Chapter 1616: Development

Often, a person's change lies in their choices. Some choose correctly and rise step by step; others choose wrongly and spend a lifetime unable to break free. It also depends on circumstances; who one recognizes and what one does play a major role.

Undoubtedly, in this regard, no one is more authoritative than Wang Yan.

At the corner small supermarket, looking at the newly opened Juewei Duck Neck shop right across the street, Second Aunt clicked her tongue repeatedly.

"Truly unexpected, huh? You say in just half a year, the old Da Qiao family has built this up. Look at how this duck neck shop is opened; do we have to have one around here too?"

Qi Weimin smiled and replied, "Eight stores; Qiqi went around this area specifically to check."

"You say he opened so many; can he actually make money?"

"I asked Wang Yan; he said people are accustomed to what is closer. With our store here, if they have to turn a corner, they won't want to come unless they pass by every day. So we must open many; on one street, open at least two stores, one here, one there, and not far after turning the corner, open another."

"Only by opening everywhere like this can we make people recognize our brand. Otherwise, with so many others copying and opening shops, wouldn't they all steal our business?"

Second Aunt sighed with an 'Aiyo': "This Wang Yan is truly formidable; he just casually gave an idea and built it up to become a tycoon, and Da Qiao Zuwang has started acting big too. He came over two days ago; you didn't see his manner. Wearing a Western suit, wearing a tie, carrying a leather bag, with a beeper clipped to his waist, acting as if he were the tycoon. All day he just covets Wang Yan's money; truly shameless for an old man, I don't even want to talk about him."

"Uncle is just a bit lazy and scattered," Qi Weimin spoke very politely.

"You ah..." Second Aunt waved a feather duster to brush off dust, "Strictly speaking, your relationship with Wang Yan isn't bad either; you..."

"Mom! Their money is theirs; we work steadily to earn money, and we haven't lacked food or drink. We can't eagerly beg them for food; that would be improper. If we truly couldn't afford meals, you wouldn't even need to say anything; Wang Yan would certainly think of us."

"You just think too much and can't bring yourself to lower your face; if you don't speak, how can he know? How long has it been since you've seen him? Before, you even took Qiqi over to eat with them, but in these past half years, you've hardly been seen."

"Wang Yan is busy; he has many matters. Erqiang and Simei can't handle things on their own; he even stopped attending school to lead them both in doing work."

"The old Da Qiao family has good fortune..."

Second Aunt could only sigh with such sentiment...

"Second Aunt! Brother Min!"

Hearing the cheerful greeting, the two turned to look, only to see Simei, wearing a cotton shirt, small Western-style trousers below, stepping in small leather shoes, her hair tied in a bun, swinging her bag as she trotted over.

"Aiyo, I'm exhausted to death; Brother Min, quickly get me a bottle of soda and an ice pop."

Qi Weimin chuckled and brought the items over: "How do you have time to come over?"

"I came over to check on the situation of these few stores; isn't everything around here managed by me? Every day there's a huge pile of matters; I'm so busy my feet don't touch the ground; truly, if I had known earlier, I wouldn't have done this."

"Getting a benefit yet pretending to complain," Qi Weimin opened the soda, "Then don't do it; just stay at home."

"That won't work; hey, let me tell you both, Second Aunt, Brother Min, every day now I'm so tired I fall asleep as soon as my head hits the pillow, yet my spirit is especially abundant. Before, I still thought about watching TV, thought about looking at handsome guys; now I don't think about anything, just want to make the company successful."

"Making who knows how much money every day; anyone would be the same," Second Aunt said in a bad mood, her words sour.

Qi Weimin shook his head and smiled: "That statement is incorrect; it's that Simei found something she likes to do, threw herself into it, gained a goal, so a person's spirit and energy become different."

"I don't understand all that; anyway, I just feel things are quite good now. But Second Aunt is also right; seeing the money earn more and more every day makes one happy in the heart too." Simei chuckled, then shook her head with distress, "But Second Aunt, your words are only half right."

"How so?"

"Indeed, we are earning more and more, but the money we owe is also growing more and more; last time I asked casually, Brother Yan said we already owe over two million; at the time, I was nearly scared to death..."

"Whoa, you've opened stores everywhere throughout Jin Ling, yet you can still owe that much money?" Second Aunt was stunned, "At that rate, which lifetime will it take to pay it all back?"

"Brother Yan said banks are all sick; the more you lack money, the less they lend you; the less you lack money, the more they want to lend you. Since the company's situation is good now, we borrow more. He also said borrowing too little makes oneself suffer; borrowing too much makes the bank suffer. I think Brother Yan is quite right."

