"Yiwu's main urban area is located in Choucheng Subdistrict. It's not very large, and it's not very lively during the New Year. Most locals gather in the countryside, while more outsiders stay in the urban area."
"Yes, these days everyone likes to celebrate the New Year in the countryside. My family also goes to the countryside every year for the New Year."
In fact, it's also related to urban development.
Although cities developed rapidly at the turn of the century and there were more and more rich people, there were actually more poor people.
Families with a monthly income of only a few hundred yuan and only able to save two or three thousand yuan a year were not uncommon.
There's no need to go back three generations.
People like Tan Lihua and Gu Hongshun themselves came from farming backgrounds.
The living habits they formed in childhood are hard to change, so it's normal for them to like returning to the countryside for the New Year.
The reason why Tan Jincheng's companies dare to offer such high salaries is, on the one hand, that both the two trading companies and Shanchi Technology are considered highly profitable industries.
Needless to say about the trading companies, Shanchi Technology could achieve profitability in its first year.
This is already considered a highly profitable industry among heavily invested factories.
Most medium-sized factories that can break even within four or five years are already quite impressive.
Earning money was not difficult for Tan Jincheng, coupled with some thought habits from later generations.
Additionally, he didn't mix in any particular circles, so he dared to offer high salaries to grassroots employees.
This not only allowed him to recruit people faster but also left a good impression with the ZF.
Although he was reluctant to admit it, Tan Jincheng, having witnessed the numerous delivery riders and Didi drivers everywhere during the economic downturn of later generations, still harbored some "saintly" thoughts, even if he was powerless to change these things.
However, paying his employees higher salaries, allowing them to live a good life for a few years, while also benefiting the development of his own company, was more or less one of the reasons influencing Tan Jincheng's formulation of the salary system for his companies.
Perhaps, among these more than six hundred employees, a large portion might consider buying a house while their income is currently high; not to mention, people like Zhang Xuhui, Sun Yuming, and the Li Yanning sisters all had the idea of buying a house, and even Lin Yumin and Wu Zhenping shared this thought.
With housing prices at three to four thousand yuan, a few years of hard work could lead to a significant price difference, even if they sold it to return to their hometown for retirement in the future.
This could be considered Tan Jincheng invisibly changing the fate of some people.
Getting drunk on his first New Year's visit to someone's home felt somewhat awkward.
By the time Tan Jincheng woke up, it was already six o'clock in the afternoon.
He had slept for about four hours.
When he walked out of the room, he saw that not only had the number of people in the house not decreased, but there were a few more than at noon.
Gu Qingqing's paternal cousin brother and paternal cousin sister had also returned.
The moment Tan Jincheng walked into the living room, everyone in the room simultaneously fixed their gaze on him.
At this moment, Boss Tan, who wouldn't bat an eye facing five or six hundred employees on stage, actually felt a little timid.
"You're awake, huh? Dinner will be ready soon. Your aunt is cooking. Want to play cards?"
Gu Hongshun and the others were playing cards and casually asked Tan Jincheng.
The brothers had teamed up at noon to get a junior drunk.
It felt satisfying at the time, but thinking about it later, they felt quite embarrassed.
Wasn't that clearly bullying someone?
Especially since the person even brought New Year's gifts.
But they could just pin the blame on the second brother (Gu Hongshun); he was the one who gave the signal.
In the afternoon, this group didn't go anywhere else but gathered at home to play cards, waiting for Tan Jincheng to wake up, and they waited until evening.
"No thanks, uncles, you go ahead and play. I'll just watch for a bit,"
Tan Jincheng said with a smile, walking towards Gu Qingqing.
Gu Hongshun's eyelids twitched.
"You kid, your alcohol tolerance isn't good. Don't you have to drink with people when you do business?"
"It's okay. When I first started my business, I sometimes had to drink with clients, but now it's mostly not necessary,"
Tan Jincheng said lightly.
Business isn't just made at the dinner table, but not going to the dinner table is definitely not an option.
It's just that Tan Jincheng's business leans more towards being the client, so he doesn't have many opportunities to ask favors from others, and therefore, not many people can force him to drink.
Compared to his previous life, Tan Jincheng's alcohol tolerance in this life was much worse.
Upon hearing this, the three Gu Hongshun brothers looked at each other.
Gu Qingqing sat beside Tan Jincheng and chuckled.
She had attended banquets with Tan Jincheng.
Aside from some employees who got rowdy during the annual meeting, very few people dared to force drinks on him.
Perhaps this was a symbol of status.
"Dinner's almost ready! Don't drink tonight, or just drink a little if you must,"
Li Jinzhen's voice came from the kitchen.
Tan Jincheng had intended to get up and help in the kitchen but was called back by Gu Hongshun.
Soon, Li Jinzhen emerged from the kitchen, holding poached eggs in a bowl.
"Xiao Tan, come quickly, eat this first."
"Oh, okay."
Although Tan Jincheng was a bit confused, he still walked to the dining table as instructed.
"You must finish all the eggs in the bowl, don't leave any. You don't have to drink the soup,"
Li Jinzhen said, giving Tan Jincheng a meaningful look.
"Okay, no problem. I'm a bit hungry anyway, Auntie, don't worry."
Four poached eggs lay in the bowl, boiled in brown sugar water.
Yiwu's brown sugar was quite famous.
Tan Jincheng didn't quite understand the significance of this, but his mother used to often make this for him when he was studying.
Four poached eggs were easy enough to handle.
Gu Qingqing's paternal cousin sister, Gu Yanling, hadn't seen what happened during the day, but when poached eggs were served before dinner, she chuckled and quietly said to Gu Qingqing,
"Looks like he's been approved! When's the big day?"
The cousin brother also looked surprised, his eyes darting between Tan Jincheng and Gu Qingqing.
"No way,"
Gu Qingqing denied.
"My dad got him drunk at noon, and my mom is just trying to warm his stomach."
The conversation between the two was in Yiwu dialect, which Tan Jincheng couldn't understand anyway.
But Gu Qingqing was still a bit shy and didn't want to admit it directly.
However, she was very happy that her boyfriend had gained the approval of her family and relatives.
Dinner was harmonious, and drinking was only light.
At the table, everyone mostly discussed the differences in New Year customs between Yicheng and Yiwu, truly like treating a newly arrived son-in-law.
After dinner, the elders dispersed, while Gu Qingqing's cousin brother and cousin sister took a group of children to set off fireworks.
In an era where firecrackers were not banned, the New Year truly felt complete.
In the open field, bursts of fireworks soared into the sky with whistling sounds, blooming in the dark night sky, drawing cheers from the children.
"Do you want to set off some sky rockets?"
Gu Yuxin said with a smile to Tan Jincheng.
Cousin brother Gu Yuxin is 25 this year, doing wholesale clothing business in Hangzhou, mainly active in the Sijiqing wholesale market.
Like Tan Jincheng, he also started working after graduating from high school.
Cousin sister Gu Yanling is 22 this year and is currently a senior at Hangzhou University of Electronic Science and Technology, studying computer science.
Gu Qingqing often consults her about specialized knowledge she doesn't understand.
"It only became a university after I graduated. When I entered, it was still called Hangzhou Institute of Electronic Industrial Engineering. I got a good deal, haha."
It was not uncommon for colleges to be upgraded to universities in this era.
Many students actually caught a good break.
Speaking of which, if Tan Jincheng hadn't had an accident and went to Anhui Provincial University, he would have also gotten a good deal.
After all, by the time he graduated, Anhui Provincial University would be a proper 211 university, whereas it wasn't when he got in, giving him a significant advantage in admission scores.
"Is cousin sister currently interning?"
Tan Jincheng asked casually.
"Yes, brother-in-law, are you trying to introduce me to a job?"
Gu Yanling said, staring at Tan Jincheng.
Tan Jincheng neither confirmed nor denied her address, then continued to ask,
"Which company are you with? Can you develop enterprise management systems?"
Shanchi Technology's current office system is disorganized, and management is quite chaotic.
In terms of scale, it has reached that of a medium-sized enterprise, but in practice, it still operates with a small factory management model.
For any slightly major decision, management needs to seek instructions from Tan Jincheng.
Sometimes when Tan Jincheng is on a business trip or attending an important meeting and cannot answer calls, some urgent matters get delayed.
Although it doesn't cause a significant impact on the company, it ultimately affects efficiency.
Currently, the factory area is not large, and there aren't many managers, all of whom were personally recruited and promoted by Tan Jincheng.
For now, it's manageable, but Shanchi Technology is destined to continue expanding, so having its own enterprise management system is essential.
Shanchi Technology must quickly establish systems like ERP, SCM, and CRM to enhance its strength through software, so that when leaders inspect in the future, it will have the appearance of a large enterprise.
As for hardware, it needs to be developed step by step.
To be honest, the 150 mu of industrial land for the industrial base seems a bit stingy for Shanchi Technology's future plans.
In fact, even without the battery project, 1500 mu of land would not be excessive for the electric vehicle business alone.
A factory complex is more than just a workshop; it also includes office buildings, employee canteens, and various warehouses.
The area required is immense, but there's no way around it.
No local ZF would dare to approve thousands or tens of thousands of mu of land for you right off the bat.
Take the major private leading enterprises in Beicang District, for example; the development of their factory buildings was not accomplished overnight.
Shenzhou Group also started as a small workshop, and Top Group, an important component supplier for Tesla in later generations, also had only a small workshop when it was founded in 2004.
Without money, strength, or connections, it's impossible for the ZF to provide large tracts of land for you to play with.
It's unlikely even in a poor county, let alone in an area with relatively tight land resources like Beicang.
Who wouldn't want to be like the protagonists in online novels, shaking their bodies to command reverence from all directions, getting whatever they want, acquiring large tracts of land all at once? But it's impossible!
Hardware strength can only be built up gradually.
After the first phase of the industrial base is put into production, they can then approach the ZF for more land.
By then, they will be able to acquire larger plots.
However, the software aspect needs to be built up bit by bit by themselves, starting now.
"You want to implement ERP? Can your company use it right now? How big is your scale?"
Gu Yanling asked, somewhat surprised.
After speaking, she couldn't help but glance at Gu Qingqing, seemingly having underestimated this brother-in-law.
(End of Chapter)