Chapter 82: Finding an Entry Point
"Mr. Liu, isn't the factory working today?" Lin Haoran asked after sitting down.
At this point, he was already one of Aimco's owners, so he naturally had the right to ask.
"Mr. Lin, just call me Ah Xiong from now on. As for the factory, it's still running today. Our new batch of materials has arrived. On-site management is handled by experienced team leaders, so even if I'm not present, everything operates smoothly. The old factory can barely keep up with the current orders. Actually, if I wanted to, I could take on even more orders. But if we accept too many and fail to deliver on time, we would have to pay penalties. So I always take orders within our capacity," Liu Luanzhong explained.
Lin Haoran smiled and nodded. "Ah Xiong, since I'll call you that, you should also call me Haoran. We're partners now, and both still young. No need for so much formality — all this 'sir' and 'you' just creates distance. Last night's conversation left me very impressed. Although you're still in the early stages, I believe you'll achieve great success. Let's work hard together!
As you know, I'm Vice Chairman of Qingzhou Cement and also run an investment company. My time is precious, and I can't personally manage Aimco's daily operations. Therefore, I've decided to entrust all daily management to you. I'll mainly provide strong financial backing and access to my network.
The company's current funding is sufficient — it's time for us to make bold moves.
As General Manager, your core responsibility is to steer the company's growth and make strategic decisions. You no longer need to handle the production line details yourself. As for finances, I will appoint an experienced financial supervisor to manage and oversee the financial operations, ensuring transparency and the safety of the funds. How does this arrangement sound to you?"
They had already agreed last night that in the new Aimco Limited, Liu Luanzhong would be the General Manager, and Lin Haoran would act as Supervisor.
"No problem, Haoran. Leave it to me. I'm confident this will be one of the best investments you'll ever make. I promise to bring you rich returns — tenfold, even a hundredfold!" Liu Luanzhong said confidently.
The casual "Ah Xiong" and "Haoran" naturally brought the two closer.
Although Lin Haoran was three years younger, his status in the business world and remarkable achievements commanded Liu Luanzhong's respect.
Liu understood that Lin Haoran, as Vice Chairman of a listed company, was already a shining star in the business world, whereas he was still just a newcomer.
The difference in their status and experience made Liu humble, willingly taking a learner's attitude before Lin Haoran.
Still, deep inside, Liu's spirit was one of tenacity and unwillingness to lose. He believed that with hard work and talent, he would one day also shine brightly in the business world, standing as an equal to Lin Haoran.
After signing the contracts, Lin Haoran didn't waste any time. He immediately took Liu Luanzhong to a nearby Hui Fung Bank branch to complete two critical fund transfers.
One was to pay Liang Yingwei for the equity transfer, and the other was Lin Haoran's HK$2 million investment into Aimco's corporate account.
This HK$2 million was earmarked solely for Aimco's development.
Previously, Aimco was small enough that Liu managed its finances personally, with Liang Yingwei overseeing.
But now, with Lin Haoran's major capital injection and the company's looming expansion, the old financial management system was no longer sufficient.
Lin Haoran had already planned for this.
Instead of going through lengthy recruitment processes, he intended to leverage Wanan Group's internal resources.
Wanan Group's finance department had dozens of highly skilled employees.
Lin Haoran planned to directly transfer one of their professional finance staff to Aimco — someone loyal and reliable — to oversee and safeguard the company's financial transparency and stability.
As Aimco grew, future recruitment and departmental expansions would happen naturally without his direct involvement.
After settling the financial arrangements, Lin Haoran also contacted his father.
His goal: to find a new, larger factory site for Aimco.
Since he had already revealed part of his plans to his father, there was no need to hold back from leveraging Wanan Group's vast network.
For now, it made no sense to buy land and build from scratch. Renting a ready-made factory was more efficient.
Once Aimco grew larger and more profitable, they could then buy land and build a bigger plant — even an entire industrial park if needed.
At present, Hong Kong was full of warehouses and factories available for rent. Supply far exceeded demand.
Moreover, due to the wave of immigration and illegal immigration, there was a surplus of low-wage laborers. Finding workers for factories was exceptionally easy.
And many of these workers were extremely diligent — factories often welcomed them.
Through his father, Lin Haoran learned about a newly developed industrial park in Kwun Tong that would be ideal.
The warehouses there were newly built by Wanan Group's construction teams and were still largely vacant, offering attractive rental discounts.
Thus, Lin Haoran and Liu Luanzhong drove to Kwun Tong to check out the park.
Both were very satisfied, especially with the generous leasing terms: rent for one year and get six months free.
Currently, high-rise industrial buildings were becoming popular in Hong Kong — each floor subdivided and rented out to manufacturing startups.
In the end, they decided to rent an entire floor, over 2,000 square meters.
This was ten times the size of their old workshop in Heung Kong Tsai, and the environment was far superior — surrounded by legitimate mid-sized and large factories with full amenities.
After sealing the deal, Lin Haoran wasted no time.
He took Liu Luanzhong directly to Wanan Group's headquarters.
There, he formally requested his father's permission to transfer a finance staff member to Aimco.
Lin Wanan immediately agreed.
Now, he was fully supportive of his son's career.
After screening several candidates, Lin Haoran selected a professional in her thirties.
With a salary raise of HK$1,000, she agreed to transfer to Aimco.
