Big Data Cultivation

Chapter 452: Chapter 452 The Oblivious Chaoge

Feng Jun took out the Storage Talisman, which greatly stimulated Sister Hong and Feng Jing.

Equipment capable of storing objects was desired by everyone, even Sister Hong. Even if not for convenience, just the thought of making money with such an item could have made her rich.

If one were a bit more ruthless, tens of millions of US Dollars would not be a problem—for example, taking a trip to Myanmar and then to Merrick or somewhere like that…

Of course, Feng Jun’s purpose in bringing out the Storage Talisman so ostentatiously was to let the two women know, “See? As soon as you complete your transformation, there are so many benefits waiting for you.”

As for Storage Talismans that don’t require Spiritual Energy, he didn’t even mention them, to avoid dampening their motivation for cultivation.

After all, he couldn’t procure that kind of Storage Talisman anytime soon, so it was better not to talk about it.

And things developed just as he had expected. That night, after everyone had gone to their rooms, Sister Hong sent a message at one o’clock in the morning, “Coach, in the pavilion in the backyard, at one-thirty, I’m going to practice Yoga…”

She was not the only one in a hurry; Feng Jing was too. She was currently consolidating her Intermediate Level Martial Artist status and was in no rush to cultivate, but besides working and covering classes during the day, she spent most of her time in Luohua Manor. As for going home… What is home?

Moreover, on many occasions, she would come to Feng Jun with the Dragon Phoenix Supreme Heart Method and seek guidance earnestly.

The development of the manor finally got on the right track, with the Spirit Gathering Array in the backyard reaching its peak, and the newly planted bamboo Miao began to grow rapidly.

Two days later, some people arrived at the manor’s gate, four business partners from Chaoge, asking to see Mou Miao.

Mou Miao, seeing the Xu Family was no longer acting tough, actually considered moving out, but what he didn’t expect was that as time went on, a new variable appeared on the Chaoge side.

A few months ago, he had discussed with Feng Jun a plan for scaled production, directly selecting manufacturers by tender for three factories and one general contractor, eliminating the other dozen or so.

Mou Miao’s falling out with the Xu Family was over this matter, and these four partners hadn’t offered much support.

The general contractor was better, at least having someone accompany him the whole time and attempting to mediate between both parties.

The other three basically wouldn’t show their faces and were focused solely on production.

Regarding their attitude, one couldn’t necessarily call it wrong. In business, focusing on one’s product, ensuring quality, and expecting payment according to the contract is normal—other matters are not to interfere with each other.

Mature business models should be like this.

However, this was just empty talk. Such perfect cooperation only exists in textbooks. If business partners are in trouble and you don’t reach out to help, it will sooner or later affect your own interests.

The principle that “when the lips are gone, the teeth will be cold” is understood even by children.

In regions with better business environments, there might be similar cases—each link in the chain acts independently without asking too many external factors, but these are exceptions.

Specifically, in Chaoge, the business environment was not great, even considered closed off, and mature businesses shouldn’t operate with such philosophy.

Yet these four businesses cared nothing for Mou Miao’s predicament. The real reason, as previously mentioned, was that they believed Mou Miao would be constrained by delivery deadlines and ultimately would have to yield to the Xu Family.

Given this, why should they confront the Xu Family head-on? Let Mou Miao handle it himself.

As long as the quality of their products was fine, they weren’t afraid that Mou Miao wouldn’t accept them—did they think the supply and sale contract was a joke?

However, Mou Miao and Liu Xiaoxuan escaped Chaoge with the help of friends, and they vaguely sensed that the situation might change.@@novelbin@@

What followed was a fierce counterattack from Mou Miao. The Xu Family had abducted three brothers, though the eldest was eventually bailed out, it was said that Lao San and Lao Si were to be sentenced.

Worse yet, Mou Miao refused the mediation of others and was determined to bring the Xu brothers to ruin.

Upon hearing this, the four partners became anxious. The general contractor was somewhat better off, but the other three immediately contacted Liu Xiaoxuan, saying, “General Liu, we have finished processing another batch of goods; when will you come to inspect and pay?”

After the tender, Mou Miao had standardized the contract, with a twenty percent prepayment, but obviously, to make money, the rest needed to be paid.

Liu Xiaoxuan, full of indignation, bluntly replied, “We’re busy with a lawsuit right now and can’t afford to execute the contract.”

The three companies were taken aback, “This isn’t right; the prepayment doesn’t even cover labor costs, not to mention the raw materials and machinery expenses, which we fronted.”

“Now you remember you fronted the funds?” the more incensed Liu Xiaoxuan got, “Didn’t you think when we were being harassed by the Xu Family, that we offended other families because we gave you the contract?”

So she ruthlessly stated, “We’re helpless in this situation. Besides, the business environment in Chaoge is so poor, we’re unlikely to go back in the future.”

Upon hearing this, the three companies were furious, “General Liu, it’s meaningless to say that. We have a signed contract. If it comes to it, we’ll have to meet in court.”

“Then we’ll see each other in court,” Liu Xiaoxuan scoffed with contempt, “If you dare, have Zhengyang come arrest me.”

The three companies, upon hearing these words, lost their temper—catching someone in Zhengyang was far too difficult, especially when the other party was prepared.

But this money cannot be refused, after all, a substantial amount has been preinvested.

So they had someone ask on their behalf, “Do you intend to just let your advance payments go to waste?”

Mou Miao’s response was that they did intend to let it go to waste since they had the money and such losses were insignificant to them.

It was Zhengyang that was the real pitfall, and cutting losses now was prudent to avoid further losses down the line.

Dealing with the kind of people who had money and a temper was a headache for anyone; after all, they had the luxury of being capricious.

Besides, you wouldn’t likely win a lawsuit against such individuals!

Huaxia was different from Merrick; it wasn’t a capital-driven society but a bureaucracy-driven one. Yet even in such a society, if capital was strong enough and the bureaucratic support behind you was weak, you could only lament impotently.

Mou Miao could afford the loss—in fact, it was Feng Jun who could afford it—but Chaoge’s four families could not.

Therefore, they sent someone to negotiate, but Mou Miao was completely unyielding: Everyone had incurred losses, it was best to part ways amicably.

How could it be easy to part amicably? Mou Miao’s prepayment was made in batches, but manufacturing was not conducted that way.

To be specific, Mou Miao’s bidding was for a thousand Boiler Camel Motorcycles, which he could order in five batches, two hundred units at a time.

Accordingly, each down payment he had to make was one-fifth of the parts for two hundred units.

However, the manufacturers have to stockpile raw materials and could not just stockpile for two hundred units; for an order of a thousand units, having enough materials for three to four hundred units was essential—what if material shortages arose?

Moreover, in order to prevent upstream suppliers from arbitrarily raising prices, they also had to make partial advance payments, and at the very least, cover costs like treats and entertainment which definitely could not be skipped.

This represented yet another expense.

Thus, once Mou Miao decided to pull out, the losses for the people of Chaoge were no less substantial—purchased raw materials might be sold at lower prices, but the difference had already caused unbearable losses.

Truth be told, these three businesses won the bid because they had been cooperating with Mou Miao for a considerable time prior, earning a decent amount of money. Even though they lost a lot this time, overall, they didn’t lose much.

Naturally, these three companies didn’t see it that way. Does it mean that just because we made money before, we should accept losses now? There’s no such reasoning in the world!

In business, everything should be accounted for separately.

However, Lydia Liu’s logic was different. In her eyes: You three made a good profit before, right? And out of trust, we also chose you three this time, right?

We, including General Mou, encountered trouble and needed local mediation, but you all remained indifferent!

Is that how you repay our trust?

So she bluntly laid down her terms: As long as I’m alive, don’t even think about future collaboration; just go and do whatever you need to, even if Mou Miao agrees, I won’t!

As mentioned earlier, Mou Miao was a person who lived rather indifferently and didn’t like to quibble over many things; many of life’s calculations were left to his wife, Lydia Liu, to decide.

Lydia Liu also realized that Feng Jun, Mou Miao’s boss and classmate, was a man of principle and sentiment and didn’t mind her small schemes; naturally, she sought a vengeful and satisfying life—dare you to impound my Highlander again!

Once the four families heard her say this, they lost all hope of a lucky break and urgently reported the situation to the district, hoping the district would intervene to help mediate.

Some in the district were already aware of the situation, but most did not know much about Mou Miao’s business dealings.

General Mou in Chaoge never registered a company, the products didn’t have a brand, and even the accounting was done through personal accounts; local partners were also unwilling to do transactions through company accounts—for reasons everyone understood.

Now that the district heard that Mou Miao had placed orders worth over twenty million US Dollars in just half a year, everyone was stunned: Damn, such a huge deal was hidden in that tiny hotel?

It wasn’t just about the size of the transactions; most importantly, it had started forming an industrial chain.

Mou Miao had chosen four companies for collaboration. The Boiler Camel Motorcycle wasn’t high-tech, but it was still a system that couldn’t be created by just these four companies—without even mentioning, there was clearly no steel plant among these four.

Mou Miao’s departure not only affected these four companies; with twenty million dollars’ worth of orders, the amount involved for the local economy was, undoubtedly, much more substantial—this is known as the ripple effect of industrial products.

Not to mention that these four enterprises had already stopped production and were contemplating layoffs, just take the workers’ lost income, and they’d have to visit the restaurants less often.

The restaurant owners wanted to curse—whom have we offended to deserve this?

These four companies disclosed the news, hoping the district would take action, be it punishing the Xu family or threatening to sue Mou Miao; something needed to be done—this was affecting our local economy.

But what baffled them was that the district’s reaction turned out to be: Who knows how these Boiler Camel Motorcycles are sold to Bei Xinluo?