Legendary Captain

Chapter 323 What exactly is wrong with your young lady?

"Who is that guy? I don't even know him. He came up to me like I owed him millions. What does that mean?" In the car, Xu Xian thought about Chen Zhan, whom he had met at the selection center. He still couldn't figure out if this guy had lost his mind or something, or why he had started talking tough to him without warning.

As Ye Qing drove, he chuckled, "Young geniuses always have a bit of a temper. You're not much older than him, and you've already made a name for yourself in civil aviation, which is quite an achievement. He definitely won't be happy about that."

"So what does this have to do with me? Do you think I'm easy to bully?" Xu Xian became angrier the more he thought about it. Why are there so many people with bad tempers in this world? People as gentle as him are like rare animals.

"What you're saying," Ye Qing laughed, then glanced at Xu Xian, "but your face doesn't really look intimidating."

Xu Xian was born with somewhat feminine features, which was unavoidable. If we were to talk about facial features, Xu Xian certainly didn't have any intimidating presence whatsoever. At least to outsiders, Xu Xian was just a delicate and weak pretty face.

"Tch!" Xu Xian hates it when people talk about his appearance. As a straight man with a tough heart, Xu Xian didn't want to look like this, but it's what his parents gave him, so he can't do anything about it.

Ye Qing's emotional intelligence in conversation is really poor; he kills the conversation with just one sentence.

Seeing Xu Xian's displeasure, Ye Qing had no choice but to say seriously, "Let's get down to business. I'll take you to the flight base in a bit, complete the necessary procedures, and then I have to go back to my place. The project is progressing quickly, and I need to keep an eye on it. Director Huo will be paying special attention to your medical records, which should be sent to the flight base in the next couple of days. Then you'll officially be joining the fleet. So, consider these next two days as a chance for you to get used to the life of the fleet. I'll have my friend show you around the flight base these next few days."

"Your friend? From the base? Also a pilot?" Xu Xian asked curiously.

"A pilot? No, she's just more familiar with the base. With her guidance, you can explore the entire base."

Xu Xian smiled and said, "That sounds like something extraordinary. By the way, how's the progress on my Uncle Qing's small ducted turbofan engine project?"

"The key issues have been resolved, my team has returned, and the remaining minor details have been handed over to them. The final product should be ready soon," Ye Qing said. "I heard that your Uncle Qing has already started communicating with the Aircraft Airworthiness Certification Department of the Civil Aviation Administration of China to apply for a test flight application for the supersonic passenger aircraft. That's really fast! He's very efficient. And the new passenger aircraft he's working on is called X10, right? It's already been officially named D903. It seems that the vision of large-scale commercial use is not far away."

"D903?" Xu Xian was taken aback for a moment, but quickly understood the reason for the name. The previous name, X10, was just a temporary designation. The X itself represented uncertainty. The official name change to D903 was a very good sign. It seemed that the large-scale commercial use of this new aircraft was not far off. He guessed that he was just waiting to fly the maiden flight.

There are certain patterns to naming airplanes. In today's civil aviation industry, the first letters, A and B, are already taken. Logically, the next letter to follow should be C. However, the letter C has a special meaning, so to avoid unnecessary trouble, it's best not to use C. Instead, choose the next letter, D, which is the safest option.

As for 9, it's the largest odd number, the so-called "ultimate number," undoubtedly embodying Xu Qing's expectations for the future of the new aircraft. 03, on the other hand, refers to the year the prototype of the new aircraft was produced, which doesn't hold any particular significance.

Xu Xian did want to give Xu Qingfei the maiden flight of the D903 aircraft, but he himself is currently in a state of suspension of civil aviation license because the flight data has not yet been restored, and he is unable to carry out commercial flights, which is a rather big problem.

Xu Xian would feel a little embarrassed if the commercialization of the D903 was delayed due to his own reasons.

"By the way! Given that your physical examination results weren't very good, I'll arrange some appropriate physical training for you. You shouldn't have any objections, right?" Ye Qing asked.

Although Xu Xian passed the Air Force physical examination, he barely passed the minimum standard. Ye Qing felt that it was still necessary to do some necessary physical training.

"Appropriate physical training? How appropriate?" Xu Xian looked at Ye Qing suspiciously. "You wouldn't say one thing to my face and another behind my back, would you?"

The word "appropriate" has a lot of room for interpretation, and Xu Xian dislikes such vague terms.

Ye Qing laughed and said, "Of course not. Who am I? My reputation is impeccable."

"Really?" Xu Xian was afraid that if he agreed, Ye Qing would mess things up again.

"That's definitely true! We're pilots, what if we ruin our bodies by training recklessly? It won't be too tiring, just some necessary physical training, don't worry." Ye Qing continued to bluff.

"Not afraid? Your grinning face is making me a little scared." Even though he said that, Xu Xian quickly realized that his performance during the physical exam hadn't been great, especially the vestibular function test. His performance compared to Chen Zhan wasn't just vastly different, it was worlds apart. Therefore, some physical training didn't seem like a bad thing. Besides, Ye Qing was right; fighter pilots' bodies are precious. If they trained too hard and developed injuries, it would be a huge loss. That's why physical training in the Air Force is generally less demanding. Having figured this out, Xu Xian cautiously asked, "You're not lying to me!"

"Look at my thick eyebrows and big eyes, do I look like anyone else?" Ye Qing practically patted his chest and said, "Then I'll take that as a yes. I'll talk to the physical trainer at the base and have them design a special physical training program for you."

"Alright then." Xu Xian nodded. "Remember, don't go too far."

"Don't worry, don't worry! It's absolutely not excessive!" Ye Qing said with a sly smile.

The chairman's office of Star Travel.

Mei Tingting and Wen Jingshu sat on the same sofa, while Yang Ning stood to one side.

"I heard about the share swap. It's a blessing for Xu Xian that you could do this for him. However, you've suffered a significant loss this time," Mei Tingting sighed.

The news that Wen Jingshu had exchanged her private shares in the Wen Group for all of Xingyou Airlines' shares had already spread. Such a share transfer involving tens or hundreds of billions of yuan was impossible to conceal; after the Wen Group's investment committee approved Wen Jingshu's share swap application, there was no longer any need to keep the news secret.

It was fortunate that Xingyou Airlines' situation had taken a sharp turn for the worse, causing its stock price to plummet. Otherwise, it would have been impossible for Wen Jingshu to exchange her 7 billion shares for Xingyou Airlines shares worth over 13 billion.

However, recently, Xingyou Airlines' stock price has continued its downward trend, with its market value dropping from over seven billion to six billion. In other words, since the share swap was completed, Wen Jingshu has already suffered a net loss of over one billion without doing anything. Who can withstand that? That's why Mei Tingting said that Wen Jingshu suffered a significant loss in order to protect Xu Xian's reputation.

Wen Jingshu shook her head: "Compared to Xu Xian, these are all external things, not even a drop in the ocean."

"I heard Xu Xian seems to have found a way to recover the data, but I don't know how long it will take. Every extra day you hold on, you'll lose a lot, sigh." Mei Tingting said, "I've discussed it with Xu Qing, and we're preparing to sign a strategic cooperation agreement with Xingyou Airlines. In the future, some of Qingyuan Group's tickets will be sold bundled with Xingyou Airlines' tickets. This should be helpful to you!"

The most common type of bundled ticket sales involves connecting routes. For example, a flight from Tianning to Yunnan with a connecting flight to Jiangcheng. Originally, the Tianning-Jiangcheng segment was handled by Qingyuan Group, while the Jiangcheng-Yunnan segment was handled by Xingyou Airlines. Therefore, those who want to fly from Tianning to Yunnan have to accept the reality that the latter segment is operated by Xingyou Airlines, because this connecting ticket is not a separate ticket, but a combined single ticket.

The current situation is that Star Travel's load factor has plummeted due to some rumors, leaving a large number of aircraft idle. Some media outlets have used this as a sensational story to report on Star Travel's large number of idle aircraft, which has caused many neutral passengers who were not initially concerned about the rumors to have doubts.

They'd wonder why Star Travel Airlines wasn't flying. "Nobody's flying," they'd think. "Why isn't anyone flying? Could those rumors online be true?" This positive feedback loop of negative effects was making Star Travel Airlines' situation increasingly dire. Only by getting Star Travel Airlines' planes running again, using normal flight frequencies to dispel the doubts, could they stabilize their load factor.

Mei Tingting had previously considered providing direct financial support to Xingyou Airlines, but without resolving Xingyou Airlines' load factor issue, providing funds would only be a temporary solution and would only exacerbate Xingyou Airlines' financial difficulties, ultimately becoming a huge burden for Qingyuan Group.

Of course, bundling tickets to increase the number of flights and load factor for Star Travel Airlines cannot fundamentally solve the problem. The fundamental issue is when Xu Xian can restore the flight data. This method of bundling tickets is only a stopgap measure, not intended to improve Star Travel Airlines' situation, but only to prevent it from deteriorating further and to keep the financial deficit within a relatively controllable range.

"Aunt Mei, this isn't a good idea, is it? If we bundle sales, it will negatively impact your ticket sales. Cooperating with us will almost certainly result in you losing money," Wen Jingshu said.

Even though Qingyuan Group has a good reputation in the civil aviation industry and its load factor has always been good, getting involved with Xingyou Airlines, which is now a terrible company, would undoubtedly be a burden for them. It's almost certain that many passengers who were originally willing to choose Qingyuan Group flights will change their minds and choose other airlines after seeing Xingyou Airlines.

The civil aviation industry is now highly developed, with two or three airlines often available to choose from within a similar timeframe. If Qingyuan Group were to partner with Xingyou Airlines, it would undoubtedly be reducing its brand competitiveness, a completely thankless and arduous endeavor.

Moreover, Wen Jingshu felt that this approach was actually very inefficient; she estimated that even if Qingyuan Group lost ten yuan, it might not be enough to increase Xingyou Airlines' revenue by three yuan. It was precisely because Wen Jingshu knew this was a sure-fire money-losing deal that she was unwilling to accept it.

Cooperation is based on mutual benefit; how can there be anything that benefits oneself at the expense of others?

"It's alright! Xu Xian is family, there's no need to be so fussy when helping family." Mei Tingting took a sip of tea. "Besides, Xu Xian has helped Xu Qing a lot, and those efforts have saved a considerable amount of money, so you don't need to feel embarrassed."

Take, for example, Xu Xian asking Ye Qing to help Xu Qing with the small bypass turbofan engine project, which saved Qingyuan Group a lot of money. Otherwise, if Qingyuan Group had to rely on its own research, the chances of getting results within ten years would have been very small.

"Then thank you very much, Aunt Mei." Actually, Wen Jingshu didn't know what help Xu Xian had given Xu Qing, but since Mei Tingting said so, it must be true. Besides, Mei Tingting was always a woman of her word, so there was really no point in refusing again. "Will this plan be approved by the board of directors? Will it be difficult to implement?"

Anyone with a sound mind knows that Qingyuan Group's cooperation with Xingyou Aviation is a losing proposition. Qingyuan Group doesn't belong to Xu Qing alone, and other shareholders might try to prevent Xu Qing from approving this cooperation.

"It's alright! Our group's internal structure isn't that complicated, so it's relatively easy to handle." Mei Tingting wasn't too worried about this. Currently, Qingyuan Group's major shareholders include Mei Tingting herself, the Li family (Xu Qing's friend Li Xianyi), and the Lu family (Li Xianyi's brother-in-law). Both of these shareholders have good relationships with Xu Qing, so persuading them to support the cooperation shouldn't be too difficult.

This highlights the difference between Qingyuan Group and Wen's Group. Wen's Group expanded too rapidly, absorbing too much external capital, leading to a dispersion of power within the group. Even Wen Family Shares, the largest shareholder, wasn't a monolithic entity; at least, Wen Ningyuan's faction and Wen Jingshu's father, Wen Mingyuan's faction, weren't on good terms. This dispersion of power meant that even though Wen Jingshu was nominally the group's chairperson, she faced obstacles on issues that could harm the group's interests. Conversely, Mei Tingting was confident in passing a sure-fire money-losing cooperation deal with Qingyuan Group—that's the key difference.

Mei Tingting continued, "There's one more thing. I heard you built a factory specifically for related products? Is that true?"

Speaking of this, Wen Jingshu felt a headache coming on: "There is indeed such a thing."

For a long time, the sales of Star Travel's merchandise were a marginal industry. Due to poor sales, Star Travel outsourced the production to other factories. However, since the hazardous materials leak incident, Star Travel has experienced explosive growth, especially in merchandise sales, which have increased dozens of times. The factories that previously cooperated with them were simply unable to support such a huge number of orders.

Later, the company leaders discussed the matter and decided that instead of outsourcing to others and letting them make money, it would be better to build their own factory and produce related products. At the time, Xingyou Aviation was booming, and almost all the leaders were extremely optimistic about its future. This proposal was quickly approved.

So Xingyou Aviation took out a large loan from the bank to invest in building a factory and started recruiting. Not long ago, the factory and equipment were all set up and the staff were recruited, but the products couldn't be sold. Now, only one workshop in the huge factory is open from time to time, and it looks very desolate.

It's not fair to say that Star Travel's leadership made any major mistakes in their decision-making. Perhaps the only problem was that they were overly optimistic about the future, which led them to take too big a step and end up making a mess of things.

This factory, which is barely operating, is a hot potato and very difficult to deal with.

"I have an order for you now, do you want to take it?" Mei Tingting suddenly asked with a smile.

Wen Jingshu asked curiously, "A form? What form?"

"Soon, orders for our Qingyuan Group's peripheral products will gradually be transferred to you. This way, your factory won't have to worry about a lack of orders anymore. Isn't that a good thing?"

"Of course this is a good thing? But... but I remember that Qingyuan Group has its own peripheral product manufacturing plant. If the orders are given to us, won't your other factories have no orders?"

Mei Tingting waved her hand: "The orders for the new D903 aircraft that Xu Qing was working on have been increasing, and now our aircraft manufacturing plant is not enough. So we are preparing to convert the factory that makes peripheral products into an aircraft manufacturing plant. Originally, the orders for peripheral products were going to be given to other companies, but since you have a ready-made factory here, and it's right next to our own people, we'll give it to you."

"I see, I see, that's killing two birds with one stone!" Wen Jingshu said with a smile. Qingyuan Group's peripheral products sell extremely well. If they could secure orders for Qingyuan Group's peripheral products, it would indeed bring Xingyou Airlines a considerable profit, which would be excellent for alleviating Xingyou Airlines' financial crisis.

"Also, our Lianshan Group has a batch of old cargo planes that are about to be retired. I was thinking of having some of your Xingyou's idle planes converted from passenger to cargo to help our Lianshan Group transport goods in the southwest region. What do you think?" Mei Tingting said again, then suddenly remembered something: "Don't worry, there are no dangerous goods, just normal cargo. As for pilot training, we can provide personnel assistance."

The modifications needed for passenger planes to carry cargo aren't extensive, and once Xingyou Aviation's situation improves, they can be converted back to passenger planes. Of course, not only will the cabin require minor modifications, but the flight crew will also need necessary training, as there are some differences between carrying cargo and carrying passengers.

Mei Tingting inherited her father's Lianshan Group, a giant logistics conglomerate that includes a significant portion of air transport. In fact, Mei Tingting's statement was entirely in favor of Xingyou Airlines. With Lianshan Group's resources, even if a batch of old cargo planes were retired, finding a new batch of inexpensive cargo planes to replace them wouldn't be difficult, at least less costly than converting Xingyou Airlines' passenger planes into cargo planes.

Mei Tingting deliberately gave this part of the cargo business to Xingyou Airlines, which was entirely to give Xingyou Airlines a discount.

Wen Jingshu, with her keen mind, naturally understood Mei Tingting's good intentions. She felt a surge of gratitude and, thinking of how Xu Xian had been cornered at his doorstep recently, her eyes welled up with tears.

Seeing that Wen Jingshu was about to cry, Mei Tingting gently patted her hand: "Life is never smooth sailing. Xu Xian has stumbled so badly this time, we, his family, should help him get back on his feet. He still has a long way to go!"

"I know, I know, Aunt Mei!" Wen Jingshu nodded repeatedly, "I will definitely help Xu Xian get through this."

Suddenly, Wen Jingshu felt an urge to vomit and immediately covered her mouth; her pregnancy symptoms had returned.

"Aunt Mei, excuse me, I need to go to the restroom." Wen Jingshu immediately stood up; she couldn't afford to lose her composure here.

"Go ahead, go ahead!" Mei Tingting said with a smile.

After seeing Wen Jingshu off, Mei Tingting's smile slowly faded. She turned around and stared intently at Yang Ning beside her: "What exactly happened to your young lady?"

(End of this chapter)