During the dinner, Li Mingde mingled with every guest at the tables and is happier than his son’s wedding banquet.
Most of the people congratulated Li Mingde, and some of them, like Manager Niu, was feeling frustrated. They had the support of the government, but their factories had lost to a tractor factory!
The General Managers of other factories were pissed as they look at Li Mingde. But they can’t do anything about it.
They were determined to make their factories as successful as Bing City Machinery Company. They will invest at least 20 to 30% of their funds in R&D and invite Li Mingde over when they have some technological breakthroughs as revenge!
Feng Yu, Li Mingde, Fu Guangzheng, and a few government leaders were seated at Table 1. Some of the leaders left when Li Mingde went to offer a toast at the other tables. Feng Yu was also about to leave when Zhang Ruiqiang called him.
“Do you want to have tea at my place?”
Feng Yu looked at Zhang Ruiqiang. Zhang Ruiqiang must have something important to discuss with him. He also noticed Xu Changyou looked at Zhang Ruiqiang differently when he left.
……
“Xiao Feng, have some tea. There are fruits here. I will go out to watch TV.” Zhang Ruiqiang’s wife said.
“Thank you.”
After Zhang Ruiqiang’s wife left, Zhang Ruiqiang took out a box of cigars from his drawer. The cigars were given to him by Feng Yu. He knew Feng Yu does not smoke cigarettes and only smoke cigars occasionally.
Both lit their cigars, and Feng Yu took a sip of tea.
“What is it? Just speak your mind. My parents do not like me coming home late.”
Zhang Ruiqiang: “……” You don’t live at home most of the time, and you are saying that your parents are worried about you? Do you think I don’t know that you have two bodyguards waiting for you in the car?!
Zhang Ruiqiang shook his head. “Do you think that Beidacang will be Asia’s biggest agricultural products company in the future?”
Feng Yu glanced at Zhang Ruiqiang. “It is already Asia’s top company. What’s wrong? You didn’t hit the target last year? Didn’t you sign contracts with the distributors?”
“We had achieved our targets last year, and the target for this year is not high. Our worst period should be over now. I have two choices now, and I am hesitating.
Two choices? What happened? Is Old Zhang going to be promoted?
But even if he is going to be promoted, why is he asking me? I am not from government service, and I don’t know anything about it.
“What choices?”
“The first choice is to enter the Provincial Government as the No. 3, and at the same time take over Beidacang. Xu Changyou wants to let me handle Beidacang’s operations. The other choice is to be transferred to a Ministry. My superiors had let me choose the department I want and will be the No. 2 or No. 3 man in the department.
Feng Yu’s jaw dropped. Old Zhang’s connection is too powerful. Other people will be overjoyed to get promoted, but Old Zhang can still get to pick and choose the department he wants.
“Why are you telling me this? You want to seek my opinions?”
“These few career paths are the same from my perspective. Xu Changyou wants me to remain in the province to help him manage Beidacang, as he doesn’t feel confident to hand it over to someone else. But the higher-ups felt that I would be more useful if I enter a Ministry. I just want to know if Beidacang can be grown to become a world-renowned company.”
Feng Yu understood why Zhang Ruiqiang is hesitating. If Beidacang can achieve results, he can continue to get promotions.
But if Beidacang cannot achieve any results, Zhang Ruiqiang’s career will end there.
“Beidacang Group will be the Leader in Asia within three years. But it will be hard for this company to be the best in the world. The US, Canada, Australia, etc. are also strong in agriculture, and their agriculture industry is more advanced than us.”
Within Asia, China is the strongest agricultural country. Although China’s agriculture industry is not as modernized, it has lots of farms and farmers.
China’s vast farmlands are the biggest in Asia and are not an issue to become Asia’s market leader.
From what Zhang Ruiqiang says, he is satisfied with being the best in Asia. This can be easily achieved, and Feng Yu felt that three years is too long. If Beidacang merges with Tai Hua Agriculture Company, they can become Asia’s market leader this year!
But it is too challenging to become the world’s market leader unless Beidacang’s share prices shot up after they got listed. But this is not possible, as most investors are not interested in such companies.
Feng Yu does not want Zhang Ruiqiang to enter the ministries, as he has lots of investments in Longjiang Province and Bing City. He needs someone in the government to take care of his companies.
If Zhang Ruiqiang left, Feng Yu need to build relationships with the leaders again.
Zhang Ruiqiang was relieved. If Beidacang Group can become Asia’s market leader within three years, he doesn’t need to worry about not achieving results.
“Alright. One more thing. Will Bing City Machinery Company be listed this year?”
“Why should Bing City Machinery Company get listed? If the company needs money, I can invest and don’t need to be listed. Bing City Pharmaceutical Company will also not be listed within two years. These companies will be listed when I think the time is right.”
Zhang Ruiqiang is speechless. Many people are trying their best to get their companies to be listed, but Feng Yu’s companies are not going to be listed.
Never mind. Everything is alright now. The employment rates and taxes in the province are high, and with more funds, the government can do a lot more for the people.
Most importantly, if these companies were forced to be listed, the government will fall out with Feng Yu.
Zhang Ruiqiang had helped Feng Yu a lot, but Feng Yu had returned the favor too. Without Feng Yu, Zhang Ruiqiang might not get promoted so fast, and might even encounter setbacks, for example, the eye massager!
“Fine. These are your companies, and you can have the final say.”
“Is that all? If you have nothing else, I will be going back. It’s been a while since I return home, and my parents are angry. After Lunar New Year, I will be returning to the US.”
Zhang Ruiqiang smiled and shook his head. He had never seen Feng Yu busy with work before. Since Feng Yu started his businesses, he had only been giving ideas and let other people do the job.
After Feng Yu left, Zhang Ruiqiang called Xu Changyou. “Leader, I have considered carefully. I will remain in the province.”
