I'm incredibly ambitious after being reborn.

Chapter 32 Zhang Qiding Helps His Children and Grandchildren Again

If Zhang Daxiang has lofty ideals and noble pursuits, then he will definitely do something meaningful.

He doesn't care about self-cultivation, family harmony, governing the state, or bringing peace to the world. He doesn't even go to university or take the postgraduate entrance exam. He just does whatever makes him happy.

I'm too lazy to do things that are thankless and exhausting, so instead of spending a lot of money to set up a recruitment booth at a school or labor market later, I'd rather tap into my internal human resources first.

Currently, the "Sanxingli" sect passed down from the great-grandfather Zhang Zhixu is mainly populated by peasants, with very few scholars. The only promising scholar is the old man Zhang Qihui, who is sixty years old. So, we can only proceed slowly and wait for the young people who don't care about martial ethics to grow up.

As for the major and second-tier banks that put on their "long gowns" long ago, they can cooperate now.

The Zhang family currently has the largest number of manual laborers, but Zhang Daxiang doesn't need that many mental laborers yet. He can train people to do the technical work himself.

However, in the eyes of the old men who played cards, chess, and cleaned the ancestral hall every day, Zhang Daxiang's grandson was quite inhuman, already showing some of the spirit of his great-grandfather Zhang Zhixu.

In terms of being inhuman, Zhang Zhixu was far more ruthless than Zhang Daxiang. After all, he was the one who sent away nine of his own sons, and he didn't die a peaceful death due to exhaustion.

Few members of the Zhang family's older generation actually enjoyed their later years peacefully; Zhang Zhixu was one of them.

Zhang Qiding, amused by Zhang Daxiang's words, did some calculations in the ancestral hall and concluded that his younger brother's grandson would live to be a hundred years old.

All in!
"These past two days have been busy with Xiaoxianglao's engagement banquet. Besides you brides being diligent in helping out, as your uncles and elders, you also need to keep an eye on other things. Xiaoxianglao already mentioned the day before yesterday that he plans to open the second 'Zhang Family Canteen' in Ximen, so we need to hurry up and choose a storefront. Zhang Zhengjin said that someone from his workplace has two storefronts diagonally across from the Ximen market. I inquired and found out that he's a relative of your father-in-law's family. I don't know if it's a relative or a relative by marriage. This afternoon, you and your family will go to your father-in-law's house to pay a visit, bringing cigarettes and alcohol."

"Dad, are you going to help Zhang Xiang take over the storefront?"

“If you do this well, and if Little Elephant opens a third branch, I’ll help you get the position of store manager or lobby manager.”

"Oh? My job is pretty good now, or..."

"You pig-headed idiot!"

Zhang Qiding glared angrily, "Even the family members of other people know to strike while the iron is hot, but you, a member of the family, can't even part with a few copper coins in your pocket? You want a sesame seed but not a watermelon?!"

As someone who had been a school principal, Zhang Qiding had already seen that his younger brother's grandson was going to take off in the last two years. He probably wouldn't even be twenty years old, and next year he would be so powerful that he would earn as much as his father, making more than a dozen gold bars in one go.

Back then, his father spent money like water, but the more he spent, the more he earned. Even the top two bankers couldn't compare to him as a secretary or advisor in the county town.

The situation is quite similar now, except that the years are more peaceful.

The eldest son, Zhang Zhengen, had been working in Taiping's unit for too long and lacked foresight. In addition, he was getting on in years, had a wife and children, and was not lacking in food, clothing, or other necessities. Why would he give up his comfortable life to take a chance?

There's no need for that.

However, Zhang Qiding's children understood his intentions perfectly. Since their father had said that, he certainly wasn't trying to harm them. "Dad, a store lobby manager... at my age, should I compete with young people for that?"

"Are you a pig?! Use your brain! Do you think this little elephant boss would let an old man like you be the head waiter for life? Once you're at 'Zhang's Canteen,' your personnel will follow 'Zhang's Canteen'! Do you think 'Zhang's Canteen' only does business in Jiyang City? It's bound to grow bigger and bigger!"

"Ah? Really fake?"

"Xiao Ke's dowry consisted of shares in 'Golden Mulberry Leaf Storage' and the connections of the original shareholders. You think she just married a person off to the family?"

Seeing that his eldest son still couldn't understand, the schoolteacher patiently allowed Zhang Qiding to drink a sip of strong tea before carefully analyzing the situation with his children.

Seeing this, the eldest daughter-in-law quickly offered him a cigarette, lit it, and said with a smile, "Dad, don't be angry. Zheng En is an honest man, but he's a bit simple-minded. Just talk to him carefully."

"Ah."

Nodding, Zhang Qiding, with a cigarette dangling from his lips, gathered his thoughts and said to the younger generation, “First of all, this ‘Golden Mulberry Leaf Storage’ is a business in itself. Jiyang City is a small place, but it has good geographical conditions. The storage is located on the banks of the Yangtze River, and businesses in the surrounding area that need cold storage can rent it. I’ve also seen that cold storage; it can hold four or five thousand tons. Even if the utilization rate is less than half, we won’t lose money.”

"Secondly, the shareholders of 'Golden Mulberry Leaf,' especially Xiao Ke's family, suffered losses in Hebei North Road. Many international trade collaborations were broken off. The small businesses in Jiyang City were originally intended for Xiao Ke's hometown, Dongsangjiazhuang. These businesses involved sourcing beef and mutton from Argentina and Chile in South America. While Xiao Ke's family didn't have connections with the large landowners and estate owners there, they did have contact with the smaller landowners and companies."

"A cold storage facility of four or five thousand tons is not really suitable for doing business with large clients, but it is more than enough for dealing with small landowners in South America."

"So think about it, Little Elephant already has cold storage facilities and a good relationship with Little Ke's family. Would he turn down this business? Even if we take a step back, there's still money to be made from wholesaling beef and mutton from South America and selling it to traders in big cities."

"If we take another step back, Little Elephant doesn't do business with outsiders. He supplies directly to 'Shizipo' and 'Zhang Family Canteen.' That shouldn't be a problem, right?"

"At this level, the business is definitely in the tens of millions."

“Then you can go to ‘Zhang’s Canteen’ as a lobby manager, then become a store manager, and then a department manager and supervisor. Little Elephant will then have a reason to ask his own people for help, and outsiders won’t be able to ask.”

"The outsider I'm talking about is from the Big Bank and the Second Bank, while we're from the Third Bank. The benefits go to the Third Bank first. In peaceful times, who cares if someone is an eight-legged scholar or a bookworm? Following Little Elephant is definitely the right thing to do."

After listening to their father's analysis, the younger generation suddenly had a clearer understanding of the situation. If they followed their father's judgment, even if Zhang Daxiang (Zhang Family Canteen) was not considered anything else, its takeoff would be a matter of the next two or three years.

It won't be too long.

Zhang Qiding hadn't even mentioned the factories and the rented farmland yet. These were all interconnected industries, but to actually become a cadre in them, one needed proper qualifications, status, and even a reason.
Zhang Zhengen and his younger brother Zhang Zhengyi exchanged a glance, realizing that their father had shown them the right path.

It's not shameful to hitch a ride, but to get on smoothly and arrive safely, you still need to know when the ride is coming and where to board.

(End of this chapter)