Liu Yutong sat in her new office, surrounded by the top executives of the Wanlong Association. All eyes were fixed on Yang Xin, the head of Wanlong Supermarket, who had become the center of attention in the room.
"Young Miss, the revenue of all eleven Wanlong Supermarket branches has skyrocketed this month. Not only have we successfully outperformed the industry giant, Wanjia Supermarket, but the main reason for this surge is the overwhelming popularity of Xue Qian's book signing events. Every time Xue Qian holds an event at one of our stores, the daily sales multiply several times over."
"Especially last week at our Central Business District branch—the sales on the day of Xue Qian's signing reached 5.78 million, setting a new single-day record. That number is roughly ten times higher than competitors in the same area. Factoring in other business operations… our preliminary estimate suggests this month’s supermarket revenue will reach 300 million."
Hearing this figure, everyone in the room couldn’t help but gasp.
A single thought flashed through their minds—supermarkets were insanely profitable. A monthly revenue of 300 million? That could mean an annual revenue of 3 billion! Even with lower profit margins, they’d still be making hundreds of millions a year.
No wonder the Young Miss valued the retail market so much and held Yang Xin in such high regard.
In such a short time, his team had achieved such staggering results.
"300 million…"
"And that’s just the supermarket business. If we include the revenue from online deliveries, that number might even hit 400 million."
"Not to mention the shopping mall scheduled to open mid-next year—it’s planned to be under the supermarket division too. If it runs smoothly, combined with the existing eleven supermarket locations, an annual revenue of 5 billion shouldn’t be a problem, right?"
"Brother Yang, you’re on fire!"
"Brother Yang, take us with you!"
"Brother Yang…"
Listening to the flattery, Yang Xin felt exasperated.
He wasn’t that impressive—it was mostly due to the Young Miss’s brilliant strategies. He was just filling in the gaps and assisting where needed.
Besides, these guys clearly had ulterior motives. They were setting him up to take the fall.
If the Young Miss asked him about next year’s sales targets, he’d have to propose a number higher than whatever they were suggesting—never lower.
But there was no way around it.
He had practically become the most favored person in front of the Young Miss.
She consulted him far more often than any other department head and was deeply involved in every major decision regarding the supermarket business.
The others couldn’t help but envy him.
When would the Young Miss start giving them more attention and guidance?
At present, the Wanlong Association had several core business divisions.
The first was the supermarket division, led by Yang Xin. The logistics company was also temporarily under this division, handling deliveries and inventory distribution.
The second division was the restaurant chain, Yu Yue Fang, which had already opened five locations. The remaining six were set to launch by the end of January next year. The current head was Yu Xin, who also represented Liu Yutong as a board member of Yu Corporation.
Speaking of Yu Corporation, its chairman, Yu Jianhua, still hadn’t returned to the country.
When asked, Yu Mo would only say, "My dad says he’ll be back next week."
There had been news before that Yu Jianhua was about to return, but after certain revelations surfaced, he canceled his flight, leaving his son Yu Mo in control of the corporation.
Of course, the official statement was that Yu Jianhua was "exploring overseas markets," planning to acquire or build several five-star hotels within a certain timeframe and expand international cultural tourism projects.
But those in the know understood why he wasn’t coming back.
Ma Da remained in charge of personnel matters—transfers, promotions, and recruitment.
Yun Cheng still oversaw the martial arts schools and security operations, though the disciples he trained were mostly the same kids from Xiao Hu’s group.
On a side note, the Yilian Society had been making waves lately, deliberately or accidentally dismantling several criminal groups and indirectly rescuing many children, most of whom were sent to welfare institutions.
The Wanlong Association didn’t have the qualifications for adoption unless the child was at least sixteen and capable of making their own decisions—only then would they consider bringing them into the martial arts schools.
Meanwhile, updates from Chu Yang had become increasingly scarce.
Fewer messages weren’t necessarily a good sign—it likely meant something had gone wrong, making it difficult to relay information safely.
Zhao Tianyi briefly reported on his law firm’s achievements—over the past six months, they had successfully sent hundreds of people to prison, securing them "iron rice bowls" (lifetime sentences).
Everyone couldn’t help but exclaim, "That’s brutal!"
Li Xiaohui watched as everyone took turns reporting their work, while she sat blankly on the sofa, lost in thought. For some reason, she suddenly felt a pang of disappointment.
Initially, she had joined the Wanlong Association just for status, and now she had it—she was even known as "Sister Hui" around the university district.
But as time passed, she began to realize how dull this was.
Especially seeing how Brother Ma, Brother Yang, Lawyer Zhao, and even Yu Xin had all risen to leadership positions, advancing quickly. It made her restless.
Weren’t they all just "hustling" in society? But everyone else was actually excelling—wasn’t that unfair?
Didn’t that just make her look like the only slacker?
Shouldn’t she do something?
She knew she couldn’t compete with Brother Ma for his position, but what could she do to prove herself and not seem so useless?
The more Li Xiaohui thought about it, the more frustrated she became. Every important role in the company was already taken—she had no idea where she fit in.
Liu Yutong naturally noticed her state.
Li Xiaohui was terrible at hiding her emotions—like a student daydreaming in class, obvious to any teacher. Right now, she was exactly like that.
Once the department reports concluded, Liu Yutong called out, "Xiaohui!"
Still lost in her thoughts, Li Xiaohui didn’t react.
Yu Xin nudged her and whispered, "Yutong is calling you."
Only then did Li Xiaohui jolt up with an "Ah!"—like a student caught off-guard by a teacher’s sudden question.
"Y-Yutong, what is it?"
Liu Yutong smiled at her reaction. "Xiaohui, do you want to contribute to the company?"
Li Xiaohui’s eyes lit up. She nodded eagerly. "Of course!"
Liu Yutong announced the formation of a new department. "Starting today, the company will establish an investment division responsible for project investments. Li Xiaohui will be its head."
Li Xiaohui let out another "Ah?!" before frantically waving her hands. "No, no, I can’t do that! I don’t know anything about investing! If I end up bankrupting the company, I’ll be a criminal!"
She truly hadn’t expected Liu Yutong to assign her such a crucial position right from the start.
Investments—this was no ordinary task. Without sharp business acumen, an understanding of market trends, or prior experience, it would be incredibly difficult to handle.
If the failure rate of investments was too high, there was a real risk of dragging the entire company into trouble.
Under normal circumstances, a company of substantial size would have an investment department to allocate idle funds, ensuring money generates more money rather than sitting idle and depreciating in value.
Of course, some publicly listed companies might even deliberately invest all their funds—either to avoid distributing dividends to retail shareholders, artificially creating "losses," or to divert money to affiliated parties, among other maneuvers.
However, Wanlong Hui would certainly never operate that way. They weren’t a publicly traded company, nor did they plan to go public in the future. Their investments were meant to turn a profit.
In the future, Wanlong Hui’s monthly revenue would reach hundreds of millions. And due to payment cycles, there would often be significant sums lying idle in their accounts.
Even if these funds were used for short-term investments, with surplus profits allocated to long-term ventures, it would still be far better than letting them go to waste.
But all that was a matter for the future.
Right now, their accounts didn’t hold nearly that much money—in fact, they were still burdened with considerable debt.
