Chapter 141 - Aimeigao Earns Nearly 100 Million Hong Kong Dollars
Clearly, the sudden drastic drop in the CFO's loyalty indicated there was a problem. A proper investigation would surely expose it easily. Lin Haoran had already decided that after this meeting ended, he would assign someone to investigate. The meeting itself was short — covering recent key matters, departmental tasks to focus on, and reports on work progress from each department head. After about half an hour, the high-level management meeting concluded.
"Mr. Burton, come with me to the office," Lin Haoran said before leaving the meeting room. "Yes, Boss," Burton replied immediately. The two of them returned to Lin Haoran's office.
"Mr. Burton, have you noticed any irregularities in the company's expenditures recently?" Lin Haoran asked directly. "Expenditures? Boss, I review all expenses, and I haven't noticed anything unusual. If there were, I would have reported it immediately," Burton answered, a bit puzzled.
"And what about Mr. Maca, the CFO — have you noticed any strange behavior from him lately?" Lin Haoran continued. Judging from Burton's loyalty level, he was completely trustworthy; his loyalty had remained steadily at 89 for months — a very high value among Lin Haoran's subordinates. Although this loyalty-detection "cheat" ability wasn't always useful, sometimes it proved invaluable.
"Boss, I personally review all monthly financial reports, and I haven't found any issues. As for Mr. Maca, I haven't noticed anything odd either, but I did hear he's planning to buy a property in Tsim Sha Tsui and has been frequently house hunting. But that's his personal business — I didn't look into it," Burton said truthfully.
Lin Haoran nodded, even more convinced that something was wrong. A CFO earning a high salary could certainly afford a Tsim Sha Tsui property, but the timing was suspicious — his loyalty had just plummeted, and now he was buying property? There had to be something fishy. So far, Lin Haoran's loyalty detection ability had never been wrong.
Moreover, Lin Haoran hadn't done anything to offend Maca — they barely interacted. The only explanation was that Maca had engaged in some behavior detrimental to Qingzhou Cement. "Please don't tell anyone about what we discussed. Act like this conversation never happened," Lin Haoran said seriously. "Of course, Boss," Burton replied.
"Good. You're free to go. By the way, have Maca bring all the company's financial ledgers for this year to my office. I want to review them," Lin Haoran added with a smile. A chairman reviewing financial records was perfectly normal. "Yes, Boss. I'll arrange it right away," Burton said, wondering if perhaps Maca really had done something questionable. Still, even if something minor had happened, Burton knew he wasn't specialized in accounting and might not have noticed subtle discrepancies.
Ten minutes later, Maca walked into Lin Haoran's office, arms full of thick ledgers. "Chairman, here are the ledgers you requested," he said respectfully, showing no sign of nervousness. "Thank you, Mr. Maca," Lin Haoran said warmly. "If you need anything else, Mr. Lin, please let me know," Maca said before exiting.
Watching him leave, Lin Haoran turned his gaze to the pile of ledgers. Of course, he didn't intend to review them personally — he was only half-knowledgeable about accounting at best. Instead, he quickly called Wan'an Group and requested their CFO and two accountants to come over for an audit.
Wan'an Group's finance department wasn't particularly busy except at the beginning and end of each month. They agreed to send a team within an hour. Although Wan'an Group was still technically a listed company, the senior management fully obeyed Lin Haoran's instructions. Asking them to assist with Qingzhou Cement's internal affairs was not an issue — unless they no longer wished to work for him.
About forty minutes later, the CFO and two finance staff from Wan'an Group arrived at Lin Haoran's office. They had been here before — on the day Lin Haoran first took over Qingzhou Cement — and now more than eight months had passed since then.
"Please check these ledgers for any irregularities. I'm stepping out for a couple of hours. If you finish early, page me," Lin Haoran said, pointing to the stack of books. "Understood, Boss. We'll be thorough," the CFO said with a smile.
Meanwhile, on another floor, in the finance department, Maca wondered why the chairman had suddenly taken an interest in auditing the books. But he quickly reassured himself — everything had been done very discreetly. Even professional accountants wouldn't easily detect the problems. Confident that he wouldn't be caught, he relaxed.
With the audit underway, Lin Haoran left Qingzhou Cement with his bodyguards. He wasn't going to sit around doing nothing. Instead, he headed toward Aimeigao Company.
As for appointing a new CFO, there was no rush. He already had a candidate in mind. First, he needed evidence against Maca.
Meanwhile, Aimeigao's development had already exceeded all expectations. Even General Manager Liu Luanxiong was amazed at the company's growth. Nowadays, Liu Luanxiong was deeply grateful he had accepted Lin Haoran's investment.
