Riding the wind of rebirth

When Mai Xiaomiao woke up sleepily, he found two more people in the yard. One was a young woman who was as beautiful as a big star, and she was Zhou Zhi's neighbor's sister. The other was a middle-aged man with a gentle appearance, and he was Zhou Zhi's father.

“Hello, uncle.” Mai Xiaomiao said politely: “We’ve seen each other in the video. You look younger than in the video.”

Today's computer cameras don't have fancy features like beauty and fill light, and to achieve network transmission, the pixels are very low and the video is not smooth. It was the first time that Zhou Yuanjiang saw Mai Xiaomiao's face clearly. He smiled and said, "Hello, Xiaomiao, you are much prettier than in the camera. Did Zhou Zhi tease you? He is so naughty."

"No, he's fine." Mai Xiaomiao said a little embarrassedly, "He's always taking care of me."

Sister Xiaoliu started to wink at Feng Xueshan, wanting to know what was going on. Even the grandmother got involved. Women's gossiping minds know no age.

"It's not easy to come here to support our country's scientific and technological work." Dad couldn't describe Mai Xiaomiao's behavior as praiseworthy: "Why are you going to the capital again?"

"Hasn't Uncle Navy told you yet?" Zhou Zhi said, "We went to the capital to make a report because of the Ship Power Research Institute."

"Let's go and talk while walking." Feng Xueshan helped her grandmother up and walked towards the door in small steps.

"Where are we going to eat?" Sister Xiaoliu asked, "How about the Silver Sea Hotel?"

"Your sister Xiaoliu has bought a hotel and is planning to compete with the Laojiao Hotel. Do you know Elbow?" Dad introduced Zhou Zhi and then said to Xiaoliu, "The Yinhai Hotel is fine, but let Elbow pay for it."

"I don't dare to compete with the Laojiao Hotel, I just have nothing to do." Sister Xiaoliu said without any pretense: "But the wine is mine."

Laojiao Hotel is actually a bit strange. The building was started to be built in 1985, which was when Zhouzhi was in the fifth grade of elementary school. It was completed when Zhouzhi was in the first year of college, and it took a full eight years to build.

Not only did it take too long to build, but the height is also weird, 99.9 meters, which is not an integer.

This building was absolutely ahead of its time when it was first designed. It was built according to three-star standards and integrates office buildings, KTVs, and conference offices. It is 22 stories high and also imitates the Shudu Building, with an automatic revolving restaurant designed.

Unfortunately, it was not put into use until eight years later, so it is difficult for these things to bring any surprises to customers.

Although the Yinhai Hotel was put into use only a year later than the Laojiao Hotel, its design concept is ten years more advanced than that of the Laojiao Hotel. Although it is only half the height of the Laojiao Hotel, it has large rooms and advanced facilities. Its bright and spacious lobby alone is much better than that of the Laojiao Hotel.

The restaurant is located on the second floor of the lobby side building. Zhou Zhi was stunned when he walked to the door: "Teacher Zhang came to Manzhou to open a branch?"

Xiao Liujie quickly pulled Zhou Zhi's sleeve and walked towards the private room: "Save some face for your sister! Let's go in and talk."

After everyone sat down, Dad asked, "What were you two siblings talking about just now?"

Zhou Zhi opened the menu on the revolving table and said with a smile, "No doubt about it. This restaurant, Xiao Liujie, must have been designed by the disciple of Master Zhang Yuanfu. It is under the guise of Rongleyuan's guidance, similar to a franchise store."

"So this is a fake?" Dad was shocked. The Industrial and Commercial Administration Bureau is now responsible for cracking down on counterfeit and shoddy products. It would be embarrassing if they needed to close down this magnificent hotel.

"This is authorized by Teacher Zhang." Zhou Zhi saw his father was stunned, and quickly explained: "It's not fake, it's a way to expand its influence in Rong Leyuan. These dishes are indeed the 'guidance dishes' designed by Master Zhang Yuanfu. As long as you pay a part of the 'franchise fee', Rong Leyuan will complete the training for you from decoration to training hall, dumplings, chefs, and procurement. Even the dishes are complete for you, about seventy or so, which is a lot of trouble for opening a store." Sister Xiaoliu reached out and poked Zhou Zhi on the forehead, and said angrily: "You are so smart!"

"This whole building is owned by Da Zhang and Xiao Liu?" Grandma looked at the elegant box and said, "This is a huge business, isn't it?"

"It's none of his business!" Little Six said, pretending to be unconvinced: "Grandma, please don't look down on me. I bought all this by myself."

"Not bad, not bad," Grandma said with a smile, "Grandpa Yu will definitely like the layout here."

"My dad helped me with this. How would I know anything about this? And Elbow is not here." Little Six asked, "Elbow, do you think it's okay?"

"Very good." Zhou Zhi nodded and praised: "I saw the names of several teachers from Sichuan Fine Arts Institute and Jiazhou School of Painting along the way. If I keep these things for Xiaozhu, they may be more valuable than this building in the future."

"Don't lie to me, how much did my dad spend?" Sister Xiaoliu was shocked.

"I mean in the future. These paintings are not expensive now." Zhou Zhi said, "But Mr. Yu has a sharp eye. He picked the representative works of several teachers. Experts are different. Such works will appreciate the fastest in the future."

"It seems that Elbow is also planning to buy a hotel." Feng Xueshan interrupted.

"Huh?" Dad frowned when he heard it: "Why is that?"

"The original intention of this was to support Suzhou's jade carving industry," Zhou Zhi said. "Suzhou jade carving is world-famous, but it has now encountered a bottleneck in its development. The Jiangsu Provincial Light Industry Department restructured the jade carving factory and changed it into a jade carving company. In addition to retaining external marketing departments such as the sales department and advertising department, internal production was contracted out to jade carving studios opened by craftsmen."

"This is actually similar to the organization of ancient guilds, but it is more sophisticated and has an additional sales organization."

"This is another way of changing from public to private, right?"

"Almost the same, but it's called internal contracting," Zhou Zhi said. "This has certainly greatly stimulated production vitality. In addition, Sugong jadeware is now highly sought after in Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan and China, which has led to an increase in processing volume and a sudden increase in demand for jade materials."

"The reformed jade carving company is good at organizing sales, but it lacks the strength to organize the supply of jade materials to so many studios."

"The only option is to take out a loan. Suzhou and Hangzhou have very developed economic activities. They have always been a model for us in the mainland to learn from." Dad nodded: "What does this have to do with your purchase of a hotel?"

After listening to Zhou Zhi’s explanation of the bank’s loan policy, my father realized that those exquisite and expensive jade carvings could not be used as collateral for loans. They could only be mortgaged to a third-party guarantee company, which would then use its own assets as collateral to the bank in exchange for a loan for the purchase of jade materials, which would then be distributed to jade carving studios.

This business is actually profitable. You can make money by mortgaging collections and underwriting, and you can charge fees for providing mortgage loans. The purchase and distribution of jade materials is also similar to wholesale to retail. Since the unit price of the subject matter is very high, the profit is considerable.

There is also the bonus of stockpiling goods and waiting for the price to rise.

If managed properly, the profits can be very considerable. (End of this chapter)