Qi Weimin laughed loudly: "Didn't you realize he was teasing you? His loans are based on connections, involving quite a few people. But what he said does make sense; so many people beg grandparents and plead to grandmothers, yet still can't get a loan."

He didn't dwell much on the loans, instead asking, "Are the college entrance exams finished? How did Wang Yan and Sanli do? Where did they apply?"

"They said it went quite well; Brother Yan is a genius; if he doesn't study, he still knows everything; my sister studied until she was exhausted yet didn't score as high as him. My sister applied to the Normal University, the same school as my eldest brother; did Brother Yan apply to Jin Ling University?"

"Aiya, Wang Yan is still the most formidable; he hasn't even started university yet, yet first achieved such a great career; truly don't know how that brain of his is grown," Second Aunt sighed with emotion.

After chatting with laughter for a few moments, Simei drank her soda, ate her ice pop, took out her beeper from her small bag to check, immediately stood up, left a word to go together another day to eat at Wang Yan's place, then rushed off in a hurry. Only the mother and son remained here, sighing that different people have different fates...

After half a year of development, under Wang Yan's powerful integration and execution, Juewei Duck Neck, in a short time, opened over eight hundred stores throughout Jin Ling. At the same time, it has already moved beyond Jin Ling, spreading throughout the Jiang-Zhe-Hu region.

It was precisely this matter that consumed a massive amount of Wang Yan's time and energy; he had to go to various places to develop, find people, confirm local suppliers, establish central kitchens, build distribution networks, and so on.

Not only that, he also simultaneously laid out the upstream duck breeding industry, contracting hills and land, cooperating with local governments, consulting with relevant experts, building new-era scientific and technological breeding factories, realizing the development and utilization of various products from the breeding factories. As mentioned before, duck down, different parts of duck meat, duck eggs, duck manure, and so on, when expanded upon, are all good industries with considerable scale and prospects.

Now Wang Yan's reputation is quite significant; making money is one aspect, his own legendary nature is another.

There are many companies developing better than his, and many with more technological content, plus various enterprises reformed out; his duck product business truly isn't much. But the key lies in the franchise model of rapid expansion and market seizure he created; this is fresh in the current domestic context, and he succeeded, opening so many stores, becoming a successful pioneer.

And his own legend, of course, is because of his age; a young man who had just turned eighteen, who at the time hadn't even graduated high school, created such a successful scene, visibly earning millions upon hundreds of thousands. It was simply too awesome.

This, conversely, made the duck product franchising even faster, but at the same time allowed more duck product brands to appear across Dajiangnanbei. This world never lacks smart people; if Wang Yan can do it, others naturally can too, especially since others have even more connections...

Speaking of these things, Erqiang's good-natured temper nearly grew angry enough to curse: "Truly, these people are too shameless; they can't think of methods themselves, just copy ours, not wanting face at all."

"Doing business is like this; it's all unavoidable; I said before, if you can make money, others will definitely follow suit; there's no law stating that just because you do it, others can't. But that you could achieve this level is truly formidable; it's still that you know how to think of methods, Wang Yan."

Yi Cheng spoke with sincere heart; admiration was written all over his face.

Second Aunt and Qi Weimin felt it wasn't real; Da Qiao Yi Cheng, this eldest of the Da Qiao family, felt even more as if in a dream. Although expansion had already begun before the New Year, ultimately the time was short, and it hadn't yet spread on a large scale. Unlike now, where within the entire Jin Ling urban area, there is a duck product store within every few hundred meters.

All have unified branding, unified decoration styles, even the people selling goods inside wear unified uniforms. At this moment, one clearly feels that tangible influence, and the weight condensed from so many storefronts. Two people per store; this is the rice bowl for over a thousand people.

And even more personally felt is the rapid improvement in living standards. Since the New Year, every meal at home has had meat, and the meat quantity is quite abundant; not just one meat dish, but chicken, duck, fish, pork, beef, mutton, and so on, every day there must be two or three dishes. Other dishes need not be mentioned; before, counting pickles, there were four dishes; now it's a table of seven or eight dishes; for this, the family's dining table was even replaced with a larger one.

Besides this, everyone in the family's clothing and jewelry and the like have all been upgraded; Yi Cheng's clothes, belt, wallet, watch, and the like were all bought by Simei, who even got him a beeper for contact, quite luxurious.

Within the household, both Wang Yan and the old Da Qiao family bought refrigerators and washing machines; old furniture was replaced with new, and the house was similarly renovated and tidied up, greatly changed compared to before.

