Su Li was feeding Su Xiaobei porridge, and she looked as calm as usual. She still looked mesmerizing, and her eyes were bright and alert even when she was doing such a mundane chore. Hearing Chai Zhiying’s words, she frowned and replied, “Two million in just half a month?”
She thought she had heard her wrongly as Sumir had always been profitable. Sumir was her fallback plan should she lose her influence and position in showbiz. And if that happened, she’d have to rely on Sumir for a living. How could they be losing so much money?
Luo Pingxiang was also shocked as she was convinced by Chai Zhiying and Su Li that Luo Workshop was not a big threat. On top of that, they had vanquished the threat from Feixue many years back, which further strengthened her belief that Luo Workshop would follow in its footstep. However, nobody expected that Luo Workshop could have overtaken Sumir within such a short period. This was indeed a formidable opponent.
“Luo Workshop’s TCM health drink, that new Chinese medicine drink, has the effect of lowering blood pressure and cholesterol and has been specially concocted to target the majority of senior consumers in the Xiahai bakery market. It drew that segment of the market over after its launch, and naturally, it provided an impetus to the sale of their bread and pastries as well, which drastically affected our own sales as we’re competing for the same market–it’s a zero-sum game. We are making a loss every day; forget about profiting. If we cannot come up with a solution soon, Sumir would be making a loss of 80 to 120 thousand a day!”
Chai Zhiying was very anxious, and she did not want to get Su Li involved initially. Her earlier assumption on Luo Workshop was that they would be able to temporarily attract customers due to their promotional discounts after opening, but they would not sustain it. However, after assessing their performance, she realized that things were not as simple as she believed them to be.
Su Li’s calm eyes finally showed a hint of surprise as the turn of the event had caught her off guard too.
“Is their Chinese medicine drink really that good?” she asked.
Chai Zhiying nodded and said, “According to my research, every consumer who tried that product had spoken highly of it. I even conducted an experiment with a person with high blood pressure. I instructed him to take the drink for a few days and then proceed to the hospital for a health test. The test really showed that his blood pressure was lowered.” She then let out a sigh and said, “It had never crossed my mind that Zhang Dashan would have such a trump card up his sleeve. We have grossly underestimated him. Li Li, what do we do now?”
“Have you eaten breakfast?” Su Li asked.
“Not yet. I came right to report right after getting up.” Chai Zhiying said.
Su Li showed no noticeable change in expression and was her usual calm self. “Then have your breakfast first,” she said.
She continued to feed Su Xiaobei, and the little girl acted like a cute little birdie with its mouth opened as she waiting for mama bird to feed her.
Chai Zhiying did not continue discussing the topic of Luo Workshop but sat down and dug into her breakfast. She was quite hungry, so she wasn’t about to argue with Su Li. Losing two million in half a month was merely a forewarning of what was to come for Sumir. Two million to them personally was a small amount, and it did not matter much. Even if they had misplaced the money, they would at most be a little bothered for just a few days, and not something that would steal their attention.
Ding-dong.
Suddenly, the doorbell rang.
“It’s Daddy. It must be him!” Su Xiaobei, still having her porridge, became visibly excited.
Aunt Li went to answer the door, and it was indeed Xiao Luo. He was wearing a pure white shirt with the two top buttons unbuttoned, making him looked rather casual and sexy. He strolled in like a well-mannered gentleman who came right out of a fictional novel.
“Daddy!”
Xiao Luo went to her and pinched her tiny nose. He then sat down, and aunt Li had already laid for him a set of utensils. He was not awkward at all as he grabbed a bun and bit into it immediately.
“Xiao Luo, where’s your friend, Zhang Dashan?” Chai Zhiying asked.
Xiao Luo pretended that he was unaware and frowned. “He should be at his company, I guess. Are you looking for him?” he said.
“His Luo Workshop had encroached into Sumir’s market share!” Chai Zhiying cried. She said it like it was a personal insult to her and could not imagine that jerk would have such capabilities.
“Really?”
Xiao Luo smiled and said, “I remember you didn’t take Luo Workshop seriously before and even declared that it will definitely fail. Why are you so anxious now?”
“I…”
Chai Zhiying choked as she could not explain her past actions, so she sat there with her face flushed red.
Xiao Luo did not bother with her anymore and continued eating his breakfast.
“What were you doing recently? I haven’t seen you here at breakfast?” Su Li asked as she gazed at him.
“Nothing, I was just running a lot of errands,” Xiao Luo answered.
Su Li nodded and continued to feed Su Xiaobei.
Chai Zhiying could not restrain herself anymore and asked, “Xiao Luo, give me Zhang Dashan’s contact. I want to see him.”
“He might not want to see you even if you wanted. And what can you do if you see him? Question him about why he had snatched Sumir’s share of the market?”
Xiao Luo shook his head mockingly and said, “You can forget it if you want to do that. That only shows how naive you are, as this is a free market here in Xiahai. Everyone can come in, and Luo Workshop did not violate any rules of unfair competition. Sumir cannot put the blame on Luo Workshop for losing its own customers and should reflect on its own inadequacies and find a solution.”
Chai Zhiying clenched her teeth. “Huh, Sumir has monopolized the Xiahai bakery industry since we started. Had Zhang Dashan not barged in, we would still have a monopoly,” she cried.
Xiao Luo turned to her to offer his rebuttal. “When you are sailing against the current, you’ll either go ahead or keep falling back. He who does not advance loses ground. Don’t you understand such a simple rule?” he said, “Sumir had indeed monopolized the Xiahai market all these years, but it did not make any innovative breakthroughs. Time is constantly changing, and any organization can be outrun if it does not strive for constant improvement.”
“You are Zhang Dashan’s friend, and you’ll speak up for him for sure! His Luo Workshop broke into Xiahai by force and stole our customers! This is nothing but a despicable act of robbery!”
“Haha, haha…”
Xiao Luo could not be bothered to argue with her as his intention was to check on Su Li. He was still contemplating the timing to come clean as he did not want to face Sumir head-on. His hope was to work out a strategic partnership by forming an alliance between Luo Workshop and Sumir.
Su Li remained quiet until she had finished eating breakfast. She then spoke after telling aunt Li to clean the table. “Sis Ying, lower all of our prices to cost price!”
She had successfully given Xiao Luo a shock with just a line as she had identified Luo Workshop’s weakness immediately and utilized it. Xiao Luo had come a long way to avoid a price war at all cost, but she was able to shatter all of his strategies in a blink of an eye.
A price war!
This was his biggest concern as Luo Workshop could never match up to Sumir’s assets, and they have not even involved Huayao Corporation yet. Once Sumir started a price war, this would be tough on Luo Workshop’s cash flow.
