Chapter 1663

Zhou Andong and Gu Bing arrived at the Yugong Wine Industry new factory conference room, and everyone else had already arrived.

Seeing them enter, applause erupted instantly, very enthusiastic.

Gu Bing cupped his hands and said with a smile: "Everyone, I only did what I was supposed to do. You suddenly giving me such enthusiastic applause makes me feel very ashamed."

"Can you have a little dignity?" Zhou Andong curled his lip and sat down.

Qian Zhen pointed to a middle-aged man beside him and said: "Chairman, this is Huang Qikang, Deputy Factory Director of the No. 1 Pharmaceutical Factory. He is now your assistant and officially took office on the sixteenth day of the first lunar month."

"Hello, Chairman."

Huang Qikang was forty-two, wore a crew cut and a suit, and looked very dignified, yet he showed great respect when facing Zhou Andong.

As the deputy director of the No. 1 Pharmaceutical Factory, he was at odds with the director; as long as he reported to the city, there would be no problem at all for him to take the top position at another enterprise.

Yet he chose Yugong Group, a private enterprise, precisely because he had seen the Jiangzhou Winery create one miracle after another under Zhou Andong's leadership.

Nowadays, enterprises across the country, whether state-owned or private, leaders or bosses, even if they don't admit it with their mouths, they have to acknowledge in their hearts that Zhou Andong is impressive.

And Huang Qikang choosing Yugong Group was more like him choosing Zhou Andong. Therefore, his respect for Zhou Andong was not put on, but truly came from his heart.

When Zhou Andong shook hands with Huang Qikang, he felt thick calluses on his hands, which did not match his external image.

"Assistant Huang, welcome to Yugong Group. I believe that one day in the future, you will definitely feel proud of this choice you made."

Huang Qikang smiled and said: "As a member of Yugong Group, I am already very proud."

Zhou Andong blinked; he hadn't expected this Huang Qikang to be such an interesting person.

"Then let's wish for a pleasant cooperation."

Huang Qikang was stunned. Zhou Andong didn't treat him as a subordinate, but as a partner. This surprised him and also moved him deeply.

"Pleasant cooperation!"

"Sit down!" Zhou Andong said, and sat down himself: "Since everyone is here, I won't waste words. Let me first report to everyone about the situation in the Ali disaster area."

Zhou Andong introduced the situation in detail: "The situation in the Ali disaster area is like this. Additionally, Shiquanhe is the intersection point for several routes in the Tibetan and Xinjiang regions, so I want to invest in building a bottling base there to open up the markets in Tibet and Xinjiang."

Hearing Zhou Andong say he was building a bottling base in Ali, everyone fell silent.

Not to mention whether the products could find a market there, that was a plateau.

Especially with the road conditions, transportation costs would increase exponentially. Forget about profit; it would be good enough not to lose money.

But this was proposed by Zhou Andong, and out of trust in him, no one raised the doubts in their hearts.

Huang Qikang was a newcomer, attending a group senior management meeting for the first time, and couldn't help but sigh inwardly.

Zhou Andong's prestige in Yugong Group was actually this high. Such an unreasonable investment decision, and not a single person opposed it; there wasn't even a whisper of dissent. If this were at the No. 1 Pharmaceutical Factory, it would definitely have caused a huge argument.

Although everyone remained silent, how could Zhou Andong not know what they were thinking?

It was understandable that Qian Zhen and Du Chunlai had no issues, but it was unexpected that Wu Huilin, as a Hong Kong native and the Group CEO, didn't ask.

"CEO Wu, don't you want to ask why I want to build a bottling base in Ali?"

Wu Huilin smiled and said: "Didn't you just say it? To open up the markets in Tibet and Xinjiang, so you're building a bottling base there."

Zhou Andong shook his head: "You don't really mean what you say."

"I don't know much about Ali." Wu Huilin said: "If it weren't for the snow disaster there this time, I wouldn't even know there was a place called Ali on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau.

You have already explained it very clearly; it's a plateau, the environment is harsh, and transportation is not very convenient, but you still want to build a bottling base there, so naturally, you have your own considerations."

"Who doesn't know that the Chairman never does business that loses money."

Man Hongshan said with a chuckle, stroking his shiny, polished head. He had shaved his hair at some point, and it looked a bit awkward at first glance.

But after looking a few more times, one realized that after shaving his hair, the old man seemed several years younger and full of energy.

"What we can see is only what's in front of us, while the Chairman sees the future. Therefore, I unconditionally support the Chairman's decision."

"Old Man!" Qian Zhen said with a smile: "When you're sucking up to the Chairman, can we be a bit more subtle? Don't be so obvious, okay?"

His words immediately caused a burst of laughter from everyone, and Man Hongshan didn't mind.

"I'm not sucking up; I'm stating a fact."

Gu Bing's lip was curled almost to the sky: "Old Man, don't you feel guilty saying that?"

Zhou Andong didn't laugh; instead, his expression was very serious. Seeing his face, everyone stopped joking.

"Actually, I know you must have questions in your hearts. On the way to Ali, I talked about the investment with Chairman Gu and Factory Director Wu of Hongxing Winery."

As he spoke, Zhou Andong turned his head to look at Gu Bing: "Chairman Gu, what did you say at the time?"

Gu Bing said with a smile: "I said you were out of your mind, and Factory Director Wu said you were crazy. Building a bottling base in Ali means most of the profits would have to be subsidized for shipping costs."

"Right!" Zhou Andong nodded: "Then I asked if it would lose money. Chairman Gu said it wouldn't lose money, but the profit margins would be very thin."

At this moment, Gu Bing became serious in a rare display: "At that time, the Chairman said one sentence that made me feel ashamed. He said, money is never-ending; how much is enough?

As an enterprise, once we have the capability, we must shoulder the responsibilities that our enterprise should bear."

Everyone fell silent again, which reminded them of what Zhou Andong had once said: if you're going to do it, be a service-oriented enterprise.

Over the past two years, he had always acted this way, and investing in building a bottling base in Ali was also fulfilling his own promise.

Huang Qikang's heart was in turmoil; he was the most deeply moved.

He had seen all of Zhou Andong's speeches, but he hadn't taken them seriously.

He often said such empty, high-sounding words himself, and didn't even believe them after saying them.

But when he arrived at Yugong Group, in less than a month, he had a completely new understanding of Yugong Group.

Whether it was profitability or investment scale, it was much larger than he had previously guessed, and what he found most unbelievable was the group's charitable foundation.

Not just him, but everyone outside believed that Zhou Andong running this charitable foundation—selling a bottle of iced black tea or Jiang Xiaobai and donating one mao—was actually just a gimmick for publicity.

But when he inspected the charitable foundation as the Chairman's assistant, he discovered that the foundation was truly and genuinely doing charity. Moreover, Xurishi and Jiang Xiaobai would punctually deposit money into the foundation's account every quarter.