Riding the wind of rebirth

"That's right, pickled cabbage, spicy sauce, Xian Shi soy sauce and bran vinegar, plus logistics and transportation—the county's Administration for Industry and Commerce is now thriving on these few companies. Don't even mention your dad, Xiao Juan and Dayong can easily control him!" Guan's mother said.

"I wouldn't dare say that," Zhou Zhi quickly waved his hand. "If Brother Dayong heard that, he might do something reckless."

"Everyone in the county says your father is a good person," Aunt Guan said with a smile. "The Zhou Liu Niang Group is already so big, and the group's registered address hasn't even been moved to Chongqing yet. Just one of its businesses, Tianfu Cola, is such a huge enterprise."

With the collapse of the Soviet Union, the international situation has begun to change in recent years. Several incidents have occurred in recent years, and this year is the Olympic year, so patriotic sentiment is still somewhat high in China.

Taking advantage of last month's Olympics, Tianfu Cola launched a massive advertising campaign. With the group's extensive experience in dealing with the "advertising effect," they quickly and firmly grasped this wave of traffic.

This essentially brought forward a crucial moment in Coca-Cola's Chinese market promotion—which wouldn't have happened until the 2008 Beijing Olympics—by twelve years. As one of the main sponsors of the Olympics, Tianfu Cola not only enhanced its brand awareness through the Games but also successfully established a deeper emotional connection with domestic consumers. Furthermore, the unintentional leak of its previous "brand defense strategy" further fueled this shared sense of camaraderie. With China's rapid economic growth that year, Tianfu Cola's sales surged, and its market share continued to climb.

Coupled with the peak summer sales season, sales surged immediately, and by September, Tianfu Cola had become the leading beverage brand in China. Sales exceeded 5 billion yuan, dethroning Jianlibao and becoming the number one beverage brand in China.

Of course, there are many problems behind this, as well as issues with Jianlibao itself.

For example, the health supplement market has risen rapidly, with slogans claiming to nourish yin and yang and cure all diseases flooding the market, causing a huge impact on the beverage industry. Emerging brands such as Taiyangshen and Sanzhu have risen rapidly, driving fierce competition in the entire market. Currently, there are over 3,000 companies in the Chinese beverage market, producing nearly 30,000 kinds of health drinks. Most of these products are substandard and highly deceptive to consumers.

The power struggle within Jianlibao was also very intense. As the company developed, power gradually dispersed, and various complex relationships exacerbated the internal conflicts.

Jianlibao, once regarded as the "Whampoa Military Academy" of China's beverage industry, finally fell under these circumstances and was replaced by excellent companies with simple power structures, abundant capital, correct strategies, sound systems, flexible management, and mature distribution channels.

Besides seizing the opportunity, the large number of talented people leaving Jianlibao for Tianfu Cola was also one of the decisive factors in this change.

However, Zhou Zhi believes that these things are not important. What is really important is that Zhou Liuniang Group seized the right time, place and people to expand rapidly. It invested hundreds of millions of yuan to build more than a dozen state-of-the-art carbonated beverage bottling production lines across the country, occupying the huge carbonated beverage market. It also successfully blocked two foreign brands with serious homogenization from the domestic market, at least making their market share insignificant in China. This has given the group the confidence and strength to compete with them.

Tianfu Cola is now somewhat like the two major brands of bottled water and the two major brands of herbal tea in later generations. As long as Sister Xiaojuan and Brother Dayong don't act recklessly and expand their products steadily, their empire is basically secure.

However, the eldest aunt is a sentimental person and a bit superstitious, so the group's registered address has always remained in Jiachuan. She believes that the Zhou family has produced many people and made a fortune here, making it a perfect feng shui location, and she dares not move the company.

Normally, the Administration for Industry and Commerce is responsible for managing industrial and commercial enterprises. However, when a small county-level bureau faces a behemoth like Zhou Liuniang Group, the roles are reversed. It truly becomes the role that Dad has repeatedly emphasized: to focus on service, improve government services, and create a favorable business environment.

How many people in the county rely on Zhou Liuniang Group for their livelihood? It's a bit like the saying "millions of canal workers depend on it for their food and clothing." That's why Aunt Guan commented on Liu Chang'an, Xiao Juan'er, and Dayong Ge that way.

Brother Dayong is straightforward and doesn't have much discernment. Whether he goes astray or not depends entirely on the virtue and support of those around him, and they have to be able to take care of him.

As a neighbor of the Zhou family living in the same building as the old sugar and wine company, Guan's mother naturally knew about these things and therefore believed that it was her father who had kept Dayong in check.

Zhou Zhi thought that even if his father had a grudge against Liu Chang'an, it wouldn't affect his work. Even if he restrained Dayong, it wasn't because he was afraid Dayong would retaliate against Liu Chang'an. Rather, he believed that the Zhou Liu Niang Group should operate under the supervision of the management unit. It was only right that the County Administration for Industry and Commerce supervised it well. If they didn't supervise it well, then both of them should be punished. He would not favor either side.

However, trying to distinguish these things further would seem a bit deliberate. Fortunately, Guan's mother's phone rang at that moment. After chatting for a few minutes, she said, "The tax bureau's car is coming up the day after tomorrow to deliver six months' worth of documents. Mr. and Mrs. Yang can hitch a ride. Their car is nice, an imported Grand Cherokee." "Thank you, Guan's mother. Please thank Brother Lei for us," Feng Xueshan said.

"No need to thank me. Just remember to ask if you need anything in the future. Look at our Tingting, when has she ever been polite to Zhouzi? Being polite is what makes a good relationship!"

After seeing off Guan's parents, on the way back, Zhou Zhi smiled at Yang He and said, "We're such good friends with Guan's mother, and we don't know how to use them. We seem to be a bit silly, huh?"

Yang He also laughed: "I never even thought of that."

Can you take a few days off?

Yang He glanced at the moon in the sky before thinking: "I'm afraid I still won't be able to find the time. The equipment is arriving these next few days, and I need to oversee the acceptance process."

What equipment needs your supervision for acceptance upon arrival?

"UPS."

"Isn't the UPS provided by the manufacturer? It's a major brand used in military hospitals, don't you trust it?"

"It's not that I don't trust the brand, it's that I don't trust the installers."

"What?"

"These days, if you don't keep an eye on things, the installers will dare to replace the parts. For example, they might bring in second-hand circuit breakers to install and then sell the brand-new ones."

"For example, battery trays. If you don't keep an eye on them, they might not put them on. Anyway, you can't really tell in the battery cabinet."

"And the cables, they can give you a smaller size, and put a thick rubber tube on the outside, so you can't see it if you're not careful."

"Or cut the cable as short as possible. Although it won't affect the use, it will be very troublesome to disassemble and reinstall it during future maintenance."

"Isn't there a contract binding us?" Zhou Zhi was dumbfounded. "Is there no justice left in this world?"

“So what if there’s a contract? Even if they have to rework, it will still affect the project schedule,” Yang said. “For example, the length of the connecting wires between the batteries won’t be specified in the contract. That would make the contract too tedious.”

"So the only reliable way is to keep an eye on them and make sure they don't do anything reckless." Yang He spoke of these troublesome matters with remarkable calmness: "We can't afford to be careless; if we're not careful, they might do something out of line." (End of Chapter)