite satisfied. He was originally from Pengcheng and had been away for more than ten years. Now that Zhuang Rui was willing to offer him a high salary to come back to work, Luo Jiang was also willing to return to his hometown.
When Luo Jiang returned this time, he brought two apprentices with him. Of course, the apprentices' salaries were also included in his two million annual salary. As for how much to give them, that was up to Luo Jiang himself.
"Alright, then I'll leave things here to Master Luo. We urgently need a batch of high-end jewelry, so please bear with us..."
Zhuang Rui originally wanted Luo Jiang to live in his villa and commute to get off work with Zhao Guodong every day. However, since Luo Jiang had a house and a car in Pengcheng, he let it go. But every day, Zhao Guodong would take the jade material that Luo Jiang needed to carve from the safe and give it to him. Then, at night, the finished product would be put back into the safe.
This process was also proposed by Luo Jiang. Zhuang Rui offered very generous compensation, so naturally he wanted to reassure Zhuang Rui.
"Okay, Mr. Zhuang, don't worry. I guarantee I can produce thirty finished products in a week at most."
Having brought two apprentices with him, Luo Jiang patted his chest and said that although the two apprentices' carving skills were not yet up to par, they could still handle things like polishing and waxing. This way, Luo Jiang could fully immerse himself in the work, and the efficiency would naturally increase greatly.
"With Master Luo's words, I feel relieved."
Seeing that everything was arranged, Zhuang Rui bid farewell to Luo Jiang and his apprentice, then went to Zhao Guodong's office at the Audi dealership. ...
"Brother-in-law, you're a boss now, why are you still crawling under the car yourself?"
Zhuang Rui sat in the 4S store for a full half hour before Zhao Guodong walked in, covered in oil stains. Without asking, he knew that Zhao Guodong must have been at the auto repair shop when he answered the phone earlier. The two shops were not far apart, only a ten-minute drive away, and Zhao Guodong was now running between the two.
"Hehe, I saw a car with a problem that they couldn't figure out, so I got the itch to take action and went over..."
Zhao Guodong smiled sheepishly, went to the restroom to wash up, changed his work clothes, and then came out.
This is also what Zhuang Rui admires most about Zhang Guodong. Regardless of whether he is rich or poor, he has always been so simple and honest. He doesn't put on airs with his apprentices just because he is the boss. As a result, the auto repair shop is doing very well now, while the dealership has hired a professional manager, with Zhao Guodong serving as the vice chairman in name only.
Chairman? It's Zhuang Rui, of course. He paid for all the money. Even if he didn't want the title, Zhao Guodong wouldn't agree to it.
“Xiao Rui, why didn’t you bring Nannan with you this time? I haven’t seen my daughter for almost two months.”
While wiping his hands with a towel, Zhao Guodong complained to Zhuang Rui that Zhuang Min would occasionally go to Beijing to see their daughter, but he had been busy with the 4S car dealership and had no time at all. He also missed his daughter terribly.
“Let’s go to Beijing together in a couple of days. You’ve almost finished dealing with things here. By the way, find someone you can trust to deliver those jadeite raw materials to Luo Jiang and the others every day. This matter can’t be delayed.”
Ouyang Jun is getting married next week, in four or five days. Zhao Guodong will definitely be there, but the daily registration of jade raw materials and finished products can only be done by someone from his own circle.
"This matter... how about we have Da Chuan come and help out for a few days? What do you think?"