Rebirth: My dad is too obedient

Chapter 561 Dumplings and Cows…

Before leaving Tiancheng, Xu Chen went to the old factory area in the town to visit his third uncle, Zhang Yongqing.

Of course, there was another special purpose: to see the two dairy cows that Lao Xu kept there.

Before Xu Chen even entered the door, a large group of cats and dogs came out to greet him.

Once the dogs recognized the "young master's" scent, they all stopped barking and started wagging their tails and rubbing against Xu Chen's legs with their tongues out.

Zhang Yongqing and his two apprentices were busy in the yard when they saw Xu Chen arrive and quickly put down what they were doing.

Xu Chen brought some fruit and sausages into the house and then asked his third uncle to take him to visit the cowshed.

As expected, there were two calico cows, one large and one small.

Zhang Yongqing adjusted his glasses and said with a smile:

"The older one is almost ready to produce milk, but the younger one will need to be nursed for two years."

Xu Chen went over and touched the calf's head. The calf then curiously rubbed against him and licked his palm repeatedly with its tongue.

Xu Chen found it amusing, so he took a picture and sent it to Su Rong.

Su Rong replied hastily:
"Ahhh, it's so cute! I want to play with it!!"

……

……

After returning to Shanghai, my studies suddenly became more demanding. There were three or four professional courses that required practical social work projects, two of which involved group collaboration.

To Xu Chen's dismay, many classmates approached him, wanting to team up with him, including girls he barely knew and had barely spoken to.

After asking around, I learned that because of several advertising awards last year and starting a company, everyone generally believed that Xu Chen had outstanding professional abilities, so they were eager to work with him on research projects.

Xu Chen didn't really care and took in Hong Xiaoqiang, his roommate, and Qian Xin from the next room.

Hong Xiaoqiang is a "computer expert" and has a project involving website planning, which is a good opportunity for him to leverage his strengths.

Qian Xin, the "Little Prince of Jiangsu and Zhejiang," is very good at dealing with people. One of his projects involved external social research, which allowed him to leverage his talent for chatting and joking around.

In addition, they also "took in" Su Rong, who timidly came to them, and thus formed a four-person group.

……

After "Amrex Investment" left last time, they didn't come back or cause any more trouble for "Ranbing Sports".

Fei Jie has extensive connections and found a hidden informant within "Aminoray" who can gather information about the other party at any time, especially since she is still interested in "Burning Ice".

The design and development of the new product, "Flaming Ice Lite," has already begun.

This shoe is considered a "youth version" of "Ranbing 001," with a price reduction of one-third, and is mainly targeted at price-sensitive students.

The design was still handled by the British design studio, Pearl Cat.

Because it is a product in the same series as "Ranbing 001", it also has a relationship of inheritance in design language.

The two sides have already held a conference call, and "General Manager Xu" made the following request:

"Continuing the style of 'Burning Ice 001,' the overall style is more elegant and refreshing, and full of youthful energy."

Upon hearing that "Burning Ice Sports" had already launched its new product planning for next year, "Pearl Cat" proactively sought future cooperation and adopted a very humble attitude.

It seems that "Ranbing X" found another studio, "Chen Youjian Studio," to do the work and produced a very good product, which made "Pearl Cat" feel the competitive pressure.

Pearl Cat still feels some gratitude towards Burning Ice. Last year, the Burning Ice 001 project helped them open up the Greater China market, and they also took the opportunity to win several design projects in mainland China.

They are also planning an office in mainland China, and have initially decided on Shanghai as the location. They have also mentioned that it is to serve "Ranbing Sports", which is an indication of seeking "long-term and stable cooperation".

Xu Chen and Nie Fei were not in a hurry to agree to anything. It was a "buyer's market" now, and putting it off for the time being would help to lower the price. After all, the normal design price for "Pearl Cat" was still very expensive.

……

……

December has arrived in the blink of an eye, and the weather in Shanghai has turned completely cold.

The oceanic climate has a wet winter, and the actual temperature feels even colder than in the north.

It's freezing cold in the dorm at night, but luckily Xu Chen has a comfortable little nest in "Tonghai New Village".

Xu Chenxin replaced the air conditioner over there, and the whole room felt very comfortable with the warm air on.

Even on weekends, Xu Chen was too lazy to go out and stayed at home...

The operation of "Ranbing Sports" has become completely stable, and Mr. Xu hardly needs to worry about anything anymore.

Currently, the combined monthly sales of the two products, "Ranbing 001" and "Ranbing X", have been stable at 100,000 pairs.

The goal of 100,000 pairs of shoes was exactly what Nie Fei and Xu Chen had discussed at the end of last year.