Upon joining, Lin Haoran immediately checked her loyalty rating:
Lai Meihui: Loyalty 71/100
This level of loyalty was already sufficient; under normal circumstances, betrayal was unlikely.
If she ever showed disloyalty, her loyalty score would surely drop, allowing Lin Haoran to detect it through the progress bar.
With Lin Haoran's help, the expansion progress of Aimco Limited was accelerated dramatically.
In just one day, they had settled the matters of the factory and financial personnel.
"Ah Xiong, from now on, I'll leave Aimco's matters to you. The factory will need some basic renovations — build partition walls, separate the offices, warehouse, assembly, and testing areas. I'll inform the construction department at Wanan Group; you just need to call them and they'll send people over. Such small projects can be completed in one day. Also, recruitment must proceed quickly. Now that funding is sufficient, we should strive to relocate everything from the old factory within a week!"
That evening, after wrapping up these matters, Lin Haoran and Liu Luanzhong went to a restaurant near Wan Chai to celebrate the rebirth of Aimco's new look.
During the meal, the atmosphere was light-hearted and full of laughter.
"Alright, leave everything to me, Haoran. I'm truly fortunate to have a partner like you. Otherwise, handling all this would have wasted half a month of my time," Liu Luanzhong sighed with deep gratitude.
His words revealed the massive advantage of having resources, connections, and capital in the business world.
Although Liu Luanzhong himself came from a wealthy background, he had to admit that in resource utilization and efficiency, he was still a significant distance behind Lin Haoran.
Same rich backgrounds, but vastly different outcomes due to abilities and opportunities.
After saying goodbye to Liu Luanzhong, Lin Haoran returned to the company.
By then, all employees had finished work and gone home.
However, on his desk, Su Zhixue had already placed today's work report.
Lin Haoran picked up the report and skimmed through it.
Today, Qingzhou Cement's stock absorption progress had slowed slightly again, due to fewer sell orders.
Even so, the Huanyu Investment team had still acquired another 716,000 shares.
The total now reached 19.443 million shares.
Seeing this, Lin Haoran realized: tomorrow, he would officially own over 40% of Qingzhou Cement's stock.
The company could no longer escape his grasp.
Meanwhile, Halier Centurion remained blissfully unaware.
Looking at the report, Lin Haoran murmured, "Maybe within this week, I can officially take over Qingzhou Cement."
He very much hoped to oust Halier Centurion on the same day he assumed control.
Tonight, he would start probing Qingzhou Cement's situation — particularly any financial irregularities.
Even without direct evidence, the senior staff likely had their suspicions.
Most of the executives were loyal to Halier Centurion.
However, the Deputy General Manager might not be.
Lin Haoran guessed that Deputy GM Burton had likely been kept around because of his strong capabilities, not loyalty.
To verify these assumptions, it would be simple — talk to the middle managers.
Although they weren't privy to core information, they surely knew a lot about the internal dynamics.
Thus, Lin Haoran had found his entry point: Liu Zhenxing, the long-serving Chinese quality control supervisor.
If a Chinese could rise to middle management in a British company like Qingzhou Cement, his competence was unquestionable.
Moreover, with twenty-five years in the company, Liu Zhenxing probably knew more about Qingzhou Cement than Lin Haoran could imagine.
Yesterday, while reviewing personnel files, Lin Haoran had memorized the contact information for both Liu Zhenxing and Burton.
Now, estimating that Liu had probably finished dinner and returned home, Lin Haoran decided to call him.
"Hello, who's speaking?" a gentle female voice answered. It was Liu Zhenxing's wife.
"Hello, may I speak to Mr. Liu Zhenxing?" Lin Haoran asked politely.
"Oh, husband, there's a call for you," she said, passing the phone.
Soon, a man's voice came through. "Hello, this is Liu Zhenxing. Who's calling, please?"
"Mr. Liu, this is Lin Haoran — you should know me," Lin Haoran introduced himself directly.
"Lin Haoran? Ah! Mr. Lin, the Vice Chairman! Is there something I can help you with?" Liu Zhenxing quickly responded, his tone filled with surprise.
As a middle manager, Liu Zhenxing had met Lin Haoran on the latter's first inspection tour.
A young man — and astonishingly, a fellow Chinese — had become Qingzhou Cement's Vice Chairman and largest shareholder.
It had stunned him and the other Chinese staff.
Initially, Liu had thought this Vice Chairman would be powerless — just a figurehead.
Still, deep inside, he hoped Qingzhou Cement would one day become a Chinese-owned enterprise.
Chinese employees had long suffered marginalization in British firms; opportunities for advancement were rare.
If Qingzhou Cement became Chinese-owned, everything would change — a chance for better careers and brighter futures.
Thus, Lin Haoran's call now filled him with curiosity and hope.
"Mr. Liu, are you free now? I have something I'd like to discuss with you in person," Lin Haoran asked courteously.
"Yes, Mr. Lin, I'm free. What would you like to discuss?" Liu asked eagerly.
"I think it would be better to talk face to face. Would you mind coming to Central? I'll have someone pick you up," Lin Haoran offered.
"No need, Mr. Lin. I've just finished dinner. I'll come to Central myself," Liu replied readily.
Although Lin Haoran was still only nominally Vice Chairman, Liu was more than willing to build a relationship with someone of his status. Who knew what opportunities might arise?
"Alright. Then please come to Huanyu Investment on the 19th floor of Hengfeng Building. I'll be waiting," Lin Haoran said with a smile.
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