A street on the north side of Kuisan Market on Tonghang Road, in the city center.
The streets in late February were bustling with people. Electric scooters lined both sides. After all, they are the most common mode of transportation for locals. Even families with cars would keep one or two scooters on hand just in case.
Knowing there was no underground parking nearby, Jiang Miao had Ke Yong drive to the entrance of the tax bureau. People were just getting off work there, so plenty of parking spots had opened up.
Jiang Miao and his group then walked to Kuisan Market.
"Boss, I bet you’ve been to a small shop on a little street like this before, haven’t you?" Jiang Haibo guessed, looking at the storefront before them.
"Yeah. My maternal uncle lives nearby."
They walked into the small shop. The four tables downstairs were already taken, so he went straight to the owner and asked, "Are there any seats upstairs?"
"There’s one room left. A party of four?"
"Yes. Lei cha for four." Jiang Miao turned and asked the others, "What do you guys want? They have fried rice, fried kway teow, fried rice vermicelli, and fried sweet potato noodles."
"Fried rice!"
"Fried kway teow!"
"I’ll have fried rice too!"
Jiang Miao smiled and said to the owner, "Three orders of fried rice, one of fried kway teow, plus an order of salted chicken, a mixed plate of stuffed bitter lon and stuffed tofu, and an order of stir-fried beef with gai lan."
The owner deftly jotted down their order. "You all can head upstairs first."
They went to a table by the window on the second floor.
Jiang Miao took a seat, and the others sat down with him.
Outside the window, they could see the governnt dormitory complex for the city district. It was an old residential area built when the city was first established, with no underground parking or elevators. However, it had undergone so renovations in recent years, and elevators had been retrofitted.
Before long, the owner ca up carrying a brown ceramic basin for the lei cha, filled to the brim with a green, soupy tea.
"Co on, a bowl for everyone." Jiang Miao picked up the large ladle and scooped a bowl of lei cha for himself first. "Help yourselves!"
Jiang Haibo stared at the vibrant green soup, feeling a little apprehensive. ’But the boss ordered it, so I have to drink it.’ He steeled himself and ladled a small half-bowl.
Ke Yong, however, didn’t hold back. He ladled half a bowl, downed it in one go, and then got himself another full one.
The owner then brought up the sliced salted chicken and the mixed plate of stuffed tofu and bitter lon.
Jiang Haibo took a sip and found the lei cha was actually quite good. It had the fresh fragrance of vegetables, a slight sweetness, and was mingled with a faint, bitter note from the tea leaves.
"This salted chicken is a famous Hakka dish from the Lu River area," Jiang Miao said as he picked up a chicken mid-wing. Of all the parts of a chicken, he liked the mid-wings best, especially in salt-baked chicken and salted chicken.
Soon, the fried rice and fried kway teow arrived one after another.
The group ate while making small talk about everyday things.
Since Jiang Miao didn’t like to discuss business during als, the others naturally wouldn’t ask for trouble.
By the ti they finished their al, it was almost two o’clock.
They walked back to the tax bureau to get the car.
It was just about two-thirty. Instead of heading back, Jiang Miao had Ke Yong drive to Erma Road, across from the Urban Managent Bureau.
Luckily, they had co around 2:30 PM. If it had been noon or evening, the sides of the road here would have been almost completely taken over by food carts and electric scooters, making it difficult for a car to pass.
They parked the car near Shani Middle School.
The group walked for a few minutes and soon saw three adjoining storefronts that were under renovation.
The head contractor was one of Jiang Yao’s n and recognized Jiang Miao. He quickly put down his woodwork and said, "Boss Jiang, the renovations here will take about another week."
"No problem, you guys carry on!" Jiang Miao turned and instructed, "Zixuan, go buy a case of Red Bull and so bananas for the workers."
"Okay," Li Zixuan nodded.
anwhile, Jiang Miao and Jiang Haibo started discussing the property.
This property was located just across from Hongwei Primary School. It used to be an electronics store, but the landlord’s son lost several million from online gambling last October. To pay off his son’s debts, the landlord had no choice but to sell these three storefronts.
The first-floor area of the storefronts was 144 square ters, and the second floor, a converted residence, was 156 square ters, for a total of 300 square ters.
The purchase price was 4.5 million yuan.
Currently, Jiang Miao had purchased a total of three properties in the city center: the 300-square-ter storefront on Erma Road, a self-built house on the side of South City Road, and another self-built house on Binhai Avenue near Fengshan Mazu Square. The total expenditure was 17.39 million yuan.
The reason for purchasing these properties was actually Jiang Haibo’s suggestion. He believed the company’s current cash flow was exceptionally strong and that the money shouldn’t be left idle.
Although Hailufeng Company was registered as an agricultural technology company, its actual scope of business also included supermarkets, departnt stores, agricultural products, and food service.
To enhance the company’s risk resilience, Jiang Haibo suggested that in addition to acquiring properties, they could also use them to open so subsidiary businesses.
After so thought, Jiang Miao decided to purchase the three properties. However, they were registered under his father Jiang Dahai’s na and would then be leased to Hailufeng Company.
When it ca to the business direction for the stores, he didn’t make a unilateral decision. Instead, he consulted his brother-in-law, his father, Jiang Haibo, and others. Over the past few days, a general plan had finally taken shape.
First, for the property they were at now—given its sufficient size and pri location on Erma Road, a well-known local hot spot for foodies and influencers—the plan was to open an eel-rice restaurant and a specialty store for the company’s products.
As for the self-built house on South City Road, the first-floor storefront was only 60 square ters, but its five floors totaled 320 square ters. For this one, Jiang Haibo suggested opening a gold shop.
The reason for choosing a gold shop was, naturally, Hailufeng Company’s large cash reserves. If they wanted to legally minimize their taxes, opening a gold shop was an excellent tax avoidance strategy.
After all, purchasing gold to be processed into jewelry turns that investnt into inventory. Besides, the profit margins for a gold shop weren’t bad either.
The last property was the self-built house on Binhai Avenue. The first-floor storefront was 120 square ters. The building had three floors, with a total area of 400 square ters.
Jiang Miao planned to use this property as a private clubhouse, providing a convenient place to stay in the city for himself, his family, and company personnel when they were in town on business.
It could also be used to host business partners from out of town.
In truth, this kind of asset-heavy operation was an excellent investnt strategy for a cash-rich company like Hailufeng Company.
As for things like financial investnts, Jiang Miao had no talent for playing the market. His math skills were average, and besides, the dostic A-share market was notoriously rebellious. Investing in foreign finance was even riskier, and he had no desire to get fleeced.
Jiang Miao wasn’t even comfortable with taking out bank loans.
After all, many companies had died because of high debt and broken capital chains.
In Jiang Miao’s view, many private enterprises were far too aggressive and reckless with their investnt strategies, often borrowing money to expand without restraint.
If they encountered favorable market conditions, they would naturally soar.
But if the market soured or policy changes occurred, they could instantly implode.
He couldn’t understand the ntality of so many entrepreneurs. ’Why are they so aggressive, as if they’ll be eliminated by competitors tomorrow if they don’t expand today?’
Or they’d get suckered into investing in a bunch of "PowerPoint projects," without doing any due diligence, feasibility studies, or market research.
Jiang Miao’s own investnts, on the other hand, only seed aggressive.
In reality, they were well within a controllable range. The company’s cash flow was always abundant, and without any loans, no investnt it made could lead to a serious financial crisis.
If there were loans involved, one couldn’t make such aggressive investnts; the risk and consequences of a broken capital chain had to be considered.
Many entrepreneurs’ investnts were actually gambles—bets that the market would improve, allowing them to be the pigs that fly in a whirlwind.
Unfortunately, they only saw the pigs that took flight and subconsciously ignored all the ones that had crashed and burned before the whirlwind even arrived.
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