Return to 88: Starting from Marrying My Sister-in-law

After half an hour.

As soon as the door to the private dining room closed, Mr. He, the general manager of Beibingyang Soda, took out a handkerchief to wipe the sweat from his brow. His eyes, behind his gold-rimmed glasses, flickered uncertainly: "President Lu, our cooperation hasn't even officially started yet. It seems a bit inappropriate to publicize it so openly. Also... those reporters just now... were they a bit too enthusiastic..."

Lu Yang lightly tapped the rim of his wine glass with his fingertips, the amber liquid reflecting his ambiguous smile: "Mr. He brought so many reporters to Pengcheng, wasn't it all for this enthusiasm?"

Being exposed so directly, the middle-aged CEO of a state-owned enterprise looked somewhat embarrassed and said, "This..."

Lu Yang interrupted him directly, raised his glass and said, "It's good that Mr. He admits it. I'm a kind-hearted person and can't stand seeing my business partners in trouble. My reputation for being charitable is well-known in Pengcheng. If Mr. He feels a little bad, that's fine. Just remember to have a couple more drinks at lunch, so that people don't misunderstand that I, Lu, haven't been a good host."

This……

You've taken all the bamboo shoots, what can I say?
As the head of a state-owned enterprise, Mr. He still had some sense of shame. However, he did not expect that the young man in front of him would be so shameless, able to lie and show off without batting an eye.

He was momentarily speechless. To put it simply, his mind hadn't quite caught up, and he didn't know how to respond to or deal with Lu Yang's barrage of questions.

He stammered, "I...I didn't mean that, it's just..."

He was clearly guilty, because he had only come to put on an act, and yet his act had been seen through. Now... the act was going to be much harder to continue.

If I had known this would happen, I shouldn't have chosen the young man in front of me; I should have chosen someone easier to fool...

Lu Yang waved his hand and said, "There's nothing good to say. Let's not talk about business during dinner, let's drink."

He held up his wine glass as if to say, "If you don't drink, you're disrespecting me."

Seeing the situation becoming somewhat tense, the old man accompanying them also stood up and said, "Yes, yes, let's drink. On behalf of Pengcheng, I, this old man, would like to toast Mr. He, who has come all this way... Mr. He, you won't refuse to give me face, will you?"

You have to drink the toast offered by the local leaders!
Otherwise, it would really be considered disrespectful.

"Well... alright... Secretary He, if you're toasting me, then I'll drink this one."

The head of this state-owned enterprise was unwilling to offend He Weijun.

He picked up his glass and downed it in one gulp, his face immediately flushing red. He coughed twice, choking on the drink, then turned the glass upside down to show the bottom – a rule of the game that couldn't be ignored.

The old man glanced at Lu Yang, then smiled and drank his cup.

He remained expressionless, then sat down, waiting to see how Lu Yang would do something bad.

Lu Yang chuckled, and after the two finished their toasts, he stood up and shouted, "No way! I offered you a toast, but you didn't drink it. Then Secretary He offered you a toast, and you drank it so readily. That's clearly disrespecting me, Lu Yang. So today, I'm going to offer you this toast anyway. Drink it or not?"

Even if things escalate, Lu Yang isn't afraid, but he's willing to bet that the other party won't choose to break ties with him at this point.

really……

Seeing that Lu Yang was already looking very angry and that he could handle the situation, and considering that the young man might do something foolish in a moment of impulse, Mr. He hesitated for a moment, but still picked up his glass again: "...Alright, then I'll have another drink. But Mr. Lu, before we reach a conclusion in the negotiations, let's not alarm the media anymore. Let's keep a low profile."

His goal has been achieved; all he needs to do is spread the news and let foreign investors know, thus creating a powerful new competitor...

To create more favorable conditions for subsequent negotiations.

But this couldn't continue any longer; it had already alarmed local government leaders and the media. If it continued to escalate, the local government would also get involved and heavily promote the cooperation between the two parties…

What awaits Arctic Ocean Soda in the end is a dilemma between two sides.

Foreign giants, like the one in charge in Beijing, are not easy to offend, but are the leaders in Shenzhen easy to offend?

"Mr. He has a good capacity for alcohol. He is indeed from the same clan as me. Come, let's drink to our family 500 years ago."

"drink……"

"Then I'll also raise a toast to you, Mr. He, to toast that we weren't family 500 years ago."

