"Of course!"
"Then sir, please, please come in, hurry and come in." The old man was also very anxious about his master's future. As soon as he heard Ye Hao's confirmation, he immediately couldn't help inviting Ye Hao into the noodle shop.
"Please!"
The old man walked briskly, leading Ye Hao into the noodle shop. At this moment, a middle-aged man was sitting inside, looking very dejected. The crisis and debts at home had left him at his wits' end, and his daughter had been mentally out of it every day lately.
His wife had even been taken away by someone, he didn't know by whom. He'd tried to report it to the police, but was afraid they would tear up the ticket on his wife.
Faced with such an arrangement by fate, the middle-aged man sighed every day that heaven was unfair to him. Every day he tried to find a job that wouldn't waste his education, but his Qiu Family enemies seemed afraid he might make a comeback. As soon as he found a job, someone would immediately go and threaten that company.
In the six months since his company had gone under, he'd found no fewer than twenty jobs, with salaries that were actually decent for his current situation.
But these jobs, right after they hired him, hadn't even let him start before urgently telling him not to come. As for all the travel expenses he'd spent for interviews, those companies treated him like they were shooing off a beggar, casually tossing the middle-aged man a few dozen yuan.
"Master, master, we've got an honored guest today, masterā¦" The old lady rushed over to the middle-aged man, shouting excitedly.
The middle-aged man looked at the old man in confusion, and only after a long moment did he ask, "What honored guest?"
"Master, look who's here? He's the new owner who bought our Dragon and Phoenix Castle. If I remember right, his name should be Ye Hao, isn't that so, sir?" The old man turned his head to look at Ye Hao and asked.
"Yes, sir." Ye Hao nodded to the old man, then looked at the middle-aged man and greeted him, "Hello."
"Hello. You're the new owner of Dragon and Phoenix Castle, Mr. Ye?" The middle-aged man said, "My name is Zhang Peitang, currently unemployed and drifting."
"Nice to meet you, Mr. Zhang. I heard you used to run a private company? I don't know which industry you were in?" Ye Hao didn't bother with fake lines like 'I've long heard of your name', and directly asked which industrial field Zhang Peitang used to be in.
"What 'industry' or 'position'? The company's gone, everything's gone, I'm up to my neck in debtā¦" Zhang Peitang shook his head and sighed.
"Oh? What made you end up with such huge debts, Mr. Zhang?"
"I got screwed over by a pack of treacherous bastards. I hate that I couldn't resist temptation! Otherwise why would I, Zhang Peitang, be sleeping on the streets every day, sometimes full, sometimes starving, with my wife and kid unable to live in peace?" Thinking of his past, Zhang Peitang spoke in a way that was hard to look back on.
"Oh? Which field were you a leading figure in, Mr. Zhang?"
"Heavy industry. Back then the company name was Zhang's Heavy Industry. But once my company collapsed, there was no Zhang's Heavy Industry in the Northeast anymore, only Tong's Heavy Industry left to dominate the field." Zhang Peitang recalled.
"Tong's Heavy Industry?" Ye Hao repeated in puzzlement. Why did this heavy industry company sound so familiar?
"Yeah, Tong's Heavy Industry in the Northeast. I hate them! Those treacherous bastards. But I hate myself even more for not being able to resist other people's temptation and believing what they said. All that money gave me a false sense of superiority and numbed my vigilance." The more he thought about it, the angrier Zhang Peitang became, his emotions extremely unstable.
"So it was that heavy industry." Once he heard the name, Ye Hao immediately knew which family's Tong's Heavy Industry this was.
Wasn't this exactly the Tong Dawei family he'd had some skirmishes with? Later they'd even sent a killer after him, though in the end the hitman ran away. Otherwise, Ye Hao would already have a reason to make a move against Tong's Heavy Industry.
Although Tong's Heavy Industry was quite capable, no matter how capable they were, they couldn't match up to capital and raw power. Based on the current strength of the Dragon and Phoenix Castle conglomerate, going headātoāhead with Tong's Heavy Industry would be enough to make them cry out in pain for quite a while.
For example, whatever heavy industrial products they specialized in, the conglomerate could completely copy them without limit, then flood the market in bulk, with prices even lower than Tong's Heavy Industry. When that time came, Tong's Heavy Industry would be like ants in a frying pan, only able to hop around.
It was just that there was still no hard evidence on Tong Dawei's crimes yet, so Ye Hao could only set this aside for now. He also didn't have much energy to deal with it at the moment; after all, the trouble brewing over in Shanghai was too huge, and he had to focus on handling that properly.
"Mr. Ye, you've heard of this Tong's Heavy Industry? If you don't want to get involved with them, then please, go ahead and leave!" Thinking Ye Hao was afraid of Tong's Heavy Industry and feeling there was nothing they could talk about, Zhang Peitang gestured for Ye Hao to go.
"Afraid? Heh, I'm really not. I just have a bit of a grudge with one of that family's younger generation, that's all. It's no big deal." Ye Hao laughed.
"Then I wonder what Mr. Ye came to talk to me about?" Zhang Peitang asked.
"I'm just curious what kind of man you areāwhether you're talent or dead weight. If you're talent, I can give you a platform and an opportunity to develop." Ye Hao smiled.
"Really?" Zhang Peitang's eyes lit up. Even though he'd lost his company and his subordinates, he still had his brain. He felt that if someone would just give him a platform, he was absolutely capable of making a comeback.
"Heh, no rush. Let me ask you first: if I put you in charge of a company that combines heavy and light industry, how long would you need to get familiar with its operations? And how long until you can start showing me profits?" Ye Hao asked with a grin.
"Getting familiar won't take long. The key is what categories your heavy industry covers, and what your light industry covers."
"Shipbuilding, automobile manufacturing, precision machine tools, airplanes, construction, real estateāso long as you have a way to make money, I can give you a chance to develop it. But that depends on whether you've got the ability. I'll give you an address now. You can write up a detailed proposal, then go to the Dragon and Phoenix Castle conglomerate headquarters in Datian District, Peng City, and look for a young man named Qin Xiweng. Let him assess you. Remember, any heavy or light industry projects you can think of can be written in. If you pass his assessment, then you'll have a chance to make your comeback. If you fail, it proves your ideas aren't mature enough for the conglomerate to even consider taking you in." Ye Hao smiled as he wrote down an address and Qin Xiweng's phone number on the counter, then handed it to Zhang Peitang.
With trembling hands, Zhang Peitang took the address and phone number from Ye Hao. In that instant, he almost felt like he was back more than twenty years ago, when he first entered the factory and fought his way up. How similar was that to now?
Only this time, entering the factory wouldn't be as a worker, but as a senior managerāassuming he could pass the assessment.
"Heh, here's a hundred thousand yuan, Mr. Zhang. Settle this old gentleman down, then hurry to Peng City!" Ye Hao said with a smile, handing over the hundred thousand to Zhang Peitang.
After doing this, Ye Hao left without staying long.
After all, all the women at home were waiting for him. If he'd just gotten back and then stayed out too long again, he'd definitely get complained at by the ladies. (To be continued. If you like this work, you're welcome to visit Qidian (qidian.com) to vote for recommendation tickets and monthly tickets. Your support is my greatest motivation. Mobile users, please go to m.qidian.com to read.)