Chapter 344 - 216: Refuse a Toast, Drink a Forfeit (3)

Chapter 344: Chapter 216: Refuse a Toast, Drink a Forfeit (3)

The chairman of Minghan Business Management Company fell silent after hearing the report.

Miao Lei had previously reported on Junxiao Business Management’s SP fee investments at each of its plazas. Now, he was suggesting they match Junxiao Square’s investment, and the chairman just couldn’t accept that.

If Junxiao Square kept pouring money in, they would have to keep up. That would drain the parent company dry. And for Wanhong Square, spending so much money would, at best, only serve to hedge against the competition—a passive defense that wouldn’t bring any actual improvement to the plaza.

"Miao Lei, I’m rather disappointed in you."

Miao Lei’s heart sank.

"How could you take such a great project and run it into the ground like this? You need to reflect on your performance."

"Headquarters will give you 1 million at most. And there will be a performance metric attached. If you can’t achieve a 10% increase in rent collection for the first half of the year, your performance review will definitely be a failure."

"Furthermore, given your performance on this matter, the group will consider reducing your annual bonus this year. You should be prepared for that."

The chairman was a businessman through and through; his calculations were shrewd.

First, he pinned the blame on Miao Lei. Then, he offered 1 million in support, but he raised the performance target for Miao Lei’s first-half rent collection increase from 7% to 10%.

In other words, with this 1 million, Miao Lei was expected to earn back even more for him within six months.

And that wasn’t all. A portion of his annual bonus for this year was going to be deducted right off the bat.

Miao Lei’s annual bonus was normally between 500,000 and 800,000. "A portion" meant at least a few hundred thousand.

With this whole arrangement, headquarters had officially given its support. If Miao Lei failed now, he’d be branded a complete failure.

The chairman had set the tone. Miao Lei knew this was the best outcome he could hope for.

’Whatever,’ he thought. At least he had secured 1 million from the group and another 1 million from the property owner, for a total of 2 million. That would be enough to compete with Junxiao Square for a while.

As for what came next, he couldn’t think that far ahead. He’d just have to take it one step at a time and see if things took a turn for the better.

In Xu Wu’s office, Chen Xiao sat upright and proper. It was two against one; he was outnumbered and behaving himself.

If it had been just him and either Xu Wu or Gao Yue, he probably would have been much more brazen.

Xu Wu picked up her phone. "It’s Xu Jun."

As she pressed the answer button, she raised her cup to take a sip of water, only to look down and see that it was empty.

Gao Yue jolted into action and immediately refilled her cup.

Chen Xiao found it amusing.

Gao Yue used to interact with Xu Wu as an equal, but now that her position was higher, she seemed to be more and more afraid of her.

"President Xu, Wan Chao, the owner of Wanhong Square, called me this afternoon. He said we can talk about the acquisition, that it’s not entirely off the table."

Xu Wu chuckled. "It’s only been a few days. Did we hit him where it hurts?"

Xu Jun’s triumphant laughter could be heard even through the phone. "He didn’t say a word today about his plaza being the benchmark for Jiangzhou City or the number one commercial property on the Han River!"

Xu Wu said, "Let’s hear what you think."

"I think we should let him stew for a few days. Wait until Wanhong Square is completely crippled, then we can talk."

"Agreed."

"President Xu, he asked if the last offer was negotiable."

The last offer was 1.7 billion, the same as the acquisition price for Tianlong Square.

"Start the negotiations at 1.5 billion and go down from there. If he waits, keep lowering the price. We can save those two hundred million for marketing expenses and just crush him outright. Wouldn’t that be nice?"

"The plaza is in a good location. Even if we crush it, we can bring it back to life once we acquire it."

"For every bit of time Wan Chao wastes, drop the offer by another 100 million. All that money will be reserved as ammunition to attack them."

This was practically bullying. Wan Chao’s property might have seemed to be worth 1.7 billion, but he had no cash flow. In a war of attrition, he was doomed.

They didn’t even need 200 million in ammunition; 20 million would be enough to bleed him dry.

Wan Chao was probably regretting it so much his insides were turning green.

Tossing the phone onto the desk, Xu Wu chuckled. "He chose the hard way." 𝘧𝓇ℯℴ𝓂

Wan Chao’s previous arrogance must have really infuriated her.

Xu Wu had a temper; Chen Xiao had always known that. She was not someone to be trifled with.

He knew about the Wanhong Square situation. He had been in on a conference call with Xu Jun and Zhao Hui at Junxiao Square last time, during which Xu Jun had given a detailed report on Wanhong Square.

’Thinking about it now,’ Chen Xiao mused, ’Mei Fang from Tianlong Square was so wise. He took the 1.7 billion in cash. He could never spend it all in several lifetimes.’

The thought of Tianlong Square made Chen Xiao inevitably think of Lin Ya. He remembered their wonderful encounter that day, the warm feeling seemingly still lingering on his lips.

A sudden idea struck him. He said to Xu Wu, "Wanhong Square has been managed well enough to reach its current scale, on par with Xu Jun’s former Jiangzhou Wansheng Square and Lin Ya’s Tianlong Square. The general manager must be competent. We should have Xu Jun look into him."

Xu Wu hummed in agreement and smiled. "President Chen, always the master strategist. You’re right. If this person is any good, we can poach him. Cut the ground out from under them."

Judging from Lin Ya’s previous compensation, the pay for general managers at these asset-light projects is never very high.

With the salary level and career development opportunities that Junxiao Business Management could offer, poaching him wasn’t a sure thing, but it was pretty close.

She sent a voice message telling Xu Jun to look into the situation and proceed according to President Chen’s instructions.

When work was being discussed, Gao Yue was quite serious. She listened quietly, studying how Chen Xiao and Xu Wu handled things. This would help her make judgments that met their standards when faced with similar tasks in the future.

Night had already fallen. Gao Yue still had to go back and deal with some matters at this hour, and it was about time for Chen Xiao to head home as well.

Zhao Xiangjun’s dinner time was fixed. If Chen Xiao was coming home to eat, he would always be home on time.

If he had a social engagement, he would let her know in advance. In that case, Zhao Xiangjun would usually just eat something simple or skip dinner altogether.

This was why Chen Xiao now made it a point to go home unless there were special circumstances.

That way, Zhao Xiangjun would at least eat a little something in order to eat with him.

Walking downstairs with Gao Yue, it was obviously not a good time to ask Xu Wu for a hug. The romantic scene he had imagined on his way over had not come to pass.