And even more different are the changes in Erqiang and Simei. Erqiang, who was previously honest and hesitant, is now vigorous and energetic, talks more, looks more spirited, and even his voice is louder. Simei, who previously bounced around, although still not what one would call very quiet, has definitely become much more steady.

In just this short half-year, it seems everything about the Da Qiao family has changed appearance...

And for the person who facilitated all this, he already doesn't know what to say to Wang Yan; he can only often sigh that there truly are geniuses in this world, unreasonable geniuses...

"That was also a method born of necessity; seeing foreigners do it this way, I simply decided to follow and learn," Wang Yan pretended to smile bitterly, "Doing business is truly not easy. Eldest Brother, Brother Weimin, I say you two should come to the company too, help share the burden; let us work together with concerted effort, make it big and strong, earn tens of millions."

Qi Weimin smiled and shook his head: "I remember when we first started, you said earning a hundred or eighty thousand would be quite good; now you want to earn tens of millions?"

"Analyze specific situations specifically; before it was a situation of a hundred or eighty thousand, now it's a situation of tens of millions; it's seeking truth from facts," Wang Yan laughed loudly, "Speaking of coming to help us, what do you think?"

"I'm still studying for my master's degree," Yi Cheng said, waving his hand with a smile, "Moreover, you are doing quite well; I won't join in the fun; after I graduate, I'll steadily find a unit. I don't have ambitions as great as yours; hundreds or thousands of millions, I dare not even imagine."

"I am the same. Wang Yan, I know you are taking care of me, but I don't lack food or drink; if I truly reached a point where I couldn't survive, would I, facing a rich tycoon like you with so much money, let it go? As for me, like Yi Cheng, we both lack great ambitions; seeing you all doing well makes us happy," Qi Weimin spoke very sincerely.

"You two ah, just think too much; I am sincere; I haven't spoken false words to you."

"We two are also like that," Yi Cheng said, "Just don't worry about us; things are quite good like this; before, we never imagined we could have today."

"Alright, I won't say any more; I'm off to cook." Wang Yan flicked away his cigarette butt and stood up. "Brother Sha Qiang, let's go; everyone's waiting for the two of us to show what we can do."

Er Sha Qiang likewise extinguished his cigarette, rose, and joined Wang Yan in bustling about...

The group gathered together to eat and drink, praising Wang Yan's cooking, while inevitably lamenting how long it had been since they last met and sighing over the contrasts that came with growing up.

Qi Weimin let out an "Ai" and asked, "Have you received your admission notices for your volunteer applications? Where did you end up going? What major are you studying?"

"Nothing's changed; I'm studying Education at the Normal University, and Wang Yan is studying Materials Science at Jin Ling University. Who knows what he was thinking..." San Li said with a smile.

Yi Cheng nodded and added, "Yeah, I've been wanting to ask; I just couldn't find you. With your business doing so well, you should have studied Business Administration, Economics, or something similar—that would match perfectly. Why did you decide to study Materials instead?"

"I was just thinking about why foreign goods are considered better than ours; there's a gap in every aspect. Materials science is upstream; if I can master it, maybe I'll become a scientist someday. If I can't figure it out, then so be it; we don't rely on this for our daily rice anyway."

Qi Weimin said, "Now that you're heading off to university, what will happen to such a large company operation?"

"Er Sha Qiang and Si Mei are both doing quite well. I've guided them until they're nearly familiar with all the work; it's time for them to stand on their own and make decisions. From now on, I'll give the orders, and the two of them will execute them."

"Huh?" Er Sha Qiang and Si Mei looked utterly bewildered.

"What 'huh'? It was bound to happen sooner or later; I can't keep leading you by the hand forever. I haven't taken a single photograph in the past half-year, and my communication with San Li has decreased. Is that right?"

Gazed at by everyone's teasing eyes, San Li's face turned bright red; under the table, her small hand pinched a certain someone's thigh in annoyance. "If you're being lazy, just admit it; don't use me as a shield. How detestable."

"Facts are facts; this affects our relationship. Earning so much money is useless; having enough to spend is sufficient. You two don't need to worry either; as long as you implement even half of what I've said, the company won't collapse—it will only thrive."

Da Qiao Yi Cheng said, "You can't truly act like an absentee owner. If you really mismanage the company into ruin, you'll regret it with nowhere to cry."

Si Mei became unhappy. "Big Brother, listen to what you're saying. Do you really have so little faith in Second Brother and me?"

"What do you think?"

"Hey, Big Brother, let me tell you: you really shouldn't underestimate people."

It was Er Sha Qiang who spoke up, chattering endlessly about various problems he had resolved.

Speaking of which, the tremendous changes of the recent half-year had altered him the most...

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