From Liu Luanxiong's perspective, if he hadn't accepted Lin Haoran's investment back then, Aimeigao might still be just a small workshop today. In reality, he was overthinking it — even without Lin Haoran's investment, Aimeigao would have grown rapidly. However, compared to the current scale of Aimeigao, there would definitely have been a gap. After all, the starting point had been different.
It took less than twenty minutes to travel from Qingzhou Cement to Aimeigao Company in the Kwun Tong industrial park. Parking downstairs, Lin Haoran gazed at the six-story industrial building in front of him. Large golden characters spelled out "Aimeigao Company" on the facade — and the same characters had been placed on the building next door.
To cope with the soaring number of orders, Aimeigao had recently doubled its factory space, renting the neighboring building as well. The number of employees had almost doubled too, making Aimeigao one of the largest manufacturing enterprises in Hong Kong's industrial sector.
Nowadays, 80% of the workers in this industrial park were employees of Aimeigao. Other tenants barely counted. Just eight months ago, in November last year, Aimeigao had only rented a single floor, with barely over 200 employees. The changes were astonishing.
The owner of the industrial park had noticed all of this. From the moment Aimeigao opened, he knew that one of its backers was none other than Lin Haoran, Chairman of Qingzhou Cement. In his eyes, Aimeigao's rapid growth wasn't due to Liu Luanxiong, but to Lin Haoran. After all, when the chairman of two listed companies opened a manufacturing plant, how could it not succeed?
Lin Haoran made his way upstairs to the third floor, passing the busy production areas on the first and second floors. In the general manager's office, Liu Luanxiong was furiously punching numbers into a calculator. Seeing Lin Haoran enter, Liu Luanxiong didn't even look up. "Haoran, wait a second, I'm working out the production targets based on incoming orders. Won't be long."
Lin Haoran smiled and left him alone, settling onto a sofa in the conference room to brew tea. Soon after, Liu Luanxiong finished his calculations and joined him. Lin Haoran poured him a cup of tea.
"You've lost weight," Lin Haoran said jokingly. "This is nothing," Liu Luanxiong grinned. "Seeing the company's bank account grow every month gives me all the energy I need. Speaking of which, good news: our company's cash reserves are about to surpass 100 million Hong Kong dollars! Right now, we have 97 million. Once the payment from our Toronto distributor comes in tomorrow, we'll cross the threshold."
Even though Liu Luanxiong came from a well-off background, he couldn't help but feel thrilled. Who would have thought that a year and a half ago, when he founded Aimeigao, he had struggled to scrape together even a few thousand dollars — most of it borrowed from friends? And now, less than two years later, Aimeigao's profits had reached 100 million.
Although Aimeigao had expanded aggressively, profits had been plowed back into the business without dividends. Lin Haoran, aware of this, nodded thoughtfully. Every time he visited, he kept a close eye on the company's finances.
Taking a sip of tea, Lin Haoran frowned slightly and said, "It's time to distribute some of the profits. Letting so much money sit idle is a waste." Half of the cash on hand had been earned just in May and June — a testament to how insane the summer fan market had become.
And judging by July's early numbers, orders would likely double again, peaking between August and October. They had to make the most of it. Come winter, orders would plummet, and they would have to wait until the following April to see another surge.
After 1981, Lin Haoran knew the North American fan market would reach saturation. After that, the industry would slow, and Aimeigao's strategic importance would diminish.
"You're right, it's time to share the wealth," Liu Luanxiong agreed readily. "But Haoran, I have a suggestion. Let's set aside 10 million Hong Kong dollars to buy land in Kwun Tong and build our own industrial park. We could easily build something the size of our current complex."
His eyes shone with ambition. Aimeigao had already surpassed the manufacturing business founded by his father — and he believed that one day, it could become one of Hong Kong's top manufacturers.
"Good idea. I agree," Lin Haoran said. "Also, Ah Xiong, let me give you a piece of advice. With all this cash, don't just leave it sitting in the bank. Buy property or land while prices are still rising — you won't lose."
Each of them would soon pocket tens of millions of Hong Kong dollars. Simply leaving that money in the bank would be a waste. It was still mid-1979 — Hong Kong's property market was booming. Even when the bubble burst two years later, prices would only fall about 60% from their peak — and current prices were still far from that future peak.
That was why he had encouraged Wan'an Group to borrow and invest heavily in land. Now was the time to buy. Plus, from Lin Haoran's perspective, a few million Hong Kong dollars was pocket change given his current wealth.
"Haoran, you're right. Honestly, I hadn't even thought about it. I was planning to just deposit the money. Alright, I'll listen to you — I'll buy property," Liu Luanxiong said, laughing heartily.
His whole focus had been on running Aimeigao; he had barely had time to think about anything else.
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