That evening, Tang Hao sat in his office.
In front of him were Liu Yan, Lin Fuquan, and Yao Qing.
The three people were the managers of Haotian Co. Ltd., Masculine Wind Co. Ltd., and Divine Liquor Company respectively.
“We have to come up with a solution, President Tang. Tai An must be sabotaging us. They won’t give up that soon.”
The person who spoke was Lin Fuquan. He was in his forties, the perfect age for a man to be ambitious. He wore glasses and looked like a gentleman.
Tang Hao nodded.
If the situation continued, both Haotian and Masculine Wind would be affected.
The two companies needed many medicinal herbs for their products. The plantation supplied the herbs that were rarely found in the open market, while they relied on external supplies for the more commonly found herbs.
Unfortunately, the latter took up the larger proportion. If their supply was affected, it would greatly affect the output of the two companies.
“All we can do now is to outbid them. However, Tai An has stronger finances. We’ll still be at a disadvantage if the fight draws out,” Liu Yan said.
Tang Hao thought for a while. “We’ll just outbid them for now. It’s fine if we make fewer profits. We can handle that.”
He paused for a while and continued, “This incident has also exposed our greatest weakness, that is, our supply of medicinal herbs. We’ll have to find other ways to solve this.”
Liu Yan and Lin Fuquan nodded in agreement.
“How about this, President Tang, we should set up a company that specifically supplies medicinal herbs to our other companies. We have four plantations now, all supplying us with rare herbs. We can simply set up more.
“We don’t need any special planting conditions for the more common herbs. Even untrained farmers could plant them. We can recruit more farmers to plant the herbs for us and we can purchase directly from them,” Liu Yan said.
“That’s a good idea!” Lin Fuquan said, “Medicinal herbs are the lifeblood of our companies. We need to control our supply.”
Tang Hao thought about the proposal for a while and eventually nodded.
“That’s a good idea. We’ll set up a company immediately! As for the name… we’ll also call it Haotian. Haotian Plantations Co. Ltd.,” Tang Hao said decisively.
After deciding on that, Tang Hao spoke to Yao Qing.
After more than a month, the liquor factory was almost complete.
Divine Liquor was special. It did not require brewing, which meant that its production saved a lot of time and factory space. The factory did not occupy a large area and the construction was also relatively fast.
In that period, Yao Qing’s main task was marketing. He generated hype for Divine Liquor, which meant that the product was already popular even before the factory was complete.
At night, Tang Hao had dinner with Liu Dajun and the other bosses at Beyond Heavens Restaurant. He told them about his intention to start a plantation company to supply the other companies with medicinal herbs.
“Lil Tang, now that the companies are all on track, don’t you think that it’s time to group them together? Haotian Group. That sounds so cool, right?” Liu Dajun said.
“Right! We need to be fast!” President Li and the other bosses agreed.
“That’s right, it’s about time. Divine Liquor Company will start its operations in a few days. Meanwhile, Haotian, Masculine Wind, and New Magical Kitchen are thriving.
“We’ll start preparations once Divine Liquor Company is operational!”
Everyone in the room cheered happily.
They stood up and clinked their glasses.
“A toast for Haotian Group!” Everyone shouted.
Tang Hao lifted his glass and clinked it with the other people’s glasses, then drained it in one gulp.
He was feeling emotional at that moment.
Just a year ago, he was a poor, unknown kid. He had worked day and night to earn a living, though the money was barely enough.
Back then, he would never have imagined that he could accomplish so much in such a short time.
Even when he started earning money through selling weight-loss potions, he could never imagine that his business would grow to its scale today.
“Bottoms up, Lil Tang! I know that I’m not mistaken about you. You’re as capable as I thought you would be.”
Jin Biao came and placed his arm over Tang Hao’s shoulders.
They clinked their glasses and drained them.
Jin Biao had drunk a lot of alcohol. His face was red and he looked excited.
“Ol’ Li, Ol’ Liu, let me tell you, I was the one who bought Lil Tang’s first time, pah! I mean, first potion. I was floored when I drank that potion. I thought, ‘Oh my! This is medicine from the heavens!’
“Back then, I already knew that Lil Tang would go far! We can all see how great he’s become!”
Everyone laughed merrily.
Jin Biao turned to look at Qin Xiangyi and said, “I’m sorry, Qin the Femme Fatale, it was a slip of the tongue! I knew that Lil Tang gave his first time to you!”
Everyone burst into laughter again.
Tang Hao blushed. Even Qin Xiangyi could not help but blush.
“Let me fill up your glass, Lil Tang. Here’s another toast to you!” Jin Biao poured liquor into Tang Hao’s glass as he spoke.
“I should be toasting you, Bro Biao. If not for you, I wouldn’t have been able to achieve so much. Here!” Tang Hao said. He lifted his glass with both his hands and handed the glass to Jin Biao.
He had always been grateful to Jin Biao.
Jin Biao was Tang Hao’s first customer. He was the first one to try his potion, and thus changed his life.
Jin Biao had also introduced Liu Dajun, President Li, and the other bosses to him.
Jin Biao laughed heartily and took the glass.
Tang Hao went around the room and toasted the bosses one by one.
After toasting everyone individually, he lifted his glass and told everyone. “Finally, a toast to everyone. If not for all of you, I wouldn’t be here today.”
“You’re too modest, Lil Tang. Without you, there won’t be us today either!” Jin Biao said.
“Right! If not for you, we’ll still have our pot bellies, and Ol’ Huang would still be bald. Ol’ Li would still have weak kidneys, too, he won’t be as manly as he is now!” Liu Dajun shouted happily. (TN: ‘Weak kidneys’ is a Chinese euphemism for ‘poor sexual performance’.)
Everyone laughed.
President Li laughed sheepishly and glared at Liu Dajun. “Ol’ Liu, you crafty bastard! You’re not any better than me before this. We’re about the same!”
“Ha, I was much better than you! You can only last one minute, but I could last two,” Liu Dajun said.
Everyone laughed again.
“Enough talk. Let’s drink!” President Li knew that he could not retort to that and shifted the conversation topic.
“Bottoms up!”
Everyone clinked glasses with Tang Hao.
They lifted their heads and drank the liquor in one gulp.
The dinner lasted until ten o’clock at night before everyone left.