Actually, if Zhou Junjun were to increase production and Jiang Yuze were to do some promotion, it wouldn't be a problem to boost sales even further.

However, Xu Chen and Nie Fei discussed it and decided that maintaining a steady growth curve would be more appropriate.

This has many benefits.

This ensures product quality control at the factory, keeps the team's workload within a reasonable range, and the occasional "out of stock" situation also maintains consumer anticipation.

……

On December 12, "Ranbing Lite" officially launched its first sale.

With the appeal of the "Ranbing" brand, coupled with its outstanding appearance and cost-effectiveness, it attracted a lot of attention very early on.

Only 600 pairs of shoes were released in the first week, and as expected, they sold out instantly on the first day.

The overall design of "Ranbing Lite" is refreshing, and its main selling point is that it is a "lightweight, youthful version of Ranbing 001".

The concept of promoting a complete listing is called "lightly loaded".

Zhou Junjun came to Shanghai on a business trip again and brought each employee a pair of the latest "Burning Ice Lite" shoes.

Of course, these are all "factory versions" with minor flaws that cannot be sold on the market, but they do not affect the wearability.

Xu Chen picked out the two best pairs and gave them to Su Rong and Wu Feifei respectively.

I also kept an extra pair, which I reserved for Fang Jun's sister who is coming to Shanghai in a couple of days.

……

Two days later, Fang Jun's sister arrived in Shanghai, bringing with her Jiang Xiaozhen from the finance department of Tiancheng.

Fang Jun's main purpose in coming here was to help with the year-end financial review of "Ranbing Sports" and "Dongchen Advertising", as well as the financial planning for next year.

The finances at Dongchen Advertising are very simple; they're broken down by project. Next year's financial plan is even less detailed; the core focus is simply allocating funds for human resources costs.

The situation at "Ranbing Sports" is quite complicated. Ruan Zihao, the finance manager at the Shanghai branch, has been taking stock for over two weeks.

Next year's "financial planning" needs to be aligned with next year's annual business plan, so Nie Fei, along with Zhou Junjun, Jiang Yuze, and Sun Lingfeng, are also working on business planning simultaneously...

The arrival of the "God of Wealth" in Shanghai naturally warrants a warm welcome.

Entertaining Fang Jun doesn't need to be too complicated; just serve him good wine.

In the offices on the eighth and sixth floors, there are still some fine wines that Teacher Fang Jun has kept.

On Fang Jun's first day, Nie Fei invited several of the company's best drinkers to keep Fang Jun's sister company drinking until late into the night.

When Ruan Zihao from the finance department saw the "boss" coming over, he looked very nervous, as if he were clenching his anus tightly.

He went to toast Fang Jun, but Fang Jun replaced the wine with a soft drink:
"You still have reports to do tomorrow, let's drink after you're done."

Ruan Zihao gave an awkward laugh and downed the can of cola in one gulp...

The next day, Fang Jun strolled over to Xu Chen's school and even sat in on a computer class.

Ruan Zihao and Jiang Xiaozhen are busy with the financial matters, so Fang Jun's sister can relax for a couple of days.

Fang Jun was exhausted from handling the financial inventory in Tiancheng a while ago. This time, Lao Xu specifically instructed Xu Chen to accompany the God of Wealth to have a good time in Shanghai, which could be considered a short vacation.

But Fang Jun didn't need Xu Chen to make any special arrangements; that very evening, he went to Shanghai Foreign Language School to hang out with Wu Feifei.

I didn't see him for the next two days either, saying that he had two friends from Shanghai to meet.

……

Over the weekend, Nie Fei held an "annual planning" meeting, mainly to report to General Manager Xu.

The annual plan is divided into several sections.

This includes business and product planning, channel and sales planning, marketing planning, human resource function adjustment planning, and corresponding financial budget planning.

Xu Chen's main focus is naturally on business and product planning.

In fact, Nie Fei and Xu Chen had already discussed most of the core issues in various casual conversations.

By the end of this year, the sales curves of "Ranbing 001" and "Ranbing X" are expected to begin to decline, which is a normal product life cycle.

"Ranbing Lite" has just been launched, and because it focuses on cost-effectiveness, it can continue to sell in large quantities at least in the first half of next year.

The most important part of next year's product planning will be the product iteration of "Ranbing 001" and "Ranbing X".

In order to capitalize on the buzz generated by Xie Bingran during next year's Olympics, both product iterations will be scheduled before the opening of the Olympics in August next year.

The product naming scheme has not yet been finalized; the internal code names for now are "Ranbing 001+" and "Ranbing X+".