"Fine, I'll drink... Well said. Don't even mention 500 years, even 1000 years, we still wouldn't be able to piss in the same pot..."

"Mr. He, you're drunk."

"I'm not drunk... Come on, let's drink again... Anyone who lacks guts is a coward..."

It's unclear whether Mr. He didn't realize that Lu Yang and the old man were deliberately getting him drunk, or if he did realize it and was pretending to be stupid to give Lu Yang and the old man face, getting himself drunk so he could have an excuse to refuse... In any case, by the end, all three of them were quite drunk, but since it was two against one, Mr. He drank the most and was already unconscious.

Lu Yang ordered someone to carry Mr. He away to rest.

They even specifically instructed Xiao Jiu and Da Jun to send two people to guard Mr. He's room door. Unless Mr. He woke up on his own, no one could come and make a difference, so as not to disturb the distinguished guest's rest time.

Lu Yang tapped the rim of his glass lightly with his fingers and said, "Old man, you're not drunk, are you?"

He Weijun was also a heavy drinker, but if you can't hold your liquor in officialdom, you wouldn't have reached your current position.

He rubbed his face and laughed, "I'm not drunk yet. I was just pretending to fool that idiot."

He stared at Lu Yang's face and said, "By the way, you gave me that look and asked me to get someone drunk for you. Do you have some inside information?"

There really is inside information.

Lu Yang nodded: "This matter isn't really a secret. I just had someone inquire again, and our Pepsi Asia CEO, Mr. Christopher A. Sinclair, originally planned to fly directly to Chengdu in Sichuan... Hehe... He changed his route at the last minute and chose to fly to Beijing instead. Otherwise, if nothing unexpected happened, he should be at Tianfu Cola right now... He might have already signed a share purchase agreement with this cola giant in Sichuan."

He Weijun said in surprise, "So this time... it really was a lucky accident?"

He had also learned of Lu Yang's plan: the acquisition of Beibingyang soda was a pretense, a facade to put on a show for the other party, a covert operation to secretly plot against Shuzhong Tianfu Cola.

Lu Yang said smugly, "So luck is also a part of strength. Even God is on my side. Besides, it's really a coincidence... I sent Lao Mou back yesterday. He's probably already in Rongcheng by now... and he might be visiting and inspecting Tianfu Cola right now."

As she spoke, she picked up her phone. "I'll give him another call. There's no suspense here anymore. One more day is the limit. He can start taking action now."

If Tianfu Cola had followed its original trajectory, it would have ended up like Beibingyang soda, acquired by PepsiCo, a foreign company, and then shelved.

After the joint venture, Pepsi reduced the production ratio of Tianfu Cola from 100% to 50%, then to 20%, and finally abandoned all pretense of integrity, simply ceasing production of Tianfu Cola, a once-popular domestic brand, and using its sales channels to promote Pepsi's own Pepsi Cola, as well as soft drink brands such as 7UP and Mirinda.

Pepsi almost completely swallowed up Tianfu Cola's formula, production line, and market share. The fruits of Tianfu people's hard work over the past ten years were destroyed in one fell swoop.

What did Pepsi give in return?
However, by paying a mere $1070 million, they directly acquired a 60% stake in the newly established joint venture, thereby achieving their goal of controlling the company and draining it dry.

Some people may not understand why Pepsi was willing to spend so much money to acquire it.

Could it be the formula for Tianfu Cola?
That doesn't make sense. Pepsi's cola formula is a century-old formula. Why would they spend money to steal the formula of a domestic knock-off cola?

Some people might disagree with calling it a knock-off, but the fact remains that cola is a foreign product. Tianfu Cola is simply a product with minor innovations, adding elements that Chinese people might like.

Is it because of these minor innovations that PepsiCo, a foreign company, was willing to spend the money?

That's certainly not right either.

So how should we interpret this behavior of foreign capital pouring money into China?
This can actually be easily illustrated using the following set of data:

Founded in 1980, Tianfu Cola became a giant in the domestic cola beverage industry in just a few years, with few decent competitors, because the domestic market was not yet open to foreign countries.

According to data publicly released by Tianfu Cola Group in 1988, the company owned a total of 108 joint venture factories across the country, and its single brand, Tianfu Cola, accounted for 75% of the total sales of cola in the national market…

Although some things started to decline in the following years.

