Reborn in 1977

Chapter 711: Everything is Ready

Huashan Road, garden villa.

Zhou Zhengdong walked up and down the grand villa twice, feeling very satisfied.

Outside the villa, Zhou Yali strolled on the large lawn, comparing it to the dilapidated garden in her memory, "The difference is too big! I remember there used to be a garbage dump in that corner, but now it's all cleared away. And over there, it used to be a patch of miscellaneous trees, but now it's all replaced with dawn redwoods.

And the swimming pool…"

She turned to look at Chen Fan, "It used to be a smelly puddle, right?"

Chen Fan walked over slowly, his hands in his pockets, "It wasn't a smelly ditch. This place was originally a swimming pool, but it was later left unattended, and the equipment was damaged. Rainwater accumulated, forming a small lake, which naturally became smelly over time."

Zhou Yali pouted, "Then it was still a smelly puddle."

Chen Fan pursed his lips; what she said wasn't exactly wrong.

The water in that old swimming pool was indeed a bit smelly.

Zhou Yali opened her arms and took a deep breath, "This pool is bigger than the old one, and the equipment has been replaced with new ones. Swimming here in the summer will be very comfortable."

Chen Fan frowned slightly, "An outdoor pool like this should be fine for the next few years, but it's best to put a building over it."

Zhou Yali turned to look at him, blinked, then turned her head to look outside the wall, and said puzzledly, "There are no tall buildings nearby, so no one should be able to see inside, right?"

Chen Fan snorted twice, "There aren't any now, but who knows if there will be in the future? Besides, an outdoor pool is easily polluted by rainwater. It's not much trouble to build a shed, which can ensure both privacy and hygiene. It's a win-win."

Zhou Yali took two steps closer, leaned to his side, and whispered, "Little brother, you seem to be particularly confident in the development of the mainland. Do you have any inside information?"

Chen Fan glanced at her, "I don't have any inside information, but since you've decided to invest in the mainland, don't overthink it and just focus on running the company well.

I'm very confident that Shanghai will achieve great things in the future."

Zhou Yali rolled her eyes, then raised her eyebrows slightly, "Never mind if you don't want to talk about it."

Chen Fan shrugged and said nothing more.

He realized that when talking to Zhou Yali, not every question needed an answer. Sometimes she was just saying something casually, and even if she saw the answer, she wouldn't be interested.

Zhou Yali looked at the pool again, pondered for a while with her eyes narrowed, then clapped her hands, "It's definitely necessary to build a swimming hall, and also a veranda connecting to the main building, so that swimming won't be affected no matter the weather."

At this moment, Zhou Zhengdong walked out of the main building. Chen Fan turned his head and glanced at him, too lazy to argue with Zhou Yali, and turned to walk over.

As he got closer, Chen Fan said loudly, "How about making this the Shanghai office, Uncle?"

Before Zhou Zhengdong arrived, he raised his hand and waved it.

Chen Fan was slightly stunned. Was he disagreeing?

Could it be that this place couldn't meet the requirements of an office?

When Zhou Zhengdong approached, he said loudly, "This place is good, but it's too good, and the area is too large. I just thought about it, and the office won't need that many people. An office director doubling as a salesperson, a receptionist, and three to five maintenance personnel will be enough. We don't even need an accountant; the receptionist can organize the documents and do the bookkeeping."

Zhou Yali turned to look at him, "Then what should we do?"

Chen Fan pointed to the two auxiliary buildings on the side, "Those would work. One building for office space and one for accommodation, and it won't disturb the main building."

Then he gestured twice, "Those two buildings are next to the wall. Just section off a piece of land there, and it won't affect this place. Then open a door in the separating wall to make it convenient for you to enter and exit."

Zhou Yali shook her head repeatedly, "Wouldn't that ruin this garden villa?"

Originally, the area of more than twenty acres had already been carved out to build houses, making the back garden much smaller.

If another part were cut out, especially a small piece from the regular rectangle, it would look awkward no matter how you looked at it.

