Chapter 361: Huo Yunyan's Proposal

After lunch, the Lin Jianguo couple took the Lin Feng couple to pay a New Year visit to Chen Bing's father. The Hu Qingfeng couple and Hu Shiyou's uncle, also having other engagements, left one after another.

Meanwhile, Chen Yang and Lin Wei were left at the Hu residence to keep Old Master Hu and the Old Lady company while watching a rebroadcast of the East Jiang Satellite TV Spring Festival Gala.

Seeing that Old Hundreds Sausage was actually the main sponsor of the East Jiang Satellite TV Spring Festival Gala, Old Master Hu felt a bit surprised. He asked Chen Yang, "Is the profit margin on this sausage high? I heard you spent a lot of money to promote this product."

Chen Yang said, "Our company has no product with excessive profits; Old Hundreds Sausage is the same."

Old Master Hu frowned slightly and said, "If the profit isn't high, why spend so much money on advertising? Isn't that just losing money to gain publicity?"

Chen Yang said, "It doesn't matter if the flagship product doesn't make money; once the brand is established, we can later develop other high‑profit products to make up the difference. Moreover, Old Hundreds Sausage will be profitable as long as we achieve self‑sufficiency in raw materials and minimize costs to the greatest extent."

Old Master Hu nodded slightly. He reminded Chen Yang, "Food is a basic necessity of people's livelihood; you must ensure your company's food safety. Building a good brand is hard, but ruining it is easy."

"Grandfather, rest assured, I will strictly control food quality." Chen Yang immediately gave this assurance. After all, he is not short of money now, so there's no need to pursue profit by doing something against his conscience.

During the conversation, another Audi pulled into the courtyard.

After a while, a familiar figure slowly walked in from outside the door.

"Senior leader, I've come to wish you a happy New Year."

Chen Yang turned his head at the sound and saw that the visitor was actually Huo Yunyan, the director of the State‑owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission.

He hurriedly rose to greet Huo Yunyan, saying, "Director Huo, happy New Year!"

Huo Yunyan smiled and said, "Chen Yang, this is off‑hours, so you don't need to be so formal."

Chen Yang glanced at Old Master Hu and said embarrassedly, "I just didn't expect to see you here."

Huo Yunyan laughed, "I was promoted by the senior leader himself. Coming to pay a New Year's visit to the senior leader during the holidays is perfectly normal, isn't it?"

Chen Yang finally understood why Huo Yunyan was so earnest about the application for the Public Pass payment license—she was one of our own!

"Director Huo, thank you for your care over this period!"

"Chen Yang, I can't accept your thanks." Huo Yunyan waved her hand and said, "The work of the Provincial State‑owned Enterprise Reform Group is the different inspiration and insight you brought to everyone. Speaking of which, I actually ought to thank you."

Old Master Hu, hearing Huo Yunyan praise his son‑in‑law, smiled with pride. Then he said to Huo Yunyan, "Little Huo, the person I recommended for you isn't wrong, is he?"

Huo Yunyan nodded and smiled, "Senior leader, if you hadn't reminded me to go research at the Old Hundreds Agricultural Products Trading Company, I really wouldn't have known how capable Chen Yang is."

Old Master Hu laughed, "Actually, I only heard it through gossip too. These two kids didn't even tell me they got married, let alone talk about their work."

Huo Yunyan smiled at Old Master Hu and said, "Senior leader, don't worry. I think Chen Yang is a good match for your granddaughter."

Old Master Hu smiled even more happily. After laughing a while, he suddenly sighed, "I'm old now; if these two kids run into any difficulties in the future, please look after them for me."

Huo Yunyan immediately caught the meaning in Old Master Hu's words and said solemnly, "Senior leader, rest assured—I will certainly do everything I can to help them."

Old Master Hu said, "If it's legitimate work within your ability, help out if you can. If it's illegal or criminal work, you must absolutely not get involved."

Huo Yunyan nodded. Before Old Master Hu became deputy secretary of the Provincial Party Committee, he was the secretary of the Provincial Commission for Discipline Inspection. He despises corruption and graft above all. If Chen Yang really intended to corrupt officials, she reckoned she would have to uphold justice even against kin.

After chatting a while longer, Huo Yunyan finally rose and left.

Chen Yang saw her to the door, then curiously asked, "Director Huo, did Director Wu's trip to Europe to acquire automobile patent technology yield any results?"

Huo Yunyan sighed, "It's still early. Europe involves a huge number of patents related to automobile production. Buying them all would far exceed our limited funds, but not buying them worries us about problems in the intermediate stages."

Chen Yang thought for a moment and said, "I think we should first conduct a survey to see which production processes at the Provincial Automobile Manufacturing plant can be substituted by domestic carmakers. Then, based on the actual situation, we can purchase the indispensable patents and use them to share information with domestic car enterprises."

Huo Yunyan thought Chen Yang's made a lot of sense. Currently, domestic automobile patent technology is at the mercy of European and American firms. If everyone cooperates, we can maximize savings on patent fees.

"Chen Yang, you still have a way. If you went to Europe to acquire the technology patents, you might have already returned victorious."

Chen Yang didn't think he was that impressive. He laughed and said, "Director Huo, you're overpraising me. I'm just theorizing on paper; whether it works or not, someone has to put it into practice."

Huo Yunyan said, "Why don't you take back the reform work at the Provincial Automobile Manufacturing plant? If you handle things there, I and Governor Liu can also rest easy."

Chen Yang shook his head and politely declined, "I have too many companies under my name to be able to focus on the affairs. The Provincial Automobile Manufacturing plant has many staff and complicated connections; letting Director Wu, an experienced veteran, take charge would definitely be more suitable."

Seeing Chen Yang unwilling to take over the Provincial Automobile Manufacturing plant, Huo Yunyan proposed again, "How about you take over Xingcheng Food Limited Company? Its equipment and staff are all in place. It can be used directly as a branch for Old Hundreds Sausage."

Chen Yang still shook his head. He explained, "Xingcheng Food Limited Company currently has a terrible reputation. If we don't completely tear it down and rebuild, it will only drag down the brand image of Old Hundreds Sausage."

Huo Yunyan said, "Then let's do as you say—tear it down and rebuild. Afterwards, the Xingcheng Food Limited Company side won't need to produce Old Hundreds Sausage. Doesn't your company have a product R&D department? Then just put the new products in the idle Provincial Automobile Manufacturing plant."

Chen Yang thought for a moment; if he really took over Xingcheng Food Limited Company, Zhao Songtao's untried soybean‑product manufacturing technology could actually be put to use.

Most importantly, the management of Xingcheng Food Limited Company that had been sabotaging him could finally be cleared out by taking advantage of the opportunity.

"Director Huo, let's discuss it with the company's management after the New Year. If they have no objections to the acquisition, then our two companies can happily cooperate!"

Huo Yunyan gave a slight nod; from past experience, having Chen Yang take over the reform work at Xingcheng Food Limited Company is something we can rest assured about.