The era of the planned economy bubble has arrived.

Here's the question: even if its market share drops by 30%, leaving it with only 45% of the domestic Coca-Cola market share, is it still worth spending $1000 million to acquire a controlling stake in it?
It's absolutely worth it.

Because there is another set of data below.

By the early 2000s, several years after forming a joint venture with PepsiCo, a foreign beverage giant, Tianfu Cola's annual production had fallen to less than 1% of its peak, and the product was almost nowhere to be found on the market...

And what about its previous market share?

Where did it go?
This phenomenon will always exist because the habit of drinking cola among young people in China has already been cultivated and will only be accepted by more and more young people. However, under such circumstances, Tianfu Cola's annual production volume has not only failed to increase significantly, but has actually decreased by 99%. This extreme situation...

Ha ha……

Even a fool could tell there's something fishy going on here.

But what can we do?

They've already surrendered!

They handed over all management control of the company, as well as the majority of the shares, retaining only 40%. They thought they could surrender and lose half, get some phantom stock, and enjoy the dividends at the end of the year, hiding under a big tree for shelter...

It's foreign investment.

Another giant in the beverage industry.

Perhaps after surrendering, the annual dividends will be more than what you would have earned through hard work and effort.

It's just that his wish was not fulfilled.

Foreign investors aren't exactly benevolent; they never intended to give any dividends. What they wanted was control, to sideline, crush, and seize market share. Even if the so-called joint venture eventually became worthless, it didn't matter; their goal had already been achieved.

So later, Tianfu Group sued Pepsi for violating the joint venture agreement, demanding that the joint venture partner return the Tianfu Cola brand. The two sides were at odds for more than a decade...

It wasn't until 2016 that Tianfu Cola was able to see the light of day again, but by then, its market share had already been completely eroded, and the prospect of returning to its peak seemed far off.

This is a microcosm of many old domestic products that were acquired at that time. Tianfu Cola was just one of them. Like Beibingyang soda, it became a microcosm of a generation and remained in the memories of a generation.

Even if the company regrets it later and tries to take further action by suing foreign giants, even if they win the case, what about the lost market share?
—It can never be found again.

Lu Yang was reborn. Even though he had never eaten pork, he had seen pigs run. Especially on Douyin and Bilibili in his later years, the fate of these old domestic products was often brought up by streamers, who would stomp on them to remind the Chinese people what kind of sugar-coated bullets they had encountered back then, so that almost no old domestic brands could survive that time.

For a few measly coins, they actually gave up the market share they had worked so hard to build.

But there's no way around it; that's just how things are in China right now. It's as if being able to cooperate with foreign capital and establish a joint venture instantly elevates one's status by two levels. So even if a company is doing well and there are no operational difficulties, some companies, as soon as they hear that a foreign company wants to cooperate, act as if they've met their own parents, welcoming this wolf in sheep's clothing into their home with great fanfare.

Therefore, Lu Yang also decided to follow suit. Since people like to cooperate with foreign capital, he would pretend to be a foreign investor as well.

Furthermore, he also thought Pepsi's approach to attacking the mainland market was quite good and wanted to borrow it. If the enemy can go there, so can I. Since Tianfu Cola has already been targeted, it will eventually lose its market share. It would be better to benefit foreign capital than to benefit his own people, Lu Yang.

"We can start now. I can only hold them off for a day at most. Add the time it takes for them to travel from Shenzhen to Beijing, and then the time it takes for them to finalize the contract and travel from Beijing to Chengdu, you have less than a week left."

Try to get it sorted out.

Now that we know Pepsi's trump card, if we still can't handle it even knowing their hand, then I'll resent your title as the top businessman in Southwest China.

Lu Yang called Mu Qizhong to inform him of what had happened that day and also to let him know that he could start talking to Tianfu Cola about acquiring shares.

It's the same as US dollars.

Both sources of funds are from overseas. Regardless of whether the actual controller behind them is a blond-haired, blue-eyed foreigner, as long as the money is sufficient and more than the other party, just ask yourself, can you be tempted?
If Lu Yang himself were to visit them rashly, it might not be enough to impress the local government and Tianfu Cola Group, but the name of Mu Qizhong is still quite useful.

Whether we can secure it depends on this older brother. Otherwise, let me ask you, why does Lu Yang want to cooperate with him?

(End of this chapter)