Seeing her say this, Chen Fan could only spread his hands, "Then there's no other way. If you don't choose this place, you can only go to the residential building prepared for you."

Zhou Zhengdong walked over and asked, "What's the residential building like?"

Before Chen Fan could speak, Zhou Yali said, "It's similar to my little brother's house. They're both two-and-a-half stories with an attic, and the size of the courtyard is about the same."

Zhou Zhengdong thought for a moment and nodded lightly, "That's enough. The first floor can be used as an office, the second floor for senior management dormitories, the third floor for collective dormitories, and the attic as a document archive. It's just right."

Chen Fan shrugged, "Anyway, these two properties are registered under Yali's name, so you can use them as you please."

After he finished speaking, he looked at the garden villa. The main building was a large mansion with a total construction area of more than 2,000 square meters, similar to the old Writers Association building he went to that day. There were also two auxiliary buildings with a usable area of nearly 300 square meters next to it, which were perfect for office use.

If it were for living, it would be similar to the Ning County Prince's mansion, but even bigger.

Even the Ning County Prince's mansion wasn't as big as this place; it was too spacious.

Earlier, Zhou Zhengdong and Zhou Yali had returned from the airport, had a cup of tea at home, rested for a while, and then came out to inspect the site for the office.

They had been flying almost every two or three days during this period, going to Japan, France, and the United States.

Out of respect for Zhou Zhengdong's position as a professional lawyer in the U.S. Trade Representative's Office, Office of the General Counsel, Fujitsu, Lucent, and Alcatel, three communications companies, did not play tricks and frankly exchanged information about agency qualifications, conditions, and requirements.

Among them, the most lenient conditions were from Fujitsu, the most cost-effective was also from it, and the best quality and most sincerity were from Alcatel, which not only had the highest technical content but also a very reasonable price, and also included a three-year free maintenance period.

Although Lucent's price was higher than Fujitsu's and the quality was slightly lower than Alcatel's, making it seem the least cost-effective, they had very strong lobbying power in Washington. Partnering with Alcatel would allow them to break through the restrictions of the Coordinating Committee for Multilateral Export Controls (CoCom) without any worries, and legally import products into China.

Anyway, not much security deposit was needed; the three companies added up to only a mere three million U.S. dollars. Zhou Zhengdong simply followed the original plan and signed the agency rights for the three companies in one fell swoop.

Originally, the three companies wanted to monopolize the market, so they frankly gave the most favorable conditions. Seeing that Zhou Zhengdong actually wanted to take it all, they were all dissatisfied.

However, Zhou Zhengdong was not one to be trifled with.

He directly took out the domestic map and population data and asked them a very realistic question, "Hundreds of cities, nearly a billion people, which ruler would only use one company's communication equipment? Who would dare to take this responsibility? Which company has such a good appetite?

Faced with such a huge market, what you need to consider is not monopoly, but how to occupy more market share in market competition, and getting in first will help you lead your peers!"

Faced with the confident Zhou Zhengdong, the three companies asked the same question.

"Since we can't monopolize, I can completely give the agency rights to someone else. Why you?"

Zhou Zhengdong remained confident, "I can pay the goods in advance, three years, five years, or even longer. If you think others can accept it, then you can go find someone else. Don't forget, at the same time, the person you are looking for must be able to access the mainland's high-level officials!"

The three companies were all multinational giants. As soon as Zhou Zhengdong contacted them, they had thoroughly investigated his origins, including his relationship with Chen Fan.

They had to admit that it was easy to find someone who could provide advance payment, but it was extremely difficult to find someone who could access and gain the trust of the mainland at the same time.

Since there was already a perfect candidate in front of them, and the conditions in all aspects were not bad, why bother to look further?

So, in a very short period of time, Zhou Zhengdong became the general agent of Wanmuchun Communication Equipment Service Company and obtained the agency rights of three multinational giants.

This company was registered in New York, USA, and also established offices in Florham Park, New Jersey, USA, Paris, France, and Tokyo, Japan, and a branch in Hong Kong, Asia, to coordinate manufacturer docking and customer service.

In addition, two offices were established in the mainland, specializing in equipment sales and maintenance.

The maintenance work will be outsourced to the Operations Division of New York Wanmuchun Technology Company, whose operations center is also located in Hong Kong, but the actual operations are in the mainland.

Chen Fan felt a headache listening to the division of labor between the father and daughter.

Just a communications service company, and they made it so complicated, they really aren't afraid of the hassle.

Actually, it sounds complicated, but it's actually very simple.

Zhou Zhengdong's company is only responsible for agency, earning profits from capital advances and sales differences, while all other operations and maintenance are handled by Zhou Yali's company.

This father and daughter are planning to carry out the separation of their family business to the end!

After running around outside for a while, the two finally met in Hong Kong, arranged for people to handle the establishment of the company and recruitment, and then returned to the country together.

On the one hand, they wanted to set up an office, and on the other hand, Zhou Zhengdong also wanted to officially start the marketing model.

He planned to create a model project as soon as possible, even if it meant skipping the New Year.

Now Chen Fan is accompanying them to see the address of the office.

However, things didn't go smoothly at the start, and the first place was rejected by the two.

"Actually, this place is pretty good, but it's too good, so it's not suitable."

Zhou Zhengdong got into the car, fastened his seat belt, and said seriously, "It's the entrepreneurial stage, so we can't be too comfortable. There's no reason to arrange for employees to work in a garden house. This villa is even better than many mansions of billionaires in the United States. It's too wasteful to use it as an office. It's better than the small building you live in."

Zhou Yali also nodded repeatedly, "It used to be too old, and I didn't feel it when I looked at it. Now that it's all renovated, even the floor in the house is newly laid, it looks so good no matter how you look at it, it's really not suitable for use as an office building."

She turned to look at Chen Fan, who was driving, "Old brother, you bought such a large piece of land in the capital and built an office building. Why didn't you build a similar building in Shanghai? It would be great to move in directly."

Chen Fan glanced at her, "I built that building by allocating a piece of land from where I live. Why don't you also allocate a piece of that garden house, just two or three acres will do, and there will still be fifteen or sixteen acres left, which won't affect the overall area.

Don't worry, I'll be responsible for handling the procedures, and I guarantee a smooth process, how about it?"

Zhou Yali chuckled dryly, "That's not necessary. The main reason is that time is too tight, and we need to use it soon. Let's use that small building for now, and we'll talk about it later."

Chen Fan held back his laughter and drove to the small building. As he got out of the car, he said, "Then you have to hurry up, otherwise the housing prices in Shanghai will get higher and higher in the future, and it won't be worth it."

Opening the door and entering the courtyard, Zhou Zhengdong took a brief look and decided, "It's here."

As Zhou Yali said, time was too tight. He hoped to open as soon as possible. He couldn't bear to part with the garden house, so using this small building could temporarily suffice.

However, he also liked this small building. When he made money in the future, he would still find another place to move.

After finalizing the address of the office, Zhou Zhengdong clapped his hands and smiled, "Tomorrow I will arrange for someone to handle the procedures. The office is not a company, so you only need to report to the relevant units. After reporting, you can open for business."

He turned to look at Chen Fan, "Xiao Fan, can you contact the Deputy Chief Engineer of the Shanghai Telephone Bureau that you mentioned last time?"

Chen Fan nodded, "Anytime."

In fact, the day after He Qingsheng called him, Zhang Xing, the Deputy Chief Engineer of the Municipal Telephone Bureau's Main Bureau, contacted Chen Fan.

It couldn't be easier for the Municipal Telephone Bureau to find him. Dozens of phone calls a day were a frantic bombardment. He was blocked as soon as he came back from outside.

Then, after explaining the matter, Chen Fan said that as long as he contacted his old uncle, he would immediately introduce them to meet.

After hanging up the phone, Chen Fan was still sighing, mastering technical advantages is so awesome, customers are chasing after you to buy products, instead of trying to promote them outside.

Seeing his old uncle's eagerness at this time, Chen Fan was a little worried.

If there are too many orders, will he be too busy?

Anyway, don't take on orders that you can't complete.

With a thought in his mind, Chen Fan finally remembered He Qingsheng's request, and spread his hands to Zhou Zhengdong, "Where's your notebook? I'll write down a contact person."

Zhou Yali immediately leaned over, took out a pen and a small notebook from her small satchel and handed it to him, while saying, "I'm still Dad's special assistant, and I can enter the trade representative's office."

Then she curiously leaned close to Chen Fan, watching him write an address and name on it, as well as a string of phone numbers, "Who is this, what do they do?"

After Chen Fan finished writing, he returned the notebook to her and smiled, "A cadre from the Jiangnan Provincial City Telephone Bureau. Aren't you going to sell equipment? Just find him, and everything is easy to talk about."

Zhou Zhengdong immediately leaned over, his face full of excitement, "As expected of Xiao Fan, he has wide connections and is very resourceful. When this order is signed, Uncle will give you a commission!"

Zhou Yali immediately said, "Daddy, can you be a little more reliable? Does my old brother care about your little commission? He can earn millions of dollars with just a stroke of his pen, okay?"

Chen Fan looked at the two excited people, and couldn't help but smile secretly.

When you can't handle all the orders, I hope you can still maintain such a good mood.

By the way, I have to remind them to have enough funds ready. If they don't have enough to pay in advance and can't complete the order, that would be hilarious.

However, the American financial industry is developed, and debt mortgages are also very popular. Such high-quality debt contracts should be easy to get a loan for.

… …

With the address of the office selected, now everything is ready, waiting for the east wind to come.

The three returned home. The two sisters were not at home, so Chen Fan had to do it himself. He made two cups of tea and brought Zhou Yali a bottle of soda, then sat down on the sofa, holding the teacup, looked at the two, and asked, "Lili and Tiantian are having their final exams these days. When they finish their exams, we will go back to Jiangnan. The time is probably the 18th or 19th."

He looked at Zhou Yali, "Are you going to continue preparing the office here, or go back with me? Or go back to the United States?"

Zhou Yali immediately turned to look at her father, her eyes full of anticipation.

She had been to Lujiawan once before, and although there were no scenic spots there, the Jiangnan rural scenery and the harmonious interpersonal relationships in the village made her feel very comfortable.

What's more, that place is actually her old brother's "hometown", and she has always wanted to see it again.

Now she only hopes that her father can be merciful and give herself a long vacation.

When Zhou Zhengdong saw his daughter's expression, he naturally understood what she was thinking, but he deliberately frowned, looking thoughtful.

After a long while, when Zhou Yali was worried and felt that her hope was getting smaller and smaller, he grinned and smiled, "My team will arrive in Shanghai tomorrow to prepare for the two offices. I will hand it over to them."

He turned to look at his daughter, "During this time, I don't need you. Are you going back to the United States to accompany Mommy, or do you want to go to Jiangnan with Xiao Fan?"

Zhou Yali waved her fist without hesitation, "Go to Jiangnan!"

Zhou Zhengdong raised his eyebrows slightly, "Don't you consider your Mommy at all?"

Zhou Yali waved her hand indifferently, "She has Auntie and Auntie with her, as well as Aunt Lan and the others. She doesn't even want me anymore. I'd better not go in front of her and be an eyesore."

Zhou Zhengdong couldn't help but shake his head repeatedly, "Fortunately, there will be a younger brother soon. Relying on you, you might be angered to death in the future."

Chen Fan nodded in agreement, "Yeah, very likely."

Zhou Yali suddenly went crazy, "Old brother, which side are you on? !"

Chen Fan looked at her in confusion.

The next second, he realized that Zhou Zhengdong had already divided the family property to his daughter and was helping her start her own business.

And he was Zhou Yali's partner. From this point of view, he and Zhou Yali were indeed on the same side, and Zhou Zhengdong belonged to the "outsider".

He spread his hands and chuckled, "Then you can prepare these two days, arrange your work, and we'll leave together then."

Zhou Yali immediately raised two fingers and made a V sign, "Yay!"