In addition, taking advantage of the popularity of Bing Ge's match day, a limited edition shoe will also be launched, temporarily internally named "Burning Ice O".

The "O" stands for "Olympics".

Thus, "Burning Ice 001+", "Burning Ice X+", and "Burning Ice O" will be the main running shoe product lines for next year.

There is also a secondary product line that follows the "trendy casual shoes" route. Xu Chen and Nie Fei haven't decided on this yet. They need to see the overall situation early next year before deciding whether it's worth investing in.

In addition, the sportswear product line will be officially launched before the Olympics next year.

The theme and packaging concept for the apparel product line is tentatively set as "Burning Ice Summer UP - Fashionable Dressing Season".

……

……

December 22nd, the 13th day of the 11th lunar month, is the winter solstice.

It happened to be the weekend, and Xu Chen, at the arrangement of "General Manager Xu", returned to Tiancheng with Teacher Fang Jun and Jiang Xiaozhen.

Provincial capital airport.

Xu Chen was somewhat surprised that Xu Zhiquan personally drove his Mercedes-Benz S-Class to pick him up.

Old Xu looked very happy with a smile. He drove Fang Jun and Jiang Xiaozhen home first, then drove his son mysteriously towards the west of the city.

As the car drove into the villa area nestled against the mountain and beside the stream, Xu Chen finally understood the situation and quickly spoke up:

"Congratulations, Mr. Xu, on acquiring another property!"

Old Xu gripped the steering wheel and said with a chuckle:

"We just received the keys to the house, but it hasn't been renovated yet. My son is here to give us some advice."

This villa area, nestled against the mountains and overlooking the stream, is called "Lanshan Valley." The name is elegant and unique, and it concisely and clearly highlights the core location and scenic selling point.

Xu Chen had actually been here once before, but at that time the area was still under construction and development, and it was still a large construction site.

The developer's boss was a business acquaintance of Xu Zhiquan, and he gave him an insider price, which wasn't actually expensive.

A two-story detached house with a basement and garage, as well as an outdoor yard of over 100 square meters.

The overall architectural style is French, which matches Mr. Xu's entrepreneurial spirit very well.

Xu Zhiquan parked the car haphazardly in the yard, lit a cigarette, and walked inside with his arm around Xu Chen's shoulder.

"My son came to visit and offer some guidance!"

"Delivered as a bare shell, we still have to do the renovations..."

Teacher Fang Jun recommended a design team for the renovation, and after looking into them, I found them to be quite reliable.

My son will also help me review the design plans!

The father and son looked around the house, upstairs and downstairs, and liked it very much.

Old Xu joked:

“I’ll live on the first floor, and you and Ranran will live on the second floor from now on.”

"..."

Xu Zhiquan walked to the kitchen area with a cigarette in his mouth, and there was already a small refrigerator and a set of simple kitchen utensils.

Old Xu opened the small refrigerator and took out two large plates of frozen dumplings:
"Today is the Winter Solstice, so let's cook dumplings in our new home."

I wrapped these last night, they're still very fresh!

Xu Chen said happily, "Great! I love Dad's dumplings the most!"

The father and son worked together and quickly cooked a pot of steaming dumplings.

Old Xu looked around, holding his bowl, and laughed heartily before saying:

"I forgot to bring two chairs."

He was carefree and unconcerned with formalities, and simply sat down on the ground.

Xu Chen smiled and sat down next to him, holding his bowl and chopsticks.

Do you want vinegar?

"Yes, give me more!"

"Mutton filling! I'm really craving this..."

"This is my 'family photo,' and there are also beef, pork, and chive, egg, and shrimp dishes!"

"It takes half a day just to prepare the filling. Did you make them yourself?"

"What are you saying? Do you think your father would lie to you?"

I was up until the wee hours of the morning last night!

……

Beijing, the Training Bureau of the General Administration of Sport.

Today is the Winter Solstice, and the team has arranged to eat dumplings.

By evening, the canteen was already packed with team members having dinner.

Bing walked coolly into the cafeteria with his hands in his pockets, followed by several teammates including Bai Miao and Dong Jiajia, who looked like Bing's little followers.

At a long table, Xie Bingran had just popped a dumpling into her mouth when she received a message from Xu Chen.

It was a scene of him eating dumplings with his father, Xu Zhiquan:
Happy Winter Solstice, Bing Ge!

Xie Bingran smiled and sent a picture of the steaming plate of dumplings in front of her.

My dad said the second floor will be for the two of us to live in.

He also raised two dairy cows, saying that when Xiao Xuchen or Xiao Xie Bingran were born, they would have milk to drink.

Xie Bingran blinked her big eyes, then laughed.

……

(End of this chapter)