Chapter 49

Wei Lai finally met with the representatives from the venture capital firm at 9:30 in the evening. They had just returned from a business trip, and she handed over the proposal and relevant information about the supermarket.

The representative, Mr. Yang, took the documents without flipping through them and placed them directly on his desk.

Mr. Yang, the client manager, went straight to the point: “You used to work in this industry too,” he said with a smile. “I’m sure the proposal is well done.”

Looking good was one thing, but reality was another.

“I conducted a background check on your company, and currently, you haven’t built your own digital platform. There are logistical issues with the ‘delivery service.’ The cold chain warehouse is insufficient, and the standard for the ambient warehouse is not met.”

He took a sip of water and continued pointing out the problems: “The skill level of your entire team varies. Most importantly, your number of stores is too few. The growth cycle is at least five to seven years, which means my investment horizon is much longer than seven years. Everyone knows that building a digital platform and logistics is very costly. The investment horizon is too long, and the risk is too high.”

Mr. Yang decisively declined: “If the scale of your supermarket, Wei Lai, were as large as Fumanyuan in your local Jiangcheng, perhaps I would consider investing.”

Chen Qi was about to speak up to negotiate, but Wei Lai stopped him with a glance, smiling politely at Mr. Yang. “Thank you, then we won’t take up any more of your time.”

After a few more pleasantries, Wei Lai bid farewell.

Mr. Yang still had a pile of things to deal with, so he just escorted them out of his office.

As they entered the elevator, Chen Qi was puzzled: “Why didn’t you let me finish my sentence just now?”

Wei Lai pressed the button for the ground floor and replied, “There’s no need. Venture capitalists always prioritize profit over personal relationships.”

The person she had arranged to meet was actually Mr. Yang’s superior. Knowing that this round of financing was doomed when Mr. Yang didn’t personally receive them, she realized it as soon as she met him.

“We’ve chosen the wrong direction for financing.”

Chen Qi didn’t quite understand. “What do you mean?”

“We shouldn’t have approached venture capital firms.” As the elevator descended to the ground floor, in just a short ten seconds, Wei Lai changed her financing plan.

Chen Qi caught up a few steps. “Then who should we approach for financing?”

Should they approach Zhou Sujin?

Wei Lai got into her car and opened the door. “We should seek strategic cooperation with logistics companies and seek financing from the most powerful upstream suppliers.”

By solving the funding issue, they could also ensure a stable supply of high-quality goods without worrying about whether the purchases were from friendly sources.

Chen Qi got into the car, and it left the underground parking lot of the office building where the venture capital firm was located.

He turned to Wei Lai. “This decision concerns the strategic direction of the company, which is not trivial. We should discuss it at the meeting.”

Wei Lai nodded. The decision of which logistics company to cooperate with and which suppliers to finance would indeed require discussion at the meeting.

Back in Jiangcheng, it was almost dawn. The driver first dropped off Chen Qi, and Wei Lai returned to her apartment. She thought about sending a message to Zhou Sujin but considering the time difference, he was probably busy, so she refrained.

It wasn’t until she lay down in bed and closed her eyes that the faint longing lingered in her mind.

She dreamed all night.

But she didn’t dream of him.

The next day, she was awakened by her alarm clock.

To prevent oversleeping again, she set two alarms before going to bed yesterday.

Today, she was the second one to arrive at the company, with Chen Qi arriving even earlier.

Just as she sat down at her desk after turning on the air conditioning, Chen Qi knocked on the door and entered, asking how to handle the issue of fresh produce.

All the store managers now reported to Chen Qi, who was responsible for addressing the problems they reported. Most of the issues reported by various store managers were related to fresh produce. Since the Fresh Produce Business Department was under the management of Yu Younian, his work was closely linked with Chen Qi’s.

“We need to replace the supplier as soon as possible. Every day we delay, our reputation suffers,” Chen Qi suggested.

“For now, let’s not make any changes,” Wei Lai instructed him. She would handle it herself.

Chen Qi was not one to push too hard for answers. He nodded and left after closing the door.

Wei Lai retrieved the phone number of the owner of the fresh produce supplier from the supplier database and called him directly, introducing herself.

The other party seemed to be expecting her call, showing no surprise when he heard her name.

“Mr. Liu, do you have a few minutes to spare?” she asked.

“Ms. Wei, please go ahead.”

Wei Lai got straight to the point. “It’s understandable that you chose Fumanyuan. I have no intention of pursuing it. Even if I were to get the liquidated damages, I wouldn’t get rich. I just hope that until I find a suitable supplier, you can continue to deliver goods reliably and in good quality. Let’s part ways amicably, shall we?”

She heard a faint sigh from the other end of the line. He couldn’t directly respond; after all, responding would be tantamount to admitting to the unethical behavior of Fumanyuan.

Wei Lai didn’t need him to make a statement; she expressed her sincerity: “As soon as the legal affairs girl starts work, I’ll have her contact you. The contract will be unconditionally terminated, and from then on, payment will be made on the same day for each delivery. You won’t owe us a penny.”

“Alright, I won’t disturb you any longer. Best of luck with your business,” she hung up the phone.

By 8:30, she had arranged for the legal department to start the termination process as quickly as possible and asked HR to find the contact information of the previous procurement employee who had resigned.

She had only met the former procurement employee a few times, and half a year had passed. At first, the person didn’t recognize her.

“I’m Wei Lai, the current head of Wei Lai Supermarket.”

The person on the other end seemed visibly surprised. “… Ms. Wei, hello. What can I do for you?”

The tone of the conversation was noticeably unnatural, even a bit flustered.

Wei Lai smiled. “You know why I’m calling. You’re well aware.”

“Was it because I didn’t hand over my work properly when I left?”

“No.”

“In that case, I can’t guess. Please tell me directly, Ms. Wei.”

“Lu Manyi. Is that clear enough?”

There was a sudden silence on the phone.

“Ms. Wei, I don’t understand what you’re talking about.”

Wei Lai remained calm. “A normal response wouldn’t be asking, ‘What’s wrong with Lu Manyi?’ What do you mean you don’t understand what I’m saying? I just said a name. What’s so hard to understand? By the way, I have a good relationship with Qi Linsheng.”

“…No, Ms. Wei, your call today is inexplicable.”

The other party’s mental defenses were about to collapse. Wei Lai changed her approach: “You probably wonder if I’ll change my mind. Well, you have no other choice.” She deliberately paused for a few seconds, her tone still calm. “Are you waiting for a letter from my lawyer soon, or do you want to resolve this today?”

After a long silence, the other party said, “There’s more than one person involved in this at the supermarket. I also don’t know who the other person is.”

Wei Lai replied, “Consider this matter settled.”

Without further ado, she hung up the phone.

With over forty store managers and middle and senior management personnel in the supermarket, all of whom had authority and could potentially be involved with Lu Manyi, it would be like finding a needle in a haystack to investigate.

This matter required careful consideration, so she put it aside for now.

In the evening, she had dinner with Chen Qi and arranged to meet with the head of the logistics company’s Jiangcheng branch to explore the possibility of strategic cooperation.

On a strategic level, the branch manager couldn’t make the decision alone and would have to report upward. Wei Lai had to wait for a response.

The dinner didn’t end until 10:30 in the evening. She asked the driver to take her to her mother’s residence.

Cheng Minzhi was still awake, analyzing data in the living room while waiting for her daughter. Since her daughter had joined the supermarket, they had been facing challenges together, and it seemed like her daughter’s energy was inexhaustible every day.

Hearing the sound of the car outside, she went to the kitchen to heat up some pumpkin rice balls that she had prepared.

Although Wei Lai wasn’t very hungry, she couldn’t resist her mother’s homemade pumpkin rice balls and sat down at the dining table to eat.

Cheng Minzhi also sat down and asked her daughter how the conversation with the logistics company went.

“Waiting for a response,” Wei Lai revealed her other plan to her mother, “Mom, I plan to cooperate with the supermarket in Sucheng.”

Cheng Minzhi was surprised. “With He Wancheng’s New Hope Supermarket?”

Wei Lai nodded with a mouthful of rice balls.

He Wancheng also held shares in the New Hope chain, but he was not involved in its operation.

Cheng Minzhi fully agreed with the new financing plan. She had been thinking all night that building logistics would be too costly and that it would be better to cooperate with a third party.

However, cooperating with New Hope was not in her plans.

She asked her daughter to explain the reasons for wanting to cooperate with New Hope.

Wei Lai said, “New Hope has developed to its current scale, and the business battles and competition among peers it has experienced over the past two to three decades are beyond our imagination. Also, our team will continue to grow. We’ll be setting up a new procurement team this year. How to manage such a large and complex team in the future is something I have no experience with.”

Cheng Minzhi didn’t have it either.

“Just because neither of us has it, we must learn from experienced peers.”

Especially the procurement team, which largely determines the survival of the supermarket. New Hope’s procurement team is well-known in the industry, so let’s learn from each other.

Cheng Minzhi: “Cooperate with New Hope, sharing resources and experiences in goods?”

Wei Lai nodded again, setting down the spoon in her hand. “Give some shares to New Hope. It won’t affect Director He, he won’t disagree. We can’t prevent Fumanyuan’s malicious competition. I don’t have the energy to prevent it all. Let experienced people handle some things; it’s more efficient.”

Cheng Minzhi suddenly felt hungry too, getting up to serve herself a bowl of sweet wine and rice balls. Lu Manyi definitely wouldn’t want Wei Lai’s supermarket to grow bigger. Who knows what means she might use against their supermarket in the future?

She was self-aware; she couldn’t be ruthless in dealing with malicious competition.

After careful consideration, she said to her daughter, “Do it as you said.”

Wei Lai had many things to attend to, asking her mother, “Will you talk to Director He about this?”

Cheng Minzhiin: “Sure, leave it to me.”

She didn’t mention Lu Manyi’s people within the supermarket to her mother, thinking about how to quickly and accurately find out who that person was.

—

On the eighth day of working at the supermarket, Tang Yi finally adapted to the rhythm of work. The workload was only a third of what she used to have. Feeling bored, she told Wei Lai to instruct her if there was anything to do.

Tang Yi clocked out and passed by Wei Lai’s office door, which was open. She stood at the door and lightly knocked. “Are we working late tonight?”

“Yeah, might as well, there’s nothing to do at home anyway.”

As Wei Lai spoke, she picked up eye drops.

“Are you so busy that you forgot it’s Valentine’s Day tonight?” Tang Yi reminded her, that even a single woman like her had to go back and celebrate a bit, not to mention married people.

Wei Lai, though busy, hadn’t forgotten and knew what day it was and what holiday it was.

From morning until now, Zhou Sujin hadn’t contacted her. Perhaps he forgot that today was Valentine’s Day.

“Is Mr. Zhou not coming?”

“No. He’s in London.”

He should still be in London, there’s a time difference, they don’t contact each other every day, and she’s not sure where he is now and what he’s busy with.

Wei Lai waved her hand. “You should go back.”

Then she added with a smile, “Happy Valentine’s Day.”

Tang Yi smiled. “You should wish me to find a boyfriend tonight. I’ll go now, you’re busy.” She leisurely went downstairs.

Wei Lai leaned back in her chair and rested, picking up her phone from the desk, and opening his profile, wanting to type but hesitating.

Staring at the screen, she didn’t even hear footsteps when someone walked to the door.

“Knock knock.”

“Come in,” she said.

The word “come in” was still in her throat when she looked up and was instantly stunned.

Zhou Sujin took off his suit with one hand and closed the door with the other.

“What are you so focused on?”

Wei Lai almost dropped her water glass and phone, standing up abruptly.

Her office was not spacious. She took a few steps from the desk to the door and dove straight into his arms.

Zhou Sujin reached out to hug her, then locked the door behind him.

Wei Lai wrapped her arms tightly around him, surprised and aggrieved. “I thought you weren’t coming.”

Zhou Sujin: “How could I not come on Valentine’s Day?”

Wei Lai felt her nose tingle. “I just thought you weren’t coming.”

She stood on tiptoe, burying her face in his neck. After ten days apart, his scent felt unfamiliar.

“Can you not stay away for so long next time?”

Zhou Sujin lowered his head to kiss her. “I’ll stay a few more days.”

No matter how long he stayed, she felt it was too short. She didn’t ask him how many days he would stay this time, focusing solely on responding to his kiss.

The first time, when he kissed her, his arms tightened around her waist, making her ache.

Until she was panting, he pulled away from her lips.

Wei Lai hung on his neck, showing no intention of letting go.

Zhou Sujin lowered his head again to kiss her lips. “Do you want to eat at home or outside?”

“At home.”

“I’ll have the restaurant deliver.” Zhou Sujin asked her again, “Are you ready to go now?”

Wei Lai nodded, staying in his arms for a few more minutes before going to tidy up the table and shut down the computer.

Her cup still had water in it, and Zhou Sujin picked it up and drank half.

On the way back to Jiang’an Yunchen, Wei Lai lowered the car’s partition.

The back seat was equipped with aviation seats, with a fixed armrest box in the middle, making it impossible for her to lean on him.

“Mr. Zhou.”

Zhou Sujin suddenly turned to look at her. “Feeling aggrieved at work?”

“No, not really aggrieved, just sometimes I feel quite tired.” Wei Lai reached out her hand and played with one of his cufflinks.

After considering for a moment, Zhou Sujin asked her, “Do you need my help?”

“No need, I can handle it myself.” Wei Lai reached out her hand to him again, without saying anything.

Zhou Sujin took off another one of his cufflinks and placed it in her hand.

He looked at her. “Let me give you some of my experience, would you like that?”

Wei Lai instinctively sat up straight, listening intently. “Yes, I would.”

“If you know the intentions of your competitors, make them pay at any cost, or else they will keep coming back, never-ending.”

Wei Lai understood. “Okay.”

She also became concerned about his trip to London this time, and whether it went smoothly.

“Have you settled everything with the people you went to visit?”

Zhou Sujin never put up defenses against her, telling her it was about the Xinming Group’s affairs. He added, “Not really. I don’t need to talk in detail with him. I go there, and he knows what it means.”

Wei Lai couldn’t help but admire. “Such understanding between you?”

She sighed, “If only I could have such understanding with you.”

Zhou Sujin met her slightly disappointed yet hopeful gaze and said, “My methods of operation are similar to his, it’s understanding, not just mutual understanding. I’m most in tune with you.”