Chapter 35: You’ll Hear About It Soon Enough

Creating a company was never easy, as could be seen from the number of small- and medium-sized companies that failed each year.

Taking out his phone, Ye Feng added two more lines in his notes: “factory location selection” and “employee recruitment”.

At that moment, there was already a lot of information in his notes.

This included a note on the renovation of the Maple Forest Company, which Ye Feng handed over to Xu Bin to handle as well. He planned to take a look at the renovation process in the afternoon.

He also planned to invite the person-in-charge of Quan Food World for a meal. Right now, he had just gotten in touch with them, but had not settled on a timing yet.

Meanwhile, they had basically completed choosing a location for the Hedilao branch. He just had to meet the people-in-charge of the six locations and sing a contract later on.

Meanwhile, the publicity plan was of utmost importance. Ye Feng planned to entrust it to a media company.

“As for the factory location selection…”

Ye Feng lowered his head and fell into deep thought. Suddenly, a piece of news popped up on his phone.

“Tasty Hotpot announces bankruptcy. The chairman and the general manager…”

“Tasty Hotpot!”

These two words shocked him. Then, he quickly picked up his phone and started searching for information related to this incident.

“As expected!”

After a short moment, Ye Feng raised his head, and his eyes were extremely bright.

The Tasty Company was a large chain hotpot restaurant in the neighboring Xu City, and its scale exceeded even that of Prosperous Flavor.

However, due to its bloated management, poor management, and crazy expansion, the capital chain of such a large chain store finally broke down and the company collapsed after a long struggle.

It could only be said that the development of companies was like treading on thin ice. Even large- and medium-sized enterprises would go bankrupt one day.

Ye Feng’s eyes lit up. Naturally, he did not want to send them off.

This was because of their factory.

When Tasty Hotpot first entered Quan City with great ambitions, it had set up a hotpot base processing factory in Quan City with the intention of using Quan City as the center to slowly take over the market in Dongshan County.

This matter was even on the news at that time. Although Tasty Hotpot was later beaten back by Prosperous Flavor and Jiangnan Flavor, this factory was not sold.

It was obvious that since Tasty Hotpot had retreated but had not given up, they still had the intention to get a share of the action in Quan City.

Now that Tasty Hotpot had gone out of business, this factory naturally had to be put up for sale.

“I remember that Tasty Hotpot lasted for one year in Quan City before they finally retreated. Furthermore, the factory was built even earlier than that.”

“Now, they might’ve completed constructing the factory. Even if it isn’t complete yet, more than half of the construction works should’ve been completed.”

This was a perfect opportunity to buy the factory!

Ye Feng knew very well that in Quan City, apart from Hedilao, no other hotpot restaurant had the intention to build their own raw materials factory.

Even Prosperous Flavor chose to work with others.

“I can be said to be the only one in Quan City to take over the factory…”

Could he take this opportunity to lower the price of the factory?

Ye Feng stood up and paid the bill. He was going to look for an asset evaluation agency.

Even if he did not lower the price, he could not let others think that he was a fool.

This was also because the Maple Forest Company was not on the right track yet. If the company was on the right track, why would Ye Feng need to personally take part in the asset evaluation?

…

At the Tasty Hotpot Headquarters in Xu City…

Chairman Hou Shijie sat in his office while looking at the scenery in the distance.

In the past, he had also sat here and gazed into the distance. However, even though he was still the same person as before, his mental state was now different.

His capital chain was broken. He had gone bankrupt and his company was shut down. Furthermore, he was experiencing a midlife crisis. As a result, this ambitious middle-aged man was devastated.

In just three months, he had grown a head of white hair.

The history of any company’s founder could be written into a novel, but no one would care about a depressing story of leaving the industry like his.

But who could he blame?

“Sigh.”

Hou Shijie had a weathered and worn expression on his face as he sighed, his voice filled with an unspeakable loneliness.

When he turned his head and looked at the mirror, he was somewhat curious.

Was this stubbly, slovenly, and greasy man really him?

Unlike the founders of other failed firms, Hou Shijie was not in debt. He even had a small amount of savings after liquidating his assets.

With this savings and some connections he had in the past, it was enough for him to live the rest of his life comfortably.

However, his business, his dreams, and the things he had worked hard for for decades were all gone in the end.

Then, some pleasant music sounded. Hou Shijie picked up his phone and realized that it was from an unknown number.

“Is this Chairman Hou of Tasty Hotpot?”

When he picked up a call, he heard a young voice from the other end of the line.

Who would call him at this time?

Hou Shijie was interested.

His business partners and investors who used to wave money at him were now avoiding him as if they had seen a tiger or a wolf.

When faced with adversity, one’s true nature would be revealed. This saying was absolutely correct.

Even if there was a call, it would be from his real friends.

“Yes, it’s me.”

Hou Shijie said in a low voice.

“Chairman Hou, it’s like this. I’m Ye Feng from Maple Forest Company. I have an acquisition plan in my hands. Are you interested in meeting to discuss it?”

Ye Feng was very excited when he heard the other party acknowledge his call.

Only God knew how much effort he had put into getting this phone number.

It was already three days after the news was announced, and the asset evaluation report was released. He even went for a field trip to the factory.

The results of the trip were very delightful.

The main body of the factory was basically completed. Although he could not see what it looked like on the inside, he could vaguely tell through the gaps and windows that there were many machines inside.

So, he immediately went to introduce himself— After all, he had to at least let Chairman Hou know what he was doing. What if Chairman Hou hung up on him as if he was trash?

“An acquisition plan?”

Ye Feng’s words were very vague over the phone. Thus, Hou Shijie didn’t know what he was going to buy. He pondered for a while and said, “Sure, let’s set a time…”

“I’m downstairs at your company.”

Hou Shijie lowered his head. He couldn’t see anything through the window, but after thinking for a while, he got up and went downstairs.

…

In the reception room.

The once flourishing Tasty Company was now empty. Even the tea was personally brewed by Hou Shijie.

“Ye Feng…”

Hou Shijie sized up the young man sitting in front of him.

He was no older than 25 years old. His clothes were plain and simple, but his eyes revealed a steadiness that did not belong to someone his age.

“Boss Ye, please forgive me for my lack of skills.”

Hou Shijie pushed the teacup in front of Ye Feng and said.

“Chairman Hou.” Ye Feng didn’t care. Instead, he said, “Your company’s employees…”

“Oh, I’ve paid their salaries and asked them to leave,” Hou Shijie said casually. “Boss Ye, you said that you want to acquire something, but I don’t know what you want to acquire. Could it be that you want to acquire the entire Tasty Company?”

“On the contrary, I’d like to have such a big appetite.” Ye Feng smiled and went straight to the point. “What I want to acquire is your company’s hotpot production base in Quan City.”

“May I ask what kind of business you run, Boss Ye?”

“I run a hotpot restaurant.”

Hou Shijie straightened his body and stared into Ye Feng’s eyes.

“Quan City seems to be the world of Prosperous Flavor and Jiangnan Flavor. Why haven’t I heard of your Maple Forest Company?”

“You’ll hear about it soon enough.”