Chapter 10: The First Company Of Jinxiu Group

With Zhang Lihua’s help, Su Pingnan understood the saying: like a tiger with wings.

Not only was Zhang Lihua proficient in finance, she also grasped all sorts of business knowledge in a short time. In just over a month, Jinxiu Foods Co., Ltd., with a registered capital of 500,000, was established.

This month, the pine nuts market was completely opened in Wucheng. Merchants running to Yungang flocked in like vultures smelling carrion. The stockpiled pine nuts in the factory never exceeded 3,000 jin. Several loaders were exhausted from the work, showing how good Su Pingnan’s business was.

Li Zhiyu from Ertai Town had begun making money like crazy—railcars and less-than-carload shipments flowed into Wucheng nonstop every day.

Zhang Jianguo and several other drivers weren’t to be outdone. They loaded the passenger trains on the Wucheng-Fengcheng line with cargo, and aside from a handful of passengers, almost every available space was piled with pine nuts.

6.75 million, plus nearly 120,000 jin of goods piled up in Ertai Town that hadn’t yet been loaded—this was Su Pingnan’s income over two months.

Su Pingnan sat upright in the rather luxuriously furnished office chair. Before him lay a thick stack of company seals—official seal, finance seal, contract seal—as well as the business license and organization code certificate.

These were the results of a month and a half of running around with Zhang Lihua. Today was the day his first company was founded.

The factory had already been cleaned spotless. On the gate’s lintel, the white-background black-letter plaque of Jinxiu Foods was carefully covered with a red cloth by Zhang Lihua, waiting for the auspicious moment to unveil it with firecrackers.

Su Pingnan was now quietly getting rich and he wasn’t a big shot yet. With his claws sheathed, he only had a reputation among Wucheng’s ruffians and lower-middle classes. So he simply invited no one and decided to hold the opening ceremony just for his own brothers—make a fuss for himself and that would be that.

Sitting calmly in the office, Su Pingnan toyed with the company seal while watching the gathered brothers, including Su Wenwen who had rushed back from Ertai Town.

Fourteen people, including Zhang Lihua, stared with burning eyes, silent and full of admiration as they waited for Su Pingnan to speak. These people had watched him step by step build Jinxiu Foods and were completely convinced and loyal to him.

Among them, aside from a cashier hired by Zhang Lihua herself, the rest were the hardworking men Su Pingnan had examined, accepted, and recruited into the freight yard.

Dong dong!

Out of habit, Su Pingnan tapped the table with his index and ring fingers. Everyone immediately straightened up.

Even he didn’t fully realize it, but he was the kind of wolfish leader suited to a modern enterprise. His ferocity, toughness, calm, intelligence, and extraordinary self-confidence infused his team with fierce drive and a tenacious fighting spirit. As his vision and business continued to succeed, these people might even develop a personal worship of him and sacrifice everything for him.

A faint, satisfied smile appeared on Su Pingnan’s calm face. “Without rules, we will have no order. From today we are no longer a makeshift troupe. So the first thing is to set rules.” Saying this, he nodded at Zhang Lihua to hand out the financial procedures and company regulations she had already prepared to everyone.

Most of the men under him were rough fellows with little education. Seeing the thick stack in their hands, their expressions turned a bit sour.

With a steady gaze, Su Pingnan said, “I had my fortune told. The fortune-teller said I’m not the kind of person whose success comes from the countless sacrifices of others.”

He paused. The huddled group of people below remained silent, waiting for their leader Su Pingnan to continue.

“I named it Jinxiu Company to give everyone a bright future. My steps will get faster and faster, so you must follow me closely, keep the rules, memorize these things—doing them is only the first step of our formalization.” Su Pingnan waved the charter documents in his hand.

“I’m done with my speech. Anyone with objections can speak up now.”

To his surprise, everyone nodded resolutely. Not one person complained.

Happy inside, Su Pingnan continued, “Salaries will go through finance starting this month. I’ll have Zhang Lihua inform you about the exact amounts.”

The auspicious hour arrived. The crackling firecrackers sounded deafeningly, and Su Pingnan’s first company after rebirth quietly opened.

Everyone celebrated excitedly for a while, then began the day’s work. With high demand for pine nuts, there was no time to relax. Before long, three cargo trucks were already queued at the door.

Su Wenwen and two others were given the title of department manager, with a jaw-dropping salary of 2,000 yuan at a time when salaries were barely triple digit numbers. Zhang Lihua was made finance supervisor with the same pay.

As for Zhang Tong, Su Pingnan thought he was too young and unpredictable, so he had him run errands for him as an assistant with a salary of 1,500.

The others who followed Su Wenwen were assigned wages that Su Pingnan set at 300 yuan after some consideration—a very generous wage. These people truly worked hard: pine nut arrivals were usually at night and bulk transport often lasted the whole night, so he generously offered that rate, and those men naturally cheered.

Su Pingnan called Su Wenwen and a few others into the office. With his funds now quite substantial, he planned to begin deeper deployments in Ertai Town and Wucheng. He was no longer satisfied with occupying a small goods depot and had decided to bare his fangs.