Chapter 79: Getting Rich Would Be Hard to Avoid
After leaving the Aimeigao workshop, Lin Haoran happened to run into his uncle, who had just finished collecting rent and was wearing a satisfied smile.
"Haoran, let's head back. The sun's blazing out here. Wouldn't it be much nicer to sit at home with the fan running?" his uncle joked with a grin.
Lin Haoran nodded with a smile. The group got back into the Mercedes, started the engine, and slowly drove toward his grandfather's home.
Originally, this outing had simply been a casual stroll to pass the time. Never had he imagined that he would unexpectedly run into the still-unknown Lau Luen-hung. Even Lin Haoran himself found the encounter astonishing.
After arriving at his grandfather's house, Lin Haoran spent the afternoon chatting and laughing with the family, enjoying the rare opportunity to relax.
It wasn't until around three in the afternoon, when the sun was no longer so intense, that he and his mother bid everyone farewell and drove back to their home in Deep Water Bay.
The two homes weren't far apart, so his mother frequently visited her parents. This time, she had deliberately brought Lin Haoran along so that he could spend more time with his maternal relatives.
That evening, Lin Haoran received a phone call from Lau Luen-hung.
On the other end, Lau Luen-hung spoke honestly and enthusiastically. He explained that although his business partner wasn't particularly interested in bringing in outside investment, he himself was very interested and hoped to arrange a proper meeting with Lin Haoran.
After discussing it together, they agreed to meet at 8:00 p.m. the following Monday on the 19th floor of Hengfeng Building in Central, where Universal Investment Company was located.
There was a reason for choosing Monday. Lau Luen-hung explained that Mondays were relatively relaxed for the factory. One shipment would already have been delivered, while the raw materials for the next batch had yet to arrive, giving him enough free time to focus on their discussion.
On ordinary workdays, however, his team was buried in production, often working well over ten hours a day, leaving little opportunity for business meetings.
After spending two days at home, Lin Haoran returned to Universal Investment Company in Central.
On Monday morning, he went to Qingzhou Yingni once again.
He had already made up his mind. If he still couldn't uncover evidence that Harold Centurion had embezzled company funds, then once his shareholding exceeded 40%, he would simply convene a board meeting and force his way into power.
At that point, he would immediately dismiss the Finance Director.
Only after replacing the finance department could he thoroughly investigate the accounts and uncover any evidence of wrongdoing. If he wanted to completely remove Harold Centurion from the company, he needed proof of criminal misconduct.
Otherwise, with Harold Centurion still holding 12.6% of Qingzhou Yingni's shares, there was no way to stop him from remaining on the board.
As for how to handle the finance department after dismissing the Finance Director, Lin Haoran already had a plan.
Over the weekend, he had come clean to his father, Lin Wan'an, meaning his father now knew everything about his involvement with Qingzhou Yingni.
When the time came, transferring several accountants from Wan'an Group to Qingzhou Yingni would be a simple matter.
After all, although Wan'an Group was a listed company, Lin Wan'an personally controlled over 50% of its shares, giving him absolute control.
Given Lin Wan'an's cautious nature, he would never leave room for anyone to secretly acquire control of Wan'an Group.
Returning to the Vice Chairman's office, Lin Haoran still had no clear direction for his investigation.
He had only recently joined Qingzhou Yingni and had no trusted subordinates within the company, making everything much more difficult.
Since the Finance Department refused to provide any useful documents, he decided to visit the Human Resources Department instead.
Using the excuse of familiarizing himself with the company's management, he obtained personnel files for all the middle and senior managers.
Li Weidong carried a thick stack of files back to the Vice Chairman's office.
Lin Haoran quickly skimmed through them.
As expected, nearly all the middle and senior managers were foreigners. Only a handful of the middle-level managers were Chinese, while every senior executive was Western.
That wasn't surprising.
Qingzhou Yingni was, after all, a British-owned enterprise, so naturally its senior management was dominated by expatriates.
Just as he had planned, once he gained control of the company and transformed it from a British-owned corporation into a Chinese-owned one, he intended to gradually replace the upper management with capable Chinese executives.
His primary focus was on the senior executives.
Deputy General Manager Burton. Australian. Joined Qingzhou Yingni in 1976. Responsible for sales and after-sales departments.
A Deputy General Manager...
Yet he wasn't even on the Board of Directors?
Lin Haoran immediately noticed the anomaly.
He knew that Qingzhou Yingni had four board members who weren't shareholders.
Besides General Manager Mr. Ziegler, the other three were department heads—the Finance Director, Marketing Director, and Public Relations Director.
Before becoming familiar with the company's management structure, Lin Haoran had assumed there simply wasn't a Deputy General Manager.
Now he realized that wasn't the case.
The Deputy General Manager simply hadn't been allowed onto the board.
Could he have been deliberately marginalized?
Very likely.
A Deputy General Manager was unquestionably senior management.
If someone at that level couldn't even secure a board seat, it meant he wasn't considered part of the company's inner circle.
Perhaps...
Burton could become an entry point for his investigation.
Lin Haoran finally had an idea.
Setting Burton's file aside, he began examining the files of the Chinese middle managers before pulling out the résumé of the most senior among them.
Liu Zhenxing. Age 48. Twenty-five years of service at Qingzhou Yingni. Joined the company immediately after graduating from university. Started as an engineer and currently serves as a Quality Department Supervisor.
"He'll do."
Lin Haoran had found another target.
Since he had no leads, he'd simply talk to these company veterans.
After all, people who had worked at Qingzhou Yingni for decades were bound to know plenty about what went on inside the company.
Harold Centurion probably hadn't bothered recruiting middle managers like them as confidants—there simply wasn't any need.
After noting down Burton's and Liu Zhenxing's phone numbers, Lin Haoran returned the personnel files to Human Resources.
His objective had been accomplished.
For the time being, he had no further use for them.
Qingzhou Yingni could be dealt with step by step.
That afternoon, Lin Haoran left the company.
Tonight, he would be discussing cooperation with Lau Luen-hung. Qingzhou Yingni could wait.
Returning to Universal Investment Company, he reviewed the day's trading results.
The pace of stock accumulation wasn't quite as fast as it had been the previous Friday, but it wasn't far behind either.
Today alone, they had acquired another 867,000 shares of Qingzhou Yingni.
Night soon arrived.
At around 7:50 p.m., Lau Luen-hung hurried onto the nineteenth floor of Hengfeng Building.
Before long, he found his destination—
Universal Investment Company.
Accustomed to working in a modest factory, stepping into such a prestigious office building instantly filled him with envy.
"I wonder when I'll have an office in a place like this..." he thought silently.
Over the weekend, he had taken the time to track down Friday's issue of the Hong Kong Business Daily.
Sure enough, it contained the official announcement of Lin Haoran's appointment as Vice Chairman of Qingzhou Yingni.
After confirming the news, Lau Luen-hung became even more eager to cooperate with him.
Although the Lau family was wealthy, they had provided him with absolutely no financial support.
Not even his own father had helped him.
As a result...
Lau Luen-hung was genuinely short of money.
In fact, most of the capital used to start his business had been borrowed.
"Mr. Lau, come have a seat."
Seeing Lau Luen-hung arrive, Lin Haoran smiled and gestured toward the sofa beside the floor-to-ceiling windows.
The area had been converted into a lounge where employees could relax while enjoying a panoramic view of most of downtown Hong Kong through the massive glass windows.
As Lau Luen-hung admired both the elegant office and the spectacular nighttime view of Victoria Harbour, his envy deepened.
Today, he had even changed into a suit specifically for the meeting, demonstrating how seriously he took it.
"Good evening, Mr. Lin," Lau Luen-hung greeted calmly.
"Mr. Lau, has your partner changed his mind?" Lin Haoran asked as he sat across from him.
Lau Luen-hung shook his head helplessly.
"Mr. Lin, I discussed it with him several times over the weekend. He believes bringing in another shareholder would simply divide the profits, and with substantial new investment, our own equity would be diluted significantly. He's firmly opposed to it, and I haven't been able to convince him."
Lin Haoran nodded.
The person he valued was Lau Luen-hung—not his partner.
The fact that Lau Luen-hung had still come tonight despite his partner's objections clearly showed where his own preference lay.
"No need to rush into discussing the partnership," Lin Haoran said with a smile. "Let's talk about something else first."
"What do you think about the future of the fan industry?"
Liu Luanxiong's eyes brightened.
"To be honest, my family's business started out manufacturing electric fans."
"My father's company, Youlian Yueji Ceiling Fan Factory, is one of Hong Kong's leading fan manufacturers. In recent years, its annual sales have exceeded HK$100 million, so I'm extremely familiar with this industry."
"After returning from four years of study in Canada, I spent another four years working in the family business."
"I had many ideas for the industry, but as one of the younger generation, I had absolutely no say. Every suggestion I made was rejected by the elders."
"That was precisely why I left the family business and founded Aimeigao Company."
"Everyone knows the Middle East has a hot climate and enormous demand for electric fans, so there's never any shortage of buyers."
"As a result, nearly all fan manufacturers in Hong Kong—and even Japan—focus primarily on exporting there."
"But that also creates a major problem."
"The competition is simply too fierce."
"Profit margins are extremely low, leaving very limited room for growth."
"Take my family's factory, for example."
"It generates annual sales exceeding HK$100 million."
"But after everything is said and done, annual profits amount to only around ten million Hong Kong dollars."
"During my four years studying in Canada, I realized the North American market holds tremendous potential."
"Especially the United States."
"Very few fan manufacturers are seriously targeting that market."
"And precisely because everyone avoids it, that's where the greatest opportunities are hidden."
"My father completely disagreed with my ideas."
"We had a huge argument."
"In the end, I left the family business."
"That's also why I received absolutely no financial assistance from him."
"I founded Aimeigao earlier this year."
"In less than a year, I've already proven my ideas work."
"I have more orders than I can handle."
"If it weren't for my lack of capital, I'd already be accepting far more orders."
"If you truly want to invest in the fan business with me, then you must agree with my vision."
"Otherwise..."
"Even though I'm desperately short of money, our partnership probably won't happen."
Lau Luen-hung laid out his unique understanding of the fan market.
Lin Haoran nodded.
He naturally knew just how profitable the North American fan market would become over the next two or three years.
Otherwise, he never would have sought cooperation with Lau Luen-hung.
He himself knew almost nothing about the fan industry.
But Lau Luen-hung...
He was an expert.
Lin Haoran had the money.
Lau Luen-hung had the experience and an exceptional instinct for market opportunities.
With the two of them working together...
It would be hard not to become rich.
(End of Chapter 79)
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