The film and television city starts from the courtyard

Wei Hongqing actually came from Zhizhen Garden, having just finished dealing with his underlings.

Normally, when Wei Hongqing goes to Zhizhenyuan for a meal, he always requests a large private room, displaying his wealth and status. However, this time, the meal was suddenly changed to a small private room.

This surprised others, as Wei Hongqing didn't seem like a low-key person.

However, after learning about this, Li Li did not think that Wei Hongqing had declined. On the contrary, she felt that there must be something fishy about the person who used to pretend to be rich and powerful. She asked Manager Pan to keep a close eye on Wei Hongqing's every move.

In fact, Wei Hongqing had his own reasons for doing this. His previous grand gesture was to demonstrate his strength to his partners. Now, by treating his younger brother to a meal in a small private room, he wanted his family to know that he wasn't being extravagant but was doing well in Shanghai, so they wouldn't worry.

After seeing his younger brother off at Zhizhenyuan, he and his employees brought KFC to the warehouse, treated the warehouse staff to a meal, and then took away their own goods.

Wang Mingzhu didn't expect to see Wei Hongqing here, and she didn't want to see this ugly thing.

Master Fan was surprised that Wei Hongqing knew Wang Mingzhu, and pulled Wei Hongqing aside, saying, "Mr. Wei, you know Little Wang too?"

"What 'Little Wang'? You don't recognize the Oriental Pearl Tower in Puxi, or Miss Wang on the Bund?"

Wei Hongqing specially brought Wang Mingzhu a bucket of KFC, but Wang Mingzhu did not accept it.

"Everyone knows why Ms. Wang was transferred here. She used to throw away ham at Bund 27, and now she's throwing away chicken legs here. Would someone like that take advantage of others? Impossible! Ms. Wang, I believe you are innocent!"

Wang Mingzhu was touched that Wei Hongqing, someone with whom she had a conflict, actually believed in her innocence.

Wei Hongqing watched as Wang Mingzhu unloaded and loaded goods with the workers in the heavy rain. She looked somewhat different from the Wang Mingzhu he had seen at Zhizhen Garden on Huanghe Road.

He waited at the warehouse until she finished get off work, wanting to take Wang Mingzhu home, but she flatly refused.

Zhao Shucheng also appeared at the warehouse. Seeing that Wang Mingzhu had rejected Wei Hongqing, he honked his horn.

Upon hearing the noise, Wang Mingzhu saw Zhao Shucheng's car, walked over, and asked, "Mr. Zhao, what brings you to the warehouse?"

Zhao Shucheng said with a smile, "Of course I'm here to see Miss Wang."

"I'm no longer Miss Wang from the Bund, I'm just Little Wang from the warehouse, I probably can't help you with anything."

Zhao Shucheng smiled and said, "In Miss Wang's eyes, am I such a shallow person? My supermarket has been operating for some time now, and I'm planning to open ten chain supermarkets in Huaihai Road, Xujiahui, Wujiaochang, Sichuan North Road, Jiangsu Road, Jiangning Road, Jiaxing Road, and other locations."

"It was Ms. Wang who helped me get the goods so smoothly back then, so naturally I want to invite Ms. Wang to witness the opening of the new store."

Wang Mingzhu looked at Zhao Shucheng in surprise and asked, "But how long has your supermarket been open? Why are you opening branches so quickly, and so many at once? Are you so confident that you won't encounter any problems?"

Zhao Shucheng smiled and said, "It seems that Miss Wang hasn't been to the supermarket in a long time. It's packed with people now. In order to make it more convenient for customers in Shanghai and to serve more people, I have no choice but to open a branch as soon as possible."

Wang Mingzhu frowned and asked, "Although I don't know much about doing business, opening a store always requires capital, right? Besides, I remember you said that the land or buildings for your chain supermarkets would all be yours. Can you still come up with that much money now?"

Zhao Shucheng confidently stated, "There's even less to worry about, Miss Wang. You wouldn't believe it, since opening, the store's daily turnover has been phenomenal. We're already a major client of the bank. Besides, properties elsewhere are much cheaper than those on Nanjing Road, so the remaining loan amount can be easily covered."

Seeing that Zhao Shucheng was confident, Wang Mingzhu stopped expressing her concerns and said, "I won't go. I've just arrived here, and I should consider other people's feelings."

Zhao Shucheng said with a smile, "Miss Wang doesn't need to worry about that. I know the people here very well. Just tell Master Fan and you can ask for half a day off."

"Forget it, I'm not a member of number 27 anymore, there's no point in going, so I might as well not go."

Seeing Wang Mingzhu's refusal, Zhao Shucheng didn't know what to say and could only nod, saying, "Alright then, but I believe Miss Wang will return to No. 27 sooner or later. When the new store opens, Miss Wang can't refuse again, can she?"

"Of course, I'll definitely go!"

Wang Mingzhu didn't really believe that Zhao Shucheng would open another new store so quickly after opening his new chain supermarket. After all, it would take some time to pay off the loan, not to mention that Zhao Shucheng would definitely be busy for a while after the new store opened.

Wei Hongqing was surprised that his invitation to Wang Mingzhu had yielded no results, while Zhao Shucheng easily got Wang Mingzhu into his car and drove her home.

Wang Mingzhu worked diligently in the warehouse, but after she was released, the company had Mei Ping take over her role in handling business with Fan Xinhua.

Fan Xinhua and Mei Ping hit it off immediately and appreciated each other's talents. So he was worried that A Bao would take his anger out on Mei Ping because of Wang Mingzhu's matter and that they would have conflicts in their future cooperation. So he called A Bao out early in the morning to have a heart-to-heart talk.

He spoke highly of Mei Ping, and also said that even without Mei Ping, someone else would take over Miss Wang's job.

Abao, however, would rather give up the distribution rights for the second batch than forgive Meiping.

"Mr. Bao, that's not what I meant. You misunderstood. Without you, I'm all alone..."

"I'm not wrong. There's one condition: who you do business with from now on—Mei Ping or Li Li—is none of my business. But if Miss Wang ever needs your help, you must help her!"

Fan Xinhua was surprised that A Bao only had this one condition, and said solemnly, "Definitely! I will do my best!"

Uncle didn't expect that Abao would give up the second batch of distribution rights for Sanyang so easily. You should know that this is not only the second batch of distribution rights, but also related to the future distribution of Sanyang.

After all, if someone else has already eaten the meat, they won't be willing to share it. In the future, San Yang will have absolutely nothing to do with A Bao.

Abao said, "I don't just make money from the Three Sheep, and I don't want to associate with Mei Ping."

The old man said, "Doing business is a rational matter, and it should be handled rationally. If you can't accept it emotionally, that's a problem that needs to be addressed emotionally. These are two separate things; you need to distinguish between them. It's like downstairs: the Huangpu River is the Huangpu River, and the Suzhou Creek is the Suzhou Creek—one is clear, the other is murky. There's a clear dividing line between them."

Ah Bao replied, "Uncle, I'm in business now. I have a series of collaborations with Shanghai Lian Department Store. I want to help Boss Ma create a new brand." The uncle looked at Ah Bao in surprise and said, "What brand? The high-quality replicas you put in Night Tokyo?"

"It's not a counterfeit; I've already registered my own brand."

The old man said, "The success of the three sheep doesn't mean that the success of the four or five sheep will be the same. The people at Hulian Department Store have changed; they're being transferred to a chain supermarket, and the new leader doesn't think much of your batch of goods."

At first, Abao was somewhat skeptical, so she went to Hualian Department Store to negotiate herself. Unexpectedly, the new leader really didn't buy into Abao's ideas and refused to acknowledge any of the promises made by General Manager Xu. She wanted to create a high-end brand and didn't care about local brands at all.

Good news doesn't travel far, but bad news travels fast. The news that Abao's negotiations with her had broken down quickly spread throughout Nanjing Road.

Boss Ma, who was far away in Zhuji, naturally received the news and rushed over to Shanghai to confront A Bao.

Unable to reach A Bao by phone, he came directly to the Peace Hotel to look for him.

Ah Bao hadn't expected Boss Ma to be in such a hurry. Upon meeting, Boss Ma said with a smile, "Boss Bao, Boss Bao, I called you but you didn't answer, so I had to come in person. I'm sorry, I've never stayed at the Peace Hotel before. I'll stay with you this time!"

"Go in and talk!"

“Boss Bao, I only have dead people here, not dead accounts. I don’t know any Boss Zhang or Boss Xu, I only know you, Boss Bao. If I do a good job, you are my benefactor; if I do a bad job, you are my enemy.”

Ah Bao didn't expect Boss Ma to act like this. He said, "Boss Ma, I invited you in today because I didn't intend to renege on my debt. I've already given you the deposit. The contract states that the balance will be paid upon delivery. I can give you 50% first. I don't owe you anything on the account. Now it's you who owes me the goods."

As long as Boss Ma gets the money, he doesn't care at all how A Bao pays the deposit.

"You promised me the three words 'Nanjing Road'?"

Ah Bao said, "I mean what I say!"

When Uncle heard the news, Abao had already reached an agreement with Boss Ma, and he strongly disapproved of Abao's impulsive actions. After all, if Hulian Department Store wouldn't cooperate, it wouldn't be so simple for Abao to get Boss Ma's products on Nanjing Road.

However, A Bao was prepared for this. He knew that not only the Hulian Department Store on Nanjing Road could sell clothes, but there was also a more professional clothing company that could help Boss Ma make his products into famous brands in Shanghai.

The clothing company owner had been eagerly awaiting A Bao's arrival. The company wanted to go public, but lacked the financial strength and needed a professional, experienced IPO consultant. A Bao happened to have stock market experience and was even familiar with the Qilin Association, so the owner hoped A Bao could act as a go-between for a collaboration with them.

Ah Bao went to see the witch doctor of the Qilin Society in person, but was turned away. He knew that the Qilin Society refused to cooperate with him because of the incident with Si Yi Si last time, which forced Ah Bao to think of another way.

He approached his uncle, hoping he could act as a go-between and facilitate a partnership with the Hong Kong Apparel Company. This would give the company a respectable image, allowing it to go public smoothly and enabling his products to be sold through the company.

Uncle felt that Ah Bao had lost his mind and didn't know what he wanted at all.

However, there was one person who knew what A Bao's purpose was. Li Li knew very well that A Bao was not doing foreign trade for Wang Mingzhu, nor was it to make money. Instead, his target was Hong Kong.

While A Bao was busy running around, Zhao Shucheng and Vivian were going to the opening ceremony of the new chain supermarket every few days.

Vivian even performed two new songs written for her by Zhao Shucheng: "Devotion for Love" and "Unrequited Love".

Vivian made a personal appearance at the event and even sang a previously unreleased song, causing quite a stir. In particular, Vivian's live performance attracted a lot of media attention, which made IKEA supermarket even more famous and brought in more consumers.

Zhao Shucheng has been riding high lately, with a series of supermarkets opening one after another. Although this has left him heavily in debt, it has also made him the most talked-about person in Shanghai at the moment.

Many factory owners hope to meet with Zhao Shucheng and reach a cooperation agreement so that their products can be placed in supermarkets, thereby boosting sales in other areas.

Sure enough, Zhao Shucheng and Vivian came to Zhizhenyuan Restaurant on Huanghe Road for dinner again that day. Although they had booked a private room, they still attracted the attention of the other diners at Zhizhenyuan.

They couldn't just walk in uninvited, so they went to Manager Pan and asked if they could offer Zhao Shucheng a toast.

Manager Pan was naturally in a dilemma, since she hadn't consulted Zhao Shucheng and couldn't make the decision on his behalf.

After Li Li went downstairs, she saw Manager Pan being surrounded by a group of people. Worried that something had happened, she quickly went over.

"Manager Pan, what's going on?"

Manager Pan said in a low voice, "Boss, these people heard that General Manager Zhao is here for dinner, and that he's in a private room, so they insist on going over to toast him. But General Manager Zhao isn't alone today; he's brought Miss Zhou with him. We really can't make that decision for him."

Li Li had actually guessed what these people were thinking. They simply felt that Zhao Shucheng's chain supermarkets were doing very well, so they hoped to get closer to Zhao Shucheng.

Normally, he wouldn't have stopped him, but now Zhao Shucheng is a prominent figure in Shanghai. If he offends Zhao Shucheng and Zhao Shucheng starts eating at other restaurants on Huanghe Road, then his Zhizhenyuan restaurant, which had just been thriving because of Sanyang Hong, will definitely suffer a sharp decline.

"Everyone, please be quiet. Mr. Zhao is here for dinner today, not to discuss business."

Those people naturally wouldn't listen to Li Li, and they all chimed in, urging Li Li to ask Zhao Shucheng first, saying that maybe Zhao Shucheng would be willing to see them.

"Boss lady, we're not talking about business. We just wanted to have a drink with Mr. Zhao. We won't bother him!"

"Yes, ma'am, Mr. Zhao is having dinner at Zhizhen Garden. We all know how capable you are. It's not easy for us to get a chance to meet him, ma'am, you must give us that opportunity!"

"Yes, ma'am, it's rare for Mr. Zhao to come to Huanghe Road, so you must help him out. Once we see Mr. Zhao this time, we'll definitely be frequent customers of Zhizhen Garden!"

Li Li looked at these people with some difficulty, after all, they were not ordinary customers, but factory managers or corporate executives. Their purpose in seeking out Zhao Shucheng was simply to use his connections to get their products into supermarkets, thereby promoting their brands and boosting sales.

"Gentlemen, how about this? I'll go in and ask Mr. Zhao. If he's willing to see you, I'll take you in to offer him a toast. But if he's not, please don't blame me. After all, Mr. Zhao has a date with a lady today, and I'm just a restaurant owner." (End of Chapter)