Stepmother Reborn: Dad, my mom hasn't hit me for three days

In September, Zhang Xiuhua began to pick Gala fruit in the forest. Occasionally, she would pick mushrooms in the forest. These mushrooms are all wild and very delicious. There are hazel mushrooms and small yellow mushrooms. They can be used for braising or stewing, and they are all very delicious.

Every time the children come back, Zhang Xiuhua will cook for them. Even though her cooking skills are not very good, the aroma of the natural ingredients themselves can make the children eat with relish.

Just when she was busy picking fruits, Li Jianguo came back from outside with a newspaper in his hand. He pushed the door open excitedly and greeted Zhang Xiuhua from a distance.

Zhang Xiuhua picked some fruit and sat beside to drink water. When she saw him coming over, she asked him what good news he had, and she kept shouting at the foot of the mountain.

Li Jianguo walked up to him with a smile on his face and handed her a newspaper.

Zhang Xiuhua took it and saw the front-page headline celebrating the launch of Smart Baby. Jidong became the youngest entrepreneur in the country - with a net worth of tens of millions.

Ten million in 1995 is equivalent to about one billion in 2023. Zhang Xiuhua didn't know much about the listing, but seeing that the news in the newspaper seemed very impressive, she was really happy for Jidong.

Zhang Xiuhua didn’t quite understand the idea of ​​going public, but Ergou was witnessing the power of capital for the first time, because he found that the competitive pressure was particularly great that year.

Japanese and Taiwanese instant noodles all flooded into China, instant noodle sales dropped sharply, and domestic instant noodles were under increasing pressure.

Ergou had to stop his expansion plan and start to deal with the business war in an all-round way. This was his first time to face the challenge of a big capital brand and negotiate prices with suppliers.

He specifically called Zhang Xiuhua to tell her about the current situation of the company.

As big capital brands entering the Chinese market, Smart Baby's toys were not affected too much because its brand quality has always been good, and it has been widely available in major shopping malls and large chain stores, and the prices are very favorable. Most foreign brands are high-end, and although they were also affected, they did not change as obviously as instant noodles, and sales were almost halved.

Zhang Xiuhua asked Ergou to think of another solution and not to panic for the time being.

Ergou told her, "There is a Taiwanese brand that wants to acquire his instant noodle brand and offered a high price of 30 million. This is just the value of the brand. If he sells all the factories and land, he can get at least another 60 million, which adds up to almost 90 million. His previous investment was less than 30 million in total, so she can get 60 million.

Zhang Xiuhua refused directly. "If I was after money, I should have bought a house, a courtyard house in the capital. Why did I sell instant noodles? Because I want to create a brand of my own and sell it nationwide."

People always have their own obsessions. In the past, Zhang Xiuhua only wanted to be a landlady. But when she had 20 courtyard houses, she felt that these houses were enough for her to live in in her old age.

The remaining money was used to establish a brand. She used to be a worker, but now she is a boss. Seeing her brand sold all over the country, the sense of pride makes her more satisfied than the money. She even has a secret joy that she has also helped many workers like her to have jobs.

Ergou was silent for a long time, then nodded and agreed, "I will continue to work hard."

Zhang Xiuhua asked if Ergou Beer was affected?

Ergou smiled and said, "A brewery needs to build a factory, so it can't be rolled out so quickly. However, the participation of many well-known foreign brands may have an impact on our sales. We are not good at the marketing and rumor-mongering methods of these foreign brands, so we can only deal with them."

Zhang Xiuhua also knows Ergou's shortcomings. He is crossing the river by feeling the stones. In the past, every step he took was a huge risk. In recent years, he has made progress, but it is indeed difficult to compete with those foreign brands.

In the past, many well-known brands were acquired by foreign investors and then shelved for more than 20 years. All the previous channels were gone, and we had to start from scratch.

The fact that Ergou is so afraid of business competition shows that he has a keen business sense and is not blindly optimistic.

Zhang Xiuhua felt that just encouraging Ergou and letting him hold on would not have a good effect. After thinking for a while, she said, "When necessary, you can sell the loss-making factory, or rent it to others and keep the land in our hands."

Ergou said, "Not yet, but I have an idea. Can we also list the brand, and then use the funds to expand the scale of marketing to fully cover the entire Chinese market?"

Zhang Xiuhua refused. In her previous life, she had a colleague who liked to speculate in stocks and lost everything. She was naturally afraid of the stock market and was unwilling to hand over the company to an unfamiliar field. "What we have to do now is to seize the market share of other brands when they collapse. We are not short of funds now, and we cannot expand blindly. We have branches in various provinces, which are enough. There is no need to expand further. Now we just need to maintain the existing market share and respond to their challenges. We must ensure the best quality. As long as the quality is good and there is proper marketing, we will definitely retain old customers. Don't expand blindly. If there is a problem with the product, it is easy for competitors to seize the shortcomings and attack fiercely. Only then will we be defeated."

Ergou was under a lot of pressure. There was a long silence on the other end of the phone. "I will try my best."

"If they are spreading rumors, don't hesitate to expose the incident and then sue them back." Zhang Xiuhua reminded him, "We don't bully others, and we can't be bullied by others."

"it is good!"

In the following days, Zhang Xiuhua kept an eye on the sales of instant noodles and beer. Instant noodles have been rolled out in their county. There is a branch factory in the provincial capital, and then the products are distributed step by step.

She went to the county supermarket to inquire, and Manager Xu told her, "Master Li's instant noodles used to sell very well. But several brands have entered the market, and they offer us very favorable conditions, asking us to put their instant noodles on the shelves, but the condition is that we are not allowed to sell Master Li's."

Zhang Xiuhua was shocked. These brands wanted to kill Master Li. When Master Li went bankrupt, they would raise prices across the board. They had big capital and lots of money, so they could afford it. But could Master Li afford it?

Zhang Xiuhua asked, "What about other brands of instant noodles?"

"Then we can't sell it anymore." Manager Xu pointed at the yellow brand of instant noodles. "This is domestically produced. It used to sell well, but now it can't hold on any longer and has collapsed. I heard that the factory can no longer pay wages."

Zhang Xiuhua felt that the situation was very serious. But she didn't understand business warfare. How should they deal with being besieged by several major capitals? !

She was worried when she came back. Li Jianguo saw that she looked absent-minded and asked her what was wrong.

Zhang Xiuhua talked about the current difficulties faced by instant noodles.

Li Jianguo's brewery has not been affected yet. Those big brands have built factories in the provincial capital first, and there is no second brewery in his county. But if foreign investment comes, he may not be able to hold on for long.

"Or call Jidong. I think Jidong should have a way." Li Jianguo felt that Jidong was the best at business in the family.

Ergou does business by his instincts, and often makes mistakes. But Jidong never does. He walks very steadily.

Zhang Xiuhua was a little embarrassed, "He should be very busy, right?"

"Just ask." Li Jianguo sighed, "If we really can't hold on, we might as well sell the brand, and we can save some money!"

After much thought, Zhang Xiuhua decided to call Jidong.

After listening to Zhang Xiuhua's statement, Jidong said, "Aunt, you are right not to let him go public. If the company goes public, Ergou doesn't understand the stock market, and those managers who hold shares will definitely focus on reducing their holdings and cashing out. You told him not to touch it, otherwise he won't even know how he died. Ergou is now in charge of three brands, and he doesn't have that much time, so it's difficult for him to understand the situation 100%. If the company goes public, it will be easy for shareholders to cash out and leave, leaving the company with a lot of debt problems."

Zhang Xiuhua nodded. This was what she was thinking. "Then what should I do?"

"You can sell the clothing factory and instant noodle factory and focus on the brewery." Jidong reminded her, "This way you will have a large amount of funds on hand. Those investors can't keep fighting price wars. They come to China to do business to make money, not to lose money."

Zhang Xiuhua asked tentatively, "What if I stay at the instant noodle factory?"

"It doesn't matter which one we sell. What matters is that Ergou doesn't have that much time. His current ability only allows him to manage one brand." Jidong asked her to think carefully about which one to keep.

After hanging up the phone, Zhang Xiuhua fell into deep thought.

Li Jianguo asked her, "Does Ergou want to sell the instant noodle factory?"

Zhang Xiuhua thought Ergou would agree. "He doesn't have any idea about these things. He just cares about the money."

Ergou had said before that he opened the factory to make money, not for sentimentality or the vain title of boss.

Li Jianguo nodded. "I think it's a good idea to sell the clothing and instant noodle factories. Jidong is right. He does have limited abilities and doesn't have the energy to manage so many brands. And don't you notice that he always runs into problems with his business?"

Zhang Xiuhua was also worried about this. She used to have space and could help Ergou, but she no longer had space. If something happened again, she would lose everything. It would be better for her to concentrate on protecting one!

Zhang Xiuhua thought for a moment and said, "I decided to sell the clothing factory and the brewery."

Li Jianguo couldn't accept it. "Why sell the brewery? The brewery has no competitors now. It would be better to focus on them."

Zhang Xiuhua made a deliberate decision. "The brewery is not an exclusive secret recipe. Foreign beer technology is more mature. We will die quickly if we compete with them. Now they haven't expanded yet, so we can sell the factory directly and get a good price. As for the instant noodle factory, they have already built it. If we back down now, we will definitely be forced to lower our price."

Li Jianguo was a little reluctant, "But our factory's business is pretty good."

Zhang Xiuhua guessed that he didn't want to sell the brewery in the county, so she said, "You can gather the funds in the account. Pay a sum of money to the headquarters to make the current branch factory independent, and you can take it over."

Li Jianguo was delighted at first, "Really?"

But then he thought this was not a good thing. "The headquarters can't hold out for long. If a small shrimp like me encounters big capital, won't I die even faster?"

"You won't die for the time being. Besides, they distribute their products to big cities first. We are on the border, so commercial competition will be two years later. You can still make good money for at least another two years." Zhang Xiuhua sighed. As for two years later, that's hard to say.

Li Jianguo couldn't make up his mind for a moment, "I need to think about it."