Chapter 2122: Entered the Wolf's Den (4000 words)

The two old men started arguing, and several old women were pulling them apart. Zhou Andong watched this excitement with great joy; the only regret was that he didn't have melon seeds in his hand and there was no stool under his butt.

Jian Qiu shot Zhou Andong a glare, and immediately after, she couldn't help but want to laugh out loud herself.

The funeral procession walked far away, and the two old men gave these old women some face, glared at each other, and then went back to continue queuing.

"Tsk tsk tsk..."

Zhou Andong made a clicking sound with his mouth and said: "These old men and women have quite a memory; they remember who is queuing in front and who is behind. They actually didn't fight."

Jian Qiu smiled, took Zhou Andong's arm, and walked slowly toward the gate of RT-Mart's backyard.

The security guard had sharp eyes. Seeing Zhou Andong and Jian Qiu from afar, he pressed the switch button for the retractable gate.

Watching Zhou Andong and Jian Qiu walk over, he stood at attention and gave a standard military salute.

Zhou Andong and Jian Qiu nodded with a smile and walked into the gate. The security guard pressed the switch again, and the retractable gate slowly closed.

Uncle Zhou Xiaoli would come over punctually at 7:30 every day. He had to read for an hour first, and at 8:40, he would go to the warehouse to inspect.

At 9:30, he would patrol the sales floor, eat at 11:30, rest for two hours, and then at 2:00, the teacher he hired would come over.

Zhou Andong told him that if he only wanted to be a nominal general manager and take dividends every year, there was no problem with doing it this way.

But if he wanted to achieve something in the business world, he didn't need to learn other things, but management was something he must understand, so he had to pick up books and study hard.

At the beginning, Zhou Xiaoli did buy a few books on management. He had attended school for a few days when he was a child; he recognized the characters on the books if taken out individually, but he couldn't understand them when put together, so he threw the books aside and ignored them.

The reason he was determined to study now was because he had been stimulated while spending the Spring Festival at Zhou Andong's place.

On the first day of the Lunar New Year, people came one after another to pay New Year calls. As Zhou Andong's uncle, he was of course respected.

But when chatting, he sat on the side and couldn't understand anything, so he could only accompany them with silly smiles. Even Zhou Anlei, that idiot, could interject a few words.

Then look at Zhou Xianyong, the youngest son in Old Master Zhou San's mouth, who had always been good-for-nothing and was scolded every day, yet he was talking and laughing in front of everyone.

By comparison, he, the youngest son of Old Master Zhou Er's family, had too big a gap compared to others. If it were before, he wouldn't have thought too much—he was a farmer, wasn't it normal not to understand?

But now, his eldest nephew had provided him with a platform to do business, and he was now the boss of RT-Mart, but he couldn't understand what others were talking about. He felt suffocated in his heart and also felt he had let down his nephew, Zhou Andong.

Therefore, after the Spring Festival, he bought many books on management again. If he didn't understand, he would ask Tang Bei and others. Later, he felt that continuing like this wasn't a solution, as it delayed others' normal work, so he hired a tutor.

Now, reading books in the office for an hour every day from 7:30 had become his habit. If something delayed him on any day, he would make up for that hour of reading time.

At this time, Zhou Xiaoli was holding a book, lying on the lounge chair in front of the door of the old bungalow office, which was now his lounge. Beside him was a small table with a pot of herbal tea on it.

Zhou Andong and Jian Qiu walked over, but he didn't notice, as he was reading intently, until Zhou Andong called out "Old Uncle" that he discovered the two people beside him.

"Dongzi, when did you get back?"

Seeing it was Zhou Andong and Jian Qiu, Zhou Xiaoli was very happy and hurriedly stood up to get two chairs from the lounge.

"Qiuqiu, sit down quickly."

"Thank you, Old Uncle." Jian Qiu sat down.

"I got back yesterday." Zhou Andong also took the other chair and sat down, picking up the book Zhou Xiaoli had placed on the table: "What are you reading?"

"A book about management." Zhou Xiaoli said with a smile: "Didn't you say I should study more? So I come here every morning at 7:30 to read for an hour, and I also found a tutor who comes over at 2:00 in the afternoon."

Zhou Andong nodded and put the book down: "Where is Old Aunt?"

"This spring, as soon as the weather eased up, Tang Lin found someone to repair that courtyard of mine, and then Xiaobei arranged for people to renovate it.

Xiaowu and Yuan Lu needed tutoring, especially Yuan Lu who is taking the college entrance exam this year; it's too chaotic here. After the house was renovated and ventilated for a month, we moved in. Your Old Aunt has to take care of them, so she rarely comes here."

Speaking of Yuan Lu, Zhou Andong's face felt a bit hot. That was his own cousin, placed here with Old Uncle to be tutored with Xiaowu, and he had never asked about it, which was really a bit excessive.

"Old Uncle, how is Xiaolu studying? I've been too busy and haven't had time to ask."

Zhou Xiaoli said with a smile: "The tutor said Yuan Lu's foundation is quite good, so it's not strenuous to learn. As long as it's not a school like Tsinghua or Peking University, the hope is still quite high."

Zhou Andong nodded: "Exams are in a few days, right?"

Jian Qiu took over the conversation and said: "Exams are on the 12th. Xiaofan is also taking them this year; I don't know how they'll do."

"The 12th, huh!"

Zhou Andong looked up at the gray sky and muttered to himself.

The time of the floods in Jiangzhou and Beijing was almost the same, around the 12th or 13th. It started raining on the 8th and 9th. The place most affected was Miyun, while the impact on the urban area was relatively small. He hoped there wouldn't be any problems when Yuan Lu took the college entrance exam.

"Dongzi!" Zhou Xiaoli didn't notice Zhou Andong's expression: "If you hadn't come today, I would have wanted to find a chance to contact you."

"What's the matter?" Zhou Andong came back to his senses.

Zhou Xiaoli said: "Can your Old Aunt, me, and your younger sister and brother move our household registration to Beijing?"

"Sure!" Zhou Andong smiled: "You bought a house; if you want to move, just move."

For ordinary people, buying a house in Beijing at this time and moving their household registration over was considered a windfall. After the millennium, it wouldn't be easy to handle.

But for Zhou Xiaoli, even thirty years later, as a shareholder of RT-Mart and a high-end commercial talent, there would be no problem moving his household registration anywhere.

Zhou Xiaoli laughed. Whenever his courtyard was mentioned, a happy smile would appear on his face. Not to mention when he was in the countryside before, even after coming to Beijing, he didn't dare to think he could buy a house in Beijing.

Even being able to move the whole family's household registration over felt like a dream when he talked about it now.

"Ring ring ring..."

The crisp sound of a bicycle bell came. The three turned their heads to look. Zhou Anwen had arrived on a bicycle. When she saw Zhou Andong and Jian Qiu here, she shouted excitedly.

"Big Brother, Sister-in-law!"

Jian Qiu responded with a smile: "Are you done with your exams?"

"Finished." Zhou Anwen propped up her bicycle: "Vacation started."

Zhou Anwen had cut her hair short, just past her ears, with glasses on her nose. She was wearing a yellow short-sleeved T-shirt on her upper body, jeans on her lower body, and sneakers on her feet.

She looked sunny, youthful, and beautiful. Just after one year of university, the little country girl from before was gone.

Zhou Andong reached out and took off Zhou Anwen's glasses. He thought they were plain lenses; he didn't expect they were actually prescription glasses.

"You didn't wear glasses before; how did you become nearsighted?"

Zhou Anwen sighed and said: "I thought that after entering university, studying would be a bit easier. Who would have thought that the few people in our dormitory are either in the library or the study room all day long? Naturally, I couldn't be too relaxed either.

Living in the same dormitory, what if I fell behind? How embarrassing. So, without knowing it, I became nearsighted, but it's not serious, only 100 degrees."

Zhou Andong returned the glasses to Zhou Anwen: "You must combine work and rest in your studies. You should study when you should, and play to your heart's content when you shouldn't."

"I know!"

Zhou Anwen put on her glasses, then went inside to get a stool, sat down beside Jian Qiu, and took Jian Qiu's arm.

"Sister-in-law, when I'm a senior, I'll go to the Yugong Group to study. You can't refuse me."

Zhou Andong said with dissatisfaction: "I'm the chairman; you have to tell me about this."

Zhou Anwen rolled her eyes at him and leaned her head on Jian Qiu's shoulder: "I know who is in charge at home. If I ask you, you still have to report to Sister-in-law, so it's better if I just tell Sister-in-law directly."

Jian Qiu laughed out loud: "That's right, if you have anything, just tell Sister-in-law."

"Mm-hmm!" Zhou Anwen looked at Zhou Andong triumphantly.

Zhou Andong said with a smile: "RT-Mart is currently acquiring the Supply and Marketing Cooperative. After the acquisition, RT-Mart will establish a department store group company, and the scale won't be smaller than the Yugong Group. It would be great for you to intern at your own family's company then."

"No!" Zhou Anwen shook her head and acted like a spoiled child to Jian Qiu: "Sister-in-law, I just want to go to the Yugong Group."

"Go, go, go!" Jian Qiu agreed hurriedly: "You can go wherever you want."

Zhou Andong shook his head helplessly. Jian Qiu really spoiled these younger sisters of his, whether they were big or small.

At this time, the gate opened again, and Tang Bei's BMW drove in, then parked under the office building.

"Boss, Chairman Jian!"

Tang Bei was still dressed as a female elite, in a small suit, hip-hugging skirt, and high heels.

"Wenwen, it's early in the morning, why did you run over?"

"Sister Tang, sit!" Zhou Anwen had sharp eyes and gave her stool to Tang Bei: "Exams are over and vacation started."

"Just right!" Tang Bei said with a smile: "We are currently negotiating the acquisition with the Supply and Marketing Cooperative. Since you're on vacation, join the negotiation team."

"Ah?" Zhou Anwen widened her eyes and said somewhat unconfidently: "Can I—can I do it?"

Zhou Andong said unhappily: "Letting you join the negotiation team is to let you watch with your eyes and listen with your ears; it's for learning."

"Speak nicely." Jian Qiu hit Zhou Andong, then said to Zhou Anwen: "Such an opportunity is rare. You must not only watch with your eyes and listen with your ears, but also write down the key points. If there's anything you don't understand, ask President Tang and others for advice."

"I understand!" Zhou Anwen's little face was flushed with excitement. She asked Tang Bei: "Sister Tang, am I going with you today?"

"Yes!" Tang Bei agreed, then looked at Zhou Andong: "We've been in contact with the Supply and Marketing Cooperative for three days. I want to acquire 80%, with a bottom line of 67%, but the All-China Federation of Supply and Marketing Cooperatives is biting on 51% and won't let go."

"Don't worry, talk slowly." Zhou Andong said with a smile: "The internal problems of the Supply and Marketing Cooperative are very serious, and reform is imminent. They can't afford to drag it out."

Tang Bei nodded: "The scale of the Supply and Marketing Cooperative is unexpectedly huge. Just the thirty-plus thousand stores spread across urban and rural areas nationwide are worth seven or eight billion.

Plus logistics and warehousing, it's a scale of fifteen or sixteen billion. If we get 67% of the shares, we have to pay about eleven billion."

"I'm looking for you today to talk about this matter." Zhou Andong said: "For the money, go to the Overseas Trust Bank for a loan. They have already launched business in Beijing. I have already instructed the bank's president, Zhang Xuan. You'll contact them in these few days."

"Okay!"

Tang Bei wasn't worried about whether Zhou Andong had the money for the acquisition; she was worried about whether it could be given to her in time.

Don't let it become a joke where she has finished talking and the contract is signed, but the money hasn't arrived in the account.

"Also!" Zhou Andong continued: "In the future, all RT-Mart business will be handed over to the Overseas Trust Bank."

Tang Bei said with a smile: "Even if you didn't instruct me, I would have handed the business to the Overseas Trust Bank. After all, it's our own bank; how could the business be handed over to other banks?"

"That's all I came for today." Zhou Andong checked the time: "You guys get busy; I still have to go to Rifeng to take a look."

Zhou Anwen asked: "Brother, is my eldest sister on vacation? (Zhou Anqin)"

"I don't know!" Zhou Andong supported Jian Qiu as he stood up: "Since you're on vacation, she should be about the same."

"I originally wanted to find her to go shopping." Zhou Anwen said with great regret: "Now there's no time."

Zhou Andong supported Jian Qiu as they walked toward the front gate. Zhou Xiaoli, Zhou Anwen, and Tang Bei saw them out.

"You can go find her to go shopping in the evening."

"That's the only way."

Zhou Anwen ran quickly to the car to open the door and supported Jian Qiu as she got into the car.

"Alright, go back." Zhou Andong waved his hand, then said to Wang Wentian: "Go to Rifeng!"

Jian Qiu opened the car window a crack: "Do you know why Grandpa wants you?"

"What else could it be?" Zhou Andong snorted: "The matter of the Woolen Textile Mill, of course."

"Right!" Jian Qiu leaned her head on Zhou Andong's shoulder: "Do you know who is taking over Dad's position?"

Zhou Andong frowned: "It wouldn't have anything to do with the Woolen Textile Mill, would it?"

"You guessed right, but there's no prize." Jian Qiu chuckled: "The one taking over Dad's position is called Yin Mingsheng. He has a nickname, 'Yin the Tiger.' This person's style of doing things is vigorous and resolute; no matter what he does, he never talks about personal feelings.

And Old Master Yin was the first Director of the Light Industry Bureau and concurrently the Director of the Woolen Textile Mill. It can be said that the Woolen Textile Mill is the Yin family's backyard, and half of the Yin faction's officials came out of the Woolen Textile Mill."

"Damn!" Zhou Andong couldn't help but curse: "The Old Master sent a tiger into my den, and then sent me into a wolf's den. Is this not wanting me to live?"

"There's no other way." Jian Qiu's tone was very helpless: "The Yin family is in an alliance with the Tong family and the Fan family. When the Fan family wanted to counterattack, the Yin family was already prepared to take action.

But the Man Man Laoyezi came forward and suppressed the Fan family. The Tong family withdrew in time, and the Yin family naturally ran away quietly. But, Dad went to Guangdong Province to serve as the deputy squad leader. Even if the Ye family fully supported him, the resistance was very great.

And the greatest resistance came from the Yin family, the Tong family, and other allies. In the end, both sides compromised: Dad went to Guangdong Province to serve as the deputy squad leader, and Yin Mingsheng went to Liaoning Province to take over Dad's position."

"Since that's the case, why would Grandpa still let me go to the Woolen Textile Mill?" Zhou Andong's brows furrowed tighter: "If I go, that's cutting a knife into the Yin family, and Yin Mingsheng went to my old nest. How can this be good?" ===== CHAPTER